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10 Features of Windows Server 2003 for Organizations Upgrading from
Windows NT Server 4.0 |
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addition to the commitment to provide the fastest, most reliable and
most secure Windows Server ever, Windows Server 2003 integrates a
powerful application environment to develop innovative XML Web services
and business solutions that dramatically improve process efficiency.
Here are the major new features and improvements for organizations
considering upgrading from Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0. |
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Active
Directory.
Microsoft Active Directory service simplifies the administration
of complex network directories and makes it easy for users
to locate resources on even the largest networks. This enterprise-class
directory service is scalable, built from the ground up using
Internet-standard technologies, and fully integrated at the
operating-system level in Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition,
Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, and Windows Server
2003, Datacenter Edition.
Windows
Server 2003 provides numerous ease-of-use improvements to
Active Directory and new features, including cross-forest
trusts, the ability to rename domains, and the ability to
deactivate attributes and classes in the schema so that their
definitions can be changed
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Group
Policy: Group Policy Management Console.
Administrators can use Group Policy to define the settings
and allowed actions for users and computers. In contrast with
local policy, they can use Group Policy to set policies that
apply across a given site, domain, or organizational unit
in Active Directory. Policy-based management simplifies such
tasks as system update operation, application installation,
user profiles, and desktop-system lockdown.
Expected
to be available as an add-in component to Windows Server 2003,
the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) provides the new
framework for managing Group Policy. With GPMC, Group Policy
becomes much easier to use, a benefit that will enable more
organizations to better use Active Directory and take advantage
of its powerful management features.
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Server
Performance.
In internal tests, Windows Server 2003 shows dramatic performance
gains over previous versions of Windows server operating systems.
For example, file and Web server performance is two times
faster than Windows NT Server 4.0. While your organization's
performance gains may vary because of unique network and computer
settings, Microsoft is confident that the improved performance
of Windows Server 2003 will help you deliver faster service
for your network solutions.
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Volume
Shadow Copy Restore.
As part of Volume Shadow Copy service, this feature enables
administrators to configure point-in-time copies of critical
data volumes without service interruption. These copies can
then be used for service restoration, archival purposes, or
restoration. Users can retrieve archived versions of their
documents that are invisibly maintained on the server. Productivity
is improved by the ability to better recover documents.
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Internet
Information Services 6.0 and the Microsoft .NET Framework
Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 is a full-featured
Web server that enables Web applications and XML Web services.
IIS 6.0 has been completely re-architected with a new fault-tolerant
process model that greatly boosts the reliability of Web sites
and applications.
Now,
IIS can isolate an individual Web application or multiple
sites into a self-contained process (called an application
pool) that communicates directly with the operating system
kernel. This feature increases throughput and capacity of
applications while offering more headroom on servers, effectively
reducing hardware needs. These self-contained application
pools prevent one application or site from disrupting the
XML Web services or other Web applications on the server.
IIS also
provides health monitoring capabilities to discover, recover,
and prevent Web application failures. On Windows Server 2003,
Microsoft ASP.NET natively uses the new IIS process model.
These advanced application health and detection features are
also available to existing applications running under Internet
Information Server 4.0 and IIS 5.0, with the vast majority
of applications not needing any modification.
The .NET
Framework provides the programming model for building, deploying
and running Web-based applications and XML Web services on
this highly stable platform. It provides a productive, standards-based,
multi-language environment for integrating existing investments
with next-generation applications and services as well as
the agility to solve the challenges of deployment and operation
of Internet-scale applications. Existing applications can
be easily repackaged as XML Web services and UNIX applications
can be integrated or even migrated into the solution with
less work than in the past.
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Terminal
Services.
Terminal Server lets administrators deliver Windows-based
applications, or the Windows desktop itself, to virtually
any computing device—including those that cannot run
Windows. When users run an application on Terminal Server,
the application execution takes place on the server, and only
keyboard, mouse, and display information is transmitted over
the network. Users see only their own individual sessions,
which are managed transparently by the server operating system,
and remain independent of any other client session.
Remote
Desktop for Administration builds on the remote administration
mode of Windows 2000 Terminal Services. In addition to the
two virtual sessions that are available in Windows 2000 Terminal
Services remote administration mode, an administrator can
also remotely connect to the real console of a server.
Terminal
Server can enhance an enterprise's software deployment capabilities
for a variety of scenarios that remain difficult to solve
using traditional application distribution technologies.
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Clustering
(Eight-Node Support).
Available only in Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, this service
provides high availability and scalability for mission-critical
applications such as databases, messaging systems, and file
and print services. Clustering works by enabling multiple
servers (nodes) to remain in constant communication. If one
of the nodes in a cluster becomes unavailable as a result
of failure or maintenance, another node immediately begins
providing service, a process known as failover. Users who
are accessing the service continue their activities, unaware
that service is now being provided from a different server
(node).
Both Windows
Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter
Edition support server cluster configurations of up to eight
nodes.
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Integrated
PKI Support Using Kerberos Version 5.
Using Certificate Services and certificate management tools,
organizations can deploy their own public key infrastructure
(PKI). With PKI, administrators can implement standards-based
technologies, such as smart card logon capabilities, client
authentication (through Secure Sockets Layer and Transport
Layer Security), secure e-mail, digital signatures, and secure
connectivity using Internet Protocol security (IPSec).
Using
Certificate Services, administrators can set up and manage
certification authorities that issue and revoke X.509 V3 certificates.
This means that organizations do not have to depend on commercial
client authentication services, although commercial client
authentication can be integrated into an organization's public
key infrastructure.
Kerberos
version 5 is a mature, industry-standard network authentication
protocol. With Kerberos version 5 support, a fast, single-logon
process gives users the access they need to enterprise resources,
as well as to other environments that support this protocol.
Support for Kerberos version 5 includes additional benefits,
such as mutual authentication (client and server must both
provide authentication) and delegated authentication (the
user's credentials are tracked end to end).
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Command-Line
Management.
The Windows Server 2003 family provides a significantly enhanced
command-line infrastructure, letting administrators perform
most management tasks without using a graphical user interface.
Of special importance is the ability to perform a wide range
of tasks by accessing the information store enabled by Windows
Management Instrumentation (WMI). This WMI command-line (WMIC)
feature provides a simple command-line interface that interoperates
with existing shells and utility commands and can be easily
extended by scripts or other administration-oriented applications.
Overall,
the greater command-line functionality in the Windows Server
2003 family, combined with ready-to-use scripts, rivals the
power of other operating systems often associated with higher
cost of ownership. Administrators accustomed to using the
command line to manage UNIX or Linux systems can continue
managing from the command line in the Windows Server 2003
family.
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Intelligent
File Services: Encrypting File System, Distributed File System,
and File Replication Service.
The Encrypting File System (EFS) enables users to encrypt and
decrypt files to protect them from intruders who might gain
unauthorized physical access to their sensitive, stored data
(for example, by stealing a laptop or external disk drive).
Encryption
is transparent: Users work with encrypted files and folders
just as they do with any other files and folders. If the EFS
user is the same person that encrypted the file or folder,
the system automatically decrypts the file or folder when
the user accesses it later.
The Distributed
File System (DFS) simplifies the task of managing shared-disk
resources across a network. Administrators can assign logical
names to the shared drives on a network, rather than requiring
users to know the physical name assigned to each server they
need to access.
The File
Replication service (FRS) is a significant improvement over
the directory replication feature in Windows NT Server 4.0.
For example, FRS provides multi-master file replication for
designated directory trees between designated servers. FRS
is also used by DFS to automatically synchronize content between
assigned replicas, and by Active Directory to automatically
synchronize content from the system volume information across
domain controllers.
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