Windows Server 2003
Encyclopedia
Windows Server 2003 is a server
operating system
produced by Microsoft
, introduced on 24 April 2003. An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2, was released to manufacturing on 6 December 2005. Its successor, Windows Server 2008, was released on 4 February 2008.
According to Microsoft, Windows Server 2003 is more scalable and delivers better performance than its predecessor, Windows 2000
.
certificate server, provide LDAP directory services, serve streaming media, and to perform other server-oriented functions.
The Standard Edition of SBS includes Windows SharePoint Services for collaboration, Microsoft Exchange
server for e-mail, Fax Server, and Active Directory
for user management. The product also provides a basic firewall, DHCP server and NAT router using either two network cards or one network card in addition to a hardware router.
The Premium Edition of SBS includes the features of the Standard edition plus Microsoft SQL Server
2000 and Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server
2004.
SBS has its own type of Client Access License (CAL)
that is different and costs slightly more than CALs for the other editions of Windows Server 2003. However, the SBS CAL encompasses the user CALs for Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server, and ISA Server, and hence is less expensive than buying all other CALs individually.
SBS server has the following design limitations, mainly affecting Active Directory:
s. It is designed to be used primarily as an IIS
6.0 Web server and provides a platform for rapidly developing and deploying XML Web services and applications that use ASP.NET
technology, a key part of the .NET Framework. Terminal Services is not included on Web Edition. However, Remote Desktop for Administration is available.. Only 10 concurrent file-sharing connections are allowed at any moment. It is not possible to install Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange software in this edition without installing Service Pack 1. Despite supporting XML Web services and ASP.NET, UDDI cannot be deployed on Windows Server 2003 Web Edition. The .NET Framework version 2.0 is not included with Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, but can be installed as a separate update from Windows Update.
Windows Server 2003 Web Edition supports a maximum of 2 physical processors with support for a maximum of 2GB of RAM. Additionally, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition cannot act as a domain controller. It is the only edition of Windows Server 2003 that does not require Client Access License
s when used as the internet facing server front end for Internet Information Services
and Windows Server Update Services
. When using it for storage or as a backend with another remote server as the frontend, CALs may still be required.
version supporting the x86-64
architecture (AMD64 and EM64T, called collectively x64 by Microsoft) was released in April 2005. The 32-bit version will run on up to 4 processors and up to 4 GB RAM; the 64-bit version is capable of addressing up to 32 GB of RAM and also supports Non-Uniform Memory Access
. The 32-bit version is available for verified students to download free of charge as part of Microsoft
's DreamSpark
program.
using Microsoft Cluster Server
(MSCS) software and support for up to 64 GB
of memory through PAE
(added with the /PAE boot string). Enterprise Edition also comes in 64-bit
versions for the Itanium and x64 architectures. The 64-bit
versions of Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition are capable of addressing up to 1 TB of memory. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions support Non-Uniform Memory Access
(NUMA). It also provides the ability to hot-add supported hardware. Enterprise Edition is also required to issue custom certificate templates.
Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition also supports Non-Uniform Memory Access
. If supported by the system, Windows, with help from the system firmware
will make use of NUMA kernel awareness, which is indicated by the presence of a firmware generatel ACPI Static Resource Affinity Table (SRAT) that defines the NUMA topology of the system. Windows then uses this table to optimize memory accesses, and provide NUMA awareness to applications, thereby increasing the efficiency of thread
scheduling
and memory management
.
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition has better support for Storage Area Network
s (SANs). It features a service which uses Windows sockets
to emulate TCP/IP communication over native SAN service providers, thereby allowing a SAN to be accessed over any TCP/IP channel. With this, any application that can communicate over TCP/IP can use a SAN, without any modification to the application.
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition also supports 8-node clustering. Clustering increases availability and fault tolerance of server installations by distributing and replicating the service among many servers. This edition supports clustering with each cluster having its own dedicated storage, or with all cluster nodes connected to a common storage area network
(SAN). The SAN can be running on a Windows or non-Windows operating system and may be connected to other computers as well.
clusters. It is designed to be deployed on numerous computers to be clustered together to achieve supercomputing
speeds. Each Compute Cluster Server network comprises at least one controlling head node and subordinate processing nodes that carry out most of the work.
Compute Cluster Server uses the Microsoft Messaging Passing Interface
v2 (MS-MPI) to communicate between the processing nodes on the cluster network. It ties nodes together with a powerful inter-process communication mechanism which can be complex because of communications between hundreds or even thousands of processors working in parallel.
The application programming interface
consists of over 160 functions. A job launcher enables users to execute jobs to be executed in the computing cluster. MS MPI was designed to be compatible with the reference open source MPI2
specification which is widely used in High-performance computing
(HPC). With some exceptions because of security considerations, MS MPI covers the complete set of MPI2 functionality as implemented in MPICH2, except for the planned future features of dynamic process spawn and publishing.
for Network Attached Storage (NAS). Launched in 2003 at Storage Decisions
in Chicago, it is optimized for use in file and print sharing and also in Storage Area Network
(SAN) scenarios. It is only available through Original equipment manufacturer
s (OEMs). Unlike other Windows Server 2003 editions that provide file and printer sharing functionality, Windows Storage Server 2003 does not require any Client access licenses
.
Windows Storage Server 2003 NAS equipment can be headless, which means that they are without any monitors, keyboards or mice, and are administered remotely. Such devices are plugged into any existing IP
network and the storage capacity is available to all users. Windows Storage Server 2003 can use RAID
arrays to provide data redundancy
, fault-tolerance and high performance. Multiple such NAS servers can be clustered to appear as a single device. This allows for very high performance as well as allowing the service to remain up even if one of the servers goes down.
Windows Storage Server 2003 can also be used to create a Storage Area Network
, in which the data is transferred in terms of chunks rather than files, thus providing more granularity to the data that can be transferred. This provides higher performance to database
and transaction processing applications. Windows Storage Server 2003 also allows NAS devices to be connected to a SAN.
Windows Storage Server 2003 R2, as a follow-up to Windows Storage Server 2003, adds file-server performance optimization, Single Instance Storage (SIS), and index-based search. Single instance storage (SIS) scans storage volumes for duplicate files, and moves the duplicate files to the common SIS store. The file on the volume is replaced with a link to the file. This substitution reduces the amount of storage space required, by as much as 70%.
Windows Storage Server R2 provides an index-based, full-text search based on the indexing engine already built into Windows server. The updated search engine speeds up indexed searches on network shares. Storage Server R2 also provides filters for searching many standard file formats, such as .zip, AutoCAD, XML, MP3, and .pdf, and all Microsoft Office
file formats.
Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 includes built in support for Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server, and adds a Storage Management snap-in for the Microsoft Management Console. It can be used to manage storage volumes centrally, including DFS
shares, on servers running Windows Storage Server R2.
Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 can be used as an iSCSI
target with standard and enterprise editions of Windows Storage Server 2003 R2, incorporating WinTarget iSCSI technology which Microsoft acquired in 2006 by from StringBean software. This will be an add-on feature available for purchase through OEM partners as an iSCSI feature pack, or is included in some versions of WSS as configured by OEMs.
Windows Storage Server 2003 can be promoted to function as a domain controller; however, this edition is not licensed to run directory services. It can be joined to an existing domain as a member server.
Windows Unified Data Storage Server is a version of Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 with iSCSI target support standard, available in only the standard and enterprise editions.
is an operating system from Microsoft based on Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP2 (this can be seen in the directory listings of the install DVD). Announced on 7 January 2007 at the Consumer Electronics Show
by Bill Gates
, Windows Home Server is intended to be a solution for homes with multiple connected PCs to offer file sharing, automated backups, and remote access.
Windows Home Server began shipment to OEMs on 15 September 2007.
A full list of updates is available in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
.
Microsoft has described Service Pack 2 as a "standard" service pack release containing previously-released security updates, hotfixes, and reliability and performance improvements. In addition, Service Pack 2 contains Microsoft Management Console 3.0
, Windows Deployment Services (which replaces Remote Installation Services
), support for WPA2
, and improvements to IPsec
and MSConfig. Service Pack 2 also adds Windows Server 2003 Scalable Networking Pack (SNP), which allows hardware acceleration for processing network packets, thereby enabling faster throughput. SNP was previously available as an out-of-band update for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1.
As of October 2009, no further Service Packs are planned for Windows Server 2003.
On July 14, 2015, all Windows 2003 support, including security updates and security-related hotfixes, will be terminated.
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
produced by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, introduced on 24 April 2003. An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2, was released to manufacturing on 6 December 2005. Its successor, Windows Server 2008, was released on 4 February 2008.
According to Microsoft, Windows Server 2003 is more scalable and delivers better performance than its predecessor, Windows 2000
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
.
New and updated features
- Internet Information ServicesInternet Information ServicesInternet Information Services – formerly called Internet Information Server – is a web server application and set of feature extension modules created by Microsoft for use with Microsoft Windows. It is the most used web server after Apache HTTP Server. IIS 7.5 supports HTTP, HTTPS,...
(IIS) v6.0 - A significantly improved version of IIS. - Increased default security over previous versions, due to the built-in firewall and having most services disabled by default.
- Significant improvements to Message QueuingMicrosoft Message QueuingMicrosoft Message Queuing or MSMQ is a Message Queue implementation developed by Microsoft and deployed in its Windows Server operating systems since Windows NT 4 and Windows 95. The latest Windows 7 also includes this component...
. - Manage Your Server - a role management administrative tool that allows an administrator to choose what functionality the server should provide.
- Improvements to Active DirectoryActive DirectoryActive Directory is a directory service created by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems. Server computers on which Active Directory is running are called domain controllers....
, such as the ability to deactivate classesClass (computer science)In object-oriented programming, a class is a construct that is used as a blueprint to create instances of itself – referred to as class instances, class objects, instance objects or simply objects. A class defines constituent members which enable these class instances to have state and behavior...
from the schemaLogical schemaA Logical Schema is a data model of a specific problem domain expressed in terms of a particular data management technology. Without being specific to a particular database management product, it is in terms of either relational tables and columns, object-oriented classes, or XML tags...
, or to run multiple instances of the directory server (ADAM) - Improvements to Group PolicyGroup PolicyGroup Policy is a feature of the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems. Group Policy is a set of rules that control the working environment of user accounts and computer accounts. Group Policy provides the centralized management and configuration of operating systems, applications, and...
handling and administration - Provides a backup system to restore lost files
- Improved disk management, including the ability to back up from shadows of files, allowing the backup of open files.
- Improved scriptingScripting languageA scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...
and command line tools, which are part of Microsoft's initiative to bring a complete command shell to the next version of Windows. - Support for a hardware-based "watchdog timerWatchdog timerA watchdog timer is a computer hardware or software timer that triggers a system reset or other corrective action if the main program, due to some fault condition, such as a hang, neglects to regularly service the watchdog A watchdog timer (or computer operating properly (COP) timer) is a computer...
", which can restart the server if the operating system does not respond within a certain amount of time.
Removed features
- The ability to create rescue disk (Automated System RecoveryAutomated System RecoveryAutomated System Recovery is a feature of the Windows XP operating system that can be used to simplify recovery of a computer's system or boot volumes. ASR consists of two parts: an automated backup, and an automated restore...
(ASR) is used instead)
Editions
Windows Server 2003 comes in a number of editions, each targeted towards a particular size and type of business. In general, all variants of Windows Server 2003 have the ability to share files and printers, act as an application server, and host message queues, provide email services, authenticate users, act as an X.509X.509
In cryptography, X.509 is an ITU-T standard for a public key infrastructure and Privilege Management Infrastructure . X.509 specifies, amongst other things, standard formats for public key certificates, certificate revocation lists, attribute certificates, and a certification path validation...
certificate server, provide LDAP directory services, serve streaming media, and to perform other server-oriented functions.
Windows Small Business Server
SBS includes Windows Server and additional technologies aimed at providing a small business with a complete technology solution. The technologies are integrated to enable small business with targeted solutions such as the Remote Web Workplace, and offer management benefits such as integrated setup, enhanced monitoring, a unified management console, and remote access.The Standard Edition of SBS includes Windows SharePoint Services for collaboration, Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Exchange Server
Microsoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
server for e-mail, Fax Server, and Active Directory
Active Directory
Active Directory is a directory service created by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems. Server computers on which Active Directory is running are called domain controllers....
for user management. The product also provides a basic firewall, DHCP server and NAT router using either two network cards or one network card in addition to a hardware router.
The Premium Edition of SBS includes the features of the Standard edition plus Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
2000 and Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server
Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server
Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway , formerly known as Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server , is a network security and protection solution for Microsoft Windows, described by Microsoft as "enables businesses by allowing employees to safely and productively use the...
2004.
SBS has its own type of Client Access License (CAL)
Client Access License
A Client Access License is a proprietary software license distributed by software companies such as Microsoft to allow clients to connect to its server software and use the software's services.-Software licensing introduction:...
that is different and costs slightly more than CALs for the other editions of Windows Server 2003. However, the SBS CAL encompasses the user CALs for Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server, and ISA Server, and hence is less expensive than buying all other CALs individually.
SBS server has the following design limitations, mainly affecting Active Directory:
- Only one computer in a domainWindows Server domainA Windows domain is a collection of security principals that share a central directory database. This central database contains the user accounts and security information for...
can be running Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server. - Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server must be the root of the Active Directory forest.
- Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server cannot trust any other domains.
- Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server is limited to 75 users or devices depending on which type of CAL.
- Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server is limited to a maximum of 4GB of RAM (Random Access Memory).
- A Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server domain cannot have any child domains.
- Terminal ServicesTerminal ServicesRemote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R2, formerly known as Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and previous versions, is one of the components of Microsoft Windows that allows a user to access applications and data on a remote computer over a network, using the Remote Desktop...
only operates in remote administration mode on the server running SBS 2003, and only two simultaneous RDP sessions are allowed. (Change from SBS 2000 policy) - To remove the limits from SBS server and upgrade from Small Business Server to regular Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL and ISA server versions there is a Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Transition Pack.
Web Edition
Windows Server 2003, Web Edition is mainly for building and hosting Web applications, Web pages, and XML web serviceWeb service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
s. It is designed to be used primarily as an IIS
Internet Information Services
Internet Information Services – formerly called Internet Information Server – is a web server application and set of feature extension modules created by Microsoft for use with Microsoft Windows. It is the most used web server after Apache HTTP Server. IIS 7.5 supports HTTP, HTTPS,...
6.0 Web server and provides a platform for rapidly developing and deploying XML Web services and applications that use ASP.NET
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is a Web application framework developed and marketed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic Web sites, Web applications and Web services. It was first released in January 2002 with version 1.0 of the .NET Framework, and is the successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages ...
technology, a key part of the .NET Framework. Terminal Services is not included on Web Edition. However, Remote Desktop for Administration is available.. Only 10 concurrent file-sharing connections are allowed at any moment. It is not possible to install Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange software in this edition without installing Service Pack 1. Despite supporting XML Web services and ASP.NET, UDDI cannot be deployed on Windows Server 2003 Web Edition. The .NET Framework version 2.0 is not included with Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, but can be installed as a separate update from Windows Update.
Client Access License
A Client Access License is a proprietary software license distributed by software companies such as Microsoft to allow clients to connect to its server software and use the software's services.-Software licensing introduction:...
s when used as the internet facing server front end for Internet Information Services
Internet Information Services
Internet Information Services – formerly called Internet Information Server – is a web server application and set of feature extension modules created by Microsoft for use with Microsoft Windows. It is the most used web server after Apache HTTP Server. IIS 7.5 supports HTTP, HTTPS,...
and Windows Server Update Services
Windows Server Update Services
- External links :* * * – contains many detailed documents on WSUS operation, known issues, and troubleshooting* - German WSUS-Community * - Control installation of WSUS updates from command line...
. When using it for storage or as a backend with another remote server as the frontend, CALs may still be required.
Standard Edition
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition is aimed towards small to medium sized businesses. Standard Edition supports file and printer sharing, offers secure Internet connectivity , and allows centralized desktop application deployment. The initial release of Windows Server 2003 was available solely for 32-bit processors; a 64-bit64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
version supporting the x86-64
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
architecture (AMD64 and EM64T, called collectively x64 by Microsoft) was released in April 2005. The 32-bit version will run on up to 4 processors and up to 4 GB RAM; the 64-bit version is capable of addressing up to 32 GB of RAM and also supports Non-Uniform Memory Access
Non-Uniform Memory Access
Non-Uniform Memory Access is a computer memory design used in Multiprocessing, where the memory access time depends on the memory location relative to a processor...
. The 32-bit version is available for verified students to download free of charge as part of Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's DreamSpark
DreamSpark
DreamSpark is a program set up by Microsoft to provide students with software design and development tools at no charge. The program was originally available for university/college students in Belarus, Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, the U.K....
program.
Enterprise Edition
Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition is aimed towards medium to large businesses. It is a full-function server operating system that supports up to 8 processors and provides enterprise-class features such as eight-node clusteringCluster (computing)
A computer cluster is a group of linked computers, working together closely thus in many respects forming a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not always, connected to each other through fast local area networks...
using Microsoft Cluster Server
Microsoft Cluster Server
Microsoft Cluster Server is software designed to allow servers to work together as a computer cluster, to provide failover and increased availability of applications, or parallel calculating power in case of high-performance computing clusters .Microsoft has three technologies for clustering:...
(MSCS) software and support for up to 64 GB
Gigabyte
The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
of memory through PAE
Physical Address Extension
In computing, Physical Address Extension is a feature to allow x86 processors to access a physical address space larger than 4 gigabytes....
(added with the /PAE boot string). Enterprise Edition also comes in 64-bit
64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
versions for the Itanium and x64 architectures. The 64-bit
64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
versions of Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition are capable of addressing up to 1 TB of memory. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions support Non-Uniform Memory Access
Non-Uniform Memory Access
Non-Uniform Memory Access is a computer memory design used in Multiprocessing, where the memory access time depends on the memory location relative to a processor...
(NUMA). It also provides the ability to hot-add supported hardware. Enterprise Edition is also required to issue custom certificate templates.
Datacenter Edition
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition is designed for infrastructures demanding high security and reliability. Windows Server 2003 is available for x86, Itanium, and x86-64 processors. It supports a maximum of up to 32 processors on 32-bit or 64 processors on 64-bit hardware. 32-bit architecture also limits memory addressability to 64 GB, while the 64-bit versions support up to 1 TB. Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, also allows limiting processor and memory usage on a per-application basis.Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition also supports Non-Uniform Memory Access
Non-Uniform Memory Access
Non-Uniform Memory Access is a computer memory design used in Multiprocessing, where the memory access time depends on the memory location relative to a processor...
. If supported by the system, Windows, with help from the system firmware
Firmware
In electronic systems and computing, firmware is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices...
will make use of NUMA kernel awareness, which is indicated by the presence of a firmware generatel ACPI Static Resource Affinity Table (SRAT) that defines the NUMA topology of the system. Windows then uses this table to optimize memory accesses, and provide NUMA awareness to applications, thereby increasing the efficiency of thread
Thread (computer science)
In computer science, a thread of execution is the smallest unit of processing that can be scheduled by an operating system. The implementation of threads and processes differs from one operating system to another, but in most cases, a thread is contained inside a process...
scheduling
Scheduling (computing)
In computer science, a scheduling is the method by which threads, processes or data flows are given access to system resources . This is usually done to load balance a system effectively or achieve a target quality of service...
and memory management
Memory management
Memory management is the act of managing computer memory. The essential requirement of memory management is to provide ways to dynamically allocate portions of memory to programs at their request, and freeing it for reuse when no longer needed. This is critical to the computer system.Several...
.
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition has better support for Storage Area Network
Storage area network
A storage area network is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices...
s (SANs). It features a service which uses Windows sockets
Winsock
In computing, the Windows Sockets API , which was later shortened to Winsock, is a technical specification that defines how Windows network software should access network services, especially TCP/IP. It defines a standard interface between a Windows TCP/IP client application and the underlying...
to emulate TCP/IP communication over native SAN service providers, thereby allowing a SAN to be accessed over any TCP/IP channel. With this, any application that can communicate over TCP/IP can use a SAN, without any modification to the application.
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition also supports 8-node clustering. Clustering increases availability and fault tolerance of server installations by distributing and replicating the service among many servers. This edition supports clustering with each cluster having its own dedicated storage, or with all cluster nodes connected to a common storage area network
Storage area network
A storage area network is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices...
(SAN). The SAN can be running on a Windows or non-Windows operating system and may be connected to other computers as well.
Windows Compute Cluster Server
Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 (CCS), released in June 2006, is designed for high-end applications that require high performance computingHigh-performance computing
High-performance computing uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Today, computer systems approaching the teraflops-region are counted as HPC-computers.-Overview:...
clusters. It is designed to be deployed on numerous computers to be clustered together to achieve supercomputing
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
speeds. Each Compute Cluster Server network comprises at least one controlling head node and subordinate processing nodes that carry out most of the work.
Compute Cluster Server uses the Microsoft Messaging Passing Interface
Microsoft Messaging Passing Interface
Microsoft Message Passing Interface is an implementation of the MPI-2 specification by Microsoft for use in Windows HPC Server 2008 to interconnect and communicate between High performance computing nodes. It is mostly compatible with the MPICH2 reference implementation, with some exceptions for...
v2 (MS-MPI) to communicate between the processing nodes on the cluster network. It ties nodes together with a powerful inter-process communication mechanism which can be complex because of communications between hundreds or even thousands of processors working in parallel.
The application programming interface
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
consists of over 160 functions. A job launcher enables users to execute jobs to be executed in the computing cluster. MS MPI was designed to be compatible with the reference open source MPI2
Message Passing Interface
Message Passing Interface is a standardized and portable message-passing system designed by a group of researchers from academia and industry to function on a wide variety of parallel computers...
specification which is widely used in High-performance computing
High-performance computing
High-performance computing uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Today, computer systems approaching the teraflops-region are counted as HPC-computers.-Overview:...
(HPC). With some exceptions because of security considerations, MS MPI covers the complete set of MPI2 functionality as implemented in MPICH2, except for the planned future features of dynamic process spawn and publishing.
Windows Storage Server
Windows Storage Server 2003, a part of the Windows Server 2003 series, is a specialized server operating systemOperating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
for Network Attached Storage (NAS). Launched in 2003 at Storage Decisions
Storage Decisions
Storage Decisions is a conference for data storage professionals in the United States. Produced by TechTarget, Storage Decisions has been held multiple times per year in the United States since 2001...
in Chicago, it is optimized for use in file and print sharing and also in Storage Area Network
Storage area network
A storage area network is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices...
(SAN) scenarios. It is only available through Original equipment manufacturer
Original Equipment Manufacturer
An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...
s (OEMs). Unlike other Windows Server 2003 editions that provide file and printer sharing functionality, Windows Storage Server 2003 does not require any Client access licenses
Client Access License
A Client Access License is a proprietary software license distributed by software companies such as Microsoft to allow clients to connect to its server software and use the software's services.-Software licensing introduction:...
.
Windows Storage Server 2003 NAS equipment can be headless, which means that they are without any monitors, keyboards or mice, and are administered remotely. Such devices are plugged into any existing IP
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
network and the storage capacity is available to all users. Windows Storage Server 2003 can use RAID
RAID
RAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit...
arrays to provide data redundancy
Data redundancy
Data redundancy occurs in database systems which have a field that is repeated in two or more tables. For instance, in case when customer data is duplicated and attached with each product bought then redundancy of data is a known source of inconsistency, since customer might appear with different...
, fault-tolerance and high performance. Multiple such NAS servers can be clustered to appear as a single device. This allows for very high performance as well as allowing the service to remain up even if one of the servers goes down.
Windows Storage Server 2003 can also be used to create a Storage Area Network
Storage area network
A storage area network is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices...
, in which the data is transferred in terms of chunks rather than files, thus providing more granularity to the data that can be transferred. This provides higher performance to database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
and transaction processing applications. Windows Storage Server 2003 also allows NAS devices to be connected to a SAN.
Windows Storage Server 2003 R2, as a follow-up to Windows Storage Server 2003, adds file-server performance optimization, Single Instance Storage (SIS), and index-based search. Single instance storage (SIS) scans storage volumes for duplicate files, and moves the duplicate files to the common SIS store. The file on the volume is replaced with a link to the file. This substitution reduces the amount of storage space required, by as much as 70%.
Windows Storage Server R2 provides an index-based, full-text search based on the indexing engine already built into Windows server. The updated search engine speeds up indexed searches on network shares. Storage Server R2 also provides filters for searching many standard file formats, such as .zip, AutoCAD, XML, MP3, and .pdf, and all Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
file formats.
Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 includes built in support for Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server, and adds a Storage Management snap-in for the Microsoft Management Console. It can be used to manage storage volumes centrally, including DFS
Distributed File System (Microsoft)
Distributed File System is a set of client and server services that allow an organization using Microsoft Windows servers to organize many distributed SMB file shares into a distributed file system...
shares, on servers running Windows Storage Server R2.
Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 can be used as an iSCSI
ISCSI
In computing, iSCSI , is an abbreviation of Internet Small Computer System Interface, an Internet Protocol -based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities. By carrying SCSI commands over IP networks, iSCSI is used to facilitate data transfers over intranets and to manage...
target with standard and enterprise editions of Windows Storage Server 2003 R2, incorporating WinTarget iSCSI technology which Microsoft acquired in 2006 by from StringBean software. This will be an add-on feature available for purchase through OEM partners as an iSCSI feature pack, or is included in some versions of WSS as configured by OEMs.
Windows Storage Server 2003 can be promoted to function as a domain controller; however, this edition is not licensed to run directory services. It can be joined to an existing domain as a member server.
Features
- Distributed File SystemDistributed File System (Microsoft)Distributed File System is a set of client and server services that allow an organization using Microsoft Windows servers to organize many distributed SMB file shares into a distributed file system...
(DFS): DFS allows multiple network shares to be aggregated as a virtual file system. - Support for SANStorage area networkA storage area network is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices...
and iSCSIISCSIIn computing, iSCSI , is an abbreviation of Internet Small Computer System Interface, an Internet Protocol -based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities. By carrying SCSI commands over IP networks, iSCSI is used to facilitate data transfers over intranets and to manage...
: Computers can connect to a Storage Server over the LANLänLän and lääni refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010....
, and there is no need for a separate fibre channelFibre ChannelFibre Channel, or FC, is a gigabit-speed network technology primarily used for storage networking. Fibre Channel is standardized in the T11 Technical Committee of the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards , an American National Standards Institute –accredited standards...
network. Thus a Storage Area NetworkStorage area networkA storage area network is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices...
can be created over the LANLänLän and lääni refer to the administrative divisions used in Sweden and previously in Finland. The provinces of Finland were abolished on January 1, 2010....
itself. iSCSI uses the SCSISCSISmall Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
protocol to transfer data as a block of bytes, rather than as a file. This increases performance of the Storage network in some scenarios, such as using a database server. - Virtual Disc Service: It allows NASNetwork-attached storageNetwork-attached storage is file-level computer data storage connected to a computer network providing data access to heterogeneous clients. NAS not only operates as a file server, but is specialized for this task either by its hardware, software, or configuration of those elements...
devices, RAIDRAIDRAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit...
devices and SAN shares to be exposed and managed as if they were normal hard drives. - JBOD systems: JBOD (Just a bunch of discs) systems, by using VDS, can manage a group of individual storage devices as a single unit. There is no need for the storage units to be of the same make and model.
- Software and Hardware RAID: Windows Storage Server 2003 has intrinsic support for hardware implementation of RAIDRAIDRAID is a storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit...
. In case hardware support is not available, it can use software enabled RAID. In that case, all processing is done by the OS. - Multi Path IO (MPIO): It provides an alternate connection to IO devices in case the primary path is down.
Editions
Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 is available in the following editions:Windows Unified Data Storage Server is a version of Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 with iSCSI target support standard, available in only the standard and enterprise editions.
Windows Home Server
Windows Home ServerWindows Home Server
Windows Home Server, code-named Quattro, is a home server operating system from Microsoft. Announced on 7 January 2007, at the Consumer Electronics Show by Bill Gates, Windows Home Server is intended to be a solution for homes with multiple connected PCs to offer file sharing, automated backups,...
is an operating system from Microsoft based on Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP2 (this can be seen in the directory listings of the install DVD). Announced on 7 January 2007 at the Consumer Electronics Show
Consumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
by Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
, Windows Home Server is intended to be a solution for homes with multiple connected PCs to offer file sharing, automated backups, and remote access.
Windows Home Server began shipment to OEMs on 15 September 2007.
Table of Editions
| Standard | Enterprise | Datacenter | Web | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of physical CPUs | 1-4 | 1-8 | 8-64 | 2 |
| maximum RAM available | 4GB (x86) 32GB (x86_64) |
64GB (x86) 1TB (x86_64) |
2GB | |
Service Pack 1
On 30 March 2005, Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2003. Among the improvements are many of the same updates that were provided to Windows XP users with Service Pack 2. Features that are added with Service Pack 1 include:- Security Configuration Wizard: A tool that allows administrators to more easily research, and make changes to, security policies.
- Hot Patching: This feature is set to extend Windows Server 2003's ability to take DLL, Driver, and non-kernel patches without a reboot.
- IIS 6.0 Metabase Auditing: Allowing the tracking of metabase edits.
- Windows FirewallWindows FirewallWindows Firewall is a software component of Microsoft Windows that provides firewalling and packet filtering functions. It was first included in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003...
: Brings many of the improvements from Windows XP Service Pack 2 to Windows Server 2003; also with the Security Configuration Wizard, it allows administrators to more easily manage the incoming open ports, as it will automatically detect and select default roles. - Other networking improvements include support for Wireless Provisioning Services, better IPv6 support, and new protections against SYN floodSYN floodA SYN flood is a form of denial-of-service attack in which an attacker sends a succession of SYN requests to a target's system in an attempt to consume enough server resources to make the system unresponsive to legitimate traffic.-Technical details:...
TCP attacks. - Post-Setup Security Updates: A default mode that is turned on when a Service Pack 1 server is first booted up after installation. It configures the firewall to block all incoming connections, and directs the user to install updates.
- Data Execution PreventionData Execution PreventionData Execution Prevention is a security feature included in modern operating systems.It is known to be available in Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows operating systems and is intended to prevent an application or service from executing code from a non-executable memory region. This helps...
(DEP): Support for the No Execute (NX) bitNX bitThe NX bit, which stands for No eXecute, is a technology used in CPUs to segregate areas of memory for use by either storage of processor instructions or for storage of data, a feature normally only found in Harvard architecture processors...
which helps to prevent buffer overflowBuffer overflowIn computer security and programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an anomaly where a program, while writing data to a buffer, overruns the buffer's boundary and overwrites adjacent memory. This is a special case of violation of memory safety....
exploits that are often the attack vector of Windows Server exploits. - Windows Media PlayerWindows Media PlayerWindows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
version 10 - Internet Explorer 6Internet Explorer 6Internet Explorer 6 is the sixth major revision of Internet Explorer, a web browser developed by Microsoft for Windows operating systems...
SV1 (e.g. 'IE6 SP2') - Support for fixed disks bearing data organized using the GUID Partition TableGUID Partition TableIn computer hardware, GUID Partition Table is a standard for the layout of the partition table on a physical hard disk. Although it forms a part of the Extensible Firmware Interface standard , it is also used on some BIOS systems because of the limitations of MBR partition tables, which restrict...
system
A full list of updates is available in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
Windows Server 2003 R2
Windows Server 2003 R2, an update of Windows Server 2003, was released to manufacturing on 6 December 2005. It is distributed on two CDs, with one CD being the Windows Server 2003 SP1 CD. The other CD adds many optionally installable features for Windows Server 2003. The R2 update was released for all x86 and x64 versions. Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition was not released for ItaniumItanium
Itanium is a family of 64-bit Intel microprocessors that implement the Intel Itanium architecture . Intel markets the processors for enterprise servers and high-performance computing systems...
.
New features
- Branch Office Server Management
- Centralized management tools for file and printers
- Enhanced Distributed File SystemDistributed File System (Microsoft)Distributed File System is a set of client and server services that allow an organization using Microsoft Windows servers to organize many distributed SMB file shares into a distributed file system...
(DFS) namespace management interface - More efficient WAN data replication with Remote Differential CompressionRemote Differential CompressionRemote Differential Compression is a client–server synchronization algorithm that allows the contents of two files to be synchronized by communicating only the differences between them...
.
- Identity and Access Management
- Extranet Single Sign-On and identity federation
- Centralized administration of extranet application access
- Automated disabling of extranet access based on Active Directory account information
- User access logging
- Cross-platform web Single Sign-On and password synchronization using Network Information ServiceNetwork Information ServiceThe Network Information Service, or NIS is a client–server directory service protocol for distributing system configuration data such as user and host names between computers on a computer network...
(NIS)
- Storage Management
- File Server Resource Manager (storage utilization reporting)
- Enhanced quota management
- File screening limits files types allowed
- Storage Manager for Storage Area NetworkStorage area networkA storage area network is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices...
s (SAN) (storage array configuration)
- Server Virtualization
- A new licensing policy allows up to 4 virtual instances on Enterprise Edition and Unlimited on Datacenter Edition
- Utilities and SDK for UNIX-Based Applications add-on, giving a relatively full Unix development environment.
- Base Utilities
- SVR-5 Utilities
- Base SDK
- GNUGNUGNU is a Unix-like computer operating system developed by the GNU project, ultimately aiming to be a "complete Unix-compatible software system"...
SDK - GNU Utilities
- PerlPerlPerl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
5 - Visual Studio Debugger Add-in
Service Pack 2
Service Pack 2 for Windows Server 2003 was released on 13 March 2007. The release date was originally scheduled for the first half of 2006. On 13 June 2006, Microsoft made an initial test version of Service Pack 2 available to Microsoft Connect users, with a build number of 2721. This was followed by build 2805, known as Beta 2 Refresh. The latest build is the build 3959.Microsoft has described Service Pack 2 as a "standard" service pack release containing previously-released security updates, hotfixes, and reliability and performance improvements. In addition, Service Pack 2 contains Microsoft Management Console 3.0
Microsoft Management Console
Microsoft Management Console is a component of Windows 2000 and its successors that provides system administrators and advanced users an interface for configuring and monitoring the system.- Snap-ins and consoles :...
, Windows Deployment Services (which replaces Remote Installation Services
Remote Installation Services
RIS, Remote Installation Services is a Microsoft-supplied server that allows PXE BIOS-enabled computers to remotely execute boot environment variables.-Background:...
), support for WPA2
IEEE 802.11i
IEEE 802.11i-2004 or 802.11i, implemented as WPA2, is an amendment to the original IEEE 802.11. The draft standard was ratified on 24 June 2004. This standard specifies security mechanisms for wireless networks. It replaced the short Authentication and privacy clause of the original standard with...
, and improvements to IPsec
IPsec
Internet Protocol Security is a protocol suite for securing Internet Protocol communications by authenticating and encrypting each IP packet of a communication session...
and MSConfig. Service Pack 2 also adds Windows Server 2003 Scalable Networking Pack (SNP), which allows hardware acceleration for processing network packets, thereby enabling faster throughput. SNP was previously available as an out-of-band update for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1.
As of October 2009, no further Service Packs are planned for Windows Server 2003.
Support lifecycle
On July 13, 2010, Windows 2003 and its family of operating systems were moved from Mainstream Support to the Extended Support phase as it marks the progression of the legacy operating system through the Microsoft Support Lifecycle Policy. During the Extended Support Phase, Microsoft will continue to provide security updates every month for Windows 2003; however, free technical support, warranty claims, and design changes are no longer being offered.On July 14, 2015, all Windows 2003 support, including security updates and security-related hotfixes, will be terminated.
Microsoft
- Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 homepage
- Windows Server 2003 on Microsoft TechNet
- Windows Server Performance Team Blog
- Guidebook: Windows Server 2003 Gallery — Windows Server 2003 screenshots
- Problems with Windows Server 2003 SP1