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Windows Server 2003 - New FeaturesWhy upgrade? What choices do you have?
7 Reasons to migrate to Windows Server 2003
Active DirectoryIn Windows Server 2003 you can change the domain name I never could find a way of changing the domain in Window 2000, without a complete rebuild. So this naming flexibility will save hours of rework if you have a good business reason to change the name of your Active Directory domain. Administrator's can control the information that is synchronised between Domain Controllers. Users benefit by being able to logon with cached credentials at remote sites. There is no longer a reliance on Catalog server. I first saw the ADMT (Active Directory Migration Tool) in Exchange next it appeared in XP Pro and now an improved version is provided in Windows Server 2003. What the ADMT version 2.0 can do is to copy user accounts and passwords from NT4.0 or Windows 2000 and create a new user in W2K3's Active Directory. In merger situations you can create cross-forest trusts. Developers will like the ability to deactivate attributes and classes in the schema so that their definitions can be changed. Group Policy - Management Console (GPMC)Anyone with experience of Windows 2000 will realise the power of Group Policies in controlling the users desktop. There is no doubt that Group Policies are here to stay and with expertise you can configure almost every aspect of the user interaction. There are another 200 Group Policies for XP Professional and an additional 100 for Windows Server 2003. If you like configuring Group Policies this ultimate tool is for you. What GPMC does is to integrate and centralise all Group Policy functions; scripting is now easy for your developers. Shadow Copy and RestoreThanks to volume shadow copy, at last you can back up open files. This is done through VSS 'Shadow Copy' provided by (Volume Shadow Service) working with the VDS (Virtual Disk Service). Shadow copy has other advantages, administrators can configure disks so that users can find previous versions of files. As well as providing tools and interfaces to connect network attached storage (SANs), Windows Server 2003 provides the ability to boot from SAN configuration if required. This feature enables you to copy critical data volumes without service interruption. These copies can then be used for service restoration. The idea can be extended to users so they can retrieve archived versions of their documents. IIS vastly improved in version 6.0IIS has come a long way from version 2.0 in NT4.0 - mind you it needed to! The first security improvement is that IIS is not installed by default. This means that IIS is not just sitting on your server waiting to be attacked. Administrators have been asking for years for a secure installation option, well now they have it as the default installation of IIS 6.0 is 'Locked Down'. Time alone will tell if it will capture market share from Apache or Linux servers. But if you like integrated products then look no further. Perhaps the neatest feature is the ability to isolate each site on multiple web servers. Under the bonnet the IIS architecture has been redesigned for great robustness and scalability. Terminal ServicesAt first I was rude about Terminal Services. However, Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was right when he said :- All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
So from being a former critic, I am now an enthusiastic advocate of thin client technology. I think it makes sense to have the applications run on the server, while all the client does is pass keystrokes and receive screen refreshes across the network. It is unusual for Microsoft to change the name of an item from version to the next, but Terminal Server has suffered more than most. In NT 4.0 it was Terminal Services. The latest name change is for the 'Remote Administration mode', to become called 'Remote Desktop for Administration' in Windows Server 2003. There is more than just name changes in Terminal Server, thankfully, we now have True Color and up to 1600 X 1200 resolution to see all the new features. The RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) extends the local devices from just the printer in Windows 2000 to include smart cards and the client file system. Intelligent Files services. DFS, FRSThere were several candidates for the flakiest service in NT 4.0, but I would put the Directory Replication Service at the top of that list. The reason I mention this is that the Distributed File System and File Replication Service are wonderful in W2K3. It is a great advantage to point all the users to shares one server, while creating links and replicas to the actual data on other services. The benefits are redundancy, fault tolerance and the ease with which you can reconfigure your file servers without the users noticing. ClusteringClustering makes my list because I do believe it is the way of the future and will soon be seen essential if you want to guarantee availability of services. My only reservation is that Microsoft's own offering do have limitations and I would recommend a third party product called Lifekeeper, which you can see at steeleye.com. See Also
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