10 Reasons to upgrade to 2003 for Windows 2000

Built on the basis of a robust Windows Server family, Windows Server 2003 integrates a powerful application environment to develop new XML WEB services and improved applications that can significantly improve process efficiency. The following major new features and improvements are provided for consideration of upgrading from Windows Server 2003 to a unit in Windows servers.

1. Active Directory Improvement

The Microsoft Active directory® service introduced in Windows 2000 simplifies the management of complex network directories and makes it easy for users to find resources even on the largest networks. This enterprise-class directory service is extensible and is entirely based on Internet standard technology and is created with Windows. NET Server 2003 Standard Edition, Windows. NET Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, and Windows. NET Server 200 The operating system is fully integrated in the 3 Datacenter version.

Windows Server 2003 provides many simple and easy-to-use improvements and new features for Active Directory, including the ability to trust across forests, rename domains, and disable properties and classes in the schema so that they can change the functionality that they define.

2. Group Policy Management Console

Administrators can use Group Policy to define settings and to allow actions to be performed by users and computers. Enterprise users can use Group Policy to set policies in Active Directory that apply to a specified site, domain, or organizational unit, as opposed to local policies. Policy-based management simplifies the tasks of System update operations, application installation, user profiles, and desktop system locking.

The Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is expected to be used as an add-on program component of Windows Server 2003, which provides a new framework for managing Group Policy. With GPMC, Group Policy will be simpler to use, and this advantage will enable more enterprise users to better use Active Directory and take advantage of its powerful management capabilities.

3. Policy result set

The Resultant Set of Policy (RSoP) tool allows an administrator to view Group Policy effects on a target user or computer. With RSoP, enterprise users will have powerful and flexible basic tools to plan, monitor Group Policy, and resolve Group Policy issues.

RSoP is a structure provided in the form of a group of Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. These snap-in managers let administrators identify and analyze the current set of policies in two modes: Logon mode and schedule mode. In logon mode, an administrator can access information that has been applied to a specific target. In planning mode, an administrator can see how the policy will apply to the target and then check the results before deploying the changes to the Group Policy.

4, Volume Shadow copy Restore

As part of the Volume Shadow Copy service, this feature enables administrators to configure point-in-time copies of critical data volumes without disrupting service. These replicas can then be used for service restore or archiving. Users can retrieve archived versions of their documents, and these versions that are saved on the server are not visible.

5. Internet Information Services 6.0

Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 is a fully functional Web server with Web applications and XML Web services enabled. IIS 6.0 was completely redesigned with the new fault-tolerant process model, which greatly improved the reliability of Web sites and applications.

Now, IIS can separate a single WEB application or multiple sites into a separate process, called an application pool, that communicates directly with the operating system kernel. When more active space is provided on the server, this feature increases throughput and the capacity of the application, effectively reducing hardware requirements. These separate application pools will prevent an application or site from destroying an XML Web service or other Web application on the server.

IIS also provides stateful monitoring to discover, recover, and prevent WEB application failures. On Windows Server 2003, Microsoft asp.net uses the new IIS process model locally. These advanced application state and detection capabilities can also be used for existing applications running under Internet information Server 4.0 and IIS 5.0, most of which do not require any modification.

6, integrated. NET Framework

The Microsoft. NET Framework is a programming model for Microsoft. NET-attached software and technologies for building, deploying, and running Web applications, smart client applications, and XML Web services that use standard protocols such as SOAP, XML, and HTT (P) to expose their functions programmatically on the network.

The. NET framework provides an efficient standards-based environment for integrating existing investments with a new generation of applications and services.

In addition, it helps enterprise users solve problems with deploying and operating Internet-wide applications.

With the. NET Framework fully integrated within the Windows Server 2003 operating system, developers can liberate themselves from writing "piping" code to focus their energies on achieving real business value. The. NET Framework takes into account integration and management details, Reduced coding complexity and increased consistency.

7, Command line management

The command line structure of the Windows Server 2003 family has been significantly enhanced, enabling administrators to perform most administrative tasks without using a graphical user interface. Most important is the ability to perform most tasks by using the information store enabled by Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). This WMI command line (WMIC) feature provides a simple command-line interface, interacts with existing shell and utility commands, and can be easily extended by scripts or other management-oriented applications.

In summary, the more powerful command-line features in the Windows Server 2003 series are combined with ready-made scripts to contend with the capabilities of other operating systems that typically have higher ownership costs. Administrators who are accustomed to using the command line to manage UNIX or Linux systems can continue to manage from the command line in the Windows Server 2003 family.

8. Cluster (8-node support)

This service is available only for Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition, which provides high availability and scalability for mission-critical applications such as databases, messaging systems, and file and print services. Maintain consistent communication by enabling multiple servers (nodes) to work together. If a node in the cluster is unavailable because of an error or maintenance, another node will immediately start providing the service, a process known as failover. Users who are accessing the service will continue their activities without perceiving that the service is now provided by another server (node).

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003 Datacenter editions support a server cluster configuration of up to 8 nodes.

9. Secure wireless LAN (802.1X)

Based on the support of the Windows Server 2003 series for 802.1X, companies can seek a security model that will ensure that all physical access is authorized and encrypted. With 802.1X based wireless access points or options, companies can ensure that only trusted systems can connect to a protected network and exchange packets. Because the dynamic key is determined by 802.1X, many known issues associated with wired Device privacy (WEP) (used by IEEE 802.11 network) will significantly improve the 802.1X wireless network encryption.

This feature provides security and performance improvements for wireless local area networks (LANs), such as automatic key management, user authentication, and authorization prior to accessing the LAN. When wired ethernet is used in a public place, it also provides access control to the Ethernet network.

10, Emergency Management Services: no peripheral server support

The "No peripheral server" feature enables IT administrators to install and manage computers without a monitor, VGA display adapter, keyboard, or mouse. Emergency Management Services is a new feature that enables IT administrators to perform remote management and system recovery tasks through a network or other standard remote administration tools and mechanisms when they are unable to use the server.