Microsoft Windows Server 2003

The Windows 2003 Server consists of four editions: Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter and a new Web Edition. The Web Edition is a lightweight, low-cost ser-ver suitable for non-mission-critical file/print sharing or hosting of ASP .NET webpages. Designed as a Web server, it lacks several enterprise-level features such as clustering and Internet authentication ser-vice. The Windows 2003 Web Edition is obtainable via selected partner channels and is not available for retail.

User interface: The new server boasts a comprehensive set of command-line tools for more efficient scripting. An example is "whoami" a command fami-liar to Unix administrators.All editions come with the Internet Information Server (IIS) 6, which is a significant rewrite of the previous version. IIS 6 is Microsoft's web server for hosting ASP .NET and XML web services. All editions also come with inherent support for the Micro-soft .NET framework.

64-bit versions: The 64-bit versions of the Enterprise and Datacenter Editions are available for Itanium-based hardware. The Datacenter Edition supports Intel's new Hyper-Threading technology which allows a single pro-cessor to execute multiple threads simultaneously. An interesting new feature is "hot-add memory". For hardware, which supports the insertion of new RAM chips without powering down, this feature allows memory to be added and made available to the computer dynamically without needing a reboot.

New licensing mode: Microsoft is offering the "per user" (or user-based) option. Under this scheme, it doesn't matter how many devices a single user is using to access the server; one pays for each user connected. This option is considered timely because a flood of non-PC devices like cellphones and PDAs will soon be able to connect to the Windows Server.

The successor to Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 (codename Whistler Server, also known as Windows NT 5.2) is a step in the evolution of Microsoft's server operating systems. Windows Server 2003, released on April 25, 2003, takes Windows 2000 Server, and brings compatibility and other features from Windows XP. Unlike Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003 boots up with none of the server components turned on, to reduce the attack vectors for new install. Also Windows Server 2003 includes compatibility modes to allow older code to run with more stability. It also includes enhancements to various services such as the IIS web server. In particular it was made more compatible with Windows NT 4.0 domain-based networking. Incorporating and upgrading an Windows NT 4.0 domain to Windows 2000 was considered difficult and time consuming, and generally was considered an all or nothing upgrade particularly when dealing with Active Directory. Windows Server 2003 brought in enhanced Active Directory compatibility, and better deployment support, to ease the transition from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP Professional.

Initially, the product was to be called "Windows .NET Server 2003," to promote the integrated enterprise framework net. In this improved Microsoft server, performance of ASP.NET  has improved and integration is tighter. However, due to fears of confusing the market about what ".NET" represents and responding to criticism, Microsoft removed .NET from the name. This allowed the name .NET to exclusively apply to the .NET framework, as previously it had appeared that .NET was just a tag for a generation of Microsoft products. Microsoft launched the new product on April 24, 2003