Also popular under the name of Win2K3, Windows Server 2003 is a server operating system released by Microsoft on April 24, 2003. It is more scalable and ensures much better performance as compared to its predecessor, Windows 2000. In fact, since its introduction, some more versions have been released to the market. The latest is Windows Server 2008, released on February 4, 2008.
With Microsoft Windows Server 2003 installed on your system, there are several benefits you can take advantage of:
• In order to increase default security, Win2K3 disables many services by default and also has a built-in firewall.
• Offers Internet Information Services (IIS) v6.0, which is known to be a significantly improved version of IIS.
• There is a significant improvement in the Message Queuing process.
• The user himself can manage his server now. Win2K3 comes with the role management administrative tool that allows an administrator to choose the functionality they want the server to provide.
• With a drastic improvement in Active Directory, it is now possible to run multiple instances of the directory server. Also, the user can now disable classes from the schema.
• The group policy management system and administration policies have been improved with Win2K3.
• For lost files, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 offers a backup system that helps to restore them.
• It has an improved disk management, which allows you to make backup copies from the shadows of the files, that is, when they are open or in use.
• Another Microsoft Windows 2003 initiative is the introduction of improved command line tools and scripts, which allow a full command shell to be brought to the next version of Windows.
• Last but not least, it supports a hardware based “watchdog timer”. When the system does not respond with a certain period of time, then this timer restarts the server.
For different types of businesses and other activities, Windows Server 2003 is available in various editions. To meet targets of different sizes, you can choose from various categories. However, all of these variants of Windows Server 2003 can connect to printers and share files with other systems. It also acts as an application server, stores message queues, provides email services, acts as an X.509 certificate server, authenticates users, serves transmission media, provides LDAP directory services, and performs other server-facing functions.
One of the most recent and crucial services offered with the installation of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 is the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), which is also known as detarring. Without Win2K3, this feature is disabled by default. It is one of the most beneficial features, because it is inserted to deliberately create delays in certain SMTP communications that are associated with spam or other unwanted traffic. There are certain communications that, in order to be most effective, generate a high volume of legitimate traffic and this could be slowed down by just tar pitting.