Microsoft
Windows Server 2003 Aims For The Enterprise
Some
analysts say that Windows Server 2003 is just a nice upgrade for
Windows, adding fixes and features long anticipated.
Microsoft management doesn’t agree.
They are pretty sure that the newest version of their
server OS, announced on April 24, is a big step forward.
The
Windows Server comes in Standard, Enterprise, Data Center, and
Web Editions, each focused to the particular needs of its
environment
The
idea is that here, at least, is robust (really secure),
reliable, scaleable software, fully suitable for an enterprise
data center. Microsoft
thinks it's time for it to be just a vendor in its enterprise
customers and become one of the strategic partners in the
datacenter, helping to formulate IT strategy and design
solutions. Just
in case you don’t get it, Microsoft has a few strong proof
points. You won’t
be able to run some of its older standard applications on the
new server because they just aren’t up-to-snuff for this level
of quality and standards.
It does this through a set of core technologies
including:
 |
Availability:
Enhanced clustering support, failover load balancing
|
|
Security:
Common Language Runtime, IIS configured to default
for maximum security protection
|
|
Intelligent
File and Print Services to decrease TCO
|
|
Active
Directory: Increased
performance and flexibility
|
|
Management
Services: Microsoft Software Update Services (SUS) and
server configuration wizards. Group Policy Management
Console (GPMC)
|
|
Terminal
Services: Deliver
Windows applications to any computing device
|
|
XML
Web Services including UDDI Services and support for
Microsoft.NET
|
|
Windows
Media Services
|
Managing The Migration
The
question is, in a period of flat IT growth, how many customers
will pay for new operating systems?
Microsoft makes the case for lowering TCO by moving to
bigger, more centralized systems with better management tools.
It will save money in the long run, but it does cost
money to get there.
Microsoft
Exchange will be a big issue here.
Older versions can’t run on Windows Server 2003 (mainly
security design differences, as we understand it), so Exchange
users will need to upgrade to Exchange 2003 as they upgrade to
Windows Server 2003. Please note that Exchange 2003 isn’t quite ready yet, so a
little planning and patience will be required.
We suspect that some users will let the Exchange issue
move them to Server 2003, but at a somewhat slower pace.
Microsoft
is claiming fabulous performance for this product, especially
versus Linux. They
had some testing done on their behalf, which you can view at http://www.veritest.com/clients/reports/microsoft/ms_netbench.pdf
What
we don’t know (and aren’t really competent to understand) is
whether any tuning tricks were applied (that’s always the bane
of benchmark interpretation).
So we’ve asked some techies to take a look.
We’ll let you know if they have any interesting
comments.
The Licensing Thing
What
won’t be required is wasting money.
We saw a few uninformed articles that seemed to be saying
that customers who had signed up for Microsoft 6.0 Licensing
plans would now be stuck because they wouldn’t be able to move
over to Exchange 2003 without penalty.
We’ve discussed this with Microsoft licensing guru
Rebecca LaBrunerie and it isn’t true. If you’re on Software Assurance for a product, like
Exchange, you automatically are entitled to the upgrades.
If you’re on other programs, you can move within your
program (Select, Open, etc., without penalty.
Microsoft
agrees that there has been too much confusion in the past about
their licensing programs and has a campaign underway to make
sure customers get their (correct) information from Microsoft
rather than reading a muddled version elsewhere.
The good news is that you can always get the latest info
directly at http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/.
