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Windows 2003 takes the stability of Windows 2000 Server, and brings compatibility and other features from Windows XP. Unlike Windows 2000 Server, 2003 boots up with none of the server components turned on, to reduce the attack vectors for new install. Also Windows 2003 includes compatibility modes to allow older code to run more stability. It also includes enhancements to various services such as the IIS web server. In particular it was made more compatible with NT 4 domain based networking. Incorporating and upgrading an NT 4 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 2003 brought in enhanced Active Directory compatibility, and better deployment support, to ease the transition from NT 4 to Windows 2003 and XP.

Initially, the product was to be called "Windows .NET Server 2003," to promote the integrated enterprise framework .NET (dot-net). In this improved Microsoft server, performance of ASP.NET (the successor of Active Server Pages) has improved and integration is tighter.

However, over 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.

1 Improvements

There are a number of improvements from Windows 2000 server, notably:

• Improvements to Active Directory (such as the ability to delete classes from the schemaThe word schema comes from the Greek word "" (schema) that means shape or more generally plan . The word schema can represent any of several different things: # In computer science, a schema is a model. In formal logic, a rule (usually recursively definab)
• Improvements to Group Policy handling and administration
• Improved disk management including the ability to backup from shadows of files, allowing the backup of open files.
• Improved scripting and command line tools. Part of Microsoft's initiative to bring a complete command shell to the next version of Windows.

2 Variants

This Microsoft server comes in several variants, each suited for a particular size and type of business:

1. Small Business Server
2. Web Edition
3. Standard Edition
4. Enterprise Edition
5. Datacenter Edition
6. Storage Server

2.1 Small Business Server

Windows Small Business Server 2003, SBS, is a low-cost entry into this product line, incorporating various restrictions upon networking, licensing, development tools, and application redundancy.

SBS is designed so it deploys everything that Microsoft feels that a small business would need on their first server. By default the install sets up Active Directory, a Sharepoint Portal Site, and an Exchange server. It also allows the easy setup of a basic firewall DHCP server and NAT router using two network cards. Also the interface makes it easier to a new administrator to manage.

SBS is also released with an enhanced package, Premium edition which includes the above plus SQL Server 2000 and ISA Server 2000.

SBS server has the following restrictions: [1]

• Only one computer in a domain can be running Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server.
• Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server must be the root of the Active Directory® forest.
• Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server cannot trust any other domains.
• A Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server domain cannot have any child domains.
• You can only operate Terminal Services in remote administration mode on the server running SBS 2003. (Change from SBS 2000 policy)
• Each additional server must have a Windows Server 2003 for Small Business Server client access license (CAL). You can use CALs for each user or for each device.