Windows Server 2003 Technology Primer - Understanding the Windows Server 2003 Operating System (Page 2 of 20 ) Whereas the Windows .NET Framework is the set of tools and technologies used for application development, the Windows Server 2003 product is a full network operating system. As a traditional network operating system, Windows Server 2003 can serve in the following roles: File and print server—As a file and print server, the Windows Server 2003 system can provide network users with centralized access to data files or can act as a print queue server to host multiple printers. Several improvements have been made in Windows Server 2003 for file security (covered in Chapter 12, "Server-Level Security"), file server fault tolerance (covered in Chapter 30, "Filesystem Fault Tolerance [DFS]"), and the configuration of redundant print services (covered in Chapter 3, "Installing Windows Server 2003"). Web server—In Windows Server 2003, Web servers take on a much more expanded role than they did with early Windows NT or even Windows 2000 Web environments. Rather than just hosting static HTML Web pages, Windows Server 2003 participates in Web farms that distribute dynamic Web content with network load balancing (covered in Chapter 31, "System-Level Fault Tolerance [Clustering/Network Load Balancing]"). Application server—With the release of the Windows Server 2003 operating system, ongoing updates to the applications that run on the Windows Server 2003 system will be released regularly. Some of the applications that come with Windows Server 2003 include Windows Terminal Services for thin client computing access (covered in Chapter 27, "Terminal Services"), Windows Media Server for video and audio hosting and broadcasting (covered in Chapter 37, "Windows Media Services"), and utility server services such as DNS and DHCP (covered in Chapters 9, "Domain Name System," and 10, "DHCP/WINS/Domain Controllers"). Add-ons to Windows Server 2003 include Windows Server 2003 editions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, SharePoint Portal Server 2003, BizTalk Server 2004, and ISA Server 2004. Windows .NET application host—New to Windows Server 2003 is the capability for the server to act as a host system for the execution of Windows .NET Framework applications. With built-in Internet Information Server version 6 (covered in Chapter 11, "Internet Information Services"), Windows .NET applications can be copied straight to the Windows Server 2003 for execution.
This book focuses on the Windows Server 2003 operating system and the planning, migration, security, administration, and support of the operating system. Windows Server 2003 is also the base network operating system on top of which all future Windows server applications will be built.  This chapter is from Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Unleashed, by Rand Morimoto, et al. (Sams Publishing, 2004, ISBN: 0672326671). Check it out at your favorite bookstore today.
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