Windows Server made its name in the industry through its integrated application support capabilities. Whereas other network operating systems only provided file and print services, Windows would also support the ability to run applications. WS08 is no slouch in this matter either. It includes vastly improved application support through the following features:
• Windows System Resource Manager (WSRM) Which was first released as an add-on to Windows Server 2003 and provides the ability to completely control the assignation of resources to applications through defined policies.
• Terminal Services Has been improved through the addition of a new Terminal Services Gateway, which lets Terminal Services run over the HTTP protocol; RemoteApp, which simply publishes an application to an end user, making the Terminal Services experience completely transparent; and TS Web Access, which lets users access Terminal Services through a browser interface.
• IIS 7.0 Is a vastly revamped version of Microsoft’s flagship Web server. • The Application Server Role Has been enhanced to support all of the new
functionality available in .NET Framework versions 2.0 and 3.0, as well as other application changes.
• Internet Explorer 7 Provides a more protected browser with the ability to better control the Web experience.
• Failover Clustering Has been enhanced to eliminate dependence on a local quorum or on the disk that maintained consistency between cluster nodes.
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• Windows SharePoint Services Is a team-based collaboration environment that is now an add-on to the WS08 code.
• Windows Activation Service Is a new service that manages application pool and worker processes in IIS 7.0.
• Fax Server Is a new integrated facsimile system.
Each of these features is described in detail in the following tables.
Feature Windows System Resource Manager
Description: Application that lets you control resource allocation (CPU and RAM) to applications running on a server.
Category: Application Infrastructure
Feature: New ✓ Improvement Update Replacement
Feature Source: ✓ WS08 Vista WS03 R2 WS03 Service Packs
Installation: By Default ✓ Add-on Through Server Manager Custom
Applies to: ✓ Small ✓ Medium ✓ Large Organizations
Replaced Feature
• Upgrade from previous version
Benefits
• Improves system performance and reduces potential application conflicts for resources.
• Creates more predictable user experience because the application is guaranteed access to the resources it has been allocated.
Functions
• Policy-based resource allocation to applications.
• Controls application management as well as user management on Terminal Services servers.
• Can rely on conditional policies to make the best use of hot-add hardware in stand-alone or clustered environments.
• Integrates with Web pools through the application pools in IIS.
• Can be used to capture resource usage statistics and store them in SQL Server. Can include data from multiple servers into a single reporting database.
• Available in all editions of WS08.
Feature Terminal Services Core Features
Description: The Terminal Server role provides the ability to open remote sessions on other computers and servers. It includes new functionality in Windows Server 2008 as well as new server roles.
Category: Application Infrastructure
Feature: New Improvement ✓ Update Replacement
Feature Source: ✓ WS08 Vista WS03 R2 WS03 Service Packs
Feature Terminal Services Core Features
Installation: By Default ✓ Add-on Through Server Manager Custom
Applies to: ✓ Small ✓ Medium ✓ Large Organizations
Replaced Feature • None
Benefits
• Allows authorized users to connect to Terminal Services or Remote Desktop connections from their desktops.
Functions
• Supports the Remote Desktop Connection version 6.x.
• Provides Plug and Play redirection for media players and digital cameras.
• Provides support for the redirection of Windows Embedded for Point of Service devices.
• Display resolutions with Terminal Services now support display ratios of 16:9 or 16:10 and resolutions of 1680 × 1050 or 1920 × 1200. The maximum resolution is 4096 × 2048. Resolutions can span several monitors. In addition, resolution will automatically address the graphical theme from the user’s desktop, eliminating the need to modify the interface on the Terminal Server.
• Can also redirect devices that use Microsoft Point of Service (POS) for .NET 1.11.
• Can provide Aero interface features to end users.
• Can also install the TS license server to manage all client access licenses.
Feature Terminal Services Printing
Description: New Terminal Server feature that reduces TS print management overhead.
Category: Application Infrastructure
Feature: New ✓ Improvement Update Replacement
Feature Source: ✓ WS08 Vista WS03 R2 WS03 Service Packs
Installation: By Default Add-on Through Server Manager ✓ Custom
Applies to: ✓ Small ✓ Medium ✓ Large Organizations
Replaced Feature • None
Benefits
• Eliminates error messages related to print connection configuration when opening a TS session.
• Simplifies TS printing for users.
Functions
• Relies on new Group Policy setting that lets you redirect only the default client printer.
• Uses the TS Easy Print driver to enable users to print from a remote application to the correct printer on their client system.
• Requires Remote Desktop Connection version 6.1 and .NET Framework 3.0 SP 1 on the client system.
• No need to install client printer drivers on the TS server.
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Feature Terminal Services Gateway
Description: New Terminal Services server role that allows remote users to connect to remote sessions from any Internet-connected device through firewalls and network address translation (NAT) devices.
Category: Application Infrastructure
Feature: ✓ New Improvement Update Replacement
Feature Source: ✓ WS08 Vista WS03 R2 WS03 Service Packs
Installation: By Default Add-on Through Server Manager ✓ Custom
Applies to: ✓ Small ✓ Medium ✓ Large Organizations
Replaced Feature • None
Benefits
• Allows authorized users to connect to Terminal Services or Remote Desktop connections from anywhere on the Internet.
• Eliminates the need for VPN connections to access applications remotely.
Functions
• Can connect to the corporate network from the Internet over an encrypted HTTPS connection without the need to configure VPN connections by redirecting all remote desktop protocol (RDP) connections that normally run on port 3389 to port 443 using an HTTP Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) tunnel. This means that a PKI certificate is required for the server.
• Excellent for home-based employees because it removes the need for VPN connections.
• Gives IT complete access to and control over specific resources on the network.
• Supports policy-based definition of the conditions that must be met for users to connect to resources on the network through connection authorization policies (CAP—access to TS) and resource authorization policies (RAP—access to remote desktops). Links to Network Access Protection (NAP) features in WS08.
• Provides complete event monitoring for TS Gateway.
• The console lets administrators view details about active user connections, set maximum connection limits, and perform other actions to control access to network resources through the TS Gateway server.
• Works in conjunction with NAP to isolate computers that attempt connections but that do not meet corporate security guidelines. To do so requires the use of a Network Policy Server (NPS), not a TS Gateway.
Feature Terminal Services RemoteApp
Description: Enables organizations to provide access to standard Windows programs from virtually any location to users of any Windows Vista-based computer or Windows XP systems that have the new Remote Desktop Connection client installed, using either the Internet or the intranet.
Category: Application Infrastructure
Feature: ✓ New Improvement Update Replacement
Feature Source: ✓ WS08 Vista WS03 R2 WS03 Service Packs
Installation: By Default ✓ Add-on Through Server Manager Custom
Feature Terminal Services RemoteApp
Applies to: Small ✓ Medium ✓ Large Organizations
Replaced Feature • None
Benefit
• Provides seamless access to applications running on Terminal Services.
Functions
• Programs that are accessed remotely through Terminal Services appear as if they are running on the end user’s local computer.
• Supports Windows Vista clients and Windows XP SP2 with the addition of the new Remote Desktop Connection client version 6.0.
• Supports centralized application management while keeping the user experience the same as if the application was installed locally.
• Users do not need to open a Remote Desktop session first; they access applications directly.
• Simplifies application deployment through the simple deployment of a Remote Desktop Connection (.rdp) file.
• Administrators can view and manage all connections to remote applications.
Feature Terminal Services Web Access
Description: A Terminal Services role that allows users to connect to TS sessions from a Web browser.
Category: Application Infrastructure
Feature: New Improvement ✓ Update Replacement
Feature Source: ✓ WS08 Vista WS03 R2 WS03 Service Packs
Installation: By Default Add-on Through Server Manager ✓ Custom
Applies to: Small ✓ Medium ✓ Large Organizations
Replaced Feature • None
Benefits
• Removes the need to deploy either RemoteApps or Remote Desktop connections to Terminal Servers.
• Provides easy Web interface to applications and programs.
Functions
• Easily deploy TS RemoteApps over the Web internally or externally.
• List of TS RemoteApps is dynamically updated on the web page.
• Includes the Terminal Services RemoteApps Web part to add to a WSS Team Site page.
• Supports Vista, XP, WS03, and WS08 clients.
• Integrates Terminal Services sessions if users access more than one program from the same Terminal Server.
• Web pages listing programs can be customized for different users, showing them only the programs they have access to.
• ActiveX component is already contained within the RDC client version 6, so no additional download is required.
• Users can specify if they are using public or private computers; credentials are not saved on public computers.
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Feature Terminal Services Session Broker
Description: New Terminal Server role service that allows remote users to reconnect to a TS session in a load-balanced server farm.
Category: Application Infrastructure
Feature: New ✓ Improvement Update Replacement
Feature Source: ✓ WS08 Vista WS03 R2 WS03 Service Packs
Installation: By Default Add-on Through Server Manager ✓ Custom
Applies to: ✓ Small ✓ Medium ✓ Large Organizations
Replaced Feature • None
Benefits
• Provides continuous session experience to end user when they need to reconnect to a session on a server farm.
• Can now load-balance this feature.
Functions
• TS Session Broker load balancing will provide continuity for the session broker service.
• Works with the DNS service instead of the Network Load Balancing service.
• Configure multiple TS Session Broker IP addresses in the same DNS entry, and the connection will be made to the first available IP address.
Feature Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0
Description: IIS provides a unified platform for Web publishing that includes ASP.NET and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).
Category: Application Infrastructure
Feature: New ✓ Improvement Update Replacement
Feature Source: ✓ WS08 Vista WS03 R2 WS03 Service Packs
Installation: By Default ✓ Add-on Through Server Manager Custom
Applies to: ✓ Small ✓ Medium ✓ Large Organizations
Replaced Features
• All previous versions of IIS
• Internet Server Application Programming Interface (ISAPI) filters and extensions
Benefits
• Improved administration tools, with better support for delegation.
• Improved security and reduced attack surface through modular component implementation.
Feature Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 Functions
• IIS 7.0 has been completely rewritten to provide a more secure Web platform by default and to fully integrate ASP.NET with the base IIS Web functions.
• A new management interface provides better diagnostics and the ability to fully delegate management of IIS components.
• IIS installation is componentized into 40 different feature modules so that you can install only what you need. This simplifies management, since you do not need to patch what you do not install. It also improves security, since you can choose which components to run.
• The IIS configuration is based on the existing .NET Framework configuration store, which enables IIS settings to be stored alongside ASP.NET configurations in Web.config files. This provides one configuration store for all Web platform configuration settings.
• Administration tools include a new graphical mode console as well as the APPCMD.EXE command-line tool. Settings can be edited directly while applications are running.
• Delegated administrative tasks include individual sites and application configurations.
• The rewrite of IIS is such that you can now rely on ASP.NET authentication modules, such as Forms- based authentication or Uniform Resource Locator (URL) authorization. In addition, IIS now functions with a new core server module. Additional core server modules can be developed and replace the former ISAPI filters and extensions from previous versions of IIS.
• The integration with ASP.NET lets developers use managed code in all instances and for all Web functionality.
Feature Application Server
Description: The Application Server role is an environment for building, deploying, and executing applications and Web services. It is made up of several components, including IIS, .NET Framework versions 2.0 and 3.0, ASP.NET, message queuing, COM+, and Web services. Because of its built-in components, this role supports rapid application development (RAD).
Category: Application Infrastructure
Feature: New ✓ Improvement Update Replacement
Feature Source: WS08 ✓ Vista WS03 R2 WS03 Service Packs
Installation: By Default Add-on Through Server Manager ✓ Custom
Applies to: ✓ Small ✓ Medium ✓ Large Organizations
Replaced Feature
• Previous versions of this role
Benefits
• Reduces attack surfaces because all code produced with the .NET Framework is managed code, making it rely on the integrated Code Access Security.
• Reduces development time because many of the functions developers need in their applications are already integrated with the components of this role.
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Feature Application Server Functions
• Includes .NET Framework versions 2.0 and 3.0 functionality, along with new features such as Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Workflow Foundation (WFF) and the new Windows Color System (WCS).
• WCF provides support for building and running connected systems. It unifies a series of different technologies into one single platform, including transport mechanisms, security systems, messaging patterns, encoding, network topologies, and hosting models.
• WPF relies on Windows Vista’s new graphical features to blend together the user interface, documents, and media content. It includes support for Tablet PCs, a better imaging and printing pipeline, accessibility and user interface automation, data-driven visualization, and integration points for enhancing application experiences through the Windows shell.
• WFF provides a platform for coding and running workflow-based applications. It includes support for both system and human workflows, as well as workflows for line-of-business applications, document-centric workflows, composite workflows for service-oriented applications, business rule-driven workflows, and, finally, system management workflows.
• WCS provides better fidelity for color at all levels of the system, including screen-to-print matching, better color appearance, and support for higher-fidelity printing.
• This role is easily installed through Server Manager.
Feature Internet Explorer 7
Description: Microsoft’s flagship Internet browser now provides a streamlined look and feel, using tabbed pages to let you more easily browse multiple sites at the same time. Internet Explorer (IE) 7 now provides a much more secure platform for Internet browsing.
Category: Application Infrastructure
Feature: New ✓ Improvement Update Replacement
Feature Source: WS08 ✓ Vista WS03 R2 WS03 Service Packs
Installation: ✓ By Default Add-on Through Server Manager Custom
Applies to: ✓ Small ✓ Medium ✓ Large Organizations
Replaced Feature
• All previous versions of Internet Explorer
Benefit
• Provides an easier and more secure Web experience.
Functions
• IE 7 includes a completely new look that is easier to work with. Tabbed views let you view several different pages in the same browsing session and display thumbnails of all of the open tabs.
• IE 7 includes the ability to properly print any web page or Web content.
• You can include Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds into your Web browsing experience, enabling you to receive new pages or content in the background and viewing them when you are ready.
• New search technology lets you choose from a variety of providers, although Windows Live is the default search tool.
• New anti-phishing and malicious code control features provide a safer browsing environment by providing clear interface exposure to suspicious or malicious sites.
Feature Failover Clustering
Description: Failover clustering offers the ability to link servers together to provide high availability of networked resources, such as database or e-mail applications. Failover clustering focuses on applications known as back-end services.
Category: Application Infrastructure
Feature: New ✓ Improvement Update Replacement
Feature Source: ✓ WS08 Vista WS03 R2 WS03 Service Packs
Installation: By Default Add-on Through Server Manager ✓ Custom
Applies to: Small ✓ Medium ✓ Large Organizations
Replaced Feature
• Microsoft Cluster Service
Benefit
• Provides high availability for mission-critical applications.
Functions
• Includes a new validation feature to let you know if the resources you intend to cluster are ready for failover clustering. Supported tests include nodes, network, and storage.
• Improves cluster setup and migration to simplify the upgrade to WS08.
• The interface has been improved to allow administrators to focus on applications, not the clusters themselves.
• The quorum resource—the resource that tells the cluster the status of its configuration—is no longer a single point of failure, as it can now be distributed geographically and does not need to be directly attached to the cluster nodes.
• Cluster configuration files can now be used to generate new clusters.
• Administrators now have a private view of clustered file shares, telling them which are clustered and where they are located.
• Administrators can now “hot-add” storage resources to a cluster while it is running. In addition, WS08 clusters now support Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) partition tables (GPT), which, unlike master boot record (MBR) disks, can span over 2 terabytes (TB).
Feature Windows SharePoint Services
Description: Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 provides team-based collaboration services that allow users access to workspaces and shared documents through a browser interface.
Category: Application Infrastructure
Feature: New ✓ Improvement Update Replacement
Feature Source: ✓ WS08 Vista WS03 R2 WS03 Service Packs
Installation: By Default ✓ Add-on Through Server Manager Custom
Applies to: Small ✓ Medium ✓ Large Organizations
Replaced Feature
• Previous versions of WSS
Benefit
• Improves productivity by providing a richer collaboration environment than simple file shares (WSS is an add-on to WS08).
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Feature Windows SharePoint Services
Functions
• Improved administration tools centralize all management and administrative tasks. WSS also supports delegation of administrative tasks.
• New compliance features also improve management. For example, policies can now be configured for Web applications based on domain or server authentication zones. This allows administrators to create different policies for intranet and extranet zones.
• Better access controls allow users, even administrators, to view only the content they have access to, reducing web page clutter.
• Migrations from previous versions can be performed gradually, making it easier to upgrade complex sites without stopping critical business processes.
• New features allow you to rename both Web and database servers, as well as change the service accounts WSS relies on from one single administrative location and have the change take place immediately across an entire Web farm.
Feature Windows Process Activation Services
Description: This service is tied to IIS 7.0 and is designed to manage application pools and worker processes instead of the World Wide Web (WWW) Service.
Category: Application Infrastructure
Feature: ✓ New Improvement Update Replacement
Feature Source: ✓ WS08 Vista WS03 R2 WS03 Service Packs
Installation: By Default Add-on Through Server Manager ✓ Custom
Applies to: Small Medium ✓ Large Organizations
Replaced Feature
• Some functions of the WWW Service