Chapter 1. Overview of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 System Administration

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 represents a major advance in reliability, availability, and manageability. Not only is the operating system more versatile than its predecessors, but it also builds on the revolutionary system management and administration concepts introduced with Windows 2000, including

• Active Directory directory service

  An extensible and scalable directory service that uses a namespace based on the Internet standard Domain Name System (DNS).

• IntelliMirror

  Change and configuration management features that support mirroring of user data and environment settings as well as central management of software installation and maintenance.

• Security Architecture

  The architecture provides improvements for smart cards, public and private encryption keys, and security protocols. It also features tools for analyzing system security and for applying uniform security settings to groups of systems.

• Terminal Services

  Services that allow you to remotely log on to and manage other Windows Server 2003 systems.

• Windows Script Host

  A scripting environment for automating common administration tasks , such as creating user accounts or generating reports from event logs.

Although Windows Server 2003 has dozens of other new features, each of the features just listed has far-reaching effects on how you perform administrative tasks. None has more effect than Active Directory technology. A sound understanding of Active Directory structures and procedures is essential to your success as a Windows Server 2003 systems administrator.

That said, the Windows Server 2003 security architecture also has a far-reaching effect on how you perform administrative tasks. Through Active Directory and administrative templates, you can apply security settings to workstations and servers throughout the organization. Thus, rather than managing security on a machine-by-machine basis, you can manage security on an enterprise-wide basis.

Still, one of the biggest changes has to do with the realignment of product families. Clients systems are now organized under the Windows XP umbrella and server systems are now organized under the Windows Server 2003 umbrella. The focus of this book is on managing the Windows Server 2003 family of operating systems. If you want to learn more about managing Windows XP, a good resource is Microsoft Windows XP Professional Administrator's Pocket Consultant (Microsoft Press, 2001).