1.2 What Is Microsoft .NET?

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.NET is a set of Microsoft-based technologies that can be used to connect systems, devices, and people, using the Internet or an intranet as a backbone. .NET is being embraced by a range of Microsoft products, which makes the design, development, and deployment of solutions a lot easier than it had been in the past.

A lot of .NET functionality is facilitated through Extensible Markup Language (XML) Web services. These are small, reusable applications or pieces of code written in XML that allow data to be sent between otherwise disconnected sources (see Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1: XML Web services.

Microsoft has a number of server-based products that have been cobranded as .NET Enterprise Servers. These products perform various tasks-from database management with SQL Server to business-to- business messaging with BizTalk Server. In reality the amount of '.NETness' in these products has varied due to the product release cycles being out of phase with the launch of .NET. Within a couple of years all of the servers will be fully .NET with associated XML-based Web services features (see Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2: .NET Enterprise Servers-a logical view.

The current .NET Enterprise Server products include the following:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2000-a relational database product

• Microsoft BizTalk Server 2002-a business-to-business messaging product

• Microsoft Commerce Server 2002-a Web site retailing product, updating Microsoft Site Server

• Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server-an Internet firewall product that supports caching to improve the delivery of site pages, updating Microsoft Proxy Server

• Microsoft Application Center Server-a support product used for scaling out and managing a solution across multiple servers

• Microsoft Content Management Server-a Web site content manager that uses a database-driven content approach

• Microsoft Host Integration Server-the Update to SNA Server that provides access to the world of IBM SNA

• Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server-document management and portal solution that permits searching and sharing of documents and other assets

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server, and Datacenter Server-a server-based platform for deploying .NET solutions

• Microsoft Project Server-a product used to share project-related and resource information

• Microsoft Operations Manager-a provider of system management tools across the enterprise

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