XML Web Services and Windows Server 2003

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As mentioned previously, .NET-based Web services are deeply integrated into the Windows Server 2003 family. This feature offers developers the ability to quickly and reliably build, host, deploy, and use secure and connected solutions through XML Web services.

Members of the Windows Server 2003 Family

Windows Server 2003 comes in several flavors, depending on the function intended for it. While Windows 2000 comes in standard, advanced, and data center versions, Windows Server 2003 has four versions: Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, Datacenter Edition, and Web Edition.

Standard Edition

Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition is a flexible server that is best suited for small businesses and usage within organizational departments. Though it should not be deployed to house the company's massive database or missioncritical applications, it is good enough for most functions. Among its many features, it supports file and printer sharing, offers relatively secure Internet connectivity, and allows centralized desktop application deployment.

Enterprise Edition

Enterprise Edition is intended for businesses of all sizes as the platform for applications, Web services, and infrastructure. It offers higher reliability and performance than the Standard Edition, supporting up to eight processors, eight-node clustering, and up to 32 GB of memory. Enterprise Edition is available for Intel Itanium-based computers and will come out in a 32-bit version as well as a 64-bit version capable of supporting eight processors and 64 GB of RAM.

Datacenter Edition

Datacenter Edition is intended for business- and mission-critical applications demanding the highest levels of scalability and availability. It is the most powerful of the Server family, supporting up to 32-way SMP and 64 GB of RAM. It also provides eight-node clustering and load balancing services. A 64-bit computing platform will be made available capable of supporting 32 processors and 128 GB of RAM.

Web Edition

No doubt spurred on by the immense popularity of the Apache/Linux combo, Microsoft has come up with its own specialized Web server. Windows Server 2003 Web Edition is suitable for Web serving, as well as Web application hosting, Web pages, and XML Web services. It is primarily designed, though, to be used as an IIS Web server.

64-Bit Windows

Microsoft successfully made the leap from desktop operating system dominance to grabbing a hefty share of the server market. Now it is setting its sights on high-performance workstations and servers. After six years of development, Intel released its 64-bit Itanium processor and Microsoft shipped beta versions of compatible server and workstation operating systems. Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and others followed up with the necessary hardware. The whole idea was to create high performance at a good price; that is, offer the performance of Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) at the price of Intel servers. This new platform, IA-64, offers significant improvement in terms of floating-point performance to speed up activities such as three-dimensional modeling, human genome analysis, and special effects. Because it can access up to 15 TB of RAM, entire databases can reside in memory at access speeds 100 times greater than disk I/O.

64-Bit at a Glance

What is it? 64-bit Intel Itanium processors running 64-bit Microsoft Windows. The advantages include:

  • Larger addressable virtual memory (up to 16 TB)

  • Larger addressable physical memory (up to 64 GB)

  • Larger file systems

  • 64-bit wide data paths for increased processing speed

  • 64-bit or 128-bit floating point and integer register so that larger number quantities can be manipulated for technical and scientific applications

  • Higher availability

  • Use of the familiar Windows operating system

  • Backing from Microsoft, Intel, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, SAP, PeopleSoft, Oracle, VERITAS, and others.

Who needs 64 bit? Enterprises using high demand applications, including:

  • CAD/CAM/CAE

  • Geographic information systems

  • Movie editing and special effects production

  • Large databases

  • Data mining

  • E-commerce

  • Genome sequencing

  • Fluid dynamics

  • Encryption

  • Multimedia serving

  • Web caching

  • Software development

While 64-bit processing is not new to Linux/Unix, bringing Microsoft into the loop adds development strength. Fortunately, developers were smart enough to leave IA-64 on the standard Windows programming model. That way, 32-bit developers and independent software vendors do not have to learn a new platform. The 64-bit architecture also employs the familiar 32-bit user interface.

Early IA-64 releases were geared primarily toward developers and early adopters. Wells Fargo Bank, for example, ran a pilot to optimize a 64-bit version of a SAS Institute database. The company used a 64-bit Windows 2000 Advanced Server LE on a Compaq ProLiant 590 server with 8 GB RAM and dual 650-MHz Itanium processors. The results were compared with a 32-bit version of the database running on another server with dual 650-MHz Xeon processors. The company has not noticed much difference in small databases, but with larger ones the 64-bit version is running faster, although it is not yet fully optimized. This project demonstrated some of the high-end strengths of 64-bit. Some of the tables Wells Fargo used for quantitative modeling had 600 million observations. By optimizing the SAS code, the bank saw increasingly better performance.

Microsoft released 32-bit and 64-bit versions of several Windows Server 2003 versions, and Intel has released its 2-G Itanium processor, McKinley, which will have enhanced compiler capabilities. The first 64-bit applications are now beginning to appear. Vendors such as Computer Associates, SAS Institute, BMC, SAP, J.D. Edwards, IBM, and VERITAS have ported 32-bit applications to the new platform.

The next two 64-bit processors, code-named Madison and Deerfield, are scheduled for release late in 2003 and will be built using the 0.13-micron fabrication process, but that does not mean that the 32-bit processor will disappear overnight. Microsoft and Intel intend to continue releasing 32-bit products for several more years. The sheer weight of independent software and hardware vendor support for Windows should mean that it gains acceptance quickly; however, 32-bit applications are likely to predominate for some time. Aberdeen Group predicts it will be at least 2004 before 64-bit Windows gains mainstream support. By that time, the marketplace will feel more comfortable that it is a hardened platform that is fully tested and ready for mission critical applications.



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Server Disk Management in a Windows Enviornment
Server Disk Management in a Windows Enviornment
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 197

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