Windows Server 2003 for Better User Services

Most of the improvements in Windows Server 2003 covered so far in this chapter typically occur behind the scenes from the users and are not something that day-to-day users would notice or appreciate. The services described in this section address tools and technologies that users will directly be able to see and notice significant benefits. These services include improved file management using Distributed File System, better file redundancy and fault tolerance with DFS, and print queue redundancy that will minimize printer interruption or print operation downtime.

File Management with Distributed File System

Windows Server 2003 has a much improved Distributed File System than what was available in Windows 2000, and has been further advanced with the Windows 2003 R2 update. In most organizations, files are distributed across multiple servers throughout the enterprise. Users access file shares that are geographically distributed but also can access file shares sitting on several servers in a site within the organization. In many organizations, when file shares were originally created years ago, server performance, server disk capacity, and the workgroup nature of file and print server distribution created environments in which those organizations had a file share for every department and every site. Thus, files are typically distributed throughout an entire organization across multiple servers.

Windows Server 2003 Distributed File System (DFS) and Windows Server 2003 Distributed File System Replication (DFSR) in Windows 2003 R2 enables an organization to combine file shares to fewer servers and create a file directory tree not based on a server-by-server or share-by-share basis, but rather an enterprisewide directory tree. This allows an organization to have a single directory spanning files from multiple servers throughout the enterprise.

Note

DFSR performs a bit-level replication of data between servers, whereas DFS performs replication at the file level. This means that when a file is modified with DFSR, only a few bits of changed data are replicated to other DFS storage locations as opposed to replicating an entire file.

Because the DFSR directory is a logical directory that spans the entire organization with links back to physical data, the actual physical data can be moved without having to make changes to the way the users see the logical DFS directory. This enables an organization to add or delete servers, or move and consolidate information however it works best within the organization.

DFSR is a significant function that benefits user access to information, and Chapter 30 of this book is dedicated to DFSR and the best practices around planning and implementing DFSR in an organization.

Redundancy and Fault Tolerance of Data with DFSR

In addition to having DFSR provide better manageability to data than ever before, DFSR also provides redundancy and fault tolerance on file data. A built-in DFSR technology called DFS replicas enables an organization to create redundancy and business continuity to its DFSR data. DFSR redundancy and fault tolerance are covered in Chapter 30.

Redundancy with Printer Queues

Many organizations take for granted reliable printer operations and management, and because of the reliability of printing in previous versions of the Windows operating system, print queue redundancy might not be high on an organization's priority list. Windows Server 2003 helps an organization plan again for the potential of print queue failure and provides redundancy to printer queues.

This function allows an organization to set up failover and enables print queues to be stored on multiple servers, thus providing failover in the event of a print queue server failure. Print queue fault tolerance is covered in Chapter 3.