New File Print

What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services Microsoft Corporation Published: June 2003

Abstract File and print services are among the most critical in any organization. It is imperative that users have quick, guaranteed, and secure access to their data. Helping organizations to create highly available, well performing, and secure file and print services are amid the key improvements in Windows Server 2003.

Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper

The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication. This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property. © 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows 2000 Server, Windows NT Server 4.0 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper

Contents Contents................................................................................................................. .......................3 Introduction..................................................................................................................... ..............1 Windows Server File and Print Services Are More Manageable.................................... ..........3 Windows Server File and Print Services Make Users and IT More Productive........................6 Related Links.............................................................................................................................. ...9

Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper

Introduction File and print services are among the most critical in any organization. It is imperative that users have quick, guaranteed, and secure access to their data. Helping organizations to create highly available, well performing, and secure file and print services are amid the key improvements in Windows Server 2003.

Feature

Benefit

Key Scenarios

Notes

Volume Shadow

The ability to quickly create

All major backup independent

Introduced in Windows

Copy Service

point-in-time copies of data,

software vendors (ISVs) are

Server 2003

(VSS)

allowing easier and more

developing solutions based on

reliable backups of important

VSS to take advantage of this

organizational data, even

service.

while files are open.

By moving a point-in-time copy to

VSS significantly reduces a

another server, a business analyst

server’s backup window by

can query against the latest

providing on-disk, point-in-

company data without affecting

time recoverable data sets.

performance on the production system.

NTFS

Because NTFS offers reliable

NTFS allows reliable, secure, and

100-139 percent

Journaling File

file system recovery,

high performing access to data.

increase in

System

extremely large storage

performance over

media, and strong granular

Windows 2000 Server

security, organizations can be confident that their data is safer. Encrypting File

EFS creates a layer of

Since data on the disk is

Encryption of offline

System (EFS)

security that transparently

encrypted, even a mobile user

and Web folders now

encrypts data on the physical

whose sensitive organizational

possible

disk with no need for end user

data is lost or stolen will be safer

interaction, ensuring that data

from data theft.

is safer.

EFS files can be shared among multiple users

What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services

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Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper

Enhanced Anti-

Choose from a huge selection

Create a comprehensive anti-virus

New kernel level anti-

Virus Support

of enterprise anti-virus

strategy by using third-party tools

virus APIs

vendors to protect resources

to scan file servers.

in your organization from

Windows Hardware Quality Lab test suite

malicious code delivered by

and driver certification

viruses.

test process for antivirus and file system drivers New tools are available for third-party anti-virus vendors to enhance the performance and reliability of their products

Improved print

Improve administrator

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of

8-node clusters

cluster Support

productivity by making it

printers can be installed on a

supported in Windows

easier to install and configure

highly available print cluster

Server 2003, Standard

print clusters.

therefore allowing end users to

Edition and Windows

have continual access to their

Server 2003,

resources, even during a hardware

Enterprise Edition

failure.

Printer drivers automatically propagate to each node in the cluster

64-bit processor

Take advantage of the latest

File and print server consolidation

Introduced in Windows

support

and best performing hardware

can reduce administrative and

Server 2003

in the industry.

hardware costs dramatically.

Supports GUID Partitioning Table (GPT) Approximately 3,800 in-box 64-bit print drivers

What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services

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Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper

Improved Print

Users will get their printed

Organizations see the need to

Optimized file spooling

Performance

documents faster than ever.

consolidate print servers to lower

for higher print volume

total cost of operation (TCO)

management

and Availability

without losing performance or availability.

Kernel mode driver blocking Enhanced printer redirection through Terminal Services

Enhanced

Optimizing files on a server

Administrators can use the

Faster performance

Windows

can dramatically increase the

scheduled tasks feature to

than in Windows 2000

Defragmentation

performance and availability.

schedule disk defragmentation seamlessly optimizing the file

Tool

system. Administrators can also script disk defragmentation on servers using command line utilities.

Supports online defragmentation of the Master File Table (MFT) Defragmentation of any NTFS cluster size now possible Volume Shadow Copy support Command line scripting support

Increased

CHKDSK is a program that

Because NTFS has always been a

Performs 20-38

CHKDSK

verifies the logical integrity of

true journaling file system that

percent faster than

Performance

a file system on Windows.

supports file system recovery, it is

Windows 2000 Server

When CHKDSK encounters

very rare that a disk need to be

logical inconsistencies it takes

checked (less than 1percent of

actions to repair file system

unplanned outages require

data.

checking). However, in Windows Server 2003, CHKDSK performs faster, requiring even less downtime.

Windows Server File and Print Services Are More Manageable IT Professionals who are responsible for managing vital organizational data using file and print services asked for the ability to deliver these services at an overall reduced cost. Windows Server 2003 includes some important advances that help achieve the objective of lower tco.

Feature

Benefit

Key Scenarios

What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services

Comments

3

Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper

Enhanced

Build a single, hierarchical view

Users that store and edit

Closest and dynamic

Distributed File

of multiple file servers and file

documents in many shares across

site selection

System (DFS)

server shares on a network.

multiple servers will be more

automatically directs

and File

DFS and FRS make files

productive by accessing this data

users to the closest

Replication

easier for users to locate, and

through a single unified

available physical

Services (FRS)

increase availability by

namespace, made possible by

replica of data

maintaining multiple replicas

DFS.

enabling highly

across distributed servers.

available access to data Also, if a server fails or an upgrade is taking place, users are automatically routed to another

Multiple DFS roots on

available server on the network that

a single Windows

has a replica of the data. The user

Server 2003,

remains unaware of any problem or

Enterprise Edition,

maintenance taking place.

allows increased namespace flexibility without requiring

Finally, DFS transparently redirects

additional servers

users to the closest replica of their data, reducing stress on the network.

Enhanced scripting and GUI administration makes it easy to setup, configure, and maintain a DFS infrastructure

What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services

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Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper

Improved

Storage Area Networks are

Administrators can control the

With vendor support,

Storage Area

significantly easier to use and

mounting of volumes with the aid of

ability to boot from

Network (SAN)

manage in Windows Server

a SAN friendly button; a benefit that

SAN is greatly

Friendliness

2003.

protects volumes from unintentional

enhanced

access, ensuring data is safe.

Multi-Path Input/Output (MPIO) provides the ability to use more than one physical path to access a storage device increasing reliability and availability Improved handling of fiber channel SANs Improved SAN Host Bus Adapter interoperability

Virtual Disk

Implements a single, uniform

Previously, each SAN vendor

Introduced in Windows

Service (VDS)

interface for managing disks

provided its own proprietary set of

Server 2003

making it easier to administer

programming interfaces for

storage investments.

managing its hardware, making it difficult to uniformly manage storage with one tool. Now, ISVs can develop applications to manage any hardware that has a VDS provider.

Headless

Headless server management

An IT administrator can deploy a

Emergency

Server

provides the ability to install

headless server mounted in a rack

Management Services

Management

and manage servers without a

or a wiring closet with no local

(EMS); this service

monitor, VGA display adaptor,

console.

allows the

keyboard, or mouse.

OEMs can also provide customers with servers that have no monitor and video card.

administrator to interact with a system that might not be available through the usual network mechanisms

What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services

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Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper

Configure Your

Makes it easier to set up a

An administrator can use this

Introduced in Windows

Server Wizard

server by helping guide

feature for finishing setup,

Server 2003

and Manage

administrators in installing the

configuring server roles, or setting

Your Server

role or roles they want the

up the configuration of first or

Wizard

server to perform in their

primary server on a network. File

business.

server and print server roles are supported.

Enhanced

Administrators gain powerful

An IT administrator can use

Ability to grow basic

Command Line

new command line utilities for

command line tools to automate

disks

Scripting

disk management tasks.

high volume or common server administration tasks via Visual Basic scripting or command batch

Perform various RAID configurations

files. This eliminates one-off

Shadow copy

operations that are often imposed

management

by the GUI management tools. This can help the IT administrator

File system tuning

reduce costs and streamline

The Print WMI

administration.

provider has been extensively expanded and enhanced since Windows 2000

Allows greater control of disk

Administrators can set quotas on

Introduced in Windows

space leading to better

disk space per user, per volume.

2000 Server

availability of disk space while

Policies can also be set up for

helping with capacity planning

wide-scale remote management of

efforts.

disk quotas.

Dynamic

Administrators can manage

Administrators can add new

Introduced in Windows

Volume

and configure disks easier

volumes, extend existing volumes,

2000 Server

Management

without impacting the end user.

add or break a mirror set, or repair

Disk Quotas

a RAID 5 array while the server is still online. Wide range of

Administrators will have an

Administrators can be assured that

Approximately 1,500

print devices

additional 3,800 print drivers

the latest printers will be supported

more print drivers

included with Windows Server

in Windows Server 2003 so that

included in the box

2003. Windows Server 2003

organizations can take advantage

than Windows 2000

also now includes wireless

in the latest hardware advances.

Server

(802.1X, Bluetooth) printing support.

Windows Server File and Print Services Make Users and IT More Productive As more business information becomes available in digital form, it can be analyzed creatively, searched faster, updated more easily, and shared more broadly. Windows Server 2003 provides a platform that

What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services

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Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper

can increase productivity even with the increased volume of information being stored by most organizations.

What's New in Windows Server Feature

Benefit

Key Scenarios

2003

Shadow Copies of Shared Folders

Users can quickly recover

Shadow copies of Shared Folders,

Introduced in Windows

deleted or changed files stored

in conjunction with My Document

Server 2003

on the network without

folder redirection, enables users'

administrator assistance,

documents and files to constantly be

increasing productivity and

backed up on the network and

reducing administrative costs.

makes them resilient to multiple types of data loss, including user error.

Enhanced My

Users will always have access

Administrators can redirect users'

User interface

Documents

to their data, even if they are

local files stored in the My

improvements make it

Folder

offline or the network

Documents folder to a file server.

easier to configure

Redirection

connection is down.

This makes backup easier by

folder redirection for

providing a centralized location for

administrators

all user data.

Redirected folders are

In addition, users can move

now automatically

between machines and still get

made available offline

access to their files increasing their productivity.

For organizations that have already deployed home directories, support is added for redirecting the My Documents folder to the already mapped users’ home directory

Printer

Users can search for printers

Users can search for a printer based

Introduced in Windows

location

based on information stored in

on criteria such as location, features

2000 Server

awareness

Active Directory to increase

(color prints, double-sided capable),

with Active

user productivity.

capacity (pages per minute,

Directory

memory) or any combination.

What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services

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Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper

Point and

Windows Server 2003

A user that is traveling to a remote

Introduced in Windows

print

automatically installs print

office in their organization can find a

NT 4 Server

drivers on users' machines,

local printer that meets his or her

with no administrative

needs by using Active Directory

overhead.

and be printing within seconds, without ever having to contact the helpdesk or administrator.

Content

Allows a fast, easy, and secure

Users can search in files that use

Introduced in Windows

indexing

way for users to search for

different formats and language,

2000 Server

information locally or on the

either through the Search command

network.

on the Start menu, or through HTML pages viewed in a browser.

Remote

Makes remote access to files

Users can maintain a consistent

Introduced in Windows

document

over the Web easier which

look and feel between navigating

2000 Server

sharing

increases user productivity.

the local file system, a networked drive, and a Web site. Users can

(WEBDAV)

also perform drag and drop Web

Windows XP supports DAV redirector

publishing from their Windows client. Internet

Send print jobs through the

Users can simply print a document

Introduced in Windows

printing

internet to a URL.

to a printer that resides on an

2000 Server

intranet. Applications include commercial printing, hotel business centers, and Internet faxing.

What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services

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Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper

Related Links See the following resources for further information: •

Technical Overview of Windows Server 2003 File Services at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/file.mspx

•

Technical Overview of Windows Server 2003 Print Services at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/print.mspx

For the latest information about Windows Server 2003, see the Windows Server 2003 Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003.

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