Windows Compute Cluster Server Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 (CCS), released in June 2006, is designed for high-end applications that require
high performance computing clusters. It is designed to be deployed on numerous computers to be clustered together to achieve
supercomputing speeds. Each Compute Cluster Server network comprises at least one controlling head node and subordinate processing nodes that carry out most of the work. Compute Cluster Server has a built-in
Message Passing Interface, the Microsoft Messaging Passing Interface v2 (MS-MPI) which is used to communicate between the processing nodes on the cluster network. Alternative MPI Stacks can also be used with the OS. It ties nodes together with a powerful
inter-process communication mechanism which can be complex because of communications between hundreds or even thousands of processors working in parallel. The
application programming interface consists of over 160 functions. A job launcher enables users to execute jobs to be executed in the computing cluster. MS MPI was designed to be compatible with the reference open source
MPI2 specification which is widely used in
High-performance computing (HPC). With some exceptions because of security considerations, MS MPI covers the complete set of MPI2 functionality as implemented in MPICH2, except for the planned future features of dynamic process spawn and publishing.
Windows Storage Server Windows Storage Server 2003, a part of the Windows Server 2003 series, is a specialized server
operating system for
network-attached storage (NAS). Launched in 2003 at
Storage Decisions in Chicago, it is optimized for use in file and print sharing and also in
storage area network (SAN) scenarios. It is only available through
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Unlike other Windows Server 2003 editions that provide file and printer sharing functionality, Windows Storage Server 2003 does not require any CAL. Windows Storage Server 2003 NAS equipment can be
headless, which means that they are without any monitors, keyboards or mice, and are administered remotely. Such devices are plugged into any existing
IP network and the storage capacity is available to all users. Windows Storage Server 2003 can use
RAID arrays to provide
data redundancy,
fault-tolerance and high performance. Multiple such NAS servers can be clustered to appear as a single device, which allows responsibility for serving clients to be shared in such a way that if one server fails then other servers can take over (often termed a
failover) which also improves fault-tolerance. Windows Storage Server 2003 can also be used to create a
Storage Area Network, in which the data is transferred in terms of chunks rather than files, thus providing more granularity to the data that can be transferred. This provides higher performance to
database and
transaction processing applications. Windows Storage Server 2003 also allows NAS devices to be connected to a SAN. Windows Storage Server 2003 led to a second release named Windows Storage Server 2003 R2. This release adds file-server performance optimization, Single Instance Storage (SIS), and index-based search. Single instance storage (SIS) scans storage volumes for duplicate files, and moves the duplicate files to the common SIS store. The file on the volume is replaced with a link to the file. This substitution reduces the amount of storage space required, by as much as 70%. Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 provides an index-based, full-text search based on the indexing engine already built into Windows server. This will be an add-on feature available for purchase through OEM partners as an iSCSI feature pack, or is included in some versions of WSS as configured by OEMs. Windows Storage Server 2003 can be promoted to function as a domain controller; however, this edition is not licensed to run directory services. It can be joined to an existing domain as a member server.
Features •
Distributed File System (DFS): Allows multiple
network shares to be aggregated as a virtual file system. • Support for
SAN and
iSCSI: Allows computers to connect to a Storage Server over the
LAN, without the need for a separate
fibre channel network, thus a
Storage Area Network can be created over the
LAN itself. iSCSI uses the
SCSI protocol to transfer data as a block of bytes, rather than as a file. This increases performance of the Storage network in some scenarios, such as using a database server. •
Virtual Disc Service: Allows
NAS devices,
RAID devices and SAN shares to be exposed and managed as if they were normal hard drives. •
JBOD systems:
JBOD (
Just a bunch of discs) systems, by using VDS, can manage a group of individual storage devices as a single unit. There is no need for the storage units to be of the same maker and model. • Software and Hardware
RAID: Windows Storage Server 2003 has intrinsic support for hardware implementation of
RAID. In case hardware support is not available, it can use software enabled RAID. In that case, all processing is done by the OS. •
Multi Path IO (MPIO): It provides an alternate connection to IO devices in case the primary path is down.
Editions Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 was available in the following editions: Windows Unified Data Storage Server is a variant of Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 with iSCSI target support standard, available in only the standard and enterprise editions.
Windows Small Business Server Windows Small Business Server (SBS) is a
software suite which includes Windows Server and additional technologies aimed at providing a small business with a complete technology solution. The Standard edition of SBS includes
Microsoft Remote Web Workplace,
Windows SharePoint Services,
Microsoft Exchange Server, Fax Server,
Active Directory, a basic
firewall,
DHCP server and
network address translation capabilities. The Premium edition of SBS adds
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and
Microsoft ISA Server 2004. SBS has its own type of CAL that is different and costs slightly more than CALs for the other editions of Windows Server 2003. However, the SBS CAL encompasses the user CALs for Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL Server and ISA Server, and hence is less expensive than buying all other CALs individually. SBS has the following design limitations, mainly affecting Active Directory: • Only one computer in a
Windows Server domain can be running SBS • SBS must be the root of the
Active Directory forest • SBS cannot trust any other domains • SBS is limited to 75 users or devices depending on the type of CAL • SBS is limited to a maximum of 4 GB of RAM • SBS domains cannot have any child domains •
Terminal Services only operates in
remote administration mode on SBS, meaning that only two simultaneous RDP sessions are allowed To remove the limitations from an instance of SBS and upgrade to regular Windows Server, Exchange Server, SQL and ISA Server, there is a Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Transition Pack.
Windows Home Server Windows Home Server (WHS) is an operating system from Microsoft based on Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP2. Windows Home Server was announced on January 7, 2007, at the
Consumer Electronics Show by
Bill Gates and is intended to be a solution for homes with multiple connected PCs to offer file sharing, automated backups, and remote access. Windows Home Server began shipment to OEMs on September 15, 2007.
Windows Server for Embedded Systems Windows Server 2003 for Embedded Systems replaced "Windows 2000 Server for Embedded Systems". It is a binary-identical version of Windows Server 2003 containing the same features and functionality as retail versions but licensed for embedded use. Intended uses was for building firewall, VPN caching servers and similar appliances. Variants were available with "Server Appliance Software" and with "Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server" Availability of the original version ended May 28, 2003. Availability of R2 ended March 5, 2006. End of extended support was July 14, 2015 (all variants except Storage Server The End of Licence date is the last date that OEM's may distribute systems using this version. All variants continued to receive Critical security updates until the end of extended support: Release 2 for Embedded Systems was available in 32 and 64 bit variants, Standard (1–4 CPU) and Enterprise (1–8 CPU):
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Windows XP Professional x64 Edition was released less than a month after Windows Server 2003 SP1, and used the same kernel and source code tree. While many features of the 32-bit variant of Windows XP were brought over into Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, other limitations imposed by constraints such as only supporting 64-bit drivers, and support for 16-bit programs being dropped led to incompatibilities with the 32-bit Windows XP editions available. It later received a Service Pack update as part of the release of Windows Server 2003 SP2. ==Updates==