Windows Server 2003 has the following features improved:
1. Active Directory improvement: NT4.0 did not have this feature because it was introduced only in 2000 series. This technology allows “it easy for users to locate resources on even the largest networks”. In Server 2003 it is completely integrated and additionally allows renaming domains, editing attributes and classes in the schema.
2. Group Policies improvement: NT4.0 did not have this feature also. Group policies allow to define the settings and permissions for different users. It is much better than local policies because of its flexibility and ability to work with separate elements of Active directory.
3. Resultant Set of Policy: in order to ease and control work of system administrators this feature allows to check out how group policies work relatively separate users or groups. 4.
Volume Shadow Copy Restore: this technology makes reserve copies of data on the server and thus secures data from accidental deletion or critical damage without service interruption.
5. Internet Information Services updated: completely rebuilt and based on new algorithms this feature enables Web Services and applications. Each application works in a separate pool now and thus failures of separate pools do not affect the performance of the whole server. There is a good monitoring of pools ability which helps to determine and eliminate the reasons of the failures.
6. Integrated .NET Framework: “takes care of the integration and management details, reducing code complexity and increasing coherency”.
7. Clustering: this technology joins several nodes (servers) to work as one. So far if one of the servers crashes while performing a critical operation (printing, messaging or working with a database) the other one continues this operation until it is finished. Windows Server 2003 Enterprise and DataCenter editions provide up to eight nodes.
8. Secure Wireless LAN: this feature secures any network activities, encrypting data stream and prevents unauthorized access to the system.
9. Emergency Management Services: this technology allows system administrators to manage computers under extreme conditions such as computers without monitor, mouse or keyboard etc.