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
Copy Service point-in-time copies of data,
(VSS) allowing easier and more
reliable backups of important
organizational data, even
while files are open.
VSS significantly reduces a
server’s backup window by
providing on-disk, point-in-
time recoverable data sets.
All major backup independent Introduced in Windows
software vendors (ISVs) are Server 2003
developing solutions based on
VSS to take advantage of this
service.
By moving a point-in-time copy to
another server, a business analyst
can query against the latest
company data without affecting
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
System (EFS) security that transparently
encrypts data on the physical
disk with no need for end user
interaction, ensuring that data
is safer.
Since data on the disk is Encryption of offline
encrypted, even a mobile user and Web folders now
whose sensitive organizational possible
data is lost or stolen will be safer
EFS files can be
from data theft.
shared among multiple
users

What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services 1


Enhanced Anti- Choose from a huge selection
Virus Support of enterprise anti-virus
vendors to protect resources
in your organization from
malicious code delivered by
viruses.
Improved print Improve administrator
cluster Support productivity by making it
easier to install and configure
print clusters.
64-bit processor Take advantage of the latest
support and best performing hardware
in the industry.
What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services
Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper
Create a comprehensive anti-virus New kernel level anti-
strategy by using third-party tools virus APIs
to scan file servers.
Windows Hardware
Quality Lab test suite
and driver certification
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
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of 8-node clusters
printers can be installed on a supported in Windows
highly available print cluster Server 2003, Standard
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
File and print server consolidation Introduced in Windows
can reduce administrative and Server 2003
hardware costs dramatically.
Supports GUID
Partitioning Table
(GPT)
Approximately 3,800
in-box 64-bit print
drivers
2
 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
and Availability total cost of operation (TCO) management
without losing performance or
Kernel mode driver
availability.
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
Supports online
Tool seamlessly optimizing the file
defragmentation of the
system. Administrators can also
Master File Table
script disk defragmentation on
(MFT)
servers using command line
utilities. Defragmentation of
any NTFS cluster size
now possible

Volume Shadow Copy

support

Command line
scripting support

Increased CHKDSK is a program that
CHKDSK verifies the logical integrity of
Performance a file system on Windows.
When CHKDSK encounters
logical inconsistencies it takes
actions to repair file system
data.
Because NTFS has always been a Performs 20-38
true journaling file system that percent faster than
supports file system recovery, it is Windows 2000 Server
very rare that a disk need to be
checked (less than 1percent of
unplanned outages require
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 Comments

What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services 3


Enhanced Build a single, hierarchical view
Distributed File of multiple file servers and file
System (DFS) server shares on a network.
and File DFS and FRS make files
Replication easier for users to locate, and
Services (FRS) increase availability by
maintaining multiple replicas
across distributed servers.
What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services
Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper
Users that store and edit Closest and dynamic
documents in many shares across site selection
multiple servers will be more automatically directs
productive by accessing this data users to the closest
through a single unified available physical
namespace, made possible by replica of data
DFS. enabling highly
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
4

Improved Storage Area Networks are
Storage Area significantly easier to use and
Network (SAN) manage in Windows Server
Friendliness 2003.
Virtual Disk Implements a single, uniform
Service (VDS) interface for managing disks
making it easier to administer
storage investments.
Headless Headless server management
Server provides the ability to install
Management and manage servers without a
monitor, VGA display adaptor,
keyboard, or mouse.
What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services
Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper
Administrators can control the With vendor support,
mounting of volumes with the aid of ability to boot from
a SAN friendly button; a benefit that SAN is greatly
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
Previously, each SAN vendor Introduced in Windows
provided its own proprietary set of Server 2003
programming interfaces for
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.
An IT administrator can deploy a Emergency
headless server mounted in a rack Management Services
or a wiring closet with no local (EMS); this service
console. allows the
administrator to
OEMs can also provide customers
interact with a system
with servers that have no monitor
that might not be
and video card.
available through the
usual network
mechanisms
5

Configure Your Makes it easier to set up a
Server Wizard server by helping guide
and Manage administrators in installing the
Your Server role or roles they want the
Wizard server to perform in their
business.
Enhanced Administrators gain powerful
Command Line new command line utilities for
Scripting disk management tasks.
Disk Quotas Allows greater control of disk
space leading to better
availability of disk space while
helping with capacity planning
efforts.
Dynamic Administrators can manage
Volume and configure disks easier
Management without impacting the end user.
Wide range of Administrators will have an
print devices additional 3,800 print drivers
included with Windows Server
2003. Windows Server 2003
also now includes wireless
(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
Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper
An administrator can use this Introduced in Windows
feature for finishing setup, Server 2003
configuring server roles, or setting
up the configuration of first or
primary server on a network. File
server and print server roles are
supported.
An IT administrator can use Ability to grow basic
command line tools to automate disks
high volume or common server
Perform various RAID
administration tasks via Visual
configurations
Basic scripting or command batch
files. This eliminates one-off Shadow copy
operations that are often imposed management
by the GUI management tools. This
File system tuning
can help the IT administrator
reduce costs and streamline The Print WMI
administration. provider has been
extensively expanded
and enhanced since
Windows 2000
Administrators can set quotas on Introduced in Windows
disk space per user, per volume. 2000 Server
Policies can also be set up for
wide-scale remote management of
disk quotas.
Administrators can add new Introduced in Windows
volumes, extend existing volumes, 2000 Server
add or break a mirror set, or repair
a RAID 5 array while the server is
still online.
Administrators can be assured that Approximately 1,500
the latest printers will be supported more print drivers
in Windows Server 2003 so that included in the box
organizations can take advantage than Windows 2000
in the latest hardware advances. Server
6
 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 Users can quickly recover
Copies of deleted or changed files stored
Shared on the network without
Folders administrator assistance,
increasing productivity and
reducing administrative costs.
Shadow copies of Shared Folders, Introduced in Windows
in conjunction with My Document Server 2003
folder redirection, enables users'
documents and files to constantly be
backed up on the network and
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
For organizations that
productivity.
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 7

 Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003 White Paper

Point and Windows Server 2003
print automatically installs print
drivers on users' machines,
with no administrative
overhead.
A user that is traveling to a remote Introduced in Windows
office in their organization can find a NT 4 Server
local printer that meets his or her
needs by using Active Directory
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
Windows XP supports
(WEBDAV) drive, and a Web site. Users can
DAV redirector
also perform drag and drop Web
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 8

 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.

What’s New in Windows Server 2003 File and Print Services 9