• Illustration: Windows Server 2003 SP2 Fix Summary

A second service pack for Windows Server 2003, scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2007, will allow enterprise customers and OEMs to reset servers to a standard, supported OS version. SP2 can be installed on Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows Server 2003 R2 (which includes SP1), or Windows XP for x64 processors. SP2 will include more than 700 fixes not previously distributed through Microsoft's online update services. However, SP2 excludes updates for some key components, such as the .NET Framework, which customers will have to update separately.

Many customers will already have downloaded, tested, and deployed the more than 40 updates for Windows Server 2003 SP1 security vulnerabilities that were previously released on Windows Update or Microsoft Update. However, many fixes are not available for download from the automatic update sites. (See the illustration "Windows Server 2003 SP2 Fix Summary".) Some are hotfixes that address specific, serious problems in a specific customer situation but don't affect security. Other fixes address bugs that customers have reported to Microsoft but do not warrant a hotfix, or that Microsoft has discovered in the course of fixing other bugs or adding new functionality to the OS.

There are probably a similar number of unavailable fixes for Windows XP SP2. However, Microsoft does not currently plan a new service pack for the 32-bit edition of Windows XP SP2 until early 2008.

Incomplete Baseline

How good a baseline SP2 provides depends on which additional components or feature packs customers deploy. SP2 includes two previously released feature packs:

The Scalable Networking Pack, which enables Windows Server to exploit multiple CPUs and special network adapters to obtain multigigabit link rates. This feature pack also improves manageability for IPSec, which allows an organization to logically segment its networks and constrain access to servers.

The Windows Deployment Service (WDS) enables central deployment of Windows Vista and is a replacement for the Remote Installation Service (RIS). WDS is also part of the Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007. Its inclusion in SP2 appears to benefit Microsoft more than customers: Customers are only just beginning to deploy Windows Vista and can get the WDS tools with the BDD.

However, SP2 also excludes some components that customers might need more urgently. For example, SP2 does not deliver the .NET Framework 3.0 application runtime platform, even though it is a prerequisite for many server applications (e.g., Microsoft Project Server 2007). Likewise, SP2 does not include the Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 Web and team collaboration platform, a prerequisite for products such as Project Server 2007 and SharePoint Server 2007.

Consequently, customers will still need to download these components and subsequent fixes from Windows Update or Microsoft Update. The uncoordinated releases also introduce integration problems. For example, after WSS 3.0 is installed on Windows Server 2003, the Configure Your Server and Manage Your Server utilities still indicate that WSS is not installed, As a result, an administrator could erroneously install WSS 2.0 on a server already running WSS 3.0.

Resources

SP2 will be available for all 32-bit editions of Windows Server 2003, Itanium- and x64-based editions, and Windows Server 2003 R2 Editions. A version of SP2 will also be applicable to several products that are based on Windows Server 2003, including Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Compute Cluster Server, Small Business Server R2, and Windows XP Professional for x64 processors (because the 64-bit edition of XP used the server code).

A release candidate for Windows Server 2003 SP2 is available at www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sp2.mspx.

A FAQ about SP2 is available at www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sp2/faq.mspx.

For a complete description of the imaging tools and changes to setup introduced in Windows Vista, including the Windows Deployment Service, see "Windows Vista Setup Eases Deployment" on page 3 of the July 2006 Update.

For a description of the Business Desktop Deployment accelerator, see "Desktop Deployment Accelerator Updated" on page 22 of the Mar. 2007 Update.