Introduction

Fulfilling its promise to release an interim update for Windows Server 2003 before the end of 2005, Microsoft released Windows Server 2003 R2 in Dec. 2005. This release will interest large organizations with specific branch office, storage management, identity management, and Unix interoperability issues. It will also trigger updates to the Small Business Server product bundle and to the Windows Storage Server platform for Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices. In addition, Windows Server 2003 R2 incorporates some functionality that was previously available only in separate feature packs. (For details on these feature packs, see the sidebar “Windows Server Feature Packs“.)

Many Improvements for File Servers

Key areas of improvement in Windows Server 2003 R2 include the following:

Branch offices. Improvements to file services make it easier to publish files to branch offices, replicate files from branch offices, or support document collaboration between offices. A new management console allows administrators to view and manage all the printers in an organization from any server using the new OS. Together, these improvements could simplify central management of servers in offices that have few or no IT staff.