Windows Server Feature Packs

Feature packs deliver Windows Server features on a separate schedule (“out-of-band”) from the server OS itself. Notable feature packs include the following:

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) allows organizations to host an instance of the Windows Update service in-house to automate download and deployment of patches from Microsoft. WSUS 2.0 (released June 2005) provides a single patch distribution system that covers major products, including Windows, Exchange, Office, and SQL Server. (WSUS was formerly called Software Update Services and Windows Update Service.)

Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) extends Internet Information Services (IIS) and ASP.NET to support Web-based collaboration sites and Web-based business applications. (WSS was originally released as the Office Server Extensions with Office 2000 in 1999; a subsequent version was named SharePoint Team Services and delivered with certain versions of Office XP.) Released Oct. 2003, WSS is required by SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and is used by Project Server 2003 for sharing project documents and hosting project workspace Web sites. An update is due in the second half of 2006.