Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, differs from Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, primarily in its support for high-performance servers and its ability to cluster servers for greater load handling. These capabilities provide reliability that helps ensure systems remain available even if problems arise.
At a high level, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, provides support for:
Eight-way symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) To increase server performance and capacity, you can add processors, an approach to increasing your network capacity is known as scaling up. The enhanced support for SMP allows you to add processors that work together—that is, multiprocessor servers. Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, supports up to eight processors in a single system or partition.
Eight-node clustering Server clusters up to eight nodes are available only in Windows 2003, Enterprise Edition, and Windows 2003, Datacenter Edition.
Up to 32 gigabytes (GB) of RAM By adding memory, a computer can work with more information at once. Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, includes enhanced memory capabilities that let you increase the memory available for server processing to as much as 32 GB of RAM.
Main Features
Cluster service: Server clusters provide high availability and disaster tolerance for mission-critical database management, file sharing, intranet data sharing, messaging, and general business applications. With Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, cluster service supports up to eight-node clusters for increased flexibility in adding and removing hardware in a geographically dispersed cluster environment. The cluster service also provides improved scaling options for applications. Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, allows server clusters to be deployed in a variety of different configurations, in particular:
Single cluster configurations with dedicated storage.
Multiple clusters on a storage area network (SAN), potentially with other Windows-based servers or operating systems.
Clusters spanning multiple sites (that is, geographically dispersed clusters).
Multiprocessor support: The Windows Server 2003 family scales from single-processor solutions all the way up to 64-way systems. Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, supports servers with up to 8 processors.
Metadirectory Services support: Microsoft Metadirectory Services (MMS) helps organizations integrate identity information from multiple directories, databases, and files with Active Directory. MMS provides a unified view of identity information, enables the integration of business processes with MMS, and helps synchronize identity information across an organization.
Hot Add Memory: Hot Add Memory allows ranges of memory to be added to a computer and made available to the operating system and applications as part of the normal memory pool. No rebooting and no downtime are required. This feature currently operates only on servers that have hardware support for adding memory while the server is operating. For these servers, the act of installing memory automatically invokes the Hot Add Memory feature in Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition.
Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA): System firmware can create a table called the Static Resource Affinity Table that describes the NUMA topology of the system. Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, uses this table to apply NUMA awareness to application processes, thread default affinity settings, thread scheduling, and memory management features. Additionally, the topology information is made available to applications using a set of NUMA application programming interfaces.
Terminal Services session directory: This load balancing feature allows users to reconnect easily to a disconnected session on a server farm running Terminal Services. Session directory is compatible with the Windows Server 2003 load balancing service and is supported by third-party external load balancer products.
Windows System Resource Manager: A feature in both Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, the Windows System Resource Manager (WSRM) enables an administrator to allocate CPU and memory utilization on a per-application basis. This is a useful tool for server consolidation.
