Microsoft Corporation
In the data center, Microsoft offers
several different editions of the popular operating system Windows Server 2003
R2. The operating system and third-party device drivers must be compatible with
the hardware platform, which must explicitly support the operating system.
The purpose of the server
must be taken into consideration when selecting the correct operating system and
processor combination (32-bit or 64-bit, Intel or Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]).
Selecting a processor and operating system combination that is not compatible
will reflect in the performance results of the application, and ultimately the
perceived performance at the client.
Note
Microsoft offers multiple flavors of the
Windows Server 2003 operating system: Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, and
Datacenter Edition. Consult Microsoft's website (http://www.microsoft.com) for the latest product information regarding each of these
editions and any changes specific to each edition's product
features.
To ensure that the system
administrator selects only quality components, Microsoft provides the Windows
Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) certification. The WHQL certification, which is
written by hardware manufacturers and device driver authors, provides a
framework for driver development and hardware quality standards. Leveraging the
WHQL certification will help in determining a suitable hardware platform to host
a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system.
Microsoft offers several resources to
system administrators who are seeking to optimize Microsoft products, including
server platforms. One of the most popular resources is Microsoft TechNet (http://technet.microsoft.com).
TechNet provides administrators with access to numerous tuning guidelines for
operating systems and file systems and focused topic areas such as file server
scalability and performance. Additional resources offer detailed steps for
tuning the server's network, memory, processor, software configurations, and
registry.
To help address application
performance, Microsoft offers the Windows Server 2003 Scalable Networking Pack,
which provides three key advancements to the Windows Server 2003 operating
system:
Sections
Comments (0 posted)
Syndication
