|
Thursday, May 08, 2003
Ng: Windows 2003 server
By WILSON NG
WIRED DESKTOP
LAUNCH. Last month in the United States, Micro-soft released the newest version of its server products, led by its server operating system Windows 2003 server (formerly known as .NET server products), which is the newer version of Windows NT 4.0 server and Windows 2000 server.
Around the third week of this month, the server product will be launched in Manila, and hopefully there will be a launch near the end of the month here in Cebu.
Unlike new versions of Windows XP (Microsoft’s operating system), Microsoft Office or the business applications like payroll or accounting that many of us use, it is hard to get excited over servers, which we normally don’t see or hear about. We only take notice when we cannot access the files or run the program from it that we want.
The server is the place where we keep our files, run our websites, databases or mail, but they are in computers which are in the back and mostly never seen.
But servers do make a big difference, and not all servers are equal.
Windows Server 2003 presents some significant features. And since more than half of the world’s servers run Windows Server software, I will do my best to explain it in non-technical terms. However, to appreciate these services, let us look first at what Windows XP does for us in the desktop.
Going back to the DOS days in the ‘80s, you would know how difficult it was to write a program. You could only assume that you had a screen that could store 80 characters from left to right, and 25 characters down.
You had to do your own graphics or color, and every time you changed your printer, you had to change some of your code, except if you continued to want to print only text. That meant if you wrote a program to output graphics, you had to write it differently every time you had another printer model and every time you changed the paper size.
It was also difficult to work with most accessories, and it was almost a technical accomplishment to connect your computer to the network.
I remember the time I wanted to make the program play five short tunes—mono in sound. It took a couple of days to program and synchronize with the application code I wanted to run while the tune was playing.
Now, we almost take it for granted that our computers can play videos, sound that and anything we see on screen can either be saved to the compact flash disk, to the magnetic removable disk, to the DVD/CD, or printed out to any printers of all brands, models and sizes.
We expect to connect to the Internet seamlessly. We can add almost any brand of mouse, pen, speakers, cameras, network cards, Palms and whatnots. We can just drag and drop music, delete files, or watch videos in almost any size window, in any number of color or resolution.
Of course, we access our email. And while doing that, it is almost normal to expect that they do 10 other things besides. These which we see are all services that the operating system provides us.
REPOSITORY. On the same token, servers give us a lot. But because they always work on the backside (just like your accounting department or your warehouse people), people don’t seem to be conscious about what they can do.
Most of the world’s servers work as a common repository of files, although servers have since started to do a lot more, and the new version of the Windows 2003 is such software.
Other than being just a file server, what is important is that the new Windows Server is now an application server as well.
Application servers used to be expensive software that was bought separately. They are software platforms really that simplify the development, deployment and maintenance of large-scale applications or high-volume Web sites.
What does it mean for us? Companies that look to accelerate application development for the enterprise should look at the product closely.
Coupled with its tight integration with the leading development tool, Visual Studio .NET, the server presents almost a faster way to write better, durable, scalable and portable applications. I am getting short of space, so will just talk about the Server Transaction Service for now.
Let us say you have an application that withdraws money from the bank. To properly do this, you have to do two database updates— you debit one account, and then you credit the other.
If in the middle of the transaction, the connection or the power, or the computer fails, you have a transaction problem. If the debit succeeds and the credit fails, then the depositor loses money. If the debit fails and the credit succeeds, the bank loses money. Either way, it is a ticklish problem.
This kind of code is somewhat difficult to write. Now it is a feature of the underlying server software itself, which allows the developer to write much less code, because the job of database update synchronization is now taken over by the server.
Not having to write this code means application development can become much more simplified, and the time significantly cut down.
The new server software also means more functionality that the programmers can use for their software to run properly in an enterprise or Web environment. For websites, it also means better responses and more uptime.
Next time, I will write more on how these features help a company manage its data and businesses better!
(Wilson welcomes comments at Wilson@esprint.com.)
(May 8, 2003 issue)
Want Sun.Star news on your mobile phone? Click here.
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[ return
to top ]
[ home
]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
