A rchive Date
[ 08-12-2000 ]
Category
[ Information Technologies ]
sub-Categoy
[ Microsoft ]
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[Summary prepared by TechRepublic
Windows 2000 is a capable Web server
Nov 30, 2000
Gartner Research
E-Mail | Archive
As the Web is increasingly integrated into every business function, the need for a single, reliable development and deployment platform becomes essential. With the integration of Internet Information Services (IIS), Microsoft has taken significant steps to make Windows 2000 more than just an application or file server OS. Gartner believes that Windows 2000 provides an infrastructure for easily deploying Web capability and developing complex Web applications that no other platform can equal.
For more information on utilizing Windows 2000 as a Web server, download the product analysis, "Windows 2000 as a Web Server: Perspective," provided by Gartner, the leading business technology advisor. (TechRepublic is an independent subsidiary of Gartner.)
Gartner analysis snapshot
"As we increasingly anchor our applications to the Web, does it make sense to have one platform that integrates it all? Microsoft thinks so. It integrates Internet Information Services (IIS) Web services with the operating system along with other operating system services from file-and-print to transactional. This has made Windows 2000 a Web server as well as an infrastructure supporting Web-based applications from intranet to the largest e-commerce operations."
Download the full report from our Product Analysis center, or check out more Product Analysis overviews.
In this product analysis, Gartner analyst Sheila Osmundsen first examines how IIS works to make Windows 2000 a capable Web server. Because IIS exists alongside file services, print services, communications services, media services, VPN services, transaction services, message queue services, cluster services, and load balancing services, Windows 2000 provides an excellent infrastructure for Internet applications. Osmundsen believes that this coexistence and integration pays off in performance, flexibility, administration, and development advantages.
Here are a few examples of Windows 2000's Web development and deployment features:
- When Windows 2000 is installed for file and print sharing, IIS provides the basics for an intranet by creating a default Web site and FTP site. This feature provides the capability to publish file shares to a Web server, enabling the sharing not only of traditional files but also Web content in HTML or XML format.
- Windows 2000 also supports Web-based printing. All printers on a Windows 2000 server can thus be accessed and managed as shared printers via the Internet Printer Protocol.
- Windows Media Services are also supported. Organizations have the capability to use streaming multimedia to facilitate corporate communications, e-learning, sales support, product promotions, and so on without the necessity of writing custom code.
Osmundsen also examines Windows 2000's security features, the use of the Microsoft Site Server add-on, operating requirements, price considerations, and Windows Distributed interNet Applications architecture (DNA), which contains an entire infrastructure for Web-based applications.
Why should your organization consider Windows 2000 as a Web server?
When choosing a Web server OS, organizations must consider such factors as reliability/availability, price/performance, total cost of ownership including administration and management costs, skills availability, development ease, and applications availability. The value given to each factor will depend on the type of Web site your organization plans to develop. While cost may be more important to small organizations, reliability will be paramount to large e-commerce operations.
With its improvements in scalability, reliability, and availability, Windows is a platform that can now meet the demands of almost all levels of Web application. Microsoft's integrated approach has paid off in Windows 2000's performance and ease-of-administration. Windows 2000 promises to be more stable than Windows NT and will continue the price/performance, ease-of-use, and development support advantages that have made Windows popular as a platform for Web-based applications.
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