First Look: Windows Server 2008

Increased Web management

We didn't run a full suite of IIS 7 performance tests as we found bugs in our test tools. But Microsoft has revamped its Web server management application -- IIS Manager, removing past administrative obscurities and adding support for multiple site hosting. Web server management can now be performed over HTTP, so that remote administration can be done from a browser, without opening administrative TCP/IP ports on the target server.

IT managers can also delegate IIS controls to local administrators or Web-development teams, if desired. It's also possible for administrators to 'surgically' lock specific files, rather than give blanket access to configuration files or static page configurations, an administrative boon.

And instead of installing all features by default (and having some of them required to be running even if they're never used), IIS 7 allows administrators to install only necessary modules (there are more than 40 of them). This reduces the attack profile of IIS 7 dramatically.

Web service and application performance and errors are now piped to the WMI, allowing rapid identification of errors, and the ability for monitoring applications to provide triggers (for example instant e-mails) when monitored items fall out of ranges (think Microsoft Systems Center-based and other monitoring applications).

In all, controls for IIS have been almost reborn.

Active Directory Revamped

The consolidation of Active Directory services into three distinct groupings -- Active Directory Domain Services, AD Certificate Services, and Active Directory Federated Services -- gives administrators the ability to use fewer Active Directory components and plug-ins to manage diverse network needs. As an example, Microsoft AD Federated Services improves 'extranet' ties between organizations that can manage external system users in a highly definable way for use of files and application services among the organizations.

Terminal Services can now be encrypted with Transport Layer Security so that conversations can't be captured from network wires and re-assembled. Screen raster size can be huge (Windows Vista and XP only), so that remote desktop sessions no longer need to be scrolled through a viewer-like windows. And Terminal Services can also present applications through http transports that look as though they were running on our desktops as native applications (we used Microsoft Office). Terminal Services configuration is simpler, with more capacity to control printing, as well as the aforementioned encryption methods and raster size, overall.