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Microsoft isn't waiting for Longhorn Server to provide customers with new Windows server technologies. It is growing continually the list of services and servers designed to be layered on top of Windows Server 2003.
"We can't wait till next release to add value," acknowledged Microsoft senior VP Paul Flessner at last week's worldwide partner conference in New Orleans.
Company executives have talked up for a while now several of these servers/services in the works, including Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM), Automated Deployment Services (ADS), Windows SharePoint Services, Windows Rights Management Services and Group Policy Management Console.
But there are a slew of other lesser-known Windows 2003 servers/services in the works. Among them:
"Sonar" and "Ultrasound": "Sonar and Ultrasound are two tools that will provide rich troubleshooting and monitoring capabilities for File Replication Services (FRS)," says Michael Goulde, senior product planner with Microsoft. " We've had great feedback on FRS, but clear feedback that we have to provide better management tools for this service. Sonar and Ultrasound (names to be determined) will be delivered as a downloadable Feature Pack for Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 later this year."
(Editor's note: A day after this story was posted, Goulde noted that Microsoft already had posted the individual Ultrasound and Sonar tools to its Web site for download. Sonar is here. And Ultrasound can be downloaded here.)
Terminal Server "Bear Paw." Bear Paw is the next release of Terminal Server (the set of technologies currently known as "Terminal Services"). Bear Paw, according to thin-client consultant and author Brian Madden, Microsoft is definitely enhancing this component, making it almost a standalone app in its own right. Among the Terminal Server features Microsoft is working to provide (possibly not until Longhorn or Blackcomb, however), according to Madden: application publishing; local integration of remote apps; collaboration; single sign-on; and multimedia support. Microsoft isn't commenting publicly on Bear Paw.
Microsoft Audit Collection System (MACS): MACS is a forthcoming tool for collecting, aggregating, and evaluating security events across the system. MACS will enable administrators to evaluate system access and permission requests from a single database, Microsoft execs say.
Security Configuration Wizard. The wizard, an offshoot of Microsoft's Baseline Security Analyzer, originally was expected to ship around the same time Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2003 was delivered. Now that the SP date has slipped into "latter half of 2004," the wizard will likely precede it to market.
This article is an updated version of a piece that appeared in the August 8 issue of the Microsoft Watch newsletter.
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