MCSE Planning and Maintaining a Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure: Exam 70-293 Study Guide and DVD Training System

Understanding Server Roles

• There are 11 different server roles available for Windows Server 2003. These include domain controller, file server, print server, mail server, application server, terminal server, remote access/VPN server, streaming media server, DHCP server, DNS server, and WINS server.

• Manage Your Server is a tool in Windows Server 2003 that allows you to view information about installed server roles, view additional information, and invoke other tools used for administering a server.

• The Configure Your Server Wizard steps you through the process of installing or removing server roles on Windows Server 2003 servers. The domain controller role is the only one that can be added but not removed with the Wizard.

Planning a Server Security Strategy

• Windows Server 2003 is available in Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, and Web Editions. This version provides a number of features that were not available in previous versions. Of the different editions, the Web Edition is the only one that cannot be used as a domain controller.

• Not all editions of Windows Server 2003 can be installed on every computer. Just as there are different minimum requirements for the various versions of Windows, there are also different minimum requirements for the different editions of Windows Server 2003.

• Windows Server 2003 provides four different levels of domain functionality: Windows 2000 mixed, Windows 2000 native, Windows Server 2003 interim, and Windows Server 2003. It also supports three levels of forest functionality: Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 interim, and Windows Server 2003.

Planning Baseline Security

• Security templates contain settings that can be applied using Local Security Policy or Group Policy.

• Security Configuration and Analysis is an MMC snap-in that allows you to analyze security settings by comparing them to entries in a database. It also allows you to apply template settings.

• The Secedit command-line tool is similar to Security Configuration and Analysis. It also allows you to analyze and apply security settings using templates.

Customizing Server Security

• Automatic Updates can be configured to automatically download and install critical updates for the Windows operating system.

• NTFS is important to the security and availability of files on a hard disk. Using NTFS, you can set permissions on files and folders, implement EFS to encrypt files, use DFS to allow users to access files from a central location, and have disk quotas control how much disk space users can use.

• Security templates can be applied to computers individually using Local Security Policy or to many computers at once using GPOs. To import security templates into a GPO, you can use the Group Policy Object Editor. To link a configured GPO to the domain or OU level, use Active Directory Users and Computers. To link a configured GPO to the site level, use Active Directory Sites and Services.