Microsoft’s platform play hits the big time

2X or Bust

Free IT resource Open Source Business Conference (OSBC) May 22-23, 2007 Sponsored by OSBC Free IT resource TechNet: More ways to know it, share it, and keep it running. Sponsored by Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Microsoft, microsoft.com/windows Summary: Windows Server 2003 extends Microsoft's tradition of linking its operating system to a complete application platform. Improvements at the OS level bestow performance and capacity benefits, sometimes striking benefits, to both .Net and traditional Windows server software. Cost: Starts at $399 for Web edition Platforms: 32-bit Intel Pentium, Xeon and compatibles; 32-bit AMD Athlon; 64-bit Intel Itanium; AMD Opteron in 32-bit mode (64-bit support planned for later in 2003)

Work on the core Windows OS was effectively completed with Windows 2000. So this time around the effort focused on fine tuning performance, removing limitations, cleaning up inefficient code, closing security holes, and making the whole 2003 package easier to manage.

Microsoft's internal rallying cry on Windows Server 2003 performance and capacity was "2X or bust!" That was a lot to ask, and it took a long time to achieve it. But the development teams banded together and somehow they did make key Windows features and services run twice as fast or handle twice as many connections as Windows 2000.

The extent to which Microsoft pulled this off, or at least came close, is amazing. There are massive performance and capacity gains in so many areas -- HTTP transactions, file services, terminal services, Active Directory, Media Services -- that it's fair to say Microsoft's developers hit their targets across the board.

Still, Microsoft's inclusive platform approach would fall flat if its OS and services improvements weren't apparent in third-party applications. A massive boost to Windows' scale-up (increasing compute capacity by adding CPUs to a multiprocessor server) efficiency finally removes the shortcoming Windows has always suffered in systems with four or more processors.

The new OS also leverages Intel's Hyper-Threading hardware to speed and smooth task switching, a move that makes all applications more responsive. On AMD's Opteron hardware, even the 32-bit version of Windows Server 2003 uses NUMA (nonuniform memory architecture) to expand total addressable memory and boost performance.

To improve scale-out (increasing compute capacity by adding more discrete systems), Microsoft moved clustering services from the rarified Data Center Edition to the readily available Enterprise Edition, so more applications can rely on clusters to improve performance and availability.

The new OS significantly enhances all server-hosted applications. For apps using HTTP as a transport (especially browser-based clients), kernel-level HTTP caching and connection management improve speed and stability transparently. Software written with rich interfaces -- whether they be written with Win32 or .Net -- can be hosted by Terminal Services and run efficiently on everything from Mac and Linux desktops to Windows thin clients, such as those based on Microsoft's Smart Display architecture.

Knowing that these services exist in the OS and are done uniformly well will change the way developers approach application development. Redevelopment is not always necessary, but applications that explicitly work around Windows 2000's limitations or make themselves fit within those limitations should be tuned or reconfigured to open them up for Windows 2003. Applications originally built to scale out because scale-up worked poorly can quit worrying about the topology on which they're run. Software needs to be benchmarked for the new platform if, for performance reasons, it refuses to run on Terminal Services or if it won't store data on a Windows network share.

Sometimes infrastructure changes are warranted, too. Administrators will find that some appliances and Windows add-ins that cache and accelerate Web traffic are no longer needed. The total number of servers required for a Terminal Services, Active Directory, or Web farm can be reduced by adding inexpensive memory (assuming you sidestepped Intel's flirtation with Rambus) to several machines. Most of the formulas used to size Windows servers to match their workload have to be tossed out. After migrating to Windows Server 2003, companies can get by with fewer or less-expensive server machines, which can help balance the software costs.