Securing Windows Server 2003

Preface

As the title implies, this book is about security in the Windows Server 2003 operating system and how to put it to work on behalf of your organization and your users.

Windows Server 2003 has quite a number of uses. It can serve in a network support role, supplying services such as DHCP and DNS. It can take a more active part in object management, such as when used as an Active Directory domain controller. It can also serve as a personal operating system, since it is so closely tied with its brother, Windows XP. In this role, it might provide security of local data and host-based network communications.

I’ve broken down the book by technology. Each chapter covers one or more of the technologies that Windows Server 2003 provides. Most of these—such as IPSec—are primarily security-focused. However, some—such as DHCP—are not.

Each chapter answers three questions about the technology it covers:

What the technology is and how it’s used

Each chapter begins with a brief introduction to the technology. If you have no idea what this technology does, this is a quick way to learn about it. I don’t bore you with marketing spin or polished terms. I just tell you what the technology does and what a few of the most likely uses might be.

How the technology works

To understand a technology’s security implications, you usually need to know how it works. This section is kept deliberately brief and sometimes excludes details that you don’t need to know. I do this, not to keep you in the dark, but to ...