Jeff's Connected Corner

Windows Server System news and real-world info

Windows Storage Server Versions Explained

I'm conducting a branch-office pilot of Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 - and so far things are going well. However, one point of frustration was trying to figure out the features included in each version. While plenty of product information exists about the four versions of Windows Server (Web/Standard/Enterprise/Datacenter) finding similar information about Windows Storage Server 2003 R2 proved very difficult. Credit goes out to a very sharp pre-sales tech at Dell for digging up the following information. I can only take credit for making it look good and spreading the word ;)

Note to Microsoft: You guys might want to think about posting a similar chart on the Windows Storage Server home page, eh?

Storage Server 2003 R2 Express Edition
Hard Drives 2 SATA drive limit (no SAS)
RAID Software RAID only
Processor 1 physical processor
Network 1 NIC limit
Printers No printer sharing services
Single Instance Storage (SIS) No SIS
Clustering No clustering
External Storage No external storage

 

Storage Server 2003 R2 Workgroup Edition
Hard Drives 4 SATA drive limit (no SAS)
RAID Software or hardware RAID
Processor 1 physical processor
Network 2 NIC limit
Printers Supports 5 printers
Single Instance Storage (SIS) No SIS
Clustering No clustering
External Storage No external storage

 

Storage Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition
Hard Drives Unlimited drive count/type
RAID Software or hardware RAID
Processor 1-4 physical processors
Network Unlimited NICs
Printers Unlimited print sharing services
Single Instance Storage (SIS) SIS support
Clustering No clustering
External Storage External storage support

 

Storage Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition
Hard Drives Unlimited drive count/type
RAID Hardware RAID only
Processor 1-8 physical processors
Network Unlimited NICs
Printers Unlimited print sharing services
Single Instance Storage (SIS) SIS support
Clustering Clustering support
External Storage External storage support
Only published comments... Jul 31 2007, 09:53 AM by Jeff
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Comments

 

some guy said:

does it bother anyone else that microsoft is limiting the number of _drives_ and the type of drive interfaces on the budget-level servers? and the number of NICs? i can understand the processor and RAM limitations on SQL server and Windows Server to the tiniest degree, but why all these artificial constraints? the software RAID makes sense, they leave out that feature in the software, but a drive is a drive at the OS level. who cares if it is SATA or SAS?

sorry for the rant but it just doesn't make sense. well, that's not entirely true, it does make sense from a monopolistic standpoint...

my point is there are plenty of features listed that could just as easily differentiate those versions without the artificial drive type and number and NIC constraints. i'm not a microsoft hater and i understand the need for different versions but the length they go to in crippling them really irritates me.

August 7, 2007 8:34 AM
 

Jeff said:

'some guy':

I agree that there are probably better ways to segment WSS versions. The SCSI/SAS vs. SATA thing is silly. However, single instance storage is a good differentiator, as are clustering and uni/multi-processor support.

As for your monopolistic argument... MS isn't exactly in the drivers seat when it comes to the NAS market. In my experience most NAS appliances run some form of Linux. Desktop and office suites, sure. But server and NAS... not yet ;)

August 8, 2007 4:01 PM

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About Jeff

Jeff Centimano is a Windows Server MVP based in Fairway, KS (USA). In addition to blogging and freelance technical writing for Microsoft, Jeff leads the KC-MEC User Group (kcmec.org) and assists with various site duties here at WindowsConnected.com. Jeff has been in the IT industry since 1994 and is currently a Solutions Architect at EMC Global Services.
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