Road Map of Microsoft Web Server Technologies

Eileen Duncan and Jacqueline Borges
Microsoft Corporation

Updated: May 5, 1998

Contents
Introduction
Products and Technologies
Conclusion

Introduction

If you are designing your first Web site or planning to update your current site, you'll be interested in what's possible through Web server technologies. This article lists the main Microsoft Web server technologies and products, and provides an overview of how they work together. This article also provides links to the product sites, which describe the features of each product in detail, so you can do further research.

As you evaluate Microsoft Internet technologies, the number of options and product names can be daunting at times. But because they are all tightly integrated, you can choose one of the comprehensive products or choose a custom combination of components -- they all work together as if they are parts of one application. Here's a very basic explanation of how they fit together, so you can narrow down your research:

Windows NT® Option Pack includes many technologies such as Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), Certificate Server, Index Server, Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ), Active Server Pages (ASP) and Internet Information Server (IIS). Internet Information Server (IIS) provides the communication between Windows NT and Internet requests. In this sense, it is the Internet-enabled arm of Windows NT; it is part of the operating system and is the core component of any Web application.
In addition to Internet-enabling the Windows NT Server operating system, Microsoft offers comprehensive solutions in products that suit different site's needs. Three of these site solutions that run on Windows NT/IIS are Site Server, Site Server, Commerce Edition, and the Microsoft Commercial Internet System (MCIS).

Products and Technologies

Windows NT Server, the Web-enabled operating system:

IIS
For more information on Internet Information Server and Active Server Pages, visit the IIS site.

Active Server Pages (ASP) technology (server-side scripting)
ASP is an open, compile-free application environment that enables server-side scripting with native support for both Visual Basic® Scripting Edition (VBScript) and JavaScript. It is a feature of IIS.

Transaction Server (transactions)
A component-based transaction processing system for developing, deploying, and managing high-performance server applications. MTS also provides a run-time infrastructure for deploying and managing these applications, and is integrated with IIS 4.0.

Certificate Server (server authentication)
Microsoft Certificate Server will issue, revoke, and renew digital certificates that identify users for subsequent authentication using public key technology.

Index Server (index, search)
Microsoft Index Server works with the Windows NT Server 4.0 operating system and Internet Information Server 2.0 to perform full-text searches and retrieve all types of information from any Web browser, in just about any format.

Windows Media Technologies (Webcasting/Active Streaming)
Windows Media Technologies delivers live and on-demand content: audio, video, and other file formats. It's integrated with Windows NT Server and IIS.

Database Connectivity Non-MSDN Online link (SQL, ODBC, IDC/HTX )
The Internet Database Connector uses IDC and HTX files. ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) is a collection of Automation objects that can retrieve, update, and create records in any OLE DB or ODBC database. Both technologies are components of IIS.

Active Directory Services Interfaces technology (ADSI)
ADSI makes it easy to create directory-enabled applications by using high-level development tools, without having to worry about the underlying differences between the different namespaces.

Microsoft BackOffice Internet solutions -- these products can be acquired separately or by purchasing BackOffice:

Site Server (solution for Intranets)
Microsoft Site Server provides a comprehensive Web site environment for publishing, searching, and delivering information to intranet users.

Site Server, Commerce Edition (solution for Internet sites and commerce sites)
Site Server, Commerce Edition provides a comprehensive Web site environment for engaging and transacting with customers and business partners. This application, buillt on Windows NT Server and IIS, enables you to ad-enable your site, add Personalization and Membership, do online commerce, and perform sophisticated analysis of your Web site. This product is not available in BackOffice; it can only be purchased separately.

MCIS (solution for commercial service providers)
Microsoft Commercial Internet System (MCIS) is a set of Windows NTbased Internet server components for commercial service providers. The next version of MCIS will include all of Site Server, Commerce Edition as well as Internet Mail, Internet News, and Chat. This product is not available in BackOffice; it can only be purchased separately.

SNA Server (site-wide solutions for those with AS/400 applications and data)
A comprehensive gateway and application integration platform that provides Internet, intranet, and client-server technologies while preserving investments in existing AS/400 and mainframe systems.

Exchange Server (messaging)
Microsoft Exchange Server provides rich communication to businesses of all sizes. Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) is a scripting-object library that developers can use to design collaborative applications on both the client and the server side. It's an in-process, self-registered, language-independent COM server.

Proxy Server (firewall)
Microsoft Proxy Server's firewall security, content caching, and management tools help organizations effectively address issues of extending their networks to the Internet.

SQL Server (database)
SQL Server is a high-performance relational database management system that is designed to work hand-in-hand with IIS for Web database development.

Microsoft BackOffice family -- these products are not included in the BackOffice product, but work with BackOffice products and can be purchased separately:

Conclusion

Be sure to keep checking the product sites as well as the technical how-to articles in the Site Builder Workshop's Server area. New technologies and features are being added all the time, as are new technical how-to papers.