Comparison of Windows Server 2003 Editions

There are 4 versions of Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, Datacenter Edition, Web Edition.

Very useful link that I have found.  It has very detailed information about all the differences between the versions. –> Link

Web Edition:	Windows Web Edition is a purpose built version of Windows that is meant to be more like an appliance.  It’s meant to be a cheap way to deploy a web server since it doesn’t need all the additional functionality that Windows offers.  It only supports 2GB of Ram.
Standard Edition:	This is probably the most common version used as it fits most purposes.  It can fulfill most needs such as: file server, Domain Controller, application server, etc.  It only supports 4GB of RAM.
Enterprise Edition:	The most important feature that Enterprise Edition offers over Standard and Web is clustering.  This is most important for those mission critical apps like Database or applications that come with their own fault tolerance.
Datacenter Edition:	This is a unique version because it’s OEM’ed with hardware to ensure the highest availability of all the Windows versions.  It also includes all the features of all the previsous versions.

Filed Under: Technical Instructions