On Tuesday, Microsoft shipped Windows 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2). Windows 2003 SP2 can be applied to a wide range of Windows 2003 products, including all versions of Windows 2003, all versions of Windows 2003 Release 2 (R2), Windows 2003 x64 Editions, Windows 2003 for Itanium-based Systems, Windows Storage Server 2003 R2, Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2, and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. Microsoft also updated a slew of Windows 2003-based tools to address the new service pack.
"Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 delivers on Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing initiative and illustrates Microsoft's commitment to continually create software products with enhanced security, increased reliability, and simplified administration," a note on Microsoft's Web site reads. "Windows Server 2003 SP2 builds upon the impressive track record of the award-winning Windows Server 2003 operating system by introducing numerous refinements in addition to supplying cumulative system updates. Deploying SP2 will help enterprises across all industries and segments enhance security, increase reliability, and simplify administration through guided attack surface reduction."
In addition to bug fixes and security updates, Windows 2003 SP2 includes Windows Deployment Services for rolling out Windows Vista and other Microsoft OSs, improved networking features from the Windows Server 2003 Scalable Networking Pack, improved IPsec management tools, and several other small updates. Windows 2003 SP2 also comes with all the features and updates from Windows 2003 SP1, which was a major release compared with Windows 2003 SP2 because it included important functionality improvements.
For more information about Windows 2003 SP2, go to http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sp2.mspx.
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (32-bit x86)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=95ac1610-c232-4644-b828-c55eec605d55&DisplayLang=en
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 for x64 Editions
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=08fec2f5-6e3b-4e0d-9314-646414d0a421&DisplayLang=en
