Support for Windows Server 2003 SP1 on Windows Storage Server 2003-based server appliances

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is now available from the Windows Update Web site. We strongly recommend that you follow the guidance from the OEM that manufactured the Windows Storage Server 2003-based server appliance for obtaining this service pack.

This article describes any known issues that you may experience when you install Windows Server 2003 SP1 on a server appliance that is running Windows Storage Server 2003.

Windows Firewall may block remote access to the Web user interface (WebUI)

You may have to configure Windows Firewall to enable remote access to the port that is used by the WebUI. To configure Windows Firewall, follow these steps.

Warning This workaround may make a computer or a network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. We do not recommend this workaround but are providing this information so that you can implement this workaround at your own discretion. Use this workaround at your own risk.

1. In Control Panel, open Windows Firewall.
2. Click the Exceptions tab.
3. Click Add Port.
4. In the Name box, type a name.
5. In the Port number box, type the port number that is used by the WebUI. By default, the WebUI uses port 8098. To determine the correct port value, contact the OEM vendor or server administrator.
6. Click TCP, and then click OK.

Optimize system performance after updating to Windows Server 2003 SP1

We recommend that you use the following settings for Windows Storage Server 2003. With these registry settings, you should notice that overall system performance noticeably improves.

Note If you are using computers that are running Microsoft Windows XP SP1 or Service Pack 2 (SP2) to access shares on the server appliance that is running Windows Storage Server 2003, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base before you implementing these registry settings: Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

Both x86-based and x64-based systems

Value Name: noaliasingonfilesystem
Type: reg_dword
Setting: 1
Registry Key: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters

Value Name: treathostasstablestorage
Type: reg_dword
Setting: 1
Registry Key: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters

Value Name: NumTcbTablePartitions
Type: reg_dword
Setting: 16
Registry Key: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

For Windows Server 2003 SP1, we recommend that you set the NumTcbTablePartitions value to 4 (the actual number of CPU cores in the system). Each core counts as one CPU. Therefore, a system that has two dual-core processors would have a total of four CPUs. The default value for NumTcbTablePartitions is x × x, where x represents the number of processors on the system. If you leave the NumTcbTablePartitions value set to the default for computers that have more than 16 processors, you will adversely affect performance.

Value Name: NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation
Type: reg_dword
Setting: 1
Registry Key: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem

Value Name: NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate
Type: reg_dword
Setting: 1
Registry Key: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem

x86-based systems only

Set PagedPoolSize as follows:

Value name: PagedPoolSize
Type: reg_dword
Radix: Hex Value
data: 0xC0000000
Registry Key: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

However, if you anticipate that some Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) snapshots will be large, you can improve performance by setting the PagedPoolSize value as follows:

Value name: PagedPoolSize
Type: reg_dword
Radix: Hex Value
data: 0xFFFFFFFF
Registry Key: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

Note Setting the PagedPoolSize value to 0xFFFFFFFF allocates the maximum paged pool to the computer.

For more information about performance tuning guidelines for Windows Server 2003, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: