Description of the Security Configuration Wizard in Windows Server 2003 (906236)

INTRODUCTION

The Security Configuration Wizard is a security policy authoring tool that focuses on reducing attack surface. You can use the Security Configuration Wizard to do the following things:

• Disable unnecessary ports and services.
• Configure Microsoft Windows Firewall.
• Configure Internet Protocol security (IPSEC) filters.
• Configure Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) settings.
• Configure server message block (SMB) settings.
• Configure NTLM protocol settings.
• Configure predefined audit settings.
• Configure individual settings for applications such as Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server, and most Microsoft server-side application products.

The Security Configuration Wizard is an application instead of a service. The Security Configuration Wizard is abstracted from the actual components that store and enforce the security options. The Security Configuration Wizard does not enforce defined settings. Instead, the Security Configuration Wizard creates a customized settings template. Other aspects of the operating system are responsible for using the template to modify system behavior.