Feb 18, 2004 06:42 PM
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(Updated Feb 18, 2004 06:42 PM)
It was an age when the accessing the internet meant paying 200 bucks per hour at a cyber café on the other side of town. When I gave my email id to someone they dropped their jaws because having one email id meant looking cool. It was an age when computers were just a term; we got to see it when Tom cruise used his laptop to crack a security code in Mission impossible. It was an age when someone said windows, they meant windows or kidki.
Today someone says windows the response would be a question - 2000 or XP? The real windows you have in your house never had version identifiers seldom got away with its literal meaning. It was at such an age when Microsoft upgraded its Windows Server 3.51 to 4.0. Well it was a server product called Windows NT 4.0 server and Windows NT 4.0 workstation.
Well, then, what is the whole purpose of having this review on a probable outdated product. Well then the question should be why now. I made my entry into my profession with network operating software. When Windows 95 still existed in the information industry trying to make the presence felt, there was a strong need for windows Server. At least the experts at Microsoft panel thought incorporating a few features of Novel Netware, which was ruling the Network Operating System market. Hence came a new file system called NTFS 4.0 which not just revolutionized the Information industry but this has transitioned from a luxury to a bare minimum necessity.
Windows NT Server 4.0, as many thought, revolutionized the information industry. It was a beginning on a whole new range of products that come with attractive package and full of bugs, which gets cleared of in a new service pack or a ''security update''.
So what does Windows NT did have to offer?
NTFS- New Technology File System
NTFS looked promising and it did live up to its expectations. The file system allowed the user benefits of choosing the intended recipient of his resource. the users accessing the resource probably were many. But access control is what made it stand out among the crowd. two different users have two different levels of access to the shared resource. this is where FAT file systems failed. NTFS still had a long way to go, and yet, today it keeps getting better.
The Network services
There was a host of protocols and services to choose from. DHCP was a revolution, yet it was inherited from its predecessor BootP. There was Microsoft proprietary WINS and gave some GUI look to the primitive DNS. Lot of these services were to cater to the growing necessity of providing Host configurations and name to address resolutions. there were others Like NWlink which was a pure extract from Ethernet 802.2 and 802.3 MaC header version of their closest competitors Novel. NWlink was used to communicate with the Novel boxes.
Domains and user
Coming to the most common and widely utility of the Server - the Domain Controller. The Domain controller hosts a service which enabled the Users to authenticate into a logically defined entity called a domain. Here onwards, the user database is maintained which is know as SAM or Security Accounts manager. The level of access a user should get is here on decided by reference to a list called an Access Control List or ACL
support Application and Web services
Windows NT server supports and can Host oracle and SQL server Databases, providing a defined optimum resource allotment to the demanding applications. For web services, the accompanying media known as the Option Pack is utilized, unlike the 2000 and 2003 server versions. Any application when it has equal access to the system processor can be downgraded or given high priority there by optimizing the performance on par with the application or user demands.
Where Windows NT failed..
One good thing begets another. But in some cases you may beget a bad thing. to run the best Network operating systems that?s had your money's worth would comply with certain mis-giving. Windows NT gave many Systems Administrators of its day the BSOD syndrome. BSOD for Blue Screen Of Death. Applications would crash the server Kernel, sometimes beyond repair. Some of the replication features existed only in the technical manuals but hardly worked between the servers.
Comments Most Welcome
Davieboy
