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Microsoft Windows NT Secrets: Option Pack Edition
Last Updated 2/3/2009 3:42:59 PM
Abstract
This chapter provides a pre-release look at Windows 2000 Server, identifies key features, and helps you understand Windows NT Server 4.0-to-Windows 2000 Server migration issues.
In This Chapter
 Understanding the importance of the forthcoming Windows 2000 Server release
Identifying key feature areas and functional classes
Identifying key features found in Windows 2000 Server
Planning for migrating Windows 2000 Server in your organization
Understanding Windows NT server 4.0 to Windows 2000 Server migration issues
The most popular questions while walking the urban streets in Microsoft’s home town of Seattle have been not only do you have any change to spare? but when will Windows 2000 Server ship? Such has been the wait for Windows NT professionals. And such have been the expectations for Windows 2000 Server’s arrival. Given the hype in the media, the release of Windows 2000 Server is perhaps the second best known “noun” associated with Microsoft. The first would obviously have to be Microsoft’s ongoing antitrust legal tangles with the Department of Justice.
For me, Windows 2000 Server, all technical discussions aside, means one thing: better access to information. Ultimately, in business computing, we’re seeking more efficient ways gather data and convert it into information. It is the information that holds the value, and the data-to-information conversion process is the value-added step. So given that paradigm, how does Windows 2000 Server stack up? Very nicely, thank you. For many of us, this better information takes the form of the Active Directory and its object management orientation. For others, it’s tighter integration with the Internet (the ultimate data warehouse). Note that such integration may include a more stable, secure, and bandwidth-managed connection to the Internet (more on that in a moment). Finally, “better information” should be considered from an end user’s perspective. One example of this is the more powerful Find tool (from the desktop) that enables you to easily find resources on your computer, your network, and the Internet with keywords. Throw in, at long last, hardware Plug and Play capabilities and . . . you get the picture. Read on.
THE TRANSITION CHAPTER
As we come to the final chapter in perhaps the last book published on Windows NT Server 4.0, it is important to revisit the mission of this book. One of the underlying purposes of this book was to serve as a transition from your tried-and-true Windows NT Server 4.0 networks to the new world of Windows 2000 Server via the Option Pack and SP4. Indeed, the Option Pack is a transitional product in that you are introduced to features that will be assumed in Windows 2000 Server. And it is this chapter, providing an early look at the features, planning, and migration issues surrounding Windows 2000 Server that you will use to make the transition.
EXPECTATION MANAGEMENT
The greatest concern among long-time Windows NT Server professionals, with regard to the forthcoming arrival of Windows 2000 Server, is expectation management. Expectation management is that part of our job as Windows NT professionals that we often find to be exceedingly difficult. It is the need to communicate, deliver, and not over-promise or over-commit our technology to our stakeholders. For example, in a few pages I discuss a bandwidth control feature called Admission Control Service (ACS). It’s a wonderful tool for managing the bandwidth on LANs and WANs under Windows 2000 Server. However, some expectation management is necessary in presenting this feature to my stakeholders. By itself, ACS isn’t going to solve bandwidth problems overnight. In fact, applications will need to be ACS compliant to fully exploit the ACS feature. That’s something I must communicate today so that I don’t over-promise and under-deliver with Windows 2000 Server. This Windows 2000 Server expectation management issue is multidimensional and includes the timing for your purchase and installation, promised and delivered features, and early operating system stability.
Buy today/install today
Either you will feel this one yourself, or you will have managers placing undue influence upon you to buy Windows 2000 Server on or near the release date and install it shortly thereafter in a production environment. A recurring theme that I’ve emphasized throughout this book has been this: The early days of Windows 2000 Server will undoubtedly be a period for:
- Ascending the Windows 2000 Server learning curve (training, mistakes, and lessons learned)
- Running Windows 2000 Server on a test network
- Both testing and waiting for your applications to become Windows 2000 Server compatible
- Continuing to run Windows NT Server 4.0 SP4 as the backbone of your existing network
Let’s face it. You may well purchase Windows 2000 Server on day one. But that’s about all you will do with it. On day two, you’ll probably install it on a powerful yet noncritical server. And maybe around day 400, 500, or 600 you will be running it as the backbone network operating system in your organization.
In fact, that “production delay” experienced when implementing any new NOS, including Windows 2000 Server, is one of the main reasons for this book. By better using Windows NT Server 4.0 with its Option Pack and SP4, you can better implement Windows 2000 Server when that crossover date ultimately arrives.
Feature short
In its push to ship Windows 2000 Server, it will be necessary for Microsoft to ultimately cut planned features and functionality. That is normal in the software development business. If such weren’t the case, you would never ship any products, always hoping to perfect features down to the minute details. And we would all suffer.
So be cautious with your expectations regarding what Windows 2000 Server will actually be able to accomplish. Depending on the pressures put upon Microsoft by itself, the marketplace, and most important, Windows 2000 Server beta testers, the product may look very different from what you are reading about in the popular trade journals today. Be cautious by expecting less and receiving more than you expected in the first release of Windows 2000 Server.
Unstable
Finally, perhaps the best reason for casting a cautious eye on the initial shipping version of Windows 2000 Server is your experiences with unstable operating systems. Remember early in the book, in Chapter 1, when I mentioned that there were those in the Windows NT Server community who felt Windows NT Server 3.51 wasn’t ready for prime time until SP5 came along? And this is the same group that, with the release of SP4, are now enthusiastically embracing Windows NT Server 4.0. So you can easily imagine that these people will undoubtedly be cautious about the first release of Windows 2000 Server.
Perhaps their fears are well founded. You, as a Windows NT Server professional, will receive no quicker call than that of the blue screen. And yes, you can anticipate blue screens in the early releases of Windows 2000 Server. So we’ll all keep high hopes and assume that Windows 2000 Server will achieve its stability like a fine wine—over time.
MICROSOFT’S POSITION ON WINDOWS 2000 SERVER
Look beneath Microsoft’s high-level “vision” of quality, value, delivery, and teamwork when speaking about the Windows 2000 Server development team, and you can see what the “goals” are. The goals for Windows 2000 Server are to provide a great network server operating system that provides file/print/Web services, application services, robust infrastructure services, and communications services. A key tenet to achieving these goals is to have the highest reliability ever.
File servers
With basic file server activity, it will be easier to locate information via Active Directory (which is discussed more in a moment). Storage management has dramatically improved with disk quotas, hierarchical storage management, and dynamic volume management. If you’re from the NetWare community, perhaps you’ve already used disk quotas (and were somewhat dismayed that earlier versions of Windows NT Server had no such feature). Windows 2000 Server clearly bring performance improvement over its predecessors, with Microsoft reporting 20 percent faster file access.
Print servers
Printers are now objects in Active Directory to allow more robust management from anywhere on the network. Printers will also be available over the Internet via the Internet printing protocol. Bottom line? Faster printing, more efficient queue management, and dramatic network printing driver improvements.
Web servers
Web servers are a key focus of Windows 2000 Server. Clearly, the emphasis is on higher performance, and there is support for HTTP compression.
Applications servers
This is where Windows 2000 Server shines. A few improvements here include better scaling, fewer reboots, improved clustering services, and the autostart of failed services. Application management has been improved with the introduction of terminal services, via Terminal Server, at the desktop. That is because you may deploy terminals at the desktop, dramatically simplifying the deployment of applications.
Infrastructure servers
With Windows 2000 Server, you will see two main improvements. First, Active Directory will dramatically change the way the networking infrastructure is managed (as a distributed object database). The other huge feature is improved security services based on Kerberos and public key infrastructure. You will also benefit from the Security Configuration Editor.
Communications servers
Three areas of improvement. There is a stronger emphasis on policy-based networking. An example of this is quality of service (QoS). I discuss this more in this chapter, but basically QoS enables you to set a policy on how much bandwidth may be used by a multimedia application or Web browsing and the like.
Microsoft concludes that Windows 2000 Server will provide the power that customers demand with such features as Internet Explorer 5.0, automatic network setup, exploitation of advanced hardware, and fitness for world-wide use (including multilingual support). Customers benefit from the robust nature of Windows 2000 Server including fewer reboots. Finally, customers will be able to leverage existing assets. Here the goal is broad application compatibility plus better hardware compatibility.
INTRODUCING WINDOWS 2000 SERVER
Known by its present name for most of its development cycle, Windows 2000 Server is clearly the next generation of network operating system from Microsoft. It is a major release with substantial rework. It is clearly not a minor upgrade (as was Windows NT Server 3.5 to 3.51).
So what is Windows 2000 Server? Here we go. I have divided this discussion into key areas that reflect the areas of improvement in Windows NT Server.
General
From fewer reboots to an improved user interface, I share with you the general improvements to Windows 2000 Server that I consider to be my favorites.
Fewer reboots
Fewer reboots is clearly one of my favorites and the favorite of many long-time Windows NT Server professionals. Microsoft claims to have eliminated over 60 reboot conditions that previously have wreaked havoc on critical workday operations. In fact, at the enterprise level, it has been difficult to take Windows NT Server seriously in the past because of the pervasive need to reboot. Rebooting during daytime hours is of course not practical.
Device Manager
In Chapter 11 of this book, adding new hardware to Windows NT Server 4.0 is discussed and cursed. That has changed in Windows 2000 Server with its Windows 98–like Device Manager. In fact, upon booting, Windows 2000 Server performs a robust hardware detection routine.
I consider Device Manager to be one of the best improvements in Windows 2000 Server, at least from a network administration point of view.
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Note: Understand that one of the things that makes Device Manager possible is Plug and Play (PnP) support. Yes, it’s finally here, making it easy to install and troubleshoot new hardware. |
Improved user interface—Active Desktop
Similar to Windows 98 with its Web orientation, the Active Desktop is both an improvement in user interface design and functionality over Windows NT Server 4.0. One feature of the Active Desktop is the ability to launch applications and documents via a single click.
Microsoft Management Console
Another usability and functionality enhancement is the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). The idea behind the MMC is simple. Present the user a consistent interface regardless of the server tool or application being used. This is huge improvement over the varied looks of Event Viewer, Server Manager, and User Manager for Domains in Windows NT Server 4.0. In Windows 2000 Server, each of these tools is now presented via a MMC.
Another cool thing about the MMC concept is that it accepts snap-ins. That’s another way of saying the MMC is extensible and customizable. A developer could write to the MMC to create a custom snap-in. I can only imagine the improvements in application management that will result from this approach. Such improvements might include the ability to configure your accounting application from an MMC snap-in.
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Secret: It is likely that, in your early experience with Windows 2000 Server, you will instinctively go to Control Panel to perform many configuration actions on your server. I know I did. However, much of the Control Panel has been moved to the MMC format. After a few days, you will get used to that change. You will be interested to know that the MMC is now available to you in Windows NT Server 4.0 via the Option Pack. This is discussed in Part IV of this book. |
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