I like Bottom Line stuff.....
It's at the end of this article
Joe....
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BETA: Network
operating systems
NOS vs. NOS
We look at the next generation of network
operating systems: Microsoft's Windows NT
4.0 and Novell's Green River
By Brooks Talley
W ith both Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. planning
upgrades to their network operation systems (NOSes)
later this year, perhaps the biggest surprise is the
similarity of the two betas; Novell's NetWare Green
River and Microsoft's Windows NT Server 4.0, Beta 2,
are both incremental upgrades. It seems that both
companies are comfortable with foundations of their
NOSes, and it will probably be a few years before we
see a dramatic new offering from either camp.
The basic operating systems themselves are pretty
different at this point. NetWare is less mature than NT as
an application server; Novell's focus for the past few
years has been on directory services and the
implementation of symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP).
Microsoft, on the other hand, has opted to postpone
directory services in favor of application and internet
support. It has created a strong multipurpose operating
system with excellent SMP support and numerous
applications that really use the architecture.
Green River, still in early beta, features a new NetWare
Directory Services manager, called NDS Manager, a
graphical utility to ease administration and repair of NDS
partitions. Out-of-sync replicas are obvious at a glance
and easy to repair. NDS Manager also shows the
versions of NDS running on each server and can update
all out-of-date servers.
In addition to NDS Manager, Green River embraces the
1990s with an all-new 32-bit NWAdmin utility. Unlike
previous versions, it allows you to browse and edit
multiple trees at once -- a much-needed feature in larger
networks. It's very configurable and flexible, and
administrators' settings are stored in their user object in
the NDS tree -- so a familiar setup can be seen, even on
an unfamiliar workstation.
I really liked NWAdmin's improved editing capabilities,
which allowed me to do bulk updates on multiple users
or containers, such as changing their location.
Unfortunately, NWAdmin required Windows 95 and
didn't run on Windows NT 3.51 or Beta 2 of 4.0.
(Novell says NWAdmin will run on its client for
Windows 95.)
Unlike Green River, NT 4.0's administration is
apparently not slated for improvement until the
much-hyped Cairo appears sometime later this century.
The only real difference from version 3.51 is the
Administration Wizards. Although they will probably
never be used in larger shops, they're a boon for novice
administrators, offering step-by-step guidance on
common administrative tasks.
NT 4.0 is basically a cosmetic upgrade that adds Internet
capabilities to Version 3.51. Although there have been
bug fixes and performance improvements, the
fundamental operating system remains the same, just as
Novell's has.
The Windows 95 look is a welcome replacement for
NT's much-hated Program Manager. It offers a
tab-based window that reports on applications,
processes, and memory and CPU utilization. It even let
me change the priority of running processes -- something
I've longed for in NT 3.51.
Perhaps the two most notable changes other than the
interface are the addition of Distributed Common Object
Model -- a technology that looks interesting but has little
practical impact today -- and the video drivers' move to
unprotected kernel memory. This move makes sense in
NT Workstation, but not in NT Server; to preserve the
common driver model, Microsoft has compromised NT
Server's stability for NT Workstation's performance.
Microsoft has decided to focus on improving the overall
interface of the server and on shipping applications that
further position NT as an Internet and intranet server
platform. NT's Remote Access Server gains multilink
channel aggregation, a mouth-bending term for inverse
multiplexing, which allows multiple, slower connections
to appear as a single, faster connection. Internet
Information Server (IIS) 2.0 is also included, with
markedly better performance than 1.0.
Also, Microsoft includes a new Domain Name Service
(DNS) server that is vastly better than the malformed
offering included with the Resource Kit for NT 3.51. The
new DNS server is very usable and easy to administer
with a graphic utility.
Novell, on the other hand, hasn't yet decided how much
of a TCP/IP implementation to include in the next release
of NetWare. The beta includes full TCP/IP support for
both server and clients, as well as a full-featured DNS
server, but Novell hasn't yet decided whether or not to
include Web or File Transfer Protocol servers. NetWare
File Services (NFS) support will be an additional
product -- leaving NetWare in the odd position of
shipping with NFS namespace support, a full TCP/IP
implementation, and yet no NFS server or client
capabilities.
It will be possible to run IP-only NetWare networks with
Green River. For these networks, Novell has created the
redundant-sounding Domain Service Server (DSS),
which obviates service advertising packets (SAPs).
Instead of broadcasting SAPs, network resources need
only register themselves with the DSS. When a client
needs a resource, it talks to the DSS to find the correct
address.
Novell's newfound competitiveness was highlighted with
its demonstration of a unidirectional NDS client running
on NT 3.51 at last week's Green River Beta Workshop.
This nifty set of NT services allows user accounts to be
created, modified, and deleted from within NWAdmin.
The NT domain simply showed up as a container in the
NDS tree, just as any workgroup would. And, for the
first time, Novell has managed to counter Microsoft's
NetWare-to-NT tools with migration tools of its own.
Oddly, Windows NT 4.0 Beta 2 was less stable than
Beta 1 (see Product Reviews, Feb. 12, page 93) when
running on the ALR Revolution Quad6 server, from
Advanced Logic Research Inc., which won last week's
comparison. (See Product Comparison, May 20). I
found several severe memory leaks that ate up all
available system memory in a matter of seconds and then
crashed the system. Other times, NT refused to boot
because it claimed that the Last Known Good menu had
gone bad. Both of these problems could be attributable
to beta device drivers.
NT's installation has improved somewhat from Version
3.51. The CD supposedly meets the El Torito standard
for bootable CDs, but it crashed the El Torito-aware
computers, so I had to create boot floppies. The IIS
install isn't yet integrated, but the normal install leaves an
IIS Setup icon on the desktop.
NetWare's install is much improved from that of Version
4.1 but still lags behind NT's in user friendliness. For the
first time, NetWare's install program detects installed
network cards and disk controllers and installs the right
driver.
Green River adds support for PCI and
multiple-bus-based systems by assigning every adapter
card in the system a unique hardware identification
number. Drivers use this to refer to cards regardless of
which bus they're on. Unfortunately, this breaks all old
drivers except those for standard, "non-plug-and-pray"
ISA cards. Novell says that it will have a "critical mass"
of drivers available when Green River ships; even the
pre-beta that I used came with all the drivers I needed.
Brooks Talley is a technology analyst at InfoWorld.
Send him e-mail at brooks_talley@infoworld.com.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Windows NT Server 4.0, Beta 2
A new interface and new Internet features make Beta 2
worthwhile, but Windows NT won't be going much
further without real directory services.
Pros: Useful interface; Internet Information Server 2.0;
Domain Name Service Server.
Cons: Stability woes; no real directory service.
Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash.; (800) 426-9400,
(206) 882-8080; fax: (206) 936-7329;
microsoft.com.
Price: Not announced.
Ship date: Summer 1996.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Novell NetWare Green River Finally, NetWare
Directory Services (NDS) works well enough for Novell
to concentrate on administration and application issues.
NetWare might not be as glitzy as Windows NT today,
but the foundation is more solid.
Pros: Improved NDS and administration tools; easy
installation; built-in IP support.
Cons: Breaks old drivers; uncertain Internet bundling;
lack of NT support.
Novell Inc., Provo, Utah; (800) 638-9273, (801)
429-7000; novell.com.
Price: Not announced.
Ship date: Second half of 1996.
Questions, comments, kudos? Send a message to the
reviews editor at Dan Sommer
dan_sommer@infoworld.com.
Members of InfoWorld's staff and review board welcome your
comments, but they may not be able to respond to all messages.
Copyright © 1996 by InfoWorld Publishing Company |
