Network%20operating%20system%20comparison

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Network operating system comparison
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Introduction

• NOSfunctions -- such as providing file, print,
  communication, database, application, management,
  and other services to personal computer clients
  -- may be provided several ways. Each approach
  has its strengths and environments in which it
  excels.This paper compares the following
  operating systems as candidates for selection as
  a NOS

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Summary

• Network Operating Systems (NOSs) have gone far
  beyond their roots of file and print services.
  Other functions, such as communications,
  database, application, and management services,
  have become equally important in corporate
  environments. Companies using NOSs have found
  supporting large numbers of single-function
  servers to be costly and complex. These companies
  have started consolidating to a smaller number of
  larger, more powerful, multifunction servers.
  This trend makes it imperative for the NOS to
  have the flexibility to support such
  configurations.

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Multiporpose operating system

• What follows are examples of multipurpose
  operating systems
• Digital OpenVMS Version 6.2
• Microsoft Windows NT Server Version 3.51
• IBM's AIX Version 4.1
• SunSoft's Solaris Version 2.4
• HP HP-UX Version 10.0
• IBM OS/400 Version 3 Release 1

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Network Operating System

• The following are examples of network operating
  systems
• Novell NetWare V3.12
• Novell NetWare V4.1
• Banyan VINES

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NOS Function

• NOS functions are implemented two ways
• 1.As a standalone operating environment that may
  or may not allow the support of additional
  services, such as database or electronic
  messaging
• 2.As an additional service layered upon a
  general-purpose operating system, such as Unix or
  OpenVMS
• For the most part, standalone NOS environments
  provide the highest performance when the only
  requirements are file and print services. They
  often are less stable and robust when supporting
  other functions. When multifunction servers are
  required, layering NOS functions on a
  general-purpose operating system becomes the best
  choice.
• Most NOSs reside in either the second or third
  tier of a distributed architecture.
  General-purpose operating systems lend themselves
  better to multitier architectures than
  single-purpose systems. This evaluation reviews
  the use of each system as second-tier
  "application servers" in two-tier or multitiered
  environments. No conclusions should be drawn from
  this evaluation about the relative suitability of
  these systems as third-tier "enterprise servers."
  

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Process

• Built a model of the features and functions that
  are required for successful support of NOS
  functions. The suppliers of the leading
  standalone and multifunction NOS environments
  were surveyed to determine the specific
  capabilities of their products

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NOS requirements

• Architecture
• Does the NOS support multiprocessor systems?
• Are these systems supported as asymmetric or
  symmetric multiprocessing systems?
• Can NOS functions be partitioned to run on more
  than one processor simultaneously? Does the
  operating system support multiple microprocessor
  architectures?

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Architecture
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• Scalability
• What is the minimum and maximum memory, disk
  cache, and disk supported by each NOS?
• What is the maximum number of file locks, open
  files, concurrent clients, servers in any domain,
  and domains supported by each NOS.

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Scalability
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Availability and reliability features File
locking, support of redundant arrays of
inexpensive disks (RAID), various types of client
failover when a server fails, and support of
fault-tolerant hardware configurations are all
important to companies that rely on the network
as a critical part of their day-to-day business
operations.
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Availability and Reliability
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Clients supported Most companies have a broad
array of desktop devices. A NOS must support all
of the desktop devices being used in a company if
it is to be a viable candidate for adoption.
Typical devices that must be supported are
systems running DOS, DOS/Windows, Windows for
Workgroups, Windows 95, Windows NT Workstation,
Macintosh, OS/2, and Unix. Other devices, such as
X-Windows terminals, character-cell terminals,
and special-purpose devices that emulate a
character-cell terminal (teller terminals,
point-of-sale devices, etc.), should be supported
as well.
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Client Support
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Network printing Printing is one of the
primary functions of a NOS When selecting a NOS,
companies must know the answers to the following
questions How many printers are supported
per server? Can multiple printers be driven
by one print queue? Can multiple print
queues drive one printer? Will the NOS
deliver an alarm message to an operator if a
printing problem arises? Will the NOS inform
the user when a print job is completed? Can
the print function be managed remotely?
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Network Printing
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Network media Many different network media
types are in use in companies today. To be
successful, a NOS must support a broad collection
of network media, including all ethernet media,
all token-ring media, asynchronous and
synchronous telephone lines, packet-switched data
networks (PSDN) like X.25, fiber-optic, and
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN).
Without this support, it may be difficult for a
company to build the most optimal network
infrastructure for its network.
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Network Media
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Network protocols Connecting to the wire is the
first part of building a networked solution. The
next step is supporting the network protocols on
that wire. Companies selecting a NOS must be
comfortable that the protocols on the corporate
network are compatible with the NOS. The
protocols in this category are 3270 and
asynchronous terminal emulation, AppleTalk filing
protocol (AFP), TCP/IP, Telnet, Simple Mail
Transfer Protocol (SMTP), Simple Network
Management Protocol (SNMP), SNA, SNA LU6.2, SNA
Advanced Program-to-Program Communication (APPC),
File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Internetwork Packet
Exchange/Sequenced Packet Exchange (IPX/SPX),
NetWare file services, NetWare print services,
NetBIOS, and NetBEUI. This category also
considers whether the client can access the
server via an asynchronous line, a PSDN, the
Internet, or ISDN.
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Network Protocol
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Network services This category evaluates NOS
platforms to determine if they provide the
functions needed to support large corporate
environments, including support for directory
services that allow users to access network
services without having to know the network
address, security services that control access to
directory management functions and determine
whether the NOS supplier has committed to
supporting the tools, and services currently
being specified by the desktop management task
force (DMTF).
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Network Service
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Server management The server management
category reviews the tools available to manage
NOS platforms, including -audit trail functions,
-file management, -user account
management, -error reporting, -server
performance reporting. Companies need this
information to administer NOS platforms in a
corporate environment.
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Server management Support
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Security Companies need to feel comfortable that
corporate data assets are secure. This category
evaluates a NOS platforms' standards compliance
(B2 and C2 security ratings), support of access
control lists, disk quotas, automatic discovery
of and management of intruders, support of
callback modems, support of security management
systems such as Kerberos, and whether or not
encryption services are available.
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Security
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Functionality/utility Companies consolidating
many single-function servers into fewer larger,
multifunction servers must evaluate the NOS
platform infrastructure. A single-purpose
operating system may provide higher performance
for file and print services but may require
companies to support another operating system as
a platform for application services. A
general-purpose operating system can support
multifunction servers that can minimize
management and system costs. A multifunction
platform may be able to support multiuser
time-sharing applications as well as supporting
clients. This category reviews NOS platform
capability in this area.
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Functionality/Utility
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Application development tools NOS platforms are
increasingly expected to support application
services as well as the traditional file and
print services. This category reviews the
availability of third-generation languages
(3GLs), fourth-generation languages (4GLs),
object-oriented development tools, and tools for
team programming on each NOS platform.
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Application Development Tool
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Data access As NOS platforms are expected to
support more complex applications, they are
expected to support file access methods and
indexed file access methods. This category
evaluates NOS platform support of these file
services.
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Data Access
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Middleware NOS platforms are expected to take
part in complex, distributed, multitier
application architectures. This category reviews
NOS platform support of OSF's distributed
computing environment (DCE), object brokers,
guaranteed messaging services, reliable
transaction routers, X.400 mail, and X.500
directory services
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MiddleWare
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Database support Database software is often
part of the infrastructure of a distributed
application. This category evaluates which
database software is available on each NOS
platform.
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Database Support
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Applications This category reviews which
application services are available on each NOS
platform. Application services include mail
client, mail server, word processing client,
spreadsheet client, integrated office suite, or
Lotus Notes. Companies selecting a NOS platform
for both file/print services and application
services should consider NOS platforms with a
strong ranking in this category.
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Application
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Suimmary