Windows NT

Windows NT  Features

 

Introduction to Windows NT

• Unlike Windows 9x, Windows NT  was designed for the office market where data security, Operating system robustness, and expandability play a big role. The general design of Windows NT is competent of handling greater hardware, supporting more applications , and providing the user with greater controllability over system services .

• There is a new secure filing system added to Windows NT  that controls user access to files  and folders  referred to as NTFS .

• Windows NT  also has a server component included in the form of a PDC , BDC  and a member server  enabling a Microsoft client server  environment of any size and capacity.

• You can also install server based applications  and processes on the server environment enabling it to perform specialized functions for the whole network .

Key Topics

Windows NT  processor Support Administrative Tools Plug and Play Windows NT  Configuration Windows NT  Workstation Local SAM

Windows NT  Workstation clients Windows NT  domains Windows NT  and other platforms Profiles Remote Access Service (RAS ) Adding a service pack

 

Windows NT  Workstation

• Windows NT  workstation is designed for client use on a client server  network  or can make up a workgroup  in a peer-to-peer network.

• Windows NT  workstation can only concurrently serve 10 users or less in a network  environment.

Local SAM

• You must configure the security permissions  of all the users which is stored on the Security  Accounts Manager (SAM ) of each workstation individually within a peer to peer network  

• Each system has a separate set of users and therefore has a separate database of user accounts called the SAM .

• If a user requires accessing two separate computers, they must have an account setup on the SAM  of each of the individual computers.

 

 

 

 

Windows NT  Workstation Client

• Windows NT  workstations can be set as clients of both Windows NT Servers and Novel servers.

Windows Domain

• For large networks a server is recommended to centralize the security accounts database SAM  in a domain structure.

• Users defined on the domain can access the network  resources  from any location on the network.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primary Domain  Controller (PDC )

• The first NT server in a domain is defined as a Primary Domain  Controller (PDC ) which contains the original editable SAM  database.

Backup  Domain  Controllers (BDC )

•  will be overworked in large networks and may not be able to respond to the added network  load, BDC ’s can be used to even out the load.

• BDC ’s have two main functions, redundancy if the PDC  fails, and help with the authentication  if the PDC is overloaded.

BDC  Authentication

• To help with the authentication  process, the PDC  make a read  only  copy of the SAM  to the BDC ’s in the domain and updates the BDC regularly every five minutes.

BDC  Redundancy

• A domain can only have one PDC  and any number of BDC ’s to even out the load on the domain.

• If the PDC  fails or needs to be replaced, the BDC  can be upgraded to the PDC which means the SAM  can then be edited on it.

Member Servers

• A member Server is used in large networks and do not participate in the authentication  process, but provide services  to the domain including print servers, Internet  information  server (IIS ), File Transport Protocol (FTP ), SQL  Server, Exchange server  etc. 

Workstation Applications and Services

• Windows NT  workstation provides you with the ability of using client side applications  such as Microsoft office.

• You can also use client side services  such as the file and print server , Remote Access Service (RAS ) services etc.

Server Applications and Services

• Windows NT  Server is designed to run server side applications  such as Internet  Information  Server (IIS ), SQL  Server, Exchange server  etc.

• You can also use server side services  such as the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol DHCP  server, file and print server , and RAS  server.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Windows NT  and other Platforms

• Windows NT  can communicate with other environments including DOS , Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98  and Apple Macintosh  systems.

• Windows NT  can be installed on CISC  IBM  compatible  systems, and RISC  DEC Alpha  machines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Windows NT  Processors Support

• Windows NT  has been designed to support multiple processors on a single system, which makes an ideal operating system  for small, large and enterprise  networks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Administrative Tools

• The administrative tools  option inside Windows NT  is the only obvious noticeable deference between windows 9x  and NT’s start menu  options.

• The administrative tools  contain tools that are used by administrators to configure the system components exclusively related to Windows NT .

• The administrative tools  components include backup, disk administrator , event viewer , performance  monitor, remote access admin , user manager  and windows diagnostics .

 

Plug and Play

• Plug and play was not part of the initial design of windows NT4 but was added in a limited capacity for the operating system .

• Plug and Play  is only activated in a limited form during the installation  of windows NT4 and does not work at any other time.

Windows NT  configuration

• You will need to manually  add and configure all hardware added after the installation  by physically installing all hardware and then configuring the hardware in Windows NT  using the control panel options. Plug and play does not exist in the Windows NT installed environment.

Profiles

• A profile is a set of desktop settings associated with each user.

• There are three possible profiles in Windows NT , Local profile , Roaming profile , and Mandatory profile .

Local Profiles

• A Local profile  is the profile set for the user and is stored on your local computer. The local profile contains all of the users local desktop, login, etc settings.

Roaming Profiles

• Roaming profile  is a profile set for the user and stored on the server, which means the user, will be able to access their roaming profile from any computer on the domain. The roaming file is useful for technical personnel that may be troubleshooting  on different systems on the network  and need to use their regular profile.

Mandatory Profile

• Mandatory Profile  is a roaming profile assigned to a group  of people on a domain by the system administrator  and cannot be changed by the user.

• A mandatory profile can be used by the system administrator  to limit the users desktop settings.

Remote Access Service RAS

• This is a feature of Windows NT , which allows serial streaming  connections to be made controlled and secured on all incoming and outgoing dial up connections .

• Windows NT  workstation only supports 1 incoming RAS  connection.

• Windows NT  server supports up to 256 incoming connections.

• Windows NT  server also provides support for outgoing connections as well as incoming connections.

RAS  Multilink Connections

• The multilink  feature of RAS  allows windows NT to combine multiple RAS modems  to communicate as one aggregate connection improving performance  by splitting the data between two communicating system over multiple separate serial RAS lines of communication .

• Although the multilink  feature is used predominantly in ISDN  lines, it can be used to combine two 14,4Kb/s modems  in to one 28.8Kb/s communication  line doubling the bandwidth .

Adding A Service Pack

• Microsoft releases service packs regularly, which contain patches  for fixing certain components of the operating system  and also upgrade the operating system to some of the latest hardware currently in the market.

• These service packs can either be obtained from Microsoft as a CD  or downloaded from the Internet .

Question

 

1. Which of the following are features of Windows NT? (Choose all that apply)  

1. The client component of windows NT is Windows Workstation

2. The client component of windows NT is Windows Professional

3. Windows NT  workstation can support 2 processors

4. Windows NT  workstation can support 1 processors

2. Which of the following are profiles of Windows NT? (Choose all that apply)  

1. Mandatory Profile

2. Local Profile

3. Connection Profile

4. User Profile

5. Roaming Profile

3. What are the features of RAS? (Choose all that apply)

1. Windows NT  workstation supports 1 incoming RAS  connection

2. Windows NT  workstation supports 256 incoming RAS  connection

3. Windows NT  server supports 256 incoming RAS  connection

4. Windows NT  server supports 127 incoming RAS  connection

5. Windows NT  RAS  supports multilink  connections

4. A windows NT domain supports ? (Choose all that apply)

1. 1 PDC  server

2. 5 PDC  servers

3. Unlimited BDC  servers

4. Unlimited PDC  servers

5. Unlimited Member servers

5. Which of the following are applications  of windows NT server? (Choose all that apply)

1. Exchange server

2. Microsoft office

3. Internet  explorer

4. SQL  server

5. Internet  Information  Server

6. Which of the following are applications  of windows NT server? (Choose all that apply)

1. Print Service

2. DHCP  service

3. File service

4. RAS  service

5. Backup  service

7. Which server contains an editable copy of SAM  in a domain? (Choose all that apply)

1. Local server

2. BDC

3. PDC

4. Member server

8. What is a true about a service pack? (Choose all that apply)

1. It is a Mini upgrade

2. Similar to reinstallation

3. It contains Patches and fixes

4. Backup  of system prior to the service pack  is compulsory

5. Backup  of system prior to the service pack  is advisory

 

 

Answers

1.      A,C

2.      A,B,E

3.      A,C,E

4.      A,C,E

5.      A,D,E

6.      A,B,D

7.      C

8.      A,C,E