Select seven important criteria for the server operating system

Every operating system OS) is recommended, but in order not to be too messy, you 'd better limit the total number of operating OS.

1. application availability

Key question: will the OS you choose be able to run your current application? How many applications are being developed for it? How much will you pay for the application you want to run?

The number of applications available is not just a digital game. As you know, tens of thousands of applications supported by an OS are actually games. Make sure that all the applications you need can be purchased, and that the costs of these applications and their support contracts should not be higher than those of servers-a traditional approach in the mainframe era. In addition, you need to find the OS that supports application interaction in a standard way. For example, NT allows each application

Use OLE to transmit information between each other.

2. platform support

Key question: does it support your current client? How does it support mobile users? Whether the client needs

Can special software be used to access the server?

There are several levels of interoperability. At the lowest layer, the system can define and use a variety of different network protocols. NetWare networks use IPX, while most Unix networks and the Internet use TCP/IP. By default, NT uses NetBEUI. All of these operating systems support other protocols, but they run their core protocols with the optimal validity rate. At the higher level, even if the client supports the lower-layer protocol of the server, the connection may still fail. A typical example is that you can run Appletalk on the NetWare 4.11 server, but if a Mac Machine wants to register the NetWare Client software for the Macintosh without loading it first, the system will receive an error message indicating that the registration sequence of the server is not identifiable. At the same time, NT's Appletalk implementation looks like a standard Mac server.

Select the OS that integrates the special type of directory service. The starting point is: the user should not only be able to register with the application

You can also access any applications that reside on the server. For example

To use Domain Name System DNS) and Network Information Service NIS), NetWare 4.11 uses NetWare

Recording service NDS), NT 4.0 also uses a defined domain system. These are difficult to coordinate with each other, but some of them,

For example, NDS can accept many types of OS in its structure. The emergence of Web makes this situation more controversial.

Some communication protocols such as HTTP and TCP/IP are allowed. However, for now, the best solution for cross-platform integration

The solution is either to enable a Server OS to support all protocols running in the company, or to set certain protocol standards

Is likely to be TCP/IP ). NT seems to be able to run a variety of protocols, including TCP/IP, NetBEUI, IPX/SPX, and Appletalk. Of course there are others). However, almost any OS currently has some extended functions, this enables your server to have this level of functionality.

3. Performance

Key question: how many users can a single system support? Does the OS you selected support Symmetric Multi-processing SMP )? Does it allow you to balance loads on multiple systems?

You can read the benchmark you want) results, but the performance of an OS depends on how you use it. The performance is unrelated to the application. Some benchmarking procedures, such as the TPC-C of the transaction processing board, represent system performance in the database environment. Others, such as BYTEmark, indicate the performance of a specific system component. Some aspects of the OS design indicate the expected performance characteristics. For example, multithreading can reduce the number of context switches required for your application, thus improving the performance. The preemptive multitasking feature allows applications to truncate each other to ensure even performance.

NT, OS/2, OS/400, and SunSoft Solaris both have these two functions, and NetWare does not. Next, pay attention to scalability, specifically SMP. All major operating systems, such as Unix, NT, NetWareSMP, OS/2, and OS/400, support SMP. The question is: How many CPUs can this OS process? For example, NT end user licenses are limited to four, while OS/2 can process as many

64. But remember, you still need to adjust your software to run the SMP system.

4. Management

Key question: can you control multiple servers from one point? Can I remotely access the server? Is this server compatible with your existing management system?

For different people, system management means different content. For many people, backup is an important part of system management. Any OS has a built-in backup utility. However, none of them are the most advanced software packages and have different interfaces. If you want to back up different servers from the central console, and you have selected software such as Arcada's Backup exec, check that it should also support the new OS. When planning network expansion, you must confirm that the selected OS is suitable for your management mechanism. If the network does not become very large, you can rely on the Unix command line interface. However, if you are in charge of a server group with more than a dozen machines, you need to make the status of the cluster clear in some way.

Some software, such as Intel's LANdesk Manager and Symantec's Norton Administrator for Networks, can help you understand the running status of the server. However, they do not support Unix and OS/400 OS. In addition, the standard SNMP console, such as Hewlett-Packard's OpenView, can provide you with information flowing on the network, but they cannot provide you with information at the specific system component level. The basic rule for selecting the management function is to either ensure that the OS you choose is compatible with your existing management policy, or you are willing to modify the existing policy to adapt to the new OS.

5. Application Development

Key question: does the platform provide your development tools? Does the OS vendor support ISV only for independent software vendors? Is its API open and informative?

Everyone is competing to sell products first. In addition to the simplest operation layer, each network needs to be customized to some extent. OS must have standard OS services and industrial interfaces to support development. Virtual protection memory, multitasking, preemptive scheduling, and other advanced functions such as threads and asynchronous I/O are all indispensable for many high-end development tasks. To make full use of the OS's custom performance, you need a powerful development tool, documentation, and the OS vendor's internal development support ). At the very least, developers should be able to obtain compilers, debugging programs, project management utilities, and video programming tools. If the Server OS vendor you choose only provides support for large ISVs, you cannot find a large number of experienced developers.

Third-party vendor support is equally important. Tools, programming environments, and a full set of applications are usually provided by a variety of NOS platforms. With familiar tools, developers can easily work at all levels.

6. Reliability

Key question: does it support RAID or clusters? Does the file system have logs? Can parts be charged?

Protecting the memory architecture and the device drivers provided by the OS are the quality marks of some reliable operating systems, such as NT, OS/2, OS/400, and Unix. However, NetWare runs applications in the shared memory space. Applications can run in protected mode, but may conflict with the OS mechanism. Most Fault Tolerance occurs on the hardware layer. RAID in the form of software or hardware is common. The main advantage of software implementation is low price, such as NT. Other Fault Tolerance functions, such as redundant power supply, Nic and cooling fan, vary depending on the selected server. OS/400 Solaris also provides advanced cluster solutions. IBM is trying to port the OS/400 cluster Function Code Phoenix to OS/2. Microsoft is developing a group of Apis

Code: Wolfpack. Digital already has a system that can implement the NT set

Group. By default, the cluster function is an option of the above operating system, but this is really an expensive option

Item, with an average of thousands of US dollars per CPU.

7. Security

Key question: can the Administrator implement password restrictions? Does the OS support the access control list? Is "flight" onthe-fly) encryption supported? What is the C2 level of Orange Book security?

Security is a tough issue. There are different opinions, but no one can tell. In short, any operating system that does not install and maintain a strict security policy may be damaged and disclosed in secret. You must use a letter/number password, change the password frequently, or even consider encrypting important information. This shows that the OS can simplify the implementation Security. File and directory access permission is a starting point. Each OS implements these two functions, but they are slightly different. For example, Unix is rather obscure, while NetWare is intuitive and clear. In this case, each person must make sure that they are correctly set and implemented.

Auditing allows you to know who is doing what. It may produce a large amount of logs, but its information may be very valuable, especially when you want to track the last modification of a file. NT has a good audit system and is easy to use. Unix security is increasingly criticized. It was originally designed to be open-oriented and is now the target of attacks. If you choose Unix as your Application Server OS, you should immediately ask the vendor for the latest security patches. There are a lot of empty talk about level C2 security, but that's all. There are some reasons for this. First, the C2 level is only applicable to the tested OS versions. For example, NT 3.51 has C2 level security, but its version 4.0 does not. In addition, Red Book C2-level security indicates that the OS is cybersecurity. This is not only the tested version, but also applicable to the tested hardware.

Summary

After considering the operating system in these aspects, you can clearly understand how the operating system as the application server will behave. NT, Solaris, OS/2, NetWare, and OS/400 are powerful application-server operating systems. These questions can teach you so much. After a preliminary decision is made, the selected OS must be taken back to the company for development. It takes time and the cost may be high, but it will not be higher than the wrong decision, right?

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