Final Exam
Reviews of Network Operating Systems
Microsoft Server
Novell Netware
Linux
Shaun McGorry
ISYM 540 –SSII
Current Topics in ISM
August 6, 2009
Introduction
One of the most difficult decisions companies are facing today is the selection of a network
operating system. A networking operating system (NOS) is an operating system that contains components
and programs that allow a computer running network operating system to serve requests from other
computers for data and websites. It also provides access to other resources such as printers and file
systems. A network operating system implements protocol stacks as well as device drivers for networking
hardware. Network operating systems have existed more than 30 years. The Unix operating system was
designed from the beginning to support networking. Since Windows did not support networking in its
early days, Novell Netware became the first popular network operating system for the personal computer.
Windows 95 and Windows for Workgroups were Microsoft’s first network operating system products.
Today, nearly any consumer operating system qualifies as a NOS due to the popularity of the Internet and
the obvious need to support Internet Protocol (IP) networking at a minimum. One feature of a network
operating system is to add/remove and manage users who wish to use resources on the network. It also
allows users to access the data which usually resides on the server of the NOS. It also allows users to
access data found on other networks such as the Internet and allows them to access hardware connected to
the network. Another feature of a network operating system is to protect data and services located on the
network. This is considered by some people to be the most important. Some other features are basic
support for hardware ports, security features such as authentication, authorization, login restrictions, and
access control, name and directory services, file, print, data storage, backup and replication services,
remote access, system management, network administration and auditing tools with graphic interfaces,
clustering capabilities, and fault tolerance and high availability.
Debates over the relative merits of operating systems, both technical and non-technical in nature,
have raged for decades. The following discussion will give a comprehensive review three network
operating systems: Microsoft Server, Novell Netware, and Linux. After this review, I will give a
recommendation for what network operating system would be best our medium size company, Delaware
Valley Tax Consultants.
Company Background
Delaware Valley Tax Consultants is a tax and financial consulting firm located in the Delaware
Valley region. We provide tax services and financial planning services for small businesses as well as
individuals. We are a medium size business employing about 300 hundred workers consisting of tax
analysts, tax accountants, and financial consultants. We have a total of three locations with an office in
Philadelphia, another in Northern New Jersey, and newest in Delaware. We have been in business for five
years and currently use Windows XP as our network operating system. However, we have been reviewing
options to update our system in order to provide our clients with the best possible service as the business
continues to grow.
Microsoft Server
On April 4th, 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Micro-Soft Corporation in New Mexico.
Microsoft works on a completely other operating system philosophy than Windows for quite a long time
and is a leader in the industry. Microsoft Servers (previously called Windows Server System) is a brand
that encompasses a line of Microsoft server products. Most of the products sold under this brand are not
intended to be line-of-business services in and of themselves. There are a few choices in determining
what windows networking operating system is the right fit for a company. Depending on the types of
computers they are using and their type of business, they probably are considering Windows XP, Vista,
Windows 7, or Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (still a few years away). First, I will make a few
comments about our current network operating system, Windows Server 2003, and our current desktop
operating system, XP. Some key features include fast boot up time, driver rollback, low system
requirements, and a low memory footprint. Despite the fact that XP has been around for years, it is
relatively forgiving on older machines and notebooks. Users with specific multimedia demands that don’t
want to upgrade their hardware find XP an appealing alternative to the more demanding Vista. While XP
will no longer be sold after the release of Windows 7, Microsoft has committed to providing support for
the operating system until 2014. This is another reason showing the importance of this review and for us
to make decision in the very near future.
Now, I will take a quick look at Vista. Some key features include Windows Media Center,
advanced protection from malware, parental control options, Windows sidebar, and real time searches. IT
departments have largely ignored Windows Vista and stuck with Windows XP as the corporate standard.
It seems that Microsoft will never fully own up to just how bumpy Vista’s release was. In the beginning,
Vista was demanding, awkward, and aggravating. However, just because Vista was a failure at release, it
doesn’t mean it is a bad operating system. With Microsoft’s continued patching and the release of the
Vista Service Pack 1, the operating system matured into a highly functional interface ideal for most users.
I actually have Vista as my personal operating system at home and am very comfortable using it.
Moving on, let’s now take a look at Windows 7. Windows 7 already looks to have righted many
of the wrongs of Vista, especially in terms of a smooth release. Microsoft is confident that end users will
experience a smooth transition to this operating system. The fresh interface and look of Windows 7 are
welcome changes, especially compared to the more resource-hungry and less innovative operation of
Vista. Some key features of Window 7 are plug and play capability with hardware and peripheral devices,
completely customized task bar, jump lists, homegroup networking, and low memory footprint. Windows
7 has received a warmer response from IT professionals than Vista did, but the jury is still out on whether
to deploy it. Here are a couple of comments, one pro and one against, about the migration to Windows 7:
“Actually, we’ve found 7 to be so reliable with great performance, we will begin in fall of 2009
and push as fast as our budgets will allow. Some of our IT staff is already using it productively (including
me) and any new system purchase we plan to include the Win 7 OS as a standard item.”
-
Edward Beck, VP of IT at Line
6, Inc.
“For most small to medium sized businesses, Windows 7 migration provides no significant strategic or
competitive advantage, either immediately or in the near term. Resources are best applied elsewhere.”
-
Jeff Relkin, Director of IT for
Quadel
Now let’s take a look into the latest version of Microsoft’s server network operating system
(NOS), Windows Server 2008. Windows Server 2008 builds on the features found in Windows Server
2003 and also offers a number of enhancements. It was part of the development cycle that produced
Microsoft’s Windows Vista desktop operating system. While providing a number of improvements,
Windows Server 2008 also still provides a scalable enterprise networking platform that can easily be
expanded as a company or organization grows. It shares a number of similarities with Windows Vista,
including the Start Menu, desktop, and Windows Control Panel. Windows Server 2008 also now provides
a better native backup utility, the Windows Server Backup snap-in. This utility runs Microsoft
Management Console and will enable us to back up and restore server files to backup media including
DVDs. Windows Server 2008 also takes advantage of a new encryption feature, Windows BitLocker,
which encrypts all the data on volume including paging files, applications, or data used by applications.
Although Windows Server 2008 contains many new features, many feature tools that were available in
Windows Server 2003 are still also available. Some other features are the Active Directory, Group Policy,
high-level security, web server capabilities, read-only domain controllers, Internet Information Services7,
Windows Server 2008 core installation, Internet Protocol version 6, server virtualization, Windows
Firewall, and Reliability and Performance Monitor. The cost of Windows Server 2008 (I looked at the
Standard Edition) is $999 per server with five Client Access Licenses or CALS. Windows Server 2008 is
scheduled to be available on or before October 22, 2009. This is also the scheduled release date of
Windows 7.
Novell Netware
Novell started out as a computer manufacturer, Novell Data Systems, in1979. In January 1983,
this company was renamed to Novell Inc. with the new target to develop and commercialize software and
hardware for use in networks. Netware is a network operating system developed by Novell and initially
used cooperative multitasking to run various services on a personal computer, and the network protocols
were based on the archetypal Xerox Network Services stack. The popular use and growth of Novell
Netware began in 1985 with the releases of Netware 286 and the Intel 80286 16-bit processor. Novell
provides simple but powerful text-based menus on the command line for the configuration since the first
NetWare release. The administration of resources like printers, files and users is possible with a client and
a graphical window system and granted administrator rights. NetWare needs only low hardware
requirements and has memory protection. This operating system is used for all sorts of fields of
application. Use as a directory service, Internet server, Intranet server, file server or also application
server is part of it. In 2003, Novell announced the successor product to Netware would be Open
Enterprise Server. However, I will take a look at the last Netware that was released in August 2003,
Novell Netware 6.5.
NetWare changed significantly in the new millennium and NetWare 6.5 continued the
transformation. From better open source support to 32-node cluster support, NetWare 6.5 included a
number of new features and enhancements for the administrator, the developer, and the end user. Some
of the important features of Netware 6.5 are iPrint, iFolders, eGuide, Virtual Teams, Web mail, Web
search, password management, and personal web creation. Even with these features, NetWare 6.5 would
be incomplete without iManager. Included in this offering is iManager 2.0. Providing browser-based
management for eDirectory, DNS, FTP, iPrint, iSCSI, Product Metering, Nsure UDDI, and NSS,
iManager 2.0 can help unchain IT staff members from their desks and even from the office. Also included
in NetWare 6.5 is the Server Consolidation utility, which lessens the effort required to consolidate or
upgrade servers, even NetWare servers of different versions. NetWare 6.5 also includes dramatic
improvements to the previously feeble clustering services by allowing up to 32 machines in a single
cluster. Previously, only two machines could form a cluster. Netware 6.5 contains features that will
appeal to organizations of every size. The various included applications can empower an organization to
streamline IT management, trim its budgets, and increase end users' productivity. One thing that popped
out during my research was the stability of Netware. There has been some talk that some servers have
stayed up for years without human intervention. The cost for Novell Netware 6.5 is around $359 per
server per license.
NetWare 6.5 offers a compelling upgrade that extends open source support, simplifies
management, and provides a more robust network operating system. However, while Novell Netware is
still used by some organizations, its ongoing decline in popularity began in the mid-1990s. Although
Windows-based networks are sometimes less reliable and more expensive, Novell did not adapt their
pricing structure accordingly and Netware sales suffered. As a result, organizations that still use Netware
and Novell software often have a hybrid infrastructure of Netware, Linux, and Windows servers. Netware
6.5 looks to be a compelling upgrade for companies already using Novell, but not a company looking for
a new network operating system.
Linux
I will now take a look at the Linux network operating system. Linux is an operating system
initially created as a hobby by a young student, Linus Torvalds, at the University of Helsinki in Finland.
Linus had an interest in Minix, a small UNIX system, and decided to develop a system that exceeded the
Minix standards. He began his work in 1991 and released version 0.02 and worked steadily until 1994
when version 1.0 of the Linux Kernel was released. The kernel, at the heart of all Linux systems, is
developed and released under the GNU General Public License and its source code is freely available to
everyone. It is this kernel that forms the base around which a Linux operating system is developed. There
are now literally hundreds of companies and organizations and an equal number of individuals that have
released their own versions of operating systems based on the Linux kernel. IBM and Hewlett-Packard
are two companies who have embraced Linux and support its ongoing development. A number of
corporations, notably Red Hat, have built their entire business around Linux distributions. Apart from the
fact that it's freely distributed, Linux's functionality, adaptability and robustness, has made it the main
alternative for proprietary Unix and Microsoft operating systems. Throughout most of the 1990's, techies,
largely unaware of Linux's potential, dismissed it as a computer hobbyist project and unsuitable for the
general public's computing needs. Until recently, Linux was reserved for self avowed hackers and
enthusiasts. Now, with an intuitive graphical user interface or GUI, Linux is as user friendly as Windows
and the user does not have to be a rocket scientist.
There are now a wide range of applications that run on Linux and many different features
included depending on the distribution. A Distributor is usually a developer team that takes advance from
the Linux system core (Kernel) to offer an installation-able software package. Beside the individually
adaptable system core numerous additional applications, driver and assistant are included. They can be
installed and configured with the own installation and setup routine comfortably. Those distributions are
made available on the Internet as ISO image or to buy cheap on CD-ROM or DVD media. They are a few
different ways to install Linux. The booting of the installation routine from CD-ROM after the El-Torito
standard, DVD, floppy disk (in the meantime rather rare), by network or ftp server after the boot
procedure are supported directly. Accounting is one place where Linux has a pretty wide selection of
software for businesses sized from kitchen table to multinational enterprise. Porting from Unix to Linux is
very easy, so many substantial and well tested packages have made that migration. Unix still dominates
accounting in midsize companies and many firms seek to modernize those systems by moving to Linux
with its optional GUI interface and wide support for new hardware. Linux / Unix based accounting
systems can be accessed from Windows, Linux and OS/2 workstations. Both network and serial
connections are supported. The Linux / Unix accounting server can also serve as a general file
and print server for DOS, Windows and OS/2 applications. Some Linux packages offer both text
and GUI (Graphic User Interface) interfaces. GUI software looks pretty to managers and
friendlier to the untrained, but DOS and Linux/Unix text based applications are very much faster
and less expensive in actual use by trained staff. DOS accounting, distribution and POS (Point of
Sale) packages are still widely used and still sold by some developers. These fast, economical
text based applications can run from Linux, OS/2 and Windows servers, and be accessed from
Linux, OS/2, DOS and Windows workstations. There are over 260 accounting packages that
support Unix and/or Linux and pricing varies depending on the package.
Summary
When evaluating an operating system, it’s important that we keep in mind its intended purpose.
As much feedback we hear about a particular operating system, even if factually accurate, may not apply
to our situation. We should think of our network operating system as a very complex tool. We should
look at the functions, brand name, purchase price, and expected useful lifetime of the product apply. We
should approach network operating systems the same way we learn about many different types of
consumer products: through research, talking to friends and coworkers, and hands-on experimentation.
With all that being said, I think Netware 6.5 is not a viable option for Delaware Tax Consultants. If we
already had a Netware system in place, possibly, but we don’t so it is not a good choice for us. Linux is a
possible option for us. However, we so many accounting packages to choose from, so much more
research is needed to determine what package will best suit our needs. Finally, the network operating
system that I am recommending is Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008. It is the most expensive out of all
three; however, we already are using Windows Server 2003 and the migration should be rather simple.
Employees should not have trouble using the new system and business should not be negatively impacted
at all. Also, the name Microsoft carries a lot of weight; especially when being compared with so many
smaller packages being offered through Linux.
References
“Introducing Microsoft Windows Server 2008”, informIT. Habraken, Joe. 6 June 2008.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1194199
“Development of Linux” Operation System Documentation Project.
http://www.operating-system.org/betriebssystem/_english/bs-linux.htm
“Linux” Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux
“Linux – Accounting Software” Automation Access.
http://www.aaxnet.com/design/linuxacct.html
“Microsoft Outlines Pricing, Packaging and Licensing for Windows Server 2008, Including the New
Microsoft Hyper-V Server Product” Microsoft PressPass. 12 November 2007.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/nov07/11-12HyperVPR.mspx
“NetWare” Operating System Documentation Project.
http://www.operating-system.org/betriebssystem/_english/bs-netware.htm
“NetWare 6.5 extends open source support, simplifies management” ZDNet Australia. 13 June 2003.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/soa/NetWare-6-5-extends-open-source-support-simplifiesmanagement/0,139023731,120275350,00.htm
“Netware 6.5: Great New Services, Same Old Kernel” PCMAG.COM. 1 July 2003.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1133055,00.asp
“Network Operating Systems – Which NOS is Best”
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/softwareapplicationstools/l/aa07150.htm
“Network operating system” Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_operating_system
“NOS – Network Operating System” NOS – Computer Networking Definition for Network Operating
System.
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/softwareapplicationstools/1/bldef_nos.htm
“Novell Company” Novell.
http://www.operating-system.org/betriebssystem/_english/fa-novell.htm
“Novell Netware” Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novell_NetWare
“What is Linux” Linux Online.
http://www.linux.org/info/