Toothless Wolfpack to Ship with NT 5.0
Customers who were looking to Windows NT 5.0 as a solution to a 2-node
ceiling in Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS--formerly code-named Wolfpack) will
have to look elsewhere. Microsoft has decided not to roll out its Phase 2 MSCS
initiative until after Windows NT 5.0 ships next year, which means customers
will be lucky to see any improvement beyond the current 2-node system before the
turn of the century. (For more information about clustering, see Mark Smith, "NT
Clustering Solutions Are Here," June 1998. For more information about MSCS,
see Richard R. Lee, "MSCS Update," June 1998.)
NT 5.0 will have a few MSCS enhancements, such as load balancing
enhancements and rolling operating system (OS) and services upgrades. "This
feature set is locked and loaded, said Ed Muth, a Microsoft NT program manager.
However, NT 5.0 still won't support clustering of application services, such as
Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS). According to Muth, Microsoft is slating this
capability for the post-NT 5.0 timeframe. Other MSCS capabilities that
are missing include support for COM+ and software RAID support.
For enterprise IS shops wanting to take NT to the next level of clustering
reliability and performance, NT 5.0 is a major disappointment. This Wolfpack has
no bite behind its bark.
—Craig Barth
System Preparation Tool to Ease NT Deployment
In a move that surprised no one, Microsoft announced this past spring that
it would finally embrace the practice of system cloning as a means for
large-scale Windows NT rollouts. However, few expected Microsoft to go so far as
to develop new software technology in support of the process.
Later this year, Microsoft plans to release the Microsoft System
Preparation Tool for Windows NT Workstation 4.0, a free utility that you can use
with ghosting software packages to streamline the process of creating cloned NT
PCs. The procedure is relatively straightforward: You create an image PC to
serve as the cloning source machine and include the System Preparation Tool as
part of the installed software configuration. When you boot a cloned version of
the source machine, the System Preparation Tool automatically generates an
appropriate security ID (SID) for the system.
The System Preparation Tool is great news for systems administrators who
have been walking the fine line between the need for Microsoft licensing
compliance and the desire to simplify large-scale NT Workstation rollouts.
Before Microsoft's announcement, the only supported way to install NT was to use
the CD-ROM.
—Craig Barth
Netscape Drops JVM— A Sign of the
Times?
Many analysts are interpreting Netscape's decision to drop out of the Java
Virtual Machine (JVM) business as a sign that hard times are ahead for
proponents of the write once, run anywhere programming language. By declaring
the client-side Java development strategy (i.e., the notion that you can compile
a Java application once and deploy it across any vendor's JVM) untenable,
Netscape has set back the anti-Windows coalition.
Some analysts believe that the client-side Java will fail anyway because,
although the strategy looks great on paper, it isn't panning out. Too many JVM
permutations, coupled with a refusal by the language's developer, Sun
Microsystems, to surrender control of Java to a standards body, will ultimately
doom the architecture.
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