10 Reasons to Buy Windows NT 5.0

Windows NT is once again advancing--this time, from version 4.0 to version 5.0. Both Microsoft's marketing department and Bill Gates have claimed that Microsoft is betting the farm on NT 5.0. After working extensively with the NT 5.0 beta 1 release, I think that bold bet makes a lot of sense. NT 5.0 might be the most important upgrade in NT's history.

Most of NT 5.0's enhancements specifically target server users. NT 5.0 shakes up the underpinnings of the NT operating system to accommodate new server features and different ways of managing and working with the system. However, the NT upgrades don't neglect workstations; NT 5.0 includes improvements for all NT customers. Here are 10 reasons why I'll be the first in line to purchase the shrink-wrapped code.

REASON #1: Directory Services
A major innovation in NT 5.0 is its new directory service, Active Directory (AD). AD radically changes account management in NT. AD gets many of its features from the X.500 and Domain Name System (DNS) standards. To locate directory objects, AD uses the DNS protocol, and to access the objects, AD uses the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). Because NT 5.0 uses DNS, NT 5.0 applications will not require NetBIOS or its name resolver, the Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS), although NT 5.0 will support the WINS protocol to ensure that the OS is compatible with legacy networks. NT 5.0's default networking protocol is TCP/IP.

AD offers a simple, logical naming structure. With AD, you can change the names of the objects in your directory from the nondescript, often cryptic names the OS gives objects.

NT 5.0's multimaster replication system keeps AD directories up-to-date and eliminates NT's reliance on Primary Domain Controllers (PDCs) and Backup Domain Controllers (BDCs). The replication system stores a copy of the entire network directory on each of the network's domain controllers. Administrators can change directory information from any domain controller, and the system will replicate the change to the network's other domain controllers. NT 5.0 simplifies upgrading a server's status on the network. Previous versions of NT required you to completely reinstall NT to upgrade a standard server to a PDC. But in NT 5.0, you need only to add the necessary service to the system to upgrade a server.

NT 5.0 comes with Microsoft's Distributed File System (Dfs), which helps users find data on a network more easily. Instead of spreading files and programs across multiple disk volumes, Dfs consolidates everything into one directory tree. The tree can include file shares on multiple servers located around the world. Its directories can take on descriptive names containing up to 256 characters.

By including AD and Dfs in NT 5.0, Microsoft has upgraded the heart of the NT OS. These features simplify account management and promise to make your life a little easier.

REASON #2: Security
As increasing numbers of NT machines access the Internet, NT users more frequently face security-related problems. NT 5.0 includes some new security features to keep your data safe.

First, NT 5.0 replaces the old NT LAN Manager (NTLM) authentication protocol with the Kerberos 5 security module. Kerberos uses a shared-secret key (i.e., two parties share the key that verifies user identities) to handle authentication. Shared-secret keys help prevent hackers from getting to your data by letting only users with the necessary keys access protected information. NT 5.0 uses Kerberos as the system's main security manager.

Second, the new IP Security Management package acts as a mini-firewall that safeguards your data against intruders from the Internet. The IP Security Management tools prevent packet sniffers from ascertaining the contents of IP packets you send across your internal network by encrypting every packet.

Third, NTFS 5 offers file-level encryption. When you upgrade NTFS 4 volumes to NTFS 5, the directories automatically inherit file-level encryption. File-level encryption is always superior to application-level encryption because file-level encryption is easier to implement. (If you have used an application-level encryption program, such as Pretty Good Privacy--PGP--you know how difficult accessing encrypted files can be.) NT 5.0's encryption format resembles NTFS compression. NT 5.0 looks at encryption as a file attribute. If a directory structure's encryption attribute is active, NT 5.0 automatically encrypts each of that directory's new files with a unique encryption key. Each file keeps this encryption attribute, even when you move the file to another directory. NT 5.0 lets you encrypt and decrypt files from Windows Explorer or from the command line.

NTFS's file encryption technology uses CryptoAPI architecture and relies on public-key encryption. During file encryption, the system assigns the file a randomly-generated key and stores the key independently of the public and private keys of the user who created the file. This method of generating and storing file keys reduces the chance of someone using cryptanalysis tools to crack the file keys' encryption code. NTFS now uses the Data Encryption Standard (DES) as the default encryption algorithm, but future releases of NTFS will let users choose alternative encryption formats.

Through file-level encryption, Kerberos 5, and the IP Security Management package's mini-firewall, NT 5.0 creates an impressively secure system. Data in NT 5.0 is safer than it has been in any NT version to date.

REASON #3: Network Management
NT is well-known for letting administrators customize the OS. However, the customization tools that Microsoft has distributed with NT before version 5.0 are separate applications. For example, if you want to change your drive letters in NT 4.0, you open the Disk Administrator. If you want to check auditing features, you use the Event Viewer, and if you need to add new users to the network, you launch the User Manager for Domains. NT 5.0 consolidates the User Manager, Disk Administrator, and other administration utilities into the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).

MMC serves as a centralized host for many administration programs. Tools such as the Event Viewer are snap-ins that fit within the MMC architecture. Screen 1 shows MMC's System Monitor graph. By using an extensible architecture, NT 5.0 theoretically lets administrators load third-party snap-ins into MMC. This centralization saves administrators from having to hunt for administration programs through separate system directories. Many utility vendors are working on beta versions of tools that will integrate into the MMC framework. In addition, MMC supports Web page displays that contain information about applications (such as bug reports and workarounds) and links to product updates.

NT 5.0 includes an enhanced version of NTBackup. NTBackup can now back up data not only to tape drives, but to Zip, Jaz, SyJet, and CD-recordable drives.

NT 5.0 supports disk quotas, a feature most administrators have drooled over for years. Disk quotas let you cap the amount of disk space users can take up. NT 5.0 lets you assign a quota to one user or a group of users. For example, you can impose a 5MB limit for all users' storage. When users exceed the quota, they receive a message asking them to delete unnecessary files, and NT writes a message in the event logs.

Finally, NT 5.0 improves NT systems administration by supporting junction points. Historically, Windows has limited PCs to 26 volumes: one volume for every letter of the alphabet. In NT 5.0, Microsoft uses junction points to reroute volume letters to directory structures. Suppose N: on your file server acts as an application repository. Rather than mapping N: to a local drive letter, NT 5.0 users can map the applications in N: to a directory, such as E:\apps. This frees up a drive letter on the local machine and makes the applications easier to access because users can log on to a logically named directory, rather than hunting through multiple volumes.

NT 5.0's network management enhancements are a great reason to make the upgrade. These tools eliminate out-of-control user storage, offer more backup options, and save you from searching for management tools through multiple directories.

REASON #4: Hardware Usage
An important enhancement to the NT OS is the addition of 64-bit Very Large Memory (VLM) support, which lets 64-bit processors access up to 32GB of RAM. In contrast, 32-bit memory addressing architecture, which governs OS memory resource access, handles up to only 4GB of RAM. You may not have the hardware necessary to take advantage of this feature, but NT 5.0's VLM support prepares the system for the future, particularly for Intel's 64-bit Merced system.

NT 5.0 also includes support for Plug and Play (PnP) technology. My rudimentary testing shows that NT's implementation of PnP is more accurate at detecting hardware than the PnP in Windows 95 and even the beta 2 release of Windows 98. PnP makes NT's hardware detection extremely accurate. I installed NT 5.0 on a machine that houses some pretty eccentric hardware, and the Setup program detected my ISA SCSI adapters, NICs, and even an ancient ET4000 video card.

The beta 1 release of NT 5.0 lacks reliable PnP support for hot-swapping; sometimes hot-swapping works, and sometimes it crashes the system. However, Microsoft claims that the final release of NT 5.0 will handle hot-swapping as well as Win95 does today. You might consider that claim good or bad, depending on your experience with PnP.

NT 5.0 adds new devices to NT's Hardware Compatibility List (HCL), including the latest Universal Serial Bus (USB), Digital Video Disc (DVD), and FireWire (IEEE 1394) peripherals. Microsoft has transported Win95's Device Manager interface to NT 5.0. The Device Manager helps you diagnose and eliminate device conflicts. Screen 2 shows the Device Manager's display of the hierarchical structure of my NT machine's hardware.

The new NT will help you keep track of the hardware you have, hot-swap the hardware you need, run more hardware than you could before, and even troubleshoot hardware problems when they arise. NT 5.0's improved hardware support will help you use your physical resources to their fullest.

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