W2Knews[tm] (the original NTools E-News) Electronic Newsletter
Vol. 5, #11- March 7, 2000
Published by sunbelt-software.com since 1996 - ISSN: 1527-3407
'Immediate Notification Of Important Windows NT/2000 Events'
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This W2KnewsFlash contains:
1. EDITORS CORNER
2. WHAT'S THE MCSE CERTIFICATION UPROAR ABOUT?
3. THE DISK QUOTAS IN W2K COMPARED TO QUOTA ADVISOR'S
4. NT/2000 TOOLS INDUSTRY CONSOLIDATES FAST
5. MICROSOFT SELLS 500,000 COPIES OF WIN2K
6. WHAT WAS NEW AT THE PARIS WINDOWS 2000 SHOW?
7. WHERE CAN I FIND IF APPS ARE WIN2K CERTIFIED?
8. MICROSOFT WILL PUSH W2K 64-BIT IN BETA Q2,2000
9. HOW TO USE THE MAILING LIST
Instructions on how to subscribe, sign off or change your address.
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**********************WHAT IS W2Knews?***************************
Sunbelt W2Knews (the original NTools E-News) is the World's first
and largest E-Newsletter designed for NT/2000 System Managers that
have the job to get and keep NT up & running in a production
environment. Sunbelt launched this electronic newsletter early 1996.
Every week we keep the Windows NT/2000 community informed and aware
of new developments of NT and 3-rd party System Management Tools.
You get hints and tips that will enable you to better utilize and
understand Win NT/2000 and help to pass your Certification Exams.
Info and Stu's bio: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/w2knews.htm
Via (separate) W2KnewsFlashes we will send you important breaking
news like new service packs, killer viruses, etc. Sunbelt Software
is the first and largest provider worldwide of Third Party System
Management Tools for Windows NT. Tell Your Friends! All back issues
are here, searchable and indexed on key words:
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=nt-list&text_mode=0
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1. "EDITORS CORNER"
Hi NT/2000 Pro's,
Last week I was in Paris and Amsterdam to visit the Sunbelt
Offices in Europe and to attend the Windows 2000 show in Paris.
That is why this Flash is a bit later than normal. No time to lose,
what is the really interesting news? Let's have a look. Much more
to come next weekend!
Warm regards,
Stu.
Email me with your feedback at my new email address:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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2. WHAT'S THE MCSE CERTIFICATION UPROAR ABOUT?
There are two sides in this furor, both stating opposite viewpoints,
about as 180 degree as it can get. What is the scene?
Microsoft recently announced a special exam 70-240. It's MS Windows
2000 Accelerated Exam for MCPs Certified on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0.
If you are an NT4 MCSE and take (and pass) this special test, NT you
will get your Windows 2000 certification in one fell swoop.
What is in this single test? It combines all these core W2K exams:
- Exam 70-210: Installing, Configuring and Administering W2K Pro,
- Exam 70-215: Installing, Configuring and Administering W2K Server
- Exam 70-216: Implementing and Administering a W2K Network Infra-
structure.
- Exam 70-217: Implementing and Administering a W2K Directory
Services Infrastructure.
And guess what, you can take 70-240 for FREE until Dec 31, 2001.
So you might say, "What seems to be the problem? 4-in-1 and no
money to fork over".
There is one little nasty complication. You can take the test ONLY
ONCE. If you do it and flunk the test, you gotta do the whole 4-unit
full course for W2K. It's tough love that Microsoft is dispensing.
So here are the two sides. One group thinks this is great and tells
the world that it will get rid of the 'paper MCSE'. The other side
is quite a big group of people that believe that you should be able
to take the test at least once or twice before you go for the real
thing. Some of them wrote an open letter to Gates and MS about it.
Check it out over here, and read the comments from people about
it. Very interesting: http://www.coriolis.com/tellmicrosoft/
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3. THE DISK QUOTAS IN W2K COMPARED TO QUOTA ADVISOR'S
As we have seen, all of us need to protect ourselves against Denial
of Service (DOS) attacks. What's that got to do with disk quotas?
More than you think. It can stop hackers from using unauthorized
space on your systems. InfoWorld gave a few quick checklist with
tips to prevent becoming a DOS-victim:
1) Implement router-based filtering
2) Check to see if TCP SYN flooding patches are available for you
3) Consider implementing disk quotas and partitioning
4) Monitor your system's performance
5) Deploy detection software that checks for config changes
6) Make sure your backups contain configuration info.
So, looking at disk quota's, what do we really need? W2K now does
include the ability to set disk quotas on users. However, there are
several limitations in its implementation. The real question is:
Will it be good enough for your organization? Read on and find out
for yourself.
W2K only supports user quotas assigned at the volume level. When disk
quotas are enabled on a volume, all users on the system are learned
automatically and assigned the same quota. W2K lacks directory quotas.
W2K can over-quota the disk quite easily. There is no way to set a
quota to limit the size of a specific share or other directory
structure.
There is no end-user notification as your users consume their disk
allotments. There is only one notification that is generated as space
is being consumed and that is sent to the event log at a predetermined
percentage of the disk quota being used. The only notification your
end-user will see is a 'disk full' error.
There is no way to monitor space consumption by user, however once a
quota is learned it can be modified by hand. W2K does not allow you to
use quotas with FAT drives. W2K quotas can not be used on NT 4.0 or
NT 3.51 servers. W2K ignores compression when calculating disk space.
Users must recycle their deleted files to clear their quota of the
files' disk-space usage. Users can't save the last file they're working
on when if the file exceeds quota. W2K does not allow for the automatic
execution of any valid Windows command or command procedure. And last,
W2K does not offer email messaging or detailed disk reporting.
Now, what has QuotaAdvisor to offer?
QuotaAdvisor offers hard or soft quotas on any User, Group, directory,
and/or homeshare. These quotas can be mixed and matched in any combo
based on the structure of the data being monitored. QuotaAdvisor offers
5 threshold actions that support a variety of actions.
QuotaAdvisor offers automatic adjustment of quotas, execution of any
valid Windows command or command procedure, and/or the generation of
disk management reports that can identify the various causes of runaway
disk usage.
QuotaAdvisor offers integration with DiskAdvisor and Active Reporting
for automatic distribution of detailed disk space information via IE5.
QuotaAdvisor is designed to make rolling out disk management policies
quick and easy. Many of our new features were developed to coincide
with Microsoft's ZAW (Zero Administration Windows) Initiative.
Microsoft has entered into a three year license with W. Quinn Associates
to deploy QuotaAdvisor 4.1 on their own W2K servers worldwide, thereby
demonstrating the absolute need for the advanced capabilities of
QuotaAdvisor 4.1 in any W2K environment.
Last but not least, Quota Advisor is the ONLY Second Generation Disk
Quota Tool on the market. All the others are still in their 'first
generation' incarnation. This is a tool you definitely want to check
out (again). http://www.sunbelt-software.com/category_search.cfm#5
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4. NT/2000 TOOLS INDUSTRY CONSOLIDATES FAST
Two large players in the industry, NetIQ and Mission Critical agreed
to merge in a $1.4 billion stock swap that will create a $100 million
Windows NT/2000 networking management software powerhouse with 460
employees and an estimated market capitalization of about $3 billion.
This deal was created before they started to actually compete with
each other by extending their product lines. If you look at it from
a technical perspective, NetIQ buys Mission Critical, trading 0.9413
of one of its shares for each of Mission Critical. But a brand new
company name and stock symbol will be used once the merger is done.
These two NT tools players found themselves with a substantial list
of customers in common and it made sense to work together.
Headquarters for the merged companies will be where NetIQ lives in
Santa Clara, California. Mission Critical's home base in Houston,
Texas is going to be a development and operations center and house
some of the company's top execs. NetIQ and Mission Critical together
did about $63 million in sales last year, $29 million from NetIQ and
$34 million from Mission Critical, and their new acquisition Ganymede
made about $10 million.
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5. MICROSOFT SELLS 500,000 COPIES OF WIN2K
ZDNet reported the following: At a briefing for Seattle-based media
last week, Microsoft provided an update on Windows 2000 sales, which
stood at 500,000 copies after two weeks of retail availability.
According to Windows marketing director Keith White, the 500,000
figure consisted mainly of Windows 2000 Professional sales. Noting
that the figure doesn't include worldwide or major-account sales
figures, White conjectured the figure consisted of individuals and
small and midsize businesses. More at:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2456222,00.html
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6. WHAT WAS NEW AT THE PARIS WINDOWS 2000 SHOW?
Everything and nothing. Huh? Well for people that were at the show
in San Francisco earlier this month (like yours truly) it was a bit
smaller repeat of the SanFran show. But for France, this was
all pretty new. With more than 5,300 attendees this was a very well
attended show and a big success for the French Windows 2000 Magazine
that organized the show.
There were dozens of exhibitors at the show, and many sessions and
round tables were held. All in all a professional show, with good
results. Check out the website Windows 2000 Mag in France at:
http://www.windowsntmag.presse.fr/
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7. WHERE CAN I FIND IF APPS ARE WIN2K CERTIFIED?
The list of apps that are certified for W2K is growing slowly but
steadily. You may want to plug this URL in your favorites so that
you can check it on a regular basis. If you are now in the planning
stage to move to W2K, make triple sure that the apps you are going
to use in that environment also will work!
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/upgrade/compat/certified.asp
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8. MICROSOFT WILL PUSH W2K 64-BIT IN BETA Q2,2000
Computer Reseller News reported that Microsoft will release the
first beta of its 64-bit version for Intel Corp.'s Itanium chip
next quarter. The final version will ship concurrently with Intel's
64-bit processor scheduled to ship later in 2000. Microsoft has its
plate more than full. Not only the 64-bit upgrade, but MS is also
expected to ship Windows 2000 Datacenter this summer, and Windows
Millennium Edition, also dubbed Windows Me. The latter is based on
the current Win 9.X code and they say that this is the very last
upgrade based on that code base. We have heard that before so we'll
believe it when we see it.
Sources say that the consumer NT version being developed under the
Whistler project is scheduled for release in March next year.
It is to be the first consumer version based on NT code. And the next
major upgrade of Windows 2000, will not ship until late 2001 at the
earliest. Look out for SP1 in June, and a second one before the end
of the year.
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