Is NT Rebootable?
Managers, system administrators, and application developers familiar
with Microsoft's Windows NT operating system resoundingly agree that NT
is highly rebootable. "It's not uncommon for us to reboot an NT server
several times a week, or within a month's time" reports Cheyenne Jones,
an I.T. manager. "It's a convenient feature to have when things stop
working for no apparent reason, and it's certainly less time consuming
than reinstalling the whole operating system." And rebooting allows for
much more than just the restoration of mission-critical servers to a
functioning state. After performing routine tasks such as installing
system components, changing network configurations, or updating device
drivers, rebooting allows NT to accommodate the modifications. Toby
Chong, an Internet developer, recounts when "a customer called to let us
know their Web site was down. We ended up having to uninstall and
reinstall Option Pack 4 [which includes NT's Web server software], and
rebooted, and the site was back up and running within a couple hours.
You need to reboot after installing the option pack," he explained.
There is cause for concern among NT proponents with regard to other
operating systems. "I know people who are running Linux, Unix, Free BSD,
and other platforms," states Leroy Silverstein, a system administrator,
"who haven't rebooted their systems in months, or even years. They
probably don't know how to reboot their servers, or if it can even be
done. They should be worried." He goes on to tell a story about how
integral and important rebooting is with NT. "Once someone tried to
update the display driver on one of our servers. He put the wrong one
on, and as it turns out, this completely fries the system. So, we
reinstalled NT, rebooted, configured the network settings, rebooted,
installed the Web server, rebooted, installed our components, rebooted,
assigned IP's to the Web addresses we were hosting, rebooted, and
restored most of the data from tape backup. At first, things didn't
work, but we rebooted the system a couple more times, and then
everything started working fine. The rebootability of this system is
amazing!"
NT often prompts users when it's time to reboot. One of Microsoft's
undocumented features is the "blue screen" which alerts a user that
rebooting is necessary. "I was working on my computer one day," tells
Suryaprakash Murphy, a student, "when everything just froze. The
keyboard wouldn't work, or anything, so I just unplugged the computer
and plugged it back in." While this technique is referred to as a "cold"
or "hard" reboot, there is an even simpler approach, known as a "warm"
reboot. Murphy gives an example: "One day I was unplugging the computer
when the screen was all blue. The computer lab assistant told me when
that happens, hold down the control key, then the alt key, then the
delete key. You have to hold them down all at once, and then the
computer reboots. It's a lot easier than unplugging the computer." He
adds, "one time I hit my head underneath the desk when I was reaching
for the power supply. Ouch!" Now Murphy can concentrate more on retyping
the thesis that vanished when his system crashed, and worry less about
sustaining a head injury.
When shopping for an operating system, keep in mind that Windows NT may
perhaps be the most rebootable, and most rebooted, operating system
available today. If rebooting is important to you, you may want to make
NT your first choice.
--rdp
--
Rich Payne
[EMAIL PROTECTED] www.alphalinux.org
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