Microsoft and NEC teamed up for several projects to promote NEC hardware
and middleware applications and promote Microsoft's BackOffice. Through this
alliance, Microsoft will support the development of NEC's Express Server for
Enterprise, which will run Windows NT Server and support large mission-critical
systems. NEC and Microsoft will develop 8-way and 16-way symmetric
multiprocessing (SMP) and large clustered systems with more than 64 nodes. In
addition, NEC and Microsoft will define the requirements for supporting 64-bit
technologies in large servers, and NEC will work to seamlessly integrate NT and
BackOffice into its mainframe environments.
NEC and Microsoft will also collaborate on hardware and software for
the product code-named Express Network Server, which will address the needs of small to midsized businesses. The new server will offer a turnkey hardware and software solution, with everything preinstalled and preconfigured. It will use emerging technologies such as Intelligent Input/Output (I2O). Express Network Server is designed for the Internet and intranet environments, and it will be optimized to Web-enable small businesses with ready-to-run solutions. The
companies slate the release for products in the third quarter of 1998.
—Mark Joseph Edwards
Running with the Pack
Microsoft will release Microsoft Cluster Server (MCS), formerly
code-named Wolfpack, before the end of the year. It will be a feature of Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition (NTS/E) 4.0. Microsoft has posted an updated frequently asked questions (FAQ) document about MCS on its Web site for public review. The FAQ addresses numerous questions in an attempt to clear the air about several aspects of MCS. The FAQ document contains sections on clustering basics, software licensing, hardware issues, application support, and deployment and troubleshooting concerns. You can find the MCS FAQ on Microsoft's NT Server Web site, at http://www. micro-soft.com/ ntserver/info/clusterfaq.htm.
Microsoft says that MCS will be available only as a built-in feature of NTS/E 4.0, and it will be offered in English, French, German, Japanese, and
Spanish. According to the FAQ, MCS will initially support only clusters
consisting of two servers, but Microsoft plans to expand that capability to a
large number of servers during what it's calling Phase 2 of MCS. Phase 2 will
support large clusters and highly scalable applications, and Microsoft expects
it to enter beta testing some time in 1998. (For the implications of NTS/E and
MCS, see Mark Smith, "NT Server, Enterprise Edition Is Wolfpackaging,"
October 1997.)
Although Microsoft and other vendors tested MCS clusters with more than two
servers, Microsoft says it must extend and thoroughly test the algorithms and
features in the current MCS on large clusters before anyone can use a multinode
MCS cluster for production work. In addition, Microsoft must extend the cluster
hardware validation procedures to accommodate the additional requirements of
multinode clusters.
Microsoft has two key reasons for limiting the initial release of MCS to
two-server clusters. According to its surveys, customers say that 80 percent of
the demand for clusters is to improve the availability of mission-critical data
and applications, and two-server clusters satisfy this requirement. The other
reason cited is the need for a globally accessible and programmable naming
service for clients to use to locate cluster resources--and Active Directory in
NT 5.0 will provide this service.
MCS will support Tandem Computers' ServerNet communications technology,
which can be the interconnecting private network between the servers in a
cluster. Microsoft will package Tandem's software drivers for ServerNet with the MCS in NTS/E.
—Mark Joseph Edwards
Backing Up Windows 98
Backing up workstations is a tough chore, but Seagate Technology
announced some relief: Windows 98 will ship with Seagate's backup software with
new features such as Emergency Recovery. It lets a Win98 user rebuild the
operating system (OS) and restore the latest full backup directly from the
storage device without taking the usual path of reloading the OS and all the
drivers and then restoring data from tape. The new Seagate backup software will
support any mapped disk device, including Jaz, Zip, LS120, optical, Syquest, and
the multifunction PowerDrive.
—Mark Joseph Edwards