The Lab investigates the evolving desktop environment, starting with a look at Compaq Deskpro 4000N and Citrix WinFrame 1.7
Shopping for a Windows-oriented desktop system for a corporate environment is like going out to dinner. First, you have to decide on your main entree: Do you want a thin client, a lean client, or a fat client? Then you have to decide on the side dishes: Would you like a CD-ROM drive with your client? How about a floppy? Would you care for a local or remote boot? Keyboard or stylus input? Sound or no sound? You have a smorgasbord of options.
What's generating this desktop diversity? Right now, total cost of ownership (TCO) is the most visible driving force. But once you get past the dollars, you see three types of technology vying for acceptance:
- Fat client technology, which leverages the power and resources of a fully equipped client system operating in a client/server environment
- Thin client technology, which puts minimal hardware on the desktop (e.g., a Windows terminal or network computer) and leverages the capabilities of a multiuser backend server
- Lean client technology, which puts a lean and mean client (e.g., NetPC) on the desktop and uses the server to manage the desktop user and application environment
As if having three competing technologies isn't confusing enough, you can mix and match aspects of each. For example, you might run a thin client program on a lean client system to access applications running on a multiuser server. Or you might use lean-client server-based management functions to manage fat clients.
In an effort to better understand the pros and cons of these corporate desktop strategies, Windows NT Magazine brought a representative sample of these technologies into the NT Lab for further inspection. The magazine will report the findings, starting with this month's look at Compaq's Network PC offering, the Deskpro 4000N, and the latest version of the Citrix multiuser Windows NT Server software, WinFrame 1.7.
Compaq Deskpro 4000N Network PC
The Deskpro 4000N is Compaq's entry into the NetPC market. Microsoft, Intel, Compaq, Dell, and HP developed the NetPC specifications to create a similarly priced alternative to network computers. (Note that shortly after this group finalized the NetPC specifications, Microsoft went on to endorse a thin client strategy through its Windows-based Terminal Server—formerly code-named Hydra—multiuser Windows project. But that's a story for another month.)
I reviewed the NetPC specifications so I could better understand what the Deskpro 4000N has to offer. (To review the specifications, take a look at the sidebar "The Network PC Requirements," on page 88.) The NetPC specifications define a desktop client as one that:
- Provides sufficient hardware resources to run most desktop applications
- Limits the user's capability to upgrade or alter the desktop hardware and software environment
- Supports a rich set of desktop manageability features for both network and systems managers
First Impressions
My initial impression of the Deskpro 4000N was mixed—I felt like I was setting up an ordinary PC desktop unit. First I unpacked the monitor, a Compaq P50 color model. Then I opened the system box and immediately encountered a standard-issue Compaq keyboard and mouse. It wasn't until I reached the system unit that I realized I was indeed dealing with something different.
The system unit has a much smaller footprint than a traditional desktop workstation (the monitor base nearly covers the unit). The system unit I received for evaluation has a 200MHz Pentium processor (with MMX, of course), 32MB of physical memory, and a 1.2GB hard disk. The unit also features one parallel port, two serial ports, two Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, one keyboard port, and one mouse port. Either an Attachment Unit Interface (AUI) port (10 Mbps) or unshielded twisted pair (UTP) port (10/100 Mbps) handles Ethernet network connectivity.
The evaluation system unit has no visible floppy or CD-ROM drives, which is an obvious sign that you're dealing with a NetPC. This lack of floppy and CD-ROM input devices keeps the desktop user from inserting unwanted software or data into the unit. (Control freaks are going to love this feature.) Also notably absent are any speakers or audio input/output connections, so the Deskpro 4000N is quiet in more ways than one.
Because very little is on the outside of the unit, I popped open the case and looked inside. Armed with no information about the enclosure, I found two push buttons on the side of the cabinet that let me slide it open quite easily. At first that easy access bothered mewho wants users to get inside their systems so easily? Then I noticed that the Deskpro 4000N includes a locking mechanism you can install to prevent unwanted tampering. Inside the unit I found a clean-looking (but oddly shaped) motherboard, the IDE disk, and a single PCI expansion slot. The layout of these components was well organized despite the space limitations the cabinet imposed.
Pushing Buttons
When I turned on the Deskpro 4000N, it automatically started installing Windows NT 4.0 Workstation from its internal hard disk. (You can order the unit with Windows 95, which the system will also install automatically.) With the automated installation process, all I had to do was enter my name and company name. The installation process took care of the rest, including rebooting when necessary (and the installation process requires several reboots).
On one hand, the automated installation is pretty impressive. You can start the installation process, enter the basic name and company information, and then move on to the next system (or go have some coffee, for that matter). On the other hand, some of the choices Compaq configures don't impress me. For example, the computer name ends up as a bizarre-looking string of letters and numbers that correspond to the unit's serial number. And the automated installation process assigns the unit as part of a workgroup named Workgroup.
These quibbles are relatively minor, but I really take exception to the choice of networking services. The automated installation process sets up the Deskpro 4000N for NetBEUI-only networks. Someone needs to tell Compaq that NetBEUI is past its prime and that TCP/IP is now the network protocol of choice. My advice to Compaq is simple: Have the automated installation process configure TCP/IP with Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)-assigned addresses. Trust me, that configuration will work in many more environments than a NetBEUI-only configuration.
I was able to add support for TCP/IP and have the unit join a real domain in a few minutes. The Deskpro 4000N stores the entire i386 directory and related Service Pack (SP) 3 files for NT 4.0 on the hard disk, so making system configuration changes poses no difficulty. What strikes me as odd is that Compaq automates so much of the installation process and then forces the administrator to configure some pretty obvious information.
Soft on Software
I have a mixed reaction to the management software that comes with the Deskpro 4000N. It breaks down into three layers: a Desktop Management Interface (DMI) layer, an alerting layer, and a user-interface layer. I have no complaints about the DMI supportthe Deskpro 4000N DMI layer is DMI version 1.1 compliant. The alerting layer (called Intelligent Manageability) runs as a service and can generate local or network Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) alerts for a wide variety of internal problems (e.g., hard disk failure, temperature fault, and memory configuration change). Both the DMI and alerting layers are very important in deploying an easy-to-manage desktop environment.
What I don't particularly care for is Compaq's DMI browser, which serves as the user interface to the DMI layer (see Screen 1 for a view of the DMI browser in action). Maybe I'm spoiled after seeing DMI browsers for high-end workstations, but I find the Compaq browser to be downright boring—no moving fans, heat gauges, or other visual clues for interpreting information. The browser's functional enough, it just isn't particularly compelling. The good news is that if you don't like this browser, you can use a third-party product.
The final management-oriented software component on the Deskpro 4000N is Compaq's Diagnostics program. You can access the program from the Start menu. In the Control Panel, you'll find it under the name Compaq Insight Personal Edition. (I'm not sure why Compaq uses two different names and provides two different entry points to this program.) If you've used Compaq workstations in the past, you are already familiar with this programit's a variation of the Compaq Diagnostics program, which ships with every Compaq system (see Screen 2 to view the opening menu for this program in the Control Panel).
That Vision Thing Again
To understand the Deskpro 4000N, keep reminding yourself of the ideal desktop environment. In this environment, you don't have to leave your chair to diagnose problems with desktop systems. Unfortunately, some administrative features of the Deskpro 4000N are in limbo, waiting for Microsoft to complete its Zero Administration for Windows (ZAW) initiative. (For more information, see Mark Minasi, "Zero Administration for Windows," December 1997.) For example, features such as remote boot and Wakeup on LAN are clearly beneficial to administrators, but the absence of native support for these features in NT Server makes capitalizing on them hard.
Two administrative features of the Deskpro 4000N that you don't have to wait to enjoy are OnNow and remote floppy boot. The OnNow feature lets the Deskpro 4000N enter a low-power-consumption state and spring back to life (in about three seconds by my testing) when you move the mouse. With this feature, you can leave your desktop system on all the time without worrying about the power bill.
The Right Choices
Although I clearly don't care for some aspects of the Deskpro 4000N, my dislikes fall in the areas of configuration and software and thus are easy to address. On the whole, I found the hardware to be as robust and powerful as any modern workstation, and I would gladly place a Deskpro 4000N on my desktop. I would miss having integrated sound and an integrated CD-ROM drive (though my nearest coworkers probably would be thankful). Trying to create a minimal but functional desktop workstation is tricky no matter how you look at it. From my perspective, Compaq has made the right choices with respect to the hardware content of the Deskpro 4000N.