This chapter includes the following sections, which address various topics covered on the Windows 2000 Server MCSE exam:
- Window 2000 Server Basics
Describes the editions of Windows 2000 Server, including Advanced and Datacenter Server. Covers Windows 2000 architecture, including user and kernel modes, the Hardware Abstraction layer, and networking basics.
- Installing Windows 2000 Server
Describes the hardware requirements and installation options for Windows 2000. Covers the installation steps, including pre-copy, text mode, and GUI mode. Covers unattended installation options and failed installations. Also covers NT domains and Active Directory.
- Managing Disk Storage
Covers NTFS Version 5, including disk quotas, reparse points, and Native Structured Storage. Also covers link tracking, sparse files, the Distributed Filesystem, and the Encrypted Filesystem.
- Windows 2000 Active Directory
Covers Active Directory basics, installation, and management of Active Directory. Also gives definitions of common Active Directory terminology.
- Managing Network Components
Describes Internet Information Server 5, Telnet and FTP services, Terminal Services, and remote access.
- Administration and Security
Describes users, user profiles, groups, group nesting, and managing Group Policies. Also covers printing, device drivers, auditing, and Kerberos.
- Optimization and Troubleshooting
Describes the Task Manager, Performance Console, Network Monitor, SNMP, and disk tools. Also covers hardware issues, safe mode, and the recovery console.
Windows 2000 is a group of operating systems that support both the client/server and peer-to-peer networking models. It is Microsoft’s successor to the Windows NT platform. Windows 2000 Professional, covered in Part I, replaces Windows NT Workstation. Windows NT Server and Enterprise Server are replaced by three versions of the Windows 2000 Server platform. This chapter will help you to prepare for MCP Exam 70-215, Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows 2000 Server.
Windows 2000 Server is available in three editions: Server, Advanced Server, and Datacenter Server. Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Datacenter Server are not emphasized on the Windows 2000 Server exam, but you should be familiar with their roles within the Windows 2000 family of operating systems.
Windows 2000 Server is the least expensive of the three new server operating systems. It includes application, file, print, web, and FTP servers. The most significant change, compared to Microsoft NT Server Version 4, is the addition of Active Directory, which unifies administration of users, groups, computers, printers, applications, files, and security into a single, hierarchical structure. Active Directory replaces the older Windows NT Domain structure. Windows 2000 Server would be a good choice for small- to medium-sized networks.
Windows 2000 Advanced Server includes all the features of Windows 2000 Server and adds greater scalability features, including clustering and support for eight CPU symmetric multiprocessing, compared to four in Windows 2000 Server. Windows 2000 Advanced Server would be a good choice for medium- to large-sized networks.
Windows 2000 Datacenter Server provides many advanced features, such as support for 16 CPUs (as many as 32 in some custom OEM setups) and 4-way clustering with built-in load balancing. Datacenter Server is meant to handle the demands of large e-commerce web sites and other large-scale projects. Many Datacenter installations will run on custom hardware designed to handle the specific needs of the particular project.
Windows 2000, like Windows NT, is a modular operating system. It consists of many separate components that all work together in a structured way. These components reside in one of two layers, user mode and kernel mode. These layers are further divided into subsystems. The core of the operating system runs in kernel mode. Applications run in user mode.
The kernel mode contains the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL), kernel mode drivers, and the Windows 2000 Executive. The kernel mode provides low-level services to the user mode components. Kernel mode components have priority access to the computer’s resources, such as RAM and CPU. The executive deals with Input/Output, device drivers, and the Virtual Memory Manager (VMM), among other duties.
The Hardware Abstraction Layer makes it easier for Windows 2000 to run on a variety of hardware architectures. By acting as a translator between software requests and the actual hardware implementation of the request, HAL allows Windows 2000 to provide a uniform interface between hardware and software.
Windows 2000 supports both the client/server (domain) and peer-to-peer (workgroup) networking models. Microsoft recommends the workgroup model for networks consisting of 10 or fewer computers when neither security nor centralized administration is required. In every other case, the domain model is preferred. Share level security is possible in a Windows 2000 based workgroup, but it quickly becomes inconvenient as the number of shared resources increases.
Windows 2000 introduces a major improvement to the Windows domain networking model, called Active Directory Services. The traditional Windows NT domain and workgroup models are still supported in Windows 2000. However, these are being replaced by a much more efficient networking model that is similar to Novell’s Netware Directory Services (NDS). Active Directory provides centralized administration of all network components, including users, groups, files, and printers, across the entire network. Active Directory is covered in more detail in Section 8.4 of this chapter.