Operating Systems - Network+ Certification Tutorial

Identify the major network Operating Systems:

Microsoft Windows NT: Built as a directory based network operating systems. A GUI based operating systems, Windows NT uses NTFS (New Technology File System) as its File System.

Novell Netware: Netware is a network operating system which uses a bindery or directory service. Netware's file system is based on FAT (File Allocation Table) and DET (Directory Entry Table). Older versions are primarily text based, newer versions have GUI based administration.

Unix: Unix versions vary and have many platforms. Usually, Unix versions on a workstation work best with the same vendor's server operating system.

Clients that best serve specific operating systems:

Microsoft Windows NT: Microsoft Windows NT Workstation works best with Windows NT Server. Both use NTFS as its primary operating system and Windows NT Server provides the best throughput to NT Workstation.

Novell Netware: Novell has client software for several OSs, and works best with DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 9x, and Windows NT. Novell's older drivers are all DOS based, though has some 32-bit versions for Windows 9x and NT with newer versions of Netware. Netware works with Macintosh and OS/2 as well.

Unix: Unix workstations work best with their vendors' network operating systems.

Major Network Operating Systems Directory Services:

Microsoft Windows NT: Microsoft Windows NT uses a directory service database that contains information about users, groups, and computers. Windows 2000 uses a new directory service called Active Directory which is similar to Novell Directory Services. It is a hierarchical structure directory.

Novell Netware: Netware 3.x uses bindery service which is restricted to the machine it sits on. Netware 4.x and 5 uses Novell Directory Service (NDS). NDS uses a tree structure for its directory services.

Unix: Different Unix implementations use different types of directory services.

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