Windows Nt And Unix: Administration, Coexistence, Integration...

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 738 pages
• Published by: Prentice Hall
• Edition: 1st Edition 1998
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0201185369
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0201185362
• Book Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.4 inches
• Weighs: 2.8 pounds

Product Review
If you're planning on converting an existing Unix-centric network to Windows NT, Windows NT & UNIX: Administration, Coexistence, Integration & Migration does a decent job of guiding you through the process.

The authors begin by comparing Windows NT and Unix generally, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of each. This comparison assists you in deciding whether integration and migration are really necessary. Subsequently, they assume you're running both kinds of machines on a single network and explain how to perform various tasks in each of the environments.

Eventually, the book migrates from system-specific administration information and focuses on getting the two operating systems in synchronization. The authors discuss network protocols, routing, electronic mail, and the mechanics of using each operating system to handle a Web server. Samba, the Windows NT Server Message Block emulator for Unix, gets only cursory coverage. They also write on porting Unix applications to Windows NT. Lastly, a large portion of this book is devoted to documenting Unix commands and Windows NT procedures. --David Wall

Publisher Description
Increasingly, system administrators and information management professionals find that they must be familiar with both UNIX and Windows NT and capable of managing their interaction and coexistence. Finding assistance on how to best proceed from experienced sources has been difficult-until now.

Robert Williams and Ellen Gardner both have extensive experience integrating and managing heterogeneous systems. They have designed this book to be the kind of resource they wish had been available when they first dealt with UNIX and Windows NT interaction. The book begins by bringing administrators of each operating system up to speed with the administration of the alternative system, including cross-referencing the important utilities of both.

The core of the book then focuses on the three specific areas of interaction administrators must understand to be successful: coexistence, in which UNIX and Windows NT cooperate and have common methods of maintenance; integration,1 referring to true operating systems interoperability; and migration, primarily the movement from UNIX to Windows NT.

The book's comprehensive coverage includes an in-depth look at how to plan for and implement the introduction of Windows NT into a UNIX environment and an examination of available tools for porting UNIX applications. Networking topics are thoroughly explored, with complete coverage of TCP/IP and how it is utilized by each operating system; CORBA and DCOM interoperability issues; electronic mail systems, with explanations of SMTP, UNIX sendmail, and Microsoft BackOffice Exchange Server 5.0; and the integration of UNIX and Windows NT web servers.

Windows NT and UNIX also addresses other topics such as accessing data across platforms, user interface emulators, Windows applications under UNIX and vice versa, ported POSIX commands and utilities, and the new clustering technologies. The book concludes with comprehensive quick reference guides to common Windows NT and UNIX commands and utilities, cross-referencing those that have similar functions within both operating systems.

Reader Reviews
This book takes on a VERY ambitious topic. The integration of UNIX with Windows NT is a thorny issue...both operating systems require dedicated study to truly master, and mastering both is quite likely impossible. Add to that trying to integrate the two and the job requires a modern-day Renaissance man. Given this, I was expecting this book to fall a bit short of its goal of enabling sysadmins to manage and integrate their NT and UNIX systems. Instead it fell HUGELY short. The general description of UNIX contains a large number of straight-up factual errors that any junior sysadmin should be able to spot. I don't know how it ever made it past any technical editor. I am less familiar with NT than with UNIX, but the overview of NT seemed to be reasonably accurate, although shallow and rather devoid of useful information. The remaining chapters on running both systems are not so bad, but they too suffer from an overabundance of text with a glaring scarcity of useful information. A general system administration primer on UNIX combined with one on NT will probably offer far more insights into the administration of a heterogeneous system (containing UNIX and NT) than will any of the information in this book. The one redeeming feature (why this review is for *2* stars instead of 1) is the command references that make up nearly the second half of the book. First is a list of UNIX commands and descriptions, then a list of NT commands (or procedures for the GUI-based tasks) and descriptions. The lists are fairly complete, generally factually accurate, and contain interesting cross-references (pointing out what might be relevant to know about NT in the description of the UNIX commands, for example). The book may be worth the purchase just for these two sections. It's just too bad I read through the first half of the book before I got to them. Comment | | (Report this)