Lesson 4 intro to advanced o perating systems

Lesson 4: Intro to Advanced Operating System Page 1 of 11

LESSSON 4: INTRO TO ADVANCED OPERATING SYSTEM

4.1 NETWORK OPERATING SYSTEMS
Network operating systems also called a network OS or NOS, is the system software that organizes
and coordinates the activities on a local area network.
Some of the tasks performed by NOS include the following:

• Administration – adding, deleting, and organizing users and performing maintenance tasks such as
backup.

• File Management – locating and transferring files.

• Printer Management – prioritizing print jobs and reports sent to specific printers on the network.

• Security – monitoring and, when necessary, restricting access to network resources.
Many operating systems have network features built into them. In other cases, the network OS is a set
of programs that works with another operating systems.
Table below indicates which operating systems have built-in network features.
Operating systems that supports networks

Operating System Requires Separate OS Network Type
IBM OS/2 Warp Client Client/Server
Linux Client/Server
Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, and Peer-to-Peer
Windows Me
Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Client/Server
Windows XP
Novell and Netware DOS Client/Server
SpartaCom LANtastic Any PC operating system Peer-to-Peer
Sun SolarisTM Client/Server
UNIX Client/Server

This lesson will focus on the three most widely used network operating systems available today:

• Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003/2008
• Novell NetWare
• UNIX

4.1.1WINDOWS SERVERS
Developed from the VMS platform many years ago, Microsoft Windows NT and its successors,
Windows Server 2003 and 2008, have grown into very popular network operating systems that
provide a number of built-in network services, including:

• File and print services. These allow the administrator to share files and printers among
Windows clients.

• DNS and WINS services. These allow the administrator to configure DNS and NetBIOS
name resolution.

• DHCP services. These allow the administrator to configure the server to assign IP
addresses to clients on the network.

• Directory services. These allow the administrator to build a central list of objects, such as
user accounts that may be used by clients to log on to the network. Microsoft’s directory
service is known as Active Directory.

• Web services. These allow the administrator to build Internet or corporate intranet sites that
are hosted on the server.

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• E-mail services. These allow the administrator to configure the server to send e-mail using
the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

• Group policies. These allow an administrator to deploy settings down to the client operating
systems from a central point. Some of the types of settings that can be applied to clients
through group policies are folder redirection, file permissions, user rights, and installation of
software.

One of the major factors that led to the popularity of the Windows-based server operating
systems is that Microsoft developed a user interface on the server that was similar to the client
operating systems, such as:

 Windows 98
 Windows 2000 Professional
 Windows XP Professional
• Clients and Resources

A major component of successful networking with NOS is the client operating system. Client
operating systems is stand-alone operating systems that work in conjunction with a network
operating system and can operate with or without a network.

Whether the workstations are in a workgroup environment (peer-to-peer) or a client/server
environment, you need to have client software installed on the client operating systems to
connect to the servers.

Some examples of client operating systems that can connect to a Windows server are:

 Windows XP Professional  Windows 95/98
 Windows 2000 Professional  Windows for Workgroups
 Windows NT Workstation 4.0

Another reason Windows servers have been so successful is that they support many different
client operating systems.

• Directory Services

With Windows servers, the server that holds the central list of user accounts that may log on to
the network is called a domain controller.
Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2003 Server call the database of user accounts that
resides on the domain controllers the Active Directory Database.
Active Directory is Microsoft’s implementation of a directory service. Typically when users log
on to the network, they will sit at a client machine and type a username and password.
4.1.2NOVELL NETWARE

Novell’s NetWare is a widely used network operating system designed for client-server
networks.
NetWare has evolved into a very powerful network operating system, supporting a number of
network services out of the box and an industry-leading directory service.
Some of the core services supported by a NetWare server include:

• File and print services. These allow the administrator to share files and printers among
NetWare clients.
• DNS services. These allow the administrator to configure a DNS server for DNS name
resolution.
• DHCP services. These allow the administrator to configure the server to assign IP addresses
to clients on the network.
• Directory services. These allow the administrator to build a central list of objects (such as
user accounts) that may be used by clients to log on to the network.

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Novell’s directory service is known as NDS in NetWare 4 and 5, or eDirectory in NetWare 6.

• Web servers
These allow the administrator to build Internet or corporate intranet sites that are hosted on
the server by using Apache web servers provided with the NetWare operating system.


NetWare supports a wide variety of clients. The main ones, are the Windows platform of
operating systems, such as Windows 98, Windows 2000 Pro, and Windows XP Pro.
It should be noted that NetWare now fully supports Linux client workstations; as a matter of
fact, all previously mentioned Novell services can run on Linux server operating systems.
Novell client software is required to connect to NetWare 4 and NetWare 5 servers but is no
longer required for NetWare 6.x, because files, printers, e-mail, and administrative tools are all
available using a web browser.

Note: Although Microsoft operating systems come with a “Client for NetWare
Networks,” it is recommended to install Novell’s client to connect to NetWare 4
and 5 networks to ensure that you are getting the full benefit of the networking
environment.

One of the driving features of NetWare since version 4 has been Novell’s directory services,
known as eDirectory (formerly NDS).
eDirectory supports a hierarchical grouping of objects that represent resources on the
network, as shown in the figure.

Objects organized in Novell EDirectory using the ConsoleOne tool

Some of the features provided by eDirectory include:
 Platform independence. eDirectory can run on NetWare servers, Windows servers,
Linux servers, and UNIX servers.
 DirXML eDirectory uses DirXML software drivers to synchronize directory information
with other directories, such as Microsoft Active Directory or Oracle’s PeopleSoft.
 Partitioning and replication eDirectory can be split (partitioned) into smaller portions,
and these smaller portions (replicas) can be placed on strategically selected servers.

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4.1.3UNIX/LINUX

Originally developed by Bell Labs, UNIX is a very popular operating system for powerful
networking and database management.

UNIX boasts three key features that make it powerful:

 multitasking,
 multiusers, and
 networking capabilities.

UNIX is a very powerful
multitasking operating system that
can run many processes in the
background while enabling users
to work in the foreground on an
application.
The Linux user interface

Today’s versions of UNIX and especially Linux are different than the older versions of UNIX.
Today, like Windows, most Linux versions have a graphical shell loaded automatically that
allows a user to use the operating system with a mouse.
Like Windows, most Linux operating systems have popular programs installed to use—
programs such as a text editor and a calculator.


The UNIX and Linux standard directory service is called Network Information Service (NIS),
which has been superseded by NIS+ and LDAP.

Microsoft Services for UNIX and NetWare Services for UNIX both include an NIS service,
which allows UNIX and Linux clients to authenticate to Active Directory or eDirectory.

These services also allow for the objects from Active Directory and eDirectory to be copied or
synchronized with the NIS directory, allowing UNIX clients to authenticate with NIS when the
account was built originally in the other directory.

Similar to Active Directory and eDirectory, NIS is a central repository of network resources (for
example, users, group, printers) that is synchronized to other UNIX and Linux servers on the
network.

4.2 UNDERSTANDING CLIENT SERVER CONCEPTS
A client/server
LAN is a network
on which one or
more computers
act as a server and
the other
computers on the
network can
request services
from the server.

An example of client/server network

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A server, sometimes called the host computer, controls access to the hardware and software on the
network and provides a centralized storage area for programs, data and information.

The other computers on the network called clients, rely on the server for these resources.

The major difference between the server computer and the client computers is the server has more
storage space and power.

A dedicated server performs specific task.
Examples of dedicated server:
 File server stores and manages files.
 Print server manages printers and print jobs.
 Database server stores and provides access to a database.
 Network server manages network traffic.

Although it can connect a smaller number of computers, a client/server network typically provides an
efficient means to connect 10 or more computers together.

Most client/server networks have a network administrator because of the larger size of a client/server
network.

The network administrator is the operations person in charge of the network.

4.3 NETWORK PROTOCOLS AND STANDARDS

4.3.1NETWORK PROTOCOLS
A network protocol is a language that is used by systems that wish to communicate with one
another.
If two systems wish to communicate (or talk) with one another, they need to speak the same
language (or protocol).
The first step to networking is making sure that the two systems that are trying to talk have the
same protocol installed.
Four of the major protocols found in networking environments today are:
1. NetBEUI 3. AppleTalk
2. IPX/SPX 4. TCP/IP

1. NETBEUI

NetBIOS Extended User Interface (NetBEUI) is a transport protocol developed by IBM but
adopted by Microsoft for use in earlier versions of Windows and DOS.

NetBEUI commonly was found in smaller networks due to the fact that it is a nonroutable
protocol.

A nonroutable protocol is a protocol that sends data, but the data is unable to cross a
router to reach other networks; communication is limited to the local LAN only. The fact that
NetBEUI is a nonroutable protocol has limited the use of NetBEUI on networks today.

NetBEUI is an extremely efficient and simple protocol with little overhead because of its
inability to route packets.

One of the major advantages of NetBEUI is that it is extremely simple to install and
configure.

There is minimal configuration required to allow the protocol to work—you install it, specify a
unique computer name, and it works!

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2. WHAT IS NETBIOS?
NetBIOS (short for Network Basic Input/Output System) a close friend of NetBEUI, with
which it works closely when communicating with systems on the network.
NetBIOS is an application programming interface (API) that is used to make network calls to
remote systems. When you install NetBEUI, it includes the NetBIOS protocol, and NetBEUI
relies on NetBIOS for session management functionality.
NetBIOS has two communication modes:

• Session mode is used for connection-oriented communication in which NetBIOS
would be responsible for:
 Establishing a session with the target system.
 Monitoring the session to detect any errors in transmission.
 Recovering from those errors by retransmitting any data that went missing or was
corrupt

• Datagram mode is used for connectionless communication in which a session is not
needed.

Datagram mode also is used for any broadcast by NetBIOS. Datagram mode does not
support error detection and correction services, which are therefore the responsibility of
the application using NetBIOS.

List of facts about NetBIOS and NetBEUI:

• NetBIOS is a session protocol, whereas NetBEUI is a transport protocol.
• NetBIOS is used by other protocols as well, such as TCP/IP.
• Since NetBIOS is not a transport protocol, it does not directly support routing but
depends on one of three transport protocols—TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, or NetBEUI—to do this.
• NetBIOS uses NetBIOS names as a method of identifying systems on the network.
3. IPX/SPX
Internetwork Packet Exchange/Sequenced Packet Exchange (IPX/SPX) is a protocol
suite (which means there are many protocols in one) that was developed by Novell and was
very popular on older NetWare networks.

The IPX protocol of the IPX/SPX protocol suite is responsible for the routing of information
across the network.

IPX/SPX is a routable protocol, so its addressing scheme must be able to identify each
system on the network and the network it exists on.
The network administrator assigns each
network a network ID. An IPX network ID is
an eight-character hexadecimal value—for
example, 0BADBEEF.

A complete IPX address is made up of the
network ID, a period (.), and then the six-
byte MAC address of the network card (a
unique address burned into the network
card) in the system.
For example:
The computer I am sitting at right now has
a MAC address of 00-90-4B-4C-C1-59. If
my system were connected to network ID
0BADBEEF, then my IPX network address
would be 0BADBEEF.00904B4CC159.

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Configuring the IPX/SPX protocol

IPX/SPX is not as easy to configure as NetBEUI. When doing an IPX installation, you will
need to be familiar with configuration issues such as the network number and frame type
shown in the figure.

• Network number is the number assigned to the Novell network segment. It is a
hexadecimal value, eight digits maximum.

• Frame type is the format of the packet that is used by the network. It is important to
make sure that all systems on the network are configured for the same frame type.

For example: If I wish want to connect to SERVER1, which uses the frame type of 802.2,
then I would need to ensure that my frame type was set to 802.2—otherwise, I would not be
able to communicate with SERVER1.

The four major frame types are:

1. 802.2 3. ETHERNET_SNAP
2. 802.3 4. ETHERNET_II

The Microsoft operating systems default to an auto setting on the frame type, which allows
the IPX/SPX protocol to “sense” the frame type being used on the network and configure
itself for that frame type.

Note: If you are working on a network where there are multiple frame types configured, such
as 802.2 and 802.3, the clients that are configured to autodetect the frame type will
configure themselves for 802.2, because it is the default frame type.

While IPX is responsible for the routing of packets, it is also a connectionless, unreliable
transport. Unreliable means IPX packets are sent to a destination without requiring the
destination to acknowledge receiving those packets.
Connectionless means that no session is established between sender and receiver before
transmitting data. SPX is the protocol in the IPX/SPX protocol suite that is responsible for
reliable delivery.

SPX is a connection-oriented protocol that will ensure that packets that are not received at
the destination are retransmitted on the wire.

To install IPX/SPX in Windows:

1. Go to your Local Area Connection properties and then choose the Install button.
2. When shown a list of components to install, you then select Protocol and then click Add
to add a protocol.
3. When shown the list of protocols, you then select the NWLink IPX/SPX entry and click
OK.
4. To configure the network number and frame type, go to the properties of NWLink.

4. APPLETALK: It is a routable protocol that is used primarily in Macintosh environments to
connect multiple systems together in a network environment.
AppleTalk was implemented in two phases, known as phase 1 and phase 2, with the
second phase being more popular today:

• Phase 1 was designed for small workgroup environments and therefore supports a
much smaller number of nodes on the network.

• Phase 2 was designed for larger networks and supports more than 200 hosts on the
network.

5. TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is the most common
protocol used today.

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A routable protocol, TCP/IP is the protocol on which the Internet is built. TCP/IP is very
robust and commonly is associated with UNIX and Linux systems.

One of the major advantages of TCP/IP was the fact that it could be used to connect
heterogeneous (dissimilar) environment together, which is why it has become the protocol of
the Internet.
TCP/IP has two major drawbacks:

• Configuration
TCP/IP is a protocol that requires configuration, and to administer it, you need to be
familiar with IP addresses, subnet masks, and default gateways not complicated topics
once you are familiar with them, but there is a bit of a learning curve compared to
installing NetBEUI.

• Security
Because of the open design of TCP/IP, it has become a very insecure protocol. If security
is of concern, you need to make certain that you implement additional technologies to
secure the network traffic or systems running TCP/IP.
For example: If you want to ensure that other individuals cannot read the data sent to
your web server, you would SSL enable the web site which would encrypt traffic between
a client and your web server.
6. ROUTABLE VS. NONROUTABLE PROTOCOLS
It has been discussed the four major protocols, and learned that NetBEUI is a nonroutable
protocol, whereas IPX/SPX, AppleTalk, and TCP/IP are routable protocols.

• A routable protocol is a protocol whose packets may leave your network, pass through
your router, and be delivered to a remote network, as shown in the figure below.

• A nonroutable protocol is a protocol that does not have the capability to cross a router
to be sent from one network to another network.

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Workstation A Workstation A
Internet

Hub Router Router Hub

Workstation B Workstation B

Network Server Network Server

Company XYZ Company ABC

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4.3.2DIFFERENT PROTOCOLS AND OSI LAYERS
Different protocols work at different levels of the OSI model.
1. IPX
• IPX is an extremely fast, streamlined protocol that is not connection oriented.
• IPX was once fairly common because of its widespread use on Novell NetWare.
• IPX is a routable protocol that is located at the network layer of the OSI model.
• Because it is also an unreliable connectionless transport, IPX also applies to layer 4 the
transport layer. Remember, unreliable means data is sent without acknowledgment of
receipt, and connectionless means that a session is not established before transmitting.
• IPX is capable of being run over both Ethernet and Token Ring networks using the
appropriate network interface card (NIC). For a number of years, IPX over Ethernet was
the default use of NICs.

2. SPX: Sequenced Packet Exchange (SPX) is a transport protocol used by IPX for
connection-oriented communication.

It is responsible for breaking the message into manageable packets and ensuring the data
reaches the destination.
SPX is the equivalent to TCP but for the IPX/SPX protocol suite. Because SPX runs at the
transport layer, it is considered a layer-4 protocol.

3. IP: The Internet Protocol (IP) in the TCP/IP protocol suite performs the same routing
functions that IPX does for the IPX/SPX protocol suite.

IP is responsible for the logical addressing and routing of messages across the network.
IP does not ensure the delivery of the packets; that is the responsibility of higher-layer
protocols, such as TCP.
The logical address that IP uses is known as an IP address and looks similar to 192.168.3.200
—which is different from the physical address (MAC address), which looks like
00-02-3F-6B-25-13.

4. TCP: The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is a transport-layer protocol that is
responsible for breaking the data into manageable packets and ensuring that the packets
reach their destination.

TCP is considered a connection-oriented protocol, which means that it relies on a session
being first established.

5. UDP: The User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite and is the
brother of TCP. When you send data on a TCP/IP network and if you need a connection-
oriented conversation, you have learned you would use the TCP protocol.

6. NFS: The Network File System (NFS) is a protocol for file sharing that enables a user to
use network disks as though they were connected to the local machine.
• NFS was created by Sun Microsystems for use on Solaris, Sun’s version of UNIX.
• NFS is still used frequently in the UNIX and Linux worlds and is available for use with
nearly all operating systems.
• NFS is a protocol that is used universally by the UNIX community. Vendor and third-party
software products enable other operating systems to use NFS. It has gained acceptance
with many companies and can be added to nearly any operating system.
• In addition to file sharing, NFS enables you to share printers.
• NFS is located in the application layer of the OSI model and is considered a member of
the TCP/IP protocol suite.

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• The primary reason to use the NFS protocol is to access resources located on a UNIX
server or to share resources with someone working on a UNIX workstation.

7. SMB and Novell NCP
Microsoft’s Server Message Block (SMB) and Novell’s NetWare Core Protocol (NCP) are
protocols that are implemented in redirectors.
A redirector is software that intercepts requests, formats them according to the protocol in
use, and passes the message to a lower-level protocol for delivery.
Redirectors also intercept incoming messages, process the instructions, and pass them to the
correct upper-level application for additional processing.
SMB and NCP are used primarily for file and printer sharing in Microsoft and Novell networks,
respectively, and are considered application-layer protocols.

8. SMTP: The Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) is the protocol that defines the
structure of Internet mail messages.

SMTP uses a well-defined syntax for transferring messages.

An SMTP session includes initializing the SMTP connection, sending the destination e-mail
address, sending the source e-mail address, sending the subject, and sending the body of the
e-mail message.

9. FTP and TFTP: The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standardized method of transferring
files between two machines. FTP is a connection-oriented protocol, which means that the
protocol verifies that packets successfully reach their destinations.
The Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) has the same purpose and function as FTP, except
that it is not a connection-oriented protocol and does not verify that packets reach their
destinations.

10. DECnet: It is a proprietary protocol developed by the Digital Equipment Corporation for use
primarily in WANs.
You can run DECnet on an Ethernet network, but it is done infrequently. DECnet is a routable
protocol.

11. DLC: Data Link Control (DLC) is not a common protocol. DLC, a nonroutable protocol, was
sometimes used to connect Windows NT servers to printers.

It is important to understand the protocols, services, and applications and what layer of the
OSI model those products may be working with.

Table below summarizes some of the popular protocols, services, and applications that are
found in networking environments and specifies what layer of the OSI model they run at.

Identifying the OSI Layer for Popular Protocols and Services

OSI Layer Protocols, Services, Methods, and Layers
Application FTP, SMTP, Telnet
Presentation JPEG, GIF, MPEG
Session NFS, RPC
Transport TCP, UDP, SPX, IPX
Network IPX, IP
Data Link Ethernet, Token Ring
Physical Twisted-pair, thinnet coax, AUI, network interface card

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Lesson 4 intro to advanced o perating systems

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