Previous Table of Contents Next


There are currently four MCP certifications, and it is important to understand the differences among them:

  Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSEs) have passed four operating system exams; at least two of them related to Windows NT. There are currently two tracks: one for Windows NT 3.51 and another for Windows NT 4.0. The NT 4.0 core requirements contain deeper coverage of NT 4.0 Server deployment issues.
  Microsoft Certified Solutions Developers (MCSDs) have passed two core exams covering Windows 32-bit architecture, OLE, user interface design, and Windows Open Services Architecture components, along with two elective exams covering Microsoft development tools and/or SQL Server.

Exhibit 3. Selected Resources Available on Microsoft’s Web Site

Resource Web address

Windows NT Deployment Guide www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/aantdeplguide.htm
Windows NT Migration Planning Template (Microsoft Project format) www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/aantprojtemp.htm
Guide to Automating Windows NT Setup www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/Deployment-guide.htm
Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Deployment Strategy and Details www.microsoft.com/organizations/corpeval/1322.htm
Windows NT Server Enterprise Planning Guide www.microsoft.com/ntserver/info/entplan.htm
Windows NT Server Domain Planning Guide www.microsoft.com/ntserver/info/domainplanwp.htm
Windows NT Server Interoperability Planning Guide www.microsoft.com/ntserver/info/ntsnwkinterop.htm
Windows NT Server TCP/IP Implementation Guide www.microsoft.com/ntserver/info/tcpimplement.htm

  Microsoft Certified Product Specialists (MCPSs) have passed one detailed operating system exam: either Windows NT Workstation, Windows NT Server, or 16-bit Windows.
  Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) teach (or intend to teach) at Microsoft Authorized Technical Education Centers; Microsoft certifies both their subject matter expertise and exposure to some basic training techniques.

Gathering Information Resources

It is helpful to gather as many deployment resources as possible early in the planning process. Not surprisingly, Microsoft is a prime source of free and low-cost information on deploying Windows NT. In addition to the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Resource Kit and Windows NT Server 4.0 Resource Kit, Exhibit 3 lists many of the free resources available on Microsoft’s Web site.

EVALUATING THE INSTALLED BASE

Now that the teams are in place, it is important to thoroughly understand the computing environment into which Windows NT is being deployed. Consider these elements:

  Desktop PCs and servers that may be upgraded to, replaced with, or served by Windows NT systems
  Other equipment, especially mainframes, minicomputers, UNIX servers and workstations, and NetWare servers that Windows NT will need to coexist with

It is extremely helpful if a company has a detailed inventory of the desktop and server systems in use throughout the organization. If there is no detailed inventory, the company will need one before initiating a full-scale rollout. For the moment, however, the IS department can identify a representative sample of systems in order to begin creating standard configurations, testing them, and making “upgrade vs. replace” decisions.

Planning for New Workstations

If the organization is purchasing new workstations, IS should seriously consider standardizing on one brand of PC throughout the organization. This has several benefits, including:

  A single point of contact for technical support (both hardware and Windows NT), troubleshooting, upgrades, and accountability.
  A single approach to manageability. While the new NetPC and Intel’s proposed “Managed PC” may standardize hardware management, each leading vendor currently has its own approach — not necessarily compatible with anyone else’s.
  Pricing leverage associated with quantity purchasing.

If at all possible, test proposed new workstation configurations on both Windows NT 4.0 and the betas of Windows NT 5.0 that will become increasingly available throughout late 1997 and early 1998. While early betas will not fully reflect the performance of the final product, preliminary NT 5.0 benchmarks can help an organization ensure that its systems will be useful well past the year 2000.

At this writing, a reasonable, minimum new system for NT Workstation 4.0 is a 200-MHz Pentium. Although better performance can be expected from higher-speed Pentium IIs, these microprocessors are only now being paired with chipsets that enable them to take full advantage of their inherent speed.

Upgrade Planning for Existing Workstations

The installed base and normal upgrade schedule will play an important role in determining which existing systems are worth upgrading. Within this context, IS should start by determining the lowest-performance PC worth upgrading to NT Workstation. While NT Workstation can theoretically run on a low-end 486, most companies restrict upgrades to systems with substantially more power.

For example, where processing requirements are modest, a company might use Pentium 75 or Pentium 90 systems as a preliminary cutoff point. Systems slower than this would rarely be considered for upgrades to Windows NT. Starting from this baseline, the IS department would then test borderline systems to determine whether they will deliver adequate performance.

In most cases, these systems will require memory upgrades — probably to at least 32 MB. To determine whether these systems are in fact worth upgrading, IS will need to price the time and cost of these upgrades, and consider the remaining useful life of the hardware.

Where processing requirements are more substantial, IS might want to start with Pentium 133, 150, or 166 systems as a cutoff point — effectively ruling out all systems more than 18 to 24 months old. Again, it is important to take memory upgrades into account, although it is possible that some of your Pentium 133-166 systems are already configured with adequate memory to run Windows NT Workstation.


Previous Table of Contents Next

Copyright © CRC Press LLC