Project Plan - Office of the Minister of State for … · Web viewThe Datacenter Server supports up to 16-way SMP and up to 64 gigabytes of physical memory. Windows 2000 enhancements:

ICT Standards and Guidelines Segment 105

Operating Systems

Appendices (Version 2.0)

Table of Contents - Operating Systems1.0 Appendix A - Operating System Examples: MS Windows.........................1

1.1 Windows 2000.............................................................................................11.2 Windows XP.................................................................................................11.3 The.NET Platform strategy...........................................................................21.4 NTFS............................................................................................................3

1.4.1 How NTFS Works..............................................................................32.0 Appendix B - Operating System Examples: UNIX....................................4

2.1 The Unix Family of Operating Systems........................................................42.2 Solaris, Sun Microsystems Operating System..............................................5

3.0 Appendix C - Operating System Examples: Linux...................................64.0 Appendix D - Comparison between UNIX, Linux and Windows.................75.0 Appendix E - Operating System Example: Mac OS X...............................8

5.1 Darwin, the Open Source Core of the System..............................................85.2 Mac OS X Graphics System..........................................................................9

5.2.1 Quartz..............................................................................................95.2.2 OpenGL............................................................................................95.2.3 QuickTime......................................................................................10

5.3 Rapid Interface Development with Interface Builder.................................105.4 User Interface............................................................................................105.5 Interoperability..........................................................................................11

5.5.1 Macintosh Systems.........................................................................125.5.2 Java Platform..................................................................................12

5.6 Development Options................................................................................125.6.1 Carbon............................................................................................125.6.2 Cocoa.............................................................................................125.6.3 Java................................................................................................135.6.4 Unix................................................................................................13

6.0 Appendix F - A sample Service - The Directory Services........................146.1 The Need for a Directory Service...............................................................146.2 The Benefits of a Directory Service............................................................146.3 The Directory Service Needs an Open Strategy.........................................146.4 State of the Directory Services Market......................................................156.5 Directory Service Products Criteria............................................................166.6 The Four Directory Services leaders..........................................................16

6.6.1 Microsoft's Active Directory............................................................166.6.2 iPlanet............................................................................................176.6.3 Novell.............................................................................................176.6.4 IBM’s SecureWay............................................................................17

6.7 The Directory Services Challengers...........................................................176.7.1 Oracle Internet Directory and IBM Domino.....................................176.7.2 Critical Path from Siemens.............................................................176.7.3 Computer Associates International (CA).........................................176.7.4 Syntegra.........................................................................................18

6.8 Recommendations about Directory Services.............................................18

1.0 Appendix A - Operating System Examples: MS Windows

1.1 Windows 2000

Windows 2000 (W2K) is the latest commercial version of Microsoft's evolving Windows operating system. Previously called Windows NT 5.0, Microsoft emphasizes that Windows 2000 is evolutionary and "Built on NT Technology." Windows 2000 is designed to appeal to small business and professional users as well as to the more technical and larger business market for which the NT was designed. The Windows 2000 product line consists of four products:

Windows 2000 Professional, aimed at individuals and businesses of all sizes. It includes security and mobile use enhancements. It is the most economical choice.

Windows 2000 Server, aimed at small-to-medium size businesses. It can function as a Web server and/or a workgroup (or branch office) server. It can be part of a two-way symmetric multiprocessing system. NT 4.0 servers can be upgraded to this server.

Windows 2000 Advanced Server, aimed at being a network operating system server and/or an application server, including those involving large databases. This server facilitates clustering and load-balancing. NT 4.0 servers with up to eight-way SMP can upgrade to this product.

Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, designed for large data warehouses, online transaction processing (OLTP), econometric analysis and other applications requiring high-speed computation and large databases. The Datacenter Server supports up to 16-way SMP and up to 64 gigabytes of physical memory.

Windows 2000 enhancements:

Windows 2000 is reported to be more stable (less apt to crash) than Windows 98/NT systems.

A significant new feature is Microsoft's Active Directory, which, among other capabilities, enables a company to set up virtual private networks, to encrypt data locally or on the network and to give users access to shared files in a consistent way from any network computer.

1.2 Windows XP

Windows XP is the latest version of the Windows desktop operating system for the PC. Microsoft and trade publication writers view Windows XP as the most important version of Windows since Windows 95. Windows XP is built on the Windows 2000 kernel but brings a new, more personalized look to the desktop that will also make it easier for users to scan or import images and to acquire music files on the Web and transfer them to portable devices.

Windows XP enhancements:

The new Windows allows different family members to use their own desktop and personal sets of files.

In addition to the "My Computer" and "My Documents" views provided in Windows 2000, Windows XP users see "My Music" and "My Pictures."

Operating Systems - Appendices Page 1

The Start Menu has been redesigned to make the most-used programs easiest to find.

Windows XP comes in a:

Professional version Home Edition version

1.3 The.NET Platform strategy

.NET is both:

A business strategy from Microsoft and its collection of programming support for what are known as Web services and

The ability to use the Web rather than your own computer for various services.

Microsoft's goal is to provide individual and business users with a seamlessly interoperable and Web-enabled interface for applications and computing devices and to make computing activities increasingly Web browser-oriented.

The.NET platform includes servers; building-block services, such as Web-based data storage; and device software. It also includes Passport, Microsoft's fill-in-the-form-only-once identity verification service.

The.NET platform is expected to provide:

The ability to make the entire range of computing devices work together and to have user information automatically updated and synchronized on all of them

Increased interactive capability for Web sites, enabled by greater use of XML (Extensible Mark-up Language) rather than HTML

A premium online subscription service, that will feature customized access and delivery of products and services to the user from a central starting point for the management of various applications, such as e-mail, for example, or software, such as Office.NET

Centralized data storage, which will increase efficiency and ease of access to information, as well as synchronization of information among users and devices

The ability to integrate various communications media, such as e-mail, faxes and telephones

For developers, the ability to create reusable modules, which should increase productivity and reduce the number of programming errors

Microsoft expects that.NET will have as significant an effect on the computing world as the introduction of Windows. One concern being voiced is that although.NET's services will be accessible through any browser, they are likely to function more fully on products designed to work with.NET code.

The full release of.NET is expected to take several years to complete, with intermittent releases of products such as a personal security service and new versions of Windows and Office that implement the.NET strategy coming on the market separately.

Visual Studio.NET is a development environment that is now available.

Windows XP supports certain.NET capabilities.


1.4 NTFS

NTFS (NT file system; sometimes New Technology File System) is the file system that the Windows NT operating system uses for storing and retrieving file on a hard disk. NTFS is the Windows NT equivalent of the Windows 95 file allocation table (FAT) and the OS/2 High Performance File System (HPFS). However, NTFS offers a number of improvements over FAT and HPFS in terms of performance, extendibility and security. Notable features of NTFS include:

Use of a B-tree directory scheme to keep track of file clusters Information about a file's clusters and other data is stored with each cluster, not

just a governing table (as FAT is) Support for very large files (up to 2 to the 64th power or approximately 16 billion

bytes in size) An access control list (ACL) that lets a server administrator control who can

access specific files Integrated file compression Support for names based on Unicode Support for long file names as well as "8 by 3" names Data security on both removable and fixed disks

1.4.1 How NTFS Works

When a hard disk is formatted (initialized), it is divided into partitions or major divisions of the total physical hard disk space. Within each partition, the operating system keeps track of all the files that are stored by that operating system. Each file is actually stored on the hard disk in one or more clusters or disk spaces of a predefined uniform size. Using NTFS, the sizes of clusters range from 512 bytes to 64 kilobytes. Windows NT provides a recommended default cluster size for any given drive size. For example, for a 4 GB (gigabyte) drive, the default cluster size is 4 KB (kilobytes). Note that clusters are indivisible. Even the smallest file takes up one cluster and a 4.1 KB file takes up two clusters (or 8 KB) on a 4 KB cluster system.

The selection of the cluster size is a trade-off between efficient use of disk space and the number of disk accesses required to access a file. In general, using NTFS, the larger the hard disk the larger the default cluster size, since it's assumed that a system user will prefer to increase performance (fewer disk accesses) at the expense of some amount of space inefficiency.

When a file is created using NTFS, a record about the file is created in a special file, the Master File Table (MFT). The record is used to locate a file's possibly scattered clusters. NTFS tries to find contiguous storage space that will hold the entire file (all of its clusters).

Each file contains, along with its data content, a description of its attributes (its metadata).


2.0 Appendix B - Operating System Examples: UNIX

UNIX is an operating system that originated at Bell Labs in 1969 as an interactive time-sharing system. Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie are considered the inventors of UNIX. In 1974, UNIX became the first operating system written in the C language. UNIX has evolved as a kind of large freeware product, with many extensions and new ideas provided in a variety of versions of UNIX by different companies, universities and individuals.

Partly because it was not a proprietary operating system owned by any one of the leading computer companies and partly because it is written in a standard language and embraced many popular ideas, UNIX became the first open or standard operating system that could be improved or enhanced by anyone. A composite of the C language and shell (user command) interfaces from different versions of UNIX were standardized under the auspices of the IEEE as the Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX).

In turn, the POSIX interfaces were specified in the X/Open Programming Guide 4.2 (also known as the "Single UNIX Specification" and "UNIX 95"). Version 2 of the Single UNIX Specification is also known as UNIX 98.

The "official" trademarked UNIX is now owned by the The Open Group, an industry standards organization, which certifies and brands UNIX implementations. UNIX operating systems are used in widely-sold workstation products from Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, IBM and a number of other companies.

The UNIX environment and the client/server program model were important elements in the development of the Internet and the reshaping of computing as centred in networks rather than in individual computers.

Linux, a UNIX derivative available in both "free software" and commercial versions, is increasing in popularity as an alternative to proprietary operating systems

2.1 The Unix Family of Operating Systems

UNIX is a family of operating systems, which includes AIX, BSDI, FreeBSD, HP-UX, IRIX, Linux, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Pyramid, SCO (UnixWare and OpenServer), Solaris, SunOS, Tru64 UNIX and more.

Vendors such as Sun, IBM, DEC, SCO and HP modified Unix to differentiate their products. This splintered UNIX to a degree, though not quite as much as is usually perceived. Programmers have created development tools that help them work around the differences between UNIX flavors. As a result, there is a large body of software based on source code that will automatically configure itself to compile on most Unix platforms, including Intel-based Unix.

UNIX is a mature, technically superior group of operating systems with a proven track record for performance, reliability and security in a server environment. The almost thirty years of continual development, performed often by volunteers who believe in what they’re doing, has produced a group of operating systems—and extremely powerful multiprocessor server hardware tailor-made to its needs, whose performance is still unparalleled by Intel hardware—that not only meets the demands of today’s computing needs, but in many cases exceeds them.


UNIX system had great advantage to be used in the server environment since it will provide good:

Performance Reliability Security

2.2 Solaris, Sun Microsystems Operating System

Solaris is the computer operating system that Sun Microsystems provides for its family of Scalable Processor Architecture-based processors as well as for Intel-based processors.

Sun has historically dominated the large UNIX workstation market. As the Internet grew in the early 1990s, Sun's SPARC/Solaris systems became the most widely installed servers for Web sites. Sun emphasizes:

The system's availability (meaning it seldom crashes) Its large number of features Its Internet-oriented design

Sun advertises that its latest version, the Solaris 8 Operating Environment, is "the leading UNIX environment" today.

Sun emphasizes these features of Solaris:

Its availability. Special features make it easy to add new capability or to fix problems without having to restart the system. Because it has evolved through a number of versions, it is "stable" - that is, like IBM's well-known mainframe operating system, MVS, Solaris has exercised and fixed almost any code path that might break. It can be upgraded, monitored and controlled from a remote console.

Its scalability. If you move to a larger processor, your applications should not only run, but also run faster.

It is built for network computing. As part of the first and most successful Web server system in history, the latest Solaris systems are built on the company's experience with early Web sites and network demands.

It includes security features. These include support for IPsec, Kerberos, AMI and smart cards.

Sun provides three extensions for its Solaris operating system:

The Easy Access Server, which is designed to run in a network that also has Windows NT systems

The Enterprise Server, which is aimed at the "business-critical" environment and includes support for clustering

The Internet Service Provider (ISP) Server

Since Sun originated the platform-independent Java programming language and runtime environment, Solaris systems come with a Java virtual machine and the Java Development Kit (JDK).


3.0 Appendix C - Operating System Examples: Linux

Linux is a UNIX-like operating system that was designed to provide personal computer users a free or very low-cost operating system comparable to traditional and usually more expensive UNIX systems. Linux has a reputation as a very efficient and fast-performing system. Linux's kernel (the central part of the operating system) was developed by Linus Torvalds at the University of Helsinki in Finland. To complete the operating system, Torvalds and other team members made use of system components developed by members of the Free Software Foundation for the GNU project. Linux is a remarkably complete operating system, including a graphical user interface, an X Window System, TCP/IP, the Emacs editor and other components usually found in a comprehensive UNIX system. Although copyrights are held by various creators of Linux's components, Linux is distributed using the Free Software Foundation's copyleft stipulations that means that any modified version that is redistributed must in turn be freely available.

Unlike Windows and other proprietary systems, Linux is publicly open and extendible by contributors. Because it conforms to the Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) standard user and programming interfaces, developers can write programs that can be ported to other operating systems. Linux comes in versions for all the major microprocessor platforms including the Intel, PowerPC, Sparc and Alpha platforms. Linux is distributed commercially by a number of companies including first ones like IBM, etc.

Linux is sometimes suggested as a possible publicly-developed alternative to the desktop predominance of Microsoft Windows.

The major pros for using Linux are the following:

Network-friendly Multi-user Open Free Reliable and backwards-Compatible

Linux gained deep enterprise credibility beyond Web servers and appliances. Linux got wide cooperative support from leading system and software vendors (e.g., IBM, Compaq Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Dell Computer, Veritas Software and Computer Associates International). They choose to develop new cooperative relationships with the loosely organized OSS community to fast-track advanced technologies to Linux.


4.0 Appendix D - Comparison between UNIX, Linux and Windows

The “holy war” of computing— Microsoft’s Windows Server vs. UNIX — has, strangely enough, been upstaged by a Johnny-come-lately called Linux.

While UNIX-clone Linux’s emerging popularity gives small businesses another attractive alternative when plotting their network operating system (NOS) strategies, it also adds confusion to an already muddled issue.

Currently the market is dominated by three major types of operating systems: Windows Family, Unix and Linux. Most server application operating systems are using Unix or Linux and the desktops are using windows operating system. However, MS Windows are developing high-end windows operating system and are trying to occupy the server operating system market as well. Linux is getting more popularity on the desktop low-end.

The following comparison highlights some of the differentiators between the major brands in operating systems.

Overall Comparison between UNIX, Linux and windows 2000

Source Gartner

Stability: High marks go to UNIX and Linux (but at less complexity than Unix), while Windows 2000 with a huge new code base must demonstrate promised improvements over NT v.4.

SMP Scaling: UNIX enjoys superiority and Windows 2000 is demonstrating significantly better performance than NT, while Linux awaits further scaling improvements in kernel version 2.4 due later this year.

Clustering: Linux provides good clustering performance, which continues to improve; UNIX can match this performance (but more expensively), while Windows 2000 lags.

High Availability: Only UNIX currently excels, with Windows 2000 and Linux expected to improve in two to three years in OLTP.

RDBMS Size: Linux is still weak in support of large numbers of disks and shared storage, while UNIX will maintain its current advantage for 24 to 36 months.

Ease of Use: UNIX and Linux have more complexity than Windows, but technical users may prefer the greater customization and exposed API features, especially in Linux.

Plug-and-Play Drivers: Linux started from scratch and still lags well behind Windows, but many OSS volunteers are at work to redress the imbalance.

Technical Support: The OSS community is a big asset to Linux, but Linux lacks the vendor depth and enterprise experience of UNIX and Windows.

ISV/VAR Support: Linux is still mainly focused on Web serving and is strong with ISPs, but it lacks the vast breadth in applications of UNIX and Windows.

System Management: Linux cannot handle the variety of functions of a managed distributed environment, whereas UNIX and Windows have the necessary depth.

Security: Linux and UNIX will approach comparable levels to one another, ahead of Windows 2000.

Pricing: Pricing favors Linux at the low end and midrange, especially in replicated sites, but TCO differences will narrow and may in fact favor Unix as more complex deployments conceal the OS and GPL advantages.

5.0 Appendix E - Operating System Example: Mac OS X


Mac OS X is a completely rebuilt implementation of the Macintosh operating system. It expands on Apple’s technological strengths, such as industry-standard networking capabilities and industry-leading user interface design. More importantly, Mac OS X combines those strengths with support for a variety of technologies beyond those typically associated with the Macintosh, such as:

UNIX Java 2 Standard Edition

Apple is the first major computer company to make open source development a key part of its ongoing software strategy. The core of Mac OS X, Darwin, is itself an open source project. This approach to operating system development allows developers and students to view the Darwin source code, learn from it and submit suggestions and modifications.

5.1 Darwin, the Open Source Core of the System

The stability of Mac OS X begins with Darwin, the open source core of the system.

Darwin integrates a number of technologies, including the Mach 3.0 kernel, operating system services based on BSD UNIX (Berkeley Software Distribution), high-performance networking facilities and support for multiple integrated file systems. Further, Darwin’s modular design lets developers dynamically load such things as device drivers, networking extensions and new file systems.

A key factor in the stability of the system is Darwin’s advanced memory protection and management system. Darwin ensures reliability by protecting applications with a robust architecture that allocates a unique address space for each application or process. The Mach kernel augments standard virtual memory semantics with the abstraction of memory objects. This enables Mac OS X to manage separate application environments simultaneously, while presenting users with a seamless experience.

Device drivers are created using an object-oriented programming framework called I/O Kit. Drivers created with I/O Kit easily acquire true plug and play, dynamic device management (“hot plugging”) and power management. I/O kit also provides hardware access to high-level application software. For network protocol developers, Darwin provides the Network Kernel Extension (NKE) facility. This allows developers to create networking modules and even entire protocol stacks that can be dynamically loaded and unloaded. NKEs also make it possible to configure protocol stacks automatically and easily monitor and modify network traffic. At the data-link and network layers, they can also receive notifications of asynchronous events from device drivers.

Since Mac OS X is designed to excel in a heterogeneous computing environment, Darwin also offers support for multiple file systems. Based on extensions to BSD and an enhanced Virtual File System (VFS) design, the file system component of Darwin uses a layered architecture in which file systems are stackable. It also introduces several other general features: permissions on removable media including USB and FireWire devices, URL-based volume mount, a unified buffer cache and long filenames based on UTF-8.

Darwin also supplies the following advanced functionality:

Pre-emptive and cooperative multitasking via the Mach kernel. Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) augmented by support for multithreading. Real-time support guaranteeing low-latency access to processor resources for

time-sensitive media applications.


5.2 Mac OS X Graphics System

Mac OS X combines three powerful graphics technologies, Quartz, OpenGL and QuickTime, enabling developers to push graphics beyond anything users have seen on a desktop operating system.

5.2.1 Quartz

Quartz is comprised of a high-performance, lightweight window server and a graphics-rendering library for two-dimensional (2D) shapes.The rendering model of Quartz is based on the cross-platform Portable Document Format (PDF) standard, enabling developers to easily embed and manipulate PDF data within any Mac OS X application. This yields such benefits as automatic PDF generation and save-as-PDF, automatic onscreen preview of graphics, conversion of PDF data to printer raster data or PostScript and a consistent feature set for all printers.The layered composting engine used by Quartz allows developers to create unique onscreen effects. It replaces the “switch model” of traditional windowing systems with a “video mixer” model in which every pixel on the screen can be shared among windows in real time. This model allows for smooth transitions between the states of the graphical user interface.

Another important feature of Quartz is its ability to do window bitmap buffering. In Mac OS X, each window is represented as a bitmap that includes both translucency (alpha channel) and anti-aliasing information. This bitmap is buffered, allowing the window server to “remember” an application’s window contents and to re-composite it without the application’s involvement, providing improved graphics performance without additional developer effort.Quartz also provides developers with these advantages:

On the fly anti-aliasing of graphics and text enabled by the use of a floating-point coordinate system and high-precision vector processing

Direct access to the video frame buffer Automatic detection of and benefit from the floating-point co-processing

performed by the Velocity Engine in PowerPC G4 microprocessors High-quality screen rendering

5.2.2 OpenGL

For three-dimensional (3D) graphics, Mac OS X features an optimized implementation of industry-standard OpenGL. OpenGL is one of the most widely adopted graphics standards today, making code written to OpenGL extremely portable and making generated visual effects highly consistent. It is specifically designed for games, animation, CAD/CAM, medical imaging and other applications that need a rich, robust framework for visualizing shapes in two and three dimensions.The Darwin foundation of Mac OS X ratchets up OpenGL performance. For applications that manage OpenGL resources like large textures, Mac OS X is very efficient at moving texture memory from applications to 3D graphics cards, ensuring maximum quality and frame rates.

5.2.3 QuickTime


Mac OS X comes packaged with the latest version of QuickTime, a powerful multimedia technology for manipulating, enhancing and storing video, sound, animation, graphics, text, music and even 360-degree virtual reality. It also allows streaming of either live or stored digital video.

As a cross-platform technology, QuickTime can deliver content on Mac OS X, as well as Mac OS 8, Mac OS 9, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Augmenting its cross-platform capabilities, QuickTime supports every major file format for images, including BMP, GIF, JPEG, Photoshop, PNG and TIFF. It also supports every significant professional file format for video, including AVI, AVR, DV, Flash, M-JPEG, MPEG-1, H.263 and OpenDML. For web streaming, QuickTime includes support for HTTP as well as RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol) and RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol). Through the QuickTime plug-in, QuickTime’s digital video streaming capability is extended to all popular web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and America Online.

The plug-in supports over thirty different media types and makes it possible to view over 80 percent of all Internet media. QuickTime also features other advanced web streaming capabilities, such as movie “hot spots” and automatic web page launching.

5.3 Rapid Interface Development with Interface Builder

Interface Builder is Apple’s user interface design tool for applications. Developers using its graphical editing environment can manage virtually every aspect of creating a well-designed user interface that adheres to the Mac OS X user interface guidelines.This allows developers to create and test application interface elements quickly, so that a programmer’s time can be spent developing application logic rather than learning interface code.

Interface Builder works with Project Builder (Apple’s Integrated Development Environment) to make application design and development more productive and to create highly reliable, good-looking applications.

5.4 User Interface

The most visible expression of Mac OS X power and technology is its new user interface, Aqua. Apple applies its leadership in user interface design to Aqua, incorporating many of the qualities and characteristics Macintosh users expect, while adding advancements to benefit expert and novice users alike. Ease of use is factored into every feature and capability.

Consistent with Apple’s design philosophy, visual enhancements serve not just as beautiful images, but as cues to the functionality and operation of the system. A prime example of this user-focused design is the use of “sheets.” These non-modal dialog boxes attach directly to the title bar of the relevant document, intuitively linking document and action. The non-modal nature of sheets prevents applications from hijacking the system and interrupting user workflow.

One of the Mac OS X user interface features that benefits developers is its application packaging method. Using application packages, developers can group an application’s executable with multiple libraries and resource files in what end users view as a single


icon. Thus, developers can simplify the installation process for users, while packaging internationalized and localized software versions in the same bundle.

5.5 Interoperability

Mac OS X makes unprecedented use of technologies and standards that allow interaction with other platforms. This affords both developers and users the opportunity to use Macintosh computers in new places and in new ways.

A non-modal save dialog in Mac OS X remains linked to its parent window. Networking and File Systems Mac OS X manages multiple file and networking formats and protocols. Based on an enhanced VFS design, the file system supports the following local formats:

Universal File System (UFS), similar to the standard volume format of most UNIX operating systems and supporting POSIX file system semantics, important for many server applications

NFS (Network File System), used for sharing volumes over TCP/IP networks Universal Disk Format (UDF) for DVD volumes ISO 9660, the standard format for CD-ROM volumes Mac OS Standard (HFS), the format used on Macintosh systems prior to Mac OS

8.1 Mac OS Extended (HFS Plus), the default format on systems from Mac OS 8.1

through Mac OS X

Mac OS X supports the following industry-standard protocols:

WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning), which allows users to collaboratively edit and manage files on remote web servers

SMB (Server Message Block), a protocol designed to allow file and printer sharing across a small network

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP/IP (User Datagram Protocol), transmission-layer protocols that function with the network-layer Internet Protocol

PPP (Point to Point Protocol), used for dialup (modem) access PAP (Printer Access Protocol), used for spooling print jobs and printing to network

printers HTTP (Hypertext Transport Protocol), the standard protocol for transferring web

pages between a web server and a browser FTP (File Transfer Protocol), used to move files between computers on TCP/IP

networks DNS (Domain Name Services), the standard Internet service for mapping host

names to IP addresses SLP (Service Location Protocol), designed for the automatic discovery of resources

(printers, servers, fax machines, etc.) on an IP network DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) and BOOTP (Bootstrap Protocol)

automate the assignment of IP addresses in a particular network LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), used to locate organizations,

individuals and resources such as files and devices in a network. NTP (Network Time Protocol), used for synchronizing client clocks. Mac OS X

provides standard support for hardware connectivity through Ethernet (10/100/1000Base-T) and serial connections for modems, ISDN, DSL, etc. Wireless networking through AirPort (IEEE 802.11) is built into Mac OS X and peripheral interconnectivity is provided through USB (Universal Serial Bus) and FireWire (IEEE 1394)


5.5.1 Macintosh Systems

Darwin’s ability to manage multiple application environments simultaneously makes Mac OS X interoperable with previous versions of the Mac OS. Two Mac OS X environments, Classic and Carbon, are specifically designed for such interoperability.

The Classic environment is actually a full version of Mac OS 9.1 running in a protected memory space under Mac OS X. As a result, most Mac OS 9 compatible applications will run side-by-side with Mac OS X applications. This allows users to upgrade to Mac OS X without fear of application incompatibility. Carbon is a native Mac OS X environment that allows programmers to take advantage of advanced Mac OS X features while retaining compatibility with the installed base of Macintosh computers running Mac OS 8.1 and later.

5.5.2 Java Platform

Mac OS X ships with a complete implementation of Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) version 1.3.1, including the HotSpot virtual machine. Benefits of Apple’s Java implementation include access to Aqua user interface elements “for free” through Swing, native pre-emptive multitasking, multiprocessing support (with no additional coding required) and treatment of JAR files as shared libraries. This last advance improves the speed of execution and reduces the RAM footprint of applications, which rely on the same archive, such as applications within suites.Additionally, Mac OS X plugs the Java windowing toolkit directly into the Mac’s native windowing toolkit, giving Java applications and applets the graphics performance benefits of Quartz.

5.6 Development Options

There are multiple ways to develop for Mac OS X. Individual skills, preferred languages and tools, target user base and time to market concerns will influence a developer’s approach:

5.6.1 Carbon

The Carbon APIs are based on earlier Mac OS APIs. While Carbon allows applications to take advantage of Mac OS X features such as multiprocessing support and the Aqua user interface, Carbon is specifically designed to allow compatibility with older versions of the Mac OS.

5.6.2 Cocoa

The Cocoa application environment runs natively under Mac OS X. For those who wish to develop for Mac OS X using rapid application development (RAD) tools and object-oriented techniques, the Cocoa frameworks provide a fast and complete way to do so. These frame-works offer both Java and Objective-C APIs.

5.6.3 Java

The Java application environment allows development and execution of Java programs on Mac OS X. The J2SE implementation in Mac OS X is designed to allow maximum Java application portability while delivering the performance benefits of Mac OS X. Developers can also use the Java development language to write a Cocoa application, allowing Java programmers to use a familiar language to develop for a new platform.


5.6.4 Unix

Since Mac OS X is built atop a Mach/BSD kernel, porting UNIX-based applications to the platform is relatively easy and enables enterprise-level UNIX products to enjoy parity with consumer and business applications on a commercial desktop platform.


6.0 Appendix F - A sample Service - The Directory Services

6.1 The Need for a Directory Service

Today, networked computing is more important than ever for businesses and public services. As a result, modern operating systems require mechanisms for managing the identities and relationships of the distributed resources that make up network environments. A directory service should provide a place to store information about network-based entities, such as applications, files, printers and people. It provides a consistent way to name, describe, locate, access, manage and secure information about these individual resources.

Further, a directory service should act as the main switchboard of the network operating system. It is the central authority that manages the identities and brokers the relationships between these distributed resources, enabling them to work together. Because a directory service implies these fundamental network operating system functions, it should somehow be coupled with the management and security mechanisms of the operating system to ensure the integrity and privacy of the network. It should also play a critical role in an organization's ability to define and maintain the network infrastructure, perform system administration and control the overall user experience of a company's information systems.

6.2 The Benefits of a Directory Service

The need for a powerful, transparent and integrated directory service is driven by the explosive growth of networked computing. As local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs) grow larger and more complex, as networks are connected to the Internet and as applications require more from the network and are linked to other systems through corporate intranets, more is required from a directory service. A directory service should be one of the important components of an extended computer system because it:

Simplifies management. Provides a single, consistent point of management for users, applications and devices.

Strengthens security. Provides users with a single sign-on to network resources and provides administrators with powerful and consistent tools to manage security services for internal desktop users, remote dial-up users and external service clients.

Extends interoperability. Supplies standards-based access to all the Directory Service features as well as synchronization support for popular directories.

As the number of objects in a network grows, the directory service becomes essential. The directory service will be the hub around which a large distributed system turns.

6.3 The Directory Service Needs an Open Strategy

Many vendors build specialized repositories or directory services into their applications and devices to enable the specific functionality their customers require. For example, e-mail products include directory services that let users look up and send mail to others. And server operating systems use directory services for features such as user account management and storing configuration information about applications. Because these directory services are targeted narrowly to the needs of the application or device and often lack standards-based interfaces, most IT organisations have found that they are


responsible for many different directories that can’t be managed centrally or interoperate easily with each other. Having many incompatible directory services means that:

End users must use multiple user accounts and passwords to log in to different systems and they must know the exact locations of information on the network.

Administrators must understand how to manage each directory within the network and must duplicate many steps when procedures, such as adding a new employee to a company, involve many different directories.

Application developers must write different logic for every directory that their applications need to access.

The proliferation of customized directory services translates directly into a continually rising cost of ownership: it requires greater management, necessitates more complex applications and adversely affects the productivity of the end user. In the near term, companies need to find ways to halt this trend and minimize the total number of directories that they have through proactive consolidation.

6.4 State of the Directory Services Market

The directory service market is rapidly evolving but also generating high frustration for customers. The frustration arises from the lack of standards to enable interoperability between vendors and to ensure that any directory can be used with any application or operating system. As a result, directory consolidation projects are out of reach for most Agencies and Agencies must therefore support multiple directories (and typically multiple directory products). Interoperability notwithstanding, two sets of standards do play a strong role in directory products:

The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) v.3 has emerged as the preferred standard for read/write access to directories. However, that is where that standard both begins and ends - LDAP does not define schema rules, security models or interoperability mechanisms.

The X.500 set of standards has enjoyed new interest, as it provides formal standards for global directory construction and replication. In short, X.500 standards support the construction of large, multiple-location (multiple-server) directories.

Interest in both LDAP and X.500 has led to X.500 directory products taking on LDAP capabilities and LDAP directories taking on X.500 capabilities. This merging of capabilities brings new value to directory products; however, it falls well short of addressing directory consolidation or directory product interoperability.

The other significant trend in directory services is the trend toward product commoditization.

IBM gives SecureWay away to DB2 users; Microsoft bundles Active Directory with its Windows family of server operating

systems and offers unlimited Internet access to Active Directory for less than $2,000.

Novell, iPlanet and Oracle offer license-free versions of their directories supporting approximately 200,000 users and also bundle their directory products with other "for-fee" products.


We see the commoditization trend continuing, forcing vendors to give away their directory products in support of directory-enabled products and services.

Thus, according to market observers: By 2005, directory services will be commoditized and no longer sold as stand-alone products (0.7 probability).

A solution is to standardize based on technologies that provide the required levels of scalability, standards-based interoperability and operating system integration.

6.5 Directory Service Products Criteria

To position a vendor's Directory Service product with a coherent vision, we can use the following factors that influence the positioning:

Marketing and product strategies Third-party software market acceptance Packaging, branding and distribution Architectural flexibility Product reliability and scalability Investment resources and commitment

Successful vendors will demonstrate consistency and steady progress, while unsuccessful vendors will appear to be facing untimely technological transitions, confusing market strategy shifts or other changes that lower the chances of market success. The Directory Services market can be divided into two areas:

Platform-centric directories: A platform-centric directory is fully integrated into an operating system and handles user authentication, resource access control and resource management. Platform-centric directories should be regarded as non-substitutable infrastructure.

Extranet/intranet directories. These directories are used for authentication, personalization, access control or certificate storage, typically in support of Web-based applications or portals. In most cases, LDAP is the mechanism that applications use to communicate with these directories.

The platform-centric directories cannot be considered as a plain "market" in its own right because of the lack of choice - when an Agency buys into a platform, it buys into the matching directory infrastructure. In contrast, with extranet/intranet directories, Agencies have the potential to choose among multiple products - although, in some cases, Agencies will be locked into a specific directory by the application choice.

6.6 The Four Directory Services leaders

6.6.1 Microsoft's Active Directory

Several Agencies have used Active Directory as the core directory in large, business-critical extranet projects. Active Directory is still a maturing product and Agencies should be careful to match their requirements with Active Directory's capabilities. Also, Microsoft's ability to execute was downgraded due to confusion it has created around Active Directory, Passport and Microsoft Metadirectory Services.

6.6.2 iPlanet


This continues to invest in its directory technology; The repackaging initiative in a bundled solution (the bundle includes iPlanet's metadirectory and directory proxy products) is not well accepted.

6.6.3 Novell

Novell continues to make a strong investment in eDirectory technology as well as developing new partnerships to leverage eDirectory in a broader array of commercial applications. Novell's eDirectory represents a new generation of Novell technology completely independent of NetWare.

6.6.4 IBM’s SecureWay

The final product in the leaders group is IBM's SecureWay. SecureWay held a great deal of promise initially; however, it has been shuffled around inside of IBM and IBM has not made a strategic commitment to SecureWay in other software products (e.g., WebSphere, Domino). Client interest in SecureWay remains high, but implementations are few and not particularly large - thus, SecureWay is seen as a tactical tool for IBM-centric customers addressing small (fewer than 50,000-user) application projects.

6.7 The Directory Services Challengers

6.7.1 Oracle Internet Directory and IBM Domino

These are in the Challengers group and both have improved vision positioning based on enhancements to their products. However, both products face the same challenge: They are key to each vendor's applications (Oracle's line of applications and IBM's Domino and Notes), but they lack widespread support from other vendors.

6.7.2 Critical Path from Siemens

Siemens continues to have a strong technical product and has enhanced its product line by cooperating with Fischer International to port its directory product (DirX) to the IBM zSeries (IBM mainframe).

6.7.3 Computer Associates International (CA)

An X.500 core directory. CA’s eTrust faces the same problem as Oracle Internet Directory and IBM Domino - attracting other independent software vendors to use eTrust for commercial applications.

6.7.4 Syntegra

This is a division of BT Ignite, has two entries: one for its X.500-core directory product - Global Directory System (GDS) - and one for its LDAP-core product (Aphelion). Like Siemens, Syntegra faces a challenge of creating global awareness of its products. 6.8 Recommendations about Directory Services


Agencies should assume the need to implement multiple directories, because of the lack of interoperability standards.

Agencies should also recognize the commoditization trend in the directory service market and leverage of free directory products and software/directory bundling. This should drive the license cost of the core directory license down.
