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Windows NT vs. Unix: The Chase Is On!

By Dan Backman Windows NT is the current darling of the computing industry--and what's not to like? As an operating system, NT appears to hold a distinct advantage: Never before has the industry rallied behind a single operating system to support all client/server solutions--from file and print services to network infrastructure and management to application

services. Despite its fairly recent arrival in the world of enterprise computing, NT has broken from the ranks of the PC world to take on the challenge of supporting large-scale services. Driven by its relatively low cost and ease of management--not to mention the rising performance of PC hardware--NT offers a convincing argument against expensive, proprietary Unix environments.

It all sounds good, but we couldn't help wondering: Can Windows NT really do everything large-scale Unix environments can do--and do it cheaper and more simply? Is NT ready to take the Unix challenge? After all, choosing Windows NT over Unix means betting not only on its early promise but also its future scalability.

The trouble is narrowing down that gray area of scalability. At what point does NT on an x86 platform stop delivering enough horse-power to run big

applications? Some answers lie in the large-scale transaction-processing and database service arena, others can be found in common applications like Internet services and even network management.

Windows NT does have its weaknesses. Most notable are its 2-GB limit on addressable memory, limited administration tools and its lack of a comprehensive directory and security system. In addition, current versions of NT still show signs of immaturity, for instance, requiring administrators to reboot the operating system following minor configuration modifications, such as changing an IP ad dress.

Answering the question of whether Windows NT is ready to take on the largest, mission-critical application server environments is not a simple task. Microsoft and high-end PC hardware vendors insist the only thing holding back NT is a lack of confidence from the IS community. However, software developers like Hewlett-Packard Co. are scrambling to port high-end applications like OpenView Network Node Manager to the NT platform.

Sittin' Pretty Unix has long been the de facto choice for delivering services that are not file- and print-related (just as Novell NetWare remains the platform of choice for file and print services). Unix's strong preemptive multitasking and protected memory support make it well-architected as an application server. Windows NT, on the other hand, is built around an advanced microkernel and presents itself as a kind of NOS of all trades. With built-in support for memory protection and preemptive multitasking, as well as integrated file and print services, NT hopes to occupy space in both markets. Will it ever usurp Unix's position as the dominant force in large-scale application services?

Unix has become the de facto standard for building large-scale application servers such as Internet services, enterprise messaging systems, database management systems and transaction processing systems for a very simple reason: Unix solutions are capable of handling the load. Unix solutions effectively deliver upgrade paths, which run from workstations to workgroup server to multiprocessor enterprise server to parallel supercomputers. Of course, "Unix" encompasses a variety of vendors and an array of technologies, but as a group or generally, they adhere to a reasonably standard operating environment, and applications are often available for multiple Unix platforms.

Entrenched in the world of high-end application services, primarily large messaging, database management systems, transaction processing and business process applications, Unix systems have had ample opportunity to demons tra te their scalability and reliability. A glance at the highest scores in TP benchmarks maintained by the Transaction Processing Performance Council (see www.tpc.org/) clearly illustrates Unix's dominance; interestingly, NT platforms were noticeably absent among the council's scores above 10,000. Nevertheless, with top scores of large systems approaching 8,000 (as of January 24 results), NT is closing in, lending credence to its reputation as a Unix killer. However, NT's claim to fame is price/performance, where increasingly powerful and inexpensive hardware gives it the edge over proprietary, high-end Unix solutions.