Subtopic 3

SERVER SOFTWARE

Software such as Windows Server 2003, Windows NT and Red Hat Linux are some of the examples of server software. All of these software fall under the Network Operating System.

DEFINITION OF NETWORK OPERATING SYSTEMS

An operating system is the program that first  loads when a computer boots and manages any other software or hardware on the computer.

A Network Operating System or known as NOS, has additional functionality that allows it to connect computers and peripherals to a network.

A Network Operating System is most frequently

used with Local Area Networks and Wide Area

Networks, but could also have application to

larger network systems.

 

A NOS is not the same as the

networking tools provided by

some existing operating systems,

Windows XP for instance.

NOS is an operating system that

has been specifically written to

keep networks running at optimal

performance.

EXAMPLES OF NETWORK OPERATING SYSTEMS

Some popular Network Operating

Systems include:

• Windows NT

• Windows 2000 Server

• Windows Server 2003

• Red Hat Linux

Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 2003.

It was the first 23-bit version of Windows. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are the latest versions of Windows NT.

 

 Windows 2000 (also referred to as Win2K or W2K) is graphical and business-oriented operating system. It is part of the Microsoft

NT line of operating systems and was

released on February 17, 2000.

 

Windows 2000 comes in four versions which are Professional, Server, Advanced Server and Datacenter Server.

Additionally, Microsoft offers Windows 2000 Advanced Server-Limited edition, which was released in 2001 and runs on 64-bit Intel Itanium Microprocessor.

 

Windows Server 2003 is the name of Microsoft’s line of server operating systems. It was introduced in April 2003 as the successor to Windows 2000 Server.

It is considered by Microsoft to be the cornerstone of their Windows Server System line of business server products.

 

Red Hat Linux was one of the most popular Linux distributions, assembled by Red Hat. It is one of the “middle-aged” Linux distributions; 1.0 was released in November 3rd, 1994.

Since 2003, Red Hat has discontinued the Red Hat Linux line in favour of its new Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

 

Red Hat Linux 9, the final release, ended on April 30th,

2004, although the Fedora Legacy project continues

to publish updates.

PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK OPERATING SYSTEMS

Peer-to-peer Network Operating Systems allow users to share resources and files located on their computers. It is also for users to access shared resources found on other computers.

However, they do not have a file server or a centralised management source. 

AppleShare and Windows for Workgroups are examples of programs that can function as peer-to-peer Network Operating System.

CLIENT/SERVER NETWORKING OPERATING SYSTEM

Client/server Network Operating Systems allow the network to centralise functions and applications in one or more dedicated file

servers. The file servers become the heart of the system, providing access to resources and providing security.

Individual workstations or clients have access to the resources available on the file servers.


 
 The Network Operating System provides the mechanism to integrate all the components of the network and allow multiple users to simultaneously share the same resources irrespective of physical location.

Novell Netware and Windows 2000 Server are examples of client or server Network Operating Systems.

CLIENT SOFTWARE

FUNCTIONS OF WEB BROWSER

 A web browser is a software application that enables a user to display and interact with HTML documents hosted by web servers or held in a file system. Text and images on a web page can contain hyperlinks to other web pages at the same or to different websites.

Web browser allow a user to quickly and easily access information provided on many web pages at many websites by surfing these links. 

Web browsers available for personal computer include Microsoft Internet Explorer, Safari, Netscape and Opera.Web browsers are the most commonly used type of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) user agent. 

Although browsers are typically used to access the World Wide Web, they

can also be used to access information provided by web servers in private

networks or content in file systems. 

FUNCTIONS OF EMAIL CLIENT

An email client is a computer program that is used to read and send email.

FUNCTIONS OF FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL (FTP)

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is used to connect two computers over the Internet so that the user of one computer can transfer files and perform file commands on the other computer.