Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

These days I am really busy managing my new local area networks and the integrated applications (for processing the administrative works on Palm Oil Plantation and Factories / Mills) installed on the servers with Windows 2000 Server edition as the operating system (OS).

Based on my latest experience and observation on Windows 2000 Server edition, here I would like to share it with you, especially its outstanding feature that makes your old PCs work well and as if you were working on the server. Backgrounds

Formerly my applications were designed using CLIPPER 5.3. They ran under Microsoft Drive Operating System (DOS 6.22) as the OS and Novel 4.11 was installed on the servers. Seeing the need to make changes on the previous applications, we have finished designed and programmed the new applications using Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 and now is managing the implementation of the new applications at the headquarter office and site offices.

Considering that MS Visual Basic 6.0 is from Microsoft, we think that using the operating systems from Microsoft is the best option among the other available operating systems. In a discussion we agreed to use Microsoft Windows 2000 Server edition as the OS to be installed on the servers. Windows 98 Second Edition and Windows 95 are determined to be the OS on the workstations.

Why Windows 2000 Server

In the discussion we see one outstanding feature from this OS. Windows 2000 Server edition offers an excellent feature that a server can share its hardware resources. It means that the old personal computers (PCs) connected to the server can run well in the accordance with the server’s resources.

Just for an illustration, if you are working on a workstation which comes with a 486DX4 processor and connected to a standard server, the workstation runs as if you were working on the server.

Terminal Service Client

Terminal Service Client (TSC) is the excellent feature offered by Windows 2000 Server edition. Installing the TSC utility on each workstation makes the old PCs as the workstations run well.

Here are some additional notes. Running TSC on a workstation requires at least 16 MB for better performance. And the condition of a processor does not effect much the speed of the data processing time.

One weakness of TSC is that the PCs connected to a server cannot have a good display resolution although the server or workstation is installed with a high-resolution graphic card. The workstation just has the ability to deliver a 256-colors display.

Conclusion

It is advisable for us to make the use of the feature from Windows 2000 Server edition – Terminal Service Client – that we still can use the old PCs that come with old processors. In brief we do not have to spend more money to buy new PCs for your workstations.

Before installing a network, try to learn the manual from Windows 2000 Server edition. If you have learned the manual, I am sure it help much for you to install the network. And the built-in help from this OS may be very helpful though there are many technical terms found.

Finally, this OS is recommended for building or establishing a network and not for a stand alone PC.