PREFACE
The Book
Welcome to The Windows NT and HP-UX System Administrator's "How To" Book. This book provides you with the information you need to get started quickly with Microsoft® Windows NT® and Hewlett Packard's HP-UX.
The topics I chose to cover in this book represent the common denominator of tasks that most all system administrators will need to perform. If a task needs to be performed by more than 90 percent of system administrators, there is a strong possibility it is in this book. If, on the other hand, a task needs to performed by less than 50 percent of system administrators, it is unlikely I included it in this book. I want to get you up and running quickly and leave the more obscure and advanced topics to other resources such as the manual sets for these two operating systems.
Most of the topics covered in this book are first covered for Windows NT in a chapter and then covered for HP-UX in a separate chapter. Some topics, such as Windows NT - HP-UX interoperability are covered in chapters dedicated to this topic. I covered many of the topics in separate chapters because you may be a Windows NT expert and wish to see a topic covered for HP-UX, or vice versa. I do not cover a topic first for Windows NT and then for HP-UX because I want you to compare the chapters. One to one comparisons between operating systems is usually dangerous because you begin judging an operating system based on what someone has written. For instance, the topic of system administration tools should not be compared for the two operating systems. HP-UX has the System Administration Manager (SAM) which is an umbrella administration tool in which almost all aspects of system administration can be performed. Windows NT has administration tools in many different areas. These two chapters are, therefore, organized differently.
Could I ever cover every aspect of system administration in this book? Could any system administration book ever cover everything you need to know about system administration for any operating system? The answer of course, is no. In fact I often find the longer the book, the less useful information it contains and the more extraneous information it contains. The Windows NT book and HP-UX book I own with the greatest "thud factor" are the two least useful I own on these topics. Since I couldn't possibly cover every aspect of system administration, I will instead cover what I believe are the most important topics. There are guidelines in system administration, but there is too little structure in system administration for me to provide you with an exact list of tasks to perform. No matter how detailed a training course or manual, they always leave out some of the specific tasks you'll need to perform. Instead of getting mired down in excruciating detail, I'll provide the common denominator of information every system administrator needs to know. I'll provide you with all the essential information you need so you'll be able to take on new and unforeseen system administration challenges with a good knowledge base.
You may very well find that you'll need additional resources as your system administration challenges increase. No matter what anyone tells you, there is no one resource that can answer everything you need to know about system administration for these operating systems. Just when you think you know everything there is to know about system administration, you'll be asked to do something you've never dreamed of before. That's why I'm not trying to be all things to all people with this book. I cover what everyone needs to know and leave topics in specific areas to other people. You may need training courses, manuals, other books, or consulting services to complete some projects. In any case, I'll bet that every topic in this book will be worthwhile to know for every system administrator.
I include information from a variety of sources. One of the most common sources is the on line help of Windows NT and the manual pages in HP-UX. The developers of these operating systems did a fine job providing on-line information that is helpful and easy to access. I took advantage of this useful information.
The Approach
To those of you who have read my books in the past you know I like to start at the beginning. This seems to be obvious and make perfect sense, yet I have seen very few operating system books which start at the beginning. Most assume you already have the operating system installed and begin covering system administration procedures.
To me, the beginning is loading the operating system. I don't much care about the background of operating systems; I just want to use them. The installation chapters for both operating systems covered in this book include an installation flowchart. This will help you visualize the topics covered in the chapter. As part of installing an operating system there is background information that you need to know in order to proceed. Although I don't like to diverge too much from the installation process, I will provide this background information where necessary. For instance, in Chapter 1 I cover installing Windows NT. You reach a point in this installation where you must select the type of file system you wish to install. At this point I provide some background into the two selections you have for file system types.
Information sometimes appears in two places. The file system types covered as part of Windows NT installation also appear in the file systems chapter. I do this because I don't want you to have to flip back and forth between chapters. When I perform a process I like to follow the process straight through and not have to flip back and forth between chapters.
The book in general is a blueprint for performing system administration of Windows NT and HP-UX. The blueprint includes the setup flowcharts I earlier mentioned, and many tips and recommendations from my experience working with these operating systems as well as what I have learned from the many knowledgable system administrators with whom I have worked. I recommend you do the same and make liberal use of the on-line information.
Examples and Systems
When I introduce a Windows NT topic, I usually do so on a modest, standalone Window NT system. This is so you can see the process of performing such tasks as configuring a backup from scratch, or setting up the Performance Monitor for the first time.
The same holds true for HP-UX. Many topics are introduced on a small workstation and server system and some topics are covered in a more advanced fashion, such as performance examples, on a real production system.
I have always taken great care to introduce topics in such a way that you get the information you need to become familiar with the topic and show examples that will allow you to quickly perform the tasks associated with the topic on your system. This doesn't mean you'll be an expert on the topic after reading a chapter and trying it out on your system. It means you will quickly gain some familiarization on the topic and be in a good position to get started with this topic on your system.
Operating System Releases
The vast majority of examples in this book use Windows NT 4.x and HP-UX 10.x operating system releases. In general, the system administration topics covered are operating system release independent. This means that the tasks you would perform as part of a topic do not vary dramatically from release to release of the operating system.
I use examples liberally throughout this book in order to describe how to perform a task. If you are using different versions of the operating system than I am using in an example, this should not reduce the effectiveness of the example. This is because the fundamental system administration tasks you perform remain the same from release to release of an operating system. Only the "wrapper" of a system administration tool tends to change from release to release, such as specific menu picks, and not the underlying task you are performing.
Chapters in This Book
The Windows NT and HP-UX System Administrator's "How To" Book is comprised of the following chapters:
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Chapter 1: Setting Up Your Windows NT System
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Chapter 2: Setting Up Your HP-UX System
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Chapter 3: Windows NT File System Layout
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Chapter 4: HP-UX File System Layout
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Chapter 5: Windows NT File System Management
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Chapter 6: HP-UX File System Management
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Chapter 7: Windows NT System Administration Tools
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Chapter 8: HP-UX System Administration Manager (SAM)
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Chapter 9: Windows NT Performance Overview
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Chapter 10: HP-UX Performance Overview
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Chapter 11: Windows NT User Environment
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Chapter 12: HP-UX Common Desktop Environment
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Chapter 13: Windows NT and HP-UX Interoperability -
X Window System
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Chapter 14: Windows NT and HP-UX Interoperability -
Networking
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Chapter 15: Windows NT and HP-UX Interoperability -
Advanced Server 9000
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Chapter 16: Windows NT and HP-UX Interoperability -
POSIX Utilities
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Chapter 17: Windows NT and HP-UX Interoperability -
Software Development with SoftBench OpenStudio
Two chapters that work together and build on one another are Chapters 13 and 14. In Chapter 13 I cover Windows NT and HP-UX interoperability by running an X server program on a Windows NT system which provides graphical access to an HP-UX system. Then, in Chapter 14, I use a networking product on the Windows NT system that provides transparent access to the data on the HP-UX system using Network File System (NFS). Using X Windows you have a graphical means of connecting a Windows NT system to an HP-UX system and using NFS you have a way of easily accessing the data between these two systems. These two technologies, X Windows and NFS, provide the foundation for a variety of other useful interoperability between the two operating systems.
Conventions Used in the Book
I don't use a lot of complex notations in the book. Here are a few simple conventions I've used to make the examples clear and the text easy to follow:
italics Italics are used primarily to denote menu picks and selections in dialog boxes, and the names of system administration programs. In the Windows NT Disk Administrator section of Chapter 5, for instance, you see Tools - Properties... which is the Properties... pick from the Tools menu. In that same chapter you are instructed to use the Check Now box in a dialog box. In the HP-UX System Administration Manager (SAM) chapter italics is also used extensively when referring to menu picks and functional areas.
$ and #
The HP-UX command prompt. Every command
issued in the book is preceded by one of these
prompts.
bold and " "
Bold text is the information you would type, such
as the command you issue after a prompt or the
information you would type when running a
script. Sometimes information you would type is
also referred to in the text explaining it and the
typed information may appear in quotes. Path
names are always in bold for both Windows NT
and HP-UX.
Acknowledgments
There were too many people involved in helping me with this book to list them all. I have decided to formally thank those who wrote sections of the book and those who took time to review it. I'm still not sure if it takes more time to write something or review something that has been written to ensure it is correct. Aside from the reviewers and those who wrote sections of the book I must thank my manager John Perwinc. Not only did John put up with my writing this book, but he also encouraged me to write both this book and my previous books. He also sponsored the training I required to gain the knowledge to write this book and supported me in every way possible.
A group that requires special thanks is my family who put up with a workstation on our kitchen table for the year I was writing this book and for putting up with the many late nights I spent at customer sites and HP offices working on the book.
Dick Watts
Dick is a Senior Vice President of Hewlett-Packard Company and General Manager of the Computer Systems Organization (CSO). Dick acted as the executive sponsor of the book. His support was invaluable in helping get the resources necessary to complete this book.
Charlie Fernandez
Charlie has been working in the graphical user interface area for the last ten years, first as a technical writer for HP X Window System documentation, then as a product manager for HP VUE, multimedia, and collaboration, and most recently as the Strategic Planner for desktop, multimedia, and collaboration.
He wrote Configuring the Common Desktop Environment published by Prentice Hall. Charlie's book is a practical guide to understanding and working with all CDE files to tailor the CDE desktop to your end-user environment needs. Charlie's book is a requirement if you're going to be doing any work with CDE.
The Author - Marty Poniatowski
Marty has been a Technical Consultant with Hewlett Packard for ten years in the New York area. He has worked with hundreds of Hewlett Packard customers in many industries including on line services, financial and manufacturing.
Marty has been widely published in computer industry trade publications. He has published over 50 articles on various computer-related topics. In addition to this book, he is the author of three other Prentice Hall books: Learning the HP-UX Operating System (1996); The HP-UX 10.x System Administrator's "How To" Book(1995); and The HP-UX System Administrator's "How To" Book(1993).
Marty holds an M.S. in Information Systems from Polytechnic University (Brooklyn, NY), an M.S. in Management Engineering from the University of Bridgeport (Bridgeport, CT), and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Roger Williams University (Bristol, RI).
Reviewers
I'm not sure what makes someone agree to review a book. You don't get the glory of a contributing author but it is just as much work. I would like to thank the many people who devoted a substantial amount of time to reviewing this book to ensure I included the topics important to new system administrators and covered those topics accurately.
Special thanks goes to Donna Kelly of Hewlett Packard in Roseville, CA. Donna performed a careful technical review of the entire manuscript. Donna has extensive experience with many operating systems including HP-UX, Windows NT, MPE, and AS/400.
Other reviewers of the manuscript I would like to thank are: Brian Beckwith of Dow Jones & Company; Suneal Verma of Hummingbird Communications; Eric Roseme of Hewlett Packard; Jerry Duggan of Hewlett Packard; and David Fahrland of Hewlett Packard.
