What is the Windows 2000 Operating System in Computer Network?

Microsoft released this version in February 2000. It is the desktop operating system for X86 Architecture. Its versions are Windows 2000 server, Windows 2000 Datacenter server.

The minimum requirement for installation is a Pentium processor, 32MB main memory, 650 MB of free hard disk storage are needed. Microsoft had planned to develop an operating system version for the Alpha architecture. The plans were stopped after an announcement of Compaq.

Windows 2000 units defined roughly the user-friendliness, plug & play and USB device support of Windows 98 and the safety and stability of the Windows NT family.

The update to this new operating system is possible from Windows 95, 98 and Windows NT 3.51, 4.0. It is a multitasking, multiprocessing operating system and supports up to 2 processors of the X86 32-bit and 64-bit architecture with SMP.

It is compatible, simplified administration, and increased hardware support with over 7000 appliances, file administration, and continued security services. The applications for Windows 9x are only supported independently.

The installation is applicable from CD-ROM or over the web from a file server. The virtual addressable storage is 4 Gbyte and is managed by the Virtual Memory Manager (VMM). VMM authorizes the addressable storage on the actual possible physical memory and the memory page file (pagefile. sys) on the hard disk.

Applications

The field of application of this operating system is suitable as a single-user computer or as a client in company networks. Windows 2000 authenticates the user first at the access to files, printers or other computers.

Networks are supported with the protocol TCP/IP, NWLink, and AppleTalk. It supports the data interchange in decentralized working groups and central domains.

The hierarchical database saves information about the hardware and applications as well as configuration settings. The system file protection offers protection from overwriting of Windows system files. It is possible to create hardware profiles for different hardware configuration with the setting of all the devices and services.

Windows 2000 professional is also suitable for mobile users like a notebook computer. An assistant supports the user at the administration of the network connections with the use of VPN (Virtual Private Network), and IPSec (Internet Protocol Security) secure mobile access to company networks is possible.

NTFS is used as the file system in the new version 5. The blueprint of customer rights is applicable for documents and directories on file system method, file compression in realtime, disk storage allocation, and encrypted with EFS (Encrypting file system) can also be used. At the requirement of rights, the Access Control List (ACL) is saved with each file and each directory. The compression and encoding ignore each other, only one of the options on the equal object can be used.