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In the course of administering a network, IT pros often end up with systems that they just can’t seem to part with. Now that Windows 2000 extended support from Microsoft has come to an end, IT pro Rick Vanover discusses your options.
Today is an important day for the network administrator as Windows 2000 ends its extended support period. This means that security hotfixes will no longer be available for the operating system for both server and professional (workstation-class) editions of the operating system. While it is now a ten year-old operating system, many people surely have some straggling installations that are still on this popular OS.
For Windows 2000, this is effectively the end of the line for a popular era of server computing that can be looked at a number of ways. On one hand, it opened the door for sprawl of application servers throughout IT environments that was tough for administrators to deal with. Yet on the other hand, it was the first release of Active Directory and Group Policy; which in my opinion are the best products Microsoft has ever made.
The Microsoft Product Lifecycle site is an important resource to use in conjunction with operating system and application inventories. This determines a lot for infrastructure administrators in terms of when things should be removed as well as what should be implemented. Frankly speaking, I wish hardware vendors were this open about the lifecycle of products.
For administrators who have Windows 2000 systems in place and an upgrade path isn’t clearly visible, here are four accommodations you can make to protect yourself:
Firewall: Set up a private network for the antiquated operating system and secure the perimeter with a network firewall.
Turn it off: If the system is a virtual machine, have it powered on only when needed. This can easily be accommodated with VMware vSphere or Hyper-V permissions models, and the application owners can deal with the extra step.
Convert it to a virtual machine: If the system can be made a virtual machine, it can be a lot easier to preserve and isolate in this fashion.
Utilize Windows 2000 Custom Support services from Microsoft. There is an offering to have hotfixes made available on a case-by-case basis. This is available for large Microsoft accounts and is very expensive.
Many organizations and network administrators are looking for information on Windows 2000 and its new features. IT professionals responsible for installing, configuring, and managing Microsoft products will be highly motivated to migrate to this new technology, based on its promise of reducing administrative overhead. Windows 2000 Server System Administration Handbook will help NT4 professionals to administer and support the Windows 2000 Server operating system. NT administrators will be able to differentiate the features and technology changes from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000. In the handbook, readers will find a complete overview of the product, catered to their needs.
* This book coincides with the launch of Windows 2000 Server, the host system for the product.
* Includes the following:
* Detailed coverage of Active Directory, Microsoft Management Console, and new Windows 2000 hardware support
* Implementing new Windows 2000 security options
* Upgrading a network to Windows 2000
Each interface contains a set of methods you use to programmatically administer directories. Methods either perform an action or identify something about the object to which they are attached. Methods that perform an action are always referred to as methods, and methods that describe an object are often called properties .
A common convention for showing an interface and its method or property is interfacename :: methodname or interfacename :: propertyname . For example, the GetEx method of the IADs core interface is written as IADs::GetEx.
Whether an interface is available to administer a directory service is dependent on the provider being used. Providers do not implement all interfaces. For example, the LDAP provider does not implement the IADsADSystemInfo interface because this interface is specifically designed to retrieve information about a client computer and the currently logged-on user in an Active Directory domain. In contrast, the LDAP provider is specifically designed to interact on domain controllers with Active Directory and other LDAP-compliant directories.
To use the IADsADSystemInfo interface, the computer must be running Windows 2000 or an operating system in the Windows XP family and the interface must be created separately from the binding operation.
In addition, providers do not necessarily implement all methods within an interface. For example, the LDAP provider does not implement the CopyHere method of the IADsContainer interface. Instead, you must use other techniques to perform a copy operation.
Today is an important day for the network administrator as Windows 2000 ends its extended support period. This means that security hotfixes will no longer be available for the operating system for both server and professional (workstation-class) editions of the operating system. While it is now a ten year-old operating system, many people surely have some straggling installations that are still on this popular OS.
For Windows 2000, this is effectively the end of the line for a popular era of server computing that can be looked at a number of ways. On one hand, it opened the door for sprawl of application servers throughout IT environments that was tough for administrators to deal with. Yet on the other hand, it was the first release of Active Directory and Group Policy; which in my opinion are the best products Microsoft has ever made.
The Microsoft Product Lifecycle site is an important resource to use in conjunction with operating system and application inventories. This determines a lot for infrastructure administrators in terms of when things should be removed as well as what should be implemented. Frankly speaking, I wish hardware vendors were this open about the lifecycle of products.
For administrators who have Windows 2000 systems in place and an upgrade path isn’t clearly visible, here are four accommodations you can make to protect yourself:
Firewall: Set up a private network for the antiquated operating system and secure the perimeter with a network firewall.
Turn it off: If the system is a virtual machine, have it powered on only when needed. This can easily be accommodated with VMware vSphere or Hyper-V permissions models, and the application owners can deal with the extra step.
Convert it to a virtual machine: If the system can be made a virtual machine, it can be a lot easier to preserve and isolate in this fashion.
Utilize Windows 2000 Custom Support services from Microsoft. There is an offering to have hotfixes made available on a case-by-case basis. This is available for large Microsoft accounts and is very expensive.
Many organizations and network administrators are looking for information on Windows 2000 and its new features. IT professionals responsible for installing, configuring, and managing Microsoft products will be highly motivated to migrate to this new technology, based on its promise of reducing administrative overhead. Windows 2000 Server System Administration Handbook will help NT4 professionals to administer and support the Windows 2000 Server operating system. NT administrators will be able to differentiate the features and technology changes from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000. In the handbook, readers will find a complete overview of the product, catered to their needs.
* This book coincides with the launch of Windows 2000 Server, the host system for the product.
* Includes the following:
* Detailed coverage of Active Directory, Microsoft Management Console, and new Windows 2000 hardware support
* Implementing new Windows 2000 security options
* Upgrading a network to Windows 2000
Each interface contains a set of methods you use to programmatically administer directories. Methods either perform an action or identify something about the object to which they are attached. Methods that perform an action are always referred to as methods, and methods that describe an object are often called properties .
A common convention for showing an interface and its method or property is interfacename :: methodname or interfacename :: propertyname . For example, the GetEx method of the IADs core interface is written as IADs::GetEx.
Whether an interface is available to administer a directory service is dependent on the provider being used. Providers do not implement all interfaces. For example, the LDAP provider does not implement the IADsADSystemInfo interface because this interface is specifically designed to retrieve information about a client computer and the currently logged-on user in an Active Directory domain. In contrast, the LDAP provider is specifically designed to interact on domain controllers with Active Directory and other LDAP-compliant directories.
To use the IADsADSystemInfo interface, the computer must be running Windows 2000 or an operating system in the Windows XP family and the interface must be created separately from the binding operation.
In addition, providers do not necessarily implement all methods within an interface. For example, the LDAP provider does not implement the CopyHere method of the IADsContainer interface. Instead, you must use other techniques to perform a copy operation.
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