Server with more than 8 processors. System vendors who wish to use more than 8 processors must remaster the Windows NT CD-ROM with a registry value set accordingly. The Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) may also need to be rewritten. Security The U.S. Government has given Windows NT a C2 certification for security. Class C2 provides "discretionary (need-to-know) protection and, through the inclusion of audit capabilities, for accountability of subjects and the actions they initiate". What does this mean for you? Well, simply put, Windows NT can be set up to maintain an extremely high level of security. NT Server has security that allows administrators to control security down to the file level. Windows NT solves many classic security problems with some rather innovative solutions. One interesting thing to note about NT is how you log on. You type the Ctrl-Alt-Del sequence. This is a clever safeguard against programs that may attempt to steal passwords by impersonating the login screen. The Ctrl-Alt-Del sequence, given any other time during a Windows NT session, brings up the six-button "Windows NT Security" box. RAID Support Windows NT has support for a very sophisticated hardware feature called RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks). RAID allows for large storage capacity, improved performance, and increased reliability. It does this in different ways depending on the RAID level you are speaking of. RAID is capable, for example, of disk mirroring, which simply keeps a mirror copy of what is on one disk, on another. Higher RAID levels will actually keep two bits of every bite (there are 8 bits in a byte) on different disks, spreading the data out and speeding up retrieval. Windows NT utilizes SCSI disk drives to implement RAID. Increased Stability / Robustness over Windows 95/98 More attention was paid to the stability of Windows NT 4.0 when Microsoft was des...
