OEM Utility on NT 4.0 CD-ROMs
Microsoft inadvertently included an OEM utility, rollback.exe, on
the Windows NT 4.0 CD-ROMs. If you plan to move, or have moved, to NT 4.0,
physically secure the CD-ROMs to prevent someone from accidentally running the
utility, and be sure to delete copies of this utility on your servers. Also, in
the case with the CD-ROM, place a reminder not to run rollback.exe so that
nobody forgets.
A user would need at least write access to the Registry and NT system
files, so restrict physical access to your NT Server computers--at minimum, by
enforcing good security controls such as the use of system keylocks and
judicious use of the Log On Locally user right.
--Valda Hilley
Symantec Fix for pcANYWHERE 7.5
After learning that pcANYWHERE 7.5 for Windows NT and Windows 95
could cause a system crash after installation on certain advanced Intel-based NT
systems, Symantec announced a fix. The problem is most likely to occur on
systems with highly advanced graphics cards, such as OpenGL accelerator cards.
For example, on an Intergraph TDZ-400 with the powerful GLZ-1 video card,
running Windows NT 3.51 with Service Pack 4, I installed pcANYWHERE and rebooted
to make the changes effective. On reboot, the system gave a blue-screen PAGE
FAULT error condition and locked up. After resetting the computer, I rebooted
with the Last Known Good Configuration, by pressing the Space key after
choosing to boot NT. The system was then stable and reported no error
conditions.
I uninstalled pcANYWHERE to head off further problems. Uninstall also
required rebooting, which again caused a page fault. I cured it only by using
Last Known Good once more. (I suspect the installer doesn't properly
handle de-installation when you use Last Known Good and that the faulty
video handler is reloaded.) This time, the system started properly, although it
showed a Service Failed to Start message on bootup.
Technicians at Symantec tell me that the very latest video drivers for a
display card can solve the problem and that pcANYWHERE will often run in VGA
mode or with a less-advanced video mode. Check Symantec's Web site,
www.symantec.com, for the fix.
--Alex Pournelle
Oracle vs SQL and DB2
Oracle is going after the NT market with a vengeance. It's got
Microsoft and IBM worried.
Oracle's sales force has a reputation for being aggressive, and the fact
that Oracle has assembled what appears to be a Windows NT task force has both
IBM and Microsoft paying close attention.
Why? Because the NT database market is still wide open. According to Shari
Simon, VP of NT Solutions Sales, Oracle has assembled a team of 150 to go after
the NT market, making sure the Oracle message isn't delivered just to the data
centers of large organizations. The NT team will complement the existing sales
force, pitching Oracle as an application server in midrange firms. Microsoft
declines to release figures on SQL Server sales, but the figure is probably
around 100,000 cumulative sales, with far fewer than that actively deployed.
This summer, however, following Oracle's announcement about its NT sales force,
Microsoft advertised for more than 100 new SQL Server field engineers, mainly
for its international market.
A possible surprise underdog in the race for the NT database market is DB2.
Part of DB2's strong position is attributable to Janet Perna, general manager of
data management in IBM's Software Solutions Division since 1991. She has moved
aggressively to consolidate DB2's platform-dependent offerings into a shared "common
technology," based on the million lines of C/C++ code that DB2 version 2
platforms (which include NT, AIX, and OS/2) share.
In the database community, DB2 has a certain cachet, and before one copy of
DB2 for Windows NT hit the streets in July 1995, more than a million copies of
DB2 were already installed worldwide (more than 750,000 on OS/2, 250,000 on
AS/400s, 7000 on MVS, another 7000 on VM and VSE, and more than 5000 on UNIX
platforms). IBM sales engineers, like their Oracle counterparts, also have
reason to think that the prestige of DB2 will let them capture new customers who
will eventually need to upsize to more expensive versions. According to Perna, "The
sales force is very focused on NT. This is mainline to us."
As areas of strength, Perna cites channel campaigns, IBM's 1300+ DB2 ISVs,
and a sales force that is quick to trumpet DB2's technical superiority in areas
like remote database administration from any network node and tight integration
with NT, to the point of taking advantage of NT kernel threads. Thanks to object
extenders for audio, video, image, text, and fingerprinting, IBM also has a
better object/relational story than either Microsoft or Oracle, whose engines
support only long binary or long raw data fields. (In response to IBM's
advantage here, Oracle typically says, "Wait until 8.0," referring to
the next major release of Oracle, which will be object-oriented and support
distributed objects.)
Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM aren't the only relational database management
system (RDBMS) majors fighting for the NT market. In fact, all the major RDBMSs,
including Informix, CA-Ingres, and Progress have NT versions of their database
servers. Most now consider NT a first-level reference system. In other words,
new releases come out first on major UNIX platforms and NT. Warehouse and online
analytical processing (OLAP) vendors including Arbor, Essbase, and Oracle's
Express are also fighting to grow their segment of the market, arguing the
OnLine Transaction Processing (OLTP) products simply will never be good at the
retrieval and multidimensional approach they take. Vendors are all working to
give their channel some incentives, recruit more developers and ISVs, and form
alliances.
Most vendors offer low-cost, entry-level products. (Microsoft claims more
than 30,000 downloads of the 120-day evaluation copy of SQL Server 6.5 in the
first four months of the offer and charges $1399 for a five-user license.) IBM's
DB2 2.1.1 costs $995 for one developer and, like Microsoft (with Internet
Information Server--IIS) and Oracle (with WebServer 1.0), offers a free copy of
its Internet Connection Server. Also, IBM's developer program is free (Microsoft
offers several levels of Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN) support starting at
$295, and the Oracle Developer program costs $395). In addition, IBM has formed
an alliance with NetObjects, whose Fusion product is popular for building and
managing Web sites. For more information on DB2 for NT, see
www.software.ibm.com/data/db2/db2v2.html. For information on Microsoft SQL
Server, go to www.microsoft.com/sql.
--Karen Watterson
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