Feature Table
Feature
|
Solaris 7
|
Windows NT Server 4.0
|
Windows 2000 Server
|
File Sharing and Storage Services Features
|
|
NTFS
|
NTFS5
|
Integrated Namespace Support
|
■
|
■
|
■
|
File Compression
|
□
|
■
|
■
|
Block Sub-Allocation/Adjustable Block Size
|
■
|
■
|
■
|
Salvage/Undelete
|
□
|
■
|
■
|
Spanning
|
■
|
■
|
■
|
Mirroring
|
■
|
■
|
■
|
3-Way Mirroring
|
■
|
□
|
□
|
Duplexing
|
■
|
■
|
■
|
Striping without Parity
|
■
|
■
|
■
|
Striping with Parity
|
■
|
■
|
■
|
HSM/RSM APIs
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Integrated Backup Software
|
□
|
■
|
■
|
Native Property Sets
|
□
|
□
|
■
|
Sparse File Support
|
□
|
□
|
■
|
Volume Change Log
|
□
|
□
|
■
|
Junction Points / Mount Points
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Distributed Link Tracking
|
□
|
□
|
■
|
Disk Quota Support
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Self-describing Disks
|
□
|
□
|
■
|
Online Disk Management
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Removable Storage Management
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Hierarchical Storage Management
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Disk Defragmentation Support
|
□
|
□
|
■
|
I2O Support
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Fiber Channel Support
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
IEEE 1394
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Distributed File System
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Integrated Load Balancing
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Integrated Replication
|
□
|
□
|
■
|
Integrated Site Proximity
|
□
|
□
|
■
|
Integrated Fault Tolerance
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Printer Sharing Services Features
|
|
|
|
Directory Services Integration
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
TCP/IP (LPD) Printing Support
|
■
|
■
|
■
|
Internet Printing
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Print Server Clustering
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Image Color Management 2.0 API
|
■
|
□
|
■
|
Plug-and-Play Printing
|
□
|
□
|
■
|
Automatic Configuration
|
□
|
□
|
■
|
Supports TCP/IP Print Servers
|
■
|
■
|
■
|
Supports NetWare (IPX/SPX Print Servers)
|
■
|
□
|
□
|
Supports DLC Print Servers
|
□
|
■
|
■
|
(Black boxes indicate features included in the operating system.)
File Sharing and Storage Services
At the physical level, file sharing services should include integrated namespace support, file compression, configurable block size, mirroring, duplexing, striping with or without parity, removable device support, link tracking, and a means to automatically archive unused data while allowing it to remain available to the user. In terms of providing additional services, a good file system implementation provides integrated content indexing, user-definable file properties, and a tracking log to audit storage services usage.
From a management perspective, volume defragmentation, backup and restore, easy security administration tools, disk quotas, and the ability to configure file systems dynamically without downtime are also key features. Finally, support for the latest performance-enhancing hardware technologies is important in high usage environments.
Solaris 7 Implementation Details
Solaris 7 offers a comprehensive, but at times complex, file sharing service implementation. Out of the box, Solaris 7 provides support for two file systems – UNIX File System (UFS) and the industry standard Network File System (NFS).
In terms of value added file system features, Solaris 7 provides the following on the UFS and NFS file systems:
-
Block Sub-Allocation allows the operating system to use unused space within each physical block to store additional information, resulting in less wasted disk space – especially on systems with large block size.
-
Self-describing Disks allow for metadata that describes disk configuration to be stored on the device itself and to be replicated. Self-identification of managed disks ensures that disk controller ownership transfers are completely error free. Disk reconfigurations and cluster disk ownership transfers are also error-free.
-
Data Striping at the software level. With this, a volume can be equally spread between two or more physical devices, greatly enhancing read performance and reducing disk device wear.
-
Mount Points are tools provided in UFS for grafting storage name spaces together. It allows the mounting of a file system at the directory level on an existing volume – similar to junction points in Windows 2000. Mount points are transparent to applications unless an application is explicitly instructed to notice them. This means that users can use junction points to reroute applications or users accessing a local UFS directory to any other partition.
-
Disk Mirroring allows disks to be physically replicated to other disks, block-for-block, within a server. In the event of a failure, the mirror will automatically activate, allowing the server to continue operations despite having lost a physical disk. Solaris 7 supports 2-drive and 3-drive mirror sets.
-
Data Migration provides the necessary operating system hooks at the file system level to allow a Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) implementation. With HSM, infrequently used data can be archived to removable storage such as tape, CD-ROM, or optical disk but still readily available to users. In the event a user requests an archived file, it will be automatically loaded and retrieved.
Network File Sharing
The Network File System (NFS) is a standard for network file sharing and provides support for any client with NFS software. Solaris 7 includes the Solstice NFS Client 3.2, which provides integrated client access for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT. Management of network shares is best accomplished from the command line, with no straightforward GUI tool available to create and maintain network shares.
Sun provides an enhanced version of NFS that is designed specifically for sharing files over the Web. This version, called WebNFS, extends the standard features of NFS to the Web and enables Web-based collaboration. With WebNFS, users can access data on the Web just as they access local data. WebNFS uses HTTP over TCP/IP to communicate and is designed to be more reliable and dynamic than FTP. Many Windows-based applications have similar functionality built-in. For example, with Office 2000 applications, you can access Web folders directly in the Open File dialog box. In both Windows NT and Windows 2000, you can also grant access to data over the Web through Web sharing, which is similar to file sharing. For true Web-based file handling, Windows users can rely on World Wide Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV), which is discussed later in this white paper.
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