Reviewing System Requirements | Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Administrators Companion (IT-Administrators Companion)

[Previous] [Next]

Before installing Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server, check that you have the appropriate hardware. This involves both meeting the minimum system requirements (hopefully exceeding them if you want your server to do any real work) and checking the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) to be sure that your computer and peripherals are supported.

Table 5-1 lists the minimum system requirements for Windows 2000 Advanced Server along with some more practical recommendations for the minimum necessary hardware.

NOTE
Planning requirements for Windows 2000 Server are the same as those for Advanced Server, although there is a maximum supported RAM limit of 4 GB. Windows 2000 Professional, however, can be usable on less powerful computers (a Pentium 133 with 32 MB is the minimum hardware recommended by Microsoft), although we recommend increasing the RAM on Windows 2000 Professional systems to at least 64 MB, preferably 128 MB or more, for better performance.

Wallis Simpson was fond of saying that you can never be too rich or too thin (though she was both). However, without a doubt, you can never have too much processing power or too much RAM on a domain controller, or on any server for that matter. The only restriction is economic. Get the most server you can afford.

Table 5-1. Minimum requirements for achieving adequate performance

Minimum	Recommended Minimum
Intel Pentium 166	One or more Intel Pentium II 300 or faster microprocessors (or compatible processors—check the HCL)
64 MB RAM minimum, 128 MB recommended, 8 GB maximum	128 MB RAM minimum, 256 MB or more recommended
VGA monitor	Super VGA monitor capable of at least 800-by-600 resolution
Keyboard and mouse or other pointing device	Keyboard and mouse or other pointing device
850 MB partition with 650 MB free disk space	2 GB free disk space on a 7200 rpm or faster Ultra IDE or (preferably) Ultra Wide SCSI hard disk
Bootable CD-ROM	Bootable 12x or faster CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive (El Torito-compatible)
1.44 MB floppy	1.44 MB floppy
One or more network adapters	One or more PCI-based Fast Ethernet network adapters

NOTE
Yes, the name of the specification is indeed El Torito. The engineers who developed the standard named it after the restaurant where they had held many, presumably happy, collaborative meetings. Really, we're not kidding.

And before you buy server hardware, check the HCL in the \Support folder on your Windows 2000 installation CD. If you don't see your system listed, check the HCL on the Microsoft Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/hwtest/hcl/). If updated drivers are available for your hardware, download and copy them to a floppy disk or available local disk so that you can use them during installation, if necessary.

If a component in your system isn't listed on the HCL, you can visit the manufacturer's Web site or contact the manufacturer of your device to see whether updated drivers are available. In general, though, the rule is this: don't use a server that isn't 100 percent compatible.

TIP
While having a fast processor is important for some server applications, older systems can be made to work extremely well by adding more RAM. Even Pentium 100 systems can perform reasonably well as a server if you increase their installed RAM to 256 MB.

REAL WORLD Hardware Compatibility
While it's true that many devices not on the HCL can be made to work most of the time, servers are needed all the time. Inevitably, some traceable-to-the-hardware fault will show up, and you'll have no recourse. Microsoft will justifiably point out that you should be using hardware from the HCL. And the manufacturer will shrug and say that they're "working on" drivers. Neither is a good position to be in.
If you have machines that aren't 100 percent compatible, try them out as clients. Often, Windows 2000 Professional will work perfectly well on a machine that's not on the HCL. Certainly, Windows 95 and Windows 98 aren't as fussy and run on almost any machine with an adequate processor and the minimum amount of RAM.

Planning Partitions

Next decide how you want to partition and configure your drives. Microsoft recommends using an NT file system (NTFS) for your entire system, unless you need to remain compatible with an existing operating system on your computer—rather unlikely on a server. NTFS has many advantages, including efficiency, reliability, security, and compression. Also, many Windows 2000 features or services require an NTFS partition. For example, to use your server as a domain controller or Active Directory server, an NTFS partition must be available.

NTFS has always been superior to the file allocation table (FAT) or FAT32 file systems for the reasons previously stated, but it has an unfortunate disability in Windows NT. If, for some reason, your NTFS system drive won't boot up, your only hope for recovery is to perform a parallel installation of Windows NT. Fortunately, Windows 2000 comes equipped with a Safe Mode boot option, ala Windows 95/98, as well as a special Recovery Mode Console that allows you to boot to a command line on a nonbooting system and securely access NTFS partitions. For more information on these features and other ways of recovering nonfunctioning systems, see Chapter 36. Also see the "Dual Boot Considerations" section later in this chapter for more information on parallel installations of Windows 2000.

REAL WORLD Installation and Security
It is common practice for many users of Windows NT to install the operating system on a FAT partition and then store all data on one or more NTFS partitions. The advantage of using a FAT partition for the operating system installation is that you can use an MS-DOS boot disk to boot and repair your system in case you can't boot Windows 2000. (You'd need a Windows 95 OSR 2 or Windows 98 boot disk to access a FAT32-formatted hard disk if you used this approach with Windows 2000.) However, this approach leaves the system registry and other important information on the system drive open to serious security risk. In addition, when Windows NT or 2000 is installed on a FAT partition, you sacrifice the ability to use the security features built into NTFS to protect your system installation (while also eliminating any hope of achieving C2 security compliance, by the way). Any user can insert a boot disk and access your Windows 2000 system drive (unless you have a BIOS password). The registry and other sensitive security information are also potentially exposed to attack from across a network.
Because of this security risk, we do NOT recommend installing Windows 2000 Advanced Server on a FAT or FAT32 partition. Windows 2000 installed on an NTFS partition has the same recoverability available to a FAT-based Windows NT system, by providing a special Recovery Mode Console that uses the Windows 2000 Setup Boot Disks and CD-ROM to provide command line access to a non-booting NTFS-based system. In addition, Windows 2000 now adds a safe mode boot option, providing even more recoverability than that provided by Windows 95/98, completely eliminating the recoverability advantages FAT-based installations had under Windows NT.

The bottom line is that in any situation where you want security (and it's always needed on a server), install Windows 2000 on an NTFS-formatted partition.

You can create up to four primary partitions on a drive, or you can create up to three primary partitions and one extended partition. To install Windows 2000, in most cases you'll simply use a single, NTFS-formatted, primary partition on your boot drive of around 1or 2 GB. Leave any additional free space on the hard disk as unallocated until after installation, when you can create additional partitions for programs and data in the unallocated space.

Typically, you'll use one or more additional drives for your data, preferably set up with some form of fault tolerance. If you do use a different drive or drives for your data, convert them to dynamic disks and format them with the NTFS file system. This approach will allow you to easily work with your volumes and securely and efficiently store your data. See Chapter 14 for more information on creating dynamic volumes as well as more information on partitions and disks in general.

Gathering Network Information

After determining how you want to partition your drives, locate all the drivers for your hardware. Then record (or create) the following settings.

Domain Name System (DNS) name of your computer This name can contain both uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and the hyphen character. Keep your DNS host name shorter than 15 characters if you want your NetBIOS name to be the same as your DNS name (a good idea for compatibility with non–Windows 2000 clients).

Name of domain or workgroup to join (if on a network) If you're creating a new Windows 2000 domain, this name should be DNS-compatible and the fully qualified domain name should be no longer than 63 bytes: for example, mydepartment.mycompany.com.

IP address of your computer This is required unless your network has a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server.

NOTE
If you don't have a DHCP server and don't assign an IP address to your computer, Windows 2000 will assign your computer a restricted IP address. This IP address will work on a simple network with only one IP subnet, but it won't work on more complex networks, nor will it work as an Internet IP address. For more complex networks, install a DHCP server on the network or assign IP addresses manually. To acquire valid Internet IP addresses, you need to register with your Internet service provider for a scope of IP addresses.

Optional Windows 2000 Advanced Server components For a full listing of the components available for installation, see Appendix B.

Client licensing mode and the concurrent number of clients (if the licensing mode is Per Server) Windows 2000 Advanced Server supports Per Server and Per Seat licensing. If you're unsure which licensing mode to use, choose Per Server. You can switch from Per Server to Per Seat once (without additional cost) but not from Per Seat to Per Server.

REAL WORLD Licensing
With Per Seat licensing, each client that accesses your server needs to have its own Client Access License (CAL). Clients with a CAL can connect to any number of servers, making this method the most common licensing method for companies with more than one Windows 2000 Server. You would also commonly choose it when using the Windows 2000 Terminal Services, unless you're using the Terminal Services Internet Connector License, in which case you would always use Per Server.
Licensing Per Server requires the server to have a CAL for each concurrent connection. For example, if you choose the Per Server licensing mode with 50 concurrent connections, your server can support a maximum of 50 simultaneous client connections. This licensing mode works well for companies using only a single Windows 2000 Server, or for Internet or remote access servers where the client computers might not be licensed as Windows 2000 network clients.

NOTE
Use License Manager, located in the Administrative Tools folder on the Start menu, to keep track of your license purchases and holdings.

Physical Preparation

Once you've recorded all of these settings, several physical tasks remain:

Back up any existing data on all the drives for which your server is responsible.

Disable any disk mirroring for the duration of the setup process.

Disconnect any connection to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). UPS equipment can interfere with the setup program's ability to detect devices connected to serial ports.

Upgrade your System BIOS to the latest version available. This is especially important for ACPI-based systems.

Dual Boot Considerations

Under most circumstances, a server won't have two operating systems, but sometimes such an approach is appropriate. For example, you can use a second, parallel installation of Windows 2000 on the server for fixing your system in case you can't boot your normal installation. In this case, the installations should be not only on separate partitions, but also on physically separate hard disks. This precaution makes sense when you consider that one of the ways a system can become unbootable is through a hard disk crash—if both installations are on the same physical hard disk, you're out of luck.

If a large removable storage device such as an Iomega Jaz drive is available, you can install the parallel installation of Windows 2000 on this disk, which you can then remove for safekeeping. And you can use a second installation of Windows 2000 as a test environment for those inevitable configuration experiments that will have unpredictable outcomes. You might also want to keep an existing installation of Windows NT 4 to minimize server downtime while you transition to Windows 2000. For more information on upgrading your server from Windows NT to Windows 2000, see Chapter 7.

NOTE
Mirroring your system disk provides even more protection against failure than just a parallel installation of Windows 2000. Mirroring your system disk and having a second copy of Windows 2000 on your server provides even more flexibility and protection against failure—like wearing both a belt and suspenders—probably more than you need. In fact, because of Windows 2000's flexible disaster recovery options, in our opinion adding a dual boot is largely unnecessary on servers. (Workstations are a different issue.)

Multiple Copies of Windows 2000

If you decide to create a parallel installation of Windows 2000, you can choose Windows 2000 Professional rather than the full version of Windows 2000 Advanced Server as your second installation. Use the parallel installation of Windows 2000 only to repair your existing installation, and then use your main installation to fix any additional problems you have.

CAUTION
You must have a different computer name for each operating system installation on a network. A unique security identifier (SID) is generated for each Windows installation on a domain, and each SID is associated with one particular computer name. So, you can boot several operating systems, but in each system your computer is known to the network by a different name.

Dual Boots with Windows NT

Rather than upgrading your server, you can choose to perform a clean install of Windows 2000 Advanced Server. A clean install allows you to preserve your existing installation for use in case you encounter trouble setting up your server with Windows 2000. Performing a clean install is also your only option if your server is running a version of Windows earlier than 3.51 and you don't want to upgrade to 3.51 or 4.0. However, when you perform a clean install, Windows 2000 doesn't migrate your existing programs and settings as it would if you upgraded your server.

The following list shows the issues involved when using a dual boot between Windows NT and Windows 2000 on computers with NTFS drives:

Only Windows NT 4 with Service Pack 4 or later can access NTFS 5 drives and volumes.

NTFS 5 features such as disk quotas and encryption don't work in Windows NT 4. (Encrypted files can't be read in Windows NT 4.)

Windows NT 4 disk utilities such as Chkdsk won't work with NTFS 5 drives. You must use the Windows 2000 versions of these utilities.

Windows NT 4 emergency repair disks can no longer be used.

You can't reinstall Windows NT 4 after installing Windows 2000 unless you re-create and reformat the partition on which you installed Windows NT 4.

Files you save or create in Windows 2000 might not be accessible in Windows NT 4.

Removable media that is formatted with NTFS is automatically converted to NTFS 5 when inserted or used with Windows 2000.

Any drives formatted with the FAT32 file system can't be read by Windows NT 4.

NOTE
If you choose to dual boot Windows 2000 with another operating system (or copy of Windows 2000), you must install Windows 2000 on a separate disk partition. Attempts to install two operating systems on a single partition will cause problems—either during installation or shortly thereafter. If, for some reason, you're planning to dual boot Windows 95/98 and Windows 2000, be sure to install Windows 95/98 first and then Windows 2000.

Dual Boots with Other Operating Systems

Dual booting Windows 2000 Advanced Server with MS-DOS, Windows 95, Windows 98, or other personal operating systems such as BeOS should be performed on desktop computers and not on your server. Performing a dual boot with UNIX or another server operating system is perhaps more useful, but you should avoid it if possible.

If you do choose to perform a dual boot with another operating system, use the Windows 2000 Backup utility or another Windows 2000 backup program to perform a full backup of your system including system state information. Also, you should create an emergency repair disk by using Windows 2000's Backup utility (just for good measure). When installing or configuring your operating systems, be careful with the master boot record (MBR). Table 5-2 shows a list of additional factors you should consider when working with different operating systems.

TIP
If you have the Windows 2000 Resource Kit, you can use the Disksave utility to back up and restore the MBR.

Table 5-2. Dual boot issues with Windows 2000 and other operating systems

Operating System	Issue
Windows 95/98	Install and boot before installing Windows 2000 to keep Windows 95/98 from overwriting the MBR and preventing Windows 2000 from booting.
All operating systems	Programs must be installed separately in each operating system.
All operating systems	Windows 2000 can't be installed on a drive that has been compressed with any program other than the NTFS File Compression utility.
MS-DOS, OS/2	If you install Windows 2000 on a computer that was previously performing dual boots between MS-DOS and OS/2 using the Boot command, at startup you can choose to boot only either Windows 2000 or the operating system you most recently booted.