The Windows NT® Server 4.0 operating system has been solving business problems since it was released in July of 1996.
With more than four million copies of Windows NT Server running worldwide in just three years, Microsoft heard a
lot of feedback on what customers want Windows NT technology to deliver next. So what did they tell us? Simple. Customers want greater reliablity
to meet their most demanding business needs.
So what did Microsoft do? We made reliability priority number one in Windows® 2000 operating systems. We invested 500 person years and $162 million in people
and tools to make Windows 2000 more reliable than ever before.
What was the problem?
Microsoft started by diagnosing the problems. Analyzing nearly 1,200
servers running Windows NT Server 4.0, we found that 65 percent of reboots were due
to planned outages to install and configure hardware, operating systems, and
applications. This includes performing "preventative reboots" to try to proactively refresh server boxes. Of
the unplanned outages, 21 percent were due to application failures, and 14
percent were due to system failures. Over half of the system failures were due to
device drivers, anti-virus software, and hardware failures.
What did we do to make Windows 2000 more reliable?
First, we improved our design process. From tools and dedicated reliability teams, to
nightly system-wide testing that simulates millions of users, Microsoft targeted and
addressed the causes for most planned and unplanned downtime issues. The result is a 90
percent reduction in maintenance and hardware installation
reboots. This means fewer network interruptions for end users, higher server
uptime, and better availability.
By using a new, thorough source code analysis tool and a new driver verifier testing
tool, we reduced the number of potential "bluescreen"
system failures. Microsoft also conducted labs with anti-virus software and driver software developers,
and performed intense stress testing to reduce system failures.
Windows 2000 includes a number of features to decrease reboots, including: service pack slipstreaming, dynamic configuration capabilities,
resource partitioning to prevent application failures from necessitating reboots, a
task manager improvement that enables entire process trees to be killed, and more.
Minimizing the risk of downtime
But what if there is a system failure? How can you minimize the risk to your
business?
For mission-critical business operations such e-commerce or .com solutions, downtime
of any kind is not an option. Customers and sales can be lost. The Windows 2000 Server family has advanced
clustering and load balancing services so you can deploy solutions that distribute the load to multiple servers, and fail-over
capabilities that complete a transaction in process if another server fails. This
level of reliability delivers confidence that is priceless.
When there is a failure or a need to take the system offline, customers need to
recover from it fast. With rolling upgrade capabilities in clustered servers,
fewer required reboots for common maintenance activities, and safe mode boot for fast
troubleshooting, administrators can get a Windows 2000 server back online for
employees and customers quickly.
And, in today's world of distributed organizations, it's also important to maintain
system availablility from a distance. In branch offices, for example, customers need
unattended service restart, remote administration, and monitoring capabilities.
These new Windows 2000 features allow administrators to get those offices back online
quickly, without having to maintain technical resources on site.
Not just a technology issue
And after all of these technology improvements, reliability is also about
people, processes and support. Microsoft has worked closely with industry third parties to
ensure driver and application reliability on Windows 2000. In addition,
there are many resources available to you to help you design reliability into your
solutions and then maintain it. Microsoft Consulting Services, Microsoft Product
Support Services, Microsoft Official Curriculum, and more than 250,000 trained OEM and
channel partners are ready to address any needs you have.
Customers Agree—It's Ready
We believe that Windows 2000 is the most significant engineering project ever in the
software industry,delivering the most reliable operating system available. Microsoft has said for a long
time that we will not ship Windows 2000 before customers
tell us it's ready. Well, customers have said it's ready.
