Content area
Full text
Network managers seeking high-availability clustering capabilities for Microsoft Windows NT Server will have several more choices available in the second half of this year.
Digital Equipment Corp. and Tandem Computers Inc. will ship clustering software beginning in July, well in advance of Microsoft's own clustering software based on its "Wolf Pack" application programming interfaces (APIs). Microsoft is developing the Wolf Pack APIs with these and other hardware vendors. They are slated to ship early next year.
Clustering enables servers to link together to provide redundant storage, CPUs and network paths for high reliability. They are addressed and viewed by clients as a single system. Some industry analysts asserted that the limited number of clustering products now available for NT, as well as their rudimentary features, have been a weak link for the operating system.
Although some users said they need clustering capabilities, others said NT is sufficiently reliable in its current form.
Shawn Bowen, director of desktop strategies at FHP International Inc., a health-services provider in Cerritos, Calif., said clusters could provide the network reliability his company needs. "We're looking at clustering as a solution to the issue of making sure our network is up all the time," he said.
Rarely Fails
But NT...