Re: [WinMac] Macintosh services under NT 5

Daniel L. Schwartz(expresso[at]snip.net)
Wed, 26 May 1999 22:37:11 -0500

        Dear Mr. Bizer, and all other WinMac recipients:

        If you (Marc Bizer) are going to flame me and/or plagiarize
my copyright material and/or impugn my professional reputation,
please have the decency to attribute it to the proper source.

        I'll reply inline to the various drivel your "expert friend
of mine" spouted...

At 04:18 PM 5/26/99 -0500, Marc Bizer wrote:
>Hello everyone,
>
> A winmac subscriber's recent post about a complex procedure
>to follow for properly installing Macintosh services under NT 5
>surprised me by their redundancy, and I checked this information with
>an expert friend of mine, who recommended the
>WINNT-L@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM list for NT-only discussions. I'm
>appending what he wrote.
>
> --Marc
>
>He [The Winmac subscriber] wrote

        That's Dan Schwartz <mailto:expresso@snip.net>

>>1) NT/Server 4, basic services only
>>2) Diskeeper, then defrag;
>>3) RDISK /S
>>4) Service Pack 5 (make a shortcut & put it on the Desktop)
>>5) Services For Macintosh, and SNMP;
>>6) SP5 again;
>>7) RDISK /S
>>8) Run Diskeeper to defrag again.
>
>>If you want to throw in IIS4, do it between steps 5 & 6.
>
>
>Well, you apply services for Mac on the initial install then the service
>pack updates it, so no need to apply the service pack twice.

        This is patently false. SFM under the original NT4/Server (no
SP* distribution CD) had so many bugs that it was more important to
add SP3 first... Especially if you were upgrading an NT/S 3.51/SP4
installation.

        On paper it's redundant. BUT, if the NTFS volumes were
formatted during an NT 3.51 session this becomes critical, as the
defrag API's changed drastically.

        Also, running RDSIK /S is the "escape hatch" that is used to
"unwind" any damage caused by a rogue .DLL or botched Service Pack
installation. Please see the Read-Me's - Or even the licence text one
must agree to before installing - for ANY Service Pack.

        Lastly, running Diskeeper helps maintain the NTFS structures,
especially the MFT (Master File Table, for the uninitiated) in the
event an NTFS volume becomes overloaded by temporary files. NTFS
performance will fall off drastically when an NTFS volume is over 75%
full; or when it becomes fragmented - Especially when the cluster
size is 512 bytes...Which is the ONLY option when using the CONVERT
function.

>Same for IIS.
>RDISK is just a standard emergency boot disk, that one creates multiple time
>primarily when changing or adding hardware.

        I don't know which "expert" told you this, but in fact,
according to Microsoft, you should run RDISK *before* making *any*
changes to your system - Hardware .OR. software.

>BTW, the Compaq servers are
>generally sold with an automated build of Windows NT, including the service
>packs, so one generally does not go through this install stuff unless you
>are using a pirated copy of NT server. All this defragging stuff
>(DiskKeeper) is a complete waste of time on a fresh install.

        This is not only totally false, but (almost) libelous with
your "piracy" statement. If a particular platform is on the Microsoft
Hardware Compatibility List (HCL), then it MUST be able to install
Windows NT from the *MICROSOFT* Windows NT distribution CD. Period.

        The CD's offered up by hardware OEM's are offered as a
convenience to the user, and .NOT. (unlike Apple) as the "installer
CD."

>>CONSPICUOUS BY ITS ABSENCE: Any stuff from Compaq.
>
>There are no HAL files from Compaq on NT server (on HP does this).

        This is patently false, especially for ProLiant and Prosignia
servers that shipped with *Compaq* NT/S 3.51 CD's.

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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Wed May 26 1999 - 20:46:10 PDT