Subject: New WindowsNT servers chem-nt and chem-nt1
  
  The new NT servers were supposed to go into production along with the new
  Unix server on Thursday, November 11, 1999. Unfortunately, due to hardware/
  software problems (defective driver software shipped by a company, tape
  drive failure) departmental NT services were intermittently disrupted and
  unstable for about 1-2 weeks until all problems were resolved and data had
  been restored from backup tape.
 
  All users in the Department have their own NT accounts now and can access
  their U: shares on the NT-server. The U: share is the equivalent of the Unix
  /home directory on the chemistry server and can be accessed from all PCs
  (and on request, from all Macs) in the Department.
 
  Important consequence of having NT accounts available for everyone:
 
    If you want to access central printers (in the Lab 2105 NW) from your
    Windows 95/98 PC elsewhere in the Department, you need to login on your PC
    with the same username/password as your NT username/password. Please see
    FAQ for more information, or under 
    Internal --> Computing --> Chemistry Department Related FAQs.
 
  If you don't know how to access your U: drive, please see the same FAQ.
 
  What motivated the NT server upgrade was the need to provide more storage
  space, faster access to it, better reliability and faster failover in case
  of hardware problems. These goals have largely been addressed by going to
  two redundant identically equipped PCs, one of which holds an external 8-bay
  storage enclosure where most of the disks are kept.
 
  The NT servers are meant to centrally hold PC and Mac user files for
  faculty, staff, postdocs and students. Such a central solution greatly
  facilitates data accessibility, availability and backup. It greatly reduces
  the need to backup individual PCs or Macs and makes upgrades easier, faster
  and cheaper. The new NT servers now make central storage available to every
  PC and Mac user in the Department, something that all departmental Unix
  users have long taken for granted.
 
  Hardware comparison:
 
 		old server              new server
  ---------------------------------------------------------- 
  chem-nt 	Pentium 100             Pentium II 400
                 128 MB RAM		256 MB RAM
 		66 MHz system bus       100 MHz system bus
 
  chem-nt1       Pentium II 233          Pentium II 400
                 256 MB RAM		256 MB RAM
 		66 MHz system bus       100 MHz system bus
 
  We continue to use the external 8-bay disk enclosure purchased 1 year ago.
  It used to house 2 x 9 GB and 2 x 18 GB Ultra wide differential SCSI disks
  (40 MB/s). As part of the server upgrade, we have added 1 x 9 GB and 2 x 18
  GB Ultra2 LVD disks (80 MB/s capable, currently running at 40 MB/s).
 
  We also continue to use an external 4-bay disk enclosure that was originally
  used on the old chemistry Unix server 2 years ago. It houses 4 smaller fast
  narrow SCSI disks (10 MB/s).
 
  Both disk enclosures are normally attached to chem-nt1, the fileserver. In
  case of hardware failure, chem-nt1 can be replaced by chem-nt. Both machines
  are configured with identical sets of 3 SCSI adapters (Ultra wide and Ultra
  wide differential SCSI). Changes on the boot disk are replicated onto
  another disk.
 
  The data partitions ("U: drive") is distributed over the 9 GB and 18 GB
  disks. These disks are currently separate, but will be converted into two
  RAID5 sets (striping with parity) for additional redundancy and high
  availability some time next year (if one disk in either RAID5 set fails, no
  data are lost and operations can continue uninterruptedly).
 
  Chem-nt1 is the fileserver, holding the U: drive and other volumes for all
  departmental PCs and Macs. Chem-nt acts as a backup Microsoft Exchange
  server (the primary Microsoft Exchange Server currently runs on a 3rd PC,
  thunder). Both servers act as primary and backup domain controllers. They
  run WindowsNT with the latest Service Packs.
 
  Including the older smaller disks, the total disk space on the NT servers is
  now 117 GB.