Letters: Readers Speak Out

Article
09/08/2016

LettersReaders Speak Out

Windows Clusters

How is Windows® Compute Cluster Server different from a conventional Windows cluster?

—from blogs.technet.com/tnmag

That's a very common question! I do get many questions about availability clustering (failover clustering) when I talk about Windows Compute Cluster Server (CCS). Compute clusters are different from "availability clusters," which provide failover of services among systems.

Compute clusters use a job queue or scheduler to assign tasks to different systems in the cluster. The scheduler (running on the head node of the cluster) receives job scheduling requests and then assigns the work to the other compute nodes in the cluster. Simply put, CCS lets you divide up work among computers, while availability clustering strives to provide uninterrupted service.

—John Kelbley, Senior Technical Product Manager

Robocopy GUI

Thank you for the column on the Robocopy GUI (November 2006, technetmagazine.com/issues/2006/11/UtilitySpotlight). It makes Robocopy easy to use, and the tabs groupings have made it easier for me to comprehend the many command-line options.

—Biff M.

Thanks very much for your feedback! It's great to hear that you're finding this tool useful. As always, if there are any other tools you'd like to see covered in TechNet Magazine, please just let us know! Drop us a line at tntools@microsoft.com.

Device Drivers

How does one list all of the specific files associated with particular device drivers?

—T.P.

If you're trying to determine the list of all of the various files that support a specific driver installation, unfortunately there is no perfect solution. Your best bet is to look at the INF file included with the driver in question—in particular at the section usually marked *.copyfiles, as it relates to the Plug-n-Play ID (PnPID) for that driver. That section will list the files copied during the driver's installation.

This is made more difficult, however, with some drivers that call "CoInstallers" as a part of the driver—one of those may in turn actually extract or install other files. But parsing the CopyFiles section will get you the majority of the files the majority of the time—you just have to look carefully and understand what the INF is saying.

—Wes Miller, Columnist, The Desktop Files

Windows Authentication

I've been trying to find articles or whitepapers that offer information about Windows Authentication. Specifically, I would like to learn more about wireless using Internet Authentication Service (IAS) in a Windows 2000 Active Directory® Domain. Can you direct me to articles that have this information?

—Brett M.

The best source of content that you can find on this subject is probably the IAS TechCenter on TechNet, which you can find at technet.microsoft.com/network/bb643123. It includes links to a number of articles and whitepapers on authentication with IAS.

Another appropriate online forum in which to pose these questions would be the Windows 2000 Server Security Newsgroup at microsoft.com/technet/community/newsgroups/dgbrowser/en-us/default.mspx?dg=microsoft.public.win2000.security.

An Appreciative Reader

I have read your interesting article "A Guide to Basic Computer Forensics" in the December 2007 issue (which can be found at technetmagazine.com/issues/2007/12/Forensics). First, I want to congratulate you for publishing such important information. Next, I want to congratulate coauthor Tom Cloward, Program Manager at Microsoft, for using his excellent experience in the security field. I also want to congratulate coauthor Frank Simorjay, Technical Program Manager and security subject matter expert at Microsoft. You are employed in the security field and have agreed to share your vast knowledge on the subject to resolve problems caused by Internet security attacks. It is very commendable. Many thanks.

—Mr. S.

Thanks for your note, Mr. S. We agree that this is a very important subject, and we hope you'll be happy to know that we have more coverage of this topic already planned in the upcoming issues of TechNet Magazine. Thanks again!

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