Merging Windows NT and UNIX on a single hardware platform

During FY1998, the Distributed Systems Group (DSG) and Office Systems Group (OSG) of the High Performance Systems section of SCD evaluated methods of running both Windows NT and UNIX operating systems on a single hardware platform. The potential benefits of this include major reductions in hardware costs and system administration overhead. For example, if we could install Intel-based workstations with the capability to boot and run either Sun Solaris or Windows NT in the general user area, we could accommodate most general user requirements.

Benefits of converging UNIX and Windows NT on a single hardware platform include:

One hardware platform to maintain, two operating systems for users
Intel-based systems support Windows NT, Sun Solaris, and LINUX
Machine can be configured on-the-fly to run either operating system
Reduce dependency on Sun and Silicon Graphics hardware
Use commodity computer components:
Monitors (any size)
Keyboards
Processors (scale up to meet processing needs)
Memory
Storage (disks)
Peripherals (CD-ROMS, floppies, etc.)
Easy to upgrade processor speed on an Intel-based system
Silicon Graphics, HP, and Sun are developing future workstations for Intel-based processors
Provide field-replaceable units for users

Dual-boot capability

There are two approaches to having UNIX and Windows NT on the same hardware platform. The first approach is having the system boot up either UNIX or Windows NT during the startup sequence. Once the system is running either operating system, the operating system cannot be changed until it is brought down and rebooted. For example, if the system is booted up to run Windows NT, it cannot run UNIX at the same time. This solution is predominately used on Intel-based systems that can run either UNIX (e.g., Sun Solaris) or Windows NT. Sun SPARC-based architectures, for instance, can only run the Sun operating system.

Windows NT is already installed on the majority of Intel-based platforms in SCD. A workable UNIX running on an Intel-based platform has yet to be fully supported by DSG and OSG. UNIX operating systems that run on Intel-based platforms include Sun Solaris 2.x and Redhat LINUX, the Intel-based UNIX. Both products run in native mode on an Intel system, that is, instructions are mapped directly to the machine hardware.

During FY1998, Intel-based systems running both Windows NT and UNIX were set up and evaluated within SCD in dual-boot configuration. SCD users appear to prefer the LINUX system, with its large set of applications, over Sun's Intel-based Solaris system. Sun Solaris running on Intel-based systems is still not out of contention because it is supported by Sun's Autoclient software. An Intel-based workstation can boot Sun Solaris off the net into standalone mode, although the major applications need to be ported to Solaris. This capacity is not available on LINUX. To work, the entire LINUX operating system must be resident on the machine; this, of course, leads to additional administrative overhead and issues.

Single-boot capability

The second approach to integrating Windows NT and UNIX on a single hardware platform is to run (or emulate) both operating system environments at the same time. This approach does not require rebooting the system.

Interix (previously known as OpenNT) is a product designed to allow users to run a UNIX environment on a Windows NT system. This includes such things as UNIX shells (C shell, Bourne shell), UNIX scripting languages (perl, awk, etc.), and other features. Interix is already deployed on a number of NT systems in SCD.

WinDD Software by Tektronix will allow Sun Solaris workstations to run Microsoft applications by bringing up an xterm window. This window might be configured into the options of the CDE toolbar on a Sun desktop running Solaris to make it easy to access. WinDD does require an NT server to service the Sun workstations. The Windows NT 4.0 version of WinDD is scheduled to be available in late calendar year 1998.

Sun Microsystems' RealPC is supported on Sun workstations running UNIX. It allows Microsoft applications to run in emulation mode. Anything running in emulation mode, however, tends to suffer significant performance losses because commands are not directly mapped into machine instructions. Users can run off-the-shelf and in-house developed Microsoft Windows applications using either WinDD or RealPC. RealPC is currently being tested on a few Sun workstations to get a better performance measurement. These products will be evaluated during the coming year.

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