1) SERVICE PACK 6 PROBLEMS
2) TWO HOT WIN2K-READY ADMIN PRODUCTS NOW AVAILABLE:


Hi NT-ers,

This NewsFlash is to get you up to speed on some things that
cannot wait till Monday when you will find the Full Issue
of NTools E-News. I'll go into more detail when I have some
time to dig into the additional data that is surfacing on
Service Pack 6. Also, you may have noticed in the masthead
that (just like books get an ISBN number) we have been given 
an official ISSN number which is for periodicals. We're
gettin' real official here .

Warm regards,

Stu Sjouwerman

Send me email at: [email protected]

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1) SERVICE PACK 6 PROBLEMS

Many people have no problems, but there is a whole slew of
issues that have stuck up their ugly heads already. One of
the biggies is a change that was made to TCP/IP and any product
that uses PORTS like Lotus Notes breaks. It currently requires 
users to have administrative rights to use ports. 

Several people reported blue screens on Compaq Proliant 6500
servers whose NIC's seem to choke on SP6. Inoculan seems to 
have problems, and as expected we need to update AutoPilot 
when the new SP6 symbol table gets out. Coming weekend you'll
get more about it. But you are now warned. Tread carefully
and make SURE you can uninstall!!!
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2) TWO HOT WIN2K-READY ADMIN PRODUCTS NOW AVAILABLE

Yup, we are proud to announce the two first Win2K-ready admin
tools: Trusted Enterprise Manager (TEM) Version 3.0 and the 
brand new UltraAdmin. 

TRUSTED ENTERPRISE MANAGER V3.0 

Let me start with the first. TEM has been a very good seller
in the market. Earlier versions allow you to delegate admin 
rights, and V3 still does this but now much more. Quite a
few people remarked: "Well, Win2K does admin delegation via
Active Directory, so I do not need a tool like this any more".
Nothing is further from the truth. 

As you know, there is a bare bones defragger in Win2K. There
are also very limited user disk space quotas built in. Both
are pretty much useless in a production environment. The same
is largely true for admin delegation via Active Directory.
Sure it's there. But is it useful and/or complete? Hardly.

We have done some analysis and compared the functionality of
TEM V3.0 with what is built into Windows 2000. Just click on
this link below, choose the option "COMPARE TEM V3.0 with 
Win2K built-in Admin Features" and you will be surprised what 
you see: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/tem.htm

TEM's developers have been very closely cooperating with the
Win2K team in Redmond and Microsoft relies heavily on 3-rd
party developers in the early versions of AD. It basically
boils down to the fact that if you really want to get AD in
a production environment it is _very_ time intensive.

Having TEM around right now, and ready for Win2K when you
make the switch will save you admin time immediately, but even
_much_ more when you actually implement AD in your environment.
In a nutshell, there is a ton of difficulties with the admin
delegation model in W2K. First and foremost is the complexity. 
Sure you can delegate, but who is going to understand HOW to 
do it? Second, many people can delegate many things, but 
there is no way to determine a resulting policy set: Who
authorized some one else that they could do something?

You can already see the organizational problems on the horizon. 
More over, Win2K does not allow audits on all this, but TEM 
V3.0 _does_. I suggest you have a look at that little compa-
rison chart we created. Version 3 does a whole slew of very 
cool and powerful stuff like drag and drop users from domains 
to groups and much, much, much more. Your 30-day eval is 
over here: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/tem.htm
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THE BRAND NEW UltraAdmin:

What are the 10 reasons that make UltraAdmin special when 
compared with for instance Hyena or NetServant? 

1 : UltraAdmin is Win2K Ready.
Most of you are running solid NT4 networks right now. However, 
come February 2000, a lot of us are going to begin the slow 
migration to Windows 2000. As you do this, you're going to 
have to administer Windows 2000 machines in addition to NT4 
boxes. Win2K has additional administrative functionality that 
NT4 does not (additional user rights and audit policies as an 
example). 

Most utilities, including Hyena, are not yet fully prepared 
to handle these new Windows 2000 administrative areas. 
UltraAdmin can already manage Windows 2000 servers, and has 
been extensively tested on networks running Windows 2000 
release candidate machines. As a rule, if UltraAdmin detects 
a Windows 2000 machine on the network, it will expand its 
dialogs to show the additional administrative options 
available on that machine.

2 : UltraAdmin uses ADSI (the Active Directory Service 
Interfaces)

Unlike other programs, UltraAdmin was built with ADSI. This
ensures its ability to integrate with Active Directory servers 
in the near future. In addition, ADSI will allow new versions 
of UltraAdmin to manage Internet Information Servers and 
Exchange Servers very soon.

3 : UltraAdmin has an easy, intuitive interface

UltraAdmin was designed to have a similar look and feel to 
Network Neighborhood, with the administrative functionality 
of User Manager and Server Manager. Administrators can 
double-click on machines to connect to them as if they were 
in Network Neighborhood. Furthermore, you can right mouse 
click on servers to bring up administrative menus. 

There has also been a strong design effort to make UltraAdmin 
as free of "icon clutter" as much as possible. The administrative 
dialogs are simple and straightforward. There are many areas 
where you can use drag-and-drop techniques in the dialogs.
Couple this area with UltraAdmin's Windows 2000 features, 
and it's a powerful reason to choose UltraAdmin over the 
Microsoft Management Console (which has a radically redesigned 
administrative interface, making for a steep learning curve).

4 : UltraAdmin integrates with Exchange

Using ADSI, UltraAdmin has the ability to automate the creation 
and deletion of user mailboxes on an Exchange Server. Unlike 
other utilities, UltraAdmin does not require the Exchange Server 
Administrator to be installed on the computer as well, nor does 
it make the administrator fill out another dialog.

5 : UltraAdmin has "domain filtering"

UltraAdmin has the unique ability to break a large Windows NT 
network down into more manageable cross-sections. Using 
UltraAdmin, you can filter your computer views into smaller 
sections, choosing to display and administer only the computers 
that meet a certain criteria. Examples of criteria include:
All NT computers / NT Servers / NT Stand Alone Servers / Primary 
Domain Controller / Backup Domain Controllers / Print Servers / 
Master Browsers / SQL Servers / Dialin Servers / 95 and 98 boxes

6 : UltraAdmin can hide servers from the browse list

This is a nice security feature that Server Manager doesn't 
provide for the administrator. You can use UltraAdmin to hide 
a server from the browse list so that users can't rifle through 
shared directories without knowing the server by name. We added 
this at the request of some of our U.S. Navy clients.

7 : UltraAdmin was designed by a Windows NT Network Administrator

The Chief Architect has been maintaining Windows NT networks at 
colleges and corporations for close to four years. A lot of what 
is in the UltraAdmin product was added at the direct request 
of his colleagues.

8 : UltraAdmin is currently, and will continue to be, the least 
expensive utility in its class.

UltraAdmin is simply the most affordable option whether you 
want one license or a hundred. Dorian Software Creations will 
continue to monitor the market and price their product accordingly. 
Pricing is per administrator seat. Normally a single seat is set
as $175, but until the end of the year we have a special intro
offer: a 5-pack for only $550. Killer time-saving deal.

9 : UltraAdmin has a Software Development Kit, so that other 
software developers and administrators can extend it. Dorian 
Software is currently putting the finishing touches on the 
UltraAdmin SDK, allowing you to extend the product and write 
your own automation scripts to custom tailor UltraAdmin for 
your particular network.

10 : UltraAdmin is fully Y2K compliant. 'Nuff said!

The download is only just over 5 Mb. The field testers were
pretty happy with the results. Read their reviews on the the
new UltraAdmin page and get your 30-day eval copy free:

http://www.sunbelt-software.com/ultraadmin.htm
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That's all for the moment, See you Monday!

Warm regards,

Stu Sjouwerman

(email me with feedback: [email protected])