ProjectOverview

Project Overview

I lifted the following sections from the project instruction post:

*Each team member will choose one modern operating system and research its individual approach to process and memory management.*

*The team will create a comparative report by combining their research on the three operating systems, using tables and examples to highlight the similarities and differences. The textbooks provides a suitable starting point for references, but it is expected that the students will use other technical sources, including ones located at their place of employment and analyze the operating system, using a set of criteria agreed upon by the team.*

Following is the rest of the detailed instructions.

Background

Your organization�s Chief Information Officer (CIO) has asked you to investigate the following operating systems:

1. Windows 2000 Advanced Server
2. Red Hat Linux (provided by IBM)
3. HP Unix (HP-UX)

In particular, the organization is interested in knowing the following information:

1. Basic utilization for desktop, file serving and Web-Site hosting and hardware compatibility
2. Ease of use and availability of device support
3. Current and future application support

However, as a team of IT support professionals, you know that operating systems support goes beyond basic characteristics, market share and simple comparison tables. You are concerned that any selection of an operating system should involve a careful analysis of internal technical capability. In order to obtain a better understanding of each of the operating systems, you decide that you will start your review with memory and process management strategies used by the operating systems, to gain a better understanding of each of their strengths and weakness.

Report: Criteria & Preliminary Investigation

1. Develop a criteria list with which your team will evaluate the operating systems. Indicate what are strengths and weaknesses. If trade offs are determined, identify why they were chosen and the consequences they cause. Supply a written copy of your team�s criteria and include it as an appendix in your report (see below)
2. Develop a 3-page team report on the three operating systems. In the report, provide the following:
   • A brief introduction to each operating system, describing its suitability for desktop, file serving and Web-Site hosting and any specific hardware requirements. Include in your introduction a brief outline of application support.
   • For each operating system, describe the technical characteristics of process and memory management. For example, if each operating system uses virtual memory management, indicate how prioritization of threads is achieved, whether applications can access higher priority threads and, if so, how.
   • Summarize your technical findings, so far, and, using your team�s evaluation criteria (described above), indicate which operating systems would be suited for which types of environments. Relate your findings to the initial requests originally given by the organization.

Your report should include references to technical material used, and can include tables and comparison charts for easy of reading. Provide industry created benchmarks for performance (if available).

Upload your team report with the subject line Group (x) Project 2 Report to the Assignment folder for Seminar 4 by the end of Day 7 (Wednesday)

Note: This project will be followed up with a new phase during Seminar 7.