Windows NT Server 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 was a high-end operating system with a bundled dedicated server. It was one of the leading operating systems in the Internet and intranet worlds. Part of the reason for this popularity was Microsoft’s skill in positioning Windows NT Server as a useful corporate solution, with a slew of valuable tools and the ability to standardize.
Windows NT Server 4.0 was both a development and deployment platform. The other part of the equation was that overall, Windows NT Server 4.0 works pretty well as an Internet platform, especially on a small-scale or departmental intranet level.
Most of Microsoft’s claims regarding Windows NT as a dedicated server were related directly to Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0, which was bundled as part of the operating system. IIS was integrated with Windows NT Directory Services, making it easier to develop and integrate Web-based applications. IIS also integrated with other Microsoft tools: FrontPage, Microsoft Transaction Server, Microsoft Message Queue, Visual InterDev, various back-end tools, and Site Server.
But NT was not an OS for running mission critical servers. It lacked the stability and reliability of many of the Unix or Linux flavors. Though it did not dominate the server OS market, it did offer a option other than the Linux / Unix platforms. Over the years, 6 service packs were released , along with numerous patches and fixes to address the reliability problems.
The OS has been officially retired by Microsoft & effective January 1, 2005, Premier, pay-per-incident and security update support will no longer be available for Windows NT Server 4.0 (Standard, Enterprise Edition, and Terminal Server Edition).
