For many organizations, Windows isn’t the
only platform supported by IT. In fact, a large number of
organizations continue to rely on UNIX and Linux for truly
mission-critical applications.

However, integrating Windows Server 2003 and
UNIX/Linux can sometimes be a challenge. To help you out, Microsoft
offers an add-on package for Windows called Services for UNIX (SFU)
3.5. This package includes a number of UNIX utilities to help
administrators better integrate Windows into UNIX environments.

SFU 3.5 includes many features to help UNIX
admins deal with Windows servers. Here are some of the major
components of SFU 3.5:

  • NFS: With both an NFS
    client and server available in SFU 3.5, a Windows server can
    seamlessly access UNIX servers using the NFS protocol as well as
    provide UNIX-based NFS clients with the ability to access the
    Windows server without requiring other intermediate software, such
    as Samba.
  • ActiveState ActivePerl 5.8:
    For years, UNIX administrators have enjoyed the power–and
    sometimes frustrations–of Perl. SFU 3.5 brings Perl to the Windows
    world.
  • Network Information System
    (NIS) to Active Directory integration:     SFU 3.5 includes a
    wizard for NIS to Active Directory integration as well as the
    ability to authenticate NIS clients against Active Directory.
  • Standard UNIX tools:
    Several familiar UNIX command-line utilities, including sed, awk, ls, kill, and ps, are available in SFU
    3.5.

For more information about Windows Services for
UNIX 3.5, check out
Microsoft’s SFU Web site.

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