Network operating system

Poll without page-refresh

	del.icio.us
	Digg
	Furl
	Reddit
	Rojo
	Add to OnlyWire

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (January 2008)

A network operating system (or also named NOS) is a piece of software that controls a network and its message (e.g. packet) traffic and queues, controls access by multiple users to network resources such as files, and provides for certain administrative functions, including security.

Note 1: A network operating system is most frequently used with local area networks and wide area networks, but could also have application to larger network systems.

Note 2: The upper 5 layers of the OSI Reference Model provide the foundation upon which many network operating systems are based.

Source: from Federal Standard 1037C

NOS was also the name of a proprietary time-sharing operating system on the CDC 60-bit 6000 and Cyber series mainframe computers; in the mid 1980s, NOS was replaced with NOS/VE on the 64-bit Cyber-180 systems.

Network Operating System (NOS) is an operating system that includes special functions for connecting computers and devices into a local-area network (LAN) or Inter-networking. Some popular NOSs for DOS and Windows systems include Novell NetWare, Windows NT, 2000, 2003, 2008 Server, Sun Solaris and IBM OS/2. The Cisco IOS (Internet Operating System) is also a network operating system with a focus on the Internetworking capabilities of network devices.

1 Features
2 Support Internetworking such as routing and WAN ports
3 Misconception
4 See also
5 External links

Features

Some of the features of Network Operating System are:

Basic support for ethernet ports
Provide basic operating system features such as support for processors, protocols, automatic hardware detection and support multi-processing of applications
Security features such as authentication, authorization, logon restrictions and access control
Provide name and directory services
Provide file, print, web services, back-up and replication services

Support Internetworking such as routing and WAN ports

User management and support for logon and logoff, remote access; system management, administration and auditing tools with graphic interfaces
Clustering capabilities; fault tolerant and high availability systems
Provides the ability to share files, devices and hardware throughout the network

Misconception

A NOS is not the same as the networking tools provided by some existing OSs, Windows XP for instance. A NOS is an OS that has been specifically written to keep networks running at optimal performance. (Although Novell Netware is an exception. It runs on top of MSDOS which is an operating system in and of itself and can be networked without Novell Netware.)