What Does Network Operating System Mean?
A network operating system is an operating system designed for the sole purpose of supporting workstations, database sharing, application sharing and file and printer access sharing among multiple computers in a network. Certain standalone operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows NT and Digital’s OpenVMS, come with multipurpose capabilities and can also act as network operating systems. Some of the most well-known network operating systems include Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Linux and Mac OS X.
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Techopedia Explains Network Operating System
The salient features of network operating systems are:
- Basic operating system features support like protocol support, processor support, hardware detection and multiprocessing support for applications
- Security features like authentication, restrictions, authorizations and access control
- Features for file, Web service, printing and replication
- Directory and name services management
- User management features along with provisions for remote access and system management
- Internetworking features like routing and WAN ports
- Clustering capabilities
Common tasks associated with network operating systems include:
- User administration
- System maintenance activities like backup
- Tasks associated with file management
- Security monitoring on all resources in the network
- Setting priority to print jobs in the network
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