NT Service Pak Qurstion 1

[piaknow]

I am intersted in some opinions from you guys on which
SP works best.We as a policy use SP4 reason being others
before I arrived have said the SP6 was buggy. We have 5000
users and several domains. Just would like some pros&cons
on using these SP's Personally I usually go with latest greatest but have found sometimes older is more stable.
We run 4.0
Any input appreciated

Rgrds,

 

[ensorg]

SP6 was extremly buggy, esp involving Lotus Notes. SP6a was a vast improvement
I have been running SP6a on all my servers for at least 6 months now and I can truthfully say that I have had not one problem with it.

My view is that if you servers are stable then theres not much point changing, I was on SP4 for a while and found it a very stable SP

 

[epohl]

I would have to agree, I have been running SP6a for quite a while without any problems. And since many of the hotfixes and patches (especially those for IIS) require SP5 or hire I would recommend you upgrade at least the servers to SP6a.

 

[Rovin]

We have SP6a on our 35 pan european servers. All working fine (touch's some wood!. Its worth looking at the security patches / rollup thats available, you may want to install it. Not sure if this requires SP6a to be installed though.

Ric

 

[ChrisHirst]

SP6a is definitely the one to be using. We have it on 9 servers and the last few workstations (upgrading to 2k) and there are less problems than with SP3 and SP5 (missed out SP4 it caused a file locking problem with a server based app we used to run)


Chris

 

[Guest_imported]

First of all you all are missing some things. First 6 was recalled the day after it was released. There was an error with the programming that caused %50 of the machines to have their windows messaging and network components deleted. 6a was released the next day with the problems fixed. Second. With out the latest service pack. Quite a few of the critical patches and security patches will not install. Some will some won't. Third with out the patches, upgrades, and security updates. You leave your server open to hack, virus, worm and other nasties. One of the security patches that is included is the Code Red fix which leaves a back door into your server or NT workstation. This back door is one of the ways that Nimda exploits your computer. Also if this door is not closed the original hackers can trace back your server and hack it. If Nimda gets in it can spread and the only way to really get rid of Nimda is to Flatten your box. If you really want to do that fine. I don't. Also if you go to Microsoft.com with IE 5 or later hold your mouse over downloads. A menu will drop down.. Click on Windows update. It will install an update utility the first time you go there. Then the second time you go there click on product updates. The utility will scan your computer with out sending info to microsoft and tell you what updates have been installed and which ones are available to be installed. You click on the update and next and it does all the work. I check every day for security and crit updates befor I leave.

Hope this helped
William Phillips

 

[Hungster]

Masterw nailed on some important points on virus, i had been fighting with Nimda problem from e-mail

i noticed that win2k server didn't get attack
you must upgrade to 5.5 sp2 on your ie or 6 or else virus will get to you in a big way, also sp6a is very important too i find.

i used Trend Micro 's Nimda fix tool to clean it out, Trend Micro's Server protect and Scan mail had save me big time on my servers, especially NT 4.0 servers

Hung

 

[piaknow]

Thnks, to MstrW,Hung and all the rest that contributed.
This is the kind of real world experience that we all find
very valuable. I am trying to get our environment updated
tho our mail servers are handled thru different entity.

Thnks again

Piaknow