New Features of Windows 11, Apple's M1 CPU Advantages, and Cloud Services - Hands-On Azure Cheat She

New Features and System Requirements of Windows 11

Part 1:

Microsoft has recently announced that they will be releasing Windows 11.  What are the new system requirements to run it and what are the new features?

Apple has recently changed the CPU they use on their Macintosh computers from an Intel x64 architecture to one they have designed themselves known as the M1.  Explain the features/advantages of their new CPU and why they made this change.  Also explain how this affects MacOS.

1. What is a multi-user OS?  Provide an example.
2. How does Windows Server differ from Windows 11?

What are the weaknesses of traditional magnetic disk storage compared to SSDs?

1. What are the primary roles of an operating system? Point form is fine.
2. Explain when it would be appropriate to use a thread rather than a process.
3. What is the purpose of RAM in a computer?
4. You’ve just bought a new computer low-end computer for your children to use.  It’s running an entry-level CPU, has 4 GB RAM, and a 250 GB hard drive.  You’ve noticed that it’s running a 32-bit version of the OS.  Should you upgrade it to a 64-bit version to improve performance? 
5. Which is better, a CPU with fewer cores running very fast, or a CPU with more cores running at lower clock speeds?  Explain.
6. Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android are smartphone operating systems.  How does the design of these differ from a desktop/server OS?
7. What is kernel mode of an OS?
8. When choosing to install an application on Windows Server, you notice that there are two versions that are labelled x86 and x64.  What does this mean, and which one should you use?
9. Go to Dell’s web site and choose a server configuration for a database server (running Oracle or MS SQL Server) and provide the list of parts and prices.  This database server will serve a mid-sized company that will run a number of databases for standard business-type applications.  Their databases consume about 3 TB of storage space.  You can make reasonable assumptions about the amount of users/load.

Part 2:

Please see the document below ("Azure Cheat sheet") for instructions on creating a VM in Azure and tips on conserving your credit. Create two servers as virtual machines on either Microsoft Azure or Amazon AWS cloud services that you will use later when we do the hands-on Windows and Linux lectures and could also be re-used for the project.  When creating the VMs, you can choose a small (inexpensive or free tier) VM so that you should be able to complete this assignment (and the project) without having to incur any charges.  Additional instructions will be posted later MyCourses and I suggest you wait until these are released before doing this part of the assignment.

One of the servers must be running Linux and the other running Windows server. For this part of the assignment, you only need to make sure the servers are up and running and accessible – you do not need to do any configuration or installation.