@35229 This falls in the category of a good surprise, in fact a
really nice one: Both the file system and the Registry are now
transaction based in Vista. This surprised me because it was
supposed to appear in Server 2007 but it's in Vista. "Transaction
based" means that you can take a number of separate files, copy,
move or whatever operations you need, and essentially package them
up so that they're all or nothing. If one of the operations fails,
then you just "roll back" and everything done so far is undone.
Here's an actual example run:
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.5456]
(C) Copyright 1985-2005 Microsoft Corp.
C:Usersmark>transaction /start
A transaction has been successfully started.
Transaction ID: {1288b5a4-4b58-4006-88d8-6bc86f4b8ad3}
C:Usersmark>md newfiles
C:Usersmark>copy con newfilestest
hi there
^Z
1 file(s) copied.
C:Usersmark>dir newfiles
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 4834-858C
Directory of C:Usersmarknewfiles
07/17/2006 06:48 PM {DIR} .
07/17/2006 06:48 PM {DIR} ..
07/17/2006 06:48 PM 10 test
1 File(s) 10 bytes
2 Dir(s) 15,731,507,200 bytes free
C:Usersmark>transaction /rollback
The current transaction has been rolled back.
C:Usersmark>dir newfiles
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 4834-858C
Directory of C:Usersmark
File Not Found
C:Usersmark>
Here, I start a transaction, then create a new folder and put a
file in that folder. But then I cancel the transaction, and it's
all undone; asking for a directory listing of the new folder yields
"File Not Found." In contrast, typing transaction /commit would
have said "transaction's over, make it all permanent."
Where will this be useful? Well, File and Registry-based
transactions will be pretty useful for applying patches. Heck, you
could actually install and test a piece of software, and then
uninstall it via a transaction rollback. But that'd only work if
the software didn't require a reboot; any reboots act as a
transaction /rollback. I suspect we'll find plenty of pretty
valuable uses for this. (I've got to say it again: The word
"patches" keeps coming to mind.)
Important warning
Unfortunately around RC1, Microsoft took the transaction command
out of Vista. Apparently the under-the-hood support for
transaction-based NTFS and Registry is still there, but the command
itself posed some theoretical problems and so Microsoft decided
that letting regular users like you and me set up transactions
would be a bad idea. So unless they change their minds, then
transactions will be something that only programmers can set up.
(Which might make sense; it's just a shame.)
SearchWindowsSecurity.com also features excerpts from chapter
eight,
"
Locking Up the Ports: Windows Firewall", of Mark Minasi's book,
"Mastering Windows Server 2003 Upgrade Edition for SP1 and
R2."
|
 Mark Minasi is
a best-selling author, commentator and all-around alpha geek.
Mark is best known for his books in the Mastering
Windows series. What separates him from others is that he
knows how to explain technical things to normal humans, and
make them laugh while doing it. Mark's firm, MR&D, is
based in Pungo, a town in Virginia's Tidewater area that is
distinguished by having one -- and only one -- traffic
light.
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