However, there are some tools that allow a system administrator to lock out a CPU in the event of a hardware failure soa CPU's tasks can be stopped and movedto another CPU without incurring downtime or severely affecting the performance of the other servers. Under previous SMP controls, this has been difficult, and somewhat processor-intensive, but under Datacenter Server the Lone Wolf controls make it possible to dynamically update clusters and dynamically split clusters from the console. In keeping a tight rein on hardware with the Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, Microsoft is following the lead of firms such as Sun which insists on a very tight integrationof hardware for its Unix-based enterprise servers. Datacenter Server's hardware is overloaded. The Processor Queue Depth object is used to identify whether there are too many processing threads active.
Most administrators leave it as a default setting, and there is definitely room for optimisation.
New controls with Windows 2000 Datacenter Server make it possible to drill into very specific parts of the server and alter processes and resources without making the whole server unreliable.