POWER SOLUTIONS

EDITOR’S COMMENTSRelational BlissWith hefty reference books at hand—the likes of SoftwareEngineering: A Practitioner’s Approach and DatabaseSystem Concepts—the Dell Power Solutions editorial teamcontemplated various ways to deliver an accessible, easyto-usecontent categorization feature with a repository thatwould require minimal maintenance time. In the end, afterskimming heavy chapters on user interface design, databasesystem architecture, entity relationship diagrams, and databasenormalization, we settled on a relational database approach.Following a relatively short design and development cycle, theRelated Categories repository was born and hosted on a Dell Precision workstation.In our Austin-based editorial offices, we then embarkedon the task of categorizing an ever-growing library of DellPower Solutions content. Effective with the May 2005 issue, allarticles appearing in the print and online editions have beenpublished with a Related Categories box located in the marginof the first page, populated with as many as a dozen relatedcategories (see Figure 1). Our editors carefully screen eacharticle to select relevant categories from an ever-expandingRelated Categories:AuthenticationDell OpenManageDell PowerEdge serversDirectory servicesMicrosoft Active DirectoryMicrosoft WindowsSystems managementVisit www.dell.com/powersolutionsfor the complete category index.list of more than 200 ITcentrictopics that coverthe landscape of bestpractices, key technologies,standards, productsand services, technicalterms, vendor offerings,and much more.In addition, we scannedour back-issue archivesand categorizedDellPower Solutions contentfrom the November 2003issue onward. Then, evertrue to relational databaseform, we cross-referencedRelated Categories listings across hundreds of articles (andassociated editorial content, such as technical posters)into a single entity: the Dell Power Solutions Related CategoriesIndex. Essentially a downloadable PDF file, this index is organizedalphabetically by category and includes details such as subject/content, date, print page number, and—most importantly—a clickable URL for instant access to the editorial content. Tovisit the latest Related Categories Index, download the file atwww.dell.com/downloads/global/power/power_index.pdfand then click on the respective URL to access specific DellPower Solutions content or an entire back issue.In this August 2005 issue of Dell Power Solutions, we haveadded a healthy dose of content to the systems managementcategory. Our cover story, “Take Control with Dell SystemsManagement,” provides insight into Dell’s standards-basedapproach to enterprise systems management, and four moresupporting articles delve into the enhanced technology behindthe new Dell OpenManage IT Assistant 7 management console.In all, 25 articles in the print edition and another fiveWeb-exclusive articles feature in-depth technical coverage onsystems management techniques, Microsoft ® SQL Server andOracle ® databases, storage technology, the Linux ® OS, andmore. As you page through each issue of Dell Power Solutions,we hope the Related Categories Index will help you connectrapidly to the technical information you need most.Tom KolnowskiEditor-in-Chieftom_kolnowski@dell.comwww.dell.com/powersolutions6DELL POWER SOLUTIONS Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, August 2005. Copyright © 2005 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. August 2005