Windows System Resource Monitor
WSRM, shown in Figure 25-13, is a utility that can be used with Windows Server 2003 Enterprise or Datacenter Editions. It gives you additional control over system resources and processes. You can use WSRM to control applications, services, and process resource utilization e.g. processor utilization, memory usage, and processor affinity . To control or protect system resources and utilization, ceiling values for applications, services, or processes are set using policies. These policies are...
Small Memory Dump
A small memory dump also called a minidump is limited to 64KB, so it writes much less information than the other two dump file options. However, the data written to the dump file has a reasonably good chance of revealing the source of the problem it's essentially the same information that the system displays to the screen . The information in the dump includes the BSOD error and code, a list of currently loaded drivers, information about the process and thread that was executing at the time of...
Pushd and Net Use
You can, of course, avail yourself of the net use command to map drives to remote shares. Here are some useful comparative facts about pushd and net use Drives created by net use survive the command session. They also survive a reboot if you use the persistent yes switch. Note that the persistent yes switch may be the default, because the default state of this parameter is whatever you last used either in the GUI or the command line. If you've never mapped a drive, Windows Server 2003 has set...
Group Policy Results
The Group Policy Results Wizard reports which Group Policy settings are applied to a user or computer by gathering RSoP data from a target machine. The target must have Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003. You can view this RSoP report to troubleshoot existing GPOs. The report is available in the Settings and Summary tabs of the right GPMC pane after you select a GPO. You can remotely access Group Policy results data rather than walking around to each affected machine, but first you...
Print Services for UNIX
Print Services for UNIX gives Windows Server 2003 the ability to send and receive print jobs to and from UNIX clients and servers. The line printer remote LPR service is used for sending print jobs, and the line printer daemon LPD service is used to receive them. Another useful service that Windows Server 2003 provides with Print Services for UNIX is the line printer query LPQ service. This service emulates the features you gain when you double-click a printer icon in the Printers and Faxes...
Registration Refresh Interval
This policy setting dictates the Registration Refresh Interval of A and PTR resource records for computers. This setting can be applied to computers using dynamic update only. If the DNS resource records are registered in zones with scavenging enabled, the value of this setting should never be longer than the Refresh Interval configured for these zones. Setting the Registration Refresh Interval to longer than the Refresh Interval of the DNS zones may cause the premature deletion of A and PTR...
RSM Tricks and Tips
RSM is quite powerful, but at the same time it requires a commitment to keep on top of it or it won't work properly for you. If you use a tape backup device, RSM is going to become an important part of your professional life. The trick is to remember that whatever you do with removable media, you must do it through the RSM console. Don't move a tape, clean a tape, throw away a tape, or introduce new tapes without telling RSM. If you have to restore files from a tape backup, you may encounter a...
Managing RIS Servers
RIS servers control almost all aspects of image installation and distribution, including availability, security, and installation features. Fortunately, there are a variety of tools you can use to manage your RIS servers and ensure that your installations are fast and effective. Managing RIS Server Properties with Active Directory RIS is managed through property pages within objects in Active Directory. To access the RIS property pages for a RIS server, open the Active Directory Users and...
Nbtstat
Use the nbtstat command to display statistics about the NetBT activity on a computer. With nbtstat, you can display the contents of the NetBIOS name cache, list the current NetBT sessions in progress, show protocol statistics at regular intervals, and even reload the cache by processing the LMHOSTS file you can make changes to the file that take effect immediately . The syntax is nbtstat -a RemoteName -A IPAddress -c -n -r -R -RR -s -S Interval where -a RemoteName lists the NetBIOS name table...
Configuring a Secure Connection Between Two Private Networks
The RRAS Setup Wizard offers an option to configure a Windows Server 2003 server for a secure connection to another Windows Server 2003 server running RRAS on a remote network. This RRAS Setup Wizard option supports a VPN connection to the remote network either through the Internet or via one of the supported demand-dial connections. The part of the setup procedure covered by the RRAS Setup Wizard is elementary it installs RRAS with VPN support, and starts the Demand-Dial Interface Wizard if...
The scsi Syntax
For x86-based computers, it's common to use the scsi syntax if you boot Windows Server 2003 from a SCSI device. The scsi syntax tells Windows Server 2003 to load and use a device driver to access the boot partition. For an x86-based computer, that driver is Ntbootdd.sys, placed on the root of the system partition during installation it's a renamed copy of the device driver for the specific adapter . For a RISC-based computer, the driver is built into the firmware. I mention that as an...
ATexe
If you used the AT command in Windows NT and or Windows 2000, you're familiar with the concept of scheduling programs. The AT command is still available in Windows Server 2003, and you can use it to schedule tasks. Task Scheduler and the AT command work together. When you schedule a task via the AT command, that task appears in the Scheduled Tasks window. You can reconfigure the task using the switches available in the AT command, or use the features in Scheduled Tasks to modify the...
Global Catalog
Because the discussions of domain controller roles and jobs in this chapter included references to global catalogs, it seems appropriate to present an overview of this feature. By overview, I mean I'll briefly explain what a global catalog does, and how you can enable or disable it on a DC. I'll not get into a discussion of adding objects and attributes to the global catalog, because that topic is beyond the scope of this book. However, if you've been running Windows 2000, and you're familiar...
Global Catalog Searches
When a user performs a search for a user, a printer, or any other resource in the forest, the search takes place in a global catalog. The search request is routed to the default global catalog port 3268, and then sent to a global catalog for resolution. If the DC holding the global catalog has the result, it returns it. If the target of the search is in another domain, and the object isn't in the DC's partial catalog, the DC queries the DC holding the global catalog of the other domain, and...
Use Pushd in Batch Files
I'm a command-line junkie, and I use a lot of command-line tools to accomplish tasks. I therefore use a batch file to pre-assign all the remote directories I commonly visit. Here's my batch file pushd documents pushd docs newsletters The first line points to the shared hard drive of a computer named western giving me full access to all directories on the drive . The second line points to the My Documents folder for me on a Windows 98 SE computer named wks12 in Windows 98 SE, profiles are stored...
Configuring Administrative Alerts
The process of setting up administrative alerts for BSODs is Microsoft's version of the classic cat and mouse game, in which the mouse is harder to catch each time you actually capture it, so your moments of success become fewer and less frequent. With each version of Windows, it's harder to find a method for sending an administrative alert when a server crashes. When you select the option to send an alert from the Startup and Recovery dialog, you run into a small problem no tool exists to...
Installing Client Software for Shadow Copies
In the absence of an installed copy of the Previous Versions Client the name of the client-side software for the shadow copies feature , nobody, including the administrator, can view shadow copies of documents in the usual system windows My Computer, Windows Explorer, or the Open dialog of an application . The software is preinstalled on Windows Server 2003, but must be installed on the other computers on your network. Windows Server 2003 includes client software for Windows XP only. For...
Automated System Recovery ASR
Floppy disk-based recovery procedures have become more and more difficult to implement in Windows. The last workable and I use the term loosely floppy disk recovery process was the Emergency Repair Disk ERD in Windows NT 4. Windows 2000 also contained the ERD, but the size of the data files made it far less useful than its predecessor. Okay, I'll say it It was useless. During the beta test period of Windows 2000, a feature called Automated System Recovery was available, but those of us who...
Member Computer Policies
Several group policies are available for changing the way member computers manage their machine accounts, and their communications with the DC. J New Group Policy Object server-ll.ivensij El- Computer Configuration E LJ Software Settings FlT l Windows Settings Scripts Startup Shutdown Security Settings Jp Account Policies User Rights Assignme S Security Options B Event Log B iJ Restricted Groups 0 J System Services -C3 Registry -QD File System 1 f Wireless Network IEEE 8 lil Pi Public Key...
Update TopLevel Domain Zones
This policy setting specifies whether the computers to which this policy is applied may send dynamic updates to the zones named with a single label name also known as top-level domain zones, e.g., com . By default, a DNS client configured to perform dynamic DNS update will send dynamic updates to the DNS zone s authoritative for its DNS resource records, unless the authoritative zone s is a top-level domain and a root zone. If this policy is enabled, then computers to which this policy is...
B Pua
ilA Control AGP ffl-Pl Arbiters l l-l i BackupRestore - Pi Biosinfo -Pi BootVerificationPro -LII Class - LI CoDevicelnstallers Ca COM Name Arbiter l l--P l ComputerName FFl-Pl Contentindex -f l Content ndexComnm jAutoReboot REG_DW0RD DashDumpEnab ed REGJDWORD . alue not set x0 000 01 1 0x00000001 1 amp SystemF oot kMEMORY.PMF 0x00000001 1 ystemRoof Minidump 0x00000001 1 0x00000001 1 My During startup, Windows Server 2003 reads the data items in this subkey and prepares the system to match the...
I Printing from DOS
If your printer is connected to LPT1 on your own computer, you won't have a problem when you print from DOS software or from the command line. However, if you are using a remote printer, printing from DOS is not simply a matter of selecting a printer in the software. To print from DOS, you must manually redirect printing, using the following command I net use lptx PrintServerName PrinterShareName where x is the port you want to redirect usually lpt1 . You can make this a permanent command by...
Enabling the Classic Start Menu
If you're having trouble getting used to the new paradigm for the Start menu, you can switch to the more familiar interface of the Classic Start menu. To do so, right-click the Start button and choose Properties. In the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog, select Classic Menu. When you click OK, the next time you click the Start button, you'll see that the Start menu has changed to the one-pane version you're used to from previous versions of Windows. But that's not all to make your...