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WindowsNetworking.com Articles & Tutorials Archive
Articles & Tutorials by date (Click here to sort Articles & Tutorials by topic)
Articles & Tutorials for 2005 year
- Choosing Whether to Run Performance Monitor Locally or Remotely
- Date - Dec 27, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- I have noticed lately that there seems to be a rather heated debate on various Web sites as to whether it is more appropriate to run the Windows Performance Monitor locally or remotely. There are good arguments on both sides of the issue, so I decided to put it to the test. In this article, I will attempt to answer the age old question of whether you should be running the Performance Monitor locally or remotely.
- Active Directory Troubleshooting Part 1
- Date - Dec 22, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Troubleshooting
- In this three part series we will cover ways to monitor and troubleshoot common problems with Active Directory. Although listing ways to troubleshoot Active Directory could easily span into a 3 volume book set, we will cover the most common issues and solutions here within these articles. Whether you are already a pro, or just a beginner – these tips should serve you well. In Part 1 of this article series we will cover replication traffic and how to monitor and troubleshoot it with tips and tools.
- Working With the Windows Server 2003 Indexing Service
- Date - Dec 20, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- As I’m sure you probably know, there are a number of system level services that are always running behind the scenes in Windows Server. In this article, I will explain why the Indexing Service is so useful, and I will show you how to use it.
- Storage Monitoring and Reporting
- Date - Dec 15, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article demonstrates the new storage monitoring and reporting features of Windows Server 2003 R2. Using these new capabilities, administrators can generate reports for quota and file screening activity and monitor disk space on critical servers and receive email notifications on which are approaching their limit.
- Understanding the TFTP Protocol
- Date - Dec 13, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- In real life we all have relatives, some distant, some not so distant. Sometimes in the networking world you have the same parallel. In this article we will look at FTP’s cousin, TFTP, or Trivial File Transfer Protocol. They both share the same properties, while also having some key differences.
- Making Sense of Windows Routing Tables
- Date - Dec 08, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Troubleshooting
- It’s amazing the way that time can go by. People tend to think of computers as being high tech, but the TCP/IP protocol has been around in one form or another for over three decades. As such, TCP/IP has had time to really mature and be made stable and reliable. When it comes to computers, nothing is foolproof though. When routing packets across a network, things do occasionally go wrong. In these situations, it is helpful to be familiar with the Windows routing tables. Routing tables dictate the flow of packets from the machine in question. In this article, I will show you how to view the Windows routing tables and how to make sense of the data that is contained within it.
- Implementing File Screening in Windows Server 2003 R2
- Date - Dec 06, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article walks you through how to configure file screening in Windows Server 2003 R2. File screening is a new capability in Windows Server that allows administrators to restrict what kind of files users save to their home folders and other shared network folders.
- Understanding the SNMP Protocol
- Date - Dec 01, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- With the advent of computer networks has come the logical need to manage them. It is simply not practical to be continually running from workstation to server back to workstation to verify all is well. Well that is where the Simple Network Management Protocol comes into play.
- Setting Up a DHCP Server for your Organization
- Date - Nov 29, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- One of the most basic processes on a network is that of assigning IP addresses to network clients. Although there are many different types of DHCP servers that can do the job, you can configure Windows Server 2003 to act as a DHCP server. In this article, I will show you how.
- Configuring Volume and Folder Quotas
- Date - Nov 24, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article walks you through the steps involved for configuring volume and folder quotas using File Server Resource Manager, a new feature of Windows Server 2003 R2. The article also explains how to create and use templates that can be used to quickly and easily configure quotas on home folders for users on your network.
- Understanding the DNS Protocol (Part 3)
- Date - Nov 22, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- Over the past two articles on DNS we have seen just how big the Domain Name Service protocol actually is. It performs more then simple domain name resolution as we have seen, and also is a key player in the delivery of email via the MX resource record. In this last part on DNS we will actually break out various fields in the DNS header.
- Configuring Windows Server 2003 to act as a NAT router
- Date - Nov 17, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- More years ago than I care to think about, IP addresses were handed out to companies on an indiscriminant basis. As the popularity of the Internet increased, IP addresses soon grew to be a scarce commodity. Internet service providers began to strictly limit the number of IP addresses that they would lease to companies. This presented an interesting challenge. A PC has to have an IP address in order to communicate with the Internet, but there weren’t enough IP addresses left for every PC to be given one. The solution to this problem was a technology called Network Address Translation (NAT). Today, NAT is alive and well, and more popular than ever. In this article, I will explain what NAT is and how you can configure Windows Server 2003 to act as a NAT router.
- Creating a Sysprep Image Library for Virtual PC
- Date - Nov 10, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP
- This article examines how to use Sysprep to create a library of operating system images which you can then use to deploy virtual machines on Microsoft Virtual PC for testing purposes. Such a library can help you save valuable time when creating test networks using Virtual PC.
- MSTerminalServices.org – New Terminal Services and Server Based Computing Website added to the TechGenix Network!
- Date - Nov 08, 2005
- Section - Site News
- We are pleased to announce the launch of our latest site – MSTerminalServices.org - a site completely dedicated to Terminal Services and Server Based Computing related topics such as Application Hosting, Security lockdown, Profile management, Virtualization and much more...
- Understanding the DNS Protocol (Part 2)
- Date - Nov 03, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- In part one of the DNS article series we covered what DNS is at a high level. What we shall now do is explore the core of DNS, which are resource records. There are many types of them, and we shall look at some of the ones you will most likely encounter.
- Slipstreaming Windows Service Packs
- Date - Nov 01, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- Have you ever had to reinstall Windows in an effort to fix a malfunctioning machine? Performing a clean install of Windows is no big deal, but reinstalling a non service packed version of Windows on top of a copy of Windows that does contain a service pack can cause some major problems. One solution to this dilemma is to create a Windows installation CD that already contains the service pack. That way, when you install Windows, you are installing the correct version. In this article, I will show you how to create such a CD.
- Creating an FTP Drop Site
- Date - Oct 27, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article walks you through creating an FTP site that users can anonymously upload files to, but can't list or retrieve any files that have been uploaded. The article also discusses uses for such sites in a corporate environment.
- Understanding the DNS Protocol (Part 1)
- Date - Oct 25, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- Can you imagine a world where you would have to memorize each and every IP address for the sites that you liked? The Internet certainly would not be as popular as it is today were this the case. Not to mention our beloved email, and the crucial role that DNS plays with its delivery. Read on, to learn more about one of the most unheralded protocols in existence today.
- Active Directory Design Considerations for Small Networks
- Date - Oct 20, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- A lot of people who are new to networking or who work primarily on larger networks seem to underestimate the design considerations for small networks. It kind of makes sense when you think about it though. From an Active Directory standpoint, what’s really to consider? After all, most small networks have a single forest and a single domain. Even so, your network will run a lot more smoothly if you take the time to do a little planning first. In this article, I will discuss some of the issues involved in planning a small Active Directory deployment.
- Understanding the HTTP Protocol (Part 3)
- Date - Oct 18, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- In part two of this article series we covered all of the HTTP metrics that were sent by the web server. We also expanded a bit more on HTTP, and how the Internet largely communicates using the client/server model. In this last part on HTTP we will further delve into the inner designs of HTTP, and show you a tool that you can use to further your knowledge of HTTP.
- Outlining Components Needed for Creating a VPN Server
- Date - Oct 13, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- Over the last few years, VPNs have gone from relative obscurity to great popularity. Even so, you don’t want to throw together a VPN haphazardly. After all, a VPN is a direct portal into your private network, and it is essential that it be secure. If your VPN isn’t secure, then nothing else on your network will be secure either. In this article, I will help you to plan your corporate VPN. In doing so, I will discuss the various components that make up a VPN and some of the decisions that you will have to make regarding those components.
- Understanding the SMTP Protocol
- Date - Oct 11, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- Who amongst us doesn’t like getting email? We all do of course! It is just like looking in the mailbox every morning after the postman comes by. How does email work though, and just what makes it arrive to our inbox? This will all be explained in this article giving you a far better understanding of how email works.
- Working With Application Pools in Internet Information Server
- Date - Oct 06, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- If your IIS Server hosts multiple Web sites, then buggy code within any one of those sites can bring down the other sites. I should know; it happened to me. Fortunately, there is something that you can do to prevent this from happening. In this article, I will show you how you can use application pools to prevent problems with a Web site from causing stability problems across your IIS server.
- Understanding the HTTP Protocol (Part 2)
- Date - Oct 04, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- In part one of this article series, we covered the HTTP traffic metrics that come from a web browser client. This second part will cover what the web server itself will send, and expand a little more on HTTP itself.
- Using Tracert
- Date - Sep 29, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Troubleshooting
- Tracert (also known as traceroute) is a Windows based tool that allows you to help test your network infrastructure. In this article we will look at how to use tracert while trying to troubleshoot real world problems. This will help to reinforce the tool's usefulness and show you ways in which to use it when working on your own networks.
- Using NSLOOKUP for DNS Server diagnosis
- Date - Sep 27, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Troubleshooting
- The DNS protocol has been around for decades and is a stable and reliable protocol. Even so, DNS does occasionally have problems. PING is a great tool for DNS server diagnosis, and I tend to use it quite frequently myself. However, sometimes PING just doesn’t give you enough information about the problem at hand. When you need more information about a DNS problem than what PING provides you with, you can always turn to the NSLOOKUP command. In this article, I will show you how to use NSLOOKUP.
- Understanding the HTTP Protocol (Part 1)
- Date - Sep 22, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- The Internet is composed of all kinds of packets containing various types of traffic. One of the most used application layer protocols is HTTP. We will take a look at what really happens during an HTTP transaction, and thereby gain a deeper understanding of what this protocol is about.
- File System Planning for Active Directory 101
- Date - Sep 20, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- When you are going to install Active Directory in an organization, it’s always wise to consider the base operating system install and to verify that a few important configurations are done in advance. One of the most important being the planning of the local server file system. Although commonly not overlooked, it is not commonly understood why it’s so important to plan for it. In this article we will cover how to verify your file system configuration and what to do if you need to convert the file system for the Active Directory installation.
- Running Windows Under Non-Admin Accounts
- Date - Sep 15, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP
- Everyone knows that one of the most important principles of network security is least privilege: grant ordinary users only those rights and permissions they need to get their work done and no more. For example, if ordinary users don’t need access to sensitive data stored in the Accounting share, don’t give them any permissions on that share, either through shared folder permissions on the share itself or NTFS permissions on the folder underlying the share.
- A First Look at Longhorn Vista
- Date - Sep 13, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- Earlier this month, I got my copy of Longhorn Vista, Beta 1, the eventual successor to Windows XP. Although the new operating system does have a few kinks that need to be worked out, it does look promising. In this article, I will share with you some of my first impressions of Longhorn Vista Beta 1.
- Understanding the FTP Protocol
- Date - Sep 08, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- Out of the many protocols in existence today only a couple have been written for the purpose of data transfer. After all, not all of the Internet’s activity revolves around HTTP and web pages. This article will cover the FTP protocol and how it goes about actually doing your data transfers for you.
- Window Server 2003 R2, what’s new with Active Directory?
- Date - Sep 06, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- In this article we will look at a few new things that are coming out in Active Directory with Windows Server 2003 R2. Some of the new features included are Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) which allows you to securely extend Active Directory over the public Internet when trying to do business with other businesses, partners, clients and customers. This article covers some of the new features available with this new directory services addition.
- Using Virtual PC as a Test and Learning Platform
- Date - Sep 01, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- This article examines some of the various ways that Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 (and Virtual Server 2005) can be used as a platform for software testing and learning.
- Protecting EFS Encryption Keys
- Date - Aug 30, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- If you have mobile users in your organization, then implementing security can be especially challenging. You must secure the users’ laptops in such a way that if the laptops were lost or stolen that sensitive data would not be compromised. One way of accomplishing this task is by using the Encrypting File System (EFS). In this article, I will explain how to counteract some potential problems when using EFS.
- Understanding the ICMP Protocol (Part 2)
- Date - Aug 26, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- In part one of the article we covered what the ICMP protocol actually was, and what it was used for. Further to that we also looked at one of the most common ICMP message types seen; the ping packet. This last part on ICMP will cover other various types of ICMP error messages that can commonly be seen traversing the Internet.
- Using Pathping
- Date - Aug 23, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Troubleshooting
- One of my favorite Windows tools is pathping. Pathping is a Windows based command-line tool used to provide information about the path data takes to its intended destination, network latency and network loss at intermediate hops between a source and destination. We will cover what latency is as well as what hops are and so on within this article. We will also look at how to use pathping while trying to troubleshoot real world problems. This will help to reinforce the tool's usefulness and show you ways in which to use it when working on your own production networks.
- Understanding the ICMP Protocol (Part 1)
- Date - Aug 18, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- Can you imagine a world where there are no traffic lights, stop signs, and other ways to control daily life? Well, just imagine what the Internet would be like then without the ICMP protocol. It would quickly become an unwieldy mess without it. In this article we will explore just what the ICMP protocol is, and how it works.
- Wireless Networking - Your questions answered!
- Date - Aug 16, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Wireless Networking
- This article is dedicated to answering a selection of the questions I received from WindowsNetworking.com readers by e-mail. Unfortunately I do not have time to answer all of your e-mails individually so I have decided to do so here in the form of an article for everyone's benefit. I have left out all the unnecessary information and just extracted the main points and the question itself, rather than the whole e-mail message.
- Understanding the UDP Protocol
- Date - Aug 11, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- When it comes to moving all that information across the Internet there is not only one choice when it comes to transport protocols. There are two. Namely, TCP and UDP. In this article we will look at the User Datagram Protocol, aka UDP.
- Determining the Functional Level in Windows Server 2003
- Date - Aug 08, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- In this article we will cover how to find out what your domain functional level is as well as why it’s important to understand. Whenever you deploy Windows Server 2003 in your production environment, you should always consider high level design items such as what your functional level is. This will determine what features you have available to you when you use Active Directory and Windows Server 2003. This article covers how to determine the level and how to change it if needed.
- An Overview of Wireless Network Security
- Date - Aug 04, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Wireless Networking
- In this article I will point out what sort of threats there are, give you some considerations when planning for the implementation of network security, and also a list of tips that will help to strengthen the security of your network.
- Understanding the TCP/IP Protocol (Part 3)
- Date - Aug 02, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- In part two we broke off analysis of the packet with the Win Size metric. In this final part we will cover the remaining metrics, as well as cover what all those hex values mean. Being able to understand what the hex values mean is also key to becoming a good network engineer.
- Windows Server 2003 Performance Tuning
- Date - Jul 28, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- Computers running Windows operating systems always seem to have a way of slowing down over time. If your server seems to be running more slowly than it should, then you have a couple of choices. You can add some extra memory and maybe a processor or two and hope for the best, or you can figure out why the server is running so slowly. There are lots of different things that can cause a server to run slowly. In this article, I will explain how you can use some of Windows’ built in diagnostic tools to determine the cause of your server’s sub-par performance.
- Understanding the TCP/IP Protocol (Part 2)
- Date - Jul 26, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- In part one of this article series we laid out the background information necessary to tackle this article’s information. Contained in this article is the actual breakdown of a packet’s contents, and what they mean. This type of low level TCP/IP information will enable you to make far better judgement calls when investigating network issues at the packet level.
- Issues Involved In Converting Basic Disks To Dynamic Disks
- Date - Jul 21, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- One of the Windows Server 2003 features that I’ve always found most useful is the ability to convert basic disks to dynamic disks. The advantage of doing this is that the Windows operating system allows you to span a single volume across multiple dynamic disks. By spanning a volume across multiple disks, you can create a larger volume than what a single disk can hold, you can achieve better performance than what a single disk would provide you with, and you can even achieve a degree of fault tolerance against hard disk failure. Even with all of these benefits, there are some serious issues that you need to be aware of before you even think about converting a basic disk into a dynamic disk. In this article, I will discuss these issues.
- Internet Explorer is corrupted… how do I fix it?
- Date - Jul 19, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- Very rarely do we ever get our systems beat up so badly that we have to perform surgery on them... sometimes, you feel like you need to reinstall the whole system, or sometimes you wish you didn’t have to – and could just repair it, as is, where it sits. Well, before you do anything rash, try this handy step by step article and script to re-register your Internet Explorer and hopefully ‘clean’ it of problems. Let’s see what two quick tips can do to spare you from possible disaster.
- Understanding the TCP/IP Protocol (Part 1)
- Date - Jul 14, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- The world of computer networking is built upon a series of protocols. These very same protocols are the worker bees that keep the packets flowing from one computer to another. Gaining an understanding of them greatly helps one to understand how computers talk to each other. This series of articles will attempt to convey that very knowledge.
- Tuning Virtual PC Performance
- Date - Jul 12, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- This article looks at how to enhance the performance of virtual machines running on Microsoft’s Virtual PC platform.
- Making Your DNS Service Fault Tolerant
- Date - Jul 07, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- Most network administrators know that Active Directory is dependant on DNS. What you might not realize is that there is a good chance that your DNS server is performing several other critical tasks in the background. A DNS failure can be more catastrophic than most people realize. In this article I will explain why this is the case and how to avoid such a situation.
- Troubleshooting Basic TCP/IP Problems
- Date - Jul 05, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Troubleshooting
- Over the last several years, TCP/IP has gone from being the protocol that only geeks use, to a universal protocol that everyone uses, thanks to the widespread use of the Internet. TCP/IP has been around for decades and is a solid, reliable, mature protocol. Most of the time when there is a TCP/IP related problem, the problem is related to the way that one or more of the hosts on the network are configured. In this article, I will walk you through the process of troubleshooting some common TCP/IP issues.
- Analyzing Traffic With Network Monitor
- Date - Jun 30, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- As an administrator, it’s important for you to keep tabs on the traffic that’s flowing across your network. I’m not saying that you need to be intimately familiar with every single packet that’s sent or received, but you need to know what types of protocols are flowing across your network. Monitoring the network allows you to have a better understanding of how bandwidth is being used. It also allows you to find out if users are running file sharing programs, or if some kind of evil Trojan is silently transmitting information in the background. What you might not realize is that Microsoft has given you a tool that you can use for monitoring network traffic. Appropriately, the tool is called Network Monitor. In this article, I will introduce you to this tool and show you how to use it.
- Review of Microsoft’s Windows Server System Reference Architecture
- Date - Jun 28, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article reviews Microsoft’s Windows Server System Reference Architecture (WSSRA) and provides details concerning what it is about and how useful it is to enterprise IT implementers.
- Subnetting to Increase Performance
- Date - Jun 23, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- There comes a time when a network becomes too big and performance begins to suffer as a result of too much traffic. When that happens, one of the ways that you can solve the problem is by breaking the network into smaller pieces. There are several techniques for splitting a network, but one of the most effective techniques is called subnetting. In this article, I will explain what subnetting is, and how it works.
- Troubleshooting Group Policy Processing
- Date - Jun 21, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article outlines some common mistakes made in implementing Group Policy and how to troubleshoot Group Policy processing issues.
- How to: Disable the Shutdown Event Tracker in Windows 2003
- Date - Jun 16, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- In this article I will show you how to disable, and enable, the Shutdown Event Tracker in Windows 2003, as well as how to view Shutdown Event Tracker events. The Shutdown Event Tracker is a means of recording why the system was restarted or shutdown, or why it had shutdown without warning. It pops up every time you attempt to shutdown the machine manually via the Start menu or when the system restarted or shutdown unexpectedly; due to a software crash or power failure for example. For reasons of annoyance you may want to disable it.
- How to Implement Group Policy Security Filtering
- Date - Jun 14, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article explains how to use security filtering to apply policy to a specific group of users or computers in Active Directory. Included are tips on when and how to implement security filtering for best performance, and troubleshooting problems associated with security filtering.
- Wireless Networking in Windows 2003
- Date - Jun 09, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Wireless Networking
- In Part 2 of my Introduction to Wireless Networking series I briefly touched on the subject of IAS in Windows 2003. Here we will look at the Internet Authentication Service in a bit more detail and also see what Windows 2003, and SP1, have to offer when it comes to Wireless Networking. I’ll also show you how to setup 802.1X based security in Windows 2003.
- Optimizing Group Policy Performance
- Date - Jun 07, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article explains how to ensure Group Policy processes quickly so users aren’t frustrated by delayed logons. Topics covered include myths about Group Policy processing, proper use of WMI filters, Windows XP Fast Logon Optimization, and more.
- Firewalls 101
- Date - Jun 02, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- Firewalls have become an indispensable part of computer security, but they can be intimidating for a new administrator. In this article I will explain the inner workings of a firewall and some common firewall features in an easy to understand manner.
- Introduction to the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Part 1
- Date - May 31, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols
- In this two part article we will look at how to use SNMP, the Simple Network Management Protocol, and install the service on Windows Server 2003. We will cover the essentials of the SNMP protocol, how it is used and how to install it and configure it to work within a Community.
- Best Practices for Designing Group Policy
- Date - May 26, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article summarizes best practices for planning the implementation of Group Policy in an Active Directory environment. Topics covered include designing an OU structure to facilitate management by Group Policy, minimizing use of blocking and enforcement, and more.
- Beating The Summer Heat
- Date - May 24, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- Summer heat can wreck havoc on your servers. If you’d prefer to spend your summer boating or barbequing than fixing servers, then check this story of how I coped with the extreme heat in my own server room.
- Router Troubleshooting Primer
- Date - May 19, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- In this article we will take a look at the proper steps to troubleshooting routing problems.
- How to: Disable Error Reporting on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003
- Date - May 17, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- In this article we will cover the basic steps on how to remove error reporting features on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems. Error reporting is when your system attempts to connect to Microsoft’s website to send a report of the problem you are experiencing in hopes to help fix it by documenting it. You may have systems where you want to turn off this functionality for reasons of annoyance or functionality. This article shows you step by step how to turn off this feature.
- Introduction to Wireless Networking Part 3 - Security, General Tips and Tricks
- Date - May 12, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Wireless Networking
- Welcome to part three of what was originally meant to be a two part series on ‘An Introduction to Wireless Networking’. We’ll take a closer look at the types of security that wireless networking offers, I’ll give you some general tips and tricks and update you on some of the latest news and statistics.
- Key Performance Monitor Counters
- Date - May 10, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article looks at key Performance Monitor counters you may want to watch to ensure your Windows Server 2003 machines are running smoothly.
- Windows XP Keyboard Shortcuts
- Date - May 05, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP
- In today’s high speed, fast paced IT environment, it’s important to be able to work quickly, and efficiently. To do this, you should learn how to use both the keyboard and the mouse simultaneously to do many tasks, such as ‘finding a computer on your network’ all the way to X with nothing but a quick and simple keystroke. This article’s learning exercises not only build up speed, and help you be efficient and more productive, but will also help you take the pressure off working with one hand, now you can work with two.
- Making the Transition to Gigabit Ethernet
- Date - May 03, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- Recently, I was having problems because my nightly backup wasn’t completing within the allotted amount of time. I solved the problem by upgrading my network to gigabit Ethernet. Now, my backups complete in record time and everything on my network runs more quickly. In this article, I will show you how it’s done.
- Gaining Speed: Empty Prefetch on your XP System
- Date - Apr 28, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP
- A little known tweak that can help you gain some performance on your XP Professional (and Windows Server 2003) related systems is to periodically empty the prefetch folder. The prefetch folder is used to help speed up the loading of programs; XP will load programs it thinks you need before you ask for them yourself.
- Planning your Server Farm (Part 2)
- Date - Apr 26, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- Welcome to part two of how to plan your server farm and other tips to consider when building Windows Server 2003 systems to serve your network users. Deploying a server can be a chore, especially when it comes to planning. There are many things to consider. In this article we will look at how to verify your plan, and then move on to OS software checks and updating, as well as reviewing power requirements.
- Troubleshooting Startup Problems
- Date - Apr 21, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article examines a number of common problems associated with booting Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems and offers tips on how to resolve them.
- 802.11b vs. Bluetooth
- Date - Apr 19, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Wireless Networking
- The match is on! Which technology will come out on top, or will the points be shared? In this article we’ll take a look at 802.11b as opposed to Bluetooth. I’ll give you a background and point out the advantages and disadvantages of each so that you can make a decision for yourself. Once you have read this article you should have a general understanding of which would most suit your wireless networking needs.
- Planning your Server Farm (Part 1)
- Date - Apr 14, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- In this series of articles, we will cover all that you will need to consider when planning to deploy a new server farm. A server farm is just lingo used to describe a grouping of servers that you use within you Local Area Network (LAN), usually tied to a high speed backbone if designed properly. In this article set we will look at considerations when deploying a server farm. These tips and tricks will no doubt help you if you are unfamiliar with planning a design, ordering such equipment and deploying it.
- Book Reviews: Security Books
- Date - Apr 12, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- Security is always an important area for IT professionals, and there's no shortage of books on computer and network security coming out these days. Below are five recent titles on various security topics and my take on them.
- Managing Application Directory Partitions
- Date - Apr 07, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- Being that the Active Directory is nothing more than a large, extensible database, applications can be designed to store data and configuration information within the Active Directory. This allows the application’s data to be replicated to multiple domain controllers, giving the application a degree of load balancing and fault tolerance. If you have such an application though, it is considered good practice to put the application into a dedicated partition. In this article, I will show you how.
- Implementing Fault Tolerance on Windows Networks
- Date - Apr 05, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article provides a high-level survey of the different fault tolerant technologies available for Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition. These technologies, implemented in both hardware and software, help make Windows Server 2003 a highly available and reliable platform for running business critical applications.
- Using Group Policy to Deploy Applications
- Date - Mar 31, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- No one likes the idea of manually installing new versions of applications onto each individual PC in the office. Fortunately, you don’t have to. In this article, I will explain how to use the Active Directory to deploy applications, even if those applications don’t come with a Windows installer package.
- Troubleshooting Wireless Network Connections
- Date - Mar 29, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Wireless Networking
- In this article we will look at how to tackle some common wireless network problems that people come across. This document will outline the steps you should take if you encounter one of the mentioned issues.
- Making The Transition From SUS to WUS
- Date - Mar 24, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- Although the Windows Update Service (WUS) is still in beta testing, WUS is an important software release and it’s worth looking at now. In this article, I will explain how to implement WUS and have it co-exist with your existing SUS deployment. I will then explain how you can begin testing WUS and make the transition once WUS is finally released.
- Terminal Services Group Policy
- Date - Mar 22, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article looks at how you can use Group Policy to manage Terminal Services environments in Windows Server 2003. The article summarizes the various policies available and focuses on some key policies to configure.
- A First Look At Microsoft’s Istanbul
- Date - Mar 18, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- Istanbul has long been the code name for Microsoft’s next client for Live Communications Server. Just a couple of days ago, Microsoft announced that the official name for Istanbul will be Microsoft Office Communicator 2005. In this article, I will take a look at this new product.
- Managing Active Directory FSMO Roles
- Date - Mar 15, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article explains the function of Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) roles in Active Directory and outlines best practices for implementing and managing these roles on a Windows Server 2003-based network.
- Performing Resultant Set of Policy Queries with the GPRESULT Tool
- Date - Mar 10, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP
- The hierarchical nature of group policies can make troubleshooting group policy related issues very cumbersome, especially on unfamiliar networks. One way to greatly simplify the troubleshooting process is to use Windows XP’s GPRESULT tool. In this article, I will introduce you to this tool and show you how to use it.
- Upgrading Windows NT/2000 to Windows 2003 (Part 1)
- Date - Mar 08, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article covers the upgrading caveats that need to be considered when upgrading from Windows NT and Windows 2000 Network environments to Windows 2003. Issues encountered during installation and understanding the importance of the minimum requirements prescribed for installing the software, understanding the fundamentals described below will resolve and reduce problems that are usually encountered.
- What I'm Reading These Days (Part 2)
- Date - Mar 03, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- Here are five recent titles from O’Reilly that I’ve had a chance to look through and can recommend for your reading.
- Profile and Folder Redirection In Windows Server 2003
- Date - Mar 01, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- Assigning roaming profiles to users can greatly reduce your day to day workload. However, implementing roaming profiles can become a nightmare unless you know how to avoid the performance problems associated with them. In this article I will discuss the advantages and the common pitfalls associated with roaming profiles.
- Overview of Terminal Services
- Date - Feb 24, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article presents a high-level overview of Terminal Services technologies on Microsoft Windows platforms. Topics covered include a brief history of Terminal Services, its usefulness in enterprise environments, solutions from Microsoft and Citrix, and some special challenges for deploying and using Terminal Services.
- Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Its Functions
- Date - Feb 22, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking
- This article will cover a quite illusive protocol known as the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), employed by the Real Time Communications (RTC) Server is a Microsoft approach in providing instant messaging (IM) and videoconferencing on both a business and informal level. In order to understand the workings of the RTC Server it is necessary to acquire knowledge of the Server’s functionality. This incorporates understanding basic concepts of the SIP components. This protocol is typically used in applications like MSN and other types of session oriented applications that require interaction.
- Deploy Windows Server 2003: Considerations for Planning Network Bandwidth
- Date - Feb 17, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- Site links are a critical part of building Networked Windows Networks – How do Domain Controllers speak to each other without having synchronization problems? Network bandwidth being over utilized can play havoc with your network, at the same time affecting your Windows Server 2003 systems by creating errors in your logs seen in the Directory Services Log in the Event Viewer on our Domain Controller (DC). In this article we discuss things to consider when planning and designing site links.
- Planning Trust Relationships in a Windows Server 2003 Environment
- Date - Feb 15, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- In a Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 based forest, every domain automatically trusts all of the other domains in the entire forest. However, there are situations in which this automatic trust relationship constitutes a major security risk. In this article, I will explain what some of these situations are and how you can create the necessary trust relationships without posing a security risk.
- Mastering the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit
- Date - Feb 08, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- The Windows 2003 Resource Kit is by far the most underutilized arsenal I have seen in my work as a Manager. I see many Administrators doing tasks or not having solutions for tasks that are totally provided with this toolkit. In the next series of articles I present, we shall cover the Windows 2003 Resource kit 'In Depth'. This article starts the series by fundamentally covering where to get the software, the basic use of the resource kit, online resources and file set.
- Microsoft Speech Server and Speech Technologies … What's all the talk about?
- Date - Feb 03, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- Revolutionizing the Speech Industry this year and beyond will be Microsoft and the release of its Speech Technologies. Microsoft, already underway creating API’s, .NET functionality and so on, is working hard to take advantage of a market mired with proprietary, clunky and expensive technologies. Windowsnetworking.com will become the authority on Speech Services this year as well. This article covers Microsoft ‘Speech’ Services and Speech Technologies to be introduced this year.
- Using WebDAV with IIS
- Date - Feb 01, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article walks you through the process of using Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) to publish content to an Internet Information Services (IIS) web server. The article also explains why WebDAV is a more secure and better solution to publishing content than the traditional FTP approach.
- MSI Packaging Tools
- Date - Jan 27, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article discusses various third-party tools you can use to repackage applications into MSI files so you can deploy them using Group Policy in your Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 enterprise environment. The article also includes helpful links to resources on Microsoft.com and third-party sites where you can find out more about repackaging applications and deploying them using Group Policy.
- Troubleshooting Windows Shutdown Problems
- Date - Jan 25, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP
- One of the most common, but most overlooked problems with the Windows operating system are shut down problems. People tend to place a low priority of fixing Windows shutdown problems, but these problems can be symptoms of something more serious. In this article, I will explain how to diagnose a Windows shutdown issue.
- How to Optimize Network Connections in Windows XP
- Date - Jan 20, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP
- In this article we will cover how to optimize network connections on your Windows XP system. The optimizing of such connections lead to enhanced performance and security and are often overlooked. This article quickly shows you how to optimize and harden your network connections efficiently and effectively.
- Managing Printers Using Group Policy (Part 2)
- Date - Jan 18, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article and the previous one describe how to use Group Policy to manage printers in an Active Directory environment. Topics covered include controlling how printers are published in Active Directory, how printers can be tracked by location, how to disable Internet printing, how to prevent users from adding or deleting printers, and more.
- Understanding How Cluster Quorums Work
- Date - Jan 13, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- Quorums are one of the most often misunderstood topics in clustering. In this article, I will explain what a quorum is, what it does, and what some of your quorum options are.
- Managing Printers Using Group Policy (Part 1)
- Date - Jan 11, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- This article and the one following describe how to use Group Policy to manage printers in an Active Directory environment. Topics covered include controlling how printers are published in Active Directory, how printers can be tracked by location, how to disable Internet printing, how to prevent users from adding or deleting printers, and more.
- Resultant Set of Policy Planning and Logging
- Date - Jan 06, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows 2003
- Because of the way that Windows collects group policy elements from so many different sources, it can be difficult to predict what security policy will actually apply to a specific user. However, a utility in Windows Server 2003 allows you to accurately predict the outcome of policy changes and to track down the source of an unwanted policy.
- How to ''Quickly'' Test DNS Resolution
- Date - Jan 05, 2005
- Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows XP
- In this article we will cover how you can quickly test if you have resolution via a name server or not. Many times this comes up, a DNS server is down; client loses IP connectivity and can''t resolve DNS, DNS cache poisoning, the list goes on. DNS problems are common. Using this handy guide you can quickly see how you can test to see if your system is ''ok'' and resolving names to IPs properly.