Nameserver resource

Here is a great resource for creating and maintaining DNS name servers.

http://www.menandmice.com/9000/9310_DNS_Corner_Questions.html

Windows Server 2003 SP1 Hits RC2 Stage

Windows Server 2003 SP1 Hits RC2 StageMicrosoft posted second release candidates on Wednesday night forWindows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2003 x64Edition and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

By Scott Bekkerhttp://entmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=6563

Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 review from the small guy on the ground

It was with great relief that I stumbled across MOM 2005. I had seen the daily reports produced by SBS 2003 and knew that I needed similar reporting, but more detailed and specific, on our other servers.

We have an increasingly growing network comprising essential servers that must remain online at all times. Each server has different monitoring needs depending upon the job that it is doing. E.g. web, mail, dns or database server etc.

After reading the reviews, I was keen to get up and running fast. This didn’t really turn out to be the case. MOM is a complex monitoring system and so a reasonable amount of reading is really necessary before installation. On the plus side, there is a mass of documentation on MOM 2005 from Microsoft and so the initial installation happened over a weekend after reading about 5 manuals.

MOM works on the basis of having a monitoring server, with each client computer having a Client Agent installed. I quickly realised that MOM 2005 was massively dependant upon other Microsoft software products. The data is stored in SQL server and SQL Reporting Services is used also. Depending upon the size of the network being monitored, this can be on set-up on one server, or more servers to spread the load. Oh, and you need IIS and the .Net framework.

I installed the Management Server and all essential services on a spare server, so I was able to pretty much do what I wanted within the confines of the domain. After the Management Server was installed, the installation of the Client Agent on a member server was relatively straight forward. The Client Agent can install automatically after a few clicks. However, as with all things, there are a few ports to open on firewalls to allow for communication between essential ports.

Once this initial installation of server and agent has been done, it is necessary to configure the monitoring and alerts. When you install MOM, you get 2 new MMCs. The Administrator Console and the Operator Console. All MOM configuration is done through the Administrator Console. The Operator Console is used to view the alerts and logs generated by MOM. The Operator Console can be customised to the needs of different types of administrators or users. So this really does follow the delegation of permissions concept. Even down to the point of being a ticketing system to log service requests, either by clients or staff.

Management packs are used to apply template style monitoring to a specific server role. So if you have an Exchange Server, then apply the Exchange management pack and follow the guidelines from the documentation. Continue this until each management pack for each type of server role has been applied. This will roll out a complete set of monitoring and alert settings for each server on the network which reports back to the Management Server and alerts the appropriate staff of the appropriate alert or warning etc.
The reality of the configuration of MOM 2005 involves a lot of head scratching and reading to really understand the mechanics of the monitoring and alert processes. This clunky installation and configuration is the only downside for me.

Although we have by no way explored the extent to which MOM 2005 can be used, we have been extremely impressed by its monitoring scope and power. We have not had time to continue configuring as much as we would have liked. However, even so, it has already helped us so much.

I have been particularly impressed with the way that you have a centralised location to search through log files when solving a service failure, or warning. This has enabled us to resolve emergencies after being emailed details of the critical warning or failure.
MOM 2005 monitoring picks out stuff you would never really check, or possibly find. This does lend itself to a proactive and research type approach to problem solving, helping to pre-empt problems and avoid failures. It also leads to a great deal of staring at a screen reading logs.

During the continued configuration, the amount of “bogus” alerts like a webpage not being found, makes your network appear like it is on meltdown. Although this is annoying, it helps to tick off the list of configuration changes needed to configure the network and MOM.

There are a lot of fundamentals needed before a proper grasp of configuring can be made. Plus there’s the reporting power provided by SQL Server Reporting Services to tackle.
In the future, we are keen to integrate MOM 2005 with text message alerts, so we can receive text message alerts as well as email alerts.

Do not underestimate the power of MOM 2005 or the effort required to install, configure and maintain it. But it is one hell of a tool!

SBS Getting started guide

We have been working with SBS 2003 for a few months now and, to be honest, we think it is really good. There are some great features. I came accross this article from Microsoft which highlights the main points needed to get started. It really is a point and click installation with loads of pre-configured Group Policies and settings which make both setting up and administering a real breeze. Check the article out below.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sbs/2003/plan/gsg/appx_d.mspx

A great article on wireless

Here's a link to a great article on Wireless Hotspots. It highlights some interesting WIFI connection sniffers and tools etc. Plus a few tips and tricks.

http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/issues/technology/broadband_mobility/wi_fi_on_the_road_4_tips_for_hitting

There's users and there's users.

I've been taking a few service calls recently and I sometimes amaze myself just what can be fixed on the phone. it is often not as easy as that. There are a few basics that any user can be taught to help out. I wrote a whole article on keyboard shortcuts, so I'm going to post that in our forum http://forum.yellowpark.net. Please feel free to circulate to any users, in the hope that it makes our lives easier.

Client excuses

A client appologised to me today for not sending some stuff to me. They said they were editing Colonel Gadaffis' book.

How to enable Windows 98 clients to logon to Windows 2003 based Domains

There is loads of conflicting information regarding configuring Windows 98 clients to join a 2003 domain. This document from Microsoft is a great example of conflicting information.

If you follow this document, you are advised to install the Active Directory Client Extensions for Windows 95/98 and Windows NT 4.0. Then make a couple of registry changes and voila.
The reality is different. We followed the Microsoft instructions to the letter and were unable to join the domain with the Windows 98 client machine. Every time we tried to log onto the domain, we had an error stating Incorrect password or parameter.

Here's the basics of configuring Windows 98 to join a domain. Right click Network Neighbourhood and click properties. Then select Client For Microsoft Networks and click the properties button. Tick the "Log on to Windows NT Domain" and enter the domain name in the "Windows NT Domain" box - note you do not need to enter the .com or .local extension for the domain name.

We found you were then able to log onto the domain without any of the registry changes or AD Client extensions as recommended. In fact, when we had the AD client extensions installed and with the registry changes, we were unable to logon. Work that one out!

You will find that the computer is not added into the Computers OU. So you might want to add that manually.

During logon, a logon script tries to execute and doesn't. We will be continuing to test out the windows 98 and SBS 2003 set-up and making changes over the next few weeks. We will also be testing out System Policies for W98. I will blog all findings as usuall. Watch this space.

My mates cartoon streaming on our server

Here's a link to a cartoon that a good friend of mine is making. Put this address into Windows Media Services.

mms://demo.yellowpark.net/Kingsland

Windows Media Services 9

Windows Media Services 9 is a great "free" component of Windows 2003 server (not available with web edition). Install it through add/remove windows programmes and you will be streaming video and audio in minutes - well in reality, that does depend upon the complexity of your network and making sure you open the right ports on your firewall(s). You will need the following ports mapping in to your firewall to allow Windows Media Services to work correctly:

In: TCP 1755, UDP 1755, UDP 5005, TCP 554 (quicktime)
Out: UDP 1024 - 5000

There are loads of resources for Windows Media Services 9. We have barely scratched the surface so far. There are developer kits available for download. Just get on Uncle Bills site and search.

One thing we do need to work on is cross browser compatibility. Again, we'll blog any findings on this.

San Fran Rocks

Even though our resident analyst is out of town, it still feels as though he is with us. Reading about the San Francisco escapade certainly raises a smile.

The office is much quiter - much quieter. In fact, I'm wondering what music we will be playing this Friday afternoon. Nu Yorican Soul will not sound the same. And all this with a distinct lack of literature to read. Come back James, all is forgiven.