Guy Recommends
A solution to monitor, manage and archive thousands of
events that are generated by devices across the entire network.
Download FREE
trial
Windows Server 2003 Utilities
Whenever I find the right Windows Server tool for the right job, I always get a satisfying
glow. I
particularly enjoy discovering a new utility that saves me time, ADSI Edit for interrogating LDAP properties, springs to mind. Other utilities come
into their own in an emergency, NTDSutil and ESEutil are life savers in
a disaster recovery situation. There again, I love old friends like, Ipconfig for checking IP configuration. However, in Windows 2003 they have new twists, such as Ipconfig -flushdns and in Vista
Ipconfig -allcompartments
The most common fault when evaluating new tools is forgetting where they came
from; take DCDIAG for an example, is it built-in? Or does it come in the
resource kit. Actually its neither, you install it from the Windows Server 2003, Support
tools folder.
One curiosity with these Windows utilities is that even amongst top techies, it's a
case of one man's meat is another man's poison. Few others rate cmdhere as
highly as I do, whereas I have never really got on with diskpart or dsmod.
Sources of Windows Server 2003 Utilities
Support Tools
Built-in Tools - Executables that come with the operating
system.
Microsoft's Site
Third party
Resource Kit(s)
 Guy
recommends: The SolarWinds ipMonitor
My attraction to
ipMonitor is
because it inhabits that zone of part work, part
play; Guy just could not put the dashboard away. This excellent performance
monitor will get you started in the quest to remove bottlenecks on your network. SolarWinds provides this fully-functioning product free for 21 days. So
download
and install ipMonitor, then start scrutinizing your computers CPU, memory and disk
performance. You can also select from zillions more performance counters such as
fan temperature and battery level.
Installing ipMonitor is a breeze, but learn from gung-ho Guy's mistake and install SNMP
on each computer that you wish to monitor. What sealed my unreserved
recommendation of SolarWinds is their support team, you will get expert help even
when you are evaluating the ipMonitor. One last point, SolarWinds are offering a
40% discount until Sept 26th.
Download SolarWinds ipMonitor (21 days eval)
 More Information. As an MCT trainer, I can thoroughly endorse TrainSignal because they
deliver practical hands on training. In particular, I like the way that TrainSignal cover all learning methods, instructor lead, video and of course text material. You can either take one module,
for example File Server or go for a combination of modules.
See more about Windows 2003 training here
|
