70291: MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network, Enhanced Chapter 14: Troubles

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70-291 MCSE Guide to Managing a Microsoft
Windows Server 2003 Network, Enhanced Chapter
14 Troubleshooting Windows Server 2003 Networks
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Objectives

• Outline the maintenance cycle
• Understand common troubleshooting methodology
• Use common Windows Server 2003 tools to
  troubleshoot server and network problems
• Describe the common network connectivity
  problems and their solutions

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Troubleshooting Methodology

• Maintaining system integrity includes monitoring,
  proactive maintenance, and reactive maintenance
• Monitoring examining network connectivity,
  viewing log files and running performance
  utilities periodically
• Proactive maintenance taking the necessary steps
  to minimize the chance of future problems
• Reactive maintenance to correct problems when
  they arise during monitoring

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Troubleshooting Methodology (continued)

• Reactive maintenance composed of many procedures
  known as troubleshooting procedures
• Two golden rules that should guide you during any
  troubleshooting process
• Prioritize problems
• Try to solve the root of the problem

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Troubleshooting Methodology (continued)
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Troubleshooting Methodology (continued)
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Troubleshooting Tools

• Most common tools include
• Network Monitor
• System Monitor
• Performance Logs and Alerts
• Event Viewer
• Task Manager
• Services snap-in

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Network Monitor

• Used to view and log network activity
• Two main components
• Network Monitor
• Network Monitor driver
• Version of Network Monitor included with Windows
  Server 2003 is only designed to capture data at
  the computers local network interface

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Activity 14-1 Installing Network Monitor

• Objective Install Network Monitor
• Use Add/Remove Windows Components
• Make sure Network Monitor driver is installed

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Activity 14-2 Using Network Monitor

• Objective Use Network Monitor to monitor traffic
  on a network
• Start Network Monitor
• Press F10 to start capturing performance data
• Ping some IP address
• Press F11 to stop capturing and press F12 to
  display captured data

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Activity 14-3 Creating a Filter in Network
Monitor

• Objective Create a filter in Network Monitor
• Start Network Monitor
• Press F8 to configure filter
• Press F10 to start new capture

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System Monitor

• One of the most useful tools for collecting data
  on real-time server performance
• Collects data that you can use for the following
  tasks
• Server performance
• Problem diagnosis
• Capacity planning
• Testing
• Information captured can be displayed with a
• Graph
• Histogram
• Report

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System Monitor (continued)
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Activity 14-4 Exploring System Monitor Settings

• Objective Explore Windows Server 2003 System
  Monitor settings
• View data in histogram, report, and graph mode
• Highlight counters
• Freeze the display
• Try out the Update Data button

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Activity 14-5 Adding Counters to System Monitor

• Objective Add object counters to the System
  Monitor tool
• Start System Monitor
• Select PhysicalDisk performance object and add
  Disk Read Time counter
• Select Memory object and add Available MBytes
  counter
• Add all counters

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Activity 14-6 Saving and Viewing System Monitor
Data

• Objective Explore options for saving System
  Monitor data
• Start System Monitor
• Collect data and freeze the display
• Save data as htm file

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Performance Logs and Alerts

• Allows for the automatic collection of data on
  the local computer or from another computer on
  the network
• Allows you to perform the following tasks
• Collect data in binary, comma-separated, or
  tab-separated format
• View data while being collected and after
  collection
• Configure and manage multiple logging sessions
  from a single console window
• Set up alerts

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Performance Logs and Alerts (continued)

• Three options available
• Counter logs
• Trace Logs
• Alerts
• Counter logs take information from System Monitor
  and save it to a log file
• Trace logs are triggered to start when an event
  occurs
• Alerts are used to configure an event to occur
  when a counter meets a predefined value

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Performance Logs and Alerts (continued)
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Performance Logs and Alerts (continued)
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Activity 14-7 Configuring Performance Logs and
Alerts

• Objective Configure performance logging and
  alerts
• Right-click System Overview icon and click start
• Wait 2 minutes, click stop, and then use System
  Monitor to view log file
• Set alerter service and messenger service to
  automatic
• Configure an alert to send a network message
  according to the instructions

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Event Viewer

• Most common and effective monitoring and
  troubleshooting tool
• Used to gather information and troubleshoot
  services, hardware, and system problems
• Three log files
• Application log
• Security log
• System log
• The system log can only be viewed by
  administrators and those users with appropriate
  permissions

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Event Viewer (continued)
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Event Viewer (continued)
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Activity 14-8 Viewing Event Viewer System and
Application Log Events

• Objective View events in the Event Viewer system
  and application logs
• Open Event Viewer
• View contents of application log
• View the contents of the system log

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Task Manager

• Provides one of the fastest ways to check server
  and network performance and to determine what
  processes are running on the system
• Consists of five different tabs
• Applications
• Processes
• Performance
• Networking
• Users

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Task Manager (continued)
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Task Manager (continued)
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Activity 14-9 Using Task Manager

• Objective Use Task Manager to control
  applications and processes and gather basic
  system performance data
• Press CtrlAltDelete
• End some processes
• Change some priorities
• Review performance data

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Services Snap-in

• Always disable any unnecessary components such as
  services
• Disabling services also frees computing resources
• Properties of a service include four different
  configuration tabs
• General
• Log On
• Recovery
• Dependencies

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Services Snap-in (continued)
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Services Snap-in (continued)
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Services Snap-in (continued)
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Activity 14-10 Configuring Windows Server 2003
Services

• Objective Configure the startup properties and
  settings of Windows Server 2003 services
• Set Remote Desktop Help Session Manager service
  to start automatically
• Set the service to restart on a first failure
• Set the service to run cmd on a second failure
• Disable the Remote Registry service

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Troubleshooting Network Connectivity

• Requires a broad knowledge of several network
  concepts in order to solve a problem
• Common problems include
• Computer cannot access resources on the local
  network
• Computer cannot access the Internet or a remote
  network but can communicate locally
• A computer cannot access resources on the local
  network using name resolution
• A computer cannot access remote resources

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Summary

• Network administrators monitor the network and
  servers on a regular basis and perform proactive
  and reactive maintenances
• Common troubleshooting procedures involve
• Collecting data to determine the cause of system
  problems
• Implementing and testing solutions
• Network Monitor gathers information about network
  performance
• The Performance console uses System Monitor and
  Performance Logs and Alerts to monitor server
  health

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Summary (continued)

• You can configure alerts for specific objects and
  counters
• You can use Event Viewer to view the contents of
  the system logs, application logs, and security
  logs
• Task Manager provides information on processes
  and applications running on a system
• When optimizing the performance of your computer,
  use the Services icon to disable any unnecessary
  services to eliminate overhead