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Introduction
In the last article about exam 70-067, I began an
in-depth analysis of the Windows NT Server examination by concentrating on the Planning,
Installation and Configuration and Managing Resources exam sections. This articel will
conclude by taking a looking at the final three exam sections - Connectivity, Monitoring
and Optimisation and finally Troubleshooting. In each section I list the relevant topics
that you will need to revise, followed by more specific help with some of the questions
that you are likely to be asked.
The Connectivity Section
What to Revise
Authentication over RAS, Using WINS to reduce broadcast traffic, Differences between SLIP
and PPP,Changing protocol binding order, NetWare support, DHCP server – which
parameters can be assigned, RAS Autodial, TCP/IP minimum configuration, Advantages of
PPTP, Using the Callback option, DHCP lease renewal times, Using the Migration Tool for
NetWare, Configuring frame types.
Watch For:
Differences between SLIP and PPP
NetWare support
RAS Autodial
TCP/IP Minimum Configuration
DHCP Lease Renewal Times
Using the Migration Tool for NetWare
Configuring Frame Types
1. Differences between SLIP and PPP
SLIP is an older protocol that only supports TCP/IP. PPP supports NWLink, NetBEUI and
TCP/IP. NT only supports SLIP as a RAS client, not as a RAS server.
2. NetWare support
To support NetWare clients accessing NT file and print resources, install NWLink and GSNW.
To support NetWare clients accessing NT application resources, install NWLink only.
3. RAS Autodial
RAS Autodial is enabled automatically and maps network drives to TAPI dial-up connections.
4. TCP/IP Minimum Configuration
In a routed environment, the minimum configuration required for TCP/IP is IP Address,
Subnet Mask and Default Gateway. If there is only a single subnet, the Default Gateway is
not required.
5. DHCP Lease Renewal Times
At 50% of the lease renewal time, the DHCP client attempts to renew its lease by
contacting the DHCP server that leased the IP address using a directed message. If by
87.5% of renewal time it has failed to renew, it attempts to renew its lease by sending a
broadcast to any DHCP server.
6. Using the Migration Tool for NetWare
The Migration Tool for NetWare requires NWLink and GSNW to be installed. You must be a
supervisor or equivalent on the NetWare server.
7. Configuring Frame Types
If you are supporting NetWare servers then IPX/SPX frame types become an issue. For NT,
NWLink defaults to automatically setting the frame type to be the same as that detected
over the network. In the instance of it detecting both 802.2 (NetWare 3.12 and above) and
802.3 (NetWare 3.11 and below) frame types on the network, it sets the frame type to
802.2. To either choose your own frame type or to select multiple frame types, override
the default of Auto Select and manually select instead.
The Monitoring and Optimisation Section
What to Revise:
Server Service Properties
Page File Configuration
Performance Monitor
Foreground Application Processing
Network Monitor
Watch For:
1. Server Service Properties
On NT Servers (but not Workstations) you can select properties of the Server service. To
do this, go to Control Panel, Network, Services, select the Server service and select
Properties. There are four possible settings:
Minimize memory used – select if less than ten connections to the server
Balance – select if up to 64 connections to the server
Maximize throughput for File Sharing – select if the primary task of the server is
file and print sharing
Maximize throughput for Network Applications - select if the primary task of the server is
for distributed applications that perform their own memory caching (such as SQL Server).
2. Page File Configuration
To improve the performance of a page file, it should be moved away from the boot partition
(that is the disk that contains the NT system files) and spread over multiple physical
disks (multiple volumes on the same physical disk do not bring a performance enhancement).
The initial page file size is RAM + 12mb.
3. Performance Monitor
Not all Performance Monitor counters are installed by default. To obtain the Network
Segment counters, install the Network Monitor Agent service. To obtain the TCP/IP
counters, install the SNMP service.
You are not expected to know the purpose of every counter, but be familiar with the
workings of the following:
You should also be familiar with the four Performance Monitor views and the purpose of
each one.
4. Foreground Application Processing
To set the NT Server to give processing priority to the foreground application, select the
Performance tab from the Control Panel, System utility and move the slider to the right.
There are three possible settings: To the left – no priority boost, centred – a
boost of one priority level to the foreground application. To the right - a boost of two
priority levels to the foreground application.
5. Network Monitor
There are two versions of Network Monitor – the version that comes with Windows NT
and the version that comes with Systems Management Server (SMS). The versions are
identical in all respects except that the SMS version can monitor data sent over the
network that neither originates from nor is being sent to the monitoring computer. To do
this it puts the network interface card into promiscuous mode. The Windows NT version is
limited to monitoring data sent to or from the monitoring computer plus broadcast traffic.
Network Monitor is installed as a service and there are also two different services that
you can choose from. Network Monitor Agent is the component that binds with the network
interface card to pick up data on the network. This service must be running on the
computer that will be used to pick up the data. Network Monitor Tools and Agent includes
both the agent and the utility that the user interfaces with. This must be present on the
computer used to start, stop and analyse data captures.
Familiarise yourself with how to start and stop a capture and how to filter the results of
a capture to display just frames to/from a particular computer or just frames sent using a
particular protocol (eg SMB).
The Troubleshooting Section
What to Revise
Troubleshooting Printers
Display Configuration Problems
The UPS Service
Creating a DEVICE.LOG for the RAS Service
User Logons
Wrongly Configured Drivers
Installing SCSI Drivers
Missing/Corrupt Registry
Fault Tolerant Volumes
Fault Tolerant Boot Disk
Using Event Viewer
Watch For:
1. Troubleshooting Printers
If print jobs build up in Print Manager but do not get sent to the print device, stop and
restart the Spooler service to clear the jam. (Print jobs will need to be re-submitted by
users).
If you are attempting to install a JetDirect printer and are not shown the JetDirect port,
the DLC protocol is missing and should be installed.
The spool file can be optimised for performance by moving it to a different volume from
the boot partition (where the system files reside). To do this either use Advanced
Properties of the printer or edit the registry.
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Current_Control_Set\Control\Print\Printers).
2. Display Configuration Problems
The easiest way to troubleshoot display configuration problems is to reboot and choose VGA
mode from the boot menu.
3. The UPS Service
Problems with the UPS system not communicating with NT properly could be due to
configuring the relevant signal polarity incorrectly (positive or negative) in Control
Panel, UPS.
4. Creating a DEVICE.LOG for the RAS Service
To create a DEVICE.LOG for troubleshooting RAS problems, set
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Services\Current_Control_Set\Services\RasMan\Parameters\Logging to a
value of 1.
5. User Logons
If you change group membership for a user to enable them to access a resource, the
resource will still not be available to them until after they have logged off and back on,
when new group membership will take effect. If they are a member of a group with specific
No Access permission granted for a resource, the user will still not be able to access the
resource until you have removed them from that group and they have logged back on again.
6. Wrongly Configured Drivers
The easiest way to troubleshoot a wrongly configured driver is to restart and select the
Last Known Good option.
7. Installing SCSI Drivers
If NT does not auto-detect the presence of your SCSI device during installation, you can
either press S to specify additional devices manually, or wait until after installation
and install the driver from the Control Panel, SCSI utility.
8. Missing/Corrupt Registry
To troubleshoot a missing or corrupt registry, boot from the three setup diskettes and
select R to perform an emergency repair using your emergency repair disk.
9. Fault Tolerant Volumes
To troubleshoot a damaged mirror, remove and replace the broken disk then in Disk
Administrator select the mirror and from the Fault Tolerance menu select Break Mirror.
Select the remaining volume plus free space on the new drive and from the Fault Tolerance
menu select Establish Mirror to recreate a new mirror.
To troubleshoot a damaged stripe set with parity, remove and replace the broken disk then
in Disk Administrator select the stripe set plus free space on the new drive and from the
Fault Tolerance menu select Regenerate Stripe Set. This can take quite a long period of
time for a large volume.
10. Fault Tolerant Boot Disk
A fault tolerant boot disk is used to boot the machine to the mirror of the boot partition
(where the NT system files reside) in the event of the original failing. To create a fault
tolerant boot disk, copy the boot files to a floppy disk then open BOOT.INI with a text
editor. Edit the ARC path of the default option to point to the volume on the mirror
instead of the original volume, then save the change.
11. Using Event Viewer
Make sure that you are familiar with the three different logs that you can view using
Event Viewer:
Security Log: Security events for auditing successes and
failures of system and object use. These can only be viewed by an administrator. The list
of security events to be logged is configured using the Audit Policy in User Manager for
Domains from the Policies menu. Again, only administrators have the right to configure the
Audit Policy.
System Log: Events that the system services and drivers
write. These include information events which inform us of what is happening, warning
events that draw our attention to potential future problems and error events that are
created when errors occur and can be a useful source of information for troubleshooting
the problem that is causing the error.
Application Log: Events written by applications that have
been programmed to make use of the event log (such as SQL Server) and are therefore not
relevant to the NT Server examination.
This concludes our two-part scrutiny of the Windows NT Server 4.0 examination. As you will
have observed if you have also read our NT Workstation examination articles (published in
the September and October editions of NTExplorer magazine) there are many similarities
between the two exams. It may be worthwhile to consider revising for both exams
simultaneously. For the server examination the pass mark is 764. Concentrate on revising
the points shown above and once you are familiar with the subjects that we have gone
through during this month and last month, you should be in the position to pass your
examination first time
New examination format
As you may have read elsewhere, Microsoft has recently released a new format for their
examinations. The old exams are rapidly being phased out in favour of the new; the NT
Workstation and Server examinations are already being given in the new format, and others
are sure to follow. The good news is that you’ll face far fewer questions than
before: expect a total of fifteen rather than 60-70. The bad news is that the questions
have changed. To be more precise, the way the questions are selected has changed. The
examinations are now adaptive - they change as you answer them. What this means is
that, although you will be asked fewer questions, with each question you answer the next
question is made harder or easier, depending upon whether you answered right or wrong. The
exam starts off with a question of moderate difficulty; in effect you find your level from
that point on. One of the side-effects of this system is that, because your answer to each
question determines the difficulty level of the next question, you cannot go back to
questions that you have answered earlier.
As you might expect, marking the exam is rather more complex than adding up the correct
answers out of fifteen! Marks are assigned on the basis of a complex, statistical analysis
of your answers, with correctly answered harder questions being weighted differently to
easier questions. From the perspective of revision, the new exam format does not change
everything: the subject areas you will be tested on are the same as before, so courses or
books that you have used for your revision (and the valuable advice to be found in the
pages of NTexplorer!) will be just as relevant now as they were with the old exams.
What you do need to consider is which prep-test software to buy; almost all testing
software available at the moment emulates the old exams, not the new ones.
For more detailed information and to download a sample adaptive test, point your Web
browser to http://www.microsoft.com/train_cert |
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