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  1. Introduction
  2. Installation
  3. Hardware Issues
  4. Filesystems
  5. Networking
  6. Security
  7. Servers
  8. Services
  9. Utilities
  10. Control Panel
  11. Printing
  12. Performance Monitor
  13. Network Monitor
  14. Event Viewer
  15. Other Issues
  16. User Accounts
  17. Groups
  18. Policies
  19. User Rights
  20. Auditing
  21. System Policies
  22. Sharing
  23. Profiles
  24. Roaming Profiles
  25. Domains
  26. Server Management
  27. Directory Replication
  28. License Management
  29. Client Administrator
  30. Netware Tools
  31. Macintosh Support
  32. RAS Server
  33. SNMP
  34. DHCP
  35. DNS
  36. WINS
  37. Mail Service
  38. Internet
  39. Internet Information Server
  40. Routing and Firewalls
  41. Items to Remember
  42. Terms
  43. Credits

Servers

NT Server Roles

  • PDC - Domain administration can only be done by the primary domain controller. The BDC can be used to update the SAM on the PDC. If the PDC is down, this cannot be done.
  • BDC - Backup domain controller is used to keep copies of the domain database and authenticate users. The nearest BDC is normally used to authenticate a user.
  • Member Server - A server (included in the domain) that is not a domain controller. The user must be logged onto the domain to use this server. A member server can be moved between domains since it does not have a domain SID. Types of servers are:
    • Application Server - Does the server part or back end of a client server application. An application server is SQL server. Microsoft access would be the front end (client side) to an SQL server which will return data based on users' requests.
    • Internet Servers - IIS comes with NT server 4. Suppotrs HTTP, FTP, and gopher. Place a firewall between this server and your network.
    • Messaging Servers - Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes. Can be used for paging, or sorting through internet and bulletin board articles.
    • Gateway - GSNW (Gateway services for NetWare). RAS servers are considered a serial to network gateway. They can poll news sources and make information indirectly available to clients.

Computers that are PDCs or BDCs cannot move between domains since each domain has a domain ID assigned when the first domain controller is created. Also the domain controllers have a different directory structure than member servers. The "Server Manager for Domains" is used to promote a BDC to PDC. This causes the PDC to change to a BDC.

Typical Server Hardware

Server TypeProcessorRAMHard DriveBackupNetwork AdapterCD-ROMOther
File ServerPI 150Mhz48M8GDAT 4G100Mhz ethernet4X CD-ROMs(2)
Application ServerDual PII 266Mhz128M5GWorm Near-line100Mhz ethernet with adapter for each subnet2X CD-ROM
Internet ServerPI 100Mhz32M2GQIC 2GEthernet4X CD-ROMT-1 interface
Messaging ServerPI 200Mhz32M2GQIC 2GEthernet4X CD-ROMTwo fast modems
RAS ServerPI 100Mhz32M1GNoneEthernet2X CD-ROMMultiport serial board with modems
FirewallPI 150Mhz32M1GNoneDual ethernet2X CD-ROM

NT Workstation 4.0 can only have 10 inbound IP connections at the same time with unlimited outbound connections. NTWS 3.51 does not have this limitation and can be used as a firewall.

Important file Server Characteristics

  1. Security - Includes fault tolerance, recovery, network security, and file system security.
  2. Capacity - Requirements are 300Mb + (OS network load factor) times (50Mb per client).
  3. Speed - Large RAM caches are used to improve speed along with disk striping and RAID hardware.

Server Performance Monitoring

Useful performance monitor counters on a server.

  • Bytes Total/sec
  • Sessions errored out

An SQL server processes client requests. It does not exchange data with the client.

UNC Name

UNC stands for universal naming convention and has the following three parts:

  1. NetBIOS computer name.
  2. Share name
  3. Optional path