clutch

Just so you know, you *might* have to update the mobo BIOS to support the new RAM. I had to do it for several Dell systems here to support some newer 100/133 sticks that I got from Kingston and Crucial. After the update, they worked great.

So, what are you saying is that you simply cannot launch a shortcut, and that while you can launch shortcuts to the other 2 programs, you can't do it for WINS manager? Have you tried connecting to the same server using a local copy of WINS manager? Better yet, just use the one from Adminpak.msi, as it installs all of the tools and they work equally well across both W2K and NT4 platforms.

Quote: Have you changed cables? Don't ever, ever, ever rely on the simple things. If you can swap them out for troubleshooting, do so.

Just because your username and password are identical between the domains doesn't make the accounts identical. NT sees your accounts in its simplest form as: DOMAINNAME\username Even if your usernames are the same, you will still be presenting the server with: DOMAIN-1\Ivor007 and DOMAIN-2\Ivor007 I have never tried to setup inter-domain name resolution with WINS before, but it sounds like you are simply having user account resolution issues. I have a couple of questions: Are you using the old NT WINS manager (that came in "Client Tools" on the NT4 Server CD) or the updated one in Adminpak.msi from the Win2K Server CD (also found in the Win2K Service Packs-get the one out of SP2)? Are you trying to manage the WINS box across a router? If so, do you have the WINS box set to authenticate and be managed across a fixed port (like Exchange's services)? Check out this link for more info on WINS: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treevie...rt2/tcpch07.asp

I heard and read that IDE RAID works rather well in both RAID 0 and RAID 1. I don't have a need for that kind of I/O performance as of yet, so I haven't tried it personally.

This link was in another thread here. Honestly, I would be surprised to see the MS JVM on WindowsUpdate this soon due to their dispute with Sun. http://www.microsoft.com/java/vm/dl_vm40...26redirect%3Dno

Did you recently run any of IIS securing utilities (hisec template, URLScan, IISLockdown)?

Has anybody been fiddling with policies on that system? How about testing policies in general? Here is some information on Group Policy settings and deployment: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treevie...rt4/dsgch22.asp

Well, NT4 will be around for a while to come, but you would be wise to not devote a large amount of time to it. I found NT4 quite easy to work with, and Win2K was a logical step forward from NT4. From the workstation perspective, there isn't a lot of difference, but from the server/network admin perspective, they are worlds apart. Win2k server is much easier to administer than NT4 server was out of the box. And the domain models are completely different as well. As for differences between XP and 2K, I would have to say that the major ones will be slight changes in group policy options, and the remote desktop function of WinXP.

Yeah, companies can "own" an area because they can get licensed/authorized to lay down the cable and infrastructure to support it. Then, that provider can now either provide service to that area, or lease out time and usage of their infrastructure to competitors so they can provide service to the users in that area. That's why wireless connections are so great for competition; they can allow several vendors to provide service to the same area which can over time make that service a simple commodity. At that point, they have to compete on features, performance, quality, and cost. As for the brief intro to our wonderful world of telecommunication costs, no problem. It's been a rough ride for me to pick this up, and like you I was pi$$ed about all the costs (hidden or otherwise) associated with something that other people simply take for granted.

No, nobody said anybody had to be a "MASTER" at programming, but I just wanted them to understand that they should stay focused on the task at hand. It's very easy to become distracted when learning something new, so I wanted them to remember that they shouldn't feel the need to expend resources in all directions at the same time. And yes, basic knowledge of scripting is helpful (and easy to pick up anyway) in general administration. Also, with mention of resource kits, note that there are SEVERAL from which to choose. I am more familiar with the WinNT 4.0 Server, SMS 2.0, Office 2K, and IE 5.x kits. MS has a reskit for just about everything they make, so keep an eye out for one pertaining to your area of study.

Yes and yes. What I normally do is export all the email to my archive.pst folder anyway, so that way I have all of my email, attachments, contacts, etc in one file. Also, I make sure to compress that file in outlook first before I format. Win2K will also read "spot" compression on files and folders, and even the entire disk if it has been compressed after setup.

Quote: AlecStarr: Please let me know where you got your information about that program. Particularly, how you know for sure the CIA uses it. I work for the department of defense and have about the highest security clearance you can get, and have never heard of that program. Oh yes...kudos on your CD-ROM alarm clock software. It works nicely. Why do you think that you would have heard of all the software that another agency uses? I am just curious, as my mother worked for DIA, and wouldn't be able to list all the software that the FBI, CIA, DoD, etc. would use. And yes, she also has a rather high clearance. Do have the ability to recurse all the software that these agencies use? And if so, wouldn't discussing that here not be such a good idea? APK: As for the security clearance, it's "easier" (relative term) to get that type of designation if you are active duty or have strong political ties. My mother's clearance took a little over 5 years to get her to her highest level before she retired.

One main suggestion that I would make, is to decide what course you would like to take. APK talks of learning VB and such, which is fine if you want to go a development route. While having knowledge of a broad number of topics is good, you should focus on what you want to get out of this certification and where you think your career path may lie. I started off as desktop support and basic network administration in a Win9x/Novell environment, and slowly started working with NT. As I came to get more familiar with (and fond of) NT, I started using it more and more. I left that position, and eventually made my way to my current job where I am the sole admin of a full NT (NT4/2K) network. I now work with Exchange 5.5, SMS 2.0, Progress (DB software), QAD (ERP system), MS SQL 2K, various McAfee Products, Access, etc. on a daily basis. This has proven to be quite fun, and very educational. However, while I have enjoyed being a sysadmin, I would like to move on to web development. This was kicked off by my more recent interest in databasing, and was then fueled by working with ASP. I had a very strong background in IIS, so basic site structure and optimization wasn't an issue. The reason why I bring this up, is that APK is suggesting more of a admin/developer hybrid in the subject matter he wrote about. You can become a very skilled network admin and not know anything about VB, Java, C++, etc (I didn't, and I am just now dragging on through VBScript/ASP) while performing your job at a top-tier level. Programming is as simple as executing a series of commands in a desired order, such as a batch file. But I would have to draw the line there, as opposed to APK's notion of the future sysadmin needing to be a programmer as well. In smaller organizations, that would make more sense as they can't afford to bring in multiple personnel. However, those same companies might not be able to afford someone that is good at both professions anyway, and will probably stick with someone who is more focused on administration rather than programming. As for larger companies, the division between both IT types can be so great as to make them almost invisible to each other, even if they are in the same building. Remember, don't be concerned about the money while laying out your certification track; try to focus on what you enjoy, and envision yourself doing in 10-15 years. If you keep working at what you like, the money will come eventually. There are so many options available in the current Microsoft Certification program (along with many other certifying bodies such as Cisco and the A+ programs), that you should be able to tailor an education best suited to your goals. Also, DO NOT FOCUS ON JUST PASSING THE TESTS. Try to think of it as an education, and the tests are merely for YOUR benefit to gauge how you are understanding and retaining the material. Too many people think of just passing the exams, and wind up putting so much pressure on themselves that they are doomed to fail. This is a major step in your career, so try to enjoy it, ok?

To further clarify: Quote: Ok, first let me just clarify something. The page file is not part of NTFS, its simply part of windows. In fact all versions of windows have "virtual memory" ...but in NT/2k/XP, its in the form of a page file. Now a couple things you need to know about it, and some logical ways to deal with it. - Its best to create the page file on a fresh hard drive with nothing on it, to insure that the entire page file is created in one section of your harddrive (this increases seek times). I think he meant "reduces" seek times, as that is what you would want. Quote: - It is best in most cases to set your Min and Max sizes for the page file to be the same. This way it creates the page file once, and never grows by itself. This way that contiguous file you created above, will never create a new part on a different section of the harddrive. Yep, this is pretty much the case. Why bother letting the OS "burp" the pagefile when YOU know what you want out of it? Quote: - Its much better (in most cases) to put the page file on a different drive than your OS is loaded. The reason for this is that when you're using memory, the system is reading and writing to this page file. So....rather than loose the drive performance of a single harddrive reading from both page file, and system/program files at the same time, the page file can be accessed via drive #2, whiles your OS files, and applications can be read/wrote from Drive #1. Does that make sense? Sort of, however if you are using all IDE devices, that both of the drives in question are on the same chain, moving the pagefile from the system partition/disk will be of little consequence as IDE is not capable of simultaneous reads and writes. Now, if you have a SCSI rig, then this would be highly recommended. Quote: - The actual size I use is equal to the amount of RAM i have, which is 512 MB. I find this to work fine for me. If you have less ram, you should probably use 1 1/2x the ram you have (so for 128 MB RAM, make a 384 MB pagefile) This methodology is fine for initial setup, but I would recommend not making the pagefile any larger than necessary. I use some heavy duty apps that don't even approach my 512MB of RAM, so I use a 150MB size-locked pagefile. Once I get my main workstation running on XP, I will simply disable the pagefile altogether, as I would rather have everything running in RAM than let it go back and forth to my HD. The reason for a pagefile initially, was because most workstations didn't have enough physical RAM to support the OS and applications at the same time. I remember WFW and WinNT 3x boxes running on 8MB of RAM that could barely hang with the OS, let alone anything like a graphics editor. So, the idea was to "add" to the system RAM by using HD space, and it works fine. However, harddrive access times are nowhere near the speed of physical RAM, so this will always be a drawback. The one downside to setting the pagefile to less than the RAM size (or disabling it altogether) is that you will be disabling the ability for the system to write debugging info from a bluescreen to the HD. You can still use the "mini-dump" option though, if that would suffice. HTH

Nicely done. The only other thing that I other ways I have heard of screwing with them was: 1. A friend picked up the phone, and was asked something from a telemarketer. He then stated that he didn't have the time to talk to him, but offered to call back later. The telemarketer stated that the didn't have a direct line, and wouldn't be able to be reached. So, my friend responds with "No problem, just give me your home number and I'll call you later tonight." The telemarketer responded "Sorry sir, but I would be off work and wouldn't be interested in taking the call at that time." "Funny, I feel the same way, yet here you are calling me." was my friend's reply right before he hung up. 2. A telemarketer "from" Sprint (or was she?) called to offer me some wonderful new deal. I asked "you are from Sprint? I have a friend that works for Sprint and he never mentioned you. How do I know that you work for Sprint?" "Well sir, I can assure you that I.." "Assurance is no proof, I can't see your listing on my caller ID, and I am suppose to take your word for it? I get calls from Sprint for other things, and yet I can see their numbers all the time." Pause. "Uhm, actually, I work for a call center that is a contractor for Sprint right now, so I..." "Ohhh, so now you DON'T work for Sprint, do you? Well, I have no time for liars!" Then, I hung up.

I am MCSE and MCP+I, and I can say that the course I went to sucked. But, the MS curriculum books are awesome (I still use them as reference books). Sybex makes some awesome manuals as well, and work well in tandem with a good lab setting. Idealy, you would like to have at least 5 active accounts to manage, and 2 DCs to play with AD. As for TCP/IP, there is no separate course in that anymore, and the topic is integrated throughout all the core exams. If you have anymore questions on this topic, just reply or simply email me.

The competition isn't exactly in the same vein as something like retail stores dropping prices on the same goods. The telcos spend so much time and money on "locking" areas to keep other vendors out, that they just raise the prices whenever they want. Then, when other vendors have the "right" to provide the same service in that area, it winds up be offset by royalties and taxes to the core infrastructure provider. Just for one DSL hookup, you can wind up paying 4-6 companies to get setup. One may do the check, another may provide the hookup, one provides the line service, another may be your ISP, and so on. Plus, all the bickering over property lines just slows down the process as a whole, which is why I feel that cable modems will always deploy faster. Since most of the government restrictions regarding the intra-state data portion of telecom services have been somewhat relaxed for cable, the larger providers (@Home, RoadRunner, AT@T) just simply own the infrastructure and can rollout at will. And, with having so many subscribers, they can lower the prices and still have the income to expand and upgrade their network (as opposed to having several "baby-bells" that can barely hold on to their current networks).

Ahhh, yeah, I see what you were thinking now. My cable (1.5Mbps downstream/384Kbps upstream for $40/mo) has been pretty cheap, and in some areas of the US DSL can be even cheaper. What keeps us from getting any better/cheaper in a lot of areas is having too many telcos fighting of the property lines. In AZ for instance, US West handles all of the local traffic and infrastructure, and can provide long distance as well. When DSL first became available, they were rolling it out pretty fast. Then other broadband providers came out (People's Choice-Now Sprint Broadband @ up to 8Mbps+, Gain Wireless @ 1.5Mbps, and a couple of cable providers) and the only companies there that really have any territorial issues are the cable providers. Both of the wireless systems (Sprint and Gain) don't have that problem, and US West can provide DSL anywhere that it is physically possible. Out here in the midwest though, they constantly fight and bicker with each other, and never get anything rolled out due to constant confusion. One day, it will get better. Maybe...

If I could physically work on it, I could probably figure it out. But I am not that great with "phone type" support. Sorry dude.

Quote: The domain controller server was working earlier. I'm not sure what happened. But it is not receving any data now. Only sending... So, it was actually working fine at one point, then it crapped out? Earlier it sounded like you did a fresh install, and it "still" didn't work even with the upgraded hardware. And this change of behavior just came out of the blue? You didn't do anything at all, to any system on your LAN? Oh, why are you using 255.255.0.0 anyway? Just use 255.255.255.0 and reduce your host ID to one octet.

Just thought I would throw this your way... http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treevie...o/tips/tips.asp

And the subnet is setup correctly? Do you have any sort of firewall software installed? Honestly, I haven't a clue right now. These are just stabs in the dark.

Have you changed cables? How about ports on the hub/switch? Can you get to web pages and such from the server? Can the other machines ping the server? Can the server ping them back?

Is this a fresh install, or one that was working and just stopped recently? Can you swap out NICs?