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Articles
Q. What's the ideal page-file
size?
by John
Savill
8.4.08
A. It's common to base page-file size on a system's
amount of physical RAM. A common recommendation is to set the page-file
size at 1.5-times the system's total RAM. In reality, the more RAM a
system has, the less it requires page files. You should base your
page-file size on the maximum amount of memory your system is
committing. Your page-file size should equal your system's peak commit
value (which covers the unlikely situation in which all the committed
pages are written to the disk-based page files).
In Windows XP and Server 2003, you can find the peak commit value under
the Task Manager Performance tab. However, this option wasn't included
in Windows Server 2008 and Vista. To determine Server 2008 and Vista
peak-commit values, you have two options:
- Download Process Explorer from the Microsoft "Process Explorer v11.21" web page. You'll need
a program capable of opening .zip archives, such as WinZip or ZipGenius.
Open the .zip file and double click procexp.exe. Click View on the
toolbar and select System Information. Under Commit Charge (K), find the
Peak value, as the following figure shows:
- Use Performance Monitor to log the Memory - Committed Bytes counter,
and review the log to find the Maximum value.
Make sure you run the server with all of its expected workloads to
ensure it's using the maximum amount of memory while you're monitoring.
Q. How can I obtain a report of my
users' most-recent logon values in Windows Server
2008?
by John
Savill
8.5.08
A. A Server 2008 domain controller (DC) can log
successful and failed logon attempts. The following code will create a
report of the last logon of the users in the specified containers:
The following example shows the code input and resulting output on my
savilltech server:
Q. How can I create a list of the
most-recent computer logons?
by John
Savill
8.6.08
A. The following script will create a list of your
computers' most-recent logons by determining the LastLogon value:
The following example shows the code input and resulting output on my
savilltech server:
Q. How can I use the command line to
change a system's DNS suffix?
by John
Savill
8.7.08
A. The following command (and resulting output) will set
the DNS suffix by updating the NV Domain value, which is found in the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
subkey:
If you don't want to change the default DNS suffix, but instead modify
only the DNS search list, you can change the SearchList value, which is
found at the same registry-subkey location. The value can contain
multiple entries separated by commas, such as dom1.com,dom2.com"
First, let's view the current value using the following command (with
the resulting output):
Next, use the following command (with the resulting output) to update
the SearchList value:
Q. Which values can a read-only domain
controller (RODC) write locally?
by John
Savill
8.8.08
A. By definition, an RODC can't write data to its local
database. Any write operations are forwarded to a read-write domain
controller (DC). However, there are exceptions to protect an RODC from
attack when the RODC can't communicate with a read-write DC.
Imagine a scenario in which a branch-office RODC loses connectivity with
the data center and its read-write DCs. Normally, if someone attempts an
account-password attack, the accounts would be locked for a period of
time after a set number of failed attempts to protect the account from
constant attack. But if the RODC doesn't know when to lock the accounts
because it can't write logon failures to a read-write DC, you might have
a major problem. RODCs have the following limited write capabilities for
protection against attacks:
- The msDS-LastSuccessfulInteractiveLogonTime
attribute—tracks the most-recent successful logons. It isn't
forwarded to a read-write DC.
- The msDS-FailedInteractiveLogonCountAtLastSuccessfulLogon
attribute—tracks the number of failed interactive logons
during the most-recent successful logons. It isn't forwarded to a
read-write DC.
- The msDS-LastFailedInteractiveLogonTime
attribute—tracks the most-recent failed interactive logon
attempts. It's forwarded to a read-write DC, which then replicates the
attribute back to the RODC during the next replication cycle.
- The msDS-FailedInteractiveLogonCount
attribute—tracks the number of failed interactive logon
attempts. It's forwarded to a read-write DC, which then replicates the
attribute back to the RODC during the next replication cycle.
Quotes & Facts
10 Years Ago This
Month
Do you
remember where you lived and what you were doing 10 years ago? Did you
have home Internet access? Were you using a USRobotics 33.6Mbps modem?
Here's some technology industry news stories from August 1998.
- Governor Pete Wilson signed the California state Internet Tax
Freedom Act, which prohibited the imposition, assessment, or attempt to
collect taxes on Internet access, Internet ecommerce, online computer
services, or the use of Internet access or any online computer services
for three years . The federal Internet Tax Freedom Act was signed by
President Clinton in October 1998.
- Microsoft CEO Bill Gates was deposed by attorneys from the U.S.
Department of Justice and New York state's Attorney General's office as
part of federal and state antitrust action against Microsoft. The deposition transcript was released on April 28,
1999.
- In a related story, Judge Thomas Penfield ordered
Microsoft to turn over the Windows 98 source code to the U.S. Department
of Justice.
- Sun Microsystems began distributing its Solaris OS for free for
non commercial applications.
- Microsoft announced a $40 million expansion of its
TechNet CD-ROM subscriptions and the TechNet website.
- Microsoft released the Windows NT Workstation 5.0 Beta 2.
- The hacker group "Cult of the Dead Cow" released Back Orifice, a Windows
remote-administration tool at DEFCON VI. The tool included a keyboard
monitor, packet sniffer, and an HTTP server.
- Microsoft shipped Office 2000 beta 1, which included
Frontpage 2000 beta 1 in some versions.
Events & Resources
Implementing VoIP for your
Enterprise
VoIP
can make your business more efficient, so you can't afford to ignore it.
A number of technologies simplify VoIP implementation, and application
capabilities in a unified communications solution can make having VoIP a
technological competitive advantage. View this Web seminar to learn how
to implement VoIP technologies and leverage them in your Windows Server
environment.
http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=109298&s=1&k=8BB52ABE66783B8289814BD231BE85AE&partnerref=060408er
Doing it Right! Deploying the
Perfect SharePoint Farm
If
you're like most IT shops, you've either implemented or are considering
SharePoint. How do you deploy the optimal solution with limited time and
expense? This fall, Windows IT Pro and Office & SharePoint
Pro.com present the event series Deploying SharePoint. Industry experts
will share best practices regarding infrastructure, design, forms
configurations, and redundancy. Register early to save $100! Early-bird
pricing applies through August 29.
http://www.windowsitpro.com/roadshows/deployingsharepoint/?code=073008er
Virtualization 101:
Fundamental Training
Live
Web Seminar: August 21, 2008 (12:00pm EDT). Virtualization can be used
in a variety of ways by IT professionals--for instance, with server
consolidation, DR & HA efforts, development and testing, storage, and
desktop deployment. In this live web seminar, Michael Otey will
demystify the virtualization hype and answer the most frequently asked
questions about virtualization. Sign up today and don't miss this
opportunity to ask your virtualization questions.
http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=115196&s=1&k=5EFABA11E589919A4C81A622782145C4&partnerref=080608er
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Announcements
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- 21st Century File Sharing: Configuring & Managing Document Libraries
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