Windows Server 2008

Mike Wittwers User Manual

This document is a collection of my thoughts and experiences using the Microsoft Server 2008 Michael J Wittwer 7/25/2010

Mike Wittwer

Unit 1 Labs

1a. The three categories of tasks listed in the Initial Configuration Tasks interface are Provide Computer Information, Update This Server, and Customize This Server. 1b.The six selections available when I open up the Server Manager Console are: Roles, Features, Diagnostics, Configuration, and Storage. 1c. When I log into the Server Core computer I see a command prompt. I used the command prompt to set up the initial settings. 2. I really felt comfortable using the Windows Server 2008 software. I work at a computer repair shop and work with windows machines all day. I think Windows Server software is easier to use than the Linux Server Software that is out there. I am excited about playing around with the Windows Server Software. I already have a home server setup that is based on Fedora. I had some problems with the virtual labs but nothing major. I had to type oobe.exe in the command prompt to get the ICT to come up. Also the loading the lab window stayed on for the last part of Exercise 4. I did like the ability to set up multiple servers in one place.
Thank you for working on Lab. I am providing here the answers as well. Question 1a: What three categories of tasks are listed in the Initial Configuration Tasks (ICT) interface? Answer: Provide Computer Information; Update This Server; and Customize This Server. Question 1b: Open the Server Manager console on your Windows Server 2008 computer. What selections are available to you in the left pane? Answer: Roles, Features, Diagnostics, Configuration, and Storage. Question 1c: What do you see when you log on to a Server Core computer? Answer: A single command prompt window with no Start Menu or taskbar. Question 2: Describe your experiences with Windows Server 2008 in these virtual labs. How did this software function in comparison to other systems you have worked with. Answer: No roles are installed by default. The Remote Differential Compression feature is installed, which computes and transfers the differences between two objects over the network using minimal bandwidth. Keep up the good work. Thanks!!

Mike Wittwer

Unit 2 Labs
The difference between a full installation of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 Server Core is that the Windows Server 2008 Core installs only a specific role and has a limited GUI interface. When using the Core installation tasks have to be completed using the Command Line Interface. Some commands will open up a dialog box, such as oobe.exe or timedate.cpl. The Full installation of Windows Server 2008 is GUI driven and contains all the roles of Windows Server 2008.

I could not get the labs to let me install Windows Server 2008. The only thing I could do was watch a video how to presentation. I have installed many Windows operating systems and Windows Server does not seem any different. I think it is important to decide how to partition the hard drive before installing the Windows Server 2008 operating system.
Thank you for working on Lab. I am providing here answer as well. Question: What is the difference between a Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 and installing Windows Server 2008 Server Core? Answer: The Server Core installation option provides a much smaller installation footprint that only runs a minimal number of services and limited GUI functionality. Please send me an email with your questions. Keep up the good work. Thanks!!

Mike Wittwer

Unit 3 Labs

Question 1a: You have installed the DHCP Server service on a computer running Windows Server 2008. You configure and activate a 10.0.0.0/24 scope; however, clients still are receiving a 169.254.x.x IP address. What should you do? I would make sure the client computers were set to obtain IP addresses automatically. If they were not I would configure the IPv4 settings in the network settings to obtain IP addresses automatically, not an assigned IP address.

Question 1b: You currently are using a DHCP server on your network. It assigns a default gateway scope option to clients. You use a router with a different IP address to replace a router on your network. The new router allows clients to connect to the Internet; however, clients cannot connect to the Internet using the new router. What should you do? I would change the default gateway scope options to use the new routers IP address. I think the DHCP server is still trying to connect to the old gateways IP address.

Question 2: What new topics were you exposed to in these labs that you had not been exposed to before? In the Unit 3 labs I was exposed to setting up DHCP on the server side. I have set up plenty of client side computers to use DHCP but never had to configure a server to do so. I was surprised how easy it was to configure the Core Server with the DHCP role.
Thank you!! I am providing here answer for your review. Question 1a: You have installed the DHCP Server service on a computer running Windows Server 2008. You configure and activate a 10.0.0.0/24 scope; however, clients still are receiving a 169.254.x.x IP address. What should you do? Answer: Issue an ipconfig /renew command from the client computers or else reboot the computers to force a new lease process to begin. Question 1b: You currently are using a DHCP server on your network. It assigns a default gateway scope option to clients. You use a router with a different IP address to replace a router on your network. The new router is supposed to allow clients to connect to the Internet; however, clients cannot connect to the Internet using the new router. What should you do? Answer: On the DHCP server, change the DHCP scope option to provide the new default gateway to your clients, then use ipconfig /renew on the clients to obtain an updated DHCP lease with the new option. Question 2: What new topics were you exposed to in these labs that you had not been exposed to before? Answer: Install and configure the DHCP Server service; manage the DHCP Server service, including creating scopes; configure DHCP options; and authorize a DHCP server. Keep up the good work. Thanks!!

Mike Wittwer

Unit 4 Labs

Question 1a: When do you use forwarding with DNS? DNS forwarding is used on a DNS server on a network. The server forwards DNS queries for external DNS names to a DNS server outside of the network. If all the DNS queries are forwarded through a single DNS server the cache builds and speeds up name resolution. As the cache builds it will need to use the internet resources less, increasing performance on the network.

Question 1b: What is the difference between forwarding and conditional forwarding? Conditional forwarder forwards queries based on domain name. For instance, the server could forward any requests for hosts in the domain michaelwittwer.com to a specific name server to handle the request. Forwarding forwards request that cannot be resolved using primary and secondary zone that it hosts or its cache.

Question 2: What parts of this lesson would you want to pass on to another person working with you in an IT department? The first thing I would let someone I was working with is the IP address of the DNS servers on the network. If other computers or servers need to be configured, it will save time if they know the IP address of the DNS servers on the network. I would also let them know how forwarding and conditional forwarding works. Furthermore, I would also like them to know the benefits of using DNS forwarding. DNS forwarding lowers internet traffic and also lowers the amount of sensitive DNS information. Keeping as much DNS information off of the internet increases security.
Thank you!! I am providing here answers for your review. Question 1a: When do you use forwarding with DNS? Answer 1a: A common example of using DNS forwarders is to forward Internet DNS queries from your internal DNS server to those belonging to your Internet Service Provider. Question 1b: What is the difference between forwarding and conditional forwarding? Answer 1b: A forwarder will submit all queries that cannot be resolved locally to a single list of external DNS forwarders. A conditional forwarder will pick and choose which DNS forwarder to use based on the domain name of the record being requested. Question 2: What parts of this lesson would you want to pass on to another person working with you in an IT department? Answer 2: Install and configure the DNS server role, configure primary and secondary zones as well as forward and reverse lookup zones. Keep up the good work!!

Mike Wittwer

Unit 5 Labs

Question: Over the duration of the first six units, what have been the three most difficult areas you worked on during our virtual labs? How did you overcome those difficulties? Over the first six units I have had a bit of difficulty with learning all of the details of the DNS, File, and DHCP Server Roles. I think there were a lot of very important details in each of those sections. I think it will help me to keep reviewing the material and going over the labs so that all of the details will become very familiar to me. I also think doing some online research will help me learn the details of those roles. Finally, configuring a Windows 2008 Server in my home will help me with getting some hands on experience with each of the roles. Having the server in my home will be a great way to experiment before I get out into the business world.

Mike Wittwer

Unit 6 Labs

Question 1: What is the difference between the Manage Printers permission and the Manage Documents permission? Manage Printers permission gives administrative control of the printer to a user or group. The user can manage printer properties and settings as well as share the printer. The Manage Documents permission gives the ability to pause, restart, and delete printer jobs. The Manage Documents permissions do not give the user the ability to control the printer status.

Question 2: Working with permissions is an important part of network administration. What parts of these virtual labs are going to help you provide network administration and security to an organization you work for? I think working with permissions in the Microsoft Virtual Labs will help me provide security and network administration to any organization I work for. Making sure that the correct people have access to what they need and nothing more is very important to the security of a company. Also, being able to set permissions on access or use of company resources will help cut down on employee waste.
Thank you!! I am providing here answers for your review. Question 1a: Question 1: What is the difference between the Manage Printers permission and the Manage Documents permission? Answer 1a: Manage Documents allow you to control all document properties and control job settings for all documents. Manage Printers allows you to share printers, delete printers, and change printer properties and permissions. Question 2: Working with permissions is an important part of network administration. What parts of these virtual labs are going to help you provide network administration and security to an organization you work for? Answer 2: Installation methods available: Search the network for printers, Add a TCP/IP or Web Services Printer by IP Address or Hostname, Add a new printer using an existing port, and Create a new port and add a new printer. Default Security settings for the printer: Everyone: Print ; CREATOR OWNER: Manage Documents; W2K8zz\Administrator: Print, Manage Printers, Manage Documents; and W2K8zz\Administrators: Print, Manage Printers, Manage Documents Please send me an email should you have questions. Keep up the good work. Thanks!!

Mike Wittwer

Unit 7 Labs

Question 1: What exception must be configured in the Windows Firewall to view Event Viewer on a remote computer? The Remote Desktop and Remote Event Log Management exception must be configured in the Windows Firewall to view the Event Viewer on a remote computer

Question 2: What lessons did you learn in these virtual labs that would make you more valuable to an employer than perhaps other IT people? I think the lessons in this lab have given me the tools to take a proactive approach to system administrating. Using the Performance and Reliability Monitor and the Event Viewer will save time because I will not have to guess what the problem is. Also these tools will allow me to spot potential problems before they happen, reducing downtime on the network.

Thank you!! I am providing here answers for your review. Question 1: What exception must be configured in the Windows Firewall to view Event Viewer on a remote computer? Answer 1: The remote administration exception must be enabled. Question 2: What lessons did you learn in these virtual labs that would make you more valuable to an employer than perhaps other IT people? Answer 2: In this lab we had to: use the Reliability and Performance Monitor, use the Windows Event Viewer, install and use the Microsoft Network Monitor, and install and configure Windows Server Update Services. In the Update Services MMC following reports are available: Update Status Summary, Update Detailed Status, Update Tabular Status, Computer Status Summary, Computer Detailed Status, Computer Tabular Status, and Synchronization Results. Please send me an email if you have questions. Keep up the good work. Thanks!!

Mike Wittwer

Unit 8 Labs

Question 1: Why did you not need to configure a separate Windows Firewall exception to allow ping traffic when you enabled the file and printer sharing exception? PING uses ICMP services to send echo requests and echo reply messages. When the file and printer sharing exception is enabled in Windows firewall, it also enables the ICMP services. While ICMP allows PING to be used, it also allows other computers to share files and printers over the network.

Question 2: If you were mentoring another IT employee, what aspects of the content in these virtual labs would you want to pass on to that person? If I were mentoring another IT employee I would want them to know how to configure and monitor the Windows firewall. I think this would be very important to know because it is a good way to protect a network. I also think understanding IPSec would also be essential to keeping data on a network safe.
Thank you!! I am providing here answers for your review. Question-1: Why did you not need to configure a separate Windows Firewall exception to allow ping traffic when you enabled the file and printer sharing exception? Answer-1: Enabling the File and Print Sharing exception automatically opens up the necessary firewall exceptions to allow ping traffic as well. Question2: If you were mentoring another IT employee, what aspects of the content in these virtual labs would you want to pass on to that person? Answer-2: Allow traffic, Block traffic, and Secure traffic filter actions are available to you when you are creating an IPSec policy. In a non-Active Directory environment, PKI certificates and pre-shared keys options are available to secure IPSec traffic between computers. Please send me an email if you have any questions. Keep up the good work. Thanks!! Farooq

Mike Wittwer

Unit 9 Labs

Question 1: By default, what does the Windows Security Health Validator check for on a Windows Vista client? Windows Security Health Validator checks Vista clients for a firewall, virus protection, spyware protection, and automatic updating by default.

Question 2: What aspects of the content in these virtual labs were more puzzling to you than others? How did you come to resolve these issues? I really was not puzzled by any aspect of these labs. However, I did find it challenging to learn all the terms and know their meanings. I resolved this issue by going over the labs again with the terms right available so I could look them up as needed. Relating the terms to an action really helped me put it all together.

Mike Wittwer

Unit 10 Labs

Question 1: What is the difference between a hard quota and a soft quota? A hard disk quota prevents users from saving information if they exceed the defined quota amount, while a soft disk quota notifies the administrator when the user exceeds the quota limit. A soft disk quota will allow the user the ability to save their data when over the quota, a hard disk will not.

Question 2: How will you be able to utilize quotas in an organization to provide network administration? Different departments in an organization will have different storage requirements on the server. By setting hard and soft disk quotas, I will be able to manage resources on the server. Disk quotas ensure that one department will not infringe on another departments storage capabilities.
Thank you!! I am providing here answers for your review. Question 1: What is the difference between a hard quota and a soft quota? Answer-1: A soft quota will still allow users to save files if the quota is exceeded; it will simply report that the quota has been exceeded. A hard quota will prevent users from creating or modifying files if the disk quota is exceeded. Question 2: How will you be able to utilize quotas in an organization to provide network administration? Answer-2: Following quota templates are configured by default: 100MB limit, 200MB limit reports to user, 200MB limit with 50MB extension, 250MB extended limit, Monitor 200GB volume usage, and Monitor 500MB share. One way to utilize quotas is by start out with soft quotas. This gives the system administrator an opportunity to test all of the created quotas without actually impacting the end users. Once confident that the quotas work the way they should, it can be switched to hard quotas. Some organizations set quota based on the role and function of employees - different employees have different requirements of quota. Each employee would be allotted space according to their specified needs. Some may only require soft quotas whiles others hard. The goal is to encourage efficient use of disk space. Please send me an email if you have any questions. Keep up the good work. Thanks!!