MCTS Guide to Configuring Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Active Directory. Chapter 13: Server Management and Monitoring

MCTS Guide to Configuring

Microsoft Windows Server 2008

Active Directory

Chapter 13: Server Management and

Monitoring

Objectives

• Perform Active Directory maintenance tasks • Monitor an Active Directory environment

• Manage a Server Core installation

• Use several command-line tools to manage a Windows Server 2008 environment

Windows Server Backup and Restore

• Windows Server Backup is new in Windows Server 2008 and supersedes NTBackup.exe

• Must be installed with Server Manager • Some features and limitations

– Backups can be run manually or scheduled with Task Scheduler – Separate files or folders can’t be backed up; you can only choose

which volumes to back up

– Scheduled backups require a dedicated fixed or removable disk as the backup destination when you’re using Windows Server Backup

• Select one of the following options:

Windows Server Backup and Restore

(cont.)

Creating Scheduled Backups

• Scheduled backups give you the flexibility to run a backup at a particular time of the day, once per day, or multiple times per day

• Before using the Backup Schedule Wizard, know:

– What do you want to back up?

– When and how often should the backup occur? – Where will backups be stored?

Data Recovery

• You can recover files and folders, the system state, Active Directory, or the entire server from a backup • Windows Server Backup can recover only files,

folders, and volumes

• Command-line utilities used for more complete recovery

• To start the recovery process, click recover in the Actions pane of Windows Server Backup

Backup and Restore from the Command

Line

• Windows Server Backup has less flexibility than its command-line equivalent utilities

• Wbadmin.exe can perform all tasks available in Windows Server Backup and more

– Perform a system state backup – Recover the system state

– Delete a system state backup

– Restore or delete a backup catalog

• Most tasks with Wbadmin require you to be a

member of the Backup Operators or Administrators group

Perform a System Recovery

• If full recovery is necessary, you need the Windows Server 2008 installation disk or access to Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)

• Can be installed on a server’s hard drive by pressing F8 when the boot process starts

• Can also be accessed from the Windows Server 2008 installation DVD

• You can restore a complete backup from a local or removable disk or a network location

Active Directory Backup and Restoration

backup of a domain controller or when you back up the volumes containing system recovery information

• Restoration can be authoritative or nonauthoritative • Nonauthoritative restore restores the Active Directory

database, or portions of it, and allows it to be updated

through replication; requires a restart into Domain Services Restore Mode (DSRM)

• Authoritative restore ensures that restored objects aren’t overwritten by changes from other domain controllers through replication

Active Directory Backup and Restoration

(cont.)

Active Directory Defragmentation

• Active Directory database requires periodic maintenance in the form of defragmentation and compaction

• Online defragmentation occurs when garbage collection is performed

• Objects that have been deleted for more than 180 days are removed by garbage collection

• Object marked for removal after a period of time has been “tombstoned”

• Online defragmentation removes deleted objects but doesn’t compact the database

• Offline defragmentation compacts the database • Compaction is performed with the Ntdsutil program

Active Directory Monitoring

• Windows Server 2008 provides tools to manage and monitor server operation and resources,

including the following:

– Event Viewer – Task Manager

– Reliability and Performance Monitor – Windows Server Resource Manager

Event Viewer

• Used to examine event log entries generated by system services and applications

• Events categorized by levels

– Information

• Indicated by blue i inside a white circle

– Warning

• Indicated by a black ! inside a yellow triangle

– Error

• Indicated by a white ! inside a red circle

• Selecting an event shows more detailed information

Task Manager

• Provides a simple interface for viewing the performance of a Windows computer

• Started by pressing Ctrl + alt + delete and then clicking “Task Manager,” by right-clicking the taskbar and clicking Task manager, or by typing Taskmgr into a command

prompt

• Windows Server 2008 adds the Services and Resource Monitor tabs

• Shows real-time graphical display of:

– CPU utilization – Disk utilization – Network utilization – Memory utilization

Reliability and Performance Monitor

• Consists of a collection of tools

• Can be opened from Administrative tools folder or the Diagnostics node in Server Manager

• Contains the following folders:

– Monitoring Tools – Data Collector sets – Reports

Performance Monitor

• Uses counters to track performance of a variety of objects

• A counter is a value representing some aspect of an object’s performance

• Counters exist for virtually every hardware and OS component on a server

• Performance monitor can track counters with a line graph, histogram, or as raw data saved to a report • Can display counters in real time or from a saved

Collecting Baseline Performance Data

• Using real-time monitoring can be difficult since there is no point of reference, or baseline, for comparing data

• To create a baseline, you create a data collector set that specifies the performance counters you want to collect

• Performance monitoring uses system resources • Monitoring remotely can reduce the strain on a

Collecting Baseline Performance Data

(cont.)

Data Collector Sets

• A data collector set can contain a variety of types of information

– Performance counters – Counter alerts

– Event traces

– System configuration

• Common use is to create a baseline

• Predefined data collector sets can be run as they are or used as templates to create user-defined data collector sets

Reports

• Reports folder contains reports generated from data collector sets

• User Defined subfolder contains reports generated by user-defined data collector sets

• System subfolder contains folders for each system data collector set

• After a data collector set runs, a report is generated automatically and placed in a folder with the name of the data collector set

Reliability Monitor

• Tracks system changes and logs a variety of hardware and software failures

• Changes are indicated on a timeline graph

• Can track how stable / reliable your system has been over a period of time

• Icons that indicate failure, information, or warning are the same as those in Event Viewer

• Reliability monitor tracks five event types

– Software (Un)Install – Application failures – Hardware failures – Windows failures

Windows System Resource Manager

• Helps you manage processor and memory resource on heavily used systems

• Can fine-tune resource use so that each process has an equal share of resources

• WSRM includes the following features:

– Preconfigured and custom policies – Policies based on calendar rules – Automatic policy application

Windows System Resource Manager

(cont.)

WSRM Management Policies

• WSRM is designed to be used on multipurpose servers with high CPU utilization

• WSRM doesn’t apply CPU use policies until total utilization reaches 70% • Preconfigured WSRM policies – Equal_Per_Process – Equal_Per_User – Equal_Per_IISAppPool – Equal_Per_Session

Analyzing Active Directory Performance

• To ensure AD performance, monitor performance indicators such as:

– AD DS – DNS

– Replication

Monitoring Active Directory Replication

• Replication of Active Directory is critical to the operation of a Windows Server 2008 domain • Three tools can be used to monitor aspects of

Active Directory replication

– Repadmin – Replmon – Dcdiag

• Replication and AD health should be verified proactively

Managing Server Core

• Administration of a Server Core installation is done primarily from the command line

• Server Core is ideal for virtualized installs

• Some aspects of Server Core can be managed remotely (usually MMC)

Common Server Core Configuration Tasks

• Tasks that might need to be performed

– Activating Windows Server 2008

• Slmgr.vbs –ato

– Changing the administrator password

• “net user administrator *”

– List installed features and roles

• Oclist

– Install new server roles and features

• Ocsetup

– Join a domain

• Netdom join computername /domain:domainname

• Installation of AD DS requires dcpromo to be run in unattended mode

Common Server Core Configuration Tasks

(cont.)

Managing Server Core Remotely

• Some snap-ins require no additional configuration • Other snap-ins require reconfiguration of various

firewall settings before you can connect

• To allow remote management of Server Core from any MMC, type the following:

– Netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=“Remote Administration” new enable=yes

• Snap-ins that may require additional configuration

– Disk management – Device manager – IPSec Management

Additional Server and Active Directory

Tools

• Additional tools for managing a Windows Server 2008 environment – Bcdedit – Dsacls – Dsdbutil – Dsmgmt – Dfsutil – Dnscmd – Icacls – Servermanagercmd – Winrs

• Many more additional commands exist; for a more complete reference, visit the Microsoft Download Web site

Chapter Summary

• Active Directory maintenance involves backup and restore of the server and the Active Directory database as well as

offline maintenance tasks

• Windows Server Backup enables you to back up entire servers, volumes, and the system state

• The Active Directory database becomes fragmented over time; to ensure performance, use online defragmentation and offline defragmentation

• Four tools are commonly used to monitor and fine-tune the performance and reliability of Active Directory and the

server: Event Viewer, Task Manager, Reliability and Performance Monitor, and Windows Server Resource Manager

Chapter Summary (cont.)

• Task Manager and Resource Monitor provide a real-time look at key performance indicators, such as CPU, disk, network, and memory utilization

• Reliability Monitor tracks several different system failures and includes a numeric indicator of your server’s reliability • Server Core has a minimal user interface and is ideal for

branch office servers and for virtualizing servers performing particular roles

• Hundreds of command-line tools are available to manage all aspects of a Windows Server 2008 environment