98-365 – Microsoft MTA Windows Server 2008 – Server Maintenance

1. What to expect in this section

Server maintenance. Now it is time to start troubleshooting our servers. I will show you a few tips, tools, and applications that you can use if you want to fix a server. We’re going to talk about backups and updates as well.

2. Business Continuity

Business continuity. We’re going to talk about things that you can introduce in your company to make your service more reliable and your life easier as well. At the end of the day, if everything is okay, people should appreciate your job. Okay? That’s the idea. So if everything is okay, you have a computer cluster and a disaster recovery plan. You have five servers and three routers two.

ISPs: everything in place? People should appreciate that you have been working really hard to make everything as stable and reliable as possible. I would like to focus on a disaster recovery plan because it is something that should be in place. A lot of companies do not have a document like that. It means that when something goes wrong, they don’t really know how to approach the problem. There is nobody who could be in charge. They don’t know how to escalate an issue, and so on. It’s very important to test everything. And that is something I would like to mention and discuss now. It is very important to test everything. In many cases, what you do—let’s say you’re going to deploy a new server next week—is Let’s say it is Thursday. Thursday, and you want to make it happen on, let’s say, Tuesday. Okay. Now you say, “Okay, on Friday, I will set it up and I will take it.” Let’s say it’s not a big step. I can ask my friend, and we can pop into this office on Monday and put it in place.

It will go live on Tuesday. What did you forget to do? There is no time to test it. You’re going to deploy it on Monday; take it to the site. Okay, how are you going to test it? On Monday, you’ll probably spend three to four hours. You have to put it in a rack, connect all the cables, check IP addresses, and things like that. And there is a big chance you will not finish everything on Friday. It means you will add some roles and features on Monday. It means that on Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. Users arrive at the office. They want to start using the new server. You have not tested anything. It’s not a good sign. And believe me, a lot of things will go wrong. You will receive a lot of phone calls, and your manager will not be happy because you didn’t test anything. What I mean by that is, of course, you have to test things. Like, let’s say you decided to create a shared folder. Okay, ask a user or create a test user. Log into a test PC, and make sure that you can access it. It’s all okay. You created a few group policy objects. We have already covered that topic.

You know what that is? It’s not enough to create a GPO. You have to test it, make sure it works the way you expect it to, and then, okay, what about a backup? What if this server blows up tomorrow? Do you have a backup? Okay? You can go for something really simple and just connect a USB disc to that server for a couple of days, setup the server to send the backup to a USB drive, and later on you can sort out, let’s say, Nas Server. Or you can send it to a network location. That is an option as well. You have to test everything. Let’s talk about some more advanced solutions that you can go for. Load balancing is one of them for your MTA exam. You have to now understand what that is. That’s it. They will not ask you to set it up, for instance, for an Exchange Server; that’s what you can see over here. or for a network device. They will not ask you to do that. You have to understand what it is and how it works. and that’s pretty obvious. Load balancing is what you’re going to do. That’s a good thing. Of course, it is designed to work. If a primary device or one of your servers fails, the secondary can take over.

Of course, it will be, in most cases, slower than it used to be. Still, you will have time to recover if a new, let’s say, power supply unit fails. You can buy a new one, replace it, and then everything should be okay. I want to introduce two more solutions that are available on your Microsoft server. The first one is that you can create a profile and redirect that profile. It is achieved by using, for instance, roaming profiles or folder redirection. You can achieve that. The good thing about this solution is that if you have a user and he moves to the second floor tomorrow, you don’t have to do anything. Because when he logs in, he or she will see everything, including desktop settings and applications. In many companies, we have already discussed RDP (Remote Destroy Protocol). There are terminal services. It means you have the option to log into a server, and a session will be created.

Now, the last thing in this lecture that I want to discuss that allows you to implement a really nice solution is volume shadow copies. It’s a great thing, and it allows you to, well, recover a file that was changed or deleted. The way it works is that Microsoft Server will create a backup of a file in a folder, a shared folder, and then, when a user complains, “Oh, I modified this document 5 hours ago and I forgot whatever,” you can go and recover a document. Of course, it applies to a situation when someone deletes a document as well; you can recover it. We are not going to set it up for your MTA training. You have to understand how it works. Of course, you can go online and read a little more about that. It’s not difficult to set it up. All you have to remember is that you need a lot of disc space to make it happen. Please bear it in mind. Check to ensure that you have enough space. If not, buy a new hard drive. Make sure that it’s okay before you enable that feature. In our next lecture, we are going to talk about backups, a very important topic. Thank you very much. Watch.

3. Let’s make a back up

Windows Server backup It’s really important to have a backup. I have a backup of my backup. I’ll tell you what I do. I have an online backup. I have a USB disk. I’ve got an app server. Yeah, I know it is important. I try my best to set it up so that it happens every week. You can imagine. It’s even more important if you have a server. Of course, if you’re running Hyper-V, you can take a snapshot again. There are applications that can make it easier. Here we’re going to talk about tools that are inside your Windows Server and can make it happen every day, every week, every two days, whatever you want. It is called Windows Server Backup. It is a feature that you have to enable on the server. Let’s do that. We go to Server Manager features, we add a new feature, and one of the options should be Windows Server Backup. Next. Let’s just move the window a little.

We are ready to close it. can also close that guy. Go to the start. And here we should see a new option, Windows Server Backup. I’m not sure if you can see that. Just make sure you can see that. Windows Server backup The easiest task you can perform is okay; just do it now. That’s it. I don’t want to schedule anything. Just make it happen, okay? I want to make a backup of my server. Or you can decide what you want to include in this case. It’s just a CD drive.

Yeah, that’s the easiest solution. Of course, what you can do is schedule a backup. Then you say, “Yeah, I want to make a backup of the full server.” I want to make it happen every day. Let’s say 10:00 p.m., okay? It complains about, well, there being no place where I could send that backup to. That’s why it complains. That’s fine. It’s just to show you what can be achieved. Here we go. I connected to my server. I have a backup scheduled for 11:30 p.m. Every day. I did that just to check. I like to connect to that server from time to time to make sure it’s okay. I am happy. I can see a backup that took place yesterday. Please note that it says, “Yeah, it’s okay.” If there are any issues, your server will report them. show you what the problem was. We’ll even suggest what to do to sort it out. You can, of course, view details and see a report. See what your server has decided to do. If you go for a backup, you have to decide. You have three main options that you can see on the screen.

That’s what I want to show and discuss. Just spend one minute. It is very important to consider these fields. It’s not enough to decide, “Oh yeah, I want to make a full backup.” But then you realize, “Okay, if I do that, of course it will be very slow because every time we are going to start from scratch and create a new backup.” That is a problem as well. It means that I need a lot of space to make it happen. Then, on the other hand, you go for this solution, and you say, “Oh yeah, it’s fast; oh, it’s low.” However, this one is a problem. Okay, if something happens, then, well, that’s a problem because it will be very slow to recover. You have to go through all these options and go for the best solution. As you might expect, there are numerous applications available to make your life easier. Just Google it and you can find a lot of tools. I use Sync Back Pro, a really good application that is also free as well.If you need more features, you can upgrade. In the next video, we are going to talk about updates. Yes, we want to update our server and make sure that we download all updates from Microsoft. Thank you very much.

4. Updates are important!

It’s time to get some updates. Of course, it’s pretty easy. Microsoft Windows Server. Windows seven eight. Every time you install a system like that, it will say, “Oh, do you want me to enable updates?” It is a good idea to do that. And of course you say, “Yes, let’s do it.” and it is a good thing. However, you can imagine that it is not a simple process in a large corporation. What do you mean? Well, imagine that we have 50 PCs, we have And then we have two servers. And Microsoft decided to release, let’s say, Service Pack 3 for Windows 8.1.

That’s what Microsoft decided to do. Now, every single PC will go to Microsoft.com. Of course, there is a link in Windows that Windows Update Services will use, and every PC will try to download that. The user will then see a screen that says, “Oh, we have to do this or that.” And it is like, let’s say, 300 megabytes times 50 plus to service a lot of traffic. And then a lot of things can go wrong. Because the question is, have you tested it? No. Okay, so why are you trying to put that on my PC? There is a chance that there is a bug. With all due respect to Microsoft, that was a bad example. It’s Microsoft training, right? Assume we have an application that will not be compatible with Service Pack 3 (SP3). Okay, that’s a better example. Whatever, it’s the same. You put something on a PC, and then you can’t access your SharePoint or a website, whatever. A lot of things can happen, especially if you have proprietary applications.

You should remember that. What you can do You can use Windows Server Update Services. And the main advantage of that is that, first of all, all updates go to one server, and these guys will go to a server locally and get the updates. Second of all, you can approve what you can do. “Well, it’s not like I’m going to download an update and send it to my clients right away,” you might say. No, what I am going to do is wait. I will take a test PC, put all these updates on it, and play with it for three days. Yeah. And they will even pay me for that. Cool. Later on, if I’m happy, I will say yes. Approved. Okay. and it is approved. Thanks to that, a client can go to a satellite and ask, “Do you have any updates for me?” Yes. Oh, cool. I have some updates. They have been approved. I am okay with that. That’s what happens if you use a service like Windows Server Update Services. Our next lecture will be dedicated to next lecture will beWe’ll try to learn how to fix things in Windows 7. Thank you very much.

5. Learn how to troubleshoot a Windows Server Platform

How to troubleshoot and fix a Microsoft Server box Well, it might take some time. That’s why there are some tips, tools, and methods that you can use and follow to make your life easier. The first point I want to discuss is discover, evaluate, track, execute, and check. Now, I have a question for you. What do you think? There is one thing that most people overlook. Which one? Any suggestions are welcome, but have you seen it before? When you ask an IT guy, “Can you share a new folder for me, please?” And in five minutes, he says, “Yeah, it’s done.” You go to your F drive, double-click, and it says “Access denied.” Why? Well, he discovered the problem. He did this, this, and that. Yeah. Unfortunately, he forgot to check it. It’s very important. That’s what I love to do. It’s not enough to deploy a server to implement a new solution. It’s not enough to fix something. You have to make sure it is okay. Check your results to ensure that everything is in order.

Of course, you should take a proactive approach. That’s a good thing. For instance, we discussed PRTG. Do you remember our monitoring server? So that is a very good example. Be proactive. Place the monitoring server in that location. Make sure that you can realise that there is a problem with your CPU before users start to complain. Now, at the last point on your screen, you all go, what do you mean by that? Because of that question, I was able to resolve 95% of all issues. Can you show it to me, please? And then it might—oh, it’s working now. Or, okay, so it’s not a website. I should upload the file using whatever. What do you mean? I can’t print, okay. It’s pretty easy to ask a question like that. Try and ask; make sure that you are aware and know what the problem is. If you can see that, then it will be very easy for you to identify and sort out an issue sorted out.And in most cases, yes, a user didn’t know that he was not allowed to do that. He didn’t know how to click in Firefox to do this or that, and he decided to blame the server. He says the network is slow. And what he means by that is that when he sends a file to a printer, it takes five minutes. That is an example. Well, yeah, it happened to me, and then I realised I tried to send a PDF file, and guess what? The size was something like 250 megabytes. And he had like 100 files like that.

And he complained about how slow the stupid printer is. Okay. And, you know, it was reported there was a ticket created, and he reported the network is slow. Sending a document to a printer takes about five minutes. And I have like 100 pages to print. What do you want from me? Of course, it might be a problem because if you have, say, 100 users sending PDF files like that, then you should do something about that. You can upgrade a printer’s memory; you can buy a better printer; whatever. In this case, it was just this guy who decided to print stupid PDF files. There are a lot of tools that you can use if you want to troubleshoot Microsoft services. I want to mention Ms. Config. I will show it to you in a moment. Another name for it is system configuration. You can access a lot of tools from it. The second point is to check network connections first. Use ping and a slow-up trace route. Is Google your friend? Yes. If it’s not on Google, it does not exist. That’s what people say. If you spot a problem or see an issue, Google it. See what Google says. Try it out in safe mode. Yes, save mode is your friend. If it’s an option, it’s a Windows Seven server; if you’re having trouble with a driver, boot up in save mode. Try to sort it out. Test in your lab if possible; ask for a test server. You should have a test server.

You should have a test PC, something that will allow you to, well, let’s say you want to deploy a new application. It’s not a good idea. Just go and put it on 55 PCs on the server. You should test it first to make sure everything is okay and that it will work the way you expect. The only way to do that is to have a test network, a test server, a test PC, and escalate. You have to know when and how to escalate. It is tricky, because if you miss something, people will blame you. That’s why it’s your job to check as many things as possible. Do not wait too long, and do not try everything. If there is a problem with a router and you’re not a network engineer, you don’t have access to that router. Do not spend five hours trying to find it on Google. No, it’s not a server issue; it’s a network issue. Your network team should look at it. Let’s check MS Config, because this is a really nice tool that you can use. If I can log in, we go to the start menu and type “Ms. Config.” First of all, what I want to start with is services.

You’re familiar with this tab where you can make a decision; you’re aware of what a service is. However, here you can decide. I don’t want to, by the way, but it’s a good idea to hide Microsoft services. Well, you will not see anything because it’s like a new server. What you can say Well, I don’t want this service to be started; it stopped anyway. But you know what I mean—be very careful. That’s why I say hide Microsoft Services because if you disable something that is important, you can break things, then start up applications that are going to be started with your server. Please note the add-ons that.I put in virtual machine add-ons. Do you remember? They allow me to use drag-and-drop and click everywhere. I want some boot options. Save Mode. You can schedule it or change the timeout. Here you can go for advanced options. Do not play with these things if you don’t need them. And then you have a list of tools and applications that you can access using Ms. Config. So, yeah, do you know? Yeah, we know this one, and we know that one. We are familiar with remote systems. We are aware of system properties. system Restore It allows you to restore your computer to an earlier state. Yeah, what else? Internet Options. Task Manager.

Here we go. Okay. We can open our task manager. Okay. a nice list of applications where everything is in one place. You can even make changes to the Windows Registry from here, via CMD. And here is a command if you need it for your MTA exam. I would memorise most of these things because there is a chance they can ask you, “What is the command for performance monitoring?” Is it a performance monitor? Whatever. So it’s a good way to memorize. It’s a good idea to memorise these commands because there is a chance you will see a question like that on your exam. Okay, we are done. That concluded our Windows Server Administration fundamentals course. I hope that you’ve enjoyed this series. I hope you’ve learned a lot. If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me an email, leave a message, and I hope that you are going to be MTA certified and then move to MCSA. MCSA, maybe Cisco I deliver Cisco training as well. You can check it out. Thank you very much. Task Manager. We right-click on the taskbar, and we can access our Task Manager from here. Let’s start with services. It’s a list of services that are running at the moment. What you can do, for example, is stop or go to a process.

And from here, you can end a process or even set priority. If there is an application that you want to make really important to you, you can change the priority. We’ll look at applications that are running performance graphs on Windows Seven 2012. You will see that they tweaked and changed a lot of things. Here, under “Networking,” you will see network utilisation and users that are connected to this server at the moment. If you see a dead session, you can disconnect or even log off. Be extremely cautious when logging off, as he may have opened something that he desired. Windows Server 2012 Please note that it looks like Windows. Eight. Yes, here it’s much easier. I like the way they redesigned the taskbar. Task Manager makes it much easier and faster to spot problems. For instance, here you can sort. And here it is. Everything will be highlighted for you. and it’s really nice that you can see. Oh, yeah. 33%. Yeah. Can you see that? Yeah, it’s really nice. I really like it. Then open the same tab. They redesigned the graphs. Users are very similar. You can decide what you want to do. You can disconnect, then go into details about how to redesign everything on one screen. and, of course, services where you can right-click, start, stop, or even search online.