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Chapter 8 Lesson Notes

I. Managing and Troubleshooting Driver Signing

Driver Signing is a Microsoft hardware certification topic which lends itself to establishing system performance and reliability standards, which are desirable. Review Driver Signing for the following devices:

• Keyboard
• Hard disk controller
• Sound card
• Video card
• Modem
• Mouse
• Network card
• Printer

Review how to use sigverif program with Exercise 8-1 on page 405. This program verifies system digital signatures. Explain that the same checks can be done with system files, which is equally important in verifying against unauthorized changes or corruption.

Microsoft publishes information about the System File Checker on its web site:

http://windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/professional/help/default.asp?PaneName=Search&ShowPane=true&TopicUrl=http%3A//windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/professional/help/default.htm

Task Scheduler is an easy-to-use utility for automating many tasks and scheduled events. It is found in the Control Panel under Scheduled Tasks. Stress that since it is an administrative tool, permissions are required to run Task Scheduler. Use Exercise 8-2 on page 411 to walk through Task Scheduler, showing how the wizard makes it easy to use.

This is a very interesting Certification Objective, and deserves your attention. You will learn to use one of Windows 2000’s most useful set of tools, the System Monitor. Note the importance of the baseline, which wa mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. To become a good administrator and troubleshooter, it is essential to learn system-monitoring procedures.

System Monitor is a highly useful, feature-rich tool. Carefully review the material on pages 420-424 in class, using Figures 8-1 through 8-4 as illustrative examples. On its Windows 2000 web page, Microsoft summarizes the uses for System Monitor:

http://windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/professional/help/default.asp?PaneName=Search&ShowPane=true&TopicUrl=http%3A//windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/professional/help/default.htm

In addition, review the information in Table 8-1 on page 421, System Monitor Objects, and Table 8-2 on page 422, Toolbar Buttons, to prepare for Exercise 8-3 on page 425. Walk through the exercise.

The flip side of the baseline is bottlenecks, or system constrictions. Every system has them; it’s all in how they are dealt with. If you are monitoring system performance, it is much easier to detect and correct a system bottleneck. The three most common bottlenecks are:

• Processor Utilization
• Memory Performance
• Network Performance (use Table 8-3 on page 430 to discuss OSI network issues)
• Disk Performance

Disk performance is the fourth bottleneck.  This certification objective covers two analytical tools, PhysicalDisk and LogicalDisk, but there are no exercises for them. Therefore you will probably want to cover them by reviewing the study guide text on pages 432-433. The third analytical tool is Disk Defragmenter, introduced in Chapter 6, and covered here again. This tool was not part of Windows NT, therefore Norton Utilities was commonly used.

Key points to cover in reviewing Disk Defragmenter:

• Defragmentation not as large an issue as with previous versions of Windows

• May only need to be run frequently for large drives

• Defrags all file types

• You need administrator privileges

• Can’t defrag the paging file

• The paging file must be moved to another volume (include with above)

• Always analyze volumes before defragging

• Must be run manually

• Compare Analysis to Defragmentation to see how much improvement

Walk through Exercise 8-4 on page 438-439 to demonstrate defragmentation.

This is a powerful administrative tool with many features that can be individualized for the administrator. Counters and logs are commonly created. This background from the Microsoft web site illuminates the reasons for performance logs and alerts:

http://windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/professional/help/default.asp?PaneName=Search&ShowPane=true&TopicUrl=http%3A//windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/professional/help/default.htm

Exercise 8-5 on page 444 walks through configuring a log.

The main Application Performance might also have been named "Task Manager," for it explains how to use the TM for everyday work tasks. It is invoked with the three-fingered salute (pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del) and demonstrate its features. Move directly to Exercise 8-6 on page 452 to show how Task Manager can be used to manage the computer’s

• applications (new, end, switch)
• processes (note the CPU time clicks)
• performance (COPU and memory usage)

Review priority levels using Table 8-4 on page 453 then go to Exercise 8-7 on page 454 to show how to work with process priorities. You should understand how the priorities are configured within the process.

Hardware profiles apply to the hardware connected, to or used by a particular computer. Windows 2000 wants to be very clear about the hardware it sees. The study guide cites the portable computer and dock; one profile would be the portable undocked, while the other would be the portable docked.

Once the initial profile(s) are created, they will probably not change often. An exception is if you use a removable storage device or a NIC. To use it, you would use Device Manager to enable it, and then to disable it.

Hardware profiles are selected at boot. Move into Exercise 8-8 on page 457 to demonstrate how a profile is created.

Backup and recovery are two very important aspects of system administration. Probably no amount of forewarning will ever prevent users from suffering disk crashes and failing to back up their work. Thus the administrator and the operating system must carry some responsibility for helping to preserve and recover data. Windows 2000 has automated the formerly manual backup procedure with the Backup Wizard and has even designed in several options. Making an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) is a very good precaution, however an ERD disk is not bootable.

Review the backup systems discussed on page 462:

• Normal A "full backup" — backs up all files. Takes the longest.
• Incremental Backs up changed files since last normal or incremental backup and marks them. Probably the most efficient method.
• Differential Backs up changed files since last normal or incremental backup but does not mark them. Takes longer since it backs up since the last normal backup.
• Copy Backs up selected files without marking them as backed up. Good for backup procedures between normal and incremental.
• Daily Backs up files that changed that day; but does not mark them. Keeps your most current work backed up.

Know when to use the various backup methods and when each would be most appropriate. This is an important exam question, and be sure you can select the best method.

Walk through the Backup Wizard on pages 463-468 (this is the equivalent of an exercise). Be sure to stress the testing aspect explained in the On the Job on page 469. Emphasize that there can never be enough system testing, especially when it comes to the importance of backups. You can learn more about backups and various techniques and media to use for backing up at the ZDNet web site:

www.zdnet.com/zdhelp/stories/main/0,5594,2580421,00.html

Review Safe Mode, and how it works. There is more emphasis on the use of the Recovery Console, because unlike Safe Mode, it is an active utility that can be used in various ways by the administrator. Use Exercise 8-9 on page 472 to show how to use the Recovery Console.

A long list of OS commands supported by the Recovery Console appears on pages 468-469. You might want to print these out for easy referral.

Look at Figure 8-18 on page 474 to introduce the startup and recovery options dialog box.

You can install Recovery Console as a startup option from the Microsoft web site: http://windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/professional/help/default.asp?PaneName=Search&ShowPane=true&TopicUrl=http%3A//windows.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/professional/help/default.htm