Managing Disk and Object Security and Users and Groups - Essay Example

1. Installing Office 2003 and proprietary applications at each location as efficiently as possible and automatically repairing. Additional features of group policy The best way to install Office 2003 on a business network is to use Administrative Templates and to set up the clients over the network. For this the IT admin must run Setup with elevated privileges. There are three ways to do this: Log on to the computer as an administrator and install Office 2003. Assign, publish, or advertise Office applications. Use Group Policy software installation and management to assign or publish Office 2003. Once Office 2003 is installed the IT department still need to worry with elevating privileges afterwards for patches and the never-ending flood of security updates. That's why the easiest way for both administrators and users, is to use the Group Policy software installation to assign/publish Office 2003 installation files. With Group Policy Objects (GPO), Habibi's IT department can create policies to centralize the management of user and computer settings. Amongst the various settings that can be accomplished via GPO, there are the following options: Manage desktop environments and lock them down to reduce support calls and TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) Install update, repair, and remove software Manage security settings including account policies, auditing, EFS, and user rights Control running state of services Redirect My Documents folders Configure Internet Explorer options and security settings Automate administrative tasks using log-on, log-off, startup and shutdown scripts and many more. Administrative Templates are a large repository of registry-based changes (in fact, over 1300 individual settings) that can be found in any GPO on Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. By using the Administrative Template sections of the GPO you can deploy modifications to machine (called HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE in the registry) and user (called HKEY_CURRENT_USER in the registry) portions of the Registry of computers that are influenced by the GPO. The Administrative Templates are Unicode-formatted text files with the extension .ADM and are used to create the Administrative Templates portion of the user interface for the GPO Editor. A method for an administrator to add such extensions to the GPO is by adding new settings to the Administrative Templates sections. This can be done by adding .ADM files to the existing Administrative Templates section in GPO. 2. Features of Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP for remote support Windows Server 2003 provides the tools necessary for administrators to perform a vast array of management functions on remotely located servers. Server application and operating system upgrades can be performed remotely, as well as domain controller promotion/demotion and disk defragmentation. Remote Desktop for Administration is one mode of the Terminal Services built into Windows Server 2003. Terminal Services can be enabled in one of two ways: Terminal Server mode. This is the Application Server mode that was available since Windows 2000 Server. Remote Desktop for Administration. This is an enhancement of the Remote Administration mode of Windows 2000 Server. This second Terminal Services mode is used to administer Windows Server 2003 servers remotely. Remote Desktop for Administration provides remote access to the graphical interface-based tools available in the Windows environment. Remotely managing servers with Remote Desktop for Administration does not affect server performance or application compatibility. By taking advantage of the new Terminal Services client, known as the Remote Desktop Connection (RDC), remote administration is enhanced in Windows Server 2003 in several ways. The RDC supports a wide selection of hardware devices, so servers can be managed remotely from several different types of client hardware. The RDC is supported on the following hardware types: 16-bit Windows-based computers running Windows for Workgroups with TCP/IP. 32-bit Windows-based computers running every Windows OS from Windows 95 to Windows Server 2003. Windows CE-based handheld devices. Windows CE-based terminals, or thin clients. One of the biggest improvements to the RDC involves client resource redirection, which is available to Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. You now have the capability to access local drives, network drives, and printers through the remote connection. Cut and paste, as well as large file transfers, can be accomplished between the client and server in a remote administration session. Finally, in addition to the two remote sessions available for remote administration, Windows Server 2003 allows a console mode that enables you to connect to the "real" console of the server. Now administrative functions, such as some software installations that previously required local interaction, can be performed remotely. Although administrators have the capability to install software through a Remote Desktop for Administration session, Terminal Services running in Terminal Server mode provides better installation and environment settings for office applications. For general desktop and remote application access functionality, it's better to use a dedicated Terminal Server solution. Terminal Services uses RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol), relies on TCP/IP, and falls under the application layer of the ISO 7-layer model. It has been improved by offering more features, greater reliability and scalability in Windows 2003. Terminal Services allow: The sharing of applications and desktops over the network Administrators to take control of, and manage, a computer from their desk The centralization and management of applications (constantly keeping them up to date) 3. Disaster recovery in Windows Server 2003 There are two methods to prevent data loss because of hardware failure: using backup device and RAID. It's possible to use other PC, tape backup or CD writer for backup device. It depends on the way backup is supposed to be made. In case of manual copying I would recommend a rewritable CD as the cheapest and relatively easy way to backup recipes files every night. If automated copying should be implemented, I would recommend a tape backup, because it is cheap and reliable enough and a lot of automated backup software exists for it. Probably the most well known fault tolerant technology supported by Windows is software RAID, which is available on systems where basic disks have been changed to dynamic disks. RAID 0 (disk mirroring) is an excellent method for providing fault tolerance for boot/system volumes, while RAID 5 (disk striping with parity) increases both the speed and reliability of high-transaction data volumes such as those hosting databases. Software RAID means that RAID is implemented within Windows itself, but for even higher performance and greater fault tolerance Habibi's can choose to implement hardware RAID instead, though this is generally a more expensive solution than software RAID. Traditionally most software RAID systems have used SCSI, but another option common nowadays is SATA (Serial ATA), which is usually only a fraction of the cost of SCSI but with almost comparable performance. There's more to RAID as far as fault tolerance in storage goes however. By implementing the Distributed File System (DFS) on your network and replicating DFS roots using the File Replication Service (FRS), you can ensure maximum redundancy for shared volumes, allowing users to access shared files on your network not only more easily but also when a particular file server goes down. Another useful technology is the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), which lets Windows keep point-in-time snapshots of data volumes so users can recover accidental deleted files or revert to earlier versions of documents they are working on. While not strictly a fault tolerant technology, VSS does provide increased availability for user data and helps protect it from accidental loss or destruction. The following list lists tools for workstations with Windows XP Professional, according to the preferred order of use, from tools that present little or no risk to data, to those that might cause data loss: Last Known Good Configuration, Device Driver Roll Back, System Restore, Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel, Safe Mode, Recovery Console, Backup, Automated System Recovery (ASR). 4. Windows Server 2003 tools and third party utilities using to monitor server performance Mastering the System Monitor controls will help to analyze real-time traces as well as loading and interpreting logs. Microsoft provide two interfaces, my advice is stick with System Monitor, particularly if your aim is to collect live data. Perfmon.exe does everything that the MMC version does. I recommend using the MMC, Performance Monitor and Alerts when you only need create logs and alerts, because this version does not allow real-time monitoring. System Monitor. The Perfmon.exe executable displays not only the System Monitor but also the Logs, Counters and Alerts. It starts from Start --> Programs --> Administrative Tools --> Performance MMC Snap-in - Performance Monitor and Alerts. Performance Logs and Alerts displayed there. It starts from MMC --> Add Remove Snap-in --> Performance Logs and Alerts There are also a large number of the third party utilities for monitoring server performance. windows server monitoring Remotely manage Servers. Multi OS. CPU, Memory, Disk Space Monitoring. opmanager.adventnet.com Free Performance Monitor Remote, agentless server resource measurement tool for Windows. www.platespin.com. Server Monitoring Monitor Server Health, Uptime, Logs server monitor software guide. www.chozamtech.com EvenTrigger for Windows Monitor event logs, be alerted, and automatically trigger action. www.isdecisions.com References 1. Petri, D. (2005, May 12). What are Administrative Template in Group Policy Objects Daniel Petri Ltd. Retrieved May 18, 2005 from http://www.petri.co.il/understanding_administrative_templates_in_gpo.htm 2. Roberts E., Abbate A., Kovach E., Morimoto R. (2004, July 30). Administering Windows Server 2003 Remotely. InformIT. Retrieved May 20, 2005 from http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspp=174352 3. Tabona, A.Z. (2004, July 16). Windows 2003 Terminal Services (Part 1). WindowsNetworking.com. Retrieved May 20, 2005 from http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Windows_2003_Terminal_Services_Part1.html 4. Tulloch, M. (2005, April 27). Implementing Fault Tolerance on Windows Networks. WindowsNetworking.com. Retrieved May 18, 2005 from http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Implementing-Fault-Tolerance-Windows-Networks.html Read More