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

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

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 cant be backed up, you can only choose
which volumes to backup
Scheduled backups require a dedicated fixed or removable disk as the
backup destination when youre using Windows Server Backup

Select one of the following options:

Always perform full backup
Always perform incremental backup
Custom
MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

Windows Server Backup and Restore

(cont.)

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

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

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

Creating Scheduled Backups (cont.)

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

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

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

Data Recovery (cont.)

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

Data Recovery (cont.)

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

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
MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

10

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 servers 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

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

11

Active Directory Backup and Restoration

Active Directory is backed up when you perform a full
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 arent
overwritten by changes from other domain controllers
through replication

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

12

Active Directory Backup and Restoration

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

13

Active Directory Defragmentation

Active Directory database requires periodic maintenance in
the form of defragmentation and compaction
Online defragmenation 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 doesnt
compact the database
Offline defragmentation compacts the database
Compaction is performed with the Ntdsutil program
MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

14

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

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

15

Event Viewer
Used to examine event log entries generated by
system services and applications
Events categorized by levels:
Information
Indicated by blue i in 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
MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

16

Event Viewer (cont.)

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

17

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

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

18

Task Manager (cont.)

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

19

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

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

20

Performance Monitor
Uses counters to track performance of a variety of
objects
A counter is a value representing some aspect of
an objects 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
log file
MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

21

Performance Monitor (cont.)

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

22

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
system

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

23

Collecting Baseline Performance Data

(cont.)

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

24

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
MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

25

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

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

26

Reports (cont.)

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

27

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
Miscellaneous failures

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

28

Reliability Monitor (cont.)

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

29

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
Resource monitoring data

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

30

Windows System Resource Manager

(cont.)

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

31

WSRM Management Policies

WSRM is designed to be used on multipurpose
servers with high CPU utilization
WSRM doesnt apply CPU use policies until total
utilization reaches 70%
Preconfigured WSRM policies:

Equal_Per_Process
Equal_Per_User
Equal_Per_IISAppPool
Equal_Per_Session

Can use custom policies as well

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

32

Analyzing Active Directory Performance

To ensure AD performance, monitor performance
indicators such as:

AD DS
DNS
Replication
Active Directory Storage

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

33

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

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

34

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)

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

35

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
MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

36

Common Server Core Configuration Tasks

(cont.)
Dcpromo switches:

/replicaOrNewDomain
/replicaDomainDNSName
/ConfirmGC
/InstallDNS
/UserName
/Password
/RebootOnSuccess
/SafeModeAdminPassword

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

37

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
Windows Firewall with Advanced Security

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

38

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
(www.microsoft.com/downloads) and search on Windows
Command Reference
MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

39

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

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

40

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 servers 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

MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

41