Where Can You Find All These Tools?

Windows .NET Support Tools

Sometimes, administrators forget or simply do not know that each Windows 2000 or Windows .NET (as well as Windows XP) installation CD contains a pack of powerful tools named Windows Support Tools. (This pack is the same for both Professional and Server versions of Windows 2000. Windows .NET servers have more recent versions of the Support Tools then Windows XP.) This pack must be installed separately from the operation system itself. Run the Setup.exe or Suptools.msi file from the \SUPPORT\TOOLS folder, and install the pack on the hard disk. (The Windows.NET Support Tools require about 20 MB of the hard disk space.) Then you will be able to start the tools from the Start menu or the command prompt.

Windows Resource Kit

The Windows Support Tools can be regarded as a subset of the Windows Resource Kit, a separately purchased product that contains hundreds of various utilities as well as comprehensive printed documentation. (There are two versions of the Kit: Server and Professional. Many of the tools described below are present in both versions.) The Windows 2000 Resource Kit requires about 60 MB of the hard disk.

The good news is that the Windows 2000 Resource Kits (both Professional and Server versions including the Windows 2000 Server Deployment Planning Guide) and Windows XP Professional Resource Kit are freely accessible on the Microsoft Tech-Net website (see links in Appendix A). Moreover, some very useful tools from these kits can be also downloaded for free from the Microsoft website (see Appendix A).

At this time, the Windows .NET Server Resource Kit has not yet been released, so some of the tools (as well as various administrative scripts) from Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit have been tested in the Windows .NET environment. They appear to work properly.

The Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit contains a collection of Visual Basic (VB) scripts called Remote Administration Scripts. Several scripts from this collection are mentioned in the tables in this chapter. (These scripts can safely run on Windows .NET servers, too.) If you are going to write your own scripts or applications, pay close attention to these scripts, since they will help you speed up the process of studying scripting basics (including ADSI programming concepts).