Extending the Capabilities of Windows 2003 with Downloadable Tools

In addition to Feature Packs, Microsoft has made available new and updated tools that help organizations with migration, administration, maintenance, and management tasks. These tools are freely downloadable to all Windows 2003 licensed organizations at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/downloads/default.mspx.

Active Directory Migration Tool v2.0

The Active Directory Migration Tool came with Windows 2000 as a version 1.0 release, and has undergone major renovations since then. ADMT v2.0, which is freely downloadable from the Windows Server 2003 Tools site, enables an organization to migrate user accounts, computer accounts, access control lists (ACLs), and trusts from NT4 or Windows 2000 to a Windows Server 2003 domain. Unlike previous versions of ADMT that migrated user objects but did not migrate passwords, ADMT v2.0 can migrate passwords from the source to destination domain.

Additionally, ADMT v2.0 can migrate objects between Active Directory forests, more commonly called the cross-forest migration of objects. This capability now allows an organization to set up a brand-new Active Directory forest and migrate objects to the new forest. This can be done when an organization wants to migrate all objects from an old forest to a new forest, or when an organization has a department, subsidiary, or remote location that accidentally created its own Active Directory forest and now wants to blend it into the main organization's forest. ADMT v2.0 provides a variety of migration options for organizations, and is covered in detail in Chapter 17.

Domain Rename

When migrating from Windows 2000 to Windows Server 2003, many organizations choose to change their domain names in the process. When Windows 2000 first shipped, performing a domain rename was not possible, so this capability has been long awaited by organizations that might have set a domain name that they no longer want (such as a domain named after a television series or for a specific site that does not exist anymore), or whose name changed after a merger or acquisition. Windows Server 2003 enables an organization to rename a domainboth the NetBIOS name, as well as the fully qualified DNS domain name.

Although domain renaming is possible, it is not a simple task because a domain rename affects all domain controllers, servers, and systems attached to the domain. Effectively, every single system on the network will need to be reconfigured and rebooted. Although the domain rename tool helps to automate this process, certain systems might not successfully reconnect to the new domain and administrator intervention is required. If an organization has hundreds or thousands of systems connected to a domain, the need to clearly validate the requirement to change a domain name must be considered. The domain rename utility is covered in detail in Chapter 17.

Application Compatibility Tools

Another pair of Windows 2003 tool downloads are the Application Compatibility Analyzer and the Windows Application Compatibility Toolkit. These tools help organizations test applications to confirm compatibility with Windows Server 2003, and to isolate problems with compatibility to either work around the problem or to decide that the application needs to be replaced. These application compatibility tools are covered in Chapter 18, "Compatibility Testing."

Log Parser Tool

Microsoft provides a pair of log-parsing tools on the Windows 2003 Tools download page. The tools allow an administrator to quickly search for patterns and data in the log files of multiple servers, without having to open and search each server's log files individually. The log-parsing tools also provide extensive reporting tools, as well as the capability to export data from the log files into a SQL database.

Although Microsoft has an extensive log-tracking, management, and reporting tool that it sells as a separate program called Microsoft Operations Manager, the Log Parser tools are free and provide basic functionality for log file administration. The Log Parser tools are covered in Chapter 22.

Microsoft Operations Manager Tools

Although Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) is a separate Microsoft program that can be purchased to manage and administer Windows servers, the downloadable components on the Windows Server 2003 tools page are the add-on components for MOM for Windows 2003 systems. There are several downloads on the Windows Server 2003 tools page. One download is the Base Management Pack, which has the core monitoring tools for Active Directory, Internet Information Service, Windows networking, and file replication services. Another download is the Microsoft Operations Manager Resource Kit, which has tools that extend the capabilities of MOM including a Server Status Monitor tool (SSM) that enables an organization using MOM to monitor the simple up or down status of a group of servers.

Other MOM tools include the MIIS 2003 Management Pack and the MIIS 2003 Resource Kit, which provide functionality for managing directory replication and integration between Active Directory and other MIIS-managed directories. The Microsoft Operations Manager tools are covered in Chapter 25, "Integrating MOM with Windows Server 2003."

File Replication Management Tools

Another significant series of tools available for download include file replication management tools such as sonar.exe and frsdiag.exe, which are tools that help administrators validate the replication between servers. Something that was found to be significant in the ongoing administration and management of Windows is the ability for administrators to ensure that all the global catalog servers and file replication servers are communicating properly. If a global catalog server is not replicating properly on the network, any users that access the global catalog server might not receive the latest group policies, or have the proper security or administrative policies applied.

By using the file replication management tools from the Windows 2003 Tools page, administrators can validate that replication is occurring as expected, or the administrator can manually force a replication from within the tools. File replication management tools are covered in Chapter 30 as well as in Chapter 21.

Getting to Know Windows 2003 Resource Kit Tools

In addition to Feature Packs and downloadable Windows 2003 Tools that greatly enhance the administration and management of a Windows 2003 network, administrators should understand how the various Windows 2003 Resource Kit tools can provide significant support in daily tasks. Unlike some resource kits from Microsoft that used to require the purchase of the tools, the Windows 2003 Resource Kit tools are freely downloadable from the Windows 2003 Tools page to all licensed Windows 2003 organizations.

This second edition of Windows Server 2003 Unleashed has taken the most significant Windows 2003 Resource Kit tools and noted how the tools are best used in leveraging tasks and functions in a Windows 2003 environment. As an example, one of the tools, like the Remote Access Quarantine client covered in Chapter 26, is a free tool that isolates VPN clients and only allows the remote access users access to the network when their system is cleared for appropriate patch updates and virus scans. For a free downloadable tool, an organization can set up a sophisticated system for scanning and validating that a remote laptop or desktop is clean and can access network resources.

Additional Resource Kit tools include Group Policy monitoring and Group Policy editing tools that provide command-line tools for managing Group Policies. Rather than always launching the GPO Edit MMC utility, many tasks can be done from a command-line, making the scripting and batch processing of policy tasks a simpler process. The Group Policy Resource Kit-related tools are covered in Chapter 21.

Several maintenance tools included in the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit provide replication checks, link checks, clear the memory on servers, provide SMTP DNS diagnostics, check for memory leaks on servers, look for page faults on servers, and the like, and are covered in Chapter 34, "Logging and Debugging." The tools are typically poorly documented in the Microsoft Resource Kit document; however, the tools are highlighted throughout this book to add better automation to mundane processes, as well as provide the needed administrative support to scripted tasks.