Apply Your Knowledge

Exercises

6.1 Creating a Baseline Counter Log

In this exercise, you use the Performance console to create a baseline counter log. You then can use the baseline as a comparison point for future performance monitoring.

Estimated time: 30 minutes

Open the Performance console.
Expand the Performance Logs and Alerts node and click the Counter Logs entry.
Create a new counter log and name it BASLINELOG1 .
Add entire objects or specific counters as you like. For this example, add the Packets Sent/sec, Packets Received/sec, and Packets Received Errors counters.
Leave the default data collection rate and account settings as is.
Configure the type of log file to be used as binary. Choose the numbering system of your choice.
Leave the default schedule of manual activation as is.
Click OK to save the counter log settings.
Allow the counter log to run for approximately 20 minutes and then stop it.
Switch to the System Monitor node and click the database icon to open the counter log for viewing.
Click the Add button to locate and add the counter log file.
On the Data tab, ensure that you have configured all the same counters to be displayed as you used in the counter log itself. Click OK. The counter log data is displayed in the System Monitor.

6.2 Monitoring Performance

In this exercise, you monitor the current performance characteristics of a computer's network adapter.

Estimated time: 15 minutes

Open the Performance console.
Click System Monitor.
Click the + icon to open the Add Counters dialog box. Add the counters you want to monitor on your computer, such as Packets Sent/sec, Packets Received/sec, and Packets Received Errors.
Click Close when you are finished. Watch the configured counters for 10 minutes while performing various activities that require network transfer to and from your computer.

6.3 Configuring a New Backup Job

In this exercise, you configure a new backup job to be run on your Windows Server 2003 computer.

Estimated time: 20 minutes

Open the Backup or Restore Wizard.
Click the Advanced Mode link to switch to Advanced mode of the Backup Utility.
Start the Backup Wizard.
Click Next to dismiss the opening page of the wizard.
On the What to Back Up dialog box, select the scope of the backup. If you choose to back up selected files and folders, proceed to step 6; otherwise , skip to step 7.
On the Items to Back Up dialog box, select the files and folders to back up.
On the Backup Type, Destination, and Name dialog box, choose the location to save the backup file, using the Browse button if necessary, and enter the filename for the backup file.
To configure advanced options, including scheduling and disabling volume shadow copy, click Advanced and proceed to step 9. If you want to perform this backup immediately, click Finish.
On the Type of Backup dialog box, select the type of backup you want.
On the How to Back Up dialog box, select to verify data, enable hardware compression (if supported by your backup device), or disable volume shadow copy.
On the Backup Options dialog box, select whether to overwrite existing backup data on your media or overwrite it.
On the When to Back Up dialog box, configure the data and time that you want to perform this backup job.
If you selected Now, click Finish to complete the Backup Wizard and start the backup. If you selected Later, you are prompted for the username and password of a domain user account authorized to perform backups .

6.4 Enabling and Configuring Volume Shadow Copy

In this exercise, you enable and configure the volume shadow copy feature on your Windows Server 2003 computer.

Estimated time: 15 minutes

Open the Computer Management console.
Expand the System Tools node and locate the Shared Folders node.
Right-click the Shared Folders node and select All Tasks, Configure Shadow Copies.
Select the volume for which you want to enable shadow copies and click the Enable button.
Click the Settings button on the Shadow Copies dialog box.
Change the location where the shadow copies are to be stored as well as the amount of space you want to allot to them.
Click the Schedule button.
Configure the volume shadow copy schedule as required.

Review Questions

1:	What is a baseline, and why is it important to create one?
2:	You have enabled the volume shadow copies on your file server using the default settings. When you try to locate a version of a file that is 42 days old, you cannot. Why is this so?
3:	You create backups on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights using differential backup. On Friday night, you perform a full backup. If you need to perform a restoration on Thursday morning, which tapes do you need?
4:	Besides allowing you to create previous versions of files and folders, what other feature does the volume shadow copy provide in Windows Server 2003?
5:	In general, when should you create baselines for your servers?

Exam Questions

1:	Christopher needs to back up the contents of a data folder on his server, but he does not have a tape drive. What other media can he use with Windows Backup? CD-ROM Floppy disk Text dump No other media can be used
2:	You are the third-shift network administrator for Bob's Bull Riding College. You have just completed the installation and configuration of a new Windows Server 2003 file server. What should you do on this new computer over the next day or so to provide troubleshooting guidance in the future should network traffic problems occur? Remove all unnecessary protocols from the server's network adapters. Create a baseline counter log that documents what the server's performance was like at the time it was placed on the network. Check the event logs to ensure that no abnormal events occurred when the computer was joined to the network. Configure and implement IPSec to secure network traffic to and from the file server.
3:	You are creating a disaster recovery plan for your organization. You have decided to implement the Grandfather, Father, Son media rotation method to provide a good mix of backup history and backup media wear. Your plan has been approved by management and implemented for use on the network. After three months, you perform a comprehensive review of the disaster recovery plan and determine that it does not provide an adequate solution to protect critical operating system files. What additional information should you ensure is backed up when your backup files are created? `SYSVOL` directory C:\ System State All files and folders on all volumes on all servers
4:	You are trying to monitor the performance statistics of your Windows Server 2003 computer's network interface. You have only one network interface installed in the computer. After you have selected the desired counters from the Network Interface object and returned to the System Monitor, you see no performance statistics displayed for the selected counters, even though you have been accessing Internet Web sites and transferring files across the network. What is the most likely cause of this problem? The network interface is disabled. The network interface does not support the System Monitor. You have selected the internal loopback network interface. You did not click Add to add the counters to be monitored .
5:	You have enabled and configured volume shadow copies on one of your Windows Server 2003 file servers. The file server has a shared folder named `Financial` that is located at `C:\FinanceDocs` . You have deployed the Previous Versions Client to all your Windows XP Professional workstations. When you attempt to confirm that your configuration is functioning correctly by viewing the properties of the `Financial` share in Windows Explorer on your server, there is no Previous Versions tab. What is the most likely problem? You forgot to install the client software on the server. The client software was installed prior to enabling the shadow copies. The Previous Versions tab is available only when viewing the folder over the network using My Network Places. The shared folder is empty.
6:	You have recently completed the configuration of a baseline counter log that you will use to collect data about the performance of a new server you have just placed on the network. You configured a maximum log file size of 1MB. You let the counter log run for approximately six hours before stopping it. When you look at the data you have collected, you see only a fraction of this total time displayedthe last 45 minutes or so that you had the counter log catching data. What is the most likely reason for this problem? There has not been enough activity to generate more data than this. You configured the file type as binary. You configured the file type as binary circular. The computer was experiencing operating system instability problems that prevented the collection of more data.
7:	Deanna needs to back up critical data on her server. However, she does not have enough DAT tapes to back up everything on her server. She wants to make sure that, in addition to the user data she is backing up, she backs up the Registry on her server. What should Deanna select in addition to those data files she wants to back up? C: System State My Documents My Computer
8:	You are configuring a counter log that is to run automatically each day and collect information about the performance of the network interface installed in your file server. Which of the following log numbering systems would most likely make the resulting counter logs easy to track back to the date and time they were created? nnnnnn yyyymm mmddhhmm yyyymmddhh
9:	You are preparing to enable and configure volume shadow copies on one of your Windows Server 2003 file servers. All shared folders are located on Volume C of the file server. Volume C on the server has 85MB of free space available. How much space will be used by volume shadow copies? 850KB 8.5MB 42.5MB 0MB
10:	Christopher wants to determine whether his server is short of memory. Under light load, users get good response. However, as load increases , so does the lack of responsiveness. Which of the following counters will aid him in determining whether memory is the bottleneck in his system? Memory\ Pages/sec Paging File\ % Usage Processor\ Interrupts/sec Network Segment\ % Net Utilization
11:	Andrea is preparing a disaster recovery plan for her company. She asks you which backup option backs up only the files that have not been marked as archived and then sets the archive bit for all files that are backed up. What should you tell her? Daily backups act this way. Normal backups act this way. Copy backups act this way. Differential backups act this way. Incremental backups act this way.
12:	Christopher is assisting Andrea with preparations for disaster recovery. He asks you which backup option requires only one media device for the entire backup and sets the archive bit to indicate the data has been backed up. What should you tell him? Daily backups act this way. Normal backups act this way. Copy backups act this way. Differential backups act this way. Incremental backups act this way.
13:	Austin wants to monitor how much of the paging file is being used. He opens the System Monitor and starts to add the counter for this, but he is unsure which one to add. Which counter should you tell him to add to monitor the paging file usage? Paging File\ Pages/sec Memory\ Pages/sec Paging File\ % Usage Memory\ % Paging File
14:	Hannah is trying to determine what could be causing her disk access to slow down over time. She opens the System Monitor and starts to add counters to help her diagnose this situation, but she is unsure what to add. Which counter should you tell her to add to help her diagnose problems with her hard drive access speed? (Select all that apply.) Physical Disk\ Disk Reads/sec Logical Disk\ % Free Space Physical Disk\ Split IO/sec Network Interface\ Bytes Total/sec
15:	You are creating a disaster recovery plan for your organization. You have decided to implement the Grandfather, Father, Son media rotation method to provide a good mix of backup history and backup media wear. Your plan has been approved by management and implemented for use on the network. After three months, you perform a comprehensive review of the disaster recovery plan and determine that it does not provide an adequate solution in the event that the server cannot be started normally. What feature of Windows Server 2003 can you take advantage of to close this gap in your disaster recovery plan? Volume shadow copy Automated System Recovery Automatic Updates Safe Mode

Answers to Review Questions


A1:	A baseline is a set of performance readings taken at a specific time and used to reference future readings to identify changes in performance. For more information, see the section "Baselining Servers."

A2:	By default, volume shadow copies create a shadow copy twice daily. Volume shadow copies can maintain only 64 previous versions, for a total of 32 days in the default configuration. For more information, see the section, "Using Volume Shadow Copy."

A3:	You need the full backup tape from the previous Friday night and the differential backup tape from Wednesday night. For more information, see the section, "Backup Methods and Media Rotation."

A4:	Volume shadow copies also allow you to backup files that are open at the time of the backup. This way, file servers can be backed up without forcing users to close all open files. Open files are backed up in a closed state as they are at that point in time. For more information, see the section, "New Windows Server 2003 Backup Features."

A5:	You should create a baseline when a new server is placed in operation, after each hardware change and after each software or application modification. For more information, see the section "Baselining Servers."

Answers to Exam Questions


A1:	B. In addition to tape drives , Windows Backup can also store to any local or network drive. Of the given choices, only the floppy disk is a valid choice. For more information, see the section "Planning Backup and Recovery Operations."

A2:	B. The best thing for you to do at this time would be to configure a counter log that collects information about the performance of the server over the next day or so to use as a baseline for future troubleshooting efforts. This baseline log should contain counters for any pertinent objects that you will likely want to monitor and troubleshoot later, including network, memory, and other objects. You also should consider creating a document that lists all applications and services that are running on the server. This document can be helpful later when you are trying to determine what might be causing changes in performance over time. For more information, see the section "Baselining Servers."

A3:	C. You can select to have the System State information backed up to provide recovery protection for all critical operating system files, including those that are required to properly start and operate the operating system. The System State consists of the following items: Registry COM+ class registration database Critical boot and system files System files that are protected by Windows File Protection Certificate Services database if the server is a Certificate Authority Active Directory directory service if the server is a domain controller `SYSVOL` directory if the server is a domain controller Cluster service information if the server is a member of a cluster IIS metadirectory if IIS is installed on the server For more information, see the section, "Creating Backup Job Configurations."

A4:	C. The most likely reason for this problem is that you have mistakenly selected the internal loopback interface instead of the actual network interface that the computer is using. By default, the loopback interface is selected if the name of the network interface starts with a letter after I . For more information, see the section, "Introduction to System Monitor."

A5:	C. The Previous Versions tab is available in the Properties dialog box only when the share is accessed over the network or locally using the My Network Places folder. For more information, see the section, "Using Volume Shadow Copy."

A6:	C. Configuring the counter log file format as binary circular causes the log file to overwrite older information when it has reached its maximum allowed size. For more information, see the section "Baselining Servers."

A7:	B. To back up (and hence recover) the Registry, you must back up the System State information for a local server. For more information, see the section, "Creating Backup Job Configurations."

A8:	D. The yyyymmddhh log numbering format would provide the easiest method of determining the data and time each counter log was created. For more information, see the section "Baselining Servers."

A9:	D. Volume shadow copies requires at least 100MB of free space on the volume; therefore, you cannot enable volume shadow copies on this file server. For more information, see the section, "Using Volume Shadow Copy."

A10:	A, B. Pages/sec shows how many times per second the server has to go to the hard drive to recover information it thought ought to be in memory but has been swapped out because of a shortage of memory. % Usage of the paging file can be an indicator of low memory because, if it constantly decreases as applications run, the amount of RAM is not sufficient to fill the demand on the server, which causes the paging file to be increased in size. For more information, see the section "Daily Monitoring for Usage."

A11:	E. Incremental backups look to see the current status of the archive bit before backing up data. If the archive bit is False, an incremental backup skips the file because it has been backed up. If the archive bit is True, an incremental backup saves the file and sets its archive bit to False. If Andrea changes a file and then runs two incremental backups in a row, only the first backs up the file. The second encounters the False archive bit set by the first incremental backup and skips the file. For more information, see the section "Backup Methods and Media Rotation."

A12:	B. Normal backups (sometimes called full backups) save all files regardless of the state of the archive bit. While saving the files, normal backups set the archive bit to False to indicate that the files have been backed up. This means that if Christopher were to do two normal backups in a row, both would save all the data, and both would set the archive bits to False. For more information, see the section "Daily Monitoring for Usage."

A13:	C. Paging File\ % Usage is the ratio of the amount of paging file being used to the total size of the paging file. A high number is desired here because it indicates that the paging file is sized correctly for the system. If this number is low, either the paging file has been set too large (and is, therefore, consuming more disk space than is necessary) or the paging file has been recently resized. For more information, see the section "Daily Monitoring for Usage."

A14:	B, C. In this case, given the counter options listed, these two choices are the best options. With these two counters, Hannah can troubleshoot low disk space and fragmentation issues. Logical Disk\ % Free Space is the ratio of free space total disk space on a logical drive, which is a measurement of remaining capacity on your logical drives. Hannah usually should track this for each logical drive. To prevent excessive fragmentation, the value here should not be allowed to drop below 10%. Physical Disk\Split IO/sec reports the rate at which the operating system divides I/O requests to the disk into multiple requests. A split I/O request might occur if the program requests data in a size that is too large to fit into a single request or if the disk is fragmented . Factors that influence the size of an I/O request can include application design, the file system, and drivers. A high rate of split I/O might not, in itself, represent a problem. However, on single-disk systems, a high rate for this counter tends to indicate disk fragmentation. For more information, see the section "Daily Monitoring for Usage."

A15:	B. The Automated System Restore (ASR) feature is new in Windows Server 2003 and provides a means to restore a server in the event that all other methods fail or are not available for use. You should consider ASR as a last option and use it only after Safe Mode, Recovery Console, and the Last Known Good Configuration (LKGC) have failed. The ASR set consists of a startup floppy disk and a standard Windows Backup file. In addition to these two items, you also need your original Windows Server 2003 installation CD-ROM and any mass storage device drivers (on floppy disk) to perform an ASR recovery action. For more information, see the section "Using Automated System Recovery."