More Network Troubleshooting

Alan Sugano's "Network Troubleshooting Basics" (June 2003, http://www.windowsitpro.com, InstantDoc ID 38938) was very informative. I wholeheartedly agree with him about the "right" way to tackle networking problems. One of the examples confused me, though. In "Problem: Windows Services Don't Start," the author mentions that someone removed a server—a domain controller (DC)—from the Domain Controllers organizational unit (OU), and afterward a certain service failed to start. First question: What are valid reasons to remove a DC from the Domain Controllers OU? The service was configured to start under a certain user account that was different from the Local System account. Second question: Why didn't the author propose setting the Local System account for this service? By moving the server out of the OU, the server—which is the Local System account, if I'm right—lost the right to log on as a service. But the service didn't run under the Local System account, so why does this loss of rights influence the ability of the service to run? Other services ran under this Local System account, but the author doesn't mention that they failed. The author then explains that the solution to the problem is to edit a GPO, which is exclusively (I think) applied to members of the Domain Controllers OU. Because the server was recently moved out of that OU, I can't see how editing the GPO can solve the problem.

—Jacques Willemen
willemen@setarnet.aw

The client I wrote about in this article had a very large network and many OUs. They wanted to place this particular server in a different OU to make it "easier" to find. This approach was just a matter of style. The service that failed to start was VERITAS Software's VERITAS Backup Exec. Backup Exec must start with a valid user account, so that's the reason they couldn't use the Local System account. With the Exchange add-in for Backup Exec, you must have a unique mailbox account start the Backup Exec services in order to perform a mailbox backup. And yes, you should edit the GPO for the particular OU to which the server was moved, not the Domain Controllers OU. In this specific scenario, services that start under the Local System account are not affected by a change in the OU. For more information about service startup, see the Microsoft article "How to Troubleshoot Service Startup Permissions" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=259733).

—Alan Sugano

Going Wireless
Regarding John D. Ruley's Mobile & Wireless: "Going Wireless with Your Mobile Device" (June 2003, http://www.windowsitpro.com, InstantDoc ID 38929), one significantly useful feature of Symbol Technologies' Wireless Networker CompactFlash (CF) card is that by using a $13 PC Card adapter, I can use the same CF card on my laptop. For some reason, no other manufacturer of wireless CF cards publishes drivers for a desktop Windows OS.

—Michael Abramovitch
mabramovitch@abramcotech.com

OOPS
In Mark England's "Using Ntdsutil to Defrag AD" (June 2003, http://www.windowsitpro.com, InstantDoc ID 38945), the default tombstone-lifetime setting (the date on which marked Active Directory—AD—objects are deleted) was incorrect. The default setting is 60 days. We regret any inconvenience this error might have caused.

In Ed Roth's "Enterprise Management Options" (May 15, 2003, http://www.windowsitpro.com, InstantDoc ID 38735), the network- and system-management features supported by Argent Software and NetIQ were listed incorrectly in Table 1. To access the corrected table, go to /files/38735/table_01.pdf.

In addition, products from Vector Networks and Marimba were listed incorrectly in Table 3. To access the corrected table, go to /files/38735/table_03.pdf.

More License Management Tools
Tom Iwanski's Market Watch: "License Management and Metering Tools" (June 2003, http://www.windowsitpro.com, InstantDoc ID 38934) was intended as an overview of the license-management market segment and not a comprehensive buyers' guide. However, as a service to readers and vendors, we've compiled the following list of license-management products that we didn't mention in the article:


Product Asset Navigator GASP
Vendor Alloy Software Attest Systems
URL http://www.alloy-software.com http://www.attest.com


—Michele Crockett

End of Article


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Reader Comments

In Letters to the Editor: "Going Wireless" (August 2003, http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 39609), Michael Abramovitch writes that only the Symbol Technologies' Wireless Networker CompactFlash (CF) card is available for Windows desktop machines. I have D-Link Systems' D-Link DCF-660W CF wireless network card that Windows 2000 supports on a notebook computer. The required driver is available on D-Link's drivers FTP site at ftp://ftp.dlink.com/wireless/dcf660w/drivers. (The windows driver is DCF660WK_DRIVERS_101.EXE.) Although the D-Link Web site states that no driver for Win2K is available, a D-Link technical support representative told me about the FTP site. In my case, I've found that the DCF-660W wireless card is more compatible with many Windows programs than some other PC Card wireless cards that I've tried.

David Rounds- January 15, 2004

 
 

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