W2Knews[tm] (the original NTools E-News) Electronic Newsletter
Vol. 5, #17- April 17, 2000
Published by sunbelt-software.com since 1996 - ISSN: 1527-3407
'Immediate Notification Of Important Windows NT/2000 Events'
******************* over 600,000 SUBSCRIBERS*****************
This Issue of W2Knews contains:
1. EDITORS CORNER:
* Market correction in tech stocks / Microsoft legal
scene / W2Knews mentioned in Forbes magazine
2. TECH BRIEFING:
* New attack in quota tool wars
3. NT RELATED NEWS:
* Microsoft TechNet now helps with W2K deployment
* Microsoft website posts Giga/Sunbelt reliability survey
* System administrator lesson learned
* '50+ IP Address' bug in W2K is pest for ISP's
4. NT THIRD PARTY NEWS:
* STAT now scans for Windows 2000 security holes
* March 2000 'Surprise Hot Seller': Event Log Monitor
* Case Study: Solution for Database Administrator worries
5. HINTS AND TIPS:
* Some More Very Useful W2K&AD Books / Free AD seminars
6. THE NT/2000 STOCK WATCH - Friday April 14, 2000 (not pretty)
7. HOW TO USE THE MAILING LIST
Instructions on how to subscribe, sign off or change your address.
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**********************WHAT IS W2Knews?***************************
Sunbelt W2Knews (the original NTools E-News) is the World's first
and largest E-Newsletter designed for NT/2000 System Admins that
have the job to get and keep NT up & running in a production
environment. Sunbelt launched this electronic newsletter early 1996.
Every week we keep the Windows NT/2000 community informed and aware
of new developments of NT and 3-rd party System Management Tools.
You get hints and tips that will enable you to better utilize and
understand Win NT/2000 and help to pass your Certification Exams.
Info and Stu's bio: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/w2knews.htm
Via (separate) NTools E-NewsFlashes we will send you important
breaking news like new service packs, killer viruses, etc. Sunbelt
Software is the first and largest provider worldwide of Third
Party System Management Tools for Windows NT. Tell Your Friends!
All back issues are here, searchable and indexed on key words:
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=nt-list&text_mode=0
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1. "EDITORS CORNER"
Hi NT/W2K Pro's,
Nasdaq got a small push down a little while ago when Microsoft
stock dropped due to the Department of Justice case developments.
A few days later some more tech stocks dropped. Next thing you
know is that the Nasdaq loses 25% of its value. Now, I'm not
saying that this correction was caused by the MS-case but it may
have helped together with current inflation fears.
What is wrong with the Tech Stocks? Nothing. This is just a market
correction that also spread to the Dow. It was about time. In the
US, more than 50% of the households are actively invested into
stocks and this means more momentum in the up- and downswings. If
you look at the longer term graphs (1-5 year or more) you will see
what goes up must come down. Nothing the matter really, it's
just that the media sensationalize it. They are still way up over
last year. I would not be surprised if they keep falling some more.
And now the MS case. So, the judge has ruled they are guilty of
monopolistic behavior. What does that mean for us? Nothing really.
This case is going to drag on through the courts for years if
no settlement can be agreed upon. Just continue to run NT and
plan carefully towards your coming W2K migration. If you already
run wall-to-wall W2K, congrats! You've got less headaches than
before and a much more stable environment.
And your W2Knewsletter was featured in an article on the Forbes
Website where they discussed the challenge of keeping contact
with your community via email. You thought email is simple? Think
again. When you get over a few thousand it becomes pretty complex!
Read about it at: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/00/0417/6509428a.htm
And if you have not checked out the new Sunbelt website yet, now
is the time to do it: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/index.htm
Warm regards,
Stu.
Email me with feedback at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
PS. If you want to get MCSE Windows 2000 Certified... FREE,
find the new E-Coupon further down in this newsletter.
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****************************************************************
2. TECH BRIEFING:
* New Attack In Quota Tool Wars
Disk Quota Tools are still one of the most popular utilities
that system administrators implement on servers. Why? Very simple
actually. Runaway disk space consumption by users (or programs)
is very expensive in more than one way, and the second reason is
that full disks can cause actual system downtime.
Disk Quota Tools arrived very early on the NT scene. If I recall
well, it was late 1995 that NTP software's Quota Manager fired its
first salvo's into the market. A while later we saw Northern Tech-
nology's Quota Server march on the field and late 1997 W.Quinn's
Quota Advisor arrived at the battlegrounds. These are the three
major players in the third party quota wars.
There are two very different ways you can limit disk space. This
is what I call first and second generation disk quota technology.
But conceptually it's really easy. First you assign disk space
quota's. (who gets how much space) Then you check who is using
how much. Here is where the 'generation' difference kicks in.
First Generation tools check AFTER the disk quota limit has been
reached. Example: Bob User has 50Meg disk space quota. He's got
40Meg filled up and saves another really big 40Meg movie file to
his space. He now hogs 80Meg disk space. First Generation tools
only NOW lock him out of his space and tell him to delete stuff.
Second Generation tools check the disk quotas in real time, and
do not allow exceeding the quota. Example: Bob User has the same
50Meg disk space quota. He's got 40Meg filled up. He now tries
to save that same 40Meg movie file to his disk space on the file
server. The Second Generation tool looks immediately at this and
thinks: "Oh, that is Bob User trying to save 40Megs. How much
is his quota? It's 50. How much is he trying to save? Another
40? Naughty Bob". and now it immediately reports back to Bob:
"Bob, sorry but you are over quota and you cannot save this file".
I'm sure you see the difference. First Generation tools only
control quota's after the damage has been done. Second generation
ones prevent the damage from happening. So, what is the news in
this area? Quota Manager is still first generation, no news there.
Quota Advisor was second generation from the get-go and that is
why Microsoft Redmond decided to standardize on it worldwide.
One other advantage is that second generation tools are able to
put disk quotas on individual NT user accounts. First-gen tools
cannot do that.
The latest development is that Quota Server has recently migrated
from first to second generation. So two out of three are now
'second-gen tools'. W.Quinn recently even got a patent awarded for
their innovative work using filter drivers to manage disk quotas.
The continuous battle is not over of course. Once you start with
managing your storage, more things become interesting. The next two
main things are 1) Reporting (who uses how much and what _are_
those files) and 2) Trend Analysis (how fast is my disk capacity
filling up, so when do I need to have more disks and capacity
for backups). This is the direction these tools will move into,
and if you are smart you take a suite of tools that do all of
this in an integrated way. Ideally from the same vendor too!
****************************************************************
3. NT RELATED NEWS:
* Microsoft TechNet now helps with W2K Deployment
Microsoft's TechNet Web site is among the most popular help sites
around if you ask NT system admins. It recently made an abundance
of materials available to help you get grooved into W2K's latest
technologies, and it includes a large area just devoted to issues
relating to W2K deployment. Warmly recommended. Check it out at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/win2000/deploy.asp.
------------------------
* Microsoft Website posts Giga/Sunbelt Reliability Survey
Many of you helped with the recent survey we did about the
reliability of W2K. Here are the more detailed results posted on
the Microsoft website, including some user feedback and Giga's
so called 'alternate view' by Giga Analyst Laura Didio.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/news/external/gigasunbelt.asp
Sunbelt and Giga did another survey about Hardware Reliability
only a few weeks ago, and we are almost done with the analysis
of the almost 1000 responses of that one too. You will see some
very interesting results. Some hardware vendors are going to be
surprised.
------------------------
* System Administrator Lesson Learned
"If you manage one or more NT/2000 Systems and or databases, it is
highly advisable to NOT get comfortable with your situation. Hardware
WILL fail. Databases WILL become corrupt. Users WILL delete data if
you let them. Continue to ask yourself "what if", and make 'worst
case design' contingency plans for the unlikely and the impossible".
This snippet of wisdom came out of the free Sunbelt sponsored MS-SQL-
list server. You can subscribe to any of our 11 free forums over
here: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/community.cfm
------------------------
* '50+ IP Address' bug in W2K is Pest For ISP's
Computer Reseller News reported that W2K 2000 Server poses an admin
problem for businesses using server configurations with more than 51
IP addresses. In short, the bug renders Windows 2000 Server's Domain
Controller (DC) and Active Directory (AD) technology inaccessible.
I'm not aware of a fix yet, but if it is there I will let you know
in the coming newsletter.
The glitch prohibits you from adding more than 51 IP addresses to a
W2K Server configured as a Domain Controller. Doing so stops the server
from authenticating users and prevents the administrative tools from
working, the sources said.
Smaller ISPs face the biggest risks because they often use a single
W2K Server as both a DC and a Web server, solution providers said.
Multiple Windows 2000 Servers now will have to perform the tasks of
one server. Going to a multiple-server environment may not be an
option for the smallest, resource-strapped ISPs. More over here:
http://www.crn.com/
*****************************************************************
4. NT THIRD PARTY NEWS:
* STAT now scans for Windows 2000 security holes
You probably all know that STAT (Security Test and Analysis Tool)
is one of our best sellers in the NT security market. It's one of
the most downloaded tools as well. The good news is that now STAT
v3.0 can also be run against Windows 2000 systems.
On Monday of this week Harris went live with "Update 3" for STAT
version 3.0. Customers who own STAT can download this update from
the Harris web site (www.statonline.com), and then run scans
against Windows 2000 computers as well as Windows NT boxes.
Update 3 contains about 50 vulnerability scans that are specific to
Windows 2000. This number is growing daily. STAT's total database
of vulnerabilities is now up to 850. Ever had that feeling of ACUTE
PANIC that a hacker has invaded your network? Plug NT /2000's over 850
holes before they plug you. You _ have _ to protect your LAN _before_
it gets attacked. STAT is only US$ 795 per server and comes with
10 NT workstations included.
STAT comes with a responsive web-update service and a dedicated Pro
SWAT team that helps you to hunt down and kill Security holes. Built
by anti-hackers for DOD sites. Download a demo copy before you become
a statistic at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/product.cfm?id=899
------------------------
* March 2000 Surprise Hot Seller: Event Log Monitor
You all know that you need to monitor your event logs. If you don't,
some very critical events might escape your attention with potential
downtime as the result. Sunbelt has always sold a lot of these tools
but ELM has outdone itself last month. It was the Surprise Hot Seller!
Just check out these very powerful features and you'll understand why
it sells so well. Price per server is less than US$ 350 and you get
volume discounts on top of that. There are other products out there
that are triple the price and do less.
- Monitors Windows NT event logs real-time.
- Monitors Alpha or Intel Windows NT systems from Alpha or Intel
monitor consoles.
- Installs on Windows NT domains, workgroups, or stand-alone.
- Customizable views for displaying events grouped any way you
like. Views are updated automatically as events occur.
- Special display for Security events parses important information
from the security logs for easy security tracking.
- Monitors services, device drivers, processes, performance data.
- Generates alerts on service/device state changes, runaway
processes, and memory leaks.
- Generates alerts on any performance counter thresholds you define.
- Monitors HTTP, POP3, SMTP, and FTP running on any platform (Windows
NT, Unix, etc.).
- Monitor up/down status of any TCP/IP devices such as routers
and printers.
- Monitor and display SNMP traps from any SNMP managed device.
- Forward SNMP traps from event log messages for forwarding to any
SNMP management system.
- Receive notification using customized beeps, sound files, and
pop-up messages.
- Receive notifications via SMTP or MAPI mail.
- Receive notifications via alphanumeric or numeric pagers and
groups of pagers.
- Receive notifications by posting event information to Web forms
(such as Web based pager services).
- And quite a bit more. The developer is quite responsive so if
you want other features built in, give us the data.
Check out: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/product.cfm?id=533
and let your Account Rep or Reseller know how it went. ELM is
really a formidable and affordable help in keeping your systems
up & running.
------------------------
* Case Study: Solution for Database Administrator Worries
I ran into a company that I thought offered a great solution if
you run the Oracle database on NT. They will also have this same
offering for SQL later this year. It is one of the first ASP's
with a really cool way to help you manage your databases. Here
is the Case Study about Mobile Engines, Inc.
The Situation:
Mobile Engines had a great idea: Provide content and applications
to your mobile device anywhere, at any time. The content could
be specific to a company, or could be ported from a web site.
This is an idea that was timely, needed in the industry, and
attainable through custom technology.
They had the engineering staff, the management team, and the
financial backing. The only thing missing was a DBA.
The Problem:
Mobile Engines chose Oracle as their database platform, counting
on the proven scalability of the Oracle product line on Unix to
simplify their plans for rapid growth. This choice allows them
to focus on development and implementation, instead of worrying
about the databases capability to handle their access load.
What they found, however, is that Oracle database staff is
expensive and hard to find. And finding a DBA with thorough
knowledge of highly available, high performance environments
if rarer still. They needed a resource they could count on to
provide monitoring, analysis, and repair of database issues.
The Solution:
DBDoctor was chosen by Mobile Engines to monitor and analyze
trends within the database, so that they could understand not
only the current problems, but also what growth would do to
their systems. DBDoctor provided the solution to their database
monitoring needs, with very low overhead requirements on their
database server. DBDoctor knew about problems before they
occurred, resulting in virtually no unscheduled downtime due
to database systems outages since August, 1999.
By showing Mobile Engines graphs representing their physical I/O
and other resource utilization, DBDoctor helped to distribute the
load on the systems and increase overall performance. The daily
reliability checks showed Mobile Engines how to design and implement
a database that was robust and safe. And the performance tools
increased the efficiency of the entire process.
The DBDoctor alerting service notified ServMan database staff when
a problem occurred in real time, and problems were fixed remotely.
Notification was sent to Mobile Engines when a problem was resolved,
but they rarely knew that the problem had existed prior to the fix
being put into place.
The Wrap Up:
As a Database Monitoring ASP, ServMan is uniquely positioned to
enhance the reliability and capability of our clients database
systems. We show you how to make it fast and stable, and we assist
with capacity planning. DBDoctor changes the database administration
mindset from reactive to proactive, and by offering the experienced
staff to repair problems that we find with our DBDoctor service, we
can be your end-to-end solution for all your database systems needs.
"The concise information generated by DBDoctor allowed Askaround,
Inc. to visualize performance bottlenecks we never even knew we had.
This service has given us a deep insight into the real needs of our
Oracle Database." Brad Doctor, CIO, Mobile Engines, Inc.
Log on to http://www.servman.com/sunbelt.htm for more information.
------------------------
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*********************************************************************
5. HINTS AND TIPS:
* Some More Very Useful W2K&AD Books / Free AD seminars
I just got my hands on the following 3 very useful books:
1) Windows NT/2000 ADSI Scripting for System Administration
ISBN: 1-57870-219-2 by Macmillan Technical Publishing.
If you want to do in-depth scripting to get your job done faster
this book covers ADSI for the admin of NT. 2000 and IIS and the
final chapters about LDAP provide a solid foundation for exploring
the new W2K features. Check our more detail over here:
http://www2.newriders.com/cfm/prod_book.cfm?RecordID=73
2) Troubleshooting Windows 2000 TCP/IP
ISBN: 1-928994-11-3 by Syngress publishing.
TCP/IP is a standard networking protocol included in all Windows
OS-es, but now the default in W2K. This book focuses on the MS
implementation in W2K. It has guides for planning, testing and
deploying a W2K TCP/IP network. A great troubleshooting help
when you have connectivity problems. Check: www.syngress.com
3) Windows 2000 Configuration Wizards
ISBN: 1-928994-08-3 by Syngress publishing.
Ad you may or may not know, W2K is filled with a whole bunch of
new time-saving Wizards. With these, you can manage W2K setup
and configuration easier. There's quite a few: Active Directory,
network connections, remote access, IIS, hardware, intellimirror
and more. This is a good guide to understand what they do so that
you 'know before you go' Check: www.syngress.com
------------
Don't miss NetPro's FREE seminar, Active Directory Unplugged:
Ensuring the Reliability and Performance of Active Directory, at
Microsoft offices nationwide. You'll learn how to ensure your
directory's health so that you can deploy Active Directory with
confidence. For dates and locations, visit NetPro at:
http://www.netpro.com/company/events.asp
****************************************************************
6. THE NT/2000 STOCK WATCH - Friday April 14, 2000
It's not pretty my friends. And it will likely drop some more until
the valuations are more in line with reality is my guess.
(00s)
SYMBL SECURITY CLOSE CHANGE VOL
---------------------------------------------------------------------
AMD Advanced Micro Devices............. 66 3/4 -6 71642
BMCS BMC Software....................... 39 - 5/8 53842
BVEW BindView Development Corporation... 8 1/8 - 57/64 13554
CTXS Citrix Systems Inc................. 53 1/2 -6 1/4 74609
CPQ Compaq Computer.................... 25 1/2 - 13/16 185585
CA Computer Associates................ 53 -2 37902
DRTN Data Return Corporation............ 22 5/8 -7 3/8 4921
DELL Dell Computer...................... 47 5/8 -4 1/16 350634
EDS Electronic Data Systems Corp....... 58 13/16 -3 9/16 25454
GTW Gateway Inc........................ 51 1/2 + 3/8 54918
HWP Hewlett Packard Co................. 123 -8 15/16 62168
INTC Intel Corp......................... 110 1/2 -10 5/8 454175
INGR Intergraph Corp.................... 6 5/8 - 1/8 4688
IBM International Business Machines.... 105 -5 5/8 116726
LGTO Legato Systems Inc................. 15 9/16 -2 5/16 33876
MUEI Micron Electronics Inc............. 10 3/4 - 7/8 11988
MSFT Microsoft Corp..................... 74 1/8 -5 1/8 737320
MCSW Mission Critical Software Inc...... 33 3/8 - 5/8 4229
NCR NCR Corp........................... 38 5/8 -1 5/16 3361
NTIQ NetIQ Corporation.................. 34 7/8 -1 25/64 4588
NETA Network Associates Inc............. 19 3/4 -3 1/4 44367
NOVL Novell Inc......................... 19 1/8 -2 15/16 83202
ORCL Oracle Corp........................ 63 33/64 -8 27/64 534658
QCOM Qualcomm Incorporated.............. 105 3/16 -21 5/16 322481
SEG Seagate Technology................. 39 1/2 -4 11/16 60762
SGI Silicon Graphics................... 7 3/4 -1 1/8 27819
SUNW Sun Microsystems Inc............... 76 1/2 -1 1/4 645589
SYBS Sybase Inc......................... 18 15/16 -1 1/4 15700
SYMC Symantec Corp...................... 52 9/16 -4 9/16 12945
UIS Unisys Corp........................ 19 1/2 -3 44738
VRTS Veritas Software Corp.............. 82 -9 11/16 123840
DJIA Dow Jones 30 Industrials........... 10,305.77 -617.78
****************************************************************
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sign off or change your email address
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********************************************************************
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