W2Knews[tm] (the original NTools E-News) Electronic Newsletter
Vol. 5, #30- July 17, 2000 - Issue #204
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:
2. TECH BRIEFING:
* Speeding up an NT/2000 CAD box
3. NT RELATED NEWS:
* Hot New Site: SearchStorage.com
* W2K SP1 Due This Week.
4. NT THIRD PARTY NEWS:
* Powerful New V2.2 Event Log Monitor
* Special: All $99 NetApplets are $10 off
5. W2Knews 'FAVE' LINKS:
* This Week's 3 Cool HotLinks
6. HINTS AND TIPS:
* Timesaving Shortcut to Enter Weblinks
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 is the World's first and largest e-zine designed
for NT/2000 System Admins and Power Users that need keep these
platform up & running. Every week we get you pragmatic, from-the-
trenches news regarding NT/2000 and 3-rd party System Management
Tools. W2Knews will help you to better understand NT/2000 and pass
your Certification Exams. You will get breaking news like new
tools, service packs, sites, or killer viruses via W2KNewsFlashes.
Sunbelt Software is THE NT/2000 e-business tools site. At the end
of this message are links to all indexed and searchable back issues.
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1. "EDITORS CORNER"
Hi NT/2000 Pros,
Just a few short points:
1) The Target Awards Vote is going great. You have TWO WEEKS left to
indicate which tools you like best. You should check out the page,
it's a really nice piece of javascript programming our webmaster
broke his head on. You can vote (only once) for your FAVE TOOLS at:
http://www.sunbelt-software.com/targetawards/
2) We are slowly but surely phasing out the nt-list and ask you
all to renew your subscription to the W2K-list. Click here:
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/scripts/lyris.pl?join=w2knews
You'll get a very nice goodie with a $500 value.
Now, let's have a look at all the news!
Warm regards,
Stu.
(Email feedback to [EMAIL PROTECTED])
***************************SPONSOR*********************************
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CyberwallPLUS - World's first ICSA-certified packet filter for
NT/2000 hosts. Fine-grain access controls for NT/2000 servers and
workstations. Network intrusion detection & prevention identifies
and stops hackers. Comprehensive traffic audit logs with real-time
connection monitoring. For a free evaluation and white paper on host-
based firewalls visit http://www.network-1.com/WSeval/index.htm
****************************************************************
2. TECH BRIEFING:
You know, Sunbelt does a Satisfaction Survey to make sure when
some one buys something, they are a happy camper. This week I
was sent one of these after someone purchased SuperBoost-NT.
I thought that these answers spoke for themselves and you can
see what this new tool can do for you technically.
Customer Satisfaction Survey Form
Date: Thursday, July 13, 2000 12:38PM
1. How was your overall purchasing experience?
Good
2. Would you purchase another product through the same means?
Yes
3. Please rate the people that you dealt with in purchasing your
product: Excellent
4. How would you rate the product based on your expectations?
Met my expectations
5. Which product(s) did you purchase?
SuperBoost-NT
6. What were your expectations of the product?
To provide the RAM disk to store the numerous temporary files
created by Autodesk's Autocad 14 program and, thus, eliminate
the time required for writing to the temporary directory on
the hard drive. The inclusion of Norton Speed Disk was of
great value, this is a very effective defragger.
7. Would you recommend this product to someone else?
Definitely Would
8. Do you have any questions or recommendation for us?
You might try advertising in Cadalyst and Cadence magazines to
market towards the CAD users. Autocad creates numerous temp
files on the hard drive and can easily slow down an otherwise
speedy machine.
Could not have said it better myself. NOTE: SuperBoost is only
available in the USA and Canada. Check out the specs and pricing
on our site at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/product.cfm?id=900
If you are in Europe, call your Rep for a similar solution.
****************************************************************
3. NT RELATED NEWS:
* Hot New Site: SearchStorage.com
Recently I went for some websurfing and found SearchStorage.com.
They position themselves as The Web's Storage-Specific Search
Engine, and you can find all the storage related information for
WinNT/2000 networks in one place.
At SearchStorage.com they have an editorial team that hand picks
pre-screened storage-specific Web sites so you have access to
a specialized search engine for any storage need. When I got in
touch with them they said registration is FREE, and they enter
you for a PalmVII you man win. You can find them over at:
http://www.SearchStorage.com
They also told me that subscribers of W2Knews will get an extra
goodie thrown in. They are allowing people that register, a free
copy of the "SAN Survival Guide," a white paper that normally
costs $995. But to receive your free report enter promo code nt12
when you fill our the registering section.
The benefits I see with this site are the following:
- Specialized search against 2,000 pre-screened Storage sites.
- Storage Chats with industry experts
- Tech tips for Administrators and the SAN/NAS Newsletter
- Daily Storage News delivered via email
- Storage career advice in the Storage career center
- An eMarketplace to find all those specific Storage related
products, books and training you are looking for in one location.
So, the registration is FREE so I suggest you sign up today and
perhaps win that PalmVII. Also, you'll also be able to download
your free copy of that $995 "SAN Survival Guide," a white paper.
Go to: http://www.SearchStorage.com - Stu's 'Warmly Recommended'
-------------------
* W2K SP1 Due This Week.
The Register in the UK reported on the 12-th that W2K SP1
is due the coming week. Better unpack that cable modem as
the final version will be over 60MB. Being patient and wait
for the CD is probably not a bad idea, as that one is bigger
and comes with a bunch of tools and add-ons.
Keep in mind that you'll need a whopping amount of disk space
for those backups and temp files. I suggest to keep half a
gig free for this. SP1 contains a bunch of setup bug-fixes,
35 access violation errors, five memory leaks, 12 stop errors
and some security issues. The already existing serious bugs
that were addressed with hot fixes are all included in SP1.
It will become available via the Windows Update Website which
you can find here: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
If you want more SP1 detail, here is an excellent write-up.
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/win2k_sp1.asp
*****************************************************************
4. NT THIRD PARTY NEWS:
* Powerful New V2.2 Event Log Monitor
NEW! Event Log Monitor V2.2 has a bunch of powerful features.
1) Now Supports Microsoft Clusters (Free White Paper available)
2) Provides SYSLOG file ('Unix events') integration
3) Supports Flat File Monitoring
ELM now supports Microsoft Cluster Server. MSCS is a very complex
piece of software that requires a solid understanding. A properly
designed and implemented MSCS solution can provide you with an
availability level of 99.9%. But without careful monitoring and
management of MSCS, you probably won’t achieve that. Fortunately
now there's ELM Cluster Monitor, a FREE add-on to Event Log Monitor.
It provides enhanced monitoring of MSCS and Windows 2000 clusters.
ELM Cluster Monitor is a cluster-aware plug-in for Event Log Monitor.
It is comprised of two DLLs: ELMCLU1.DLL, the cluster-aware resource
DLL; and ELMCLU1ADM.DLL, the Cluster Administrator interface to ELM
Cluster Monitor.
ELM Cluster Monitor provides extensive and configurable monitoring
of Windows NT and Windows 2000 clusters. ELM Cluster Monitor uses
all seven sets of Cluster APIs to monitor the status of a Windows
NT/2000 cluster in real-time:
1) Cluster Management. ELM Cluster Monitor uses this set of APIs
to collect cluster events, information on cluster objects (including
the quorum), and overall cluster state information. This includes
cluster-related events that do not get logged to the event logs.
2) Cluster Database Management. ELM Cluster Monitor uses this set
of APIs to monitor the cluster database. The cluster database,
which contains data on all physical and logical elements in a
cluster, is stored in the Registry.
3) Group Management. These APIs are used to monitor cluster failover
groups (also known as Resource Groups) by tracking and reporting
group status and membership changes.
4) Network Interface Management. ELM Cluster Monitor uses these
APIs to monitor the network interface(s) and report status changes,
including those interfaces not monitored by the Cluster Service.
5) Network Management. These APIs are used to monitor events related
to networks being monitored by the Cluster Service. The Cluster
Service monitors all networks available for use by the Cluster
Service as the 'heartbeat' network.
6) Node Management. ELM Cluster Monitor uses these APIs to monitor
and track node status, cluster membership and resource ownership.
7) Resource Management. These APIs are used to monitor clusters at
the Resource level, including the initiation of operations on the
resource (stopping, starting, etc.).
ELM Cluster Monitor works with Build 2.2.1 and higher of Event Log
Monitor 2.2. ELM Cluster Monitor is a free add-on; customers need
only purchase the following to use ELM Cluster Monitor:
1) An ELM Cluster Server Agent for each physical node in the cluster;
2) An ELM Cluster Server Agent for each failover resource group being
monitored.
ELM Cluster Monitor System Requirements:
A) Windows NT Server 4.0 - Enterprise Edition with SP5 or higher
(SP6a recommended) Microsoft Cluster Server /OR/
Windows 2000 Advanced Server of Windows 2000 DataCenter Server
Windows 2000 Cluster Service
B) Event Log Monitor - Enterprise Edition or Small Business
Edition 2.2 or later. For more information, download our free White
Paper, Managing Microsoft Cluster Servers with ELM Cluster Monitor.
It is on the download page with the 30-day evals.
-------
2) Provides SYSLOG file ('Unix events') integration
Event Log Monitor now supports the exchange of events with Unix
and Linux Syslog clients and servers. Event Log Monitor can act
as both a Syslog client and a Syslog server.
By default, Event Log Monitor will receive any messages sent to
it by a Unix or Linux Syslog client that has been properly
configured to send them. Configuration on the Unix/Linux side is
quick and easy. Administrators need only add an entry for the Event
Log Monitor Console into the Unix/Linux SYSLOG.CONF file.
Name resolution is also important here; the Unix/Linux system needs
to be able to resolve the host name of the Console, so make sure
that DNS (or a local hosts file) is configured properly. If the
Unix/Linux computer cannot PING the Console, it will be unable to
send it events.
The Unix/Linux systems are considered IP Agents and will be
automatically added to the Console’s Agent list when the Console
receives the first Syslog message. Using the included SendEvent.exe
command-line utility, Event Log Monitor can also forward events to
a Syslog server, making ELM in this case a Syslog client.
-------
3) Supports Flat File Monitoring
Event Log Monitor includes a free command line utility called
FileMon.exe that enables you to monitor ASCII text files, such as
LOG, .TXT, etc. Event Log Monitor can monitor these files
continuously, or you can monitor them at specified intervals.
Sunbelt Software is pleased to provide this utility free of charge
to all Event Log Monitor customers.
You can control how frequently your monitored flat files are examined
by either running a looping batch file for continuous monitoring,
or by scheduling the periodic execution of a batch file. Event Log
Monitor includes a sample FileMon batch file (called FileMonBatch.txt)
that you can modify and rename to FileMon.bat.
Your 30-day eval at: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/product.cfm?id=533
-------------------
* Special: All $99 NetApplets are $10 off
These nifty tools are now all $10 off. Check them all out at this
page: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/product.cfm?id=860 Better
Hurry, this offer ends August 14-th!
****************************************************************
5. W2Knews 'FAVE' LINKS: July 3, 2000
==============
Neat little (FREE) network speed monitor and debugger at NetIQ.
http://www.netiq.com/newsevents/pressreleases/2000/pr111.asp
==============
Find out how to get I-net+ certified on Wed August 23rd, 2000
http://db.globalknowledge.com/olm/go.asp?find=idsip1-comp-rsvp
==============
Did you know the first 1000 buyers get a super cool SuperBoost NT-
Shirt and Pin? http://www.sunbelt-software.com/product.cfm?id=900
==============
****************************************************************
6. HINTS AND TIPS:
Did you know that when you just type in your browser the words:
' sunbelt-software ' and then hit ctrl-enter, it fills out all
the rest? (http://www, dot com and all the other jazz?) Try it!
****************************************************************
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********************************************************************
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