Information Technology aid for Windows, Linux, and OS X users, solid SysAdmin advice, troubleshooting links, job assistance, and more for technology pros.
When troubleshooting a wireless network problem, it’s important to have a thorough understanding of the technology and your options for fixing the problem. In this Daily Drill Down, I’ll show you how to troubleshoot signal problems on wireless networks, focusing on potential problems with antennas.
In most cases, you probably aren’t interested in the path that network traffic takes through the Internet. You will be interested, however, when connection problems bring a call from the CFO, who can’t communicate with a partner company’s Web site that he has used every day for the last year. The CFO needs to access [...]
Fiber optic cable was once reserved for high-performance needs, but today it’s turning up in all kinds of networks. If you’re familiar with copper cable, you’ll quickly discover that fiber optic cable is a completely different animal. Not only is the installation process different for fiber, but also the troubleshooting process. Fiber optic cable is [...]
The bane of an IT professional’s life is when administrator passwords are lost, stolen, or simply forgotten. For the unprepared, losing an admin password can cause extensive disruption to work flow and even business processes - not to mention the fact that it could be a potentially serious security problem. With that in mind, I’m [...]
Everyone knows that Linux makes a great Web server. Some network administrators even use it in conjunction with Samba to create file servers that Windows workstations can access as easily as Windows NT/2000 file servers. However, if you want to use your Linux server as a print server, you can do that too. The most [...]
Windows network administrators have long used Edit, Notepad, or Wordpad to edit large text and script files. Most UNIX systems have an editor of some sort; the actual utility varies depending on the flavor of UNIX you’re running. Some, like Sun Microsystems, even have full-blown competitors to Microsoft Word. But, all UNIX machines have vi [...]
When troubleshooting a wireless network problem, it’s important to have a thorough understanding of the technology and your options for fixing the problem. In this Daily Drill Down, I’ll show you how to troubleshoot signal problems on wireless networks, focusing on potential problems with antennas.
A few assumptions
As Sherlock Holmes said: “When you have eliminated the [...]
In most cases, you probably aren’t interested in the path that network traffic takes through the Internet. You will be interested, however, when connection problems bring a call from the CFO, who can’t communicate with a partner company’s Web site that he has used every day for the last year. The CFO needs to access [...]
Fiber optic cable was once reserved for high-performance needs, but today it’s turning up in all kinds of networks. If you’re familiar with copper cable, you’ll quickly discover that fiber optic cable is a completely different animal. Not only is the installation process different for fiber, but also the troubleshooting process. Fiber optic cable is [...]
The bane of an IT professional’s life is when administrator passwords are lost, stolen, or simply forgotten. For the unprepared, losing an admin password can cause extensive disruption to work flow and even business processes - not to mention the fact that it could be a potentially serious security problem. With that in mind, I’m [...]
Everyone knows that Linux makes a great Web server. Some network administrators even use it in conjunction with Samba to create file servers that Windows workstations can access as easily as Windows NT/2000 file servers. However, if you want to use your Linux server as a print server, you can do that too. The most [...]
I’m not only going to assist network administrators in the upgrading from Exchange 5.5 on Windows NT 4.0 to Exchange Server 2003 on Windows Server 2003, but I’m also going to help point out some issues that need to be addressed before that process is initiated. I will briefly explore NT4 domains and how they [...]
Recently, Microsoft has been publicizing the idea that if you want to have a truly secure network, there are five primary areas on which you must focus your efforts. These areas include perimeter defenses, network defenses, application defenses, data defenses, and host defenses. In this article, I’ll discuss network defenses as they apply to Microsoft’s [...]
Security is a balance between allowing the right people easy access to a resource and preventing unwanted interlopers from getting their hands on information you don’t want them to have. Samba has a long list of configuration options that allow you to fine-tune security to exactly what you need. Here are some of the important [...]
Have you ever noticed that during a blackout, you can pick up the telephone and call the power company to report it? This is possible because the telephone line carries enough electricity to power a landline telephone (not, of course, a cordless phone or phones with built-in answering machines). Obviously, the idea of providing power [...]
Every open port on a firewall or a router is a security risk. That’s why a technique called “port knocking” can be valuable. Port knocking is a method of allowing access to firewalled services given a preconfigured “knock.” The knock consists of a sequence of access attempts to closed ports on a system. These attempts [...]
In Windows Server 2003, the replication process is responsible for keeping each domain controller updated with the latest Active Directory information. The replication process is also responsible for keeping DNS replicas synchronized. As you can see, replication is a very important part of the Windows Server 2003 network operating system. So what do you do [...]
If you’re familiar with 802.11b/g wireless networking, you’ve no doubt heard the horror stories about how weak Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is. In the rush to move away from WEP and its supposed weakness, many organizations have implemented Media Access Control (MAC) filtering as their sole wireless access point (WAP) security measure. What they may [...]
Microsoft’s Application Compatibility Analyzer (MS ACA), one of three components
that make up the Windows
Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT), was designed to assess an organization’s
software base in preparation for a Windows XP migration. I’ve found, however,
that it can also be used as a mini software inventory system, particularly in
small to midsized organizations that don’t want to spend [...]
Under Windows NT, DNS was a nice service to have on your server for resolving TCP/IP addresses, but it wasn’t necessary. When Microsoft introduced Active Directory and Windows 2000, DNS became an essential service. If you’ve already deployed DNS on your network, you can save a lot of time and effort in your Windows Server [...]
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