Mastering Microsoft Windows Server 2003

Mark Minasi, Christa Anderson, Michele Beveridge, C.A. Callahan, Lisa Justice


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Mastering
Windows® Server 2003


Acknowledgments
This book was a lot of work, so I’m sure glad I didn’t have to do most of it!
This is essentially the twelfth edition of the Mastering NT Server book that debuted in 1994. In every other edition, we always had contributors who only worked on a chapter or a less, and so did not get co-author credit. This time, I wanted everyone who worked on it to get their name on the cover, and turned to two old tried-and-true contributors. Christa Anderson has contributed in a major way to every version of this book, and this one is no exception. Lisa Justice’s work also appeared in the past six editions and she is a welcome addition to this one as well.
This book also introduces two newcomers to book writing, but not to networking. Michele Beveridge, the University of Georgia’s Active Directory architect, and veteran tech teacher C.A. Callahan come from solid backgrounds in both working with technology and communicating it, and I think you’ll agree that their first outing as geek book co-authors is a successful one. They dug into every chapter, forsaking family and friends in order to get this done. I owe all four co-authors quite a bit, and am quite thankful for their efforts. (Additionally, Michele tells me that a techie friend of hers, Martijn Middleplaats, helped her with some of the heavy lifting by researching some of her chapter material. She thanks him and so do I.) While this should have been an easy book to write, it wasn’t, as I’ll explain in the Introduction—that’s my fault. That made life horrendous for the Sybexers involved, and I can’t thank them enough for their help in getting this volume out.
Chris Denny and Neil Edde got the ball rolling, and Sally Engelfried edited the chapters. Many thanks also to technical editor Jim Kelly for his painstaking checking and verifying.
There is, of course, the whole production crew to thank as well. Without them, all we’d have is a collection of electronic files. Kylie Johnston steered the project smoothly through the production channels, as she did with previous editions; Rozi Harris at Interactive Composition Corporation transformed the manuscripts into the handsome book before you; and the proofreaders—Laurie O’Connell, Yariv Rabinovitch, Nancy Riddiough, and Monique van den Berg—scrutinized the many pages to ensure that no stone was left unturned. Thanks also to Ted Laux, the indexer, and Dan Mummert and Kevin Ly of the CD team.
Finally, we could not have done this without the assistance of Microsoft, who not only created the product but also allowed us to see it before it was finished.


Introduction
I said it in the Acknowledgments, and I’ll say it again: man, was this book a lot of work! But trust
me, I don’t say that to complain; rather, it lets me explain—to explain what is probably the question in most prospective readers’ minds:
“Is this a book only for people who use Windows Server 2003?”
The answer is, definitely not . Yes, it’s a Server 2003 book—but it’s also basically
Mastering Windows 2000 ServerFIFTH edition. Here’s what I mean.
When planning this book, I decided early on that it had to have
two major goals. First, it had to cover the new features in Server 2003, or the title would be downright wrong. But the differences between 2000 and 2003 are, while not insignificant, not huge either. And that led me to the second goal. I’m guessing that almost no one reading this will have thrown away all of their “old”
Windows 2000 Server systems when adopting Server 2003; as a matter of fact, many of you tell
me that you’re still running Windows NT 4 Servers! Nor is that a bad thing—NT 4 and Win2K
are both really good tools, in my opinion. Yes, in some ways Server 2003 is better—and you’ll learn those ways in this book—but not so much better that many can justify tossing out the Win2K systems to make room for Server 2003. No, I’m guessing that Server 2003 will move into your network gradually, and so you’ll be living in a server environment that includes
both Windows 2000 Server
and Windows Server 2003 for quite a while. That’s why I asked my co-authors to “think of this
as the Fifth!” Instead of taking the Mastering Windows 2000 Server book and looking for things that we’d have to change to make it a Server 2003 book, we started with the topics that previous editions of the Windows 2000 Server book explored and took them further, to build on the book series’ growth. For example, previous editions didn’t consider a lot of Active Directory maintenance issues, like checking database integrity or compacting the database, so this one did, even though it wasn’t a new-to-2003 topic. A look at the Macintosh chapter will reveal that what
was a chapter consisting of only a handful of pages in previous editions is now 50 or so pages long, with completely new information on Mac OS/X clients.
We tried, then, to make this essentially two books in one; I hope you think we succeeded.
What’s Inside
In Chapter 1, I briefly list and explain what’s new in Windows Server 2003. As you’ll see, Server 2003 is basically 2000 Server, version 1.1. But when you consider what a big product Windows 2000 Server is, and what a major change it was from NT 4, then you’ll understand that even just a 1.1 version of 2000 would involve a lot of changes—this chapter outlines them. In Chapter 2, I offer a basic answer to the question, “Why do we network?” for those who are just joining us. Folks who have no idea what a domain is, or why they’d want one, should take a look at Chapter 2 and in no time you’ll sound like a grizzled network veteran.
Lisa Justice then shows you in Chapter 3 how to navigate the Server 2003 user interface. Thank
God it wasn’t as large a change as the NT-to-2000 shift, and that it doesn’t come out of the box
configured in the XP “Playskool” user interface. But you’ll find a few things have changed, and Lisa will guide you through the new stuff. She also walks you through the process of creating your own user interface with taskpads, a great way to build customized tools for administrators.
The user interface is one way to control Server 2003, and that’s why Lisa covers it in Chapter 3.
But the other way is via the Registry, 2000’s place to store system settings and home to hundreds of undocumented or poorly documented switches, dials, knobs, and levers. No NT, 2000, XP, or 2003 techie can last long without a bit of Registry work, and so in Chapter 4 I introduce it.
By now, you’ll be itching to load it up and try it out, so in Chapter 5 I not only show you how
to shove a CD into a drive and answer questions, but I also cover scripting 2003 installs, using the
Remote Installation Server, and finally, how Sysprep can make setting up systems and cloning them easier. Microsoft has made automated rollouts—scripts, RIS, and Sysprep—quite a bit easier and more powerful. Study Chapter 5 and you’ll see how to deploy 2003 with style and grace…but mostly with a minimum of effort on your part!
Chapters 6 and 7 permit me to explain how TCP/IP works, both in a general sense and in the specific sense of configuring Server 2003 to use it. In Server 2003, Microsoft has taken another baby step toward making the NT platform an IP-only platform, as NetBEUI is no longer even an
option for protocols. Chapter 6 explains the basics: how to get on an internet; how IP addresses, subnet masks, and routing work; and how to use a Server 2003 as a router. Chapter 7 then explains the three basic TCP/IP services that every Microsoft network needs: DHCP, WINS, and DNS. Server 2003 doesn’t really do much that’s new in DHCP and WINS, but DNS now offers several new features, all of which the chapter covers. The biggest changes in the chapter, however, are in the structure of the DNS section, which now spans almost 200 pages. It’s not only a primer on DNS; in this edition I completely reoriented the discussion and the examples around building not just any DNS infrastructure, but a more secure infrastructure, using split-brain DNS techniques—and if you don’t know what that means, don’t worry, the chapter covers it all. You’ll also see in Chapters 6 and 7 that I’ve worked hard to unify the step-by-step examples so that they all fit together, allowing you to follow along and build a small network that is then completely ready for Active Directory…which is the next chapter’s topic.
Chapter 8 is basically a medium-sized book in itself, at 81,000 words and 110-plus figures. It
takes you from the basics of “What is an Active Directory and why would you want one?” to designing an AD, implementing one, managing it, optimizing it, rearranging its structure when necessary, and fixing it when it breaks. Server 2003’s changes permeate this topic, as you’ll see. The migration section is much larger than in the 2000 Server book, and it and the rest of the chapter offers many step-by-step examples that allow you to build a small working AD.
Lisa returns in Chapter 9 to explain the ins and outs of creating and managing user accounts.
That’s a big topic, as it includes user profiles and group policies, which Lisa explains in detail. She also showcases and shows you how to use 2003’s new Resultant Set of Policies troubleshooting tool for group policies. GP fans will love it.
Windows 2000 handles storage differently than NT did, and 2003 changes things a bit more, as
you’ll learn in Chapter 10. In that chapter, Michele Beveridge shows you how to connect, partition, and format drives, and she also covers Windows 2000’s RAID functions. I was very fortunate to get Michele’s help on this book, as she’s responsible for the University of Georgia’s Active Directory, both its design and implementation. Her years of real-world, in-the-trenches experience with NT in its various forms show through in her coverage of both this and the companion Chapter 11. That chapter covers shared folders, including how to secure those shares with both share and NTFS permissions, as well as coverage of Windows 2000 and Server 2003’s Distributed File System and the File Replication Service. In that chapter, you’ll also learn about the Encrypted File System—which has changed in some subtle but important ways since Windows 2000—and offline folders, a modification of the network redirector that offers greater network response, laptop synchronization support, and network fault tolerance.
C.A. Callahan joins us in Chapter 12 to describe one of 2000, XP, and 2003’s nicest features
for desktop support folks: central software distribution. Callahan has been in the technical teaching business for many years and has a well-honed talent for digging into a topic, getting excited about it, and explaining to you so that you’ll be excited about it as well. (She’s also a Mac geek, which is why she rewrote the Mac chapter [Chapter 16] completely and made it about ten times larger than it was before.) Christa returns in Chapter 13 to describe how to network printers under Server 2003. Lisa then explains, in Chapter 14, how to connect client PCs to a Server 2003 network, whether those PCs are running DOS, Windows, or whatever. And you may be surprised to hear that it’s now impossible to connect a DOS or Windows 9 system to a 2003-based Active Directory…unless you know the trick. (Of course, Lisa lets you in on the secret.)
Christa then warms to a favorite topic of hers in Chapter 15, where she covers the built-in Terminal Services feature of Server 2003 and remote server administration in general. And if you have no idea what Terminal Services does, check out that chapter: Terminal Services makes your Server 2003 system a multiuser computer, in many ways combining the best of the PC and the mainframe! Then, in Chapter 16, Callahan “cracks the Mac,” as I’ve already mentioned.
Once your organization is connected to the Internet, you’ll probably want to get a Web server up
and running. Server 2003 includes a Web server, as did NT 4 and Windows 2000, but 2003’s IIS 6
is built to be both more secure and more reliable, so you won’t want to miss Lisa’s coverage of it,
including not only the Web piece but also the FTP server piece, the SMTP mail server, and 2003’s
new POP server. Yes, that’s right, Server 2003 now comes with a complete e-mail server service built in, and you can read about it in Chapter 17. Then, in Chapter 18, Christa offers some advice and instruction on tuning and monitoring a Server 2003–based network, and in Chapter 19, she looks at disaster recovery—never a happy topic, but a necessary one.
Michele returns for a lengthy and quite complete look at dial-up, ISDN, and frame relay support
in Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) in Chapter 20. Callahan then finishes the book with coverage of NetWare coexistence in Chapter 21.

Conventions Used in This Book
As you know, when discussing any network technology, things can get quite complex quite quickly, so I’ve followed some conventions to make them clearer and easier to understand.
Referring to Windows NT, 2000, XP, and 2003 Throughout this book, you’ll see me refer to Server 2003, Windows 2000, NT 4, and just plain NT
.I don’t want to confuse, so let me clarify what I mean when I use those terms.
When I say “Server 2003,” “Windows 2000” or “NT 4,” then of course I mean those particular
products. But when I say “NT,” I’m referring to the various versions of the NT operating system that have come out, including NT 4, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. Despite the name change from NT-version-something to Windows-model-year, under the hood, NT 4, 2000, XP, and 2003 are quite similar. The underlying kernel, the piece of the operating system that manages memory, handles multitasking, and loads and unloads drivers, changes with every revision, but not in any earthshaking way. For example, from NT 4 to 2000 the look of NT changed, but under the hood the main kernel difference we saw as administrator types was Plug and Play. Basically, you can think of it this way:
◆Windows 2000 = NT 5.0, in both Workstation and Server flavors.
◆Windows XP Professional = NT 5.1 Workstation. (XP Home is also NT 5.1 Workstation, but crippled. Don’t use it.)
◆Windows Server 2002 = NT 5.2 Server, no Workstation version. (The next version of
Workstation probably won’t appear until 2005, code-named “Longhorn.”)
I wish they’d just kept calling things “NT version something,” because then simply saying “NT”
would obviously refer generically to all versions of the OS. In this book, therefore, I’m going to use the phrase “NT networks” to mean “anything running NT 4, 2000, XP and/or 2003.” When I’m talking about NT 4–based things, I’ll include the “4.” Call It “Server 2003”
And speaking of names…Microsoft is working so hard to “brand” the name Windows that now
they’ve attached the name to three totally different operating systems. The first of the “original”
Windows—versions 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, Windows for Workgroups 3.1 and 3.11, Windows 95 and 98—is an ever-evolving operating system built to extend the life of Microsoft’s cash cow,
MS-DOS. The second was NT, a project intended originally to extend an older operating system
named OS/2. And the third is Windows CE, an OS designed for smaller, diskless computers,
including the of-dubious-value “AutoPC,” a computer designed for your car’s dashboard. (Oh
great, now I get to worry that the bozo in front of me in traffic will be distracted playing Warcraft;
good call, Bill.) Now, of course, what should have been called “NT Server 5.2” has the much-longer name “Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition.” If I stopped to write that every time I needed to identify the product, I wouldn’t get the book done until about 2009, so permit me to just shorten it to “Server 2003.”
I can’t wait until Microsoft sends Pella and Andersen cease and desist letters enjoining them from
using the word “Windows” in their corporate name and product-line descriptions.
Directory Names: \windows. system32
In a change from previous versions of Server, Windows Server 2003 installs by default into a directory named\windows on some drive. Upgrades from previous versions stay in whatever directory you installed the previous version in—probably\winnt
. You can decide at installation time to put the
operating system somewhere else, but almost no one does.
As a result, I have a bit of a problem: I often need to refer to the directory that Server 2003 is
installed into, and I need a phrase less cumbersome than “whatever directory you installed your server into” or the brief and technically accurate but nonintuitive
%systemroot%. So you’ll see references to the\windows
directory, which you should read as “whatever directory you’ve installed Windows Server 2003 into.” Similarly, both Server 2003 and every other version of NT includes a directory inside
\winnt or \windows or whatever called system32— \winnt\system32 on older OSes and upgrades, \windows\system32 on fresh installs. I’ll refer to that directory as system32
. But let me stress this: If you see a reference in this book to \windows or \windows\system32 and you do not have a \windows or \windows\system32
,don’t panic—just substitute \winnt and it’ll work
.

Stay Up-to-Date with Our Free Newsletter
With the first version of this book, I tried out a way to keep you folks informed about book errata, changes to the NT family, or just plain new stuff that I’ve learned. No matter how long 2003 stays around, we’ll never know everything about it—there will always be new things to learn. And certainly I’ll include the things that I learn into new editions of the book—but why wait for the next edition? I’d rather get you at least some of that new information immediately!
So I’m extending the following offer to my readers. Visit my Web site at www.minasi.com and
register to receive my free Windows Networking newsletter. It covers everything from NT 4 to 2000 to XP to 2003 and even a little Linux. Every month that I can, I send you a short update on tips and things that I’ve learned, as well as any significant errata that appear in the book (which I’m praying don’t appear). It won’t be spam—as the saying goes, “Spammers must die!”—just a short heads-up on whatever I’ve come across that’s new (to me) and interesting about NT, 2000, XP, or 2003. Past newsletters have also included lengthy articles on DNS troubleshooting, Indexing Service, and IPSec, so I think you’ll find it a worthwhile newsletter for the price.
Well, okay, about the spam part: there will be one bit of naked marketing—when the next edition
of the book comes out, I’ll announce it in the newsletter.

For Help and Suggestions: Check the Newsletter
As always, if I can help, I’m available on e-mail. Got a question the book didn’t answer? Visit my FAQ page at www.minasi.com/gethelp and, if that doesn’t help, there are instructions on how to e-mail me. I can’t promise that I’ll have the answer, but I’ll sure try! I’m often traveling, sometimes for weeks at a time, and I don’t pick up e-mail when I’m on the road, so if I take a week or few to respond, don’t worry, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. It’s easiest to help with questions which are specific but brief—please understand that I sometimes open my e-mail to find more than a hundred questions waiting for me! In addition to offering help, I’d appreciate
your help and feedback. Sybex and I have been able to get a new edition of this book out roughly annually since NT Server first appeared in 1993. I don’t know everything about Microsoft networking—I’m not certain anyone does—and through the years, reader suggestions and “book bug reports” have been a tremendous source of assistance in making the NT books better and better. (“Gasp! An error? In my book? No, say it isn’t so!”) Got a tip,
something you want to share with the world? Pass it along to me, and I’ll include it in the next edition and acknowledge your contribution.
And by the way, to all of you reading this book: thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy our
coverage of Microsoft’s flagship networking platform!


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 ISBN
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 Copyright
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