Resouce Guides

Windows Server 2003

Use System Monitor to find bottlenecks in Windows Server 2003

Windows Server 2003 comes with two performance monitoring tools: System Monitor, and Performance Logs and Alerts. These tools provide information that administrators can use to find bottlenecks and for troubleshooting Windows....

Performance monitoring in Windows: An overview

There are several performance monitoring tools available to Windows administrators. Which tool you use will depend on what you are trying to accomplish, your operating system and your technical skills....

Active Directory for Windows 2000 and 2003: What's the difference?

In this article, we will examine the changes that occurred when the initial release of Windows Server 2003 hit the streets. In a later article, we'll look at additional changes that came about with the release of Windows Server 2003, Service Pack 1....

New Windows Server 2003 tool boosts group-policy control

Anyone who has ever administered group policies in a Windows 2000 Server environment knows that the process can be both confusing and frustrating. Although Microsoft's hierarchical approach to group policy implementation makes sense at a logistical level, the management interface is lacking, to say the least. Fortunately, this is one...

Check Group Policy assignment with RSoP

It's a good bet you're familiar with group policy, which enables administrators to assert change control and set a broad range of settings for the operating system, desktop and working environment, network, and much more for servers and workstations. You might also know that group policy can be applied at...

Run Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 1.2 from the command line

With the release of version 1.2 of the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA 1.2), Microsoft has vastly improved this already excellent proactive security tool and turned it into a much more full-featured utility. The MBSA includes a powerful graphical user interface that provides administrators with a way to interactively scan...

Securing information with Windows Rights Management Services

Most companies go to great lengths to protect data. All of your efforts to secure files basically boil down to how much you trust your employees. You have always been able to control access to files through authentication and permissions, but until now it has been impossible to control what...

Tips to help secure Windows Server 2003 Active Directory

If I were to tell you that Windows NT Server 4.0 was a lot more secure than Windows 2000 Server, you would probably think that I had lost my mind. Sometimes, though, truth is stranger than fiction. In some ways, Windows NT Server was more secure than Windows 2000 Server....

Best practices for securing Windows Server 2003

If you've ever deployed Windows NT Server or Windows 2000 Server, you probably know that Microsoft designed those products to be unsecure by default. Although Microsoft has provided many security mechanisms, it's been up to you to implement them. But when Microsoft released Windows 2003 Server, the company switched philosophies....