A rchive Date
[ 10-03-2001 ]
Category
[ Information Technologies ]
sub-Categoy
[ Microsoft ]

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Windows 2000 Administrative Tools

One of the first things you'll notice that's changed in Windows 2000 is where you configure your network settings. In Windows NT 4.0, you configured your network identification, services, protocols, adapters, and bindings all from one location — the Network applet in Control Panel. In Windows 2000, this functionality has been split between two utilities: the System Properties dialog box and the Properties dialog box for each individual network connection object. First, let's take a look at the information you can configure on the System Properties dialog box, as shown in

Figure A

Figure A:
In Windows 2000, you make changes to the Network Identification information from within the System Properties dialog box.

You'll find your network identification information on your computer's System Properties dialog box. There are two ways to get to the System Properties dialog box in Windows 2000. You can either right-click on the My Computer icon on the desktop and choose Properties, or you can run the System applet in Control Panel. Both methods open the System Properties dialog box where you can select the Network Identification tab, as we've done in

Figure A

From the Network Identification tab, you click Properties to open the Identification Changes dialog box. From here you can change the computer name and domain or workgroup membership for the computer, as shown in

Figure B

. You can use the More button to alter the Primary DNS suffix of the computer and to view its NetBIOS name.

Figure B:
Use this dialog box to alter the computer name and workgroup or domain membership information

In Windows 2000, each network connection (LAN and dial-up) has its own connection object. These connection objects contain all of the software information, such as the transport protocol, network file and print services, and network client, needed for that particular connection to the network. You'll find these objects in the Network And Dial-up Con-nections dialog box.

Again, there's more than one way you can access this dialog box. You can right-click on the

My Network Places

icon on the desktop and choose Properties, or you can run the

Network And Dial-up

Connections applet in

Control Panel

. You'll also find a shortcut to the

Network And Dial-up Connections

applet on your Settings menu.

Once you have the

Network And Dial-up

Connections dialog box open, you'll see all of the connection objects that were detected on your system when you installed Windows 2000, along with the Make New Connection icon. You can use the Make New Connection wizard to create a new connection object. Each connection object contains its own software information that's separate from all the other connection objects. So to make changes to the transport protocol, network file and print services, or the network client of a particular connection object, right-click on the desired connection object and choose

Properties

from the shortcut menu.

Figure C

shows the Local Area Connections Properties dialog box for a computer running the Client For Microsoft Networks, File And Printer Sharing For Microsoft Networks, and the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). If you've administered Windows 9x clients, this dialog box should look familiar. From here you can configure your network adapter, and install, uninstall, and configure network components.

Figure C:
Use the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box to configure the software components for your network connection.

Windows 2000 ships with several preconfigured MMC consoles to support your most common management tasks. One of the most comprehensive preconfigured MMC is the

Computer Management

MMC. So let's take a look at its functionality and the Windows NT 4.0 equivalent tools.

Just like everything else in Windows 2000, there are multiple ways to get to the

Computer Management MMC

shown in

Figure D

. You can right-click on the

My Computer

icon on the desktop and choose

Manage

from the shortcut menu; you can open Control Panel | Administrative Tools, and run the shortcut to

Computer Management

; or choose

Computer Management

from the

Administrative Tools

menu.

It's also important to note that you can use the Computer Management MMC to remotely administer another computer by choosing Action | Connect To Another Computer. Just like in Windows NT 4.0, you'll need the correct permissions to connect and make any changes.

System Tools

As you can see from

Figure D

, there are quite a few tools included in the

Computer Management MMC

. We'll start with the System Tools category. Let's use

Table A

to work our way through the individual utilities under System Tools

The Computer Management MMC

As you've probably seen or heard, all of your system management tools in Windows 2000 are now using the

Microsoft Management Console

(MMC) interface. The MMC provides a standardized method to create, save, and open these tools.

System Tools Utility	Windows NT 4.0 Equivalent	Description
Event Viewer	Event Viewer	Contains the Application, Security, and System log files that you were familiar with in Windows NT 4.0. It also contains two additional log files pertaining to the AD-Directory Service and File Replication Service. You can open just the Event Viewer utility by choosing Event Viewer from the Administrative Tools menu.
System Information	Control Panel, Devices and System, and Winmsd.exe	Displays information about your system, such as hardware resource information. This information is for display purposes only and can't be edited from within System Information.
Performance Logs And Alerts	Performance Monitor	Tracks the performance of a system. You use this utility to create log files and administrative alerts. Open this by choosing Performance from the Administrative Tools menu.
Shared Folders	Server Manager	Manages shares, sessions, and open files on a selected computer.
Device Manager	Individual Control Panel applets and CMOS	Displays a graphical representation of devices configured in Windows 2000. You can change the properties of legacy devices to resolve resource conflicts using this utility. This utility is very similar to Device Manager in Windows 9x. You can open just the Device Manager utility by opening the System Properties dialog box, selecting the Hardware tab, and then clicking Device Manager.
Local Users And Groups	Local User Manager	Creates and manages local users and groups. On an Active Directory Domain Controller, this is unavailable.

Table A:
The System Tools included with the preconfigured Computer Management MMC

Storage

The Storage category contains the utilities you'll use to configure and manage the disks on your computer. The

Disk Management

utility enables you to configure your hard disks.

Disk Management

corresponds to the Windows NT 4.0's Disk Administrator utility. The Details pane for

Disk Management

looks almost identical to the Disk Administrator utility you're used to working with in Windows NT 4.0.

Under the Storage category, you'll also find the new Disk Defragmenter utility that's included with Windows 2000. This utility is very similar to the Disk Defragmenter included with Windows 9x. You won't have to purchase a third-party utility to defragment your Windows 2000 hard disks like you did in Windows NT 4.0. You can start Disk Defragmenter by selecting Accessories | System Tools, in addition to within the

Computer Management MMC

There are two additional tools under Storage — Logical Drives and Removable Storage. As their names imply, they enable you to view information about the logical drives on your system and to con-figure any removable storage devices you've installed.

Services And Applications

The contents of the Services And Applications category vary depending on what additional services you've installed in Windows 2000. For example, if you have the DNS service installed on your computer, you'll have an entry for DNS under this category. You can use this entry to make configuration changes to your DNS service.

There's one entry under this category that you'll want to know about. It's called Services. It corresponds to your Windows NT 4.0 Services applet in Control Panel. This is where you'll start, stop, and monitor your system services. You can also start this utility by choosing Services from the Administrative Tools menu.

Active Directory Users And Computers

You'll notice in

Table A

that we said Local Users And Groups was unavailable on Active Directory Domain Controllers. On an AD DC, your Local Users And Groups utility will display as shown in

Figure E

AD DCs can't have local users and groups. Any users and groups created on an AD DC must be domain objects. To create and manage resources such as users and groups, you'll use the preconfigured

Active Directory Users

And

Computers MMC

. A portion of this MMC's functionality is similar to

User Manager For Domains

in Windows NT 4.0. To run the

Active Directory Users

And Computers console, choose Start | Programs | Administrative Tools | Active Directory Users And Computers.

If you look in the Builtin and Users containers, you'll see many of the user and group accounts you're familiar with in Windows NT 4.0.

Figure F

shows the contents of the Built-in container and

Figure G

shows the contents of the Users container. Just like with the

Computer Management

MMC, you can remotely administer another AD domain (if you have the correct permissions) by choosing Action | Connect To Domain. For additional information on creating users and groups in the AD, refer to the December 1999 Exploring Windows NT article,

"Working with objects in the Active Directory."

Conclusion

Just like living in a newly remodeled house, it will take you a while to get used to where all the administrative functions of Windows NT have moved to in Windows 2000. You might even find a particular tool, only to forget where you found it the next time you need it! Keep working at it, though, and Windows 2000 will become as comfortable as Windows NT. Soon enough, you'll be using the preconfigured Computer Management console and other Windows 2000 administrative tools highlighted in this article like an old pro. And you might even find that you like some of the administrative tools better!

This article appears courtesy of

ZD Journals

. Click here for a

free issue

of Exploring Windows NT Journal.

]

Cross-Indexed:

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