Print server role: Configuring a print server

Print server role: Configuring a print server

If you plan to use this computer to manage and share printers, configure this computer as a print server.
Note

• This feature is not included on computers running the Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2003, Web Edition, operating system. For more information, see Overview of Windows Server 2003, Web Edition.

This document explains how to use the Configure Your Server Wizard to quickly meet the most basic requirements of a print server. When you are done setting up a basic print server, you can complete additional configuration tasks, depending on how you want to use this print server.
This topic covers:

• Before you begin
• Configuring your print server
• Next steps: Completing additional tasks

Before you begin

Before you configure your server as a print server, verify whether or not:

• The operating system is configured correctly. In the Windows Server 2003 family, print services depend on the appropriate configuration of the operating system and its services. If you have a new installation of a Windows Server 2003 operating system, you can use the default service settings. No further action is necessary. If you upgraded to a Windows Server 2003 operating system or you want to confirm that your services are configured correctly for best performance and security, verify your service settings by comparing them to the table in Default settings for services.
• The computer is joined to an Active Directory domain as a member server. If you want to restrict access to a printer, so that some domain users can print to it and other users cannot, or you want the print server to publish shared printers to Active Directory so that domain users can easily search for those printers, the print server must be joined to a domain. If you do not need to perform either of these tasks, the print server does not need to be joined to a domain.
• All existing disk volumes use the NTFS file system. FAT32 volumes are less secure. For more information about encrypting data stored on NTFS volumes, including spooled print jobs, see Storing Data Securely.
• Windows Firewall is enabled. For more information, see Enable Windows Firewall with no exceptions.
• The Security Configuration Wizard is installed and enabled. For information about the Security Configuration wizard, see Security Configuration Wizard Overview.

The following table lists the information that you need to know before you add a print server role.

 

Before adding a print server role	Comments
Determine the operating system version of the clients that will send jobs to this printer.	You must have this information to select the correct client printer drivers for your client and server computers. After you add this role, the print server can automatically distribute these drivers to the clients. Additionally, the set of client operating systems determines which of these drivers you need to install on the server during the print server role installation.
At the printer, print a configuration or test page that includes manufacturer, model, language, and installed options.	You need this information to choose the correct printer driver. The manufacturer and model are usually enough to uniquely identify the printer and its language. However, some printers support multiple languages, and the configuration printout usually lists them. Also, the configuration printout often lists installed options, such as extra memory, paper trays, envelope feeders, and duplex units.
Determine how the print server connects to the printer.	If the printer supports Plug and Play and connects to the print server using infrared technology, a universal serial bus (USB) port, or an IEEE 1394 port, the print server will configure itself automatically. You do not need to follow the remaining steps. Otherwise, if the printer is connected to the print server with a cable, note which server port is used. For printers, LPT1 is the most commonly used port. If the printer is located away from the print server and uses its own network adapter to receive print jobs, determine the IP address of the network adapter on the printer.
(Optional) Determine whether you need a new or updated printer driver.	Most printers are supported by drivers on the installation CD for the Windows Server 2003 operating system. To save time, you can often skip this step because the wizard that you will use to configure your print server provides compatibility information. If the wizard does not list a driver for your printer, you can look for an update from the printer manufacturer or Windows Update.
Choose a printer name.	Users running Windows-based client computers choose a printer by using the printer name. The wizard that you will use to configure your print server provides a default name, consisting of the printer manufacturer and model. The printer name is usually less than 31 characters in length.
Choose a share name.	A user can connect to a shared printer by typing this name, or by selecting it from a list of share names. The share name is usually less than 8 characters in length for compatibility with MS-DOS and Windows 3.x clients.
(Optional) Choose a location description and a comment.	These can help identify the location of the printer and provide additional information. For example, the location could be "Second floor, copy room" and the comment could be "Additional toner cartridges are available in the supply room on floor 1."

Configuring your print server

To set up a print server, start the Configure Your Server Wizard by doing either of the following:

• From Manage Your Server, click Add or remove a role. By default, Manage Your Server starts automatically when you log on. To open Manage Your Server, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Manage Your Server.
• To open the Configure Your Server Wizard, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Configure Your Server Wizard.

On the Server Role page, click Print server, and then click Next.
This section covers:

• Printers and Printer Drivers
• Summary of Selections
• Using the Add Printer Wizard
• Using the Add Printer Driver Wizard
• Completing the Configure Your Server Wizard
• Removing the print server role

Printers and Printer Drivers

On the Printers and Printer Drivers page, do one of the following:

• If all of the clients on your network run Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, or Windows 2000, click Windows 2000 and Windows XP clients only.
• If any of the clients run Windows XP 64-bit Edition (Itanium), Windows NT 4.0, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, or Windows 95, click All Windows clients.

After you finish, click Next.

Summary of Selections

On the Summary of Selections page, view and confirm the options that you have selected. If you selected Windows 2000 and Windows XP clients only on the previous page, the following appears:

• Add printers to this server using the Add Printer Wizard.

If you selected All Windows clients on the previous page, the following appears:

• Add printers to this server using the Add Printer Wizard.
• Add printer drivers to this server using the Add Printer Driver Wizard.

To apply the selections shown on the Summary of Selections page, click Next.

Using the Add Printer Wizard

After you click Next, the Configure Your Server Wizard runs the Add Printer Wizard once for each printer that you want to add. If the wizard finishes and you choose to share at least one printer, your server can be used as a print server. If you cancel the Add Printer Wizard, the Print Spooler service remains installed. If you cancel the Add Printer Wizard and no printers are shared, the server does not add the print server role.
Important

• If the printer you want to share supports Plug and Play, do not run the Add Printer Wizard. Plug and Play printers complete the configuration steps in the Add Printer Wizard automatically. If the printer you want to share supports Plug and Play, click Cancel.

This section describes the following steps in the Add Printer Wizard:

• Local or Network Printer
• New Printer Detection
• Select a Printer Port
• Specify a Printer
• Install Printer Software
• Use Existing Driver
• Name Your Printer
• Printer Sharing
• Location and Comment
• Print Test Page
• Completing the Add Printer Wizard

Local or Network Printer

On the Local or Network Printer page of the Add Printer Wizard, choose one of the following options:

• To configure this print sever to send print jobs directly to the printer, click Local printer attached to this computer. Typically, print servers send print jobs directly to the printer. A printer with its own network adapter is considered to be a local printer. If you want to send print jobs directly to a printer with its own network adapter, click this option.
• To configure this print server to forward print jobs to a second print server, click A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer. For example, you can configure a print server at a branch office to forward print jobs to a print server in the main office. You might do this if regulations require you to create printouts of daily transaction logs and store them at the main office. If you want to do this, click this option.

Note

• The A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer option is included here because this dialog box is used on all computers running a Windows Server 2003 operating system so that users can connect to a network printer. If you need to print from a computer that is not a print server, click A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer.

After you finish, click Next.
After you click Next, one of the following wizard pages appears:

New Printer Detection

If you selected the Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer check box and the wizard is unable to detect any Plug and Play printers, this page appears. Click Next.
To complete the steps on the Select a Printer Port page, see Select a Printer Port.

Select a Printer Port

If you selected Local printer attached to this computer, this page appears.
On the Select a Printer Port page, choose one of the following options:

• If a cable connects the printer directly to a port on the print server, under Use the following port, click the name of that port. LPT1 is the most commonly used port for this type of printer.
• If the printer has its own network adapter and you want to send print jobs to the printer through the network, click Create a new port, and then click the type of port that you want to create. If you do not know what type of port to create, Standard TCP/IP Port is recommended.
  
  If you click Standard TCP/IP Port, and then click Next, the Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard starts. In the Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard, click Next. On the Add Port page, type the name or IP address of the printer. The IP address is usually listed on the printer configuration page. As you type the name or IP address, the wizard completes the Port Name field for you. Click Next.
  
  The wizard attempts to connect to the printer. If the wizard is able to connect, the Completing the Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard page appears, and you can click Finish. If the wizard is not able to connect, the Additional Port Information Required page appears. If you think that the address or name you entered is not correct, click Back, retype the name or address, and then click Next.
  
  If you are sure the address or name is correct, select one of the following device types to identify the printer network adapter:
• Standard is the default. If you click Standard, click the manufacturer and model of network adapter from the Standard list.
• If the printer network adapter uses nonstandard settings, click Custom and then click Settings. The Configure Standard TCP/IP Port Monitor page appears. Specify the settings that are recommended by the manufacturer of the printer network adapter, and then click OK.

After you finish, click Next.

Specify a Printer

If you selected A network printer, or a printer attached to another computer, this page appears.
On the Specify a Printer page, choose one of the following options to configure your print server to forward print jobs to another print server:

• If the print server that you want to connect to is available on the network, click Browse for a printer, click Next, and then, under Shared printers, click the server and printer from the list.
• If the print server that you want to connect to is temporarily unavailable on the network, click Connect to this printer (or to browse for a printer, select this option and click Next), and then, in Name, type the server and printer names.
• If the print server that you want to connect to belongs to another organization and is available on the Internet, click Connect to a printer on the Internet or on a home or office network.

Important

• Use the options on this page only if you want your print server to forward print jobs to another print server. If this is not what you want, click Back, click Local printer attached to this computer, click Next, and then follow the steps in Select a Printer Port.

After you finish, click Next.
For this configuration path, you can skip some of the following steps in this document. To continue the instructions for this configuration path, see Completing the Add Printer Wizard.

Install Printer Software

On the Install Printer Software page of the Add Printer Wizard, under Manufacturer, click the printer manufacturer, and then, under Printers, click the printer model.
Note

• Write down the manufacturer and model that you select, because you will need this information later if you use the Add Printer Driver wizard to install printer drivers for other Windows-based clients.

If the manufacturer or model is not listed, try each of the steps outlined in the following table, in sequence, to install the correct printer software.

 

Step	Comments
Check the configuration printout to confirm the exact spelling of the name of your printer manufacturer and model.	The Manufacturer and Printers lists show the official product names, which might be different from the names that you normally use.
Click Have Disk, locate the driver files, and then click OK.	If you have printer driver files stored somewhere else, follow these steps. For example, the printer manufacturer might include a CD-ROM containing driver files in the packaging of the printer.
Click Windows Update.	If you want to look for new or updated drivers that are available from Microsoft as part of Windows Update, click this option. When you click Windows Update, the Manufacturer and Printers lists change to show only the drivers that are available from Windows Update. If the printer is not listed, return to the original list by clicking Back, and then clicking Next.
Select the manufacturer and model of a compatible printer, and then click Next.	To determine which printers are compatible, consult the user guide for your printer. Also, some manufacturers list compatibility information on their Web sites.

After you finish, click Next.

Use Existing Driver

If you add an additional printer that is the same manufacturer and model as one previously installed, the Use Existing Driver page appears. Decide whether to keep the same driver or replace it with a new one. If you select Replace existing driver, the wizard reinstalls the driver files.
After you finish, click Next.

Name Your Printer

On the Name Your Printer page of the Add Printer Wizard, the default name is the manufacturer and model of the printer. You can change this name so that the printer is easier to use and administer. When using applications, users often select a printer from a list that displays the names of the available printers. To help users decide which printer to select, the application might also list the location or a comment.
Under Do you want to use this printer as the default printer?, click Yes or No. Your response applies only when you print from an application that is running on this print server. Your response does not set this printer as the one that clients use by default.
After you finish, click Next.

Printer Sharing

Important

• You must share at least one printer for this server to act as a print server.

On the Printer Sharing page of the Add Printer Wizard, Share name is selected by default so that the printer is shared. The default share name is the first 8 letters of the printer manufacturer and model, without spaces. You can change this name so that the printer is easier to use and administer.
For compatibility with clients that run MS-DOS or earlier versions of Windows, type a share name that follows these rules:

• The share name contains only letters, digits, and the period (.).
• The share name contains no more than eight letters and digits, and, optionally, followed by a period, which is followed by no more than 3 letters and digits.

After you finish, click Next.

Location and Comment

On the Location and Comment page of the Add Printer Wizard, in Location, type a description of the print server location, and then, in Comment, type a comment. This step is optional, but recommended because this information makes it easier to use and administer your print server. Many applications display the comment or the location when the user prints a document, so that the user can choose the most appropriate printer.
After you finish, click Next.

Print Test Page

On the Print Test Page page of the Add Printer Wizard, choose whether to print a test page to confirm that the printer is ready to use.
Note

• The test page does not print immediately when you click Next. Instead, it prints when you finish the wizard.

After you finish, click Next.

Completing the Add Printer Wizard

On the Completing the Add Printer Wizard page, the Restart the wizard to add another printer check box is selected by default. If you leave it selected and click Finish, the wizard restarts to add another printer. If you have finished adding all of the printers that you want to share on this server, clear this check box, and then click Finish.
When you click Finish, the wizard installs the printer driver files. Then, if you chose to print a test page, the wizard attempts to print that page. If the printer does not receive the test page, you might have selected an incorrect port. However, if the printer receives the test page and prints it incorrectly, you might have selected an incompatible manufacturer and model.
When you started the Configure Your Server Wizard to configure this server as a print server, you selected one of the following options on the Printers and Printer Drivers page:

• Windows 2000 and Windows XP clients only
• All Windows clients

If you selected All Windows clients, the Add Printer Driver Wizard starts after you click Finish in the Add Printer Wizard. You can use the Add Printer Driver Wizard to install client printer drivers onto the print server, which can then automatically distribute them to clients.
Note

• The Add Printer Driver Wizard does not communicate with the Add Printer Wizard. Therefore, the Add Printer Driver Wizard does not automatically run once for each printer that you add, and it does not automatically install drivers for the same manufacturer and model of printer. Instead, you must decide how many times to run the Add Printer Driver Wizard, and each time it runs you must decide which manufacturer and model of drivers to install.

Using the Add Printer Driver Wizard

If you selected All Windows clients on the Printers and Printer Drivers page of the Configure Your Server Wizard, the Add Printer Driver Wizard starts after the Add Printer Wizard. If you cancel the Add Printer Driver Wizard, the Print Spooler service remains installed, and any printers you have added remain, but the additional client driver files are not installed on the server, and therefore the server cannot distribute those drivers to clients.
This section describes the following steps in the Add Printer Driver Wizard:

• Printer Driver Selection
• Processor and Operating System Selection
• Completing the Add Printer Driver Wizard

Printer Driver Selection

On the Printer Driver Selection page of the Add Printer Driver Wizard, select the manufacturer and model of a printer that is shared on this print server, and then click Next.
Important

• The Add Printer Driver Wizard does not automatically select a manufacturer and model for a printer that you have already added. Instead, it selects the first manufacturer in the list, and the name of the first printer model (in alphabetical order) made by that manufacturer. If possible, select the manufacturer and model of a printer that you have added. If you select a different manufacturer or model, the wizard installs drivers that might not work correctly with your printer.

Processor and Operating System Selection

On the Processor and Operating System Selection page of the Add Printer Driver Wizard, select the client operating systems and processors.
Drivers for your server operating system are installed automatically when you add a printer. As a result, one of the following is selected automatically and you cannot remove it: Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 for x86–based processors, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 for Itanium–based processors, or Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 for x64-based processors.
After you finish, click Next.

Completing the Add Printer Driver Wizard

On the Completing the Add Printer Driver Wizard page, the Restart the wizard to add another printer driver check box is selected by default. If you leave it selected and click Finish, the wizard restarts to add another printer driver. If you have finished adding all of the printer drivers for all of the printers that you want to share on this server, clear this check box, and then click Finish.

Completing the Configure Your Server Wizard

After you complete the Add Printer Wizard and, if necessary, the Add Printer Driver Wizard, the Configure Your Server Wizard displays the This Server is Now a Print Server page. To review all of the changes made to your server by the Configure Your Server Wizard or to ensure that a new role was installed successfully, click Configure Your Server log. The Configure Your Server Wizard log is located at systemroot\Debug\Configure Your Server.log. To close the Configure Your Server Wizard, click Finish.
Before you start to use your print server, we recommend the following steps:

• Run Windows Update. For more information, see Windows Update.
• Run the Security Configuration Wizard. For more information, see Security Configuration Wizard Overview.

Removing the print server role

If you need to reconfigure your server for a different role, you can remove existing server roles. If you remove the print server role, each client that sent print jobs only to this print server will be unable to print until you reconfigure the client to send print jobs to a different server. Also, each printer managed only by this print server will be unable to receive print jobs until you reconfigure another print server to send print jobs to that printer.
To remove the print server role, restart the Configure Your Server Wizard by doing either of the following:

• From Manage Your Server, click Add or remove a role. By default, Manage Your Server starts automatically when you log on. To open Manage Your Server, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Manage Your Server.
• To open the Configure Your Server Wizard, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Configure Your Server Wizard.

On the Server Role page, click Print server, and then click Next. On the Role Removal Confirmation page, review the items listed under Summary, select the Remove the print server role check box, and then click Next. On the Print Server Role Removed page, click Finish.

Next steps: Completing additional tasks

After you complete the Configure Your Server Wizard, the server is ready for use as a print server. By following the steps in this document, you have:

• Added one or more printers.
• Shared printers so that clients can send print jobs to the printers.
• If necessary, added client print drivers.

You can use the Add Printer Wizard and Add Printer Driver Wizard to add more printers and client printer drivers. These wizards are available through Manage Your Server.
The following table lists some of the additional tasks that you can perform on your print server.

 

Task	Purpose of task	Reference
Set the configuration to match installed options.	To provide user access to installed printer options, such as an envelope feeder or extra memory, that are available on some printers. If your printer provides additional features, you must update the configuration so that users can use these features.	Set installable options for a printer
Set printing defaults.	To set the default configuration for clients when they connect to the printer. For example, you can set the default layout or paper source.	Set printing defaults
Assign printer permissions.	To change the permissions that users have for a printer.	Set or remove permissions for a printer
Choose a separator page.	To define a page that appears at the beginning of each printout.	Choose a separator page
Configure network clients to use the printer.	To configure clients to connect to the printers that are shared on this print server.	Connect clients to a printer
Set advanced printer tasks.	To manage your print server more efficiently and effectively. For example, to schedule alternate printing times, to enable printer location tracking, or to set different priority for different groups.	Use Advanced Options
Publish a printer in Active Directory.	To help domain users find printers shared by this print server quickly. For this task, the print server must be a member server.	Publish a printer in Active Directory
Configure ports to allow remote administration.	To manage the print server from other computers on the network.	Windows Firewall Settings

Troubleshoot– Windows 2008 R2 Server Manager Roles and Features – I

Troubleshooting Event ID 333

Event ID 333 basically occurs when system registry fails to flush operation to the disk. In most of the cases, Event ID 333 is more of a byproduct rather than an issue itself.
Event id 333 occurs when there is some performance issue or when memory/disk is not keeping up with the load. Generally when the issue occurs, you would see other Event IDs as well pointing towards the actual cause that triggered Event ID 333.
There are 4 likely causes for getting 333:
· Memory pressure- Physical or Virtual memory bottleneck, low System PTEs, Working set trimming etc.
· Disk pressure – Bottleneck, performance issue etc.
· Filter driver – Bad driver keeping registry from being flushed.
· Lock Pages In Memory – This behaviour can result if the SQL service account is given the user right ‘Lock Pages in Memory’

Troubleshooting


The following are the troubleshooting steps for this issue. Please note, all the steps do not fit in all scenarios and should not be applied as silver bullets.

Event Log

First this is to check for the Event IDs. Look for any other Event id related to disk, memory, server (SRV) in System log. Key event ids are: 2019, 2020, 51, 55, 52, 58

 Perfmon

· Look for key counters:
- Memory\%Committed Bytes in Use
- Memory\Available Mbytes
- Memory\Cache Bytes
- Memory\Commit Limit
- Free System Page Table Entries
- Memory\Pool Nonpaged Bytes
- Memory\Pool Paged Bytes
Physical disk or Logical Disk
- %disk Time
- Avg. Disk Bytes/Transfer (Read and Write)
- Avg. Disk Queue Length
- Avg Disk sec/Transfer
- Disk bytes/sec
- Split IO/sec
Paging File\%Usage
System\%Registry Quota in use

Disk

· Enable disk write cache
Enable disk write cache to increase disk performance. (Refer to KB 324446)
- This would enable the caching of data in memory instead of immediate write to disk. This reduces the load (queue length) on the disk and system can schedule flush the data to disk later.


· Perfmon
Monitor disk sec/transfer, idle time, split I/O, Data byes/sec
- Split I/O counter represent how fragment the drive is. It is best to defrag the drive as it has a major hit on the disk performance.
- Sec/Transfer represents the time it takes to transfer data. It gives the disk throughput
· Configure RegistryLazyFlushInterval to 60 secs. (Reference: KB317357 and KB324446)
- Setting value to 60, tells system to write registry changes to disk after 60 seconds. The more the number of writes, the more disk I/O. The value 60 is recommended by Microsoft.

· Event logs
Check for any disk related event ids. Most common sources are fdisk, disk. Common causes are corrupt/bad sector, controller issue or driver issues.
- Upgrade firmware drivers for controller,
- Run chkdsk if required if we have event if pointing to corrupt sector/cluster on the disk.

 

Memory

There could be contention in either physical or virtual memory on the system. The causes can be several and they do not have straight forward troubleshooting. It is recommended to have an understanding of memory concept before making changes as it can easily make the system unstable.

· Boot.ini
- On Windows 2003 x86 server, check Boot.ini, if we have /3GB switch in place and also keep the role of the server in mind. Try to modify the switch by adding /USERVA so that we can give more room to kernel memory. Visit the link to understand /3GB and /UserVA switches: http://technet.microsoft.com/fr-fr/library/cc784475(WS.10).aspx
- On windows 2008, we don’t have boot.ini
- Use of /PAE and /3GB is not recommended as it has adverse effect on system performance.

· SQL Server Consideration
- Configure SQL to use less memory for the buffer pool.

- SQL Server has it own memory manager (MM) and it doesn’t use windows MM. IT can be set to reserve X amount of memory, which windows cannot use.

- Configure Perfmon with SQL object and monitor the memory specific counters. This is when we have low physical memory issue on Windows system.
- 918483 How to reduce paging of buffer pool memory in the 64-bit version of SQL Server 2005 You can enable the lock pages in memory permissions to prevent SQL Server 2005 64-bit buffer pool memory from being paged out of physical memory
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=918483

· Disable Hot Add memory
- When the Hot Add Memory feature is enabled, the operating system pre-allocates kernel resources to handle any future memory that may be added to the computer. Kernel resources are allocated based on the capabilities of the computer instead of on the RAM that is actually installed. The kernel may allocate significant resources to RAM that may never be installed. Therefore, the Hot Add Memory feature may cause the maximum size of the paged pool to be much smaller than expected.
- To disable the feature: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=913568

· Pool memory leak
Look for Event id 2020 or 2019 for paged-pool or nonpaged-pool exhaustion. Configure poolmon.exe with appropriate interval and monitor the tag which has highest consumption at the time of issue.
- There are few articles for pool memory exhaustion but it is not recommended to apply without getting the poolmon data. KB 312362 is for maximizing the Paged-Pool limit on the box in case of Event ID 2020. But this is helpful when we have high memory consumption and not memory leak.

· Increase page file
- Again this is helpful if we have perfmon data to confirm the need.


· Apply patch
- For NTOSKRNL.EXE, as memory manager is implemented in windows kernel and ntoskrnl.exe is the executable.
[KB 935926: A Windows Server 2003-based computer stops responding when the registry is in heavy use]

· Free system PTEs.
- Look for perfmon counter value Free System Page Table Entries

Filter driver
Check for 3rd party drivers on the box which are outdated. You can use msinfo32 or Microsoft MPS utility to list out the drivers.

Last Resort – Complete memory dump

If the above troubleshooting does not help, configure the box for generating manual complete memory dump and trigger it when issue occurs. Send the dump to Microsoft for analysis

Troubleshooting for Services issue on Windows 2008 R2

1. Diagnostic Policy Service fails with Access Denied

Solution:

· Navigate to the following key: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\WDI\Config

· Grant full permission to the ‘NT Service\DPS’ account on the key.

Note: This is a Local account and not on domain. You need to change the location from domain to local while searching for the accounts.

2. Firewall service fail to start with Error Code 5

Run Procmon.exe and you would notice access denied logs on the following keys:

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Epoch

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Epoch2

Solution:

· Navigate to the keys and grant full permission to the following accounts:

NT Service\MPSSVC and NT Authority\Network Service

Note: These are Local accounts and not on domain. You need to change the location from domain to local while searching for the accounts.

· Start the Firewall Service. It should start successfully.

3. Windows Event Log service fail to start with Access Denied error

Again, Procmon.exe shows that we have access denied on C:\Windows\System32\WinEvt folder.

Solution:

· Navigate to the above mention folder and edit permissions

· Grant full permission to the local account NT Service\EventLog

Note: These are Local accounts and not on domain. You need to change the location from domain to local while searching for the accounts.

4. Multiple Services fail to start with dependency failure error

or Access denied while starting Base Filtering Service

Multiple Services on Windows 2008 R2 fail to start with dependency failure error. The following services fail to start:

IPsec Policy Agent (PolicyAgent)
Windows Firewall
IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules
Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
Routing and Remote Access

Reason: These services are directly or indirectly dependent on Base Filterning Agent service, which is failing with Access Denied Error. We need to fix Base Filtering Agent first.

Solution:

· Navigate to the following registry key: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\BFE

· Grant full permission to the NT Service\BFE account on the above mentioned key.

· Also ensure that the following subkey is inheriting permission for BFE account:

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\BFE\Parameters\Policy\Persistent

UNIX Memory Management - Interview Questions and Answers

1. What is the difference between Swapping and Paging?

Swapping: Whole process is moved from the swap device to the main memory for execution. Process size must be less than or equal to the available main memory. It is easier to implementation and overhead to the system. Swapping systems does not handle the memory more flexibly as compared to the paging systems.

Paging: Only the required memory pages are moved to main memory from the swap device for execution. Process size does not matter. Gives the concept of the virtual memory. It provides greater flexibility in mapping the virtual address space into the physical memory of the machine. Allows more number of processes to fit in the main memory simultaneously. Allows the greater process size than the available physical memory. Demand paging systems handle the memory more flexibly.

1. What is major difference between the Historic Unix and the new BSD release of Unix System V in terms of Memory Management?

Historic Unix uses Swapping - entire process is transferred to the main memory from the swap device, whereas the Unix System V uses Demand Paging - only the part of the process is moved to the main memory. Historic Unix uses one Swap Device and Unix System V allow multiple Swap Devices.

2. What is the main goal of the Memory Management?

It decides which process should reside in the main memory,

Manages the parts of the virtual address space of a process which is non-core resident,

Monitors the available main memory and periodically write the processes into the swap device to provide more processes fit in the main memory simultaneously.

1. What is a Map?

A Map is an Array, which contains the addresses of the free space in the swap device that are allocatable resources, and the number of the resource units available there.

This allows First-Fit allocation of contiguous blocks of a resource. Initially the Map contains one entry - address (block offset from the starting of the swap area) and the total number of resources.

Kernel treats each unit of Map as a group of disk blocks. On the allocation and freeing of the resources Kernel updates the Map for accurate information.

2. What scheme does the Kernel in Unix System V follow while choosing a swap device among the multiple swap devices?

Kernel follows Round Robin scheme choosing a swap device among the multiple swap devices in Unix System V.

3. What is a Region?

A Region is a continuous area of a process's address space (such as text, data and stack). The kernel in a "Region Table" that is local to the process maintains region. Regions are sharable among the process.

4. What are the events done by the Kernel after a process is being swapped out from the main memory?

When Kernel swaps the process out of the primary memory, it performs the following:

Kernel decrements the Reference Count of each region of the process. If the reference count becomes zero, swaps the region out of the main memory,

Kernel allocates the space for the swapping process in the swap device,

Kernel locks the other swapping process while the current swapping operation is going on,

The Kernel saves the swap address of the region in the region table.

5. Is the Process before and after the swap are the same? Give reason.

Process before swapping is residing in the primary memory in its original form. The regions (text, data and stack) may not be occupied fully by the process, there may be few empty slots in any of the regions and while swapping Kernel do not bother about the empty slots while swapping the process out.

After swapping the process resides in the swap (secondary memory) device. The regions swapped out will be present but only the occupied region slots but not the empty slots that were present before assigning.

While swapping the process once again into the main memory, the Kernel referring to the Process Memory Map, it assigns the main memory accordingly taking care of the empty slots in the regions.

6. What do you mean by u-area (user area) or u-block?

This contains the private data that is manipulated only by the Kernel. This is local to the Process, i.e. each process is allocated a u-area.

7. What are the entities that are swapped out of the main memory while swapping the process out of the main memory?

All memory space occupied by the process, process's u-area, and Kernel stack are swapped out, theoretically.

Practically, if the process's u-area contains the Address Translation Tables for the process then Kernel implementations do not swap the u-area.

8. What is Fork swap?

"fork()" is a system call to create a child process. When the parent process calls "fork()" system call, the child process is created and if there is short of memory then the child process is sent to the read-to-run state in the swap device, and return to the user state without swapping the parent process. When the memory will be available the child process will be swapped into the main memory.

9. What is Expansion swap?

At the time when any process requires more memory than it is currently allocated, the Kernel performs Expansion swap. To do this Kernel reserves enough space in the swap device. Then the address translation mapping is adjusted for the new virtual address space but the physical memory is not allocated. At last Kernel swaps the process into the assigned space in the swap device. Later when the Kernel swaps the process into the main memory this assigns memory according to the new address translation mapping.

10. How the Swapper works?

The swapper is the only process that swaps the processes. The Swapper operates only in the Kernel mode and it does not uses System calls instead it uses internal Kernel functions for swapping. It is the archetype of all kernel process.

11. What are the processes that are not bothered by the swapper? Give Reason.

Zombie process: They do not take any up physical memory.

Processes locked in memories that are updating the region of the process.

Kernel swaps only the sleeping processes rather than the 'ready-to-run' processes, as they have the higher probability of being scheduled than the Sleeping processes.

12. What are the requirements for a swapper to work?

The swapper works on the highest scheduling priority. Firstly it will look for any sleeping process, if not found then it will look for the ready-to-run process for swapping. But the major requirement for the swapper to work the ready-to-run process must be core-resident for at least 2 seconds before swapping out. And for swapping in the process must have been resided in the swap device for at least 2 seconds. If the requirement is not satisfied then the swapper will go into the wait state on that event and it is awaken once in a second by the Kernel.

13. What are the criteria for choosing a process for swapping into memory from the swap device?

The resident time of the processes in the swap device, the priority of the processes and the amount of time the processes had been swapped out.

14. What are the criteria for choosing a process for swapping out of the memory to the swap device?

 The process's memory resident time,

Priority of the process and

The nice value.

15. What do you mean by nice value?

Nice value is the value that controls {increments or decrements} the priority of the process. This value that is returned by the nice() system call. The equation for using nice value is:
Priority = ("recent CPU usage"/constant) + (base- priority) + (nice value)
Only the administrator can supply the nice value. The nice() system call works for the running process only. Nice value of one process cannot affect the nice value of the other process.

16. What are conditions on which deadlock can occur while swapping the processes?

 All processes in the main memory are asleep.

All "ready-to-run" processes are swapped out.

There is no space in the swap device for the new incoming process that are swapped out of the main memory.

There is no space in the main memory for the new incoming process.

Windows 8 [32bit] Consumer Preview

Windows 8 Description-The next generation of Windows, a re-imagining of the operating system from the chip to the experience
This is a detailed preview of the next major release of Windows, code-named "Windows 8". From the chipset to the user experience, Windows 8 brings a new range of capabilities without compromise.
Windows 8 is designed to be the first Windows client to support systems on a chip (SoC) architectures, including ARM, and since it will be pre-installed on a range of next generation devices, it will also feature Metro, a NUI + GUI interface on the surface combined with a new application platform under-the-hood designed to enable the creation of immersive experiences.
The latest iteration of Microsoft's operating system brings an innovative new platform and tools to developers. Windows 8 apps can use a broad set of new libraries and controls, designed for fluid interaction and seamless connectivity. Apps can add new capabilities to Windows and to other apps, connecting with one another through the new interface.

Touch-First User Interface:· Metro style - Windows 8 introduces a new Metro style interface built for touch, which shows information important to you, embodies simplicity and gives you control. The Metro style UI is equally at home with a mouse and keyboard as well.
· Touch-first browsing, not just browsing on a touch device - Providing a fast and fluid touch-browsing experience, Internet Explorer 10 puts sites at the center on new Windows 8 devices.
More Ways to Engage With Powerful, Connected Apps:
· Powered by apps - Metro style apps built for Windows 8 are the focal point of your experience, filling your entire screen so there are no distractions.
· Apps can work together - Apps communicate with each other in Windows 8. For example, you can easily select and email photos from different places, such as Facebook, Flickr or on your hard drive.
· Your experience syncs across your devices - Live roams all the content from the cloud services you use most — photos, email, calendar and contacts — keeping them up-to-date on your devices. With SkyDrive, you can access your files, photos and documents from virtually anywhere with any browser or with Metro style apps in Windows 8.

Enhanced Fundamentals:· The best of Windows 7, only better - Windows 8 is built on the rock-solid foundation of Windows 7, delivering improvements in performance, security, privacy and system reliability. Windows 8 reduces the memory footprint needed - even on the lowest-end hardware - leaving more room for your apps.
· Preserving power-user favorites and making them better - For those who push the limits of their PC, Windows 8 features an enhanced Task Manager and Windows Explorer and new, flexible options for multimonitor setups.

New Developer Opportunities:· Windows Store - The Windows Store will allow developers to sell their apps anywhere Windows is sold worldwide, whether they’re creating new games or familiar productivity tools.
· Build using more languages - Windows 8 lets you leverage your existing skills and code assets to create great experiences using the programming language you prefer.
· Rich hardware integration leads to richer experiences, particularly for games - DirectX 11 gaming power underlies Windows 8, allowing the easy creation of full-screen games with smooth, flicker-free action.

New Generation of Hardware:· One Windows - many shapes and sizes - Support for ARM-based chipsets, x86 (as well as x32 and x64) devices, touch and sensors means Windows 8 works beautifully across a spectrum of devices, from 10-inch tablets and laptops to all-in-ones with 27-inch high-definition screens.
· Always connected - With Windows 8, new ultrathin PCs and tablets turn on instantly, run all day on a single charge and stay connected to the Internet so your PC is ready when you are. Next-generation system on a chip (SoC) support will also enable greatly extended standby and low-power states.
· Tap the full power of your PC - Windows 8 runs on PCs and is compatible with the devices and programs you use today on Windows 7, without compromise, to deliver the performance you expect of a PC.

Requirements:· 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor;
· 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit);
· 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit);
· DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver.
· Taking advantage of touch input requires a screen that supports multi-touch
Product Key: DNJXJ-7XBW8-2378T-X22TX-BKG7J

all part download and extract part first 

   Windows 8 [32bit]          Download
 

The Global Catalog Server in win 2003

An Overview on Global Catalog Servers

The Global Catalog (GC) is an important component in Active Directory because it serves as the central information store of the Active Directory objects located in domains, and forests. Because the GC maintains a list of the Active Directory objects in domains and forests, without actually including all information on the objects; and it is used when users search for Active Directory objects or for specific attributes of an object; the GC improves network performance and provides maximum accessibility to Active Directory objects.

The Global Catalog server is the domain controller that stores a full copy of all objects in its host domain. It also stores a partial copy of all objects in all other domains within the forest. The partial copy holds the list of objects most frequently searched for. The first domain controller that is created in the first domain in a forest is by default the Global Catalog server. If a domain only has one domain controller, that particular domain controller and the GC server are the same server. If you add an additional domain controller to the domain, you can configure that domain controller as the GC server. You can also assign additional domain controllers to serve as GC servers for a domain. This is usually done to improve response time for user logon requests and search requests.

In order for Global Catalog servers to store a full copy of all objects in its host domain, and a partial copy of all objects in all other domains within the forest, GC replication has to occur between those domain controllers that are configured as GC servers. GC replication does not occur between domain controllers that are not GC servers.
The functions of the GC server are discussed in the following section. The functions performed by the GC server can be summarized as follows:

• GC servers are crucial for Active Directory's UPN functionality because they resolve user principal names (UPNs) when the domain controller handling the authentication request is unable to authenticate the user account because the user account actually exists in another domain. The authenticating domain controller would have no knowledge of the particular user account. The GC server in this case assists in locating the user account so that the authenticating domain controller can proceed with the logon request for the user.
• The GC server deals with all search requests of users searching for information in Active Directory. It can find all Active Directory data irrespective of the domain in which the data is held. The GC server deals with requests for the entire forest.
• The GC also makes it possible for users to provide Universal Group membership information to the domain controller for network logon requests.

Universal Groups are available when the domain functional level is raised or set to least Windows 2000 Native. Universal Groups can contain members that belong to different domains within the forest, and their Universal Group membership information is only stored in the GC. What this means is that only those domain controllers configured as GC servers would contain Universal Group membership information. The remainder of the domain controllers would not hold Universal Group membership information.
The universal group membership caching feature introduced in Windows Server 2003 Active Directory, enables a site that has no GC server to cache universal group membership information for users who log on to domain controllers within the site. In this manner, a domain controller can serve logon requests for directory information when a GC server is unavailable. The settings of the Active Directory replication schedule determine how often the cache is refreshed.

Planning the Location of Global Catalog servers

If you have a relatively small network that only has one physical location, the first domain controller installed for the domain would become the GC server. As aditional domain controllers are added to the domain, you can move the GC server role to a different domain controller. Placing the GC server in such an Active Directory environment is a fairly straightforward process.
The majority of larger networks however have many physical locations. Having high-speed reliable links that connect branch offices would be the ideal situation. Since most links use limited bandwidth, and some links are also unreliable, the need to create sites and site links to control replication traffic becomes essential.
You should configure at least one domain controller as the GC server in each site. Ensure that the domain controller is robust enough to deal with all Global Catalog queries and GC replication traffic. This is turn ensures the best possible network response time.
When Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server is being used, it is also recommended to configure a GC server for each site that has an Exchange server.
If you have multiple sites, you might want to deploy additional GC servers for a site if the following conditions are true:

• A slow WAN link or unreliable WAN link is used to connect to the other sites.
• A frequently used application uses port 3268 for GC queries.
• The users in the site are members of a Windows 2000 domain or a Windows Server 2003 domain operating in Windows 2000 native mode.

How to create additional GC servers

When you create the first domain controller for a new domain, that particular domain controller is designated as the GC server. Depending on your network, you might need to add an additional GC server(s). The Active Directory Sites and Services console is the tool used to add an additional GC server. You have to be a member of one of the following groups to create additional GC servers: Domain Admins or Enterprise Admins.
To create an additional GC server:

1. Click Start, Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Sites and Services.
2. In the console tree, expand Sites, and then expand the site that contains the domain controller which you want to configure as a GC server.
3. Expand the Servers folder, and locate and then click the domain controller that you want to designate as a GC server.
4. In the details, pane, right-click NTDS Settings and click Properties on the shortcut menu.
5. The NTDS Settings Properties dialog box opens.
6. The General tab is where you specify the domain controller as a GC server.
7. Enable the Global Catalog checkbox.
8. Click OK.

How to enable the Universal Group Membership caching feature

1. Click Start, Administrative Tools, and then click Active Directory Sites and Services.
2. In the console tree, click the particular site that you want to enable universal group membership caching for.
3. In the details pane, right-click NTDS Settings and click Properties on the shortcut menu.
4. The NTDS Settings Properties dialog box opens.
5. Check the Enable Universal Group Membership Caching checkbox.
6. Click OK.

How to remove the GC server role from a domain controller

1. Open the Active Directory Sites and Services console.
2. In the console tree, locate and click the domain controller currently configured as the GC server.
3. Right-click NTDS Settings and click Properties on the shortcut menu to open the NTDS Settings Properties dialog box.
4. Clear the Global Catalog checkbox.
5. Click OK.

How to disable the Universal Group Membership caching feature

1. Open the Active Directory Sites and Services console.
2. In the console tree, locate and click the site for which you want to disable the Universal Group Membership caching feature.
3. Right-click NTDS Settings and click Properties on the shortcut menu to open the NTDS Settings Properties dialog box.
4. Clear the Enable Universal Group Membership Caching checkbox.
5. Click OK.

How to include additional attributes in the GC

The number of attributes in the GC affects GC replication. The more attributes your GC servers have to replicate, the more network traffic GC replication creates. Default attributes are included in the GC when Active Directory is first deployed. You can use the Active Directory Schema snap-in to add any additional attribute to the GC. Because the snap-in is by default not included in the Administrative Tools Menu, you first have to add it to the MMC before you can use it to customize the GC.
To add the Active Directory Schema snap-in in the MMC:

1. Click Start, Run, and enter cmd in the Run dialog box. Press Enter.
2. Enter the following at the command prompt: regsvr32 schmmgmt.dll.
3. Click OK to acknowledge that the dll was successfully registered.
4. Click Start, Run, and enter mmc in the Run dialog box.
5. When the MMC opens, select Add/Remove Snap-in from the File menu.
6. In the Add/Remove Snap-in dialog box, click Add, and then add the Active Directory Schema snap-in from the Add Standalone Snap-in dialog box.
7. Close all open dialog boxes.

To include additional attributes in the GC:

1. Open the Active Directory Schema snap-in.
2. In the console tree, expand the Attributes container, right-click an attribute and click Properties from the shortcut menu.
3. Additional attributes are added on the General tab.
4. Ensure that the Replicate this attribute to the Global Catalog checkbox is enabled.
5. Click OK.
   Troubleshooting GC Servers

A few common problems experienced with GC servers are listed below:

• Slow query response time: Adding an additional GC server to the location with the slow query response time can improve query response time. Users would be able to use the local GC server instead of using the slow WAN link.
• Replication latency problems between GC servers: You can add sites to assist with replication traffic.
• High Load: Where your GC servers are experiencing an excessive load, adding more GC servers to handle the load could assist with the problem. Remember though that adding additional GC servers, increases GC replication traffic.