Re: First Grade Basics Needed

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From: Lanwench [MVP - Exchange] (lanwench_at_heybuddy.donotsendme.unsolicitedmail.atyahoo.com)
Date: 01/20/05 

Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2005 13:33:36 -0500

rju wrote:
> Thanks.
>
> If I understand you correctly, logging in as 'Guy' and using the
> NetBIOS name should log me into my workstation account even if the
> server is down.

If you have logged into that workstation before, yes.

> My files won't be there, but my desktop settings
> (mouse settings, screensaver, shortcuts, stuff saved on the desktop,
> etc.) should be. Right?

Yep. Unless you have deliberately disabled cached logins on the workstations
via policy.

> This sounds like the behavior I would have
> expected--but I've learned that computers don't always behave as I
> might expect.

True, dat.

>
> I was planning on keeping the users's local accounts around for a
> while, mainly because I thought someone will have forgotten a saved
> password in Internet Explorer. These didn't seem to get transfered
> when I migrated my user settings.

Nobody should be relying on saved passwords in IE anyway, if you ask me.
However, this is a cookie thing...
>
> I think I will rename the local accounts to avoid confusion with the
> new user accounts, which will have the same names as the old
> accounts.

I'd just change the passwords on the local accounts & see who complains.

> Perhaps this was the problem on my home computer. I had my
> local account, mike, and made a user account mike on the server.

Still doesn't make much sense - when your computer belongs to a domain, you
get the drop-down menu that allows you to choose the domain or the
workstation....
>
> I don't want the server to go down AT ALL.

Of course you don't. :) That's why you make sure you are using top of the
line server hardware (including a good UPS like an APC SmartUPS with its
management software...) and have your setup 100% perfect. Oh, and you also
have verifiably good backups, nightly, with backup media stored offsite...

> I want to leave
> instructions with my boss like this: if the power goes out, the
> server should reboot itself when power is restored.

YEs - but only if the motherboard supports it & your UPS management cable is
plugged in, with the software configured to do it...

> Wait five minutes
> and reboot all workstations and everything should be OK. If the
> server is not on, shut down all workstations, push button on server,
> be sure light is blue, wait five minutes and start up all
> workstations. Then call me. I want to keep it that simple.

If it's a "hard crash", 5 minutes may not be enough. Say 10 to be on the
safe side. That said, a power failure shouldn't cause your server to fall
off a cliff - if you have a good UPS. Oh, and don't plug non-server/network
equipment into your UPS. You may think that this goes without saying, but
one of my clients plugged a small "dorm-size" fridge into his - and then
wondered why he was getting all these 'extreme overvoltage' messages.... ;-)

Yep!
>
> I want to be sure to know what to tell my users and my boss, because
> it keeps up image if I don't have to backtrack on what I say.
>
> I think I will take the advice from Les and try another test install,
> this time overnight in the office.

Not a bad plan at all.
>
> rju
>
> "Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
> <lanwench@heybuddy.donotsendme.unsolicitedmail.atyahoo.com> wrote in
> message news:e0qIJlp$EHA.3256@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
>> rju wrote:
>>> We've purchased a Dell server for our small law office, 8 users,
>>> Standard SBS, I'm the guy who will set it up and maintain it.
>>>
>>> I took it home and played around with it. I feel I can follow the
>>> Wizards. I can read all the books I have. However, I feel I need
>>> more of the very simple BASIC information, which seems VERY hard to
>>> find, either online or in books. Even the books for dummies.
>>>
>>> I figured out the server doesn't need logging in--you just hit the
>>> button and it starts up the services. Then you attach the
>>> workstations. Great. I just wish someone had told me this, because I
>>> wasted a day and a half on this!
>>
>> This is true of nearly any server - nobody is expected to log in or
>> sit at the console. Services run automatically in the background.
>>>
>>> Apparently, SBS doesn't work well with my home dial up--it doesn't
>>> share. Apparently, (I could be wrong) ICS only shows up for dial up
>>> when there are TWO networks cards in the machine. This is a minor
>>> point, because we'll be using DSL in the office. But again I wish
>>> someone had told me this.
>>
>> I wouldn't use ICS for love or money even on a peer to peer network.
>> If you have only one NIC, and have broadband in the office, get a
>> hardware firewall appliance - I like Sonicwalls myself. So it's
>>
>> <internet router/modem> --- <firewall> --- <Ethernet switch/hub> ---
>> <LAN>
>>>
>>> Now I'm trying to figure out logins for workstations. You log in
>>> with your full name: Guy@ourplace.lan.
>>
>> Not necessarily - you can also log in as GUY to the domain YOURPLACE.
>>
>>> You get into your account. Fine.
>>> But what do you do when the server is down? I thought at first you
>>> log into it through the Netbios name. Is this right? Is that what
>>> the name is for? I know I can log in locally, but does not get me
>>> into my domain account, where all my stuff is. How does this work
>>> with laptops?
>>
>> Cached credentials in Windows NT-based operating systems have
>> existed at least since NT3...once you've logged into the domain once
>> on that particular workstation, it will remember you & give you
>> access, & your domain profile.
>>
>> Users should not have local accounts at all, nor should they know
>> the admin credentials for the workstations.
>>
>> However, when the server is down in the office (and I'd really
>> prefer "if the server is down" - servers should not be down often!)
>> nobody will be able to get to their files, as all data really should
>> be stored on the server - not on the workstations. Laptop users
>> should either use offline files (native to Win2k/XP Pro) or (better
>> in my opinion) something third party like www.centered.com 's
>> SecondCopy 2000 to sync data. And re Exchange - if you use OL2003,
>> set up the profiles with cached mode, so there's a local copy of
>> Exchange data.
>>>
>>> Now that the server is back in the office, when I logged in though
>>> netBIOS (at home, with a machine no longer connected to the server),
>>> it created a new account, instead of putting me into the user
>>> account I expected to be in. Where is my original account? I need
>>> to be sure that my users can work on their computers at all times,
>>> even if the server is down. I don't want to straighten out my home
>>> computer, I want to know what to tell my users to do in the event
>>> of problems.
>>
>> 1. Don't have problems often 2) logging into any workstation to
>> which you have previously logged in does not create a new account
>> (it can't) or new profile. Not sure what you did. Had you removed
>> the computer from the domain?
>>
>> As I said, if the server is down, nobody can get to their
>> server-resident data, so you have larger problems than someone's
>> ability to log in. Although they ought to be able to log in using
>> the aforementioned cached credentials.
>>>
>>> I would really like to know if is there some resource for
>>> information that I can tell my users? What they can expect, what
>>> they should do in case of problems, etc?
>>
>> What to expect? That their network runs well.
>> In case of problems, they should contact you, or whomever is doing
>> tech support, with specific details.
>>
>>>
>>> I know these are very basic questions, but the price of these things
>>> are coming down and you are going to get more and more of theese
>>> questions.
>>
>> True enough - but note that this is not something anyone should jump
>> into lightly. If you don't know what you're doing, you'll end up
>> with very angry users and lost data. You might want to look into
>> getting a consultant to help you with the setup - you can learn
>> about it at the same time, and learn how to do basic admin stuff
>> you'll need. With very good server hardware, a good installation,
>> proper maintenance/backups, antivirus & security, your server should
>> pretty much hum along on its own for the most part.
>>>
>>
>>> Thanks

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