⻬ Never treat your network users as if they were idiots. If they don’t under- stand the network, it’s not their fault. Explain it to them. Offer a class.
Buy them each a copy of this book and tell them to read it during lunch hour. Hold their hands. But don’t treat them like idiots.
⻬ Make up a network cheat sheet that contains everything that the users need to know about using the network — on one page. Make sure that
everyone gets a copy. ⻬ Be as responsive as possible when a network user complains of a net-
work problem. If you don’t fix the problem soon, the user may try to fix it. You probably don’t want that.
⻬ The better you understand the psychology of network users, the more prepared you’ll be for the strangeness they often serve up. Toward that
end, I recommend that you read the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders also known as DSM-IV cover to cover.
Patching Things Up
One of the annoyances that every network manager faces is applying software patches to keep the operating system and other software up to date. A soft-
ware patch is a minor update that fixes the small glitches that crop up from time to time, such as minor security or performance issues. These glitches
are not significant enough to merit a new version of the software, but they are important enough to require fixing. Most of the patches correct security flaws
that computer hackers have uncovered in their relentless attempts to prove that they are smarter than the security programmers at Microsoft or Novell.
Periodically, all the recently released patches are combined into a service pack. Although the most diligent network administrators apply all patches
as they are released, many administrators just wait for the service packs.
For all versions of Windows, you can use the Windows Update Web site to apply patches to keep your operating system and other Microsoft software
up-to-date. You can find Windows Update in the Start menu. If all else fails, just fire up Internet Explorer and go to windowsupdate.microsoft.com.
Windows Update automatically scans your computer’s software and creates a list of software patches and other components that you can download and
install. You can also configure Windows Update to automatically notify you of updates so you don’t have to remember to check for new patches.
Novell periodically posts patches and updates to NetWare on its product- support Web site support.novell.com. You can subscribe to an e-mail
notification service that automatically sends you e-mail to let you know of new patches and updates.
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Software Tools for Network Administrators
Network managers need certain tools to get their jobs done. Managers of big, complicated, expensive networks need big, complicated, expensive tools.
Managers of small networks need small tools.
Some of the tools that the manager needs are hardware tools, such as screw- drivers, cable crimpers, and hammers. The tools that I’m talking about here,
however, are software tools. I’ve already mentioned a couple: Visio to help you draw network diagrams and a network-discovery tool to help you map
your network. Here are a few others:
⻬ Built-in TCPIP commands: Many of the software tools that you need to
manage a network come with the network itself. As the network manager, you should read through the manuals that come with your network soft-
ware to see what management tools are available. For example, Windows includes a net diag command that you can use to make sure that all
the computers on a network can communicate with each other. You can run net diag from an MS-DOS prompt. For TCPIP networks, you can
use the TCPIP diagnostic commands that are summarized in Table 12-2.
Table 12-2 TCPIP Diagnostic Commands
Command What it does
arp Displays address resolution information used by the Address
Resolution Protocol ARP. hostname
Displays your computer’s host name. ipconfig
Displays current TCPIP settings. nbtstat
Displays the status of NetBIOS over TCPIP connections. netstat
Displays statistics for TCPIP. nslookup
Displays DNS information. ping
Verifies that a specified computer can be reached. route
Displays the PC’s routing tables. tracert
Displays the route from your computer to a specified host.
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⻬ System Information: This program that comes with Windows is a useful
utility for network managers.
⻬ Hotfix Checker: This handy tool from Microsoft scans your computers
to see what patches need to be applied. You can download the Hotfix Checker free of charge from Microsoft’s Web site. Just go to www.
microsoft.com and search for hfnetchk.exe.
⻬ Baseline Security Analyzer: If you prefer GUI-based tools, check out this
program that you can download from the Microsoft Web site free of charge. To find it, go to www.microsoft.com and search for Microsoft
Baseline Security Analyzer .
⻬ Third-party utilities: I suggest that you get one of those 100-in-1 utility
programs, such as Symantec’s Norton Utilities. Norton Utilities includes invaluable utilities for repairing damaged hard drives, rearranging the
directory structure of your hard drive, gathering information about your computer and its equipment, and so on.
Never use a hard drive repair program that was not designed to work with the operating system or version that your computer uses or the file
system you’ve installed. Any time that you upgrade to a newer version of your operating system, you should also upgrade your hard drive repair
programs to a version that supports the new operating system version.
⻬ Protocol analyzers: A protocol analyzer is a program that’s designed to
monitor and log the individual packets that travel along your network. Protocol analyzers are also called packet sniffers. You can configure
the protocol analyzer to filter specific types of packets, watch for spe- cific types of problems, and provide statistical analysis of the captured
packets. Most network administrators agree that Sniffer, by Sniffer Technologies www.snifer.com is the best protocol analyzer avail-
able. However, it’s also one of the most expensive. If you prefer a free alternative, check out Ethereal, which you can download free from
www.ethereal.com
.
⻬ Network Monitor: Windows 2000 and XP — as well as Windows 2000
Server and Windows Server 2003 — include this program; it provides basic protocol analysis and can often help solve pesky network problems.
Building a Library
One of Scotty’s best lines in the original Star Trek series was when he refused to take shore leave so he could get caught up on his technical journals.
“Don’t you ever relax?” asked Kirk. “I am relaxing” Scotty replied.
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