0735710872

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TRAINING GUIDE
Server+
Certification
Elton Jernigan, Server+ Certified Technician
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PUBLISHER
SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE David Dwyer
Copyright© 2002 by New Riders Publishing ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Al Valvano
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, EXECUTIVE EDITOR
including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and Stephanie Wall
retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, except MANAGING EDITOR
for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. Gina Kanouse
International Standard Book Number: 0-7357-1087-2 ACQUISITIONS EDITOR
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-110879 Jeff Riley
Printed in the United States of America DEVELOPMENT EDITOR

Chris Zahn
05 04 03 02 01 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER
Interpretation of the printing code: The rightmost double-digit num- Stephanie Layton
ber is the year of the book’s printing; the rightmost single-digit number
is the number of the book’s printing. For example, the printing code PUBLICITY MANAGER
01-1 shows that the first printing of the book occurred in 2001. Susan Nixon
Composed in Garamond and MCPdigital by New Riders Publishing SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

SPECIALIST
Jay Payne
Trademarks
All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or TECHNICAL REVIEWERS
service marks have been appropriately capitalized. New Riders Jim Cooper
Publishing cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a Ray Marky
term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of SENIOR EDITOR
any trademark or service mark. Kristy Knoop
Server+ is a proprietary trademark of the Computing Technology COPY EDITOR
Industry Association. Keith Cline
Server+/CompTIA logo used by permission and approval of the INDEXER
Computing Technology Industry Association. CompTIA’s Advisory Larry Sweazy
Committee manages the content quality and distribution of the
MANUFACTURING COORDINATOR
Server+ Certification program.
Jim Conway
Warning and Disclaimer BOOK DESIGNER
This book is designed to provide information about the Server+ Louisa Klucznik
Certification exam. Every effort has been made to make this book as COVER DESIGNER
complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty or fitness is Aren Howell
implied.
COMPOSITION
The information is provided on an as-is basis. The authors and New Scan Communications, Inc.
Riders Publishing shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any
person or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the
information contained in this book or from the use of the discs or pro-
grams that may accompany it.
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CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
Introduction ............................................................................................................1
Part I Exam Preparation
1 0.0—Planning and Specifications ..........................................................................13

2 1.0—Installation..................................................................................................143
3 2.0—Cofiguration ..............................................................................................195
4 3.0—Upgrading ..................................................................................................239
5 4.0—Proactive Maintenance................................................................................283
6 5.0—Environment ..............................................................................................321
7 6.0—Troubleshooting and Problem Determination ............................................357
8 7.0—Disaster Recovery ......................................................................................449
Part II Final Review
Fast Facts ............................................................................................................497

Study and Exam Prep Tips ..................................................................................519
Practice Exam ......................................................................................................525
Part III Appendixes
A Glossary ..............................................................................................................549
B Overview of the Certification Process ..................................................................561
C What’s on the CD-ROM ....................................................................................563
D Using the ExamGear, Training Guide Edition Software ......................................565
Index ..................................................................................................................587
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Contents
PART I: Exam Preparation
1 0.0—Planning and Specifications 13

Introduction ..........................................................................................................13
Network Types ....................................................................................................23
Peer-to-Peer Networks ....................................................................................23
Server-Centric Networks ..................................................................................24
Network Server Categories ..................................................................................24
Workgroup Server ............................................................................................25
Departmental Server ........................................................................................25
Enterprise Server ..............................................................................................26
Server Appliances ............................................................................................26
Network Server Roles ..........................................................................................26
Gateway Server ................................................................................................28
Router ............................................................................................................28
Bridge ..............................................................................................................29
Firewall ............................................................................................................30
Network Address Translation Server ................................................................30
Proxy Server ....................................................................................................31
Database Server ..............................................................................................32
Client/Server ..................................................................................................32
Application Server ..........................................................................................32
Mail Server ......................................................................................................33
FTP Server ......................................................................................................34
SNA Server ......................................................................................................34
Remote Access Server ......................................................................................35
File and Print Server ........................................................................................36
Terminal Server ..............................................................................................36
Fax Server ........................................................................................................37
Domain Name System Server ..........................................................................37
Windows Internet Naming Service Server ......................................................38
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Server ................................................38
Web Server ......................................................................................................39
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Video Server ....................................................................................................40

CD-ROM Library Server ................................................................................40
Directory Services Server ................................................................................40
Intel Processors ....................................................................................................41
Intel Processors ................................................................................................42
Processor Cache ..............................................................................................44
Symmetric Multiprocessing ............................................................................46
Server Buses ..........................................................................................................46
Memory Bus ....................................................................................................47
System Bus ......................................................................................................47
Memory ..............................................................................................................52
Amount of Memory ........................................................................................53
Memory Interleaving ......................................................................................53
Memory Types ................................................................................................53
Disk Subsystems ..................................................................................................58
Integrated Drive Electronics ............................................................................58
Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics ............................................................59
Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA ....................................................................................59
Serial ATA ......................................................................................................60
Small Computer System Interface ....................................................................61
Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) ................64
Fibre Channel ..................................................................................................65
Serial Storage Architecture ..............................................................................65
Storage Area Network ......................................................................................66
Network-Attached Storage ..............................................................................66
Network Systems ..................................................................................................68
Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) ....................................................................................68
Token Ring (IEEE 802.5) ................................................................................73
Wireless Networks (IEEE 802.11) ..................................................................74
Network Interface Cards ..................................................................................74
Network Devices ............................................................................................76
Network Protocols ..........................................................................................77
Network Management ....................................................................................79
Backup Hardware ................................................................................................82
Tape Drives ....................................................................................................82
Tape Arrays ......................................................................................................88
Tape Autochangers ..........................................................................................88
Tape Libraries ..................................................................................................88
Disk Drives ......................................................................................................88
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Other Backup Devices ....................................................................................89

Redundant Components ......................................................................................89
Redundant Power Supplies ..............................................................................90
Redundant Fans ..............................................................................................90
Hot Swap ........................................................................................................91
Hot Plug ..........................................................................................................91
Fail-Over ........................................................................................................91
Hot Spare ........................................................................................................91
NIC Fail-Over ................................................................................................92
Server Clustering ..................................................................................................92
Scalability ............................................................................................................93
High Availability ..................................................................................................94
Backup Strategies ..................................................................................................94
Fault Tolerance ....................................................................................................95
Uninterruptible Power Supply ........................................................................96
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks ............................................................96
Disaster Recovery ..............................................................................................103
Miscellaneous Network
Server Hardware ..............................................................................................104
Video Controller ..........................................................................................104
Video Monitor ..............................................................................................104
Universal Serial Bus ......................................................................................105
FireWire (IEEE 1394) ..................................................................................105
Keyboard ......................................................................................................105
Mouse ............................................................................................................106
CD-ROM Drive ............................................................................................106
DVD-ROM Drive ........................................................................................106
Floppy Disk Drive ........................................................................................106
Modem ..........................................................................................................106
Racking Servers ..................................................................................................107
EIA Rack Unit (1.75 Inches) ........................................................................107
Keyboard/Video/Monitor Switch ..................................................................108
Cable Management ......................................................................................108
Rack Layout ..................................................................................................108
Security ..........................................................................................................108
Cooling ........................................................................................................109
Rack-Mounted Keyboard/Trackball ..............................................................109
Rack-Mounted Monitor/LCD Panel ..............................................................109
Rack-Mounted UPS ......................................................................................109
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Network Operating Systems ..............................................................................110

Novell NetWare 4 ..........................................................................................111
Novell NetWare 5 ..........................................................................................111
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4 ..................................................................111
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server ..................................................................112
UNIX ............................................................................................................112
Linux ............................................................................................................113
IBM OS/2 Warp Server ................................................................................113
Network Server Management ............................................................................114
Vendor-Specific Installation and Configuration Software ..............................115
Vendor-Specific Management Software ..........................................................115
Vendor-Specific Management Hardware ........................................................116
Antivirus Software ........................................................................................117
Documentation ............................................................................................117
Creating an Installation Plan ..............................................................................118
Exercises ........................................................................................................133
Review Questions ..........................................................................................133
Exam Questions ............................................................................................134
Answers to Review Questions ........................................................................138
Answers to Exam Questions ..........................................................................140
2 1.0—Installation 143
Introduction ......................................................................................................147
Planning for Installation ....................................................................................147
The Installation Plan ....................................................................................147
Verifying the Installation Plan ......................................................................148
Verifying Hardware Compatibility with the Operating System ......................148
Verifying the Installation Site ........................................................................149
Verifying Hardware Components for the Network Server ..............................153
Installing Hardware ............................................................................................161
Electrostatic Discharge ..................................................................................161
Installing Processors ......................................................................................162
Buses ............................................................................................................163
Memory Installation ......................................................................................164
Disk Subsystem Installation ..........................................................................166
Network Subsystem Installation ....................................................................175
Backup System Hardware Installation ............................................................178
Uninterruptible Power-Supply Installation ....................................................178
Miscellaneous Server Components Installation ..............................................179
Redundant Component Installation ..............................................................181
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Server-Rack Installation ................................................................................182

Power-On Test ..............................................................................................184
Document, Document, Document ................................................................185
Exercises ........................................................................................................188
Exam Questions ............................................................................................189
3 2.0—Configuration 195
Introduction ......................................................................................................198
Network Server Configuration ............................................................................198
Checking the System BIOS ..........................................................................199
Checking the SCSI Controller BIOS ............................................................199
Checking the RAID Controller BIOS ..........................................................200
Configuring Hardware-Based RAID ..................................................................200
Hardware-Based RAID Configuration ..........................................................200
RAID 0 Configuration ..................................................................................203
RAID 1 Configuration (Mirroring) ..............................................................203
RAID 1 Configuration (Duplexing) ..............................................................204
RAID 5 Configuration ................................................................................204
RAID 0/1 Configuration ..............................................................................205
Installing the Network Operating System ..........................................................207
File Systems ..................................................................................................207
Installing the Network Operating System ......................................................213
Configuring the Network ..............................................................................215
Verifying Network Connectivity ....................................................................216
Configuring External Peripherals ........................................................................216
Configuring an External Disk Subsystem ......................................................217
Configuring an External CD-ROM System ..................................................218
Configuring an Uninterruptible
Power Supply ..............................................................................................218
Installing Network Operating System Updates ..................................................220
Configuring Manufacturer-Specific Drivers ........................................................220
Installing Service Tools ......................................................................................221
Installing and Configuring SNMP ................................................................222
Installing Backup Software ............................................................................223
Installing Antivirus Software ..........................................................................223
Installing System Monitor Agents ..................................................................224
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Configuring Event Log(s) ..............................................................................225

Configuring Swap File(s) ..............................................................................225
Performing a Server Baseline ..............................................................................228
Documenting the Network Server Configuration ..............................................230
Exercises ........................................................................................................232
Exam Questions ............................................................................................233
4 3.0—Upgrading 239
Introduction ......................................................................................................243
The Upgrade Checklist ......................................................................................243
Locating the Latest Software ..........................................................................244
Reviewing Instructions and FAQs ................................................................244
Testing the Upgrade ......................................................................................245
Scheduling Downtime ..................................................................................245
Performing a Full System Backup ..................................................................245
Implementing Electrostatic Discharge Best Practices ....................................246
Confirming the Upgrade ..............................................................................246
Reviewing the Upgrade and Establishing a New Baseline ..............................247
Documenting the Upgrade ............................................................................247
Performing a Full Backup ..................................................................................247
Adding Processors ..............................................................................................248
Replacing a Single Processor with a Faster Processor ......................................248
Installing Additional Processors ....................................................................249
Upgrading the Operating System for Multiple Processors ..............................253
Adding Hard Drives ..........................................................................................255
Upgrading ATA Hard Disk Drives ................................................................256
Upgrading IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 Disk Drives to SCSI Disk Drives ..........257
Upgrading SCSI Hard Disk Drives ................................................................258
Adding Drives to a RAID Array ....................................................................259
Adding Memory ................................................................................................260
Check Existing Memory ................................................................................260
Checking Memory Upgrade Feasibility ..........................................................261
Checking Memory Upgrade Compatibility ..................................................262
Installing Additional Memory ........................................................................262
Upgrading the BIOS/Firmware ..........................................................................263
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Upgrading Adapters ............................................................................................265

Upgrading Adapter Memory ..........................................................................265
Upgrading Adapter BIOS or Firmware ..........................................................266
Replacing an Adapter ....................................................................................266
Upgrading Peripheral Devices ............................................................................268
Upgrading System Monitoring Agents ................................................................269
Upgrading Service Tools ....................................................................................270
Upgrading the Uninterruptible Power Supply ....................................................271
Exercises ........................................................................................................275
Exam Questions ............................................................................................276
5 4.0—Proactive Maintenance 283

Introduction ......................................................................................................286
Understanding Backups ......................................................................................286
Defining “Regular” ........................................................................................287
Different Types of Backups ............................................................................288
Multiple Tape Sets ........................................................................................292
Backup Common Sense ................................................................................293
Operating System Notes ................................................................................294
Working with Baselines ......................................................................................297
Working with SNMP ........................................................................................300
SNMP Agents and Management ..................................................................301
Management Information Base ......................................................................303
SNMP Security Parameters ............................................................................305
SNMP Agent ................................................................................................305
What SNMP Is Really Doing ........................................................................306
The Physical Environment ................................................................................307
Verifying Hardware ............................................................................................308
Checking Values Outside the Operating System ............................................311
Establishing Remote Notification ......................................................................313
Exercises ........................................................................................................316
Exam Questions ............................................................................................317
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6 5.0—Environment 321
Introduction ......................................................................................................324
Open-Office Environment ............................................................................324
Server Room ..................................................................................................324
Computer Data Center ..................................................................................325
Environmental Issues ..........................................................................................325
Temperature ..................................................................................................328
Humidity ......................................................................................................331
Air Quality ....................................................................................................332
Power-Line Issues ..........................................................................................332
Fire Suppression ............................................................................................335
Flooding ........................................................................................................336
Electrostatic Discharge ..................................................................................337
Monitoring the Server State ..........................................................................338
Physical Security Issues ......................................................................................339
Physically Securing the Data Center/Computer Room ..................................340
Establish Anti-Theft Devices for Hardware ..................................................344
Limiting Access to Removable Media ............................................................346
Exercises ........................................................................................................350
Exam Questions ............................................................................................351
7 6.0—Troubleshooting and Problem Determination 357

Introduction ......................................................................................................361
Performing Problem Determination ..................................................................361
Using Questioning Techniques ......................................................................362
Identifying Contacts ......................................................................................362
Using Your Senses ..........................................................................................363
Using Diagnostic Hardware and Software Tools and Utilities ............................364
Diagnostic Tools by Operating System ..........................................................365
System Shutdown ..........................................................................................409
Selecting the Appropriate Tool and Using It Effectively ................................414
Replacing Defective Hardware Components ................................................415
Identifying and Replacing Defective Field Replaceable Units ........................415
Interpreting Error logs, Operating System Errors, Health Logs,
and Critical Events ......................................................................................416
Using Documentation ..................................................................................417
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CONTENTS xiii
Locating and Using Support Resources ..........................................................417

Gathering Resources ......................................................................................420
Remote Troubleshooting for a Wake-On-LAN ..............................................421
Remote Troubleshooting for a Remote Alert ..................................................421
Identifying Bottlenecks ......................................................................................422
Processor Bottlenecks ....................................................................................427
Memory Bottlenecks ......................................................................................428
Disk Subsystem Bottlenecks ..........................................................................429
Network Subsystem Bottlenecks ....................................................................430
Identifying and Correcting Misconfigurations and/or Upgrades ........................431
Troubleshooting Disk Drives ........................................................................431
Troubleshooting a SCSI Subsystem ..............................................................432
Troubleshooting an ATA Subsystem ..............................................................433
Troubleshooting an Ultra ATA Subsystem ....................................................434
General Network Troubleshooting ................................................................434
Troubleshooting TCP/IP Network Problems ................................................434
Troubleshooting Boot Failure ........................................................................438
Determining Whether a Problem Is Hardware, Software, or Virus Related ........438
Exercises ........................................................................................................440
Exam Questions ............................................................................................441
8 7.0—Disaster Recovery 449

Introduction ........................................................................................................452
Creating a Disaster-Recovery Plan ......................................................................452
Risk Analysis ..................................................................................................453
Understanding Redundancy, Clustering, Scalability, and High Availability ....455
Understanding Hot Swapping, Warm Swapping, and Hot Spares ................468
Creating a Disaster-Recovery Plan Based on Fault Tolerance/Recovery ..........470
Backing Up Your Data ..................................................................................471
Testing the Plan ............................................................................................477
Restoring Your Server ........................................................................................480
Exercises ........................................................................................................486
Exam Questions ............................................................................................488
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xiv SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE
PART II: Final Review
Fast Facts 497

0.0—Planning and Specifications ......................................................................498
1.0—Installation ................................................................................................509
2.0—Configuration ............................................................................................511
3.0—Upgrading ................................................................................................513
4.0—Proactive Maintenance ..............................................................................514
5.0—Environment ............................................................................................515
6.0—Troubleshooting and Problem Determination ..........................................515
7.0—Disaster Recovery ......................................................................................517
Study and Exam Preparation Tips 519

Learning as a Process ..........................................................................................519
Study Tips ..........................................................................................................520
Study Strategies ............................................................................................520
Pre-Testing Yourself ......................................................................................521
Exam Prep Tips ..................................................................................................521
Putting It All Together ..................................................................................522
Practice Exam 525

Exam Questions ................................................................................................526
Answers and Explanations ..................................................................................536
PART III: Appendixes
A Glossary 549
B Overview of the Certification Process 561

Description of the Path to Certification ............................................................561
About the Server+ Certification Program ............................................................561
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CONTENTS xv
C What's on the CD-ROM 563

ExamGear ..........................................................................................................563
Exclusive Electronic Version of Text ..................................................................563
Copyright Information and Disclaimer ..............................................................563
D Using the ExamGear, Training Guide Edition Software 565

Exam Simulation ................................................................................................565
Question Quality ..........................................................................................565
Interface Design ............................................................................................565
Study Tools ........................................................................................................565
Effective Learning Environment ....................................................................566
Automatic Progress Tracking ..........................................................................566
How ExamGear, Training Guide Edition Works ................................................566
Interface ........................................................................................................566
Database ........................................................................................................567
Installing and Registering ExamGear, Training Guide Edition ............................567
Requirements ................................................................................................567
Installing ExamGear, Training Guide Edition ................................................567
Registering ExamGear, Training Guide Edition ............................................568
Removing ExamGear, Training Guide Edition from Your Computer ............568
Using ExamGear, Training Guide Edition ..........................................................569
General Description of How the Software Works ..........................................569
Menu Options ..............................................................................................570
Starting a Study-Mode Session ......................................................................570
Starting Practice Exams and Adaptive Exams ................................................572
What Is an Adaptive Exam? ..........................................................................573
Why Do Vendors Use Adaptive Exams? ........................................................573
Studying for Adaptive Exams ........................................................................573
ExamGear’s Adaptive Exam ..........................................................................574
Question Types and How to Answer Them ..................................................574
Mark Question and Time Remaining ............................................................576
Item Review ..................................................................................................577
Examination Score Report Screen ..................................................................580
Checking the Web Site ......................................................................................581
Frequently Asked Questions ..........................................................................581
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xvi SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE
Obtaining Updates ............................................................................................581

The Catalog Web Site for Updates ................................................................581
Contacting New Riders Publishing ....................................................................582
Technical Support ..........................................................................................582
Customer Service ..........................................................................................582
Product Updates ............................................................................................582
Product Suggestions and Comments ..............................................................582
License Agreement ..............................................................................................583
License ..............................................................................................................583
Software and Documentation ............................................................................583
License Term and Charges ..................................................................................583
Title ....................................................................................................................583
Updates ..............................................................................................................583
Limited Warranty and Disclaimer ......................................................................584
Limitation of Liability ........................................................................................584
Miscellaneous ....................................................................................................585
U.S. Government Restricted Rights ....................................................................585
Index ............................................................................................................587
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS xvii
About the Authors Novell: Certified Novell Engineer (CNE)

NetWare 2
Certified Novell Engineer (CNE)
NetWare 3.1
Elton Jernigan is the Director of Technology for the Certified Novell Engineer (CNE)
College of Business at The Florida State University in NetWare 4
Tallahassee. Elton has been in the IT field for more
Certified Novell Engineer (CNE)
than 27 years. Elton and his staff support the network
IntraNetWare
in the College of Business, which consists of more than
500 desktop computers and 12 network servers. They Certified Novell Engineer (CNE)
also support the audio/visual presentation systems in NetWare 5
the 20 classrooms of the College of Business. He has Master Certified Novell Engineer
spent considerable time designing training facilities (MCNE)
over the past 10 years. CompTIA: A+ Certified Technician
Elton is a Microsoft Certified Trainer and is a senior Network+ Certified Technician
trainer with the Beacon Institute for Learning where he
i-Net+ Certified Technician
teaches Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft Windows
2000 certification courses. Elton has taught at the Beacon Server+ Certified Technician
Institute for Learning partner sites at The Florida State Compaq: Accredited Systems Engineer (ASE)
University, Villanova University, the University of NetWare
Richmond, and Florida Gulf Coast University. Elton also
Accredited Systems Engineer (ASE)
has taught telecommunications courses as an adjunct
Microsoft Windows NT
instructor for the Information and Management Sciences
Department of the College of Business. Certified Rack Installer
Elton served as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the Florida State Enterprise Network Professional
initial focus group for CompTIA's Server+ exam in University: (Windows NT)
June 2000, and as such, helped to define the concepts Enterprise Network Professional
and skills to be covered on the Server+ exam. (Novell NetWare)
Elton believes that everyone should have a hobby and Enterprise Network Professional
his is apparently taking certification exams. Elton holds (Windows 2000)
the following certifications: CNX Certified Network Expert
Microsoft: Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) Consortium: (LAN Cabling)
Microsoft Certified Systems Certified Network

Engineer (MCSE) Expert (Ethernet)
Microsoft Certified Data Base Cisco: Certified Cisco Network Associate

Administrator (MCDBA) (CCNA)
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer + IBM: Certified AIX User (CAU)

Internet (MCSE+I) Certified AIX Administrator (CASA)
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xviii SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE
ICCP: Certified Computing Professional Dave Bixler, MCP, MCSE, is the Technical Services
(CCP) Manager and Information Security Officer for a
Prosoft Certified Internet Webmaster Fortune 500 systems integrator. He has been working
Training: (CIW) - Foundations in the computer industry since the mid-1980s, working
on anything from paper tape readers to Windows 2000
Chauncy servers. Dave has lately been focusing on Internet tech-
Group: Certified Technical Trainer (CTT) nologies, specifically computer security, VPNs, and, of
Professsional course, Windows 2000. Dave also has worked on a
Memberships: Network Professional Association number of New Riders books as an author, technical
(NPA) editor, and book reviewer. Dave’s industry certifications
also include Novell’s MCNE and a number of others.
Institute for Network Professionals
Dave lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his very patient
(INP)
wife (Sarah), sons (Marty and Nicholas), and two
NetWare Users International (NUI) Keeshonds (Zeus and Arcus).
Building Industry Consulting Service, Emmett Dulaney, MCT, MCSE, CCNA, LPI, and so
International (BICSI) on, is the Director of Training for Mercury Technical
IT Professional Member of the Solutions, the Study Guides Editor for Certification
Computer Technology Industry Magazine, and a monthly contributor to UNIX Review.
Association (CompTIA) He is the author of more than 30 books on various
technologies and certifications. He can be reached at
Elton can be reached at EltonJernigan@hotmail.com.
edulaney@TechnicalContent.com.
ABOUT THE TECHNICAL Jim Cooper, MCSE+I, MCT, has worked in the IT
field for more than 12 years and holds numerous certi-
REVIEWERS fications. He is currently working as a Senior Systems
Engineer deploying an Active Directory and Exchange
These reviewers contributed their considerable hands- 2000 Application Service Provider architecture.
on expertise to the entire development process for Ray Marky, MCP+I, MCSE, MCT, Master Oracle
Server+ Certification Training Guide. As the book was DBA, CCNA, Florida State University Certified
being written, these dedicated professionals reviewed all Webmaster, and CTT has a bachelor of science and a
the material for technical content, organization, and master of science degree in Education from Florida State
flow. Their feedback was critical to ensuring that University. He has taught at the high school and college
Server+ Certification Training Guide fits our reader’s level. He is currently the Director of Technology at the
need for the highest quality technical information. Center for Professional Development at Florida State
University. Ray has also co-authored a book on the
Windows 2000 Server exam.
03 Serv+ Ch_FM 7/11/01 3:06 PM Page xix
DEDICATION xix
Dedication
Elton Jernigan
I dedicate this book to my family, my mother (Elenora),
my wife (Cheryl), and my sons (Daniel and Robby).
Dave Bixler
I want to dedicate this book to my patient wife (Sarah)
and my sons (Marty and Nick). After this is done guys, it’s
out to the swingset!
Acknowledgments
Elton Jernigan
I want to express my deepest appreciation to the follow- Thanks to Dave Bixler for his work on Chapter 6,
ing for their help in getting the Server+ Certification “5.0—Environment,” and Chapter 8, “7.0—Disaster
Training Guide completed. Recovery.”
(Not listed in order of importance!) Thanks to Chris Zahn, New Riders development
editor, for putting up with my endless questions about
Thanks to Jim Vanne, the Server+ guru at CompTIA
the publishing process.
for his hard work getting the Server+ exam from a con-
cept to a reality. Not many people would be interested Thanks to Jay Payne, New Riders media developer
in this book if there were no Server+ exam. for obtaining permissions for all the whitepapers and
software utilities on the CD-ROM.
Thanks to Jeff Riley, New Riders acquisitions editor,
for his constant encouragement and to whom I enjoyed Thanks to my sons (Daniel and Robby) for giving me
proving that, under the correct conditions, a square peg reason not to throw up my hands and quit when the
will indeed fit into a round hole. going got rough.
Thanks to Emmett Dulaney for his work on Chapter 5, Thanks to my wife (Cheryl) for giving me time to work
“4.0—Proactive Maintenance,” and the exam questions on this project.
on the CD-ROM.
03 Serv+ Ch_FM 7/11/01 3:06 PM Page xx
xx SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE
Thanks to the following for providing me with enter- Dave Bixler

tainment while working late at night on this book, No project of this type gets done without the help and
Nick at Nite, TV Land (especially Fandemonium support of a lot of people. A big thanks to Jeff Riley,
Marathon Weekends), The Discovery Channel, The Chris Zahn, and the technical gurus who did the tech-
Learning Channel, The History Channel, the Cartoon nical editing for this project!
Network, CNBC, MSNBC, and CNN (not necessarily
My sisters (Susan, Laura, and Amy), whose names have
in that order).
now graced five of my books. You’re the best sisters I
Thanks to Charles Brooks, the author of New Riders ever had.
A+ Certification Training Guide, for providing an outline
Finally, another huge thanks to my wife and sons.
to follow for the Server+ Certification Training Guide.
Sarah, Marty, and Nicholas thanks for putting up with
Thanks to the technical editors of this book, Ray yet another book! The summer is all yours.
Marky and Jim Cooper, for their suggestions that made
this a much better book.
03 Serv+ Ch_FM 7/11/01 3:06 PM Page xxi
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK xxi
Tell Us What You

Think
As the reader of this book, you are the most important

critic and commentator. We value your opinion and
want to know what we’re doing right, what we could
do better, what areas you’d like to see us publish in,
and any other words of wisdom you’re willing to pass
our way.
As an Executive Editor at New Riders Publishing, I
welcome your comments. You can fax, email, or write
me directly to let me know what you did or didn’t like
about this book—as well as what we can do to make
our books stronger.
Please note that I cannot help you with technical problems
related to the topic of this book, and that due to the high
volume of mail I receive, I might not be able to reply to
every message.
When you write, please be sure to include this book’s
title and author as well as your name and phone or fax
number. I will carefully review your comments and
share them with the author and editors who worked on
the book.
Fax: 317-581-4663
Email: stephanie.wall@newriders.com
Mail: Stephanie Wall

Executive Editor
New Riders Publishing
201 West 103rd Street
Indianapolis, IN 46290 USA
03a Serv+ Ch_FM_WT 7/11/01 3:03 PM Page xxii
How to Use This Book

New Riders has made an effort in its Training Guide series to make the information as accessi-
ble as possible for the purposes of learning the certification material. Here, you have an oppor-
tunity to view the many instructional features that have been incorporated into the books to
achieve that goal.
CHAPTER OPENER
Each chapter begins with a set of features
designed to allow you to maximize study
time for that material.
List of Objectives: Each chapter begins with a

list of the objectives as stated by CompTIA.
OBJECTIVES
This chapter covers the following CompTIA-specified

objectives for the Installation section of the Server+:
1.1 Conduct pre-installation planning activi-
ties. Examples of concepts and modules
include the following:
• Plan the installation
• Verify the installation plan
• Verify hardware compatibility with operating
system
• Verify power sources, space, Uninterruptible
Objective Explanations: Immediately following Power Supply and network availability
each objective is an explanation of it, providing • Verify that all of the correct components
context that defines it more meaningfully in rela- and cables for the network server have been
delivered
tion to the exam. Because the objectives list can
. Every server hardware specialist should prepare for
sometimes be vague, the objective explanations the installation of a network server by checking the
installation plan and verifying that all hardware
are designed to clarify any vagueness by relying components have been delivered.
on the authors’ test-taking experience.
1.2 Install hardware using ESD best practices
(boards, drives, processors, memory, inter-
nal cable, etc.) Examples of modules
• Mount the rack installation
• Cut and crimp network cabling
• Install UPS
• Verify SCSI ID configuration and termination
C H A P T E R 2
1.0—Installation
03a Serv+ Ch_FM_WT 7/11/01 3:03 PM Page xxiii
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK xxiii
OUTLINE
Introduction 147 Match Processor Cache Size 162

Match Processor Stepping (Version) 163 Chapter Outline: Learning always gets a boost
Buses 163
Planning for Installation 147 Peer Buses 163 when you can see both the forest and the trees.
Bridged Buses 164
The Installation Plan 147 To give you a visual image of how the topics in a
Memory Installation 164
Verifying the Installation Plan 148
Match Memory Type 165 chapter fit together, you will find a chapter outline
Verifying Hardware Compatibility with the Match Memory Speed 165
Operating System 148
Disk Subsystem Installation 166
at the beginning of each chapter. You will also be
Verifying the Installation Site 149 IDE/ATA Disks 166 able to use this for easy reference when looking
Verifying the Power Source 149 EIDE/ATA-2 Disks 167
Verifying Adequate Cooling 152 Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA 168 for a particular topic.
Verifying the Uninterruptible Power- SCSI Disks 168
Supply Size 153
SCSI Disk Types 170
Verifying the Network Connection 153
SCSI-1 170
Verifying Hardware Components for the SCSI-2 171
Network Server 153 SCSI-3 173
Server Chassis 155
Installing SCSI 173
Server Rack 155
Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop 175
Processor(s) 156
Memory 156 Network Subsystem Installation 175
Disk Drives 156 Ethernet 175
Monitor 157 Token Ring 176
Keyboard 157 Network Interface Cards 176
Mouse 157 Network Cabling 176
Uninterruptible Power Supply 157 NIC to Hub 177
Backup System 158 Hub to Hub 177
SCSI Cables 158
Backup System Hardware Installation 178
SCSI Adapter(s) 159
RAID Controller(s) 159 Uninterruptible Power-Supply Installation 178
Fibre Channel - Arbitrated Loop Host Miscellaneous Server Components
Bus Adapter 159 Installation 179
Network Interface Card(s) 159 Monitor 179
Miscellaneous Hardware 160 Keyboard 179
Mouse 179
Video Adapter 181
Installing Hardware 161
Server Management Adapter 181
Electrostatic Discharge 161 CD-ROM/DVD-ROM Drive 181
ESD Best Practices 162 Redundant Component Installation 181
Installing Processors 162 Power Supply 181
Match Processor Speed 162 Cooling Fan 182
Redundant NIC 182
S T U DY S T R AT E G I E S
Study Strategies: Each topic presents its own
To prepare for the Installation objectives of the . Use the ExamGear test engine on the CD-
Server+ exam, do the following:
learning challenge. To support you through this,
ROM that accompanies this book for addi-
. Read the objectives at the beginning of this tional exam questions concerning this New Riders has included strategies for how to
material.
chapter. best approach studying in order to retain the
. Review the Test Tips available in various places
. Study the information in this chapter.
in this chapter. Make certain that you under-
material in the chapter, particularly as it is
. Review the objectives again. stand the information in the Test Tip. If you addressed on the exam.
. Answer the Review and Exam Questions at the don’t fully understand the Test Tip, review the
end of the chapter and check your results. information in the chapter related to this topic.
03a Serv+ Ch_FM_WT 7/11/01 3:03 PM Page xxiv
xxiv HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
INSTRUCTIONAL
EXAM TIP
Know the ESD Best Practices Exam Tip: Exam Tips appear in the
FEATURES WITHIN You are likely to be asked about

electrostatic discharge best prac-
margins to provide specific exam-
related advice. Such tips may
address what material is covered (or
THE CHAPTER tices on the exam. Know them.
not covered) on the exam, how it is
covered, mnemonic devices, or par-
These books include a large amount and ticular quirks of that exam.
different kinds of information. The many
different elements are designed to help you
identify information by its purpose and
importance to the exam and also to provide
you with varied ways to learn the material.
You will be able to determine how much
Note: Notes appear in the margins and contain various kinds of useful infor-
attention to devote to certain elements, mation, such as tips on the technology or administrative practices, historical
depending on what your goals are. By background on terms and technologies, or side commentary on industry issues.
becoming familiar with the different pre-
sentations of information, you will know
NOTE
Wide-Tower to Rack-Mount Conversion

what information will be important to you Some wide-tower server chassises can
as a test-taker and which information will be easily converted to a rack-mount
be important to you as a practitioner. configuration with the purchase of a
special rack-mount adapter kit from
the server manufacturer.
Verifying the Installation Plan

The first step that the server hardware specialist should attempt is to
verify that everything specified in the installation plan is ready and
available before beginning the installation. Verification activities
á Verify that the location where the server is to be installed is
ready for the installation.
á Verify that the power outlet for the network server is available
and active. (Test with a volt/ohm meter.)
á Verify that the network connection is available and active.
á Verify that all the hardware for the network server has arrived
and that the hardware is as specified in the installation plan.
Objective Coverage Text: In the text before an
exam objective is specifically addressed, you will
notice the objective listed to help call your atten-
tion to that particular material.
Warning: In using sophisticated information

technology, there is always potential for mistakes
Differential Danger Attaching a
WA R N I N G
or even catastrophes that can occur through

device using the differential (HVD)
improper application of the technology. Warnings
signaling method can seriously
appear in the margins to alert you to such
damage devices designed to use
potential problems.
the single-ended or low-voltage dif-
ferential signaling systems.
03a Serv+ Ch_FM_WT 7/11/01 3:03 PM Page xxv
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK xxv
EXAMTIP
Drives Know the STEP BY STEP
IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 2.1 Installing IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 Disk Drives
Master/Slave/CSEL requirements.
1. Set the Master/Slave/CSEL jumper on each disk drive. Step by Step: Step by Steps are hands-on tutori-
2. Connect IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 ribbon cable to al instructions that walk you through a particular
IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 disk controller. (Red line
on ribbon cable connects to pin 1 on connector on disk task or function relevant to the exam objectives.
controller.)
3. Connect IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 ribbon cable to
IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 disk drive. (Red line on ribbon
cable connects to pin 1 on connector on disk drive.)
4. Connect power cable to each IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2
disk drive.
5. Document all settings.
Figure: Detailed figures help clarify your

understanding of the text.
FIGURE 2.27
Rack-mounted keyboard.
IN THE FIELD
In the Field Sidebar: These more extensive
BIG FAN OF DISK MIRRORING
discussions cover material that perhaps is not as
I’m a big fan of disk mirroring. During the useful life (about 4 years)
of the first three file servers that I ever had, one of the mirrored
directly relevant to the exam, but which is useful
disk drives failed in each of the servers. Because the disk drives as reference material or in everyday practice.
were mirrored, none of the users knew that there was a disk drive
failure, and I kept my job. In the Field may also provide useful background
or contextual information necessary for under-
standing the larger topic under consideration.
Review Break: Crucial information is summa-

rized at various points in the book in lists or
R E V I E W B R E A K tables. At the end of a particularly long section,
Which RAID level should you use? You must decide based on both
performance requirements and economic considerations.
you might come across a Review Break that is
RAID 0 provides excellent read and write performance, but provides there just to wrap up one long objective and re-
TIP
What Is RAID 0/1? Know that

RAID 0/1 combines the fault toler-
no fault tolerance. Because there is no fault tolerance in RAID 0, inforce the key points before you shift your focus
you should not use it in a production network server.
to the next section.
M
ance of RAID 1 with the inp t/

03a Serv+ Ch_FM_WT 7/11/01 3:03 PM Page xxvi
xxvi HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
EXTENSIVE REVIEW AND CHAPTER SUMMARY
SELF-TEST OPTIONS KEY TERMS

• ANSI
The chapter discussed verification of the installation plan and then
focused on the actual installation of the hardware for a network server.
The discussion began with the verification of the installation plan.
• ATA
At the end of each chapter, along with You read about the need to check the installation site for power,
• ATA-2 cooling, and network connectivity. You also learned to check the
some summary elements, you will find a • Bus
network server components that are available and compare them to
the network server components as specified in the installation plan.
section called “Apply Your Knowledge” that • Cross-over cable The discussion then turned to the process of installing the compo-
gives you several different methods with • Differential nents into the network server chassis. These components include
processors, memory, adapter cards (such as SCSI, RAID, FC-AL,
• EIDE
which to test your understanding of the and network). After installation of the components, you learned to
• Electrostatic discharge run a preliminary test of the server by performing a power on.
material and review what you have learned. • Ethernet In the next chapter, you will configure the components and install
the network operating system.
Key Terms: A list of key terms Chapter Summary: Before the “Apply
appears at the end of each chapter. Your Knowledge” section, you will find
These are terms that you should be a chapter summary that wraps up the
sure to know and are comfortable chapter and reviews what you should
defining and understanding when have learned.
you go in to take the exam.
188 Par t I EXAM PREPARATION
A P P LY Y O U R K N O W L E D G E
Exercises: These activities provide an opportunity
for you to master specific hands-on tasks. Our
Exercises 3. Does the disk drive use a 50-pin, a 68-pin, or a
80-pin connector?
goal is to increase your proficiency with the prod- 2.1 Becoming Familiar with IDE Disk Drives 4. Attach the cable to the disk drive.
uct or technology. You must be able to conduct You are probably already familiar with IDE drives and
these tasks in order to pass the exam. their installation in a desktop PC. Just in case you are
not, this exercise runs you through some drive basics.
Review Questions
And even if you are familiar with IDE drives, it doesn’t 1. What are the different types of server chassis?
hurt to refresh your memory.
2. How big is one rack unit?
Estimated Time: 10 minutes.
3. How do you convert watts to volt-amps?
1. Get an IDE/ATA or EIDE/ATA-2 disk drive
4. What is the rule on processor steppings when
and cable.
multiple processors are installed in a server?
Review Questions: These open-ended, short- 2. Examine the disk drive. You should notice a
5. What is electrostatic discharge?
answer questions allow you to quickly assess your sticker on the back of the disk drive that gives you
instructions on how to set the disk drive to be a 6. When do you use a UTP cross-over cable?
comprehension of what you just read in the chap- single drive, to be a Master drive, or to be a Slave 7. How many terminators are on a properly termi-
ter. Instead of asking you to choose from a list of drive. You might also see whether the disk drive nated SCSI bus?
options, these questions require you to state the supports CSEL. The jumper settings and their
names are not standardized and therefore differ 8. How many ATA-2 disk drives can be connected
correct answers in your own words. Although you to one ATA-2 channel?
from one manufacturer to another.
will not experience these kinds of questions on
3. Attach the cable to the disk drive. 9. How many Wide SCSI-2 disk drives can be
the exam, these questions will indeed test your connected to one Wide SCSI-2 channel?
level of comprehension of key concepts. 10. What is a KVM switch?
2.2 Becoming Familiar with SCSI
Disk Drives 11. What are the three different types of SCSI bus
The objective of this exercise is the same as that of 2.1, termination?
but as it applies to SCSI drives. You may not have the 12. What is the maximum length of a low-voltage
same level of familiarity with these drives because they differential (LVD) SCSI cable?
are less often encountered in desktop machines.
13. What is the purpose of having redundant power
Estimated Time: 10 minutes. supplies in a network server?
03a Serv+ Ch_FM_WT 7/11/01 3:03 PM Page xxvii
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK xxvii
3
4. Servers should be kept away from other devices Answers to Review Questions
that could generate EMI. What does the abbrevi-
ation EMI stand for? 1. A full backup is the most complete backup that
can be made on a system because it includes Answers and Explanations: For each Review and
5. In Windows 2000, the System Properties dialog every file. For more information, see the section
box can be used to identify the processor from “Understanding Backups.”
Exam question, you will find thorough explana-
which tab?
2. Martin is said to be making a baseline. A baseline
tions located at the end of the section.
6. What service must be running in Windows is a gauge of present performance that can be
NT Server 4.0 to be able to receive remote compared against future performance. For more
notifications? information, see the section “Working with
4
Baselines.”
Exam Questions 3. SNMP is the Simple Network Management
Protocol, and it is used to monitor performance
1. Jeff is the network administrator for Mercury on a TCP/IP network. For more information, see
Technical Solutions. He has the server do a full the section “Working with SNMP.”
backup every Sunday and Wednesday night, and
an incremental backup every other night of the 4. EMI is an abbreviation for electromagnetic inter-
week. The server crashed on Wednesday night, in ference. It can be caused by any device using
the middle of the backup. How many tapes does electricity but is common with such things as
he need to do a restore? fluorescent lights, industrial air compressor
5 motors, and the like. For more information, see
A. 1 the section “The Physical Environment.”
B. 2 5. The General tab of the System application will Exam Questions: These questions reflect the
C. 3 show information about the processor and RAM kinds of multiple-choice questions that appear on
in Windows 2000. For more information, see the
D. 4
section “Verifying Hardware.” the Microsoft exams. Use them to become famil-
E. 5 iar with the exam question formats and to help
F. 6 you determine what you know and what you need
G. 7 to review or study more.
Suggested Readings and Resources
1. Field, Gary. The Book of SCSI, 2nd Edition. 4. SCSI FAQ

Suggested Readings and Resources Following No Starch Press, 2000.
www.faqs.org/faqs/scsi-faq/part1/
the Key Terms is a list of helpful books and URLs 2. Basics of SCSI, Fourth Edition. ANCOT
you can check out. Corporation, 1998.
http://scsifaq.paralan.com/
3. Brooks, Charles J. A+ Certification Training
Guide, Third Edition. New Riders Publishing, www.scsifaq.org/scsifaq.html
2001. www.scsita.org/experts/SCSI_ExpertFAQ.html
03a Serv+ Ch_FM_WT 7/11/01 3:03 PM Page xxviii
04 Serv+ Ch_Intro 7/11/01 3:14 PM Page 1
Introduction
Server+ Certification Training Guide is designed for those You also will find the features that make New Riders’
with the goal of acheiving certification as a Server+ Training Guides so successful: clear organization, help-
hardware specialist. It covers all the domains and objec- ful hints, tips, real-world examples, and step-by-step
tives identified for the Server+ exam (SKO-001). exercises. Specifically, this book is set up to help you
in the following ways:
According to CompTIA, this exam measures essential
competencies for a server hardware specialist with 18 á Organization. This book is organized according
to 24 months in the server technology area of the com- to individual exam objectives. This book covers
puter industry. You must demonstrate that you have an every objective that you need to know for the
in-depth understanding of planning, installing, config- Server+ exam. The objectives are covered in the
uring, and maintaining servers, including knowledge of same order as they are listed by the certifying
server-level hardware implementations, data storage organization, CompTIA, to make it as easy as
subsystems, data recovery, and I/O subsystems. You possible for you to learn the information. This
should know the interrelationships of all parts of the training guide also attempts to make the informa-
server system and understand the ramifications of their tion accessible in the following ways:
actions. See Appendix B, “Overview of the • This introduction includes the full list of
Certification Process,” for more specifics on what exam topics and objectives.
CompTIA expects in the way of background and
experience for test takers. • Each chapter begins with a list of the objec-
tives to be covered.
This book is your one-stop shop. Everything you need
to know to pass the exams is in here. You do not have • Each chapter also begins with an outline
to take a class in addition to buying this book to pass that provides an overview of the material and
the exam. Depending on your personal study habits or the page numbers of where you can find
learning style, however, you may benefit from buying particular topics.
this book and taking a class. • Objectives are repeated within the text where
This book also can help advanced users and adminis- the material most directly relevant to them is
trators who are not studying for the exam but are covered.
looking for a single-volume technical reference. • Information on where the objectives are
covered is also conveniently condensed on
the tear card located on the CD.
HOW THIS BOOK HELPS YOU á Instructional features. This book has been
designed to provide you with multiple ways to
This book provides a self-guided tour of all the areas learn and reinforce the exam material. Following
covered by the Server+ exam and identifies the specific are some of the helpful methods:
skills you need to achieve your Server+ certification.
2 SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE
• Objective explanations. As mentioned previously, • Step by Steps. These are hands-on, tutorial
each chapter begins with a list of the objectives instructions that lead you through a particular
covered in the chapter. In addition, immediate- task or function relevant to the exam objectives.
ly following each objective is an explanation in
• Exercises. Exercises are provided at the ends of
a context that defines it more meaningfully.
chapters, providing you with more opportu-
• Study strategies. The beginning of each chapter nities for hands-on learning and reinforce-
also includes strategies for studying and ment of the concepts.
retaining the material in the chapter, particu-
á Extensive practice test options. This book pro-
larly as it is addressed on the exam.
vides numerous opportunities for you to assess
• Exam tips. Exam tips appear in the margin to your knowledge and to practice for the exam.
provide specific exam-related advice. Such tips The practice options include the following:
may address what material is covered (or not
• Review Questions. These open-ended ques-
covered) on the exam, how it is covered,
tions appear in the “Apply Your Knowledge”
mnemonic devices, and particular quirks of
section at the end of each chapter. They
that exam.
enable you to quickly assess your comprehen-
• Review breaks and summaries. Crucial infor- sion of what you just read in the chapter.
mation is summarized at various points in the Answers to the questions are provided later in
book in lists or tables. Each chapter ends with the section.
a summary as well.
• Exam Questions. These questions also appear
• Key terms. A list of key terms appears at the in the “Apply your Knowledge” section. They
end of each chapter. reflect the kinds of multiple-choice questions
that appear on the Server+ exam. Use them to
• Notes. These appear in the margin and contain
practice for the exam and to help you deter-
various kinds of useful information such as tips
mine what you know and what you need to
on technology or administrative practices, his-
review or study further. Answers and explana-
torical background on terms and technologies,
tions for them are provided.
or side commentary on industry issues.
• Practice exam. A practice exam is included in
• Warnings. When using sophisticated tech-
the “Final Review” section for each exam (as
nology improperly, the potential for mistakes
discussed later).
or even catastrophes to occur is ever present.
Warnings appear in the margin to alert you to • ExamGear. The ExamGear software included
such potential problems. on the CD that accompanies this book pro-
vides even more practice questions.
• In the Fields. These more extensive discussions
cover material that may not be directly related
to the exam but which is useful as reference
NOTE
material or in everyday practice. In the Fields More About ExamGear For a com-
also provide useful background or contextual plete description of the New Riders
information necessary for understanding the ExamGear test engine, see Appendix
larger topic under consideration. D, “Using the ExamGear, Training
Guide Edition Software.”
INTRODUCTION 3
á Final Review. This part of the book provides the
NOTE
following three valuable tools that can help you Post-Beta Objectives The objectives
prepare for the exam: detailed in this section cover the
Server+ exam blueprint. This docu-
ment was produced after the final
• Fast Facts. This condensed version of the
technical and psychometric review of
information contained in the book will prove
the item pool following the beta-test-
extremely useful for last-minute review. ing period. This document reflects the
• Study and Exam Prep Tips. Read this section topics and technologies that appear
early on to help you develop study strategies. as part of the Server+ exam.
It also provides valuable exam-day tips and The objectives listed here represent
information. CompTIA’s outline of February 21,
2001. This certification exam went
• Practice Exam. A full practice test is included.
live on February 14, 2001.
Questions are written in the styles used on
the actual Server+ exam. Use it to assess your
readiness for the real thing. The skills and knowledge measured by the examination
are derived from an industry-wide job-task analysis and
This book includes several valuable appendixes as well, validated through a worldwide survey of more than 400
including a glossary (Appendix A), an overview of the professionals, each of whom had a minimum of 18
Server+ certification program (Appendix B), a descrip- months of experience with advanced PC hardware. The
tion of what is on the CD-ROM (Appendix C), and an results of the worldwide survey were used in weighting
explanation of the ExamGear test engine (Appendix D). the domains and ensuring that the weighting is represen-
These and all the other book features mentioned tative of the relative importance of that content to the
previously will enable you to thoroughly prepare for job requirements of server hardware specialist with 18 to
the exam. 24 months of experience. You can find the results of the
job-task analysis and survey in the following report:
For information on how to register for the exam see
Appendix B. á Server+ Job Task Analysis (JTA) (August 2000)
This examination blueprint includes weighting, test

objectives, and example content. Example topics and
SERVER+ EXAMINATION concepts are included to clarify the test objectives; do
BLUEPRINT not construe these as a comprehensive list of the con-
tent of this examination.
For Server+ certification, you must pass the SK0-001 The following table lists the domains measured by this
examination. As noted previously, the examination examination and the approximate extent to which they
measures essential competencies for a server hardware are represented.
specialist with 18 to 24 months of experience.
TABLE 1 • Plan the installation
D O M A I N R E P R E S E N TAT I O N • Verify the installation plan

Job Dimension % of Examination • Verify hardware compatibility with operating
(Approximately) system
1.0 Installation 17% • Verify power sources, space, Uninterruptible
2.0 Configuration 18% Power Supply and network availability
3.0 Upgrading 12% • Verify that all correct components and cables
4.0 Proactive Maintenance 9% for the network server have been delivered
5.0 Environment 5%
6.0 Troubleshooting and
(boards, drives, processors, memory, internal
Problem Determination 27%
cable, etc.)
7.0 Disaster Recovery 12%
Total 100%
• Install UPS
In terms of the exam itself, the examinee selects, from
four response options, the one option that best com- • Verify SCSI ID configuration and termination
pletes the statement or answers the question. The exam • Install external devices (e.g., keyboards, moni-
directions read as follows: tors, subsystems, modem rack, etc.)
Read the statement or question and, from the • Verify power-on via power-on sequence
response options, select only one letter that repre-
sents the most correct or best answer.
Distracters or wrong answers are response options that 2.0 Configuration

examinees with incomplete knowledge or skill would
likely choose, but are generally plausible responses fit- After you complete the hardware installation, you need
ting into the content area. to configure it. This job dimension addresses all aspects
of system setup and configuration.
The sections that follow outline the objectives for the
exam and provide representative (but not necessarily 2.1 Check/upgrade BIOS/firmware levels (system
complete) content areas that reflect each objective. board, RAID, controller, hard drive, etc.)
2.2 Configure RAID
2.3 Install NOS
1.0 Installation
• Configure network and verify network
This first job dimension requires knowledge of hard- connectivity
ware installation planning and implementation.
• Verify network connectivity
1.1 Conduct pre-installation planning activities
INTRODUCTION 5
2.4 Configure external peripherals (UPS, external 3.3 Add hard drives
drive subsystems, etc.)
• Verify that drives are the appropriate type
2.5 Install NOS updates to design specifications
• Confirm termination and cabling
2.6 Update manufacturer specific drives
• For ATA/IDE drives, confirm cabling,
2.7 Install service tools (SNMP, backup software, master/slave and potential cross-brand
system monitoring agents, event logs, etc.) compatibility
2.8 Perform server baseline • Upgrade mass storage
2.9 Document the configuration • Add drives to array
• Replace existing drives
3.0 Upgrading • Integrate into storage solution and make it

available to the operating system
This job dimension requires knowledge of all the factors
involved in upgrading a system from backing up before- • Perform upgrade checklist, including: locate
hand to hardware and software upgrades and updates. and obtain latest test drivers, OS updates,
software, etc.; Review FAQs, instructions,
3.1 Perform full backup facts and issues; test and pilot; schedule
• Verify backup downtime; implement using ESD best prac-
tices; confirm that the upgrade has been rec-
3.2 Add Processors ognized; review and baseline; document the
upgrade
• On single processor upgrade, verify
compatibility 3.4 Increase memory
• Verify N+1 stepping • Verify hardware and OS support for capacity

increase
• Verify speed and cache matching
• Verify memory is on hardware/vendor com-
• Perform BIOS upgrade patibility list
• Perform OS upgrade to support multi- • Verify memory compatibility (e.g., speed,
processors brand, capacity, EDO, ECC/non-ECC,
• Perform upgrade checklist, including: SDRAM/RDRAM)
locate/obtain latest test drivers, OS updates, • Perform upgrade checklist, including: locate
software, etc.; review FAQs, instruction, facts and obtain latest test drivers, OS updates,
and issues; test and pilot; schedule downtime; software, etc.; review FAQs, instructions, facts
implement ESD best practices; confirm that and issues; test and pilot; schedule downtime;
upgrade has been recognized; review and implement using ESD best practices; confirm
baseline; document upgrade that the upgrade has been recognized; review
and baseline; document the upgrade
• Verify that server and OS recognize the added 3.8 Upgrade system monitoring agents
memory
• Perform upgrade checklist, including: locate
• Perform server optimization to make use of and obtain latest test drivers, OS updates,
additional RAM software, etc.; review FAQs, instructions,
facts and issues; test and pilot; schedule
3.5 Upgrade BIOS/firmware
downtime; implement using ESD best prac-
• Perform upgrade checklist, including: locate tices; confirm that the upgrade has been
and obtain latest test drivers, OS updates, recognized; review and baseline; document
software, etc.; review FAQs, instructions, facts the upgrade
and issues; test and pilot; schedule downtime;
implement using ESD best practices; confirm 3.9 Upgrade service tools (for example, diagnostic
that the upgrade has been recognized; review tools, EISA configuration, diagnostic partition,
and baseline; document the upgrade SSU, etc.)
3.6 Upgrade adapters (e.g., NICs, SCSI cards,
and obtain latest test drivers, OS updates,
RAID, etc.)
software, etc.; review FAQs, instructions,
• Perform upgrade checklist, including: locate facts and issues; test and pilot; schedule
and obtain latest test drivers, OS updates, downtime; implement using ESD best prac-
software, etc.; review FAQs, instructions, facts tices; confirm that the upgrade has been
and issues; test and pilot; schedule downtime; recognized; review and baseline; document
implement using ESD best practices; confirm the upgrade
that the upgrade has been recognized; review
and baseline; document the upgrade 3.10 Upgrade UPS
3.7 Upgrade peripheral devices, internal and external
and obtain latest test drivers, OS updates,
• Perform upgrade checklist, including: locate software, etc.; review FAQs, instructions,
and obtain latest test drivers, OS updates, facts and issues; test and pilot; schedule
software, etc.; review FAQs, instructions, downtime; implement using ESD best prac-
facts and issues; test and pilot; schedule tices; confirm that the upgrade has been
downtime; implement using ESD best prac- recognized; review and baseline; document
tices; confirm that the upgrade has been the upgrade
recognized; review and baseline; document
the upgrade
INTRODUCTION 7
4.0 Proactive Maintenance 6.0 Troubleshooting and

This dimension represents the skills required to keep Problem Determination
the server available and performing at a consistent level.
A server specialist must be able to pinpoint and correct
It also addresses backing up the server in the event of
problems with the server. These objectives cover a
serious system failure.
range of troubleshooting skills.
4.1 Perform regular backup
6.1 Perform problem determination
4.2 Create baseline and compare performance
• Use questioning techniques to determine
4.3 Set SNMP thresholds what, how, when
4.4 Perform physical housekeeping
• Identify contact(s) responsible for problem
4.5 Perform hardware verification resolution
4.6 Establish remote notification
• Use senses to observe problem (for example,
smell of smoke or observation of unhooked
cable)
5.0 Environment
The knowledge required by these objectives goes 6.2 Use diagnostic hardware and software tools and
beyond understanding of the actual server itself to utilities
recognition and analysis of the environment in which • Identify common diagnostic tools across the
the server exists and the effects it can have on server following OS: Microsoft Windows NT/2000,
performance, availability, and security. Novell NetWare, UNIX, Linux, IBM OS/2
5.1 Recognize and report on physical security issues
• Select the appropriate tool
• Limit access to server room and backup tapes
• Use the selected tool effectively
• Ensure physical locks exist on doors
• Replace defective hardware components as
• Establish anti-theft devices for hardware (lock appropriate
server racks)
• Identify defective FRUs and replace with
5.2 Recognize and report on server room environ- correct part
mental issues (temperature, humidity/ESD/power
surges, back-up generator/fire suppression/flood • Interpret error logs, operating system errors,
considerations) health logs, and critical events
• Use documentation from previous technician

successfully
• Locate and effectively use hot tips (e.g., fixes, • Develop disaster recovery plan
OS updates, E-support, web pages, CDs)
• Identify types of backup hardware
• Gather resources to get problem solved: • Identify types of backup and restoration
schemes
• Identify situations requiring call for
• Confirm and use off site storage for backup
assistance
• Document and test disaster recovery plan reg-
• Acquire appropriate documentation ularly, and update as needed
• Describe how to perform remote trou- 7.2 Restoring

bleshooting for a wake-on-LAN • Identify hardware replacements
• Describe how to perform remote trou- • Identify hot and cold sites
bleshooting for a remote alert • Implement disaster recovery plan
6.3 Identify bottlenecks (e.g., processor, bus transfer,

I/O, disk I/O, network I/O, memory)
6.4 Identify and correct misconfigurations and/or HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
upgrades YOU WILL NEED
6.5 Determine if problem is hardware, software or
virus related As a self-paced study guide, this book was designed
with the expectation that you will use your server as
you follow along through the exercises. Your computer
should meet the following criteria:
7.0 Disaster Recovery
á 32-bit operating system (Windows 9x/2000 or
The ultimate server nightmare is loss of the server. By
NT 4.0)
planning for such an eventuality, you are in a much
better position to keep the server up or bring the server á 100MB of free hard drive space
back online quickly. The knowledge required by these
á 32MB RAM for Windows 9x and Windows
objectives covers planning and implementation of dis-
NT 4.0
aster recovery procedures.
á 128MB RAM for Windows 2000 Professional
7.1 Plan for disaster recovery
or Server
• Plan for redundancy (e.g., hard drives, power
á IE 4.01 or later
supplies, fans, NICs, processors, UPS)
á 800 × 600 video resolution with 256 colors
• Use the technique of hot swap, warm swap
or more
and hot spare to ensure availability
á CD-ROM drive
• Use the concepts of fault tolerance/fault
recovery to create a disaster recovery plan
INTRODUCTION 9
ADVICE ON TAKING THE EXAM
NOTE
Exam-Taking Advice Although this
book is designed to prepare you to
More extensive tips are found in the “Final Review” take and pass the Server+ exam,
section titled “Study and Exam Prep Tips,” but keep there are no guarantees. Read this
this advice in mind as you study: book, work through the questions and
exercises, and when you feel confi-
á Read all the material. Make sure your exam
dent, take the practice exam and addi-
preparation is thorough. Do not just drop into
tional exams using the ExamGear test
the book and read around. Read through all the engine. This should tell you whether
material. This book has included additional you are ready for the real thing.
information not reflected in the objectives in an
When taking the actual certification
effort to give you the best possible preparation
exam, make sure you answer all the
for the examination—and for the on-the-job
questions before your time limit
experiences to come.
expires. Do not spend too much time
á Do the Step by Steps and complete the on any one question. If you are
exercises. This will provide you with another way unsure, answer it as best as you can;
of understanding the material, as well as more then mark it for review after you have
finished the rest of the questions.
information on how well you comprehend it.
á Use the questions to assess your knowledge.
Do not just read the chapter content; use the
questions to find out what you know and what
you do not know. Study some more, review, and
then assess your knowledge again.
á Review the exam objectives. Develop your own
questions and examples for each topic listed. If
you can develop and answer several questions for
each topic, you should not find it difficult to pass
the exam.
Remember, the primary object is not to pass the
exam—it is to understand the material. After you
understand the material, passing the exam should be
simple. Knowledge is a pyramid; to build upward, you
need a solid foundation. This book and the CompTIA
Server+ certification program are designed to ensure
that you have that solid foundation. For information
on how to schedule an exam, see Appendix B, or
visit www.comptia.org or www.comptia.com.
Good luck!
05 Serv+ Ch_P1 7/10/01 9:40 AM Page 11
I
P A R T
EXAM PREPARATION
1 0.0—Planning and Specifications
2 1.0—Installation
3 2.0—Configuration
4 3.0—Upgrading
5 4.0—Proactive Maintenance
6 5.0—Environment
7 6.0—Troubleshooting and Problem Determination
8 7.0—Disaster Recovery
05 Serv+ Ch_P1 7/10/01 9:40 AM Page 12
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/11/01 9:59 AM Page 13
OBJECTIVES
This chapter covers topics that are a very important

part of CompTIA’s Server+ Concepts and Skills docu-
ment but that are not specifically mentioned in the
CompTIA document. Both of these CompTIA docu-
ments are on the CD-ROM included with this book.
The information in these topics is required knowledge
not only for the successful completion of the
CompTIA Server+ exam but also in the daily life of a
server hardware specialist. A thorough understanding
of these topics is absolutely necessary to be successful
installing, configuring, upgrading, maintaining, and
troubleshooting a network server. The topics covered
in this chapter can be considered to be part of job
dimension 0.0—Planning and Specifications, which is
added here to the Server+ exam blueprint to make it
complete.
Although this dimension and its objectives covered in
this chapter do not in fact actually exist in the Server+
exam blueprint, these are very important concepts to
understand. The knowledge you gain from this chapter
will provide you with the background you need to
understand the remaining chapters that cover the actual
job dimensions and objectives in the exam blueprint.
There are Review and Exam Questions in the “Apply
Your Knowledge” section at the end of this chapter to
help you assess your learning of the material. However,
there are no questions directly on this material on the
Practice Exam in the “Final Review” section of this book
or in the ExamGear test simulator on the CD-ROM.
The Practice Exam and the ExamGear questions focus
on the material presented in Chapters 2 through 8, the
subject matter of which is the seven job dimensions and
C H A P T E R 1
their respective objectives as outlined in the exam blue-
print by CompTIA.
0.0—Planning and
Specifications
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 14
OBJECTIVES
The learning objectives covered in this chapter include • Database server

the following:
• Client/server
0.1 Identify the two types of networks
• Application server
• Peer-to-peer network
• Mail server
• Server-centric network
• FTP server
. The network hardware specialist needs to know that
there are two different types of networks and under • SNA server
what conditions each should be implemented. • Remote access server (RAS)
• File and print server
0.2 Identify major categories of network
servers. The major categories of network • Terminal server
servers are
• Fax server
• Workgroup server
• Domain Name Server (DNS)
• Departmental server
• Windows Internet Naming Server (WINS)
• Enterprise server
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Server
• Server appliances (DHCP)
. To make sure that the network server will support • Web server
the number of users and/or applications required to
meet the demands anticipated by the customer, the • Video server
server hardware specialist must understand the • CD-ROM library server
industry terms used to describe network servers
with varying capabilities. • Directory services server
0.3 Identify various roles that can be . Every server hardware specialist should be aware of
assigned to network servers. Examples the different roles that a network server can play in
of roles include the following: a network. Each network server role has different
hardware requirements that must be met for the
• Gateway network server to adequately meet the needs of the
• Router role. The four major network server hardware com-
ponents—processor, memory, disk subsystem, and
• Bridge network subsystem—have different degrees of
importance in each different role. The network
• Firewall
server hardware must match the network server role
• Network Address Translation (NAT) for the network server to meet the requirements of
the role it will have in the network.
• Proxy server
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 15
OBJECTIVES
0.4 Identify the major Intel processors and . The server hardware specialist should be able to
the importance of clock speed, processor determine which memory configuration will best
cache speed and size, and symmetric allow the network server to meet the needs of its
multiprocessing (SMP): assigned role in the network.
• Intel processors 0.7 Identify the strengths and weaknesses of
the various types of disk subsystems.
• Processor cache
Content may include the following:
• Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)
• Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE/ATA)
. The server hardware specialist must determine the
• Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics
appropriate Intel processor(s) to select based on the
category of the network server and the role of the (EIDE/ATA2)
network server in the network. The selection of the • Ultra ATA / Ultra DMA
proper processor(s) will dictate the processor clock
speed, the processor cache speed and size, and • Serial ATA
whether symmetric multiprocessing can be sup- • Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
ported by the network server.
• Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting
0.5 Identify the various buses that are part
Technology (S.M.A.R.T.)
of the network server. The major buses
include: • Fibre Channel
• Memory bus • Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL)
• System bus • Serial Storage Architecture (SSA)
. The speed of the memory bus determines how fast • Storage area network (SAN)
data can be moved from the processor to memory
and from the memory to the processor. The type, • storage (NAS)
speed, width, and number of the system buses . The server hardware specialist must be able to select
determines how quickly data can move from out- the best disk subsystem that will meet the role that
side the network server to inside the network server. the network server will perform on the network.
0.6 Identify the characteristics of different 0.8 Identify different network subsystems.
types of memory. Identify how the amount Successfully attach various devices to
of memory affects network server perfor- and remove various devices from the net-
mance. Identify how interleaving of mem- work subsystem. Content may include the
ory affects network server performance. following:
Major memory topics include:
• Ethernet
• Amount of memory
• Token Ring
• Memory interleaving
• Network interface cards (NICs)
• Type of memory
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 16
OBJECTIVES
• Network devices 0.11 Define server clustering. Describe the

hardware components required to
• Network protocols cluster servers.
• Network management . Server hardware specialists should determine when
. The server hardware specialist should be able to clustering of servers is necessary and should be able
attach a network server and other network devices to identify the equipment necessary to cluster
to a network. The server hardware specialist should multiple servers.
be able to troubleshoot a network server that is not 0.12 Identify hardware components that
communicating over the network. give a network server the capability
0.9 Identify various types of hardware used to scale up to meet the demands of a
for backup systems. Backup hardware larger workload.
types include: . Server hardware specialists should be able to identify
• Tape drives when a given network server has been overburdened
and whether the network server can be easily scaled
• Disk drives up to meet the increasing demands placed on it.
• Other backup devices 0.13 Identify hardware components that give
a network server the capability to be up
. The server hardware specialist should be able to
a very high percentage of the time, up to
determine which backup system hardware best
and including a 24 hour per day, 7 day
meets the need of the network server based on the
per week operating environment.
amount of data to be backed up and the amount of
time available to perform the backup. . Server hardware specialists should be able to recog-
nize an environment when a network server will
0.10 Identify hardware components that
need to be up a very high percentage of the time. A
might fail and plan on redundancy of
server hardware specialist should be able to identify
those components. Content may include
the various methods that can be employed to guar-
the following:
antee high availability of the network server.
• Power supplies 0.14 Identify various strategies to perform
• Fans backup of the data on the network
server and plan for the recovery of the
• Hot swap data in the event of a hardware failure.
• Hot plug Backup and recovery strategies include:
• Fail-over • Full backup
• Hot spare • Incremental backup
• NIC fail-over • Differential backup
. Server hardware specialists should determine the . Server hardware specialists should be able to
degree of redundancy required by the network server describe and facilitate the implementation of
and which hardware components need redundancy. backup and recovery strategies that meet the needs
of the role of the network server.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 17
OBJECTIVES
0.15 Identify various methods to provide the 0.18 Identify situations when network servers
network server with fault tolerance. should be installed in a server rack and
Fault-tolerance methods include: the proper installation of the network
server into a server rack. Identify special-
• Uninterruptible power supplies ized components and installation require-
• Redundant arrays of inexpensive disks ments for rack-mounted network servers.
(RAID) Content may include the following:
. Server hardware specialists should understand the • EIA rack unit (1.75 inches)
requirement of providing an uninterruptible power • Keyboard/video/monitor (KVM) switch
supply for a network server. The redundancy,
clustering, scalability, and high availability sections • Cable management
cover other fault-tolerant topics.
• Rack layout
0.16 Identify techniques and plan for recovery
from a disaster (total failure of the • Security
network server). • Cooling
. Server hardware specialists should be able to plan • Rack-mounted keyboard/trackball
for recovery from a disaster (total failure or loss of
the network server). The final product from this • Rack-mounted monitor/LCD panel
planning effort is a disaster-recovery plan.
• Rack-mounted uninterruptible power
0.17 Identify miscellaneous hardware compo- supply (UPS)
nents that are part of a network server.
Content may include the following:
. Server hardware specialists should be able to iden-
tify when a network server should be mounted into
• Video controller a server rack. A server hardware specialist should be
able to select and install the specialized equipment
• Video monitor associated with rack-mounted network servers.
• Universal Serial Bus 0.19 Identify network operating systems. A
• FireWire server hardware specialist should be
able to recognize the characteristics of
• Keyboard various network operating systems.
Content may include the following
• Mouse
network operating systems:
• CD-ROM drive
• Novell NetWare 4
• DVD-ROM drive
• Floppy disk drive
• Microsoft Windows NT Server
• Modem
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
. Server hardware specialists should be able to select
the proper miscellaneous hardware that is part of a • UNIX
functioning network server.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 18
OBJECTIVES OUTLINE
• Linux Introduction 23
• IBM OS/2 Warp Server
. Server hardware specialists should be able to Network Types 23
identify various network operating systems. A
server hardware specialist should be able to install, Peer-to-Peer Networks 23
start up, shut down, and perform simple trouble- Server-Centric Networks 24
shooting on the major network operating systems.
0.20 Identify hardware and software available Network Server Categories 24
to manage network servers. Content
may include the following: Workgroup Server 25
• Vendor-specific installation and configuration Departmental Server 25
software Enterprise Server 26
Server Appliances 26
• Vendor-specific management software
• Vendor-specific management hardware
Network Server Roles 26
• Antivirus software
Gateway Server 28
• Documentation
Router 28
. Server hardware specialists should be able to Bridge 29
identify and use various hardware and software
Firewall 30
tools to manage a network server.
Network Address Translation Server 30
0.21 Creating an installation plan
Proxy Server 31
. Server hardware specialists should understand
Database Server 32
the process of creating an installation plan. The
first step in installing a new network server is to Client/Server 32
verify the installation plan. After verification, the Application Server 32
installation plan is used as a guide for the network Mail Server 33
server installation.
FTP Server 34
SNA Server 34
Remote Access Server 35
Remote Control Remote Access
Technique 35
Remote Node Remote Access
Technique 35
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 19
OUTLINE
File and Print Server 36 Accelerated Graphics Port 51

Terminal Server 36 Intelligent Input/Output 51
InfiniBand Architecture 52
Fax Server 37
Domain Name System Server 37
Memory 52
Windows Internet Naming Service Server 38
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Amount of Memory 53
Server 38 Memory Interleaving 53
Web Server 39 Memory Types 53
Video Server 40 Memory Form Factors 54
CD-ROM Library Server 40 Memory Technologies 55
Extended Data Out DRAM 55
Directory Services Server 40
Synchronous DRAM 55
Double Data Rate Synchronous
Intel Processors 41 DRAM 56
Direct Rambus 56
Intel Processors 42 Memory Error Checking 56
Pentium Pro 42 Buffered Memory and Registered
Pentium II 42 Memory 56
Pentium II Xeon 42
Pentium III 43
Pentium III Xeon 43 Disk Subsystems 58
Pentium 4 43
Integrated Drive Electronics 58
Itanium 44
Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics
Processor Cache 44
(EIDE/ATA-2) 59
Write Thru Cache 45
Write Back Cache 45 Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA 59
Symmetric Multiprocessing 46 Serial ATA 60
Small Computer System Interface 61
SCSI-1 61
Server Buses 46
SCSI-2 61
Memory Bus 47 SCSI-3 62
System Bus 47 Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting
Industry Standard Architecture 48 Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) 64
Micro Channel Architecture 48 Fibre Channel 65
Extended Industry Standard Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop 65
Architecture 49 Serial Storage Architecture 65
VESA Local Bus 49
Storage Area Network 66
Peripheral Component Interconnect 50
PCI-X 50 Network-Attached Storage 66
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 20
OUTLINE
Network Systems 68 Backup Hardware 82

Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) 68 Tape Drives 82
Standard Ethernet 69 Quarter Inch Cartridge 82
10BASE-5 69 Travan Cartridge Tape 83
10BASE-2 69 8mm Tape 85
10BASE-T 69 Advanced Intelligent Tape 85
10BASE-F 70 Digital Audio Tape 86
Fast Ethernet 71 Digital Linear Tape 87
100BASE-T 72 Linear Tape-Open 87
100BASE-F 72 Tape Arrays 88
Gigabit Ethernet 72
Tape Auto Changers 88
1000BASE-T 73
1000BASE-SX 73 Tape Libraries 88
1000BASE-LX 73 Disk Drives 88
10 Gig Ethernet 73 Other Backup Devices 89
Token Ring (IEEE 802.5) 73
Wireless Networks (IEEE 802.11) 74 Redundant Components 89
Network Interface Cards 74
Adapter Teaming 74 Redundant Power Supplies 90
Wake-On-LAN 75 Redundant Fans 90
Network Devices 76 Hot Swap 91
Repeater 76 Hot Plug 91
Hub 76 Fail-Over 91
Bridge 76
Switch 76 Hot Spare 91
Router 77 NIC Fail-Over 92
Network Protocols 77
TCP/IP 77 Server Clustering 92
IPX/SPX 77
NetBEUI 78
AppleTalk 78 Scalability 93
DLC 79
Network Management 79
Simple Network Management Protocol 79 High Availability 94
Desktop Management Interface 80
SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant
Enclosures 80 Backup Strategies 94
SCSI Enclosure Services 81
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 21
OUTLINE
Fault Tolerance 95 Cable Management 108

Rack Layout 108
Uninterruptible Power Supply 96
Security 108
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks 96
RAID 0 97 Cooling 109
RAID 1 98 Rack-Mounted Keyboard/Trackball 109
RAID 2 99 Rack-Mounted Monitor/LCD Panel 109
RAID 3 99
Rack-Mounted UPS 109
RAID 4 99
RAID 5 100
RAID 0/1 100 Network Operating Systems 110
RAID Controller 100
Hardware RAID Versus Software RAID 102 Novell NetWare 4 111
Novell NetWare 5 111
Disaster Recovery 103 Microsoft Windows NT Server 4 111

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server 112
UNIX 112
Miscellaneous Network Server Hardware 104 Linux 113
Video Controller 104 IBM OS/2 Warp Server 113
Video Monitor 104
Universal Serial Bus 105 Network Server Management 114
FireWire (IEEE 1394) 105 Vendor-Specific Installation and
Keyboard 105 Configuration Software 115
Mouse 106 Vendor-Specific Management Software 115
CD-ROM Drive 106 Vendor-Specific Management Hardware 116
DVD-ROM Drive 106 Antivirus Software 117
Floppy Disk Drive 106 Documentation 117
Modem 106
Creating an Installation Plan 118
Racking Servers 107
EIA Rack Unit (1.75 inches) 107 Chapter Summary 129
Keyboard/Video/Monitor Switch 108
Apply Your Knowledge 133

06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 22
To successfully learn the material outlined in the . Review the Exam Tips available in various places
objectives listed in this chapter, do the following: in this chapter. Make certain that you under-
stand the information in the Exam Tip. If you
. Read the objectives at the beginning of this
don’t fully understand the Exam Tip, review the
chapter.
information in the chapter related to this topic.
. Due to the length of this chapter, it contains
. Review the objectives again. several Review Breaks, which summarize the
information contained in the immediately pre-
. Answer the Review and Exam Questions at the
ceding section of the chapter. In most cases,
end of the chapter and check your results.
the Review Breaks contain recommendations
and suggestions on network server technology.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 23
Chapter 1 0.0—PLANNING AND SPECIFICATIONS 23
INTRODUCTION
The goal of this chapter is to introduce all the concepts related to
network servers. The components that can be used to configure a
network server so that it can effectively perform its designated role
in the network are discussed in detail. The information in this
chapter should help the network engineer select the appropriate
components for the network server. The end goal is the creation of
an installation plan that can be used by a server hardware specialist
to install the network server to the specifications created by the
network engineer.
NETWORK TYPES
. 0.1 Identify the two types of networks
• Peer-to-peer network
• Server-centric network
Networks are of two types: peer-to-peer and server-centric (server-
based), which also is sometimes called a client/server network.
Peer-to-Peer Networks
NOTE
Peer-to-Peer Networks with Security

A peer-to-peer network allows each computer to access the resources Peer-to-peer networks can also be
of all the other computers on the network, while at the same time built with Microsoft Windows NT
allowing all the computers on the network to access its resources. In Workstation 4 and Microsoft Windows
the technical sense, all computers on a peer-to-peer network act as 2000 Professional. These two desk-
both clients (accessing resources from other computers) and servers top computer operating systems do
(allowing other computers to access their resources). However, peer- provide network resource security,
user identification, and file system
to-peer networks function well only when the networks are relatively
security. However, building a large
small (fewer than 20 computers). With more than a small number
peer-to-peer network using these oper-
of computers, a peer-to-peer network can become an administrative ating systems is still a difficult job,
and management nightmare. because you must create and manage
Peer-to-peer networks can be built with computers running standard all the user IDs and permissions on
desktop computer operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows each of the computers in the network
rather than create them once on a
95, Microsoft Windows 98, and Microsoft Windows Millennium
network server.
Edition (ME). Because these are desktop computer operating sys-
tems, however, they offer, by design, very little security in a network
environment. There are no user IDs on these operating systems; the
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 24
username you enter when starting up Windows 95/98/ME is used

only to identify which profile (desktop settings) to load. Security is
based solely on passwords (usually one for reading and a different
one for writing) assigned to shared folders or printers.
Server-Centric Networks
NOTE
Network Infrastructure The network

cabling used to create a peer-to-peer Server-centric or server-based networks are much more common
network does not differ from the net- than peer-to-peer networks and they are what usually comes to mind
work cabling used to create a server- when someone hears or uses the term “network.” The CompTIA
centric network. The difference Server+ exam concentrates on server-centric networks. In a server-
between the two network types is centric network, one or more specialized computers are designed as
purely in the software running on the “network servers.” They provide either a resource or a service to the
computers that comprise the network.
other computers on the network. The other computers on the net-
work are called clients. Client computers, by definition, access
resources or services from other computers (the network servers).
A network server is not just an overgrown microcomputer. A net-
work server contains specialized hardware and software that allows it
to provide resources and services to other computers on the network.
Although a desktop computer can have a network operating system
installed and configured to perform the functions of a network
server, it is unlikely that anyone will be satisfied with the perfor-
mance, reliability, and manageability of the network server.
This chapter describes the major types of network servers, the
various network server roles, and gives in depth descriptions of the
various components found in a network server.
It is hoped that not only will these descriptions help those who
are preparing to take the CompTIA Server+ exam, but also that it
will help those who need to acquire a network server to perform a
particular function in a network.
NETWORK SERVER CATEGORIES

. 0.2 Identify major categories of network servers. The major
categories of network servers are
• Workgroup server
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 25
• Server appliances
Network servers come in various sizes or categories. They range from
the smallest “glorified desktop” computer to the enterprise-sized
mainframe, such as the Unisys ES7000, which can have up to 32
processors, 64GB of memory, and 96 PCI bus slots. The Unisys
ES7000 is in the one million dollar price range. For more information
on the Unisys ES7000, visit www.unisys.com/hw/servers/es7000/.
Most network servers are configured and priced somewhere in
between these two extremes.
Workgroup Server
A workgroup server is a network server that can support a limited
number of client computers (generally fewer than 20) or a network
service that doesn’t require many resources, such as a DHCP or
DNS server. The term “workgroup” is very fitting for this category
of network server. A workgroup server generally has a single proces-
sor, a relatively small amount of memory, and limited disk storage
capacity. A workgroup network server has limited scalability. (It
cannot add multiple processors, the maximum amount of memory
is relatively small, and the space for internal disk drives is very
limited.) A workgroup network server is sometimes called a Small
Office Home Office (SOHO) server.
Departmental Server
A departmental server is a network server that can support up to
approximately 300 client computers. A departmental server might
also provide a network service that requires considerable resources,
such as a web server. A departmental server can have multiple
processors, a considerable amount of memory, and a large amount of
disk storage. A departmental server is generally scalable to a large
network server with more processors, a great deal of additional
memory, and additional disk storage.
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Enterprise Server
An enterprise server is an extremely large server designed to support
thousands of clients. It might also provide a network service, such as
a database server, to a very large number of users. Enterprise servers
nearly always have multiple processors, a tremendous amount of
memory, and a gigantic amount of disk storage. Enterprise network
servers are extremely scalable. They could have as many as 32 proces-
sors, as much as 64GB of memory, and terabytes of disk storage.
Server Appliances
A server appliance is a relatively new category of network server. A
server appliance is a network server designed to provide a single ser-
vice to the network and to take a minimum amount of space in the
server room. Many times these server appliances are designed to be
mounted in a server rack and take no more than 1.75 inches (1 rack
unit) of vertical space.
A good example of a server appliance would be the use of one of these
physically small servers configured to function as a web server. Other
good examples of a server appliance would be a physically small
network server configured to function as a DNS server or a firewall.
NETWORK SERVER ROLES

. 0.3 Identify various roles that can be assigned to network
servers. Examples of roles include the following:
• Gateway
• Router
• Bridge
• Firewall
• Network Address Translation (NAT)
• Proxy server
• Database server
• Client/server
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• Application server
• Mail server
• FTP server
• SNA server
• Remote access server (RAS)
• File and print server
• Terminal server
• Fax server
• Domain Name Server (DNS)
• Windows Internet Naming Server (WINS)
• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Server (DHCP)
• Web server
• Video server
• CD-ROM library server
• Directory services server
A network server can assume different jobs or roles in the network.
It is also common for a single network server to perform multiple Network Server Roles Know the
TIP
roles simultaneously (such as DNS, DHCP, and WINS). Because of basics of the different roles that a
the resources required, however, some network server roles practi- network server can perform in a
EXAM
network.
cally require that the network server perform a single role, such as a
database server.
Installing a service or application defines the role that a network
server will perform. For example, installing the DHCP service on a
network server gives it the DHCP server role. This server will often
be referred to as the DHCP server. Installing a database application,
such as Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server, defines the network server
as a database server.
A network server running multiple services, such as DHCP, DNS,
and WINS, might be called the DHCP server, the DNS server, or
the WINS server, depending on who is referring to it or what is the
current topic of discussion. The fact that a single network server is
actually performing all three roles simultaneously isn’t necessarily
important to the conversation.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 28
The major roles that a network server might perform are discussed
in the following sections.
Gateway Server
A gateway is a network device that connects two totally dissimilar
communications systems, such as a microcomputer network and a
mainframe.
The classic example of a gateway server is supplying communica-
tions between a local area network (LAN) and an IBM mainframe.
The LAN could be using Ethernet and the TCP/IP protocol,
whereas the IBM mainframe communicates could be using IBM’s
System Network Architecture (SNA) protocol. The gateway server is
connected to both the LAN and the SNA communications system
and translates the protocols and data between the two systems.
The following software products allow a network server to function
as a gateway server:
á Microsoft SNA Server
á Microsoft Host Integration Server
á Novell NetWare for SAA
The most important component of a network server that is going to

serve in the gateway server role is the network subsystem.
Router
A router is a network device that moves data packets from one net-
work (as defined by the data packet’s source network address) to
another network (as defined by the data packet’s destination network
address). A network server can perform the role of a router just by
having multiple network interface cards (NICs), with each NIC
attached to a different network. It is a simple operation to configure
the network operating system to send data between the NICs in the
network server.
Most network operating systems can function as a router by enabling
packet forwarding between multiple NICs. Configuration of packet
forwarding is specific to each different network operating system.
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The Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) add-on for

Microsoft Windows NT Server 4 and the standard RRAS service
for Microsoft Windows 2000 Server provide even more sophisti-
cated network routing than just simple packet forwarding. These
additional functions include SNMP management and the use of
routing protocols to share routing information with other routers
on the network.
Routers can only route protocols that are routable, which includes
both TCP/IP and IPX/SPX. Some protocols are not routable, such
as NetBEUI. Unroutable protocols can be bridged however, to create
larger networks.
function as a router is the network subsystem.
Bridge
A bridge is a device that “filters” frames based on the hardware
address of the device that sent the frame and the hardware address
of the device that is to receive the frame. This is useful in the case
where you want to isolate data packets on one segment of the
network from another segment of the network.
For example, you could use a bridge to connect a network in a
building to a backbone network that connects multiple buildings
together. If the network packet being sent is destined to a computer
within the building, there is no need for it to be forwarded to the
backbone, so the bridge does not forward the packet to the back-
bone. If the network packet is being sent to a computer in another
building, however, the bridge must forward the packet to the back-
bone segment for it to reach its destination.
A network server can be configured to perform the function of a
bridge. The network server will need to have two NICs installed and
be configured to forward data packets based on the hardware address
of the sending and receiving computers.
function as a bridge is the network subsystem.
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Firewall
A firewall is a network device that forwards data packets from one
network to another network based on rules defined by the network
administrator. These rules can reject or accept data packets based on
many different criteria, including:
á Destination address
á Source address
á Network service based on TCP/IP port address
A firewall examines each and every data packet and decides whether
the packet will be forwarded to another network based on the rules
defined by the administrator who configured the firewall. Generally,
firewalls connect a corporate LAN to the Internet. The firewall is
configured to prevent access from the Internet to the corporate
LAN. The firewall can also restrict access from the corporate LAN to
the Internet. Examples of firewall software are as follows:
á PGP Security’s Gauntlet
á Check Point’s Firewall-1
á CyberGuard’s Firewall
á Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server
The most important components of a network server that is going to

function as a firewall are the network subsystem and the processor.
Network Address Translation Server

A Network Address Translation (NAT) server allows a corporate net-
work to access the Internet. The unique characteristic of a NAT
server is that it translates the network address used by the clients on
the corporate network to different addresses seen on the Internet.
Because of a shortage of IP addresses, many corporations use IP
addresses on their private internets that cannot be used on the
Internet. For client computers on these private internets to be able
to access the Internet, an IP address that is valid on the Internet
must be used. The NAT server’s function is to provide the valid IP
address. The NAT server is configured with a limited number of
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valid IP addresses that are used by client data packets destined for
the Internet. The NAT server actually changes the private IP address
to a valid IP address as the client’s data packet goes from the private
network to the Internet. When a reply to the data packet that was
sent is received, the NAT server changes the valid IP address back to
the private IP address of the client on the private network.
The most important components of a network server that is going to
function as a NAT server are the network subsystem and the processor.
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server includes NAT capability as part of
the Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS).
Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) server extends
Windows 2000 NAT capability by providing SecureNAT to increase
NAT security.
Proxy Server
A proxy server allows a client computer’s web browser access to the
World Wide Web through a single access point. The proxy server is
NOTE
considered by some people to be a firewall; but as a firewall, a proxy Private IP Addresses As defined by
server’s capabilities are rather limited. The big advantage that a RFC 1918, “Address Allocation for
proxy server has is its capability to cache frequently accessed web Private Internets,” the reserved
addresses to be used for private net-
pages on its own hard disk drives. Having web pages cached locally
works are allocated in three ranges:
reduces the frequency of access to the Internet by the proxy server.
Using a proxy server requires only that there be one valid IP address • 1 Class A address from 10.0.0.0
assigned to the corporation. That address is assigned to the proxy to 10.255.255.255
server. All other client computers connect to web sites on the • 16 Class B addresses from
Internet using the proxy server. 172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255
Examples of proxy servers include the following: • 255 Class C addresses from
192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255
á Microsoft Proxy Server
á Microsoft Internet Security and Access Server
á Ositis Software’s WinProxy
á Netscape’s Proxy Server

function in the proxy server role is the network subsystem. If you
expect to cache a large number of web pages locally, the amount of
disk drive storage space is also very important.
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Database Server
A database server is the classic example of a client/server system. A
database server runs a database management software package. The
database management software allows clients to create, input,
update, and retrieve data. All the data resides on the disk drives
attached to the database server. All processing of the data occurs on
the database server.
A client issues a request or query for data. The database server
processes the data in the database(s) on its disk drives and returns
the results to the client.
The three most important components of a network server that is
going to function as a database server are processors, memory, and
the disk subsystem.
Examples of database software include the following:
á Microsoft SQL Server 2000
á Oracle
á Sybase
Client/Server
“Client/server” is a generic term that describes the relationship
between computers on the network. A client computer is a computer
that requests the use of resources on other computers on the net-
work. A server computer is a computer that shares its resources with
other computers on the network. The resources can be physical,
such as files on disk drives or a printer, or the resources can be
services provided by the server.
Application Server
An application server is a network server that runs a network
application. There are three models for applications servers:
á Dedicated application model. This is the most common
application server model. The application server runs a net-
work application, such as a database, that can be accessed by
clients on the network. The dedicated application server does
not provide any other service to the network.
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á Distributed application model. In the distributed application

model, the actual applications run on many different servers
on the network. A distributed database is a good example of a
distributed application. Some of the data can reside on differ-
ent servers on the network. The client does not have to be
aware that the data does not reside on a single network server.
The DNS server for the Internet is a great example of a dis-
tributed application. Portions of the DNS database reside on
thousands of DNS servers around the world.
á Peer-to-peer application model. In a peer-to-peer applica-
tion, data can be exchanged between clients on the network.
The recently popular Napster software is a good example of a
peer-to-peer network application.
Mail Server
A mail server, or more accurately an email server, provides messaging
services to a network. The email server usually uses the TCP/IP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to deliver email messages
between servers either on a LAN or the Internet. Client computers
often use email client protocols, such as POP (Post Office Protocol)
or IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), to retrieve email mes-
sages from SMTP email servers.
Examples of software that allows a network server to function as an
email server include the following:
á Microsoft Exchange Server
á Novell GroupWise
á Sendmail for UNIX/Linux

serve as an email server is the network subsystem. If email messages
are going to be kept on the email server, a relatively large amount of
disk storage is also important.
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FTP Server
An FTP server uses the TCP/IP File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to allow
access to files over the network. Before the advent of web servers,
FTP servers provided access to files over the Internet. To access files
on an FTP server, the client computer must use an FTP client or a
web browser that understands the FTP protocol. Most client com-
puter operating systems have a simple command-line-driven FTP
client available as a standard part of the operating system. Graphical
versions of the FTP client software, which are much easier to use
than the command-line version, are available from third parties.
For Microsoft Windows NT Server and Microsoft Windows 2000
Server, the FTP service software is part of Microsoft Internet
Information Server (IIS), which is a standard part of the
operating system. FTP service for UNIX systems is provided
by the FTP daemon.
serve as an FTP server is the network subsystem. If a large number
of files are going to be on the FTP server, the amount of disk storage
is also important.
SNA Server
NOTE
SNA or TCP/IP? Many IBM main-

frames support TCP/IP in addition to An SNA server is a specific example of a gateway server. An SNA
or instead of SNA, in which case an server provides protocol translation between a microcomputer net-
SNA gateway device will not be neces- work and an IBM mainframe using IBM’s SNA (System Network
sary for a microcomputer network that Architecture) protocol. The SNA server also handles character
is using TCP/IP to communicate with translation between the ASCII characters used on microcomputer
an IBM mainframe.
networks and the EBCDIC characters used on IBM mainframes.
The following products allow a network server to function as an
SNA server:
á Novell NetWare for SAA
á Microsoft SNA Server
á Microsoft Host Integration Server
á IBM Communications Server
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function as an SNA server is the network subsystem. An SNA server
requires a NIC for connection to the LAN and a high-speed serial
interface to attach to the SNA network.
Remote Access Server

A remote access server (RAS) is a device that allows access to a net-
work and its resources from a remote location, usually through a
modem. Two different techniques can be used by remote clients to
access a network: remote control and remote node.
The most important components of a network server that is going
to function as the remote access server are the network subsystem
and the processor. Special adapter boards with 16, 32, or 64 serial
ports need to be installed into the RAS server to support attachment
of the modems that will be used for dial in.
Remote-Control Remote Access Technique

In the remote-control technique, the remote client takes control of
an existing computer on the network. All operations are performed
on the computer on the network; the remote client just becomes a
remote video display, keyboard, and mouse to that computer. Only
screen updates, keystrokes, and mouse movements are sent over the
modem link. This remote-control capability is very similar to the
popular PC Anywhere and other “remote-control” software.
Remote-Node Remote Access Technique

In the remote-node technique of remote access, the remote client
becomes a computer on the network. All operations occur just as if
the remote computer is attached directly to the network. The differ-
ence is that the network is running at modem speeds (up to 56000
bits per second) rather than network speeds (10 million bits per
second or more).
Microsoft Remote Access Service (RAS) for Windows NT Server 4
and Routing and Remote Access Server (RRAS) for Windows 2000
Server both use the remote-node technique for remote access.
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File and Print Server

This is the classic role for a server on a network. In fact, the sharing
of disk space (files) and expensive printers was the primary motiva-
tion for creating microcomputer networks in the 1980s when Novell
practically started and owned the microcomputer network business.
A file server allows client computers to access files (programs and
data) stored on the network server’s disk drives.
A print server accepts files to be printed from client computers on
the network. It then sends these files (in an orderly fashion) to print-
ers that are shared on the network.
The original versions of Novell NetWare performed both functions,
hence the name file and print server.
This file and print server functionality is a standard part of all
network operating systems currently available. The important
components for a file and print server are the disk subsystem and
the network subsystem.
Terminal Server
A terminal server supports clients by running applications that the
clients cannot run themselves because of lack of resources, such as
processor speed or amount of memory. These clients are often
referred to as “thin” clients.
A client establishes a session with the terminal server and runs stan-
dard desktop applications, such as a word processor or an electronic
spreadsheet, on the terminal server itself.
For the terminal server to perform its function, it needs a tremen-
dous amount of resources. Multiple fast processors are required. A
great amount of memory is also required because each client can use
10 to 20MB of memory on the terminal server to run applications.
A terminal server can be created using Microsoft Windows NT
Server 4 Terminal Services Edition, or Microsoft Windows 2000
Terminal Services, which is a standard part of Windows 2000 Server,
Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows 2000 Datacenter
Server. Another popular solution used to implement a terminal
server is Citrix Metaframe. For more information about Citrix
Metaframe, visit their web site at www.citrix.com/.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 37
Fax Server
A fax server adds the capability to send facsimiles to and receive
facsimiles from the network. A fax server can also route incoming
faxes directly to users’ computers, share fax lines for outgoing faxes,
and even send faxes by way of the Internet.
Example software products that allow a network server to function
as a fax server include the following:
á Castelle FaxPress
á Cheyenne FaxServe

function as a fax server is the network subsystem. One or more fax
modems are required for a fax server.
Domain Name System Server

A Domain Name System (DNS) server is designed to resolve TCP/IP
names to IP address. The DNS server contains mappings between
TCP/IP names, such as www.fakewebsite.com, and TCP/IP
addresses, such as 192.168.4.12. TCP/IP applications require the IP
address in order to communicate over the TCP/IP network. Because
it is difficult to remember series of numbers, however, IP names
were created. (They are easier to remember.) A mechanism must
exist to translate or resolve the IP names to IP addresses. That
mechanism is a DNS server.
The most common DNS servers run on UNIX operating systems and
the software used to implement the DNS server is usually BIND
(Berkeley Internet Name Domain). DNS servers can also be imple-
mented on other operating systems, such as Novell NetWare,
Microsoft Windows NT Server, and Microsoft Windows 2000 Server.
The original UNIX-based DNS servers (including versions of BIND
below version 8) maintained the IP name to IP address mappings in
files that were updated manually. Recent DNS servers can be
updated dynamically, including BIND version 8 and above.
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server requires the availability of a
Dynamic DNS server (DDNS) on the network for it to function
correctly. A DDNS server is a standard part of the Windows 2000
Server operating system.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 38

function as a DNS server is the network subsystem.
Windows Internet Naming Service

Server
Computers running Microsoft Windows operating systems use the
computer’s NetBIOS name (the computer name entered when the
operating system was installed) to identify the computer and the
resources the computer may be sharing on the network. A NetBIOS
Name Server (NBNS) provides a way for Windows computers to
register their NetBIOS names and their TCP/IP addresses during
power up. When registered with the NetBIOS Name Server, the
computer will also use it to find other computers and their resources
on the network. The Microsoft Windows Internet Naming Service
(WINS) provides the services of a NBNS for a network that has
computers running any version of Microsoft Windows.
If there is no WINS server in a Microsoft network, NetBIOS
names are resolved by using broadcasts on the network. Therefore
implementing a WINS server will improve network efficiency
because some network broadcasts will be eliminated.
WINS servers are the solution to the problems created when the
Microsoft network has one or more routers in it. Broadcasts do not
go through routers, so broadcasting to resolve NetBIOS names is
limited to the local cable segment. Having all the computers in the
routed network register with a WINS server eliminates this problem.
function as a WINS server is the network subsystem.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

Server
A Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server provides
client computers with configuration information for the TCP/IP
protocol at the time the client computer starts up. The information
supplied, at a minimum, is a TCP/IP address and its associated sub-
net mask. Generally, the TCP/IP address of the network router
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 39
(default gateway in TCP/IP terminology) is also supplied to the

client computer. Optionally, other TCP/IP configuration informa-
tion, such as the TCP/IP address of the DNS server(s), can also be
provided to the client.
DHCP is a standard part of the TCP/IP protocol suite. Most net-
work server operating systems, including Microsoft Windows NT
Server 4, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Novell NetWare, and
many “flavors” of UNIX, can function as a DHCP server.
To create a DHCP server, the DHCP server service (or process or
daemon) must be installed on the network server operating system.
The DHCP service will need to be configured. For configuration,
you need a pool (or scope) of TCP/IP addresses that the DHCP can
“lease” to client computers. The appropriate subnet mask to be used
in conjunction with the TCP/IP addresses is also required. Optional
configuration information, such as the IP addresses of the network
router and/or the network DNS server, can be entered if desired.
A DHCP server service does not consume many resources on the
network server or the network itself. Other network services can be
operational on the same computer as the DHCP server service with-
out negatively impacting performance.
Web Server
A web server provides information content over the network to client
computers using a web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer
or Netscape Navigator by using TCP/IP Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP). The information content is created on the web server
using the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).
Examples of software that allow a network server to function as a
Web server include the following:
á Microsoft Internet Information Service (IIS)
á Apache Web Server
á Netscape Enterprise Web Server
The most important components for a network server functioning

as a web server are the network subsystem and processors. If there is
going to be a large amount of web content, the amount of disk
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 40
storage space is important. Multiple processors might be necessary

if the web server is going to be processing a large number of CGI
(Common Gateway Interface) or ASP (Active Server Pages) scripts.
Video Server
A video server stores digitized video on its disk drives for replay
through the network.
The important components for a network server that is going to
function as a video server are the disk subsystem and the network
subsystem. A video capture card is also required to convert analog
video from a VCR or video camera into digital video to be stored on
the video server’s disk drives.
A video server can be used to create on-demand training, web
broadcasts using streaming media, and product demonstrations over
the web.
An example of software that can be used to create a video server is
Microsoft Windows Media Technologies.
CD-ROM Library Server

A CD-ROM library server provides access to the data on multiple
CD-ROMs to computers on the network. Multiple CD-ROM
drives are available in tower configurations that can be attached to
a SCSI controller. CD-ROM towers can contain from 7 to 49 or
more CD-ROM drives.
The important components for a network server that is going to
function as a CD-ROM library server are the network subsystem
and the SCSI controller. The speed of the CD-ROM drives in the
library is also important for the best network access.
Directory Services Server

Many network server operating systems use directory services.
Directory services store information about all the objects on the
network (users, computers, printers, and so forth) that can be
searched by users on the network. If directory services fail or become
unavailable, client access to the network is usually lost. Given the
importance of directory services to the network, there should be more
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 41
than one network server providing directory services to the network.

Examples of directory services include the following:
á Novell Directory Service (NDS)
á Microsoft Active Directory (AD)
Most network operating systems have specific requirements for

network servers that will be providing directory services to the
network. Consult the network operating system documentation
for these specifications.
This section described the various roles that a network server can R E V I E W B R E A K
perform in a network. A network server role is defined by the ser-
vices or applications that it provides to the network. The four major
network server components—processor, memory, disk subsystem,
and network subsystem—are of different importance depending on
the network server role.
When making the decision on the configuration of a new network
server, the role that the network server will play in the network as
well as the number of clients that the network server will service
are of paramount importance. Undersizing the network server will
lead to many unsatisfied clients. Oversizing the server is a waste of
valuable resources.
INTEL PROCESSORS
. 0.4 Identify the major Intel processors and the importance of
clock speed, processor cache speed and size, and symmetric
multiprocessing (SMP):
• Intel processors
• Processor cache
• Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)
The CompTIA Server+ exam deals only with network servers that
are based on processors built by Intel Corporation. This section
discusses the various Intel processors that you might encounter in
a network server and their characteristics.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 42
Intel Processors
NOTE
Future Processor Technology In the

very near future, the capability to hot The list of microprocessor made by the Intel Corporation is very
swap processors on a network server long. Only the Intel processors that are likely to be found in a net-
should be available. work server are described in this chapter. You can find full descrip-
tions of all Intel processors at Intel’s web site at www.intel.com.
Pentium Pro
The Pentium Pro processor was built specifically for network servers.
It had a Level 2 cache that operated at the same speed as the proces-
sor itself. It was also designed for multiprocessing. Many network
servers were built with two or four Pentium Pro processors inside.
Specifications for the Pentium Pro include the following:
á Date of service (November 1995)
á Speeds 150, 166, 180, 200MHz
á Level 2 cache 256KB, 512KB, 1024KB full core speed
Pentium II
The Pentium II processor had a faster processor clock than the
Pentium Pro, but the Level 2 cache ran at one-half the speed of the
processor. Multiprocessing with Pentium II processors was limited to
a maximum of two processors. Specifications for the Pentium II
á Date of service (May 1997)
á Speeds 233, 266, 300, 333, 350, 400, 450MHz
á Level 2 cache 256KB, 512KB running at one-half core speed
Pentium II Xeon
The Pentium II Xeon processor was designed for network servers. It
had a faster processor speed than the Pentium Pro, its Level 2 cache ran
at full processor speed, it had larger Level 2 caches available, and multi-
processing network servers could be configured with up to four proces-
sors. Specifications for the Pentium II Xeon include the following:
á Date of Service (June 1998)
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 43
á Speeds 400, 450MHz

Pentium III
The Pentium III processor offered faster processor speeds than previ-
ous processors and in some cases the Level 2 cache ran at the speed
of the processor. However, multiprocessing was limited to two
processors. Specifications for the Pentium III include the following:
á Date of service (February 1999)
á Speeds 450, 500, 533, 550, 600, 650, 667, 700, 733, 750,
800, 850, 866, 933, 1000, 1130MHz
á Level 2 cache 256KB, 512KB one-half or full core speed
Pentium III Xeon

The Pentium III Xeon processor is designed for network servers.
Higher processor speeds, coupled with large Level 2 caches that run
at the speed of the processors, and the capability to have up to four
processors installed in a single network server, make the Pentium III
Xeon processor an excellent choice for network servers.
Specifications for the Pentium III Xeon include the following:
á Date of service (March 1999)
á Speeds 500, 550, 600, 667, 733, 800, 866, 900, 933,
1000MHz
Pentium 4
The Pentium 4 processor is not well suited for network servers.
Although it has fast processor speeds, its Level 2 cache is rather
small, and there is no multiprocessing option available. The Pentium
4 processor is designed for advanced workstations, not network
servers. Specifications for the Pentium 4 include the following:
á Date of service (November 2000)
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 44
á Speeds 1.3, 1.4, 1.5GHz

á Level 2 cache 256 KB full core speed
Itanium
All the Pentium processors are 32-bit processors. The Intel Itanium
is Intel’s first 64-bit processor. The Itanium is backward compatible
with existing Intel 32-bit processors without software emulation,
meaning that an existing 32-bit program will run without modifica-
tion on the Itanium processor. Initially, up to 4 Itanium processors
can be installed in a network server to support SMP environments.
Specifications for the Itanium include the following:
á Date of service (not released at the time of this writing)
á Speeds 733MHz, 800MHz
á Level 2 cache 96KB
á Level 3 cache 2MB or 4MB
A good white paper that details the benefits of the Itanium processor
can be found at ftp://download.intel.com/design/
IA-64/Downloads/ia64rev2.pdf.
The major network operating system vendors are going to have

versions of their operating system that will run on an Itanium-based
network server, including the following:
á Linux (Caldera, Red Hat, SuSE, VA Linux)
á Modesto (Novell)
á Windows XP (Microsoft)
á UNIX (Hewlett-Packard HP-UX, SCO Monterey)
Processor Cache
Processor cache is high-speed static random access memory (SRAM)
rather than the slower and cheaper dynamic random access memory
(DRAM) used for system memory. Processor caching is used because
most programs access the same data and instructions multiple times.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 45
By keeping as much of this information as possible in the processor

cache, the network server avoids accessing the slower system mem-
ory. The processor cache is used for both read and write operations.
Processor cache comes in two levels. Level 1 cache is cache memory
that is internal to the processor itself. These caches are usually small,
8KB or 16KB. There are actually two Level 1 caches, one for data
and one for instructions.
Processors can also have a Level 2 cache. Originally, for pre-Pentium
processors, the Level 2 cache was actually external to the processor
itself. It was still composed of fast static RAM (SRAM). For Pentium
processors, however, the Level 2 cache is on the same chip as the
processor. Level 2 caches are always larger than Level 1 caches and are
placed between the Level 1 cache and main memory. Common Level
2 cache sizes are 256KB, 512KB, 1024KB, and 2048KB. Generally,
the larger the Level 2 cache, the faster the processor can perform.
Level 2 caches run at either one-half of the processor speed or at
the same speed as the processor. Processors that have a Level 2
cache that runs at the same speed as the processor are desirable for
network servers.
Some newer processors, such as the Itanium, also have a large Level
3 cache on the chip with the processor.
When writing to cache, two different methods are utilized: write
thru and write back.
Write Thru Cache

When using the write thru method, data is written back to cache
and main memory at the same time. This method is also called write
through. The processor must wait for the data to be written to the
slower DRAM before continuing.
Write Back Cache

When using the write back method, data is written only to cache,
and then the cache is written to main memory at a later time. The
processor does not wait for the data to be written to slower DRAM
and continues processing as soon as the data is written to cache.
This frees up the processor to perform other tasks sooner than it
would if the processor were using a write thru cache.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 46
Symmetric Multiprocessing
NOTE
Asymmetric Multiprocessing? Yes,

there is such a thing as asymmetric Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) is a system architecture that can
multiprocessing! In asymmetric multi- be used by network servers to make multiple processors available
processing, one processor supports to individual processes simultaneously. Many network operating
the network operating system, and systems are designed to take advantage of SMP. Some network
directs other processes running on applications, such as Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server, are
the network server to the other avail- multithreaded and can take advantage of multiple processors in
able processors. Asymmetric multi-
a single network server.
processing does not use the available
processors as efficiently as symmetric In SMP, any idle processor can be assigned any task, and additional
multiprocessing. processors can be added to the network server to improve performance.
Having a network server that is capable of having processors added eas-
ily is an advantage when the workload on the network server increases.
This is one major component of scalability for the network server.
R E V I E W B R E A K
This section has general information about several different Intel
processors. When selecting the processor for a network server, and
considering the role that the network server will perform in the net-
work, pick the fastest processor with the most Level 2 cache that fits
the budget of the network server. To provide for future scalability of
the network server, select a network server that can support SMP.
SERVER BUSES
. 0.5 Identify the various buses that are part of the network
server. The major buses include:
• Memory bus
• System bus
There are many buses in a network server. Buses are a mechanism for
moving data, addresses, and control information between compo-
nents in the network server. Of particular importance are the mem-
ory bus and the system bus. Bus speeds are measured in megahertz
(millions of cycles per second). The faster the bus speed, the more
work that can be done in a given amount of time. Buses cannot be
upgraded without replacing the entire system board in the network
server. Therefore, get the fastest bus that is available and that fits the
budget for the network server.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 47
Memory Bus
NOTE
Bus Transfer Rates The speed of
The memory bus connects the main memory with the processor of buses is measured in megahertz
the network server. This is often referred to as a frontside bus. There (MHz). Because the buses transfer
is also a backside bus that connects the processor with its Level 2 multiple bits in parallel for each cycle
cache. The faster the frontside bus, the faster the processor can (hertz), the transfer rates are speci-
access memory. Currently, frontside buses are available that operate fied in megabytes per second. A byte
at 66MHz, 100MHz, and 133MHz. is generally 8 bits, and bus widths are
designed in multiples of 8 bits. An
Local buses are an extension of the frontside bus. 8-bit bus transfers 1 byte per cycle. A
16-bit bus transfers 2 bytes per cycle.
A 32-bit bus transfers 4 bytes per
System Bus cycle. A 64-bit bus transfers 8 bytes
per cycle.
There have been many system buses through the history of the
microcomputer. Table 1.1 is a comparison of the various systems
buses. Following the table are brief descriptions of the different buses.
TABLE 1.1
S Y S T E M B U S C O M PA R I S O N
Bus, Bus Width Bus Speed (MHz) Transfer Speed
Year Introduced (Bits) Megabytes/Sec.
ISA (8-bit), 1981 8 4.77 4.77
ISA (16-bit), 1984 16 8 16
EISA, 1988 32 8 32
Micro Channel, 1987 16 8 16
VESA Local Bus, 1992 32 33 132
PCI, 1992 32 33 132
PCI, 1992 64 33 264
PCI 2.1, 1995 64 66 528
PCI-X 1.0, 1999 64 132 1056
AGP, 1996 32 66 264
AGP (x2), 1996 32 132 528
AGP (x4), 1998 32 264 1056

06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 48
Because it is a local bus and it has a very high available bandwidth,

the system bus most likely to be found in a network server is some
version of the PCI bus.
Industry Standard Architecture

The 16-bit bus that was introduced in 1984 by IBM in its IBM
PC/AT is now referred to as the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA)
bus. On occasion, the 8-bit bus used in the original IBM PC from
1981 is included in the ISA description.
The speed of the ISA bus matched the speed of the processors and
the width of the processor data bus in the computers. The 8-bit bus
of the IBM PC ran at 4.77MHz, the same speed that the 8088
processor used. The IBM PC/AT ran at either 6MHz or 8MHz, the
speed of the 80286 processors used in those systems. ISA buses in
modern computer systems run at 8MHz to provide compatibility for
older ISA expansion adapters.
ISA buses can still be found in new computer systems. They are uti-
lized for slow devices, such as modems. Generally, ISA bus slots in
new computers are bridged to a faster system bus, such as a PCI bus.
Micro Channel Architecture

NOTE
NCR Did Micro Channel NCR was

one of the few companies that
In 1987, IBM introduced the Micro Channel Architecture (some-
licensed the Micro Channel times called the MCA bus) bus with the IBM PS/2 microcomputer
Architecture from IBM. NCR actually and its Intel 80386 processor. The 80386 processor used a 32-bit
built microcomputers with Micro data bus and instead of extending the old ISA bus from 16 to 32
Channel buses. bits, IBM decided to create a completely new bus for the PS/2.
The new 32-bit bus ran at the same speed as the old ISA bus,
8MHz. However, the Micro Channel bus was not compatible with
the ISA bus. Expansion cards from older ISA bus systems would not
work or even fit into the Micro Channel’s expansion slots. This
meant that new expansion cards had to be purchased for new sys-
tems. Also, IBM decided to “license” the Micro Channel to other
microcomputer manufacturers. Few manufacturers wanted to pay
IBM for using the Micro Channel, so most opted to either use the
old ISA bus, or the new EISA bus that was designed to challenge the
Micro Channel bus. The Micro Channel Architecture bus is no
longer used in new microcomputers.
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Extended Industry Standard

Architecture
With the introduction of the Micro Channel bus in 1987, the
makers of “IBM-compatible” microcomputers faced a dilemma. They
could either license the use of the Micro Channel from IBM or they
could continue to build microcomputers based on the ISA bus. They
decided to do neither. They decided to build their own bus.
In late 1987, the “gang of nine” (companies that build IBM-com-
patible microcomputers) released specifications for the Extended
NOTE
Gang of Nine The nine companies
Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus. that build IBM-compatible microcom-
puters which together designed the
The biggest advantage that the EISA bus had over the Micro EISA bus were AST Research, Compaq
Channel bus is that legacy ISA expansion cards could be installed Computer, Epson, Hewlett-Packard,
into an EISA bus. This feature alone was enough to sway some NEC, Olivetti, Tandy, WYSE, and Zenith
people away from Micro Channel–equipped computers, because the Data Systems. Note that only two of
Micro Channel bus did not allow ISA expansion cards to be installed. these companies, Compaq Computer
and Hewlett-Packard, are big names in
In the late 1980s, you had a choice to make when you wanted to the microcomputer industry today.
purchase a new microcomputer. You could get a microcomputer with
an EISA bus (made by anybody but IBM) and use any legacy ISA
bus expansion cards you had on hand from older systems, or you
could buy a new microcomputer from IBM with its Micro Channel
Architecture bus and buy all new expansion boards to fit into it.
The EISA bus is nearly extinct. The most common bus in Pentium-
based microcomputers is the PCI bus.
VESA Local Bus

When you understand that VESA stands for Video Electronics
Standards Association, you’ve got a good idea about the purpose of the
VESA Local Bus (VL-Bus). A local bus is an extension of the memory
bus that connects main memory to the processor. This bus is generally
much faster than the system bus that connects to adapter cards.
The video performance of microcomputers in 1992 was so inade-
quate that VESA designed a local bus just to improve video perfor-
mance on microcomputers. The VL-Bus usually only had one
adapter slot, and it was designed to accept a high-performance video
adapter. The design of the VL-Bus was closely tied to the most pop-
ular microprocessor of the time, the Intel 80486. In fact, it was so
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 50
tightly tied to the 80486 that there was difficulty getting the
VL-Bus to work with the new Pentium processors. By that time,
Intel had designed its own local bus, the Peripheral Component
Interconnection (PCI) bus.
The VL-Bus is practically nonexistent in new network servers.
However, you will find two other local buses: the PCI bus and the
AGP bus.
Peripheral Component Interconnect

The Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus is a local bus devel-
oped by Intel Corporation. The PCI bus uses the principals devel-
oped by the VESA local bus. However, the PCI bus allows for more
than 1 expansion slot (usually 3 or 4) on the bus. The PCI bus
maintains the 33MHz bus speed and the 32-bit bus width intro-
duced by the VL-Bus. This gives the PCI bus a throughput of
132MBps (32 bits = 4 bytes; 4 bytes transferred 33 million times per
second is 132 million bytes).
The PCI bus is the standard bus in nearly all computers with Pentium
and higher processors. Most network servers have one or more PCI
buses. They might also have one or two ISA or EISA slots bridged off
the PCI bus for slow-speed legacy devices such as modems.
In 1995, the PCI 2.1 specification was released. It specified a PCI
bus running at 66MHz, twice the speed of the original PCI specifi-
cation of 33MHz.
PCI Hot Swap Know the benefits Some PCI buses have another unique characteristic, called PCI hot
TIP
of the PCI hot swap feature. swap. This technology allows PCI adapters to be installed, removed,
or upgraded without having to shut down the network server. This is
EXAM
a very nice feature because it means that failed PCI adapters can be
replaced without having to shut down the network server.
PCI-X
The PCI-X specification resulted from a PCI workgroup that was
led by Compaq Computer. The specification was accepted by the
PCI Special Interest Group (SIG) in 1999.
The PCI-X specification is an enhancement to the original PCI speci-
fication and it defines a 64-bit PCI bus that operates at 133MHz.
This gives a bus data transfer rate in excess of 1GB per second.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 51
The PCI-X technology is backward compatible with exiting PCI

systems. Conventional PCI adapters will operate in PCI-X systems
and PCI-X adapters will operate in conventional PCI systems
(although they will operate at the slower PCI bus speed).
The highest speed of PCI-X (133MHz) is available only if there
is one PCI-X slot on the PCI bus. Two PCI-X slots reduce the speed
of the PCI-X bus to 100MHz. Four PCI-X slots reduce the speed of
the PCI-X bus even further to 66MHz.
Accelerated Graphics Port

The Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), designed by Intel Corporation,
is another local bus that supports high-speed video graphics on
microcomputers. The AGP bus is 32 bits wide and operates at
66MHz. The APG also has two faster modes: 2x mode which
operates at 2 × 66 (or 132) MHz and 4x mode which operates at
4 × 66 (or 264) megahertz.
There is little reason to have a high-speed video display on a net-
work server. However, an AGP bus would be a great asset on a
workstation used for animation or high-speed graphic simulations.
Intelligent Input/Output
Intelligent Input/Output (I2O) is a technology designed to remove
the load created by input/output operations from the processor by
using specialized input/output processors (IOPs). The IOPs will
handle basic I/O operations, such as handling I/O interrupts, buffer-
ing of data between system memory and the I/O device, and the
actual data transfer. These I/O operations are currently handled by
the network server’s processor.
The I2O driver consists of two components: the OS-specific module
(OSM), which interfaces to the network operating system; and the
hardware device module (HDM), which handles communications
with the I/O device. This is done in an attempt to make the I/O
device driver independent of the network server operating system.
The first implementation of I2O will most likely be associated with
the PCI bus.
The I2O specifications, developer resources, and other materials that
were developed by the I2O Special Interest Group (I2O SIG) can be
found at www.intelligent-io.com/.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 52
InfiniBand Architecture
InfiniBand Architecture (IBA) is a proposed future high-speed
input/output system for network servers designed to replace current
bus-based input/output systems (such as PCI). IBA can use fiber-
optic cable or copper wire as a transmission medium. Transmission
speeds from 500MB per second to 6GB per second can be achieved.
IBA is being developed by the InfiniBand Trade Association, whose
membership includes Compaq, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel,
Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems.
For more information about IBA, visit the InfiniBand Trade
Association web site at www.infinibandta.org.
There is a good white paper from Dell on InfiniBand Architecture at
www.dell.com/downloads/global/vectors/infiniband.pdf.
This section discussed the various system buses that a server hard-
ware specialist might expect to find in a network server. When
selecting the network server, and considering the role that the net-
work server will perform in the network, select the network server
with the fastest bus (or multiple peer buses) that fits the budget of
the network server. The system bus cannot be upgraded without
replacing the entire system board, which is an expensive proposition.
MEMORY
NOTE
RAM, Is There SAM? Random

access means that the bytes of data
in main memory can be accessed in . 0.6 Identify the characteristics of different types of memory.
any order (at random). This implies Identify how the amount of memory affects network server
that there is, or was, such a thing as performance. Identify how interleaving of memory affects
sequential access memory (SAM), network server performance. Major memory topics include:
which is not the case.
• Amount of memory
• Memory interleaving
• Type of memory
Main or system memory for network servers is random access
memory (RAM).
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 53
There are two basic types of RAM: dynamic RAM (DRAM), and sta-
NOTE
tic RAM (SRAM). Dynamic RAM needs to be refreshed many times Future Memory Technology In the
per second to maintain data. Static RAM will maintain data stored in very near future, you should expect to
it without a refresh. Because there is no refresh cycle, static RAM is see new memory technology in net-
work servers. Mirroring of memory for
faster than dynamic RAM. Unfortunately, static RAM is rather expen-
fault tolerance and memory hot swap
sive and therefore it is not used except in special cases such as Level 2
technologies should be available very
processor cache. Dynamic RAM is utilized as main memory. shortly.
Amount of Memory
As a general rule, there is no such thing as too much memory in a
NOTE
Memory Measurements Memory is
network server. In network servers, RAM is used not only to hold measured in kilobytes, megabytes, or
programs to be executed, but also for caching frequently accessed gigabytes. However, computers use
files (in the file and print server environment), and caching fre- base 2 (or binary) arithmetic rather
than base 10 (or decimal) arithmetic.
quently accessed web pages (in the web server environment). The
Everything in computers is measured
more RAM in a network server that uses virtual memory technology
and addressed as a power of 2. Two
(also known as paging), the less likely that paging will have to occur. raised to the 10th power (210) is
Paging refers to the process of writing unused portions of program to 1024, which is close to 1000 (102).
disk to free up memory. The process of writing to a disk drive is The term “kilo” historically indicates
very slow when compared to memory access speeds. If paging in a 1000, and kilobyte is the term that is
virtual memory operating system can be avoided, the overall perfor- used to indicate 1024 bytes. In gen-
mance of the network server will be improved. eral usage outside of the computer
field, however, kilo means 1000. This
The disk storage area used by virtual memory systems is usually leads to a great deal of confusion.
called a paging file or a swap file.
Memory Interleaving
One way to speed up access to main memory is to divide it into sec-
tions so that the processor can access alternate sections at the same
time, thus avoiding having to wait for memory to finishing process-
ing one request before processing another (known as a wait state). A
two-way interleave means that main memory has been divided into
two sections. A four-way interleave means that main memory has
been divided into four sections.
Memory Types
Several types of memory are common in network servers. Memory is
categorized by several different characteristics.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 54
Memory Form Factors

NOTE
What is Virtual Memory? Virtual

One way to categorize memory is its physical form factor. Memory
memory is a technique used by
sophisticated network server operat- form factors include single in-line memory modules (SIMMs), dual
ing systems to make the network in-line memory modules (DIMMs), and direct Rambus RIMMs.
server appear to have more main A SIMM is a small printed circuit board with memory chips
memory than it has actually installed.
attached. It is approximately 4 1/4” wide and has 72 contacts or pins
The technique involves using disk
on the bottom edge. There are 72 pins on each side of a SIMM, but
space as a substitute for main mem-
they are connected together electrically. SIMMs can transfer 32 bits
ory. Pages of memory (usually 2K or
4K in size) that aren’t currently of data at a time. Because memory data buses are usually 64 bits
required by program that are in main wide, SIMMs must be installed in pairs. Figure 1.1 shows a diagram
memory are written to disk and of a 72-pin SIMM.
removed from main memory. The
A DIMM is slightly larger than a SIMM, usually 5 1/4” wide. DIMMs
freed-up main memory page can then
have 168 pins on the bottom edge and can transfer data 64 bits at a
be utilized by a program that currently
time. A DIMM actually has 84 pins on each side of the connector
needs the memory. When the page
that was written to disk is needed, it edge. DIMMs have two notches in the bottom edge of the DIMM to
is copied back from the disk drive into prevent the insertion of a DIMM with the incorrect type of memory
main memory. The process of reading into a memory slot. Figure 1.2 shows a diagram of a DIMM.
and writing the disk is very much
slower than reading and writing main
memory, but without virtual memory,
some programs would not be able to
run, or fewer programs could be run
simultaneously.
NOTE
Smaller SIMMs There was also a

30-pin SIMM that was only 3 1/2”
wide. This form factor is not often
seen in modern network servers.
FIGURE 1.1
Single in-line memory module.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 55
FIGURE 1.2
A dual in-line memory module.
A RIMM (RIMM is a trademark of Rambus, Inc.) is a direct

Rambus memory module and is the same physical size as a DIMM,
but it has 184 pins rather than 168 pins. RIMMs transfer data in
16-bit chunks. The memory chips on RIMMs are Rambus direct
random access memory (RDRAM). To help dissipate the heat gener-
ated by the RDRAM chips, they are covered with aluminum heat
spreaders. Figure 1.3 shows a diagram of a RIMM. RIMMs are
available in sizes of 64MB, 128MB, and 256MB.
Memory Technologies
Memory can also be categorized by the memory technology utilized.
Important memory technologies include extended data out (EDO)
DRAM, synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate synchro-
nous DRAM (DDR SDRAM), and direct Rambus (RDRAM)
Extended Data Out DRAM

EDO, SDRAM, RDRAM Memory
TIP
EDO DRAM is faster than conventional DRAM because it can start
accessing the next chunk of memory while it is sending a chunk of Know the characteristics of EDO,
SDRAM, and RDRAM memory.
memory to the processor. EDO DRAM access speeds are measured
EXAM
in nanoseconds with 60ns and 70ns being common speeds.
Synchronous DRAM
Instead of having its access speeds measured in nanoseconds,
SDRAM synchronizes itself with the memory bus, thus eliminating
waits between memory accesses. Common speeds are 66MHz,
100MHz, and 133MHz.
FIGURE 1.3
Direct Rambus memory module (RIMM).
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 56
Double Data Rate Synchronous DRAM

Double Data Rate (DDR) DRAM supports data transfers at the
beginning and at the end of each clock cycle (data transfers are
usually only done once per clock cycle), effectively doubling the
memory chip’s data throughput. Common speeds are 66MHz,
100MHz, and 133MHz.
Direct Rambus
Direct Rambus (RDRAM) is a radically different memory architecture
developed by Rambus Incorporated. It does provide very fast data
transfers compared to the more traditional SDRAM. Speeds up to
800MHz can be achieved. This high speed comes at a high cost.
However, this is the fastest memory technology currently available
for network servers.
Memory Error Checking

It is possible for errors to occur in memory modules. There are a
couple techniques available to handle memory errors and ensure
data integrity.
Memory parity is an historical way to detect memory errors.
However, parity can detect only single bit errors and cannot correct
the error that it detects. Parity memory is rarely utilized in network
servers. Some memory has no error checking at all, and it is usually
referred to as nonparity memory.
ECC and Non-ECC Memory Error Correction Code (ECC) is a more sophisticated method of
TIP
Know the difference between data protection in that it cannot only detect single bit errors but can
Error Correcting Code and non- correct them as well.
EXAM
ECC memory.
Many desktop computer systems use neither parity nor ECC data
integrity techniques to keep the cost of the system low. In network
servers, where data integrity is critical, however, ECC memory
should be selected.
When selecting network server hardware and there is a choice
Buffered, Unbuffered, Registered between ECC memory and non-ECC memory, pick the ECC
TIP
Memory Know the meaning and memory even though it will raise the cost of the system.
purpose of buffered, unbuffered,
EXAM
and registered memory.

Buffered Memory and Registered Memory
Buffers and registers are techniques used to increase the amount of
memory that can be installed in a network server by amplifying con-
trol signals in the memory chips. For EDO memory, the technique
is called buffering. For SDRAM, the technique is called registering.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 57
Buffering and registering allow more memory modules to be sup-
NOTE
ported in the network server. Therefore, when using EDO memory, Putting It All Together Putting all
more buffered EDO memory modules can be installed in a network the memory characteristics together,
server than unbuffered EDO memory modules. you will see memory modules descrip-
tions that combine various descrip-
Buffered and unbuffered EDO memory modules cannot be mixed tors, such as the following:
in the same system. In fact the memory modules are keyed to pre- • Unbuffered SDRAM
vent the accidental insertion of the wrong type of memory module
into the memory slot. • Buffered ECC ECO DIMM
• Unbuffered EDO DIMM
For SDRAM, more registered SDRAM memory modules can be
installed in a network server than unregistered SDRAM memory • EDO SIMM
modules. Registered and unregistered SDRAM modules cannot • ECC registered DIMM
be mixed in the same system. Again, the SDRAM modules are
• ECC unbuffered SDRAM
keyed to prevent the accidental insertion of the wrong type of
memory module into the memory slot. Check the documentation that came
with the network server for the type of
For a complete description of computer memory, see the memory required for upgrading mem-
Kingston Ultimate Memory Guide (all 110 pages of it) at ory in the network server.
www.kingston.com/tools/umg/default.asp.
This section discussed the various types of system memory that the
server hardware specialist might encounter in a network server.
When selecting the memory for a network server, and considering
the role that the network server will perform in the network, pur-
chase as much memory as the budget for the network server will
allow. For network servers, it is highly recommended that ECC
memory be obtained, due to its capability to detect and correct
single bit errors in the memory itself.
Consider scalability when purchasing a new network server. How
many memory slots are available? How many memory slots will be
available after the memory specified in the original memory configu-
ration is installed? If the new network server will have 512MB of
memory installed, are there four 128MB memory modules installed
or are there two 256MB memory modules installed? Or is the
512MB of memory composed of eight 64MB memory modules?
The more memory modules installed, the fewer memory expansion
slots that will be available for the addition of memory in the future.
In fact, in the case of the eight 64MB memory modules, it might be
the case that they have to be removed and replaced entirely to
upgrade the network server to 1024MB of memory.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 58
DISK SUBSYSTEMS
. 0.7 Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the various types
of disk subsystems. Content may include the following:
• Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE/ATA)
• Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE/ATA2)
• Ultra ATA / Ultra DMA
• Serial ATA
• Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
• Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology
(S.M.A.R.T.)
• Fibre Channel
• Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL)
• Serial Storage Architecture (SSA)
• Storage area network (SAN)
• Network-attached storage (NAS)
The disk subsystem is a very important component in network
servers. Not only is the proper selection of the amount of disk stor-
NOTE
Disk Subsystem Transfer Rates

Because most disk channels transfer age important, but the type of disk drives used, the rotational speed
bits in parallel (usually 8 bits or 16 of disk drives, and the data transfer rate of the disk subsystem is of
bits), the transfer rates for disk great importance in ensuring top performance of the network server.
subsystems are measured in
megabytes (MB). The faster the rotational speed of the disk drives, the faster that the
disk drives can theoretically transfer data. Ultra ATA disk drives can
have rotational speeds up to 10,000rpms. The top speed for SCSI
disk drives is 15,000rpms.
Integrated Drive Electronics

Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE/ATA) is a specification for an inter-
face to access mass storage devices, such as hard disk drives and
CD-ROM drives in a network server. In 1994, the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved the IDE specification
as the AT Attachment (ATA) standard. IDE and ATA refer to
the same thing.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 59
An IDE/ATA adapter can have two channels, with a maximum of two

disk drives per channel. This means that an IDE/ATA adapter can
have up to four disk drives attached to it. Each channel (actually a rib-
bon cable with 40 conductors using 40-pin connectors) can be up to
18 inches long. The short length of the IDE/ATA channel limits the
use of IDE/ATA to disk drives that are internal to the network server.
The actual controller for IDE/ATA disk drives is on the disk drive
itself. When two IDE/ATA disk drives are attached to one channel,
they must be set to master and slave roles. The disk controller on the
master drive actually controls both disk drives in this arrangement.
IDE/ATA technology can transfer data at a rate of 3.3 to 8.3
megabytes per second (MBps).
IDE/ATA technology uses a technique called programmed input/
output (PIO) to move data from the disk drive to the memory of the
computer. PIO requires that the processor of the network server be
involved in the data transfer. In other words, using IDE/ATA tech-
nology puts a load on the processor of the network server.
Because the IDE/ATA interface is relatively easy to implement (which
translates into lower costs), IDE/ATA disk drives are often found in
desktop computer systems where the limits of 18-inch channels and
4 disk drives are acceptable. IDE/ATA disk drives are seldom found
in network server except for entry-level workgroup servers.
Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics

Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE/ATA-2) is an enhanced
version of the original IDE specification. EIDE was adopted as the
ATA-2 standard by ANSI in 1996. The differences between IDE
and EIDE are that EIDE can transfer data faster and support larger
hard disk drives than IDE. EIDE can transfer data at a rate of 11.3
to 16.5 megabytes per second. EIDE is also called Fast IDE or Fast
ATA.
Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA

The use of direct memory access (DMA) allows data to be moved
from the disk drive to main memory without the computer’s proces-
sor being involved in the process. For the processor, using DMA for
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 60
disk data transfer to memory is much more efficient than using PIO
used by IDE and EIDE technology.
The ATA adapter is still restricted to two channels with two disk
drives per channel, but using DMA disk transfers can be much
faster. There are currently three versions of Ultra ATA:
á Ultra ATA 33, or Ultra DMA 33, can transfer data at speeds
of up to 33MBps.
of up to 66MBps.
of up to 100MBps.
Ultra ATA 66 and Ultra ATA 100 require a different cable than that
NOTE
Ultra Controversy The high transfer used by Ultra ATA 33, EIDE, and IDE technologies. The cables for
speeds offered by Ultra ATA 100 are these faster modes use 80 conductors in the cable rather than 40
considered by some people to be very conductors in the cable. However, the connector used for Ultra ATA
misleading in that although it is true
66 and Ultra ATA 100 is still a 40-pin connector.
that the ATA channel can support
these very high transfer speeds, there
are currently no ATA disk drives that
can sustain such speeds. The trans-
Serial ATA
fer rate of the fastest ATA disk drives All versions of the ATA specification up to now have used a parallel
currently available is 40MBps. data transfer mechanism. (Multiple bits that represent data travel
down the ATA ribbon cable in parallel wires.) Work is under way to
create a new ATA specification that uses a serial data transfer mecha-
nism. (Bits travel down the ATA cable one after the other.) Because
serial ATA uses serial transmission, its speed is specified in megabits
per second (Mbps), whereas parallel ATA specifies its speed as
megabytes per second (MBps). The first serial ATA specification is
known as Serial ATA/1500, which means the transmission speed is
1500Mbps (1.5 gigabits per second). Because of the overhead of ser-
ial transmissions, this translates into approximately 150MBps.
The advantages of serial ATA over parallel ATA are as follows:
á A cable length of up to 1 meter (compared to 18 inches for
parallel ATA).
á A thinner (4 wire) and more flexible serial ATA cable replaces
the current flat 40-wire or 80-wire ribbon cable used by
parallel ATA.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 61
á The first version of serial ATA will support transfer speeds of

up to 150MBps. (Ultra ATA 100, the fastest parallel ATA
specification, has a maximum transfer rate of 100MBps.)
á Future versions of serial ATA will support data transfer rates of
300MBps and 600MBps.
The major supporters of serial ATA are Intel Corporation, APT

Technologies, computer makers; Dell and IBM, and disk drive
manufacturers; Maxtor, Quantum, and Seagate.
For more information on serial ATA, read the Dell white paper on
serial ATA at www.dell.com/us/en/biz/
topics vectors_2000-sata.htm?clkd=iwm.
You can find additional information on serial ATA at the Serial ATA
Working Group web page at www.serialata.org.
Small Computer System Interface

The Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), which is pronounced
“scuzzy,” began life in 1979 as SASI (Shugart Associates Systems
Interface). SCSI is significant for many reasons: It is a bus controller,
not a disk controller; many devices can be attached to a single bus;
and SCSI devices can be internal or external to the computer system.
SCSI-1
The original SCSI standard adopted by the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1979 was renamed to SCSI-1 when the
SCSI-2 standard was adopted in 1984. The original SCSI bus was 8
bits wide and could transfer up to 5MBps. The SCSI-1 bus could
have up to 7 SCSI devices attached. The maximum length of the
SCSI-1 bus was 6 meters. The SCSI-1 bus used 50-pin connectors.
SCSI-2
The SCSI-2 standard was approved by ANSI in 1994. It offered
many improvements over the SCSI-1 standard. A new physically
smaller 68-pin connector was used by SCSI-2 devices. The SCSI-2
standard defined both 8-bit-wide (which used a 50-pin connector)
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 62
and 16-bit-wide (which used the 68-pin connector) buses. The 16-
bit version was known as Wide SCSI, causing the 8-bit bus to be
called Narrow SCSI. A higher transfer speed, 10MBps, was specified
as Fast SCSI. Both the Fast Narrow SCSI and the Slow Wide SCSI
could transfer data at 10MBps. There was also a combination Fast
Wide SCSI that could transfer data at 20MBps. A Wide SCSI bus
can support 15 devices rather than the normal 7 devices of SCSI-1
or Narrow SCSI-2. SCSI-2 also introduced Differential SCSI (later
called High Voltage Differential (HVD) SCSI) that could have a
cable length of 25 meters.
SCSI-3
Unlike the SCSI-1 and SCSI-2 standards, the SCSI-3 specification is
NOTE
Confused? Don’t confuse Ultra 2 actually a set of several standards. SCSI-3 maintained the parallel
SCSI and SCSI 2! Ultra 2 SCSI is a bus of SCSI-1 and SCSI-2, but it also added Serial SCSI standards
SCSI-3 standard that can transfer (Fibre Channel, Serial Storage Architecture, and IEEE 1394). The
data at 40MBps. SCSI-2 is the pre-
Low-Voltage Differential (LVD) SCSI signaling system was intro-
decessor to the SCSI-3 standard that
duced with SCSI-3.
can transfer data at a maximum of
20MBps (for the Fast Wide variant). The SCSI-3 standard has led to faster SCSI buses. Table 1.2 summa-
rizes the SCSI-3 standards. Notice the marketing terms for the different
SCSI standards. SCSI-3 devices use 50-pin or 68-pin connectors. The
higher speed SCSI-3 standards use 68-pin connectors exclusively. The
internal 68-pin connector is often referred to as a high density (HD)
68-pin connector. The external 68-pin connector is often referred to as a
very high density cable interconnect (VHDCI) connector. Table 1.3 lists
SCSI cable lengths, cable types, and devices per channel.
TABLE 1.2
SUMMARY OF SCSI S TA N D A R D S
SCSI Marketing Bus Speed Bus Width Transfer
Standard Term (MHz) Speed MB/s
SCSI-1 5 8 bit 5
SCSI-2 Fast 10 8 bit 10
SCSI-2 Wide 5 16 bit 10
SCSI-2 Fast Wide 10 16 bit 20
SCSI-3 Ultra 20 8 bit 20
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 63
SCSI Marketing Bus Speed Bus Width Transfer

Standard Term (MHz) Speed MB/s
SCSI-3 Ultra Wide 20 16 bit 40
SCSI-3 Ultra2 40 8 bit 40
SCSI-3 Ultra2 Wide 40 16 bit 80
SCSI-3 Ultra160 40DT* 16 bit 160
SCSI-3 Ultra320 80DT* 16 bit 320
SCSI-3 Fibre 1 bit 100
Channel (serial) megabits
per second
SCSI-3 IEEE 1394 1 bit 400

(serial) megabits
per second
*DT, Double Transition Clocking. A timing technique that allows transmission of

data at both the beginning and at the end of a clock cycle, effectively doubling the
amount of data that can be transmitted in a given period of time.
TABLE 1.3
SCSI C A B L E L E N G T H , C A B L E T Y P E , AND DEVICES
PER CHANNEL
SCSI Maximum Cable Single- HVD LVD

Standard Number Type Ended Cable Cable
of Devices Cable
SCSI-1 7 50-pin 6 - -
SCSI-2 Fast 7 50-pin 3 25 -
SCSI-2 Wide 15 68-pin 6 25 -
SCSI-2 Fast 15 68-pin 3 25 -
Wide
SCSI-3 7 50-pin 3 25 -
Ultra
SCSI-3 7 68-pin 3 25 -
Ultra Wide
SCSI-3 7 50-pin - - 12
Ultra2
continues
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 64
TABLE 1.3 continued

SCSI C A B L E L E N G T H , C A B L E T Y P E , AND DEVICES
PER CHANNEL
SCSI Maximum Cable Single- HVD LVD

of Devices Cable
SCSI-3 15 68-pin HD - - 12
Ultra2 Wide internal
68-pin
VHDCI
external
SCSI-3 15 68-pin HD - - 12
Ultra160 internal
68-pin
VHDCI
external
SCSI-3 15 68-pin - - 12
Ultra320 internal
68-pin
VHDCI
external
For more information about all versions of the SCSI specification,

visit the SCSI Trade Association web site at www.scsita.org.
Self-Monitoring, Analysis and

Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.)
Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) is a
technology often found on Ultra ATA and SCSI disk drives installed
in network servers. S.M.A.R.T is a disk drive reliability prediction
technique that can predict when a disk drive is going to fail by mon-
itoring various performance parameters such as the following:
á Head flying height
á Temperature
á Spin-up time
á Retries
á Internal error logs
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 65
The reporting component of S.M.A.R.T. will notify the system that
NOTE
the drive is about to fail, thus allowing time for the system adminis- Why Is It Spelled Fibre? The original
trator to take actions (such as performing a backup and replacing Fiber Channel specification supported
the disk drive before it fails) to avoid loss of data. fiber-optic cable only. Support for cop-
per cable was later added to the Fiber
Channel specification. It was decided
Fibre Channel to use the French spelling of Fiber
(Fibre) in the name Fibre Channel in
Fibre Channel is an ANSI standard serial data transfer architecture. hopes that this would reduce the nat-
In one form, it is a version of serial SCSI-3. In another form, it can ural connection of Fibre Channel with
use TCP/IP to transfer data. Fibre Channel is an external bus that fiber-optic cable. A Fibre Channel can
allows tens, hundreds, and thousands of devices, such as disk drives, be implemented using either fiber-
to be connected to a single Fibre Channel. Fibre Channel can trans- optic cable or copper cable.
mit data at up to 2GBps using fiber-optic cable.
Fibre Channel can be implemented using one of several different
topologies: the fabric topology, the point-to-point topology, and the
arbitrated loop topology. The most common of these topologies is
the arbitrated loop topology.
For more information about Fibre Channel, see the Fibre Channel
Industry Association (FCIA) web site at www.fibrechannel.com.
Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop

TIP FC-AL SAN Know that FC-AL can
The most common Fibre Channel implementation is Fibre Channel support a large number of disk
Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL). FC-AL can transfer data at 100MBps. drives in a SAN.
EXAM
A FC-AL can have up to 127 ports connected in a loop configura-

tion. FC-AL can use either fiber-optic cable (with a length of up to
10 kilometers) or copper cable (with a length of up to 30 meters).
FC-AL makes a good choice for implementing an external bus
with many disk drives. It is one way to implement a storage area
network (SAN).
Serial Storage Architecture

Serial Storage Architecture (SSA) was originally created by IBM in
1991, but it has been adopted as an ANSI standard as of 1994. SSA
supports several different topologies, but the most common is the
SSA loop. SSA can support up to 127 nodes in a single loop. SSA
adapters for an Intel-based network server can support simultaneous
full-duplex 40MBps connections. SSA loops can use either shielded
copper cables or fiber-optic cables for connecting devices in the loop.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 66
Storage Area Network

A storage area network (SAN) is very similar to a network-attached
storage (NAS) system, except that the storage is accessed via a dedi-
cated network. A SAN is usually implemented using high-speed
technology such as Fibre Channel or Serial Storage Architecture.
Figure 1.4 shows a diagram of a typical SAN. SANs are generally
more expensive to implement than network-attached storage.
Network-Attached Storage
As the name implies, network-attached storage (NAS) is disk or tape
storage attached to a network that is accessed via the network itself
using the common network systems (for instance, Ethernet or Token
Ring) and common network protocols, such as the Network File
System (NFS), the Common Internet File System (CIFS) for
Windows networks, FTP, and HTTP. Figure 1.5 shows an example
of a NAS system. Network clients communicate directly with the
intelligent storage server.
Client Client Client
Local Area Network using standard network protocols (TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, NetBEUI)
Storage Area Network

using data access protocols such as
SCSI and Fibre Channel
fibre channel switch fibre channel switch
Disk
FIGURE 1.4 Disk
Disk Disk Disk Disk
Storage area network. Disk Disk Disk
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 67
Server Server FIGURE 1.5

Client Client Network-attached storage.
LAN using standard network protocol

(TCP, IPX/SPX, NetBEUI)
Network-Attached Storage (NAS)
This section discussed the disk subsystem for a network server.
When selecting the disk subsystem for a network server and consid-
ering the role that the network server will perform in the network,
acquire the fastest disk drives available. When planning for storage
requirements, remember that there is no such thing as too much
disk storage on a network server. Plan for expandability. Consider
the number of disk drives that will fit into the network server
chassis, as well as the number of disk drives that can be attached
to a single controller bus.
In general, SCSI disk drives offer the most expandability and the
fastest transfer rates. However, Ultra ATA disk drives are good choices
for entry-level servers that can tolerate the limited number of disk
drives (four) that can be attached to a single ATA disk controller.
Always buy disk drives that support S.M.A.R.T. technology.
S.M.A.R.T technology can be found on both ATA and SCSI
disk drives.
continues
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 68
continued
Because disk drives are the only mechanical devices (other than cool-
ing fans) in a network server, there is a good chance that some of
them will fail during the useful life of the network server. Plan for
fault tolerance of the disk subsystem. Always use RAID technology
on network servers; hardware RAID has many advantages, but does
cost more to implement than software-based RAID. Software-based
RAID does use some of the processing power of the network server
processor, but any RAID is better than no RAID at all.
NETWORK SYSTEMS
NOTE
Network Transmission Rates Most

network communications systems
transmit data in a serial fashion and . 0.8 Identify different network subsystems. Successfully attach
their transmission rates are measured various devices to and remove various devices from the
in megabits (Mb). Note: This is network subsystem. Content may include the following:
megabits, not megabytes. Yet, another
• Ethernet
source of confusion.
• Token Ring
• Network interface cards (NICs)
• Network devices
• Network protocols
• Network management
The two most popular network systems are Ethernet and Token
Ring. These two networking systems are discussed in this section.
The network devices required to implement a network are also
discussed. Lastly, network management techniques are discussed.
Ethernet (IEEE 802.3)

NOTE
PARC Smart Ethernet was not the

only technology invented at Xerox’s Ethernet is a low-level protocol used to create networks. Ethernet was
PARC. The personal computer, the created by Bob Metcalfe and Dave Boggs at the Palo Alto Research
graphical user interface, and the Center (PARC) of Xerox Corporation in the early 1970s. The origi-
mouse were also created at PARC. nal “experimental” Ethernet ran at slightly less than 3Mbps.
In the late 1970s, Xerox, Intel, and Digital Equipment Corporation
cooperated to get Ethernet standardized by the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) project 802.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 69
The standardized Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) has a data transfer rate
NOTE
of 10Mbps and uses a media access method known as CSMA/CD DIX Connector The 15-pin connector
(carrier sense multiple access with collision detection). Ethernet is that was standard on most Ethernet
the most popular networking system in the world. adapters until a few years ago is
often referred to as a DIX connector
Faster versions of Ethernet have been created since the original in honor of the three companies that
Ethernet standard was finalized. Fast Ethernet (802.3u), which oper- proposed the Ethernet standard
ates at 100Mbps, and Gigabit Ethernet (802.3z), which operates at (Digital, Intel, and Xerox). The correct
1000Mbps, are the names of the new, faster Ethernet standards. name for this connector is the
Attachment Unit Interface (AUI) con-
nector. No wonder it was called the
Standard Ethernet DIX connector.
The following sections cover the 10Mbps Ethernet standards. The
original Ethernet is now known as 10BASE-5. The next version of
Ethernet that used a much thinner cable is known as 10BASE-2. For
many years these were the only Ethernet standards. However, the need
NOTE
Project 802? The IEEE project 802
for cheaper cabling prompted the creation of the 10BASE-T Ethernet was so named because it was started
standard using twisted-pair cabling. The use of fiber-optic cable for in February of 1980.
increased cable length led to the 10BASE-F Ethernet standard.
10BASE-5
The original Ethernet used a thick coaxial cable (RG-8) to connect
computers. The maximum cable length was 500 meters. The name
10BASE-5 indicates that the speed is 10Mbps, it uses baseband
transmission, and the maximum cable length is 500 meters. A
10BASE-5 network is wired as a bus (a long length of cable) with
computers attached at various points along the length of the cable.
10BASE-2
The thick coaxial cable used by the original Ethernet was not only
costly, but also very difficult to work with due to its thickness. The
10BASE-2 specification for Ethernet uses a thinner coaxial cable
(RG-58) that is more flexible and cheaper—hence the names thinnet
and cheapernet, which are often used to refer to 10BASE-2. As the
name implies, 10BASE-2 has a speed of 10Mbps, uses baseband
transmission, and has a maximum cable length of 185 meters. Yes, it
is 185 meters, not 200 meters as the name implies. Like 10BASE-5,
10BASE-2 is also wired as a bus.
10BASE-T
The 10BASE-T specification for Ethernet changed the Ethernet
world forever. Rather than coaxial cable, 10BASE-T uses
unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cable that is similar to phone cable.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 70
10BASE-T networks are popular due to the ease of installation and

the fact that the cable is relatively inexpensive. 10BASE-T networks
are wired as a star, with each computer’s cable running to a central
point (Ethernet 10BASE-T hub). The maximum cable length from
the computer to the hub is 100 meters. This gives a maximum
computer to computer distance of 200 meters. The cable used by
10BASE-T contains 4 pairs (8 wires) and it is terminated by using
an RJ-45 connector.
10BASE-F
The 10BASE-F specification is for 10Mbps Ethernet running over
fiber-optic cable rather than copper wire. Maximum cable length is
2 kilometers.
IN THE FIELD
BIT SIZE
The natural image of a data bit is something that is rather small.

Just how big is a bit sent over 802.3 Ethernet?
You need several pieces of information to calculate this. First you
need to know the speed of light in a vacuum, which is 300,000
kilometers per second. You already know that that 10 million bits
per second are sent on standard Ethernet. The last piece of infor-
mation that you need is the medium propagation speed of the dif-
ferent media used by standard Ethernet.
The formula for calculating the length of a bit is
Medium propagation speed × Speed of light in a vacuum / Speed
of Ethernet in megabits per second = Size of bit in meters
The propagation speed of electrons through the medium is
expressed as a fraction of the speed of light(c).
Medium Propagation Speed Propagation Speed in
as Fraction of (c) Kilometers per Second
Thick coaxial cable .77c 231,000

(RG-58)
Thin coaxial cable .65c 195,000

(RG-58)
Twisted-pair cable .59c 177,000
Fiber-optic cable .66c 198,000
Plugging these numbers into the formula, you get the following bit
lengths for 10Mbps Ethernet.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 71
Medium Propagation Ethernet Speed Bit Length

Speed in in Millions of in Meters
Kilometers Bits per Second
per Second
Thick coaxial 231,000 10Mbps 23.1

cable (10BASE-5)
Thin coaxial 195,000 10Mbps 19.5

cable (10BASE-2)
Twisted-pair 177,000 10Mbps 17.7

cable (10BASE-T)
Fiber-optic 198,000 10Mbps 19.8

cable (10BASE-F)
And you thought bits were small! In standard Ethernet (10Mbps), a

bit is approximately 20 meters long, depending on the medium
being used. The length of a bit represents the distance that an
electron (the bit) can travel through the medium in 1 second. The
length of a bit in Fast Ethernet (100Mbps) is approximately 2
meters; because Fast Ethernet is 10 times as fast as standard
Ethernet, the distance traveled by an electron is 1/10 as far.
Fast Ethernet
The Fast Ethernet standard changes the speed of Ethernet from
10Mbps to 100Mbps. Fast Ethernet can use twisted-pair cable or
fiber-optic cable. The IEEE specification for Fast Ethernet is 802.3u.
Fast Ethernet can use Category 5 twisted-pair cables up to 100
meters long.
IN THE FIELD
TWISTED-PAIR CABLE CATEGORIES
The EIA/TIA (Electronics Industry Association / Telecommunications

Industry Association) has established categories of unshielded
twisted-pair (UTP) cable. In general, the higher the category number,
the more twists per foot in the cable, and the greater bandwidth avail-
able on the cable. Listed here are the category names, bandwidth,
twists per foot, and common uses of the UTP cable categories:
• Category 1 (Cat 1), not rated
• Category 2 (Cat 2), 2MHz
Used for: voice, alarm wire
continues
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 72
continued
• Category 3 (Cat 3), 16MHz, 4.8–9.6 twists/foot
Used for: 10BASE-T, 4Mbps Token Ring
• Category 4 (Cat 4), 20MHz, 12–20 twists/foot
Used for: 10BASE-T, 16Mbps Token Ring
• Category 5 (Cat 5), 100MHz, 15–24 twists/foot
Used for: 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, 1000BASE-T, 16Mbps
Token Ring
• Category 5E (Cat 5E), 100MHz, 15–24 twists/foot
Used for: 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, 1000BASE-T
• Category 6 (Cat 6), 250MHz (proposal)
100BASE-T
The 100BASE-T specification is actually three separate specifica-
tions: 100BASE-TX, 100BASE-T4, and 100BASE-F.
100BASE-TX uses the same wiring scheme as 10BASE-T, but the
unshielded twisted-pair cable must meet the Category 5 specification
for it to work.
100BASE-T4 uses a twisted-pair cable with 4 pairs (8 wires), but the
twisted-pair cable can be Category 3, Category 4, or Category 5.
Very few companies make equipment, hubs and NICs, that can use
the 100BASE-T4 standard.
100BASE-F
100BASE-F is the specification for Fast Ethernet over fiber-optic
cable and it allows data transmission at 100Mbps for a maximum
cable length of up to 2 kilometers.
Gigabit Ethernet
There are specifications for Ethernet that are faster than Fast
Ethernet. Instead of calling the next Ethernet standard Faster
Ethernet, the name Gigabit Ethernet is used. Gigabit Ethernet
can transfer data at 1Gbps (or 1000Mbps). The Gigabit Ethernet
standard was ratified in 1998.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 73
1000BASE-T
Gigabit Ethernet using twisted-pair wiring is known as 802.3ab.
Gigabit Ethernet uses all four pairs of wires in a high-quality
unshielded twisted-pair (Category 5 or higher) cable. Maximum
cable length is 100 meters.
1000BASE-SX
The 1000BASE-SX specification is a 1-gigabit Ethernet standard
using fiber-optic cable. It is designed for low-cost fiber-optic cable
over distances of 220 meters to 550 meters. It comprises part of the
802.3z specification.
1000BASE-LX
The 1000BASE-LX specification is a 1-gigabit Ethernet standard
using fiber-optic cable that is designed for long distances using more
expensive single-mode fiber-optic cable over distances of up to 5
kilometers. It is also part of the 802.3z specification.
10 Gig Ethernet
The proposed 10-gigabit per second Ethernet standard is known as
802.3ae. For more information about the 10 Gig Ethernet standard,
check out the web site at www.10gea.org.
10 Gig Ethernet will use only fiber-optic cable as a transmission
medium. It is anticipated that the new standard will allow data
transmission speeds of 10Gbps for distances of 100 meters using
multimode fiber-optic cables and distances of at least 2 kilometers
using single-mode fiber-optic cable.
Token Ring (IEEE 802.5)

Token Ring is a low-level protocol used to create networks. Token
Ring was created by IBM and later standardized by IEEE as the
802.5 standard. The original Token Ring networks operated at
4Mbps. Later versions of Token Ring operated at 16Mbps. There is
a proposal for High-Speed Token Ring (HPTR) networks with
speeds up to 100Mbps. For more information on High-Speed Token
Ring, see the High-Speed Token Ring Alliance web site at
www.hstra.com.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 74
Token Ring networks use the token-passing method to access the

media rather than the CSMA/CD method used by Ethernet networks.
The original Token Ring networks used shielded twisted pair (STP)
cabling. The computer could be up to 100 meters away from the cen-
tral network device known as a multi station access unit (MSAU). More
recent versions of Token Ring use Category 5 unshielded twisted-pair
(UTP) cable, just like twisted-pair Ethernet networks.
Wireless Networks (IEEE 802.11)

Many people are interested in wireless networks, both in the corpo-
rate environment and for home networks. The IEEE has defined a
standard for wireless networks, known as 802.11. The wireless LAN
standard supports transmission of data at up to 11Mbps using a
radio frequency of 2.4GHz. Future versions of this standard will
likely double the data transmission rate.
An 802.11 network consists of access points (APs) that can be con-
nected together to support a relatively large network. The power out-
put of the AP dictates the distance that a computer (usually a laptop
computer) can be from the access point and still access the network.
Network Interface Cards

The Network Interface Card (NIC) is the adapter that is inserted into
a network server to allow it to be attached to the network. The NICs
installed in network server often are more sophisticated and intelli-
gent than NICs that would be used in client computers.
Because the NIC is a critical component of a network server, the
NIC should be inserted into a bus with the best possible bandwidth.
PCI buses offer the best bandwidth. A 64-bit NIC will perform
much better than a 32-bit NIC. A PCI bus that operates at 66Mbps
will outperform a PCI bus that operates at 33Mbps. The faster and
wider the PCI bus and matching PCI NIC, the better the network
connectivity for the network server.
Adapter Teaming
Multiple NICs are often found in network servers. In the past, how-
ever, multiple NICs were attached to different physical networks,
making the server available on all the attached networks. Although
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 75
multiple NICs might still serve the same purpose today, a technique
known as adapter teaming provides new capabilities.
Adapter teaming is the technique of using more than one NIC in a
network server to provide adaptive fault tolerance, adapter load bal- Multiple NICs Know the
TIP
ancing, or port aggregation. The network server operating system terms that deal with multiple
NICs in a network server: adapter
must support adapter teaming for it to be implemented on the net-
EXAM
teaming, adaptive fault tolerance,
work server. The following list describes the various capabilities that
adapter load balancing, and port
can be provided by using various forms of adapter teaming: aggregation.
á Adaptive or adapter fault tolerance. Allows multiple NICs to
be installed in a network server, all of which are attached to
the same network. Only one NIC, the primary NIC, will be
active. A secondary NIC in the team will be utilized when
there is a failure of the primary NIC in the team. The NICs in
the team may be running at different speeds.
á Adapter or adaptive load balancing. Allows multiple NICs to
be installed in the network server (up to eight), all of which are
attached to the network. The primary NIC will both receive
and transmit data, whereas the other NICs in the team share
the transmission load. All NICs in the team should run at the
same speed. If the primary NIC fails, one of the other NICs
will take over its function, thus providing fault tolerance.
á Port aggregation. Allows multiple NICs to act together to
NOTE
increase the bandwidth available to the network server. Magic Packet A magic packet is a
Requires an Ethernet switch that supports port aggregation. standard TCP/IP packet that contains
For example, four 100Mbps NICs could be used to provide the IP address of the destination com-
puter with WOL capabilities repeated
400Mbps total bandwidth to the network server.
16 times in the data portion of the
packet. Upon receipt of the magic
packet, the WOL NIC powers up the
Wake-On-LAN computer in which it is installed.
A recent addition to the functions that can be performed by a NIC
is called Wake-On-LAN (WOL). Wake-On-LAN technology enables
a network administrator to power up a computer with a WOL NIC
from anywhere on the network. A special TCP/IP packet, called a WOL and Its Magic Packet Know
TIP
magic packet, is sent to the NIC on the remote computer, which will how Wake-On-LAN and its magic
then power up the computer. This feature is handy for remote trou- packet operate.
EXAM
bleshooting and remote backup operations.

For more detailed information about a magic packet, see the web
site at www.amd.com/products/npd/overview/20212.html.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 76
Network Devices
Several different network devices can be used to create a network. As
a server hardware specialist, you should be familiar with the function
of these devices.
Repeater
A repeater is a network device that allows the use of longer cables
than specified by the network standards. In a 10BASE-5 Ethernet
network, which normally has a maximum single cable length of 500
meters, for instance, two 500 meters cables can be joined together
by a repeater to form a total network length of 1000 meters. The
repeater receives the signals from one cable segment and regenerates
the signals and sends them to the other cable segment. A repeater is
not an amplifier. Amplifying the signals would not only amplify the
data signal but the noise as well. That is why a repeater regenerates
the signal. A repeater can also act as a media converter. A coaxial
cable could be connected to one port and a fiber-optic cable could
be connected to the other port.
Hub
A hub is a network device used in an Ethernet network that uses
twisted-pair cabling. Each network computer is attached to the hub.
The hub is nothing more than a multiport repeater.
Bridge
A bridge is a network device that segregates two segments on the same
network. Bridges are often used to connect a network in a building to
a backbone network. The bridge will keep network traffic that is des-
tined for computers within the building local and only forward net-
work traffic to the backbone when the destination is a computer not
in the building. A bridge makes its decision based on the hardware
addresses of the source and destination computers. A bridge can be a
hardware device or a network server in the role of a bridge.
Switch
A switch is a network device that is basically a very high-speed
bridge. It creates a temporary link between the source and destina-
tion computers (based on hardware addresses) for the time it takes to
transmit a single data packet. Multiples of these temporary links can
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 77
be active simultaneously. A 100Mbps Ethernet switch effectively

gives each computer attached to it a full (unshared) 100Mbps band-
width. (The bandwidth of a 100Mbps Ethernet hub is shared among
the computers attached to it.) Some Ethernet switches can aggregate
the bandwidth of several ports to support the port aggregation func-
tion of network server NICs.
Router
Network Devices Know the func-
TIP
A router is a network device that moves data packets from one net- tion of the various network devices:
work to another based on the network address of the destination repeaters, hubs, bridges, switches,
EXAM
computer. The network address is also sometimes called the software and routers.
address. TCP/IP addresses and IPX/SPX addresses are software
addresses. A router can be a hardware device or a network server
operating in the role of a router.
Network Protocols
Network protocols are sets of rules that allow data and messages to go
from one computer to another over the network. There are literally
hundreds of network protocols, but luckily only a few of these are in
common use. The three most common network protocols are
TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, and NetBEUI. Other protocols that might be
encountered on a network include AppleTalk and DLC.
TCP/IP
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is cur-
rently the 500-pound gorilla of network protocols. TCP/IP is avail-
able on practically all computer systems, from the smallest home
computer to the largest super computer. Even successful network
operating systems, such as Novell NetWare, that had used their own
network protocols in the past, have switched to TCP/IP. However,
more important than the popularity of TCP/IP is the fact that it is
the protocol of the Internet. If you want to surf the web, you’ve got
to have TCP/IP.
IPX/SPX
The Internet Packet eXchange/Sequenced Packet eXchange (IPX/SPX)
protocol is a derivative of Xerox’s XNS (Xerox Network System)
protocol. It was the only protocol used with early versions of Novell
NetWare (versions 2 and 3 and 4) and is an option on NetWare
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 78
version 5. Other systems with a need to communicate with Novell

NetWare had to use IPX/SPX. Microsoft developed an IPX/SPX-
compatible protocol that is called NWLink (NetWare Link) for their
Windows operating systems. NWLink allows Microsoft operating
systems to communicate with Novell NetWare servers using IPX/SPX.
With NetWare 5 having a native TCP/IP protocol available, how-
ever, the days of IPX/SPX are probably numbered.
NetBEUI
NetBIOS Enhanced User Interface (NetBEUI) was developed
by IBM. The NetBIOS acronym stands for Network Basic
Input/Output System. So the full name would then be Network
Basic Input/Output System Enhance User Interface. Don’t you
just love it when acronyms are used to make other acronyms. IBM
used NetBEUI for early PC networks in its LAN Server product,
believing that PC networks would generally have fewer than 20
microcomputers on them.
The NetBIOS naming component of NetBEUI is still utilized in
Microsoft operating systems, even if the underlying protocol is
TCP/IP or NWLink. Microsoft developed NetBIOS over TCP/IP
and NetBIOS over NWLink to allow its network naming system to
operate regardless of the protocol being used on the network. Even
Novell had a version of NetBIOS over IPX in its NetWare operating
system to support the applications that used the early NetBIOS
naming convention.
Microsoft used NetBEUI for LAN Manager, Windows for
Workgroups, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT
operating systems. However, all of these Microsoft operating
systems supported other protocols as well. For backward
compatibility, it is available in Microsoft Windows 2000 as well.
NetBEUI works well only for small networks consisting of fewer
than approximately 20 computers. It is reliable and self-tuning, but
it cannot be routed. The lack of routability means that large net-
works cannot be built using NetBEUI as the protocol.
AppleTalk
The AppleTalk protocol was developed by Apple Computers to con-
nect Macintosh computers together in a small network. The original
AppleTalk could support up to 32 devices, over a distance of 1000
feet. The communications speed is 230,000 Kbps.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 79
AppleTalk Phase II increased the number of devices on a single

AppleTalk network to 254. The AppleTalk protocol is routable.
Some network operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows NT
Server 4, Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, and Novell NetWare 5,
support the AppleTalk protocol to allow Apple Macintosh comput-
ers to connect to their network.
Most Macintosh computers now use Ethernet and TCP/IP like most
other computers in the world, instead of AppleTalk.
DLC
The Data Link Control (DLC) protocol cannot be used to allow
computers on a network to communicate with each other. Rather it
is used as a mechanism to allow IBM mainframes to communicate
with microcomputers on a network.
The DLC protocol can also be used to communicate with network-
attached printers.
Network Management
As networks get larger and more complicated and the number of
qualified people available to manage the networks remains limited,
the need for software tools to help manage the network increases
dramatically. Luckily, several software network management tools
are available to make network management possible. The oldest and
most popular of these tools is the Simple Network Management
Protocol (SNMP), which is part of the TCP/IP protocol suite.
Nearly all network devices, including network servers and their
software, can be managed via SNMP, provided that SNMP agent
software is available and it has been installed. Several other manage-
ment technologies are also available, including the Desktop
Management Interface (DMI), the SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant
Enclosures (SAF-TE) technology, and SCSI Enclosure Services
(SES). All of these technologies are described on the following pages.
Simple Network Management Protocol

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a standard part
of the TCP/IP protocol suite. SNMP was originally defined to allow
management of network devices (such as routers and hubs) via
means of an SNMP agent installed on the device to be managed.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 80
The number of devices that can be managed by SNMP has been

greatly expanded to include microcomputers, network servers, and
some software packages (such as database servers). These additional
devices can be managed because SNMP agents (software) have been
written to monitor these devices.
The SNMP agent knows what items to monitor and manage on a
device by means of a Management Information Base (MIB). The
MIB is specific to the device being managed. SNMP agents can also
be configured to check for specific conditions to occur on the man-
aged device. When the condition is met, the SNMP agent can send
an alert to the SNMP management console. These conditions are
known as SNMP traps.
The SNMP management console is a software package that
communicates with the SNMP agents running on the managed
devices. The SNMP management console software displays the
status of the managed devices. For more information about using
SNMP see the “Working with SNMP”section in Chapter 5,
“4.0—Proactive Maintenance.”
Desktop Management Interface

The Desktop Management Interface (DMI) was designed by the
Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) as a way to collect informa-
tion about a computer’s operating environment and report it back to
a central information point. The desktop environment includes
hardware and software installed on the computer. The DMI specifi-
cation is designed to be independent of the operating system run-
ning on the computer. Translating information generated by DMI to
a form that can be used by SNMP is defined as well.
You can obtain information about DMI from the DMTF’s web site
at www.dmtf.org/spec/dmis.html.
SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosures

The SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosures (SAF-TE) specification
was created by Conner Peripherals, Incorporated (now n-Stor) and
Intel Corporation in 1995. The SAF-TE specification identifies a
methodology for the management of external enclosures containing
SCSI devices (disk drives). SAF-TE monitors the activity and condi-
tion of the devices in the SCSI enclosure and can report on alert
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 81
conditions specified by the user. This status information can also be

SAF-TE Net Know the purpose
TIP
displayed locally on the enclosure itself by means of status lights.
SAF-TE uses the SCSI channel itself as the communication mecha- and specifications of the SCSI
Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosures.
nism. SAF-TE can also generate SNMP alerts that can be sent to an
EXAM
SNMP management station on the network.
You can find a white paper on the SAF-TE specification at
www.andataco.com/support/whitepapers/safte.pdf .
SCSI Enclosure Services

A portion of the SCSI-3 standard defines the SCSI Enclosure
Services (SES) command set. This service performs the same basic
function of SAF-TE; however, it supports FC-AL enclosures as well
as SCSI enclosures.
This section discussed the network subsystem of the network server.
Which network technology (Ethernet or Token Ring) was one of the
topics of the holy wars of computing and networking in the early
1990s. It appears that Ethernet won that battle, as all new develop-
ment for faster networks has been using Ethernet.
With the advent of the use of twisted-pair wiring to implement net-
works, they are now much simpler to implement than they were in
the days of coaxial cable.
The protocol of choice today is TCP/IP, due to its flexibility and the
fact that it is the protocol used to access the Internet. TCP/IP is
available for most computers from the smallest desktop computer to
the largest supercomputer. However, TCP/IP does require more con-
figuration that most of the other protocols; but the use of DHCP
and APIPA has made that much less painful.
The use of SNMP to manage not only network devices, such as
routers and hubs, but also network servers, software applications
(such as database or email), and desktop computers has made the
task of managing large installations much easier. However, devices
that support SNMP agents still cost more than devices that do not
support SNMP agents. The SNMP management software is also
rather expensive to acquire.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 82
BACKUP HARDWARE
. 0.9 Identify various types of hardware used for backup systems.
Backup hardware types include:
• Tape drives
• Disk drives
• Other backup devices
To perform a backup (copying of the data and software on a network
server), some backup hardware must be available on the network
server. The most common backup hardware device (historically and
now) is some form of magnetic tape drive. Other backup hardware
devices can be used for backup operations, but these are much less
common than tape drives.
A backup hardware device is a required part of any network server
installation. Backup hardware devices can be expensive to purchase.
However, the consequences of not having a backup hardware device
on a network server, and thus not having a backup copy of the data
and software of the network server, can be far more expensive.
Tape Drives
Tape drives are most commonly used as the device for backup of the
data on a network server’s disk drives. There are a variety of tape
devices that use different tape formats for storing data. Many tape
drives can also compress the data before it is stored on the tape.
In most cases the compression ratio is 2:1. This has the effect of
doubling the storage capacity of the tape.
Quarter Inch Cartridge

The Quarter Inch Cartridge (QIC, pronounced “quick”) tape standard
was created by 3M in 1972. As the name implies, the tape used in
QIC is one-quarter inch wide. There have been many versions of the
QIC tape drives over the years. Table 1.4 summarizes QIC stan-
dards. Early QIC tape drives actually attached to the floppy disk
controller in the computer. Later versions could be attached to the
parallel port on the computer. Still later versions used the IDE hard
disk drive interface.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 83
The QIC standard has limited storage capacity and is used only in
entry-level network servers.
TABLE 1.4
QIC T A P E S TA N D A R D S
QIC QIC Cartridge Storage Capacity Interface
Standard Native/Compressed
QIC-40 DC-2000 40MB/80MB Floppy
QIC-80 MC-2120 125MB/250MB Floppy, parallel
QIC-80 MC-2120Extra 400MB/800MB Floppy, parallel
QIC-80XL MC-2120XL 170MB/340MB Floppy, parallel
QIC-3020XL MC-3020XL 680MB/1.36GB Floppy,
parallel, IDE
QIC-3020XL MC-3020Extra 1.6GB/3.2GB Floppy,
parallel, IDE
QIC-3095 MC-3095 4GB/8GB IDE, SCSI-2
QIC-3220 MC-3220 10GB/20GB SCSI-2
QIC-5010 DC-5010 16GB/32GB SCSI-2
QIC-5210 DC-5210 25GB/50GB SCSI-2
Travan Cartridge Tape

A spinoff of the 3M company, Imation, introduced the Travan car-
tridge tape standard in 1994. Table 1.5 summarizes the Travan tape
standards. Travan is based on QIC technology and in many cases is
either read and write compatible with some QIC tape cartridges, or
read compatible with QIC cartridges (see Table 1.6). Travan tape
drives have a higher storage capacity than the older QIC tape drives.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 84
TABLE 1.5
T R AVA N T A P E D R I V E S TA N D A R D S
Travan Tape Cartridge Storage Capacity Interface
Native/Compress
Travan-1 TR-1 400MB/800MB Floppy, parallel
Travan-2 TR-2 800MB/1.6GB Floppy, parallel
Travan-3 TR-3 1.6GB/3.2GB Floppy, parallel
Travan-4 TR-4 4GB/8GB SCSI-2, EIDE
Travan NS-8 NS-8 4GB/8GB SCSI-2, EIDE
Travan-5 TR-5 10GB/20GB SCSI-2, EIDE
Travan NS-20 NS-20 10GB/20GB SCSI-2, EIDE
TABLE 1.6
T R AVA N R E A D /W R I T E AND R E A D C O M PAT I B I L I T Y
Travan Standard Can Read/Write Can Read
Travan-1 QIC-80 QIC-40
Travan-3 TR-2, QIC-3010, QIC-80, TR-1
QIC-3020
Travan-4 QIC-3095 QIC-3010, QIC-3020,
QIC-80, TR-3, TR-1
Travan NS-8 QIC-3010, QIC-3020,
QIC-80
Travan NS-20 TR-4, QIC-3095
Travan tape drives have the capacity to back up low-end network

servers, but are relatively slow. Backup speed is about 1MBps.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 85
8mm Tape
Tape technology that uses 8mm tape was pioneered by Exabyte
Corporation. The technology uses a tape similar to 8mm videotape
and the same helical scan system used by a VCR. Table 1.7 reviews
8mm tape technologies.
TABLE 1.7
8 M M TA P E T E C H N O L O G I E S
8mm Tape Technology Storage Capacity Transfer Speed
Native/Compressed
8200 2.5GB/5GB 246KB per second
8500 5GB/10GB 500KB per second
Mammoth 8mm tape technologies are an improvement on the original

8mm tape technologies with higher storage capacities and faster trans-
fer speeds. Table 1.8 reviews Mammoth 8mm tape technologies.
TABLE 1.8
M A M M O T H 8 M M TA P E T E C H N O L O G I E S
Mammoth Technology Storage Capacity Transfer Speed
Native/Compressed
Mammoth-1 20GB/40GB 3MBps
Advanced Intelligent Tape

Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT) technology was introduced in
1996. AIT technology uses 8mm tapes that use the helical scan
recording hardware (much like a VCR). AIT tapes actually have
memory in the tape cartridge, known as Memory-In-Cassette (MIC),
which stores the tape log to facilitate locating a file’s location on a
restore operation. Table 1.9 summarizes AIT tape standards.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 86
TABLE 1.9
AIT T A P E S TA N D A R D S
AIT Standard Tape Media Storage Capacity Transfer Speed
Native/Compressed
AIT-1 SDX125C 25GB/50GB 3MBps
AIT-3 Prototype 100GB/200GB 12MBps
For more information about AIT technology, see the AIT Forum
web site at www.aittape.com.
Digital Audio Tape

DDS Capacities Know the storage
TIP
capacities of the different DDS

The Digital Audio Tape (DAT) tape standard uses 4mm digital
formats. audiotapes to store data in the Digital Data Storage (DSS) format.
EXAM
There are currently four different DDS standards. Table 1.10

summarizes DAT tape standards.
TABLE 1.10
DAT T A P E S TA N D A R D S
DDS Format Storage Capacity Transfer Speed AKA
Native/Compressed
DDS-1 2/4GB 1MBps --
DDS-2 4/8GB 1MBps DAT8

06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 87
Digital Linear Tape Know DLT Capacities Know the
TIP
Digital Linear Tape (DLT) technology offers high-capacity and rela- storage capacities of the different
tively high-speed tape backup capabilities. DLT tapes record infor- DLT formats.
EXAM
mation on the tape in a linear format unlike 8mm tape technologies
that use helical scan recording techniques. DLT tape drives support
high storage capacity and a fast transfer speed. However, DLT tape
drives are expensive. Table 1.11 compares DLT tape formats.
TABLE 1.11
DLT T A P E S TA N D A R D S
DLT Standard Storage Capacity Transfer Speed
Native/ Compressed
DLT-2000 10GB/20GB 1.25MBps
DLT-2000XT 15GB/30GB 1.25MBps
DLT-4000 20GB/40GB 1.5MBps
DLT-7000 35GB/70GB 5MBps
Super DLT 110GB/220GB 11MBps
Linear Tape-Open
Linear Tape-Open (LTO) technology was developed by Hewlett-
Packard, IBM, and Seagate. LTO comes in two distinct forms: one
designed for high storage capacity (Ultrium), and one designed for
fast access (Accelis). Table 1.12 reviews the LTO tape formats.
TABLE 1.12
LTO T A P E F O R M AT S
LTO Format Storage Capacity Transfer Speed
Native/Compressed Native/Compressed
Ultrium 100GB/200GB 20MBps/40MBps
Accelis 25GB/50GB 20MBps/40MBps

06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 88
For more information about LTO tape technology, see the LTO
web site at www.lto-technology.com.
Tape Arrays
Several network server vendors offer an array of tape drives with
fault-tolerance characteristics. Most of these technologies use four
identical tape drives and implement the tape version of RAID,
which is called RAIT (redundant array of independent tapes). RAIT
can be used for mirroring of tape drives, or (with at least three tape
drives) implemented as data striping with parity. The result is that if
a tape is damaged or lost, data recovery can still occur.
Tape Autochangers
A tape autochanger (also known as a tape auto loader) allows the tape
drive to load a new tape when the current tape gets full while perform-
ing a backup. This relieves the operator from having to remove one
tape and insert a new tape. This is very handy because backups are usu-
ally performed in the dead of night. Most tape autochangers support
unloading and loading a limited number of tapes (10 or fewer).
Tape Libraries
A tape library is usually an external system that has multiple tape
drives, tens or hundreds of tapes, and an automatic mechanism for
locating the tapes, loading them into the tape drives, and returning
the tapes to the proper location. With all this intelligence and
sophistication, it should be obvious that tape libraries are the high
end of backup systems. This can be translated into meaning that
they are expensive.
Disk Drives
Disk drives can also be used for backup operations. Performing a
backup to disk drives is a faster operation than performing a backup
to a tape drive. However, unless the “backup disk drives” can be hot
swapped, there is no provision for off-site storage of the backup.
Having the backup hard disk drive in the same room as the network
server doesn’t provide much protection in the event that the network
server room is destroyed by fire.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 89
Other Backup Devices

Some sites use other devices for backup, such as CD-Recordable
(CD-R) or CD-ReWritable (CD-RW) compact discs. Although
these are acceptable backup devices, the writing of compact discs is a
relatively slow operation, and the slowness might not be acceptable
in all environments.
This section discussed the various types of backup hardware available
for a network server. The most common device used for backup is a
magnetic tape drive. There is a huge assortment of magnetic tape
drives from which to choose. It is best to choose a tape drive that has
enough capacity to back up the entire network server on a single tape.
However, this is not always possible. If multiple tapes are going to be
required to backup the network server, consider obtaining a tape drive
with an autochanger (unless you really want to be in the server room
at 3 a.m. to change out the tape while the backup is running).
Although tape capacity is important, so is the speed at which data is
written to the tape. A high-capacity tape that takes 8 hours to back
up the network server might not be a wise choice, if you have only
4 hours in which to perform the backup. A lower capacity tape with
an autochanger, which can perform the backup in 2 hours, would be
a much better choice.
For increased capacity and speed, some tape drives can be purchased
in arrays that perform much like disk arrays. Data is written to sev-
eral tapes simultaneously. Some tape arrays even provide fault toler-
ance, which means that the data can be recovered even if a tape in
the array has been damaged, lost, or destroyed.
REDUNDANT COMPONENTS
. 0.10 Identify hardware components that might fail and plan
on redundancy of those components. Content may
• Power supplies
• Fans
• Hot swap
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 90
• Hot plug
• Fail-over
• Hot spare
• NIC fail-over
To keep network servers operational around the clock, you can
use redundant components in the network server in several
different schemes.
Redundant Power Supplies

Having multiple power supplies in a network server allows the bal-
ancing of the electrical load amount the power supplies and allows
for fault tolerance if one of the power supplies should fail. Many
redundant power supply schemes allow for a failed power supply to
be removed and replaced while the network server is operational.
This capability is called hot swappable power supplies.
Redundant Fans
Network servers can generate a large amount of heat internally, due
to the multiple processors, large amount of memory, and number of
internal disk drives. This heat must be removed from the network
server chassis or heat-sensitive network server components can fail.
This heat removal is accomplished by means of cooling fans. If a
cooling fan fails, however, the network server will build up heat
internally and either fail or be shut down by the heat-monitoring
features built in to many network servers. Some network servers
have multiple cooling fans placed front to back to provide some
redundancy in case of failure of the cooling fan. Many cooling fan
systems allow for the failed cooling fan to be replaced while the net-
work server is operational. This capability is called hot pluggable fans.
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Hot Swap
Hot swapping is the capability to replace components in a network
server while the server is running. Hot swapping power supplies
and hot swapping cooling fans (as mentioned above) serve as good
examples of hot swapping. Disk drives can also be acquired that
allow hot swapping. The terms “hot swap” and “hot plug” are often
confused and misused.
Hot Plug
Hot plugging is the capability to add, replace, or remove components
while the system is operational. Some PCI buses support hot plug-
ging of PCI adapters. The Universal Serial Bus (USB) supports hot
plugging of USB devices while the system is running. Hot plugging
is more sophisticated than hot swapping in that a device that is hot
plugged is automatically recognized by the system.
Fail-Over
Fail-over is a technology that allows for multiple components to be
installed in a network server, but only one of the components is
operational at any given time. When the one component fails, the
network server automatically switches over to the “fail-over” compo-
nent and keeps running.
Hot Spare
A hot spare is a network component that is powered up but not cur-
rently being used (usually a disk drive). Hot spares are often found
in RAID systems. If a disk drive fails in the RAID array, the RAID
controller starts rebuilding the data from the failed disk drive on the
hot spare drive.
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NIC Fail-Over
The network server can have two NICs installed, but the NIC driver
uses only one. If the primary NIC fails, the NIC driver automati-
cally starts using the other NIC (fail-over to the other NIC).
This section discussed the various redundant components that the
server hardware specialist might find in a network server. The use of
redundant components in a network server helps provide fault toler-
ance. Without redundancy, even failure of simple components, such
as cooling fans, can mean downtime of the network server. High
availability requires the use of redundant components. Of course the
high availability provided by redundant components does mean that
the price of the network server will increase.
SERVER CLUSTERING
. 0.11 Define server clustering. Describe the hardware compo-
nents required to cluster servers.
Server clustering is having multiple independent network servers per-
form as a single system. This configuration can provide high availabil-
ity and scalability. If one of the network servers in a server cluster
fails, another network server in the cluster will take over its workload.
To create a server cluster, several things are needed, including at least
two network servers, some type of hardware that will allow the net-
work servers to share disk drives, and some special software designed
to implement the cluster. Server clustering is not a new technology.
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) created clusters of its VAX
computers in the 1970s.
The critical part of creating a cluster of servers is the method used to
allow access to the disk drives among the network servers. There are
currently three basic methods:
á Mirrored disk drives. The characteristics of this method are
that each network server has its own disk drives, but the data on
the disk drives are copied to at least one other network server in
the cluster. The problem with disk mirroring is keeping the
copies of the data on the mirrored disk drives synchronized.
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á Shared disk drives. The characteristics of this method are that

the network servers share all disk drives. This solution can be
rather expensive and requires applications that have been mod-
ified to support the shared disk drives. This solution has limi-
tations on scalability because contention among the network
servers in the cluster grows as more network servers are added
to the cluster.
á Shared nothing. The characteristics of this method are that the
network servers have their own disk drives and share no data
with other network servers in the cluster. In the event of the
failure of a network server in the cluster, there is a mechanism
that allows the disk drives “owned” by the failed network server
to be transferred to another network server in the cluster.
SCALABILITY
. 0.12 Identify hardware components that give a network server
the capability to scale up in order to meet the demands
of a larger workload.
Scalability is the capability to “grow” a network server. Scalability
is planned at the time of the purchase of the network server. If
it is suspected or expected that the load on the network server will
increase with time, it is best to buy a network server that is scalable.
Examples of scalability include the following:
á The capability to easily install additional processors in the
network server
á The capability to easily add much more memory to the
network server
á The capability to easily add more disk drives to the network
server chassis
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HIGH AVAILABILITY
. 0.13 Identify hardware components that give a network server
the capability to be up a very high percentage of the
time, up to and including a 24 hour per day, 7 day per
week operating environment.
High availability is the goal of keeping the network server opera-
tional 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Many techniques can be
used to try to achieve high availability. In addition to methods
already discussed (redundancy, fault tolerance, RAID, UPS, cluster-
ing), some other methods are also available.
Some network server vendors provide what they call high availability
solutions. Most of these involve two servers sharing an external set of
RAID disk drives. When one server fails, the other server takes over.
This high availability solution is expensive because one server is not
utilized at all until the other server fails.
Some clustering schemes have the capability to keep running if one
network server in the cluster fails. This is a much better solution in
that all servers are operational and providing services all the time.
The loss of one network server in the cluster will degrade perfor-
mance, but the system supported by the cluster keeps running.
BACKUP STRATEGIES
. 0.14 Identify various strategies to perform backup of the data
on the network server and plan for the recovery of the
data in the event of a hardware failure.
• Full backup
• Incremental backup
• Differential backup
A copy of the data stored on the network server is a very valuable
asset when there is a network server failure or you must recover a file
that was “accidentally” deleted by a user. A backup strategy (making
copies of the data on the network server) is a critical part of imple-
menting a network server.
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With unlimited time to perform the backup, the best solution is to

back up all the data on the network server every day. This full
backup every day strategy usually cannot be implemented due to
time constraints.
The most common backup strategy is to perform a full backup once
a week (usually done on the weekend when there is usually less
NOTE
Backup Sins The four big sins asso-
activity on the network server). During the week, either incremental ciated with backups are as follows:
backups or differential backups are usually performed. Whether the • Not having a backup system or
backup scheme is differential or incremental depends on how much plan
time is available to perform the back up and how quickly the data
• Having a backup system and
needs to be restored in the event of a loss of data. Incremental back-
plan, but not performing regular
ups take less time each day to backup the data, but take longer to backups
restore after a loss of data. Differential backups take longer to per-
form the backup, but allow for a quicker restore operation after a • Having a backup system and plan,
loss of data. performing backups on a regular
schedule, but not ever doing a
For more information on backup strategies, see the section trial restore to make sure that the
“Understanding Backups” in Chapter 5. data on the backups can be read
correctly
• Having a backup system and plan,

FAULT TOLERANCE performing backups on a regular
schedule, and doing a trial restore
. 0.15 Identify various methods to provide the network server on occasion, but not having a
with fault tolerance. Fault-tolerance methods include: copy of the backup media stored
off-site
• Uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs)
• Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)
Network servers are often required to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days
a week. Failure of a network server can mean a tremendous loss in
revenue to the company. The goal is to keep the network server run-
ning without interruption. To achieve this goal, some fault tolerance
needs to be planned into the network server. The most common
fault-tolerance schemes are the use of an uninterruptible power sup-
ply (UPS) to allow the network serve to shut down gracefully during
a power failure, and the use of a redundant scheme in the disk sub-
system to allow it to keep operating when a disk drive fails.
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Uninterruptible Power Supply

NOTE
UPS not SPS For network servers,

always purchase an uninterruptible An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is an essential part of any net-
power supply. A UPS feeds all power work server installation. Having a network server without a UPS is
through its battery, so that when there like having a car without brakes; it is just a disaster waiting to happen.
is a power failure, there is no time lag
in supplying power from the UPS bat- Network operating systems don’t take kindly to a sudden loss of
tery. A less expensive battery backup electrical power. Network operating systems often cache content in
system is a standby power supply memory for a few seconds before it is written to disk. An ungraceful
(SPS). An SPS feeds power directly to shutdown of the network server caused by a sudden loss of electrical
the network server and when there is power prevents the data in memory from being written to disk,
a power failure quickly switches to the which could cause data corruption on the disk. The goal of a UPS is
battery. This momentary time lag not to keep the network server running during a power failure, but
could be long enough to cause the to keep the network server running long enough for it to shut down
network server to fail. gracefully when a power failure occurs.
A UPS can be monitored by software running on the network server.
The UPS monitoring cable generally attaches to the UPS through a
serial or USB cable. When a power failure occurs, the UPS keeps the
network server running via power supplied by its batteries. Through
the monitoring cable, it also alerts the network server that power has
failed and power is being supplied by batteries. The network server
will then take the action configured by the network administrator.
That action is usually a graceful shutdown of the network server.
A quality UPS will also condition the power as it passes through the
UPS by suppressing power spikes and boosting power sags.
For information on getting the right size UPS for a network server,
see the “UPS Sizing Worksheet” on the CD-ROM. An explanation
of UPS sizing is given in “Verifying the Uninterruptible Power
Supply Size” in Chapter 2, “1.0—Installation.”
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks

Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) is designed to allow some
fault tolerance to prevent loss of data in the event of a disk drive fail-
ure on a network server. A disk drive is a mechanical device; and it is
not a matter of if the disk drive will fail, but rather a matter of when
the disk drive will fail. RAID accomplishes this fault tolerance or
redundancy through disk drives storing parity information along with
the data or writing data to two different disk drives. RAID level 1 uses
duplication of the data to provide fault tolerance. RAID levels 3, 4,
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and 5 use “parity” information that is calculated from the bit patterns
of the data being written to the RAID array to provide fault tolerance.
When a disk drive fails in RAID 3, 4, or 5, the parity information can
be used along with the data on the remaining disk drives in the array
to calculate the data that was on the disk drive that failed. This allows
the disk subsystem and the network server to keep functioning, albeit
a bit slower due to the calculations required to “re-create” the missing
data. RAID level 2 is the oddball RAID in that it doesn’t use duplica-
tion or parity to provide fault tolerance. RAID 2 uses a special “ham-
ming code” instead.
RAID is a term that is surrounded by a tremendous amount of mis-
information. There is disagreement about how many levels of RAID
are defined, whether the “I” in RAID stands for inexpensive or inde-
pendent, and whether the “A” in RAID stands for array or arrays.
You’ll find RAID 6, 7, 10, 50, 53, and others mentioned in many
vendors’ literature. This section attempts to end some, if not all, of
this misinformation.
RAID was defined in 1987 in the paper “A Case for Redundant
Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)” written by David A. Patterson,
Garth A. Gibson, and Randy H. Katz at the University of
California, Berkeley. The original paper defined five levels of RAID
(1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) and offered the RAID solution as an alternative to
SLED (single large expensive disk). The original paper can be
viewed at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Dienst/UI/2.0/
Describe/ncstrl.ucb/CSD-87-391.
In the past few years, many people have started using the phrase
redundant array of independent disks, substituting the word “inde-
pendent” for “inexpensive.” This is very ironic in that, in 1987 disk
drives were anything but inexpensive.
RAID 0
RAID 0 was not defined in the 1987 Berkeley paper. In fact, it
NOTE
Higher RAID Level Number Doesn’t

is not RAID at all, in that it does not provide any redundancy. Mean Better Protection Higher RAID
RAID 0 is just an array (or group) of disk drives used as a single level numbers do not indicate a higher
disk. The data is written in chunks or stripes to all the disk drives in level of data protection. RAID 5 does
not provide better data protection
the array. This improves disk input/output performance in that sev-
than RAID 1.
eral chunks of data can be written or read simultaneously. If a disk
drive in the RAID 0 array fails, all data in the RAID 0 array is lost.
RAID level 0 is also often called disk striping without parity. Figure
1.6 shows an illustration of RAID 0.
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FIGURE 1.6 Disk 1 Disk 2 Disk 3
RAID level 0.
Block 1 Block 2 Block 3
Disk Controller
RAID Level 0 -
Stripe Set WITHOUT Parity
RAID 1
RAID 1 requires a minimum of two disk drives (all other RAID lev-
els, except level 0, require at least three disk drives) to implement.
RAID 1 writes all data to two separate locations. To store 20GB of
data using RAID 1, two 20GB disk drives are required. This is a
50% loss of storage capacity.
There are two ways to implement RAID 1: through disk mirroring
or disk duplexing.
In disk mirroring, the two disk drives are connected to the same disk
controllers. The only problem with disk mirroring is that if the disk
controller fails, there is no access to the mirrored data. Figure 1.7
shows a diagram of disk mirroring. To eliminate this single point of
failure, use disk duplexing rather than disk mirroring.
Drive 1 Drive 2
Block 1 Block 2 Block 1 Block 2
Disk Controller
FIGURE 1.7 RAID Level 1

RAID level 1 (disk mirroring). Disk Mirroring
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In disk duplexing, each disk drive in the mirrored set is connected to Drive 1 Drive 2
a different disk controller. This eliminates the single point of failure

in pure disk mirroring. The only additional cost is the additional
Block 1 Block 2
disk controller. Figure 1.8 shows a diagram of disk duplexing. Block 1 Block 2

RAID 2
RAID 2 uses a hamming code to create an Error Correcting Code
(ECC) for all data to be stored on the RAID 2 array. The ECC can
detect and correct single bit errors and detect double bit errors. The
ECC code has to be read and decoded each time data is read from the
Disk Controller Disk Controller
disk. RAID 2 is very difficult and expensive to implement and has a
very high overhead (for example, 3 parity bits for each 4 data bits).
For a very nice animation of how a hamming code operates, visit RAID Level 1
Disk Duplexing
the web site at www.eng2.uconn.edu/cse/Courses/CSE208W/
Animations/Ani_Hamming.html. FIGURE 1.8
RAID level 1 (disk duplexing).
RAID 2 has no commercial implementations due to the expense and
difficulty of implementation. It requires a minimum of three disk
drives to implement.
RAID 3
RAID 3 uses bit-level parity with a single parity disk to provide fault
tolerance of data stored on the RAID 3 array in the event of failure
of a single disk drive in the array. RAID 3 requires that all the disk
drives in the array be synchronized with each other. The bits of the
data and the parity information calculated from the data are written
to all the disk drives in the array simultaneously. RAID 3 requires a
minimum of three disk drives to create the array.
RAID 4
RAID 4 uses block-level parity with a single parity disk to provide
fault tolerance to the RAID 4 array in the event of failure of a single
disk drive in the array. On a RAID 4 array, data and the parity
information calculated from the data is written to the disk drives in
blocks, there is no need for the disk drives to be synchronized
together, and the disk drives can be accessed independently. A mini-
mum of three disk drives is required to create the array. The prob-
lem with RAID 4 is that the parity drive is accessed on every write
operation to the RAID array. This will cause heavy utilization of the
parity drive, which will probably fail before the other drives in the
array. The loss of storage capacity in RAID 4 systems is equivalent
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to the storage capacity of one of the disk drives. If you have three
10GB disk drives in a RAID 5 array, for instance, the storage capac-
ity of the array will be 20GB (a loss of 1/3, or 33%).
RAID 5
RAID 5 uses block-level parity, but spreads the parity information
among all the disk drives in the disk array. This eliminates the parity
drive failure common in RAID 4 systems. The loss of storage capac-
ity in RAID 5 systems is equivalent to the storage capacity of one of
the disk drives. If you have three 10GB disk drives in a RAID 5
array, the storage capacity of the array will be 20GB (a loss of 1/3, or
33%). In another example, if you have seven 10GB disk drives in a
RAID 5 array, the total storage capacity of the array will be 60GB
(a loss of 1/6, or 16.67%). Figure 1.9 shows a diagram of RAID 5.
RAID 0/1
RAID 0/1 is also known as RAID 0+1 and it is sometimes called RAID
10. RAID 0/1 requires at least four disk drives to implement. In RAID
0/1, there are two RAID 0 stripe sets (used to provide high input/out-
put performance) that are mirrored (which provides the fault toler-
ance). Figure 1.10 shows a diagram of RAID 0/1.
RAID Controller
RAID controllers are specialized disk controllers that use either ATA or
SCSI technologies. ATA RAID controllers are limited in the number of
disks that can be attached due to ATA channel limitations, which are a
maximum of two channels with a maximum of two disk drives per
Disk 1 Disk 2 Disk 3
Parity 1 Block 4 Block 5
Block 6 Parity 2
RAID Level 5 RAID

FIGURE 1.9 Disk Striping with Parity Disk Controller
RAID 5 (disk striping with parity).
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Disk 1, 2, and 3 are RAID 0 FIGURE 1.10

Disk 1 Disk 2 Disk 3 RAID 0/1 (mirrored stripe set without parity).
Disk Controller
RAID 0/1
Mirrored Stripe Sets Disk 4 Disk 5 Disk 6
Block 4 Block 5 Block 6 RAID 1 mirror

Stripe set [1,2,3]
is mirrored on
Stripe set [4,5,6]
Disk 4, 5, and 5 are RAID 0
channel (for a total of four disk drives). SCSI RAID controllers have
multiple channels. (Two channels are common, RAID controllers with
three, four, and five channels are available.) RAID controllers are gener-
ally expensive due to the sophistication that they must contain.
RAID controllers often have an onboard memory cache ranging in
size from 4MB to 256MB. This onboard memory cache often has a
battery backup system to prevent data loss in the event of sudden
power loss to the network server. This is critical because data written
from the system memory to the RAID controller is first written to
the onboard cache and it could be several seconds before the data is
actually written to disk. Without the battery to supply power to the
RAID controller, onboard memory cache could lead to the data on
the disk drive not being updated with the current data. This could
easily lead to the loss of data integrity.
The memory cache on the RAID controller can usually be config-
ured as read cache, write cache, or a combination of both. The read
cache will improve the read performance. The write cache will allow
the processor to continue with other tasks instead of waiting for the
data to be written to the disk.
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When evaluating RAID controllers, look for these features:

á Number of channels
á Speed of channels
á Onboard cache (read, write, combination, battery
backup option)
á Fast host adapter (PCI)
á Bus width (16 bit, 32 bit, 64 bit)
Hardware RAID Versus Software RAID

RAID is usually implemented using a RAID disk controller.
However, RAID disk controllers are rather expensive. RAID can
also be implemented in software by several network operating
systems, including Novell NetWare, Microsoft Windows NT, and
Microsoft Windows 2000.
Software RAID systems usually support RAID 0, 1, and 5. Software
RAID is usually implemented at the disk partition level rather than
the physical disk (entire disk) level as in hardware RAID. The draw-
back to software RAID is that it requires the network server proces-
sor to perform the work usually done by the RAID controller in
hardware RAID. RAID 5 implemented in software requires the
processor to calculate all the parity information when writing data to
the RAID 5 disk array. RAID 1 implemented in software puts a
minimal load on the network server processor.
When RAID 5 is implemented in software, the files on the RAID
array are not available until the network server operating system is
running. This means that the operating system cannot be stored on
and therefore cannot boot from a RAID 5 system implemented in
software. This is not an issue when a RAID 5 system is implemented
using hardware.
Software-based RAID does have one advantage over hardware-based
RAID. In software-based RAID, the RAID implementation can be
based on disk partitions rather than entire disk drives. For example,
you could use three 10GB partitions on three different disk drives to
create a software RAID 5 array. There could be space in different
partitions on each of these disk drives that could be used for some
other purpose.
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In nearly all cases, hardware-based RAID is better than software-

based RAID; however, having RAID implemented in software is
much better than not having any disk fault tolerance at all.
This section discussed the various methods available to give fault-
tolerant capability to a network server. Network servers should uti-
lize RAID technology. Hardware-based RAID is better than
software-based RAID, but software-based RAID is much better than
no RAID at all.
DISASTER RECOVERY
. 0.16 Identify techniques and plan for recovery from a disaster
(total failure of the network server).
A written disaster-recovery plan should be a standard part of any
network server installation or operation. With the entire operation
of a corporation often dependent on the network and its associated
network servers, the loss of either could result in the failure of the
corporation. The details of disaster recovery are covered in
Chapter 8, “7.0—Disaster Recovery.”
One of the most innovative additions to disaster-recovery technology is
Hewlett-Packard’s One Button Disaster Recovery (OBDR). This tech-
nology allows a tape drive equipped with OBDR to restore the con-
tents of the network server without going through the usual restoration
steps. Using OBDR, there is no need to wipe the disk drives clean,
no need to reinstall a clean version of the network operating system, no
need to install service patches to the network operating system, and
no need to install the tape backup software before beginning a restora-
tion of the network server’s data from tape.
With OBDR, you just perform a full tape restore from the backup
tapes. This will restore the entire contents of the network server to
the state of its last full backup.
For more information on OBDR, see Hewlett-Packard’s web site
at www.products.storage.hp.com/eprise/main/storage/
tapebackup/selectionPages/obdr.htm.
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MISCELLANEOUS NETWORK
SERVER HARDWARE
. 0.17 Identify miscellaneous hardware components that are part
of a network server. Content may include the following:
• Video controller
• Video monitor
• Universal Serial Bus (USB)
• FireWire (IEEE 1394)
• Keyboard
• Mouse
• CD-ROM drive
• DVD-ROM drive
• Floppy disk drive
• Modem
Several miscellaneous hardware components can be included in a net-
work server. The following sections describe these various components.
Video Controller
A video controller doesn’t need to support high video resolutions on
the network server. A video controller that can support 1024 × 768 res-
olution and 64K colors should be sufficient for most network servers.
Video Monitor
A video monitor for a network server should support 800 × 600 or
better video resolution. A large video monitor (21 inches) might be
useful on a network server. An LCD display could also be used as a
monitor for a network server. If the video monitor is going to be
installed in a server rack, the video monitor must be physically small
enough to fit into the rack. The maximum size for a video monitor
that is going into a server rack is about 15 inches.
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A video monitor can consume a considerable amount of space. If

multiple network servers are going to be in the same area or in a KVM Switch Know the purpose of
TIP
server rack, then using a keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) switch will a keyboard/video/mouse (KVM)
switch.
allow one monitor (keyboard and mouse) to be switched among sev-
EXAM
eral network servers. This will save valuable space.
Universal Serial Bus

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an external bus standard that sup-
ports data transfer rates up to 12Mbps. One USB port can have up
to 127 devices connected to it. On a network server, the types of
devices that you might attach to a USB port could include a USB
mouse, a USB modem, a USB keyboard, or a USB monitoring cable
for a UPS. A USB bus supports Plug and Play technology and
devices that can be hot plugged (devices that can be attached to and
unattached from the USB bus without powering down the network
server). To use a USB port on a network server, the network operat-
ing system must have the capability to recognize and have drivers for
the USB port.
Version 2.0 of the USB standard will allow data transmission rates
up to 480Mbps.
FireWire (IEEE 1394) FireWire Know the specifications

TIP
The IEEE 1394 standard (known as FireWire by Apple Computer) is for IEEE 1394 (FireWire).
an external serial bus that uses the SCSI-3 standards for communica-
EXAM
tions. Data transfer rates of up to 400Mbps are achievable using the

IEEE 1394 standard.
A single IEEE 1394 can have up to 63 devices attached to it. The
IEEE 1394 standards support Plug and Play technology and hot
plugging much like the Universal Serial Bus.
For more information about the IEEE 1394 standard, see the 1394
Trade Association’s web site at www.1394ta.org.
Keyboard
Every network server needs a keyboard for data input. The keyboard
can use a traditional round plug or a USB connector.
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Mouse
Every network server needs a mouse for the same reasons that a
desktop computer system needs a mouse: to interact with a graphical
user interface. In some cases, the mouse will be replaced with a dif-
ferent pointing device, such as a touch pad or a trackball.
CD-ROM Drive
A CD-ROM drive is required on a network server for operating
system and other software installations.
DVD-ROM Drive
A DVD-ROM drive on a network server can perform the same
functions as a CD-ROM drive. In addition, a DVD-ROM drive can
be useful on a video server to transfer video from the DVD to the
disk drives on the video server.
Floppy Disk Drive

A floppy disk drive is often required on a network server to load
some hardware drivers and to perform flash BIOS upgrades.
Modem
A modem or multiple modems might need to be installed in the
network server due to requirements of the role it will play in the net-
work. For example, a remote access server would need one or more
modems to support dial-in access to the network.
To implement a fax server, one or more fax modems (which differ
from data modems) must be installed in the network server.
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RACKING SERVERS
. 0.18 Identify situations when network servers should be
installed in a server rack and know the proper procedures
for installation of the network server into a server rack.
Identify specialized components and installation require-
ments for rack-mounted network servers. Content may
• EIA rack unit (1.75 inches)
• Keyboard/video/monitor (KVM) switch
• Cable management
• Rack layout
• Security
• Cooling
• Rack-mounted keyboard/trackball
• Rack-mounted monitor/LCD panel
• Rack-mounted uninterruptible power supply (UPS)
To conserve space in the server room, network servers can be pur-
chased in a chassis that can be installed into a standard 19-inch
equipment rack. Figure 1.11 shows a diagram of a network server
rack.
EIA Rack Unit (1.75 Inches)

The Electronic Industry Association (EIA) has specified that the
standard rack unit (vertical) is 1.75 inches. Server rack height is FIGURE 1.11
specified in rack units. For example, a rack that is 42U high is A network server rack.
(42 × 1.75 inches) 73.5 inches high (6 feet, 1.5 inches).
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 108
Keyboard/Video/Monitor Switch
A keyboard/video/monitor (KVM) switch is a common component in
a network server rack. With multiple network servers installed in a
single equipment rack, it makes sense to have a single keyboard,
video display, and mouse that can be switched among the network
servers. A rack-mountable KVM switch usually fits within 1 rack
unit and provides the capability to share the keyboard, video display,
and mouse among the network servers in the rack.
Cable Management
With several network servers and other devices in a rack, the manage-
ment of the various cables becomes critical. Also, generally devices
that are installed in a rack can be pulled out of the rack for service,
much like a drawer can be pulled out from a cabinet. Pulling the net-
work server out of the rack without disconnecting all the cables run-
ning to the network server (LAN, power, video, mouse, keyboard,
and so on) is accomplished by hinged cable management arms
attached to the network server on one end and the rack on the other.
Rack Layout
The layout of the components in the rack is important. Generally the
rack-mounted UPSs are installed on the bottom of the rack due to
their weight. A rack-mounted keyboard should be at the proper height
to allow comfortable typing. The rack-mounted display adapter should
be at eye level. Most manufacturers of network server racks provide
software to aid in creating a layout of the devices in the network rack.
Security
The network server should have side panels (which are usually
optional) and front and rear doors that are lockable to provide
security for the network devices installed in the rack.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 109
Cooling
The network server rack should provide adequate ventilation to keep
the network devices in the rack as cool as possible. Most network
servers that are designed to be rack-mounted are designed to have a
flow of air from the front of the rack to the back. The front and rear
doors of the rack are often perforated to provide ventilation.
Rack-Mounted Keyboard/Trackball
Rack-mounted keyboards or keyboard/trackball combinations that
fit into a drawer that slides into the rack are available. This one key-
board can be attached to a rack-mounted KVM switch so that it can
control all the network servers in the rack. The keyboard drawer is
usually 2 rack units high.
Rack-Mounted Monitor/LCD Panel

When it comes to the video display to be used in a rack, there are
several options. A standard 15-inch CRT video display can be
installed on a shelf in the rack. A monitor larger than 15 inches is
usually too large to fit into a rack.
There are also keyboard/LCD display combinations that are avail-
able for racks. The LCD display actually folds down and slides into
the rack when not in use. The keyboard/LCD display combination
is only 2 rack units high.
Rack-Mounted UPS
Special UPSs designed to fit into a rack are available. These UPSs are
generally installed in the bottom of the rack because of their weight.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 110
This section discussed putting network servers into racks specifically
designed to conserve floor space by allowing multiple network
servers to be installed into a single rack. However, this generally
requires prepurchase planning. The network servers, as well as other
peripherals, should be designed to be installed in a server rack. The
network server should be purchased in a rack-mount chassis. Rack-
mountable UPSs, external disk systems, and special rack-mountable
keyboards are also available. Most major server vendors have soft-
ware available that can be used to configure the components to be
installed in a server rack.
The one drawback to a server rack is that when it is fully filled it can
weight well over 1,000 pounds. To move the rack from one location to
another, the network server and its components must be removed
before the rack is moved and reinstalled after the rack has been moved.
NETWORK OPERATING SYSTEMS

. 0.19 Identify network operating systems. Know the character-
istics of various network operating systems. Content may
• Microsoft Windows NT Server 4
• UNIX
• Linux
Several network server operating systems can be used to create and
manage a network.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 111
Novell NetWare 4
Novell’s NetWare version 4 was the first version of NetWare to
incorporate Novell’s Directory Service (NDS). NetWare 4 uses the
IPX/SPX protocol natively, and supports a non-native version of the
TCP/IP protocol. NetWare 4 supports the NetWare File System
(NWFS). The maximum file size on NWFS is 4GB. NetWare 4
supports software-based RAID 1 (both mirroring and duplexing)
and RAID 5.
For more information on Netware 4.2, see Novell’s web site at
www.novell.com/products/netware4.
Novell NetWare 5
Novell’s NetWare version 5 supports the TCP/IP protocol natively.
NetWare 5 also supports two different file systems: the NetWare
File System (NWFS) and the Novell Storage Services (NSS) File
System. The Novell Storage Services File System supports file sizes
up to 8 terabytes.
For more information on NetWare 5.1, see Novell’s web site at
www.novell.com/products/netware/.
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4

Microsoft Windows NT Server is the third major version of
Windows NT Server. Windows NT supports the File Allocation
Table (FAT) file system and the NT File System (NTFS). The FAT
file system is available for compatibility with other operating systems
and it provides no security on the directories or files stored on it.
The NTFS file system supports security at the directory and file
level as well as native data compression. Windows NT Server 4 sup-
ports software-based RAID 0, RAID 1 (mirroring and duplexing),
and RAID 5.
For more information on Windows NT Server 4, see the
Microsoft web site at www.microsoft.com/catalog/
display.asp?site=427&subid=22&pg=1.
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Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server is actually Windows NT version 5.
Windows 2000 supports the FAT file system, the FAT32 file system,
and the NTFS (version 5) file system. The NTFS file system in
Windows 2000 supports folder and file security, file compression,
and file encryption. Windows 2000 introduces Microsoft directory
service, known as Active Directory.
Windows 2000 Server supports many advanced technologies includ-
ing USB, I2O, Fibre Channel, IEEE 1394, and Plug and Play.
Windows 2000 Server actually comes in three different varieties:
á Windows 2000 Server. Supports up to 4 processors and 4GB
of memory
á Windows 2000 Advanced Server. Supports up to 8 processors
and 8GB of memory
á Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. Supports up to 32 proces-
sors and 64GB of memory
For more information on Windows 2000 Server and Advanced

Server, see the Microsoft web site at www.microsoft.com/
windows2000/guide/server/overview/default.asp.
For more information on Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, see

the Microsoft web site at www.microsoft.com/windows2000/guide/
datacenter/overview/default.asp.
UNIX
NOTE
Berkeley: The 1960s I have heard

it said that the two main things that The UNIX operating system originated at AT&T’s Bell Labs. In the
Berkeley was known for in the early days, AT&T gave away the source code to UNIX. The
1960s were LSD and BSD UNIX. University of California Berkeley was one of the universities given a
Some believe that this was not copy of the source code for the AT&T UNIX operating system.
a coincidence. They heavily modified AT&T UNIX and distributed it as BSD
(Berkeley Software Distribution) UNIX. All versions of UNIX today
are variations of these two major versions of UNIX.
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Several versions of UNIX are designed to run on Intel processors

including the following:
á SCO OpenServer 5
á SCO UnixWare
á SUN Solaris
á FreeBSD
Linux
Linux is a clone of the UNIX operating system initially created by
Linus Torvalds in 1991. The most attractive features of Linux are
that it is free and the source code is available (known as open source).
Many major hardware and software vendors are supporting Linux.
Examples of available Linux distributions include the following:
á Caldera Linux
á Red Hat Linux
á SuSE Linux
á VA Linux
IBM OS/2 Warp Server

Operating System 2, which is better known as OS/2, was developed
by IBM and Microsoft in the late 1980s as a replacement for the
single user, non-multitasking DOS operating system. Microsoft and
IBM eventually terminated their partnership, with Microsoft spend-
ing its time on Windows and IBM taking on development of OS/2.
Microsoft used OS/2 as a basis for development of the Windows
NT operating system.
OS/2 Warp Server is now a 32-bit multitasking operating system
that supports symmetric multiprocessing (SMP). It has support for
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 114
several different file systems, including the File Allocation Table

(FAT) file system, its own High Performance File System (HPFS),
and a Journaled File System (JFS).
OS/2 supports both the TCP/IP and NetBEUI protocols for net-
work connectivity. TCP/IP services available for OS/2 include a web
server, an FTP server, a DHCP server, a Dynamic DNS server, and a
remote access server.
For more information on IBM OS/2, see the IBM web site at
http://www-4.ibm.com/software/os/warp/warp-server/.
This section described some of the various network operating sys-
tems that can be installed on an Intel-powered network server. The
answer to the question, “which network operating system is best?”
depends on the role the network server will perform, the operating
systems of existing network servers, network connectivity issues,
applications compatibility, and cost.
NETWORK SERVER MANAGEMENT

. 0.20 Identify hardware and software available to manage
network servers. Content may include the following:
• Vendor-specific installation and configuration software
• Vendor-specific management software
• Vendor-specific management hardware
• Antivirus software
• Documentation
Many network server hardware vendors have available specialized
software and hardware to provide advanced management capabilities
for network servers. This section discusses several of these specialized
pieces of hardware and software.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 115
Vendor-Specific Installation and

Configuration Software
The installation of the network operating system is often assisted by
vendor-supplied network server installation and configuration soft-
ware. This same software, which is often supplied on a bootable
CD-ROM disk, usually provides software to configure the RAID
controller if one is being used in the network server. Another very
useful feature of the setup software is that it often creates a special
“diagnostics” or “configuration” partition on the first disk drive in
the network server. The software utilities installed on this special
partition are accessible at the power-up time of the network server.
The setup software also enables you to partition the disk space avail-
able on the network server.
Examples of network server installation and configuration software
supplied by the network server vendors are as follows:
á Compaq. Compaq SmartStart
á Dell. Dell OpenManage Server Assistant
á Hewlett-Packard. HP NetServer Navigator
á IBM. IBM Netfinity Setup and Installation CD
Use of the vendor-supplied server setup software has many advan-

tages, including the installation of vendor-specific drivers for hard-
ware in the network server. The network server setup software
usually simplifies the installation of the network operating system by
prompting the installer for configuration information on one or two
screens and then supplying the information to the operating system
installation process.
Vendor-Specific Management Software

Major network server hardware vendors often have server monitor-
ing and management software available. For this software to monitor
the different components of the network server, such as temperature,
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processor utilization, and network utilization, monitoring agents

need to be installed on the network server. This process is usually
accomplished automatically when using the network server vendor’s
server setup software. However, it may be necessary to install these
monitoring agents after the network operating system has been
installed. Follow the network server vendor’s installation instructions
to install the system monitor agents.
The following network server monitoring and management software
is available from several network server hardware vendors:
á Compaq. Compaq Insight Manager
á Dell. Dell OpenManage IT Assistant
á Hewlett-Packard. HP Toptools
á IBM. Netfinity Director
Vendor-Specific Management Hardware

Most network server manufacturers have an adapter card that can be
installed in the network server to provide additional management
capabilities. At least one vendor is building this capability into the
network server system board. Generally these management adapters
cards are independent of the network operating system on the net-
work server. Representative network server manufacturers and their
network server management adapters include the following:
á Compaq. Compaq Remote Insight Board
á Dell. Dell OpenManage Remote Assistant Card (DRAC)
á Hewlett-Packard. HP Toptools Remote Control Card
á Hewlett-Packard. Integrated HP Remote Assistant
á IBM. Advanced System Management Processor
Several of these adapter boards allow remote management by means

of a modem (often built in to the adapter card). Often this modem
connection can be used for outgoing calls as well; the remote man-
agement adapter can call the administrator’s pager with diagnostic
information as needed.
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Antivirus Software
There is an even greater need to protect a network server from com-
puter viruses than to protect desktop computers from computer
viruses. When a virus gets onto your network server, it is more easily
spread to all the computers that access the network server. If the
computer virus is destructive, you could easily lose all the data stored
on the network server. Antivirus software should be near the top of
the list, along with backup software and the network server operating
system, to acquire as part of installing a new network server. Running
a network server without antivirus software is just not prudent.
Antivirus software for a network server should be configured to
update the virus signature file frequently, as new viruses are found
on practically a daily basis.
Documentation
Documentation is very important to the successful installation
and operation of a network server. The documentation supplied
with the network server should be read and stored in a safe place.
The installer of the network server should create a logbook for the
network that initially will contain the configuration information
for the network server. As the network server is upgraded and main-
tained, additional entries should be recorded in the logbook. A well-
maintained logbook is an invaluable tool when it is time to upgrade
the network server or when it is time to troubleshoot a problem
with the network server.
This section discussed the various hardware and software utilities
available to aid in the management of a network server. Using the net-
work server setup, installation, and configuration software provided by
the network server vendor can make the job of setting up the network
server much easier. This software also sets up the diagnostic partition,
special hardware drivers, and it handles RAID system configuration.
Special network server management hardware and software that is
available from the network server vendor is a wise investment that
quickly recovers its own cost, especially if multiple network servers
need to be managed together.
continues
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 118
continued
Running a network server without antivirus software is just asking
for trouble. (I consider it to be an absolute requirement.)
Be sure to document everything about the setup, installation, config-
uration, upgrading, and maintenance of the network server in a log-
book. It will prove to be invaluable later, when troubleshooting a
network server problem.
CREATING AN INSTALLATION PLAN

. 0.21 Creating an Installation Plan
After reading this chapter and understanding the size, role, and com-
ponents required for a network server, it is time to create the installa-
tion plan. The installation plan for the network server is usually
created by a network engineer. However, armed with the information
from this chapter and by using the “Network Server Installation Plan
Worksheet,” most people who want to acquire a new network server
can get a good start on creating the installation plan.
The “Network Server Installation Plan Worksheet” is a set of forms
that can be filled in to help describe the network server. A properly
filled-in worksheet can be used as a basis for creating a full-blown
installation plan. The biggest difference between the worksheet and
the finished installation plan is additional verbiage giving details that
aren’t on the worksheet.
The entire “Network Server Installation Plan Worksheet” is on the fol-
lowing pages in Figures 1.12 through 1.18. There is also a copy of the
worksheet document on the CD-ROM included with this book. Not
all the pages in the worksheet will be used in every completed plan.
(For example, it is unlikely that you will have both IDE and SCSI disks
in the same network server.) In some cases, a page from the worksheet
will be used more than once (for example, if you have more than one
RAID controller). A completed network server installation plan is also
included for illustrative purposes (see Figures 1.19 through 1.25).
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 119
FIGURE 1.12
Network Server Installation Plan Worksheet
Network Server Installation Plan Worksheet.
Server Role ________________________________________________________________
Server Operating System _____________________________________________________
Server Operating System Version Number ________________________________________
Server Operating System Patch or Service Pack Level ______________________________
Server Hardware Components

Server Brand and Model ______________________________________________________
Server Memory (total amount) __________________________________________________
Server Processor(s) (Quantity, Brand, Model, Speed, L2 Cache) ______________________
Removable Media Disk Drives
CD-ROM (Brand, Model, Speed) ____________________________________________
DVD-ROM (Brand, Model, Speed) ___________________________________________
Floppy Disk Drive 3.5" (Brand, Model, Speed) __________________________________
Other __________________________________________________________________
Tape Back System (Brand, Model, Capacity) ______________________________________
Backup Software (Brand, Version) ______________________________________________
Video Adapter (Brand, Model, Video RAM, Maximum Resolution) ______________________
Uninterruptible Power Supply (Brand, Model, VA rating) ______________________________
Server Management Adapter (Brand, Model) ______________________________________
Network Interface Card(s) (Brand, Model, Type, Speed)
1 ___________________________________________________________________
2 ___________________________________________________________________
3 ___________________________________________________________________
4 ___________________________________________________________________
Modem (Brand, Model, Speed)_________________________________________________
Other Adapters _____________________________________________________________

06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 120
FIGURE 1.13
Server Memory. Server Memory
Memory Form Factor

/__/ SIMM
/__/ DIMM
/__/ RIMM
/__/ Other ________________________
Memory Type
/__/ EDO
/__/ EDO Buffered
/__/ SDRAM
/__/ SDRAM Registered
/__/ RDRAM
/__/ Other ________________________

/__/ none
/__/ Parity
/__/ ECC
Memory Module Connectors

/__/ Tin
/__/ Gold
Server Memory Map
Bank 1 |________| |________| |________| |________|
Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot 3 Slot 4
Bank 2 |________| |________| |________| |________|
Bank 3 |________| |________| |________| |________|
Bank 4 |________| |________| |________| |________|

06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 121
FIGURE 1.14
ATA, ATA2, Ultra ATA Disk Controller ATA, ATA2, Ultra ATA Disk Controller.
1. Disk Controller Brand and Model
Channel 1 – Device 1 (Master/Slave/CSEL)
SCSI Bus Controller
Complete one copy of this page for each SCSI Bus Controller in the Network Server
SCSI Bus Controller Number _____________________________________________
SCSI Bus Controller (Brand, Model, SCSI Standard) ___________________________
(Brand, Model, Capacity, Speed)
Channel 1, SCSI ID 0 ________________________________________________

Channel 1, SCSI ID 1 ________________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 2 ________________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 3 ________________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 4 ________________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 5 ________________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 6 ________________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 7 ________________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 8 ________________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 9 ________________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 10 _______________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 11 _______________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 12 _______________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 13 _______________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 14 _______________________________________________
Channel 1, SCSI ID 15 _______________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 0 ________________________________________________

Channel 2, SCSI ID 1 ________________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 2 ________________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 3 ________________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 4 ________________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 5 ________________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 6 ________________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 7 ________________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 8 ________________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 9 ________________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 10 _______________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 11 _______________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 12 _______________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 13 _______________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 14 _______________________________________________
Channel 2, SCSI ID 15 _______________________________________________
FIGURE 1.15
SCSI Bus Controller.
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FIGURE 1.16
RAID Controller. RAID Controller
Complete one copy of this page for each RAID Controller in the Network Server
RAID Controller Number
RAID Controller (Brand, Model, SCSI Standard)
(Brand, Model, Capacity, Speed, RAID Level)
Channel 1, SCSI ID 0
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 123
FIGURE 1.17
PCI Bus Layout PCI Bus Layout.
PCI Bus# Slot# Adapter Installed
PCI Bus1 Slot 1

Bus1 Slot 2
Bus1 Slot 3
Bus1 Slot 4
Bus1 Slot 5
PCI Bus2 Slot 1

Bus2 Slot 2
Bus2 Slot 3
Bus2 Slot 4
Bus2 Slot 5
PCI Bus3 Slot 1

Bus3 Slot 2
Bus3 Slot 3
Bus3 Slot 4
Bus3 Slot 5
Other Buses
Bus Type Slot # Adapter Installed
Bus Types (ISA, EISA, Micro Channel, VL-Bus, AGP)
Server Installation Site Preparation

Is space available to install the new server (yes/no)?
Is there a working network connection available for the new server (yes/no)?
Is electrical power available for the new server (yes/no)?
Is the electrical power of the right voltage (yes/no)?
Is the electrical power of the right amperage (yes/no)?
Do the electrical receptacles match the electrical plugs on the UPS (yes/no)?
Does the installation site have enough cooling to support the new server (yes/no)?
Is the installation site secure (yes/no)?
FIGURE 1.18
Server Installation Site Preparation.
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FIGURE 1.19
Completed Network Server Installation Plan Network Server Installation Plan Worksheet
Worksheet. Server Role Web Server using Microsoft Internet Information Server
Server Operating System Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Server Operating System Version Number
Server Operating System Patch or Service Pack Level Service Pack 1
Server Brand and Model Generic Server Corporation
Server memory (total amount) 512 Megabytes
Server Processor(s) (Quantity, Brand, Model, Speed, L2 Cache) 2, Intel, Pentium III Xeon,
700MHz, 256KB
Removable Media Disk Drives
CD-ROM (Brand, Model, Speed) Brand X, Model 2, 30X
DVD-ROM (Brand, Model, Speed none
Floppy Disk Drive 3.5" (Brand, Model, Speed) Brand A, Model 4
Other
Tape Back System (Brand, Model, Capacity) Brand 2, Model A, 40GB
Backup Software (Brand, Version) Mighty Mite Backup Software Version 2.x
Video Adapter (Brand, Model, Video RAM, Maximum Resolution) Ultra VGA Computer
Model 33, 8MG, 2024 x 768
Uninterruptible Power Supply (Brand, Model, VA rating) Big Battery Backup, Model 12x,
2000 VA
Server Management Adapter (Brand, Model) none
1. FastNet, zippy12, Ethernet, 10/100MBps
2.
3.
4.
Modem (Brand, Model, Speed) Slow-n-Easy, 12, 56Kbps
Other Adapters
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 125
FIGURE 1.20
Server Memory
Completed Server Memory.
Memory Form Factor
/__/ SIMM
/X/ DIMM
/__/ RIMM
/__/ Other
Memory Type
/__/EDO
/__/EDO Buffered
/X/ SDRAM
/__/SDRAM Registered
/__/SDRAM
/__/Other
/__/ none
/__/ Parity
/X/ ECC
Memory Module Connectors
/__/ Tin
/X/ Gold
Server Memory Map
Bank 1 I 64MB I I 64MB I I 64MG I I 64MB I

Bank 2 I 64MB I I 64MB I I 64MG I I 64MB I
Bank 3
Bank 4
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 126
FIGURE 1.21
Completed ATA, ATA2, Ultra ATA Disk Controller. ATA, ATA2, Ultra ATA Disk Controller
1. Disk Controller Brand and Model
Channel 1 - Device 1 (Master/Slave/CSEL)
SCSI Bus Controller
Complete one copy of this page for each SCSI Bus Controller in the Network Server
SCSI Bus Controller Number One
SCSI Bus Controller (Brand, Model, SCSI Standard) Builtin, One, SCSI-2
Channel 1, SCSI ID 5 Brand 2, Model A Tape Backup
FIGURE 1.22
Completed SCSI Bus Controller.
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Raid Controller FIGURE 1.23

Completed RAID Controller.
Complete one copy of this page for each RAID Controller in the Network Server.
RAID Controller Number One
RAID Controller (Brand, Model, SCSI Standard) RAIDER, TWO, SCSI-3
(Brand, Model, Capacity, Speed, RAID Level)
Channel 1, SCSI ID 0 Seaweed, 3232, 40GB, 10000, RAID 5

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FIGURE 1.24
Completed PCI Bus Layout. PCI Bus Layout
PCI Bus# Slot# Adapter Installed
PCI Bus1 Slot 1 RAID Controller, RAIDER TWO

Bus1 Slot 2
Bus1 Slot 3
Bus1 Slot 4
Bus1 Slot 5
PCI Bus2 Slot 1 SCSI Controller, Builtin One

Bus2 Slot 2
Bus2 Slot 3
Bus2 Slot 4
Bus2 Slot 5 NIC, Fastnet zippy 12
PCI Bus3 Slot 1

Bus3 Slot 2
Bus3 Slot 3
Bus3 Slot 4
Bus3 Slot 5
Other Buses
Bus Type Slot # Adapter Installed
EISA 1 Modem, Slow-n-Easy
Bus Types (ISA, EISA, Micro Channel, VL-Bus, AGP)
Server Installation Site Preparation

Is space available to install the new server (yes/no)? YES
Is there a working network connection available for the new server (yes/no)? YES
Is electrical power available for the new server (yes/no)? YES
Is the electrical power of the right voltage (yes/no)? YES
Is the electrical power of the right amperage (yes/no)? YES
Do the electrical receptacles match the electrical plugs on the UPS (yes/no)? YES
Does the installation site have enough cooling to support the new server (yes/no)? YES
Is the installation site secure (yes/no)? YES
FIGURE 1.25
Completed Server Installation Site Preparation.
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CHAPTER SUMMARY
In this chapter, you learned about the technologies used to create
KEY TERMS
network servers. The differences between the two major types of
networks—peer to peer and server centric—were identified. The • 10BASE-2
major categories of network server, based on size, were described. • 10BASE-5
The major network server roles were described in detail.
• 10BASE-F
The major components of a network server were then discussed to
give the server hardware specialist and the network engineer the • 10BASE-T
insight necessary to select components for the network server. The • 100BASE-TX
goal is to select the proper network server components so that it
• 802.3
can adequately fulfill its role in the network. Those components
fit into major categories such as processors, memory, the network • 802.5
subsystem, and the disk subsystem.
• 802.11
Miscellaneous additional topics related to a network server, includ-
• Adapter teaming
ing the network server operating system, management software, tape
backup system, uninterruptible power supplies, and network server • Adapter load balancing
racks, were covered to fill in any gaps related to network server selec- • Adaptive fault tolerance
tion. Finally, the creation of an installation plan was discussed.
• Advanced Intelligent Tape
• American National Standards
Institute (ANSI)
• American Standard Code for
Information Interchange (ASCII)
• AT Attachment (ATA)
• Berkeley Internet Name Domain
(BIND)
• Buffered memory
• Cache
• Daemon
• Desktop Management Interface
(DMI)
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 130
CHAPTER SUMMARY
• Differential backup • Fibre Channel

• Differential SCSI • Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop
(FC-AL)
• Digital Audio Tape (DAT)
• File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
• Digital Data Storage (DDS)
• FireWire (IEEE 1394)
• Digital Linear Tape (DLT)
• Full backup
• Direct Memory Access (DMA)
• Gigabit (Gb)
• Directory services server
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Disk duplexing
• Gigabyte (GB)
• Disk mirroring
• Hardware RAID
• Disk striping without parity
• High Voltage Differential (HVD)
• Disk striping with parity
SCSI
• Domain Name Service (DNS)
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
• Dual in-line memory module
• IBM OS/2
(DIMM)
• IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
• Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol (DHCP) • Incremental backup
• Dynamic random access memory • InfiniBand Architecture (IBA)
(DRAM)
• Institute of Electrical and Electronic
• Electronics Industry Association Engineers (IEEE)
(EIA)
• Intelligent Input/Output (I2O)
• Extended Binary Coded Decimal
• Internet Message Access Protocol
Information Code (EBCDIC)
(IMAP)
• IPX/SPX protocol
• Error Correcting Code (ECC)
• Keyboard/video/mouse (KVM)
• Ethernet switch
• Fast Ethernet • Kilobit (Kb)
• Fax server • Kilobyte (KB)
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 131
CHAPTER SUMMARY
• Linear Tape–Open (LTO) • RAID 5

• Linux • RAID 0/1
• Low Voltage Differential (LVD) SCSI • Random access memory (RAM)
• Magic packet • Redundant array of inexpensive disks
(RAID)
• Megabit (Mb)
• Redundant array of inexpensive tapes
• Megabyte (MB)
(RAIT)
• Megahertz (MHz)
• Registered memory
• Microsoft Windows NT Server
• Remote access server (RAS)
• RIMM
• NetBEUI protocol
• SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant
• NetBIOS Enclosures (SAF-TE)
• Network-attached storage (NAS) • SCSI Enclosure Services (SES)
• Non-ECC Memory • SCSI-1
• Novell NetWare • SCSI-2
• NWLink protocol • SCSI-3
• Peer-to-peer network • Self-Monitoring, Analysis and
• Port aggregation Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.)
• Post Office Protocol (POP) • Serial Storage Architecture (SSA)
• Programmed input/output (PIO) • Server appliance
• Quarter Inch Cartridge (QIC) • Server-centric network
• RAID 0 • Shielded twisted-pair (STP)
• RAID 1 • Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

(SMTP)
• RAID 2
• Simple Network Management
• RAID 3 Protocol (SNMP)
• RAID 4
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 132
CHAPTER SUMMARY
• Single-ended SCSI • Travan tape

• Single in-line memory module • Ultra ATA
(SIMM)
• Ultra 2 SCSI
• Single large expensive disk (SLED)
• Ultra160
• Small Computer Systems Interface
• Ultra320
(SCSI)
• Unbuffered memory
• Software RAID
• Universal Serial Bus (USB)
• Static random access memory
(SRAM) • UNIX
• Storage area network (SAN) • Unregistered memory
• Telecommunications Industry • Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP)
Association (TIA)
• Virtual memory
• Terminal server
• Windows Internet Naming Service
• Token Ring (WINS)
• Transmission Control • Workgroup server
Protocol/Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP)
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 133
Exercises B. At least 100GB of disk storage to hold the
200,000 distinct web pages and their associated
1.1 Create an Installation Plan graphic images. Plan for fault tolerance of
the disk storage by using either hardware or
This exercise is intended to give you some hands-on software RAID.
experience planning the specifications for a network
server installation. You can repeat it for different server C. Plan for high availability by using fault-tolerant
vendors and for different server roles. components and redundancy when necessary.
Estimated time: One to four hours 4. Make sure that the installation site has adequate
power, cooling, and room to install the network
1. Print a copy of the 01 Installation server.
Plan Worksheet.doc file that is
on the CD-ROM. 5. Don’t forget the tape backup system, and the
UPS.
2. Using the “Installation Plan Worksheet,” plan the
configuration and installation of a network server 6. Visit a network server vendor web site (Compaq,
that meets the following specifications. Dell, IBM, HP) and select and configure a net-
work server model offered by that vendor that
A. The network server will be a web server. meets the specifications.
B. The web server will run many CGI or ASP Repeat step 6 using a different network server vendor
scripts. than the one originally selected.
C. The web server will contain approximately As noted above, this entire exercise can be repeated for
200,000 distinct web pages, many of which any network server role.
utilize lots of graphic images.
D. The web server will run Microsoft Windows
2000 Server and it will use Microsoft Internet
Review Questions
Information Server (IIS) as the web server. 1. What is the purpose of a NAT server?
3. Based on these specifications, the web server will 2. What is the purpose of an uninterruptible power
probably need the following: supply?
A. At least 256MB of memory; probably 3. What is the purpose of a KVM switch?
512MB is a better choice. Windows 2000
4. What is sent to a Wake-On-LAN Network
Server needs at least 128MB of memory. The
Interface Card to cause it to power up the
web server software uses the remaining mem-
computer?
ory in the network server to cache frequently
accessed web pages. The CGI and ASP scripts 5. What is SMP?
will use memory to run.
6. What is adapter teaming?
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 134
7. How many devices can be attached to an IEEE 25. What is the data transfer speed of FireWire?
1394 bus?
8. What is the minimum number of disk drives
required to implement RAID 0/1? Exam Questions
9. What is the purpose of a DNS server? 1. Which RAID level provides improved disk
10. What is the name of the system bus created by input/output, but provides no redundancy?
IBM for the IBM PS/2 microcomputer? A. RAID 0
11. What is the purpose of I2O technology? B. RAID 1
12. What are the common form factors for network C. RAID 3
server memory?
D. RAID 5
13. What is the speed of Fast Ethernet?
2. Which RAID level provides redundancy at the
14. What is the difference between write thru and expense of the loss of 50% of the disk storage
write back cache? capacity?
15. What is the purpose of S.M.A.R.T technology? A. RAID 0
16. What is the data transfer rate of USB? B. RAID 1
17. What is the purpose of racking servers? C. RAID 3
18. Why is ECC memory important to network D. RAID 5
server?
3. Which of the following RAID levels provide fault
19. What is the downside to using disk mirroring? tolerance using parity information and a mini-
20. What is the native storage capacity of a Digital mum of three disk drives?
Audio Tape (DAT) using the DDS-4 format? i. RAID 0
21. What are the reasons for having more than one ii. RAID 1
NIC in a network server?
iii. RAID 4
22. Which network server operating systems support
the NTFS file system? iv. RAID 5
23. What are common speeds associated with the A. i and ii

processor “frontside bus”? B. iii and iv
24. What is the purpose of a WINS server? C. ii, iii, and iv
D. i and iii
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 135
4. Which of the following network server roles can 7. Which of the following network operating
be used to attach a corporate LAN to the systems can utilize the NTFS file system?
Internet?
i. Novell NetWare
i. Router
ii. Microsoft Windows NT Server
ii. Firewall
iii. Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
iii. Proxy server
iv. Linux
iv. Network Address Translation (NAT) server
A. i and iv
A. i and ii
B. i, ii, and iv
B. i, ii, and iii
C. ii and iii
C. ii and iv
D. iv only
D. i, ii, iii, and iv
8. Which of the following memory technologies can
5. Which of the following buses are “local buses”? be buffered?
i. PCI A. EDO
ii. ISA B. SDRAM
iii. AGP C. DDR DRAM
iv. EISA D. RDRAM
A. ii and iv 9. You need to install 80 disk drives in an external
enclosure and control them from a single
B. i and iii
controller in the network server. Which disk
C. i and ii technology will you use?
D. iii and iv A. SCSI-1
6. What is the native (not compressed) storage B. Ultra 100
capacity of a DAT24 tape drive?
C. FC-AL
A. 4GB
D. SCSI-3
B. 8GB
C. 12GB
D. 40GB
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 136
10. Which network device supports port aggregation? 14. Which of the following network services is used
to automatically configure TCP/IP?
A. Hub
A. DNS
B. Switch
B. WINS
C. Bridge
C. DHCP
D. Router
D. SAN
11. Which SCSI standard defines standards for both
parallel and serial communications? 15. What is the data transfer speed of Ultra2 SCSI?
A. SCSI-0 A. 10MBps
B. SCSI-1 B. 20MBps
C. SCSI-2 C. 40MBps
D. SCSI-3 D. 80MBps
12. What is the maximum bus (cable) length for a 16. Which of the following has a data transfer rate
SCSI system that uses Low Voltage Differential of 12Mbps and allows attachment of up to
(LVD) signaling? 127 Plug and Play devices?
A. 3 meters A. FireWire
B. 6 meters B. USB
C. 12 meters C. Serial ATA
D. 25 meters D. Serial Storage Architecture
13. Which of the following TCP/IP protocols can be 17. What type of memory is used in the Level 2
used to manage network devices? cache of an Intel processor?
A. SMTP A. DRAM
B. FTP B. SRAM
C. SNMP C. SDRAM
D. SNA D. ECC
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 137
18. Which of the following RAID systems provide C. Intel
disk fault tolerance by duplicating data in two
D. Compaq
locations?
22. Server clustering can be achieved using which of
A. RAID 0
the following techniques?
B. RAID 1
i. Mirrored disk drives
C. RAID 5
ii. Shared disk drives
D. RAID 3
iii. Shared nothing
19. What is the name of the magnetic tape technol-
iv. Redundant NICs
ogy that is an enhanced version of Quarter Inch
Cartridge (QIC) tape technology? A. i and iv
A. Enchanced QIC B. ii and iv
B. AIT C. i, ii, and iii
C. Travan D. iv only
D. DLT 23. Which of the following high-speed technologies
can be used to create a storage area network (SAN)?
20. Which of the following memory technologies
operates at the clock speed of the memory bus? i. Fibre Channel
i. EDO DRAM ii. Serial Storage Architecture
ii. SDRAM iii. Universal Serial Bus
iii. DDR SDRAM iv. FireWire
iv. Direct Rambus A. i and ii
A. i and ii B. i and iii
B. ii and iii C. ii and iii
C. iii and iv D. iii and iv
D. i and iv 24. What is the maximum cable length for a
ATA/IDE disk channel?
21. What company created the PCI bus standard?
A. 12 inches
A. Microsoft
B. 18 inches
B. Kingston
C. 1 meter
D. 3 meters
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 138
25. What is the bus speed of the PCI 2.1 specification? 4. A magic packet, which is a special TCP/IP packet
that contains the IP addresses of the computer to
A. 33MHz
be awakened, repeats 16 times in the data portion
B. 66MHz of the TCP/IP packet. For more information, see
C. 132MHz the section “Wake-On-LAN.”
D. 8MHz 5. Symmetric multiprocessing is the capability of a

network server to support more than one proces-
sor and use them efficiently. For more informa-
tion, see the section “Symmetric
Answers to Review Questions Multiprocessing.”
1. A Network Address Translation (NAT) server is 6. Adapter teaming is a technique that allows multi-
used to attach a corporate network that uses pri- ple adapters to function together to provide
vate TCP/IP addresses to the Internet. The NAT greater throughput and/or fail-over capabilities.
server has a small range of valid TCP/IP addresses For more information, see the section “Adapter
that can be used by clients on the corporate LAN Teaming.”
that have private addresses. For more informa- 7. IEEE 1394 or FireWire can support 63 external
tion, see the section “Network Address devices. For more information, see the section
Translation Server.” “FireWire (IEEE 1394).”
2. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) performs 8. RAID 0/1 requires a minimum of four disk
several functions. Most importantly it supplies drives. For more information, see the section
power to a network server during an electrical “RAID 0/1.”
power outage long enough for the network server
to shut down gracefully. A UPS also protects the 9. A Domain Name System (DNS) server translates
network server from voltage spikes and voltage IP names to IP addresses. For more information,
sags. For more information, see the section see the section “Domain Name System Server.”
“Uninterruptible Power Supply.” 10. IBM created the Micro Channel Architecture bus
3. A keyboard/video/mouse switch allows a single when it introduced the PS/2 microcomputer. For
keyboard, video display, and mouse to be more information, see the section “Micro
switched among several network servers. This Channel Architecture.”
helps reduce the amount of space taken up by the 11. The purpose of Intelligent Input/Output (I2O) is
network servers and the peripheral keyboard, to offload the input/output process from the net-
video display, and mouse. For more information, work server processor. For more information, see
see the section “Video Monitor.” the section “Intelligent Input/Output.”
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 139
12. The common form factors for memory in net- 19. Disk mirroring has a data storage loss of 50%
work servers are SIMMs (single in-line memory and both disk drives in a mirrored set are
module), DIMMs (dual in-line memory module) attached to a single disk controller. Failure of the
and RIMMs. For more information, see the sec- disk controller means loss of the mirror set. For
tion “Memory Form Factors.” more information, see the section “RAID 1.”
13. Fast Ethernet operates at 100Mbps. For more 20. The native storage capacity of a DAT tape
information, see the section “Fast Ethernet.” using DDS-4 format is 20GB. For more infor-
mation, see the section“Digital Audio Tape.”
14. The difference between write thru and write back
cache is that with write thru cache data is written 21. Multiple NICs in a network server allow the net-
to main memory and the cache at the same time. work server to be attached to more than one
In write back cache, the data is written only to physical network. More importantly, multiple
the cache, which writes it to main memory when NICs allow for adapter teaming. For more infor-
necessary. For more information, see the sections mation, see the section “Adapter Teaming.”
“Write Thru Cache” and “Write Back Cache.”
22. The NTFS file system is supported by Microsoft
15. The Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Windows NT Server 4 and Microsoft Windows
Technology (S.M.A.R.T) is a disk drive technol- 2000 Server. For more information, see the sec-
ogy that monitors disk drive parameters for indi- tion “Network Operating Systems.”
cations of failure. For more information, see the
23. Common frontside bus speeds are 66MHz,
section “Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting
100MHz, and 133MHz. For more information,
Technology (S.M.A.R.T).”
see the section “Memory Bus.”
16. The data transfer rate of a Universal Serial Bus
24. A WINS server is used to register a computer’s
(USB) is 12Mbps. For more information, see the
NetBIOS name and IP address when it is pow-
section “Universal Serial Bus.”
ered up. The WINS server is also used to resolve
17. Putting network servers into a rack allows for the a NetBIOS name to an IP address. For more
installation of many servers in a small amount of information, see the section “Windows Internet
floor space. For more information, see the section Naming Service Server.”
“Racking Servers.”
25. The data transfer speed of IEEE 1394, aka
18. Error Correcting Code (ECC) memory can FireWire, is 400Mbps. For more information, see
detect and correct single-bit errors and detect the section “FireWire (IEEE 1394).”
double-bit errors in the memory of network
servers. For more information, see the section
“Memory Error Checking.”
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 140
Answers to Exam Questions 8. A. Only EDO memory can be buffered. For
more information, see the section “Buffered
1. A. RAID 0 provides improved disk input/output Memory and Registered Memory.”
but does not provide fault tolerance. For more
information, see the section “RAID 0.” 9. C. Only FC-AL (Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop)
of the choices in the answer has the capacity to
2. B. RAID 1 (disk mirroring or disk duplexing) attach 80 disk drives to a single disk controller.
provides redundancy by writing the same data to For more information, see the section “Fibre
two disk drives, but at the cost of 50% of the Channel Arbitrated Loop.”
storage capacity of the disk drives being mirrored
or duplexed. For more information, see the sec- 10. B. A switch can support port aggregation. For
tion “RAID 1.” more information, see the section “Port
Aggregation.”
3. B. RAID 4 and RAID 5 both require a mini-
mum of three disk drives and provide fault toler- 11. D. SCSI-3 has standards for both parallel and
ance by means of parity. For more information, serial communications. For more information,
see the sections “RAID 4” and “RAID 5.” see the section “SCSI-3”.
4. D. A router, a firewall, a proxy server, and a NAT 12. C. The maximum cable length for Low Voltage
server can all be used to connect a corporate Differential (LVD) SCSI is 12 meters. For more
LAN to the Internet. Each server has a different information, see Table 1.1.
purpose, but they all connect a corporate LAN to 13. C. The Simple Network Management Protocol
the Internet. For more information, see the sec- (SNMP) can be used to manage network devices.
tions “Router,” “Firewall,” “Proxy Server,” and For more information, see the section “Simple
“Network Address Translation Server.” Network Management Protocol.”
5. B. Both PCI and AGP are local buses. For more 14. C. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
information, see the sections “Peripheral (DHCP) can be used to automatically configure
Component Interconnect” and “Accelerated TCP/IP clients. For more information, see
Graphics Port.” the section “Dynamic Host Configuration
6. C. The native storage capacity of DAT24 is 12GB. Protocol Server.”
The compressed storage capacity of DAT24 is 15. B. Ultra2 SCSI can transfer data at 20MBps. For
24GB. For more information, see Table 1.9. more information, see Table 1.1.
7. C. Both Microsoft Windows NT Server and 16. B. The Universal Serial Bus (USB) has a data
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server can use the transfer speed of 12Mbps and supports up to
NTFS file system. For more information, see the 127 Plug and Play devices. For more information,
sections “Microsoft Windows NT Server” and see the section “Universal Serial Bus.”
“Microsoft Windows 2000 Server.”
17. B. Static RAM (SRAM) is used in the Level 2
cache in Intel processors. For more information,
see the section “Processor Cache.”
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 141
18. B. RAID 1 (disk mirroring or disk duplexing) 22. C. Server clusters can be created using any of
provides disk fault tolerance by duplicating data these three methods: mirrored disk drives, shared
to two different locations. For more information, disk drives, and shared nothing. For more infor-
see the section “RAID 1.” mation, see the section “Server Clustering.”
19. C. The Travan tape technology is an enhanced 23. A. Two technologies that can be used to create a
version of the QIC tape technology. It does pro- storage area network (SAN) are Fibre Channel and
vide some backward compatibility with QIC Serial Storage Architecture. For more information,
tapes. For more information, see the section see the section “Storage Area Network.”
“Travan Cartridge Tape.”
24. B. The maximum cable length for an ATA/IDE
20. B. Both Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) and dou- channel is 18 inches. For more information, see
ble data rate (DDR) synchronous DRAM operate the section “Integrated Drive Electronics.”
at speed of the memory bus. For more informa-
25. B. The PCI 2.1 specification has a bus speed of
tion, see the section “Memory Technologies.”
66MHz. For more information, see the section
21. C. The PCI bus standard was created by Intel “Peripheral Component Interface.”
Corporation. For more information, see the
section “Peripheral Component Interface.”
1. Albitz, Paul and Cricket Liu. DNS and BIND, 6. Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server
4th Edition. O’Reilly & Associates (2001). www.microsoft.com/catalog/
ISBN 0-5960-0158-4. display.asp?site=427&subid=22&pg=1
2. Field, Gary and Peter M. Ridge. The Book of 7. Microsoft Exchange Server
SCSI: I/O for the New Millennium. No Starch www.microsoft.com/exchange/default.htm
Press (2000). ISBN 1-8864-1110-7.
8. Microsoft SQL Server
3. Mueller, Scott. Upgrading and Repairing PCs, www.microsoft.com/sql/default.htm
12th Edition. Que Publishing (2000). ISBN
9. Microsoft Host Integration Server
0-7897-2303-4.
www.microsoft.com/hiserver/
4. Spurgeon, Charles E. Ethernet: The Definitive
10. Microsoft SNA Server
Guide. O’Reilly & Associates (2000). ISBN
www.microsoft.com/sna/default.asp
1-5659-2660-9.
11. Microsoft Proxy Server
5. Dedek, Jan and Gary Stephens. What Is Fibre
www.microsoft.com/proxy/ and
Channel?, 5th Edition. Ancot Corporation
www.microsoft.com/isaserver/
(2000) ISBN 0-9637-4396-1.
06 Serv+ Ch_01 7/10/01 9:41 AM Page 142
12. Microsoft System Management Server 23. Zenworks for Servers 2

www.microsoft.com/smsmgmt/default.asp www.novell.com/products/zenworks/servers/
13. Microsoft Windows 2000 Server 24. Novell GroupWise 6

www.microsoft.com/windows2000/guide/ www.novell.com/products/groupwise/
server/overview/default.asp
25. InfiniBand Trade Association
14. Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server www.infinibandta.org/
www.microsoft.com/windows2000/guide/
26. Dell white paper on InfiniBand architecture
server/overview/default.asp
www.dell.com/downloads/global/vectors/
15. Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server infiniband.pdf
(free 120-day evaluation) www.microsoft.com/
27. University of California Berkley paper that
windows2000/edk/default.asp
defines RAID
16. Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Dienst/UI/2.0/
www.microsoft.com/windows2000/guide/ Describe/ncstrl.ucb/CSD-87-391
datacenter/overview/default.asp
28. nStor SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant
17. Novell NetWare for SAA Enclosures (SAF-TE)
www.novell.com/products/host/saa4/ www.andataco.com/support/
whitepapers/safte.pdf
18. Novell NetWare 5.1
www.novell.com/products/netware/ 29. Apache Web Server FAQ
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/misc/FAQ.html
19. Novell NetWare 5.1 (evaluation software)
www.novell.com/products/netware/ 30. Netscape Servers
evaluation.html http://home.netscape.com/servers/
20. Novell NetWare 4.2 www.novell.com/ 31. Intelligent Input/Output (I2O)

products/netware4/ www.intelligent-io.com/
21. Novell Netware Cluster Services for 32. Desktop Management Task Force on DMI
NetWare 5.1 www.dmtf.org/spec/dmis.html
www.novell.com/products/clusters/ncs/
33. Charles Spurgeon’s Ethernet IEEE 802.3 Web
22. IBM OS/2 Warp Server site www.ots.utexas.edu/ethernet/
http://www-4.ibm.com/
34. 1394 Trade Association www.1394ta.org/
software/os/warp/warp-server/
35. Kingston’s Ultimate Memory Guide
www.kingston.com/tools/umg/default.asp
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/11/01 10:00 AM Page 143
OBJECTIVES

objectives for the Installation section of the Server+:
1.1 Conduct pre-installation planning activi-
ties. Examples of concepts and modules
• Verify hardware compatibility with operating
system
• Verify power sources, space, Uninterruptible
Power Supply and network availability
• Verify that all of the correct components
and cables for the network server have been
delivered
. Every server hardware specialist should prepare for
the installation of a network server by checking the
installation plan and verifying that all hardware
components have been delivered.

(boards, drives, processors, memory, inter-
nal cable, etc.) Examples of modules
• Install UPS
C H A P T E R 2
1.0—Installation
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 144
OBJECTIVES OUTLINE
• Install external devices (e.g., keyboards, moni- Introduction 147

tors, subsystems, modem rack, etc.)
• Verify power-on via power-on sequence Planning for Installation 147
. Every server hardware specialist should be capable
of installing server hardware components while The Installation Plan 147
following the best practices to avoid electrostatic Verifying the Installation Plan 148
discharge (ESD), which could damage delicate Verifying Hardware Compatibility with the
network server components. A server hardware Operating System 148
specialist should be able to install all the compo-
nents of a network server. Verifying the Installation Site 149
Verifying the Power Source 149
Verifying Adequate Cooling 152
Verifying the Uninterruptible Power-
Supply Size 153
Verifying the Network Connection 153
Verifying Hardware Components for the
Network Server 153
Server Chassis 155
Server Rack 155
Processor(s) 156
Memory 156
Disk Drives 156
Monitor 157
Keyboard 157
Mouse 157
Uninterruptible Power Supply 157
Backup System 158
SCSI Cables 158
SCSI Adapter(s) 159
RAID Controller(s) 159
Fibre Channel - Arbitrated Loop Host
Bus Adapter 159
Network Interface Card(s) 159
Miscellaneous Hardware 160
Installing Hardware 161

Electrostatic Discharge 161
ESD Best Practices 162
Installing Processors 162
Match Processor Speed 162
Match Processor Cache Size 162
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 145
OUTLINE
Match Processor Stepping (Version) 163 Backup System Hardware Installation 178
Buses 163 Uninterruptible Power-Supply Installation 178
Peer Buses 163 Miscellaneous Server Components
Bridged Buses 164 Installation 179
Memory Installation 164 Monitor 179
Match Memory Type 165 Keyboard 179
Match Memory Speed 165 Mouse 179
Disk Subsystem Installation 166 Video Adapter 181
IDE/ATA Disks 166 Server Management Adapter 181
EIDE/ATA-2 Disks 167 CD-ROM/DVD-ROM Drive 181
Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA 168 Redundant Component Installation 181
SCSI Disks 168 Power Supply 181
SCSI Disk Types 170 Cooling Fan 182
SCSI-1 170 Redundant NIC 182
SCSI-2 171 Server-Rack Installation 182
SCSI-3 173 Power-On Test 184
Installing SCSI 173 Document, Document, Document 185
Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop 175
Network Subsystem Installation 175
Chapter Summary 186
Ethernet 175
Token Ring 176
Network Interface Cards 176
Network Cabling 176
NIC to Hub 177
Hub to Hub 177
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 146
To prepare for the Installation objectives of the . Use the ExamGear test engine on the CD-
Server+ exam, do the following: ROM that accompanies this book for addi-
. Read the objectives at the beginning of this tional exam questions concerning this
chapter. material.
. Study the information in this chapter. . Review the Test Tips available in various places
. Review the objectives again. stand the information in the Test Tip. If you
. Answer the Review and Exam Questions at the don’t fully understand the Test Tip, review the
end of the chapter and check your results. information in the chapter related to this topic.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 147
Chapter 2 1.0—INSTALLATION 147
INTRODUCTION
The Installation section covers the pre-installation and installation of
network server hardware. This section is the topic of approximately
17% of the exam questions.
This chapter covers the two objectives of the Installation job dimen-
sion. The first objective deals with reviewing the installation plan,
checking all the network server hardware, and checking that the instal-
lation site is ready for the network server to be installed. The second
objective covers the actual installation of the network server hardware.
This objective ends with an actual power-on of the network server to
see that all the network server hardware is recognized after installation.
PLANNING FOR INSTALLATION

. 1.1 Conduct pre-installation planning activities. These
activities include:
• Verify hardware compatibility with operating system
• Verify power sources, space, UPS and network availability
• Verify that all correct components and cables have
been delivered
The Installation Plan

The installation plan is a guide that the server hardware specialist
uses to install the network server. It should contain such details as
the following:
á The exact location where the server is to be installed
á The location of the network connection for the server
á The location of the power outlet for the server
á A complete list of the hardware for the server
á The role that the network server will take in the network
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 148
As discussed in Chapter 1, “0.0—Planning,” the installation plan is a

written document that should have been created by a network engi-
neer during the initial phases of the discussion to acquire the net-
work server (see the section “The Installation Plan” in Chapter 1). It
takes into account the role the server will play in the network. The
hardware components of the server are dictated by the server’s role in
the network.
Verifying the Installation Plan

The first step that the server hardware specialist should attempt is to
verify that everything specified in the installation plan is ready and
available before beginning the installation. Verification activities
á Verify that the location where the server is to be installed is
ready for the installation.
á Verify that the power outlet for the network server is available
and active. (Test with a volt/ohm meter.)
á Verify that the network connection is available and active.
á Verify that all the hardware for the network server has arrived
and that the hardware is as specified in the installation plan.
Verifying Hardware Compatibility with

the Operating System
Network operating systems are generally tested to see that they work
with the various hardware components that you use to assemble a
network server. Most operating system vendors publish a list of
hardware that they certify will work with their software. Always
check the vendor’s hardware compatibility list for the network
operating system vendor and make sure that all the hardware for
the network server is on the list.
The latest hardware compatibility list for the following network
operating systems can be found at the following Web sites:
á Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 2000.
www.microsoft.com/hcl/default.asp
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 149
á Novell NetWare. http://developer.novell.com/yespgm/

hardwarecert.htm This site gives information about Novell
Yes, Tested and Approved program.
á Linux (Red Hat). www.redhat.com/support/hardware/
á Linux (SuSE). http://cdb.suse.de/cdb_english.html
á Caldera OpenLinux. www.calderasystems.com/support/
hardware/
á IBM OS/2. http://service.software.ibm.com/os2ddpak/

html/index.htm
Verifying the Installation Site

After reading and verifying the installation plan, the server hardware
specialist should visit the installation site and verify the items listed
in the installation plan. The “Installation Plan Checklist” shown in
the following Figures 2.1 through 2.5 can be used as a guide to ver-
ify the installation plan. A copy of the “Installation Plan Checklist”
is included as a Microsoft Word document on the CD-ROM that
accompanies this book.
Verifying the Power Source

The server hardware specialist should verify that the power needed
for the network server is actually available and live. Be sure to check
that the voltage for the power source is correct by using a volt/ohm
meter or a digital multimeter. The correct voltage for North America
and Latin America is a nominal 120 Volts. The correct voltage for
Europe, the Middle East, and Africa is a nominal 230 Volts. The
power source also should be on a power circuit unto itself.
Also check that the power source has the correct amperage rating
and that power plug is of the correct configuration. Because the
NOTE
Add to Tool Kit A server hardware

UPS is the component that is to be plugged into the power source, specialist’s tool kit should include a
this information can be found in the UPS documentation. The UPS volt/ohm meter.
may require a 20-amp or a 30-amp circuit, instead of the more com-
mon 15-amp circuit. The UPS also may have a special locking
power plug, which of course would require a special power socket.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 150
FIGURE 2.1 Installation Plan Checklist

Installation Plan Checklist.
Network Server Role
Network Server Operating System
Network Server Operating System Version Number
Network Server Operating System Patch or Service Pack Level
Network Server Memory
Removable Disk Drives
CD-ROM (Brand, Model, Speed)

DVD-ROM (Brand, Model, Speed)
Floppy Disk Drive 3.5" (Brand, Model, Speed)
Tape Back System (Brand, Model, Speed)
Video Adapter (Brand, Model, Video RAM, Maximum Resolution)
Uninterruptible Power Supply (Brand, Model, VA rating)
Server Management Adapter (Brand, Model)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Modem (Brand, Model, Speed)
IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA2 Hard Disk Drives (Brand, Model, Interface, Speed)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Site Checklist
Is space available to install the new network server?
Is there a working network connection available for the new network server?
Is electrical power available for the new network server?
Is the electrical power of the right voltage?
Is the electrical power of the right amperage?
Do the electrical receptacles match the electrical plugs on the UPS?
Does the installation site have enough cooling to support the new network server?
FIGURE 2.2 Is the installation site secure?

Site Checklist.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 151
FIGURE 2.3
IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA2 Disk Controller
IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA2 Disk Controller.
1. Disk Controller Brand Model
Channel 1 - Device 2(master/Slave/CSEL)
SCSI Bus Controllers

Complete one copy of this page for each SCSI Bus controller in the Network Server
SCSI Bus Controller Number
SCSI Bus Controller (Brand, Model, SCSI Standard)
Channel 1,SCSI ID 0
Channel 1,SCSI ID 2
Channel 1,SCSI ID 3
Channel 1,SCSI ID 4
Channel 1,SCSI ID 5
Channel 1,SCSI ID 6
Channel 1,SCSI ID 7
Channel 1,SCSI ID 8
Channel 1,SCSI ID 9
Channel 1,SCSI ID 10
Channel 2,SCSI ID 0
Channel 2,SCSI ID 1
Channel 2,SCSI ID 2
Channel 2,SCSI ID 3
Channel 2,SCSI ID 4
Channel 2,SCSI ID 5
Channel 2,SCSI ID 6
Channel 2,SCSI ID 7
Channel 2,SCSI ID 8
Channel 2,SCSI ID 9
Channel 2,SCSI ID 15 FIGURE 2.4
SCSI Bus Controllers.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 152
FIGURE 2.5
RAID Controllers. RAID Controllers
Complete one copy of this page for each RAID Controller in the Network Server
RAID Controller Number
RAID Controller (Brand, Model, SCSI Standard)
(Brand Model, Capacity, Speed, RAID Level)
Channel 1,SCSI ID 0
Channel 1,SCSI ID 2
Channel 1,SCSI ID 3
Channel 1,SCSI ID 4
Channel 1,SCSI ID 5
Channel 1,SCSI ID 6
Channel 1,SCSI ID 7
Channel 1,SCSI ID 8
Channel 1,SCSI ID 9
Channel 2,SCSI ID 0
Channel 2,SCSI ID 1
Channel 2,SCSI ID 2
Channel 2,SCSI ID 3
Channel 2,SCSI ID 4
Channel 2,SCSI ID 5
Channel 2,SCSI ID 6
Channel 2,SCSI ID 7
Channel 2,SCSI ID 8
Channel 2,SCSI ID 9
Verifying Adequate Cooling

The site should have adequate air-conditioning capacity to handle the
NOTE
Add to Tool Kit A server hardware addition of the network server to be installed. The installation plan
specialist’s tool kit should include a should state the heat output of the devices that will be part of the
digital thermometer. network server installation (chassis, monitor, UPS, and so on). It may
be difficult to ascertain the current heat load (measured in British
Thermal Units, BTUs) of the room where the network server is to be
installed. An adequate indicator of the available cooling capacity of
the room where the network server will be installed is the room tem-
perature. If the temperature of the room is more than 72 degrees
Fahrenheit without the new network server being installed, it is
doubtful that there is adequate cooling for the new network server.
Most network servers use internal fans for cooling. For these fans to
work properly and provide adequate cooling there has to be ade-
quate clearance around the server for proper airflow. The documen-
tation of the network server will specify the cooling clearances.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 153
Verifying the Uninterruptible

Power-Supply Size
The uninterruptible power supply (UPS) should be of adequate size
to keep the network server running long enough for it to perform a
normal shutdown. This time period is usually 5 to 10 minutes. An
undersized UPS will keep the server running only a very short time.
An oversized UPS will not only keep the network server operational
for a longer period of time during a power backup but will also
allow for growth of the network server (adding components to the
network server over time).
The UPS should be large enough to support all the components of
the network server that are connected to (plugged into) the UPS.
The size of a UPS is specified by a volt-amp (VA) rating. The larger
the VA rating of the UPS, the longer the UPS can keep the network
server running in the event of a power failure. Verify that the UPS is
of adequate size to support the network server by completing the
“UPS Sizing Worksheet,” as shown in Figures 2.6 and 2.7. This
worksheet also is available as a Microsoft Word document on the
CD-ROM that accompanies this book.
As noted on the worksheet, the total VA rating for all equipment is
the minimum size for a UPS to support the network server. A UPS
with a larger VA rating will keep the network server operating for a
longer period of time when there is a power failure. A larger VA rat-
ing also allows additional network server components to be added.
Verifying the Network Connection

NOTE

A server hardware specialist should be able to determine that the net-
specialist’s tool kit should include a
work connection for the network server is available and of the correct laptop computer with both an Ethernet
type and speed. You can test this by using another computer system PC Card and a Token-Ring PC Card.
with the proper network adapter installed to see whether the network Having the two most common network
connection that will be utilized by the network server is working. adapters available for the laptop com-
puter should make the verification
that the network connection is func-
Verifying Hardware Components for tional a trivial matter.
the Network Server

The next step for the server hardware specialist is to check the
components that will be used to assemble the network server. Some
network server vendors do not assemble all the hardware components
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 154
FIGURE 2.6
UPS Sizing Worksheet
UPS Sizing Worksheet.
This worksheet is designed to aid in the sizing of an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) to
meet the needs of a network server. UPSs are measured in terms of VA (volts-amps). List all
the equipment that will be protected by the UPS (that is, all equipment that will be plugged
into the UPS). Use Table 1 to list equipment that has voltage and amperage listed. Use Table 2
to list all the equipment that has power consumption listed in watts. Add all numbers in
the VA columns of both Table 1 and Table 2. The total VA rating is the minimum size to
select for the UPS that will support the network server.
In the following table, list all the equipment that has voltage and amperage ratings listed.
Multiply voltage times amperage to get the VA rating.
Table 1
Equipment Voltage (110/220) Amperage VA (Volts x Amps)
In the following table, list all the equipment that has wattage ratings listed. Multiply watts
times 1.5 to get the VA rating estimate.
Table 2
Equipment Wattage VA (Watts x 1.5)
FIGURE 2.7 Total VA requirements of all network server equipment to be attached to the UPS:
UPS Sizing Worksheet.

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for a network server when they are ordered. The server hardware
NOTE
specialist must be able to take all the components and assemble Wide-Tower to Rack-Mount Conversion
them into a working network server. Some wide-tower server chassises can
be easily converted to a rack-mount
configuration with the purchase of a
Server Chassis special rack-mount adapter kit from
Verify that the server chassis is the correct model that was ordered the server manufacturer.
and the correct form factor. Most server chassises are either of a
tower configuration, a wide- or “fat-” tower configuration, or a rack-
mount configuration. Make sure that if you ordered model X in a
tower configuration, that indeed Model X in a tower configuration
is delivered, and not Model X in a rack-mount configuration (see
Figures 2.8, 2.9, and 2.10).
Server Rack
A rack-mount server chassis must be mounted in an equipment rack
designed for rack-mounted hardware. Most server vendors that sell
servers in a rack-mount chassis also sell the server rack. Server racks
generally come in several sizes (heights). Server rack size is measured
in rack units (U). A standard rack unit is 1.75 inches. A new net-
work server will either be installed in an existing server rack or a
new server rack will be purchased for the new network server. Server
racks generally have both front and rear doors and side panels to
form a completely enclosed unit. The doors and side panels help
form both a secure environment and also are designed to aid in
cooling the equipment in the rack by controlling airflow patterns. In
most cases, multiple server racks can be joined together to form an
installation space for a large number of servers. Figure 2.11 shows an
example of a server rack. FIGURE 2.8
Server tower chassis.
A rack-mounted server installation conserves space in the room
where the servers reside. If you go with a rack-mounted configura-
tion, however, generally all equipment must be designed to fit into a
NOTE
server rack. This includes the UPS, the keyboard/mouse, and the Do Not Move a Loaded Server Rack
monitor (either LCD or CRT) for the server. The equipment instal- Never attempt to move a server rack
that has equipment installed in it. A
lation in the server rack should be done to the server vendor’s
fully loaded server rack might well
specifications. Several server vendors offer software to aid in the
weigh in excess of 1,000 pounds.
proper placement of the equipment into the server rack. For exam- Remove all of the equipment first,
ple, all server vendors recommend that the UPS be installed on the then relocate the server rack, lastly
bottom of the rack. This is done for several reasons, including the reinstall the equipment removed from
weight of the rack-mount UPS and the need to avoid the possible the server rack.
damage to a network server caused by a leaking UPS battery.
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Processor(s)
Network servers commonly have more than one processor. Verify
that the correct number and type of processors are available for the
network server. Some server vendors install all the processors that
were ordered; other server vendors supply the server with zero or one
processor installed, and the server hardware specialist must install
any additional processors. Verify that the processors are of the same
type, speed, and stepping (version). Also verify that each processor
has the same size of L2 cache. Follow the network server vendor’s
instructions for installing additional processors.
Memory
FIGURE 2.9
Server wide-tower chassis. Network servers generally require a considerable amount of memory
for them to adequately perform their function. Some server vendors
install all the memory that was ordered; however, other server ven-
dors supply the server with a “standard” amount of memory, and the
server hardware specialist must install the memory above the stan-
dard amount. Verify that the server has the amount of memory that
was ordered. If some of the memory must be installed, verify that
the memory is the correct type for the server and follow the server
hardware vendor’s instructions for installation of the additional
memory. This is a critical step. Some servers require that memory be
installed in groups of 2 or 4 memory modules. (Check the server
vendor’s documentation to see whether memory modules must be
installed in groups of 2 or 4, instead of singly.) Failure to install the
memory correctly will result in the server either not recognizing all
FIGURE 2.10 the memory installed or the server failing to start at all.
Server rack-mount chassis.
Disk Drives
Many network server configurations require that a large amount of
disk storage be available in the server. Verify that the disk drives are
the correct size, speed, and type (IDE/ATA, EIDE/ATA-2, SCSI,
SCSI-2, SCSI-3). The disk drives may come installed in the server
chassis or they might be shipped in separate cushioned boxes to
avoid damage. The installation plan will specify which disk drives
(size, speed, and type) should be installed in the network server.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 157
Monitor
Verify that the monitor for the network server is as ordered. In
general the monitor should support VGA resolution of at least
1024 × 768 dots per inch. The monitor can be the traditional CRT
type or one of the newer LCD flat-panel monitors. If the monitor is
to be rack mounted, a special monitor shelf will need to be pur-
chased. Special rack-mounted LCD flat-panel monitors are available;
these often include a keyboard/trackball combination in a single
rack drawer.
Keyboard
Verify that there is a keyboard for the server. There are no special
requirements for the keyboard that will be used with a server. A
rack-mounted keyboard is available for rack-mounted server
installations. This rack-mounted keyboard often includes a built-in
trackball or touch pad to substitute for a mouse.
Mouse
Verify that there is a mouse for the server. There are no special require-
ments for the mouse that will be used with a server. The mouse might FIGURE 2.11
A server rack.
require a serial connection, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection,
or a PS/2-type mini-DIN connection. Verify that the type of connec-
tion required by the mouse is available on the network server. In a
rack-mounted configuration, the mouse is often replaced by a track-
ball or touch pad built in to the rack-mounted keyboard.
Uninterruptible Power Supply

Verify that a UPS is available for the network server. The UPS
should be of adequate size to support the network server for a short
period of time, which will allow a graceful shutdown of the server.
Rack-mounted UPSs are available for rack-mounted network server
installations. All UPSs should be capable of being monitored by the
network server, usually through a serial communications cable. If the
UPS is to be monitored via the serial connection, make sure that a
serial connection is available on the network server. Through the
purchase of additional hardware for the UPS, you can usually moni-
tor a UPS through the network. Top-of-the-line UPSs often enable
you to monitor them via an SNMP management console or a built-
in Web interface.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 158
Backup System
Verify that the backup system is as specified in the installation plan
and that it is adequate to support the backup of the network server.
The backup system is generally a magnetic tape drive of one form or
another. The tape drive should be capable of backing up the con-
tents of the disk drives on the network server in a timely manner.
The capacity of the tape drive and the speed that data can be trans-
ferred to the tape drive are both of critical importance. If you deter-
mine that given the specifications of the tape drive, a full backup of
the network server would take 10 hours and you only have 4 hours
to perform the backup, for example, the tape drive is inadequate for
the job. You also can back up other devices, such as hard disk drives,
CD-R devices, and CD-RW devices. See Chapter 1 for a complete
discussion of backup systems.
The backup devices should be installed on a separate controller from
the disk drives of the network server, to provide peak performance
during the backup process.
SCSI Cables
Verify that the correct cables have been delivered to connect the
SCSI channel controller to the SCSI devices (disk drives). SCSI
cables differ distinctly from each other (for example, SCSI-1, SCSI-
2, and SCSI-3). The wide versions of SCSI-2 and SCSI-3 utilize dif-
ferent cables. Internal SCSI cables are generally ribbon cables, with
pin 1 identified by a colored (usually red) strip on the edge of the
ribbon cable. External SCSI cables are generally in a round bundle.
Verify that the SCSI cables have the correct number of connectors
for the network server configuration.
Make sure that the SCSI cables do not exceed the SCSI channel
length maximums. Also make sure that the SCSI cables have enough
connectors to allow all the SCSI devices to be attached. If you need
to attach four SCSI disk drives to a SCSI channel, for example, the
SCSI cable needs at least four connectors for the disk drives, plus
one where it can be attached to the SCSI adapter.
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SCSI Adapter(s)
Verify that the correct SCSI adapter is available. Many network
servers have one or more SCSI adapters built in. Additional SCSI
adapters may be required to support the number of SCSI devices
that will used with the network server. Make sure that the SCSI
adapter and SCSI devices are of the same type of SCSI (SCSI-1,
SCSI-2, SCSI-3, and so forth). Make sure that the SCSI adapter’s
interface matches the bus that is in the network server for example,
EISA, PCI, or PCI-64.
RAID Controller(s)
If the network server is going to use the hardware version of RAID,
verify that the RAID controller is available. The RAID controller
should be delivered with configuration software. The RAID con-
troller must be configured before the network operating system can
be installed. Most RAID controllers are designed to support some
version of SCSI disk drives. Make sure that the RAID controller
matches the bus that is in the network server for example, EISA,
PCI, or PCI-64.
Fibre Channel—Arbitrated Loop Host Bus

Adapter
If the network server is going to be using Fibre Channel—Arbitrated
Loop (FC-AL) disk systems, verify that the correct Fibre Channel
host bus adapter (HBA) has been delivered. Fibre Channel may use
either fiber-optic cable or copper wire for the connection media.
Make sure that the HBA has the correct connection (fiber optic or
copper) and that the correct cables are included. The vast majority
of FC-AL installations have the disk system external to the network
server chassis. Chapter 3, “2.0—Configuration,” covers the connec-
tion of FC-AL external devices.
Network Interface Card(s)

Verify that the network interface card (NIC) for the network server is
available. Some network servers have the NIC built in to the network
server. If redundant NICs are required for the network server, verify
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 160
that all NICs are available. Make sure that the NIC supports the type
of network where the network server is going to be installed (Ethernet,
Token Ring, and so on). Multiple NICs might also be installed in a
single network server if it is to be attached to multiple networks.
Miscellaneous Hardware
Other hardware might be required for the network server. The net-
work server does require a video adapter to support the network
server monitor. There is no reason to spent lots of money getting a
fancy video adapter that has a large amount of video memory to
support extremely high video resolution and billions of colors. The
video monitor on a network server is generally utilized only to per-
form administrative functions on the network server. A video
adapter that can support VGA resolution of up to 1024 × 768 and
65,536 colors should be adequate for most network servers.
Many server hardware vendors have a specialized server management
adapter that can be purchased and installed in their network servers.
These devices generally monitor the health of the server hardware
and can be used by server management software running on a
designed management computer. Some of these devices have a built-
in modem, which will allow monitoring of the server hardware via a
dial-in connection.
A rack-mounted network server might include a keyboard/video/
mouse (KVM) switch to allow one keyboard, one video display, and
one mouse to be utilized by multiple network servers that are in a
single rack. The KVM switch allows the keyboard, mouse and video
display to switch (usually from the keyboard) among the network
servers in the rack. This saves space in the rack, because each network
server will not require its own keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Some
cost savings also is associated with sharing the keyboard, mouse, and
monitor, because you don’t have to buy them for each server.
A network server also should have some devices commonly found on
most desktop computer systems, such as a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive
and a CD-ROM drive or a DVD-ROM drive. These devices are
required to install operating system software, hardware drivers, and
other software onto the network server.
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INSTALLING HARDWARE
. 1.2 Install hardware using ESD best practices (boards, drives,
memory, internal cables, etc.) These activities include:
• Install Uninterruptible Power Supply
• Install external devices (e.g., keyboards, monitors,
subsystems, modem rack, etc.)
• Verify power-on via power-on sequence
Once the server hardware specialist has verified all the hardware for the
network server, the next step is the actual installation of the hardware.
Electrostatic Discharge
Electrostatic discharge, better known as ESD, is a build up of elec-
tric charges on a body that can be transferred to another body upon
contact. This buildup of electric charge can easily damage the sensi-
tive components found inside a network server. While installing
components inside of a server chassis, it is very important that you
do not accidentally build up an electric charge that can be trans-
ferred to components inside the network server. You should follow
the list of ESD Best Practices included here anytime that you open
the chassis of the network server (to install, upgrade, or maintain
components in the chassis).
ESD can be caused by any of the following:
á People moving around (especially on carpet)
á Low humidity
á Unshielded cables
á Improper grounding
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 162
ESD Best Practices

EXAM TIP
Know the ESD Best Practices While working on a network server, follow this list of the best prac-
You are likely to be asked about tices to ensure that you do not have a problem with ESD:
electrostatic discharge best prac-
tices on the exam. Know them. á Always use a static discharge device (static wrist strap, anti-
static mat) when you open the server chassis to access
components in the server.
á Always store components in static bags until you are ready to
use them.
á Before you touch anything inside a network server, touch the
housing of the power supply. This will discharge any static
charge that may have built up on your body.
á Use antistatic solutions on carpets in the server room.
á Use a room humidifier if the humidity is constantly below 50%.
á If possible, install antistatic carpet in the server room.
á Hold disk drives by the edges. Do not touch the circuit board
on the bottom of the disk drive.
Installing Processors
If you must install additional processors in a network server, be sure
that you follow the ESD best practices. Always follow the server hard-
ware vendor’s installation instructions. You must check several factors
about additional processors before installing the additional processors.
Match Processor Speed

The clock speed of the processors in a network server must be the same.
Match Processor Cache Size

The size of the processor cache for all the processors in a network
server must be the same. Processors generally have cache sizes of
256KB, 512KB, 1024KB (1MB), and 2048KB (2MB). Mixing
processors with caches of different sizes will not work at all in some
network servers, and will affect performance in the network servers
that do allow mixing of processor cache sizes. It is best not to mix
processor cache sizes, even though some network server manufactur-
ers do support mixed cache sizes.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 163
Match Processor Stepping (Version)
TIP
A stepping is the Intel term used to describe different versions of a Stepping Know that multiple
given processor. Intel recommends that processors in a multiprocessors in a network server
EXAM
processor server should have steppings that differ by no more than must meet the (N+1) stepping
requirements.
one. Intel refers to this as (N+1) stepping. It is best that the processors
have the same identical stepping number.
For more information about steppings, see Intel’s Web site at
www.intel.com/newsgroups/mips/mip_2.htm#five.
Buses
The server hardware specialist does not install the buses in the net-
work server, but needs to be aware of the buses that are in the net-
work server to install additional adapters in the network server. Most
servers have one or more PCI or PCI-64 buses. The multiple buses
allow the server to transport more data between the NICs and the
network server or the SCSI controller and the network server. The
PCI bus is 32–bits wide, which means that it can transfer 4 charac-
ters or bytes of data per clock cycle. (32 bits divided by 8 bits per
byte equals 4 bytes.) The PCI-64 bus is 64-bits wide, which means
that it can transfer 8 characters of data per clock cycle. The PCI and
PCI-64 buses operate at 33 Megahertz. This means that a PCI bus
has a maximum theoretical transfer rate of 32MBps (33 million
hertz × 4 bytes/second). A PCI-64 bus has a maximum theoretical
transfer rate of 264MBps (33 million hertz × 8 bytes/second). Some
newer PCI buses operate at 66 Megahertz, thus doubling the trans-
fer rate. The trade-off for this faster bus speed is usually fewer con-
nections available on the bus. PCI buses that operate at 100MHz
will soon be available.
Peer Buses
A network server with peer buses has multiple buses that act indepen-
dently. Most peer bus systems are dual peer (two buses) or triple peer
(three buses). This means that each bus has the full transfer rate avail-
able. On a server that will be transferring large amounts of data to and
from the disk drives, as well as transferring large amounts of data to
and from the network, can have this workload balanced between the
peer buses. You just place the disk controller on one bus and the NIC
on the other bus. Figure 2.12 shows a diagram of a peer bus.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 164
FIGURE 2.12 System Bus

Peer PCI bus.
Processor Memory
Bridge Bridge
Primary PCI Secondary

Bus PCI Bus
Dual-Peer PCI Buses
A dual-peer PCI bus provides two separate buses that can each
operate at full speed, effectively doubling data transfer capacity.
To take advantage of the two buses, install adapters that require
high data-transfer capability on separate buses. (For instance, put
a 100BASE-T network adapter on one bus and put a SCSI con-
troller on the other bus.)
Bridged Buses
EXAM TIP
Buses Know the difference A server with bridged buses has multiple buses that act as one. This
between a peer bus and a bridged is done to increase the number of PCI slots available on a server.
bus. Both buses share the available transfer speed. Placing the disk con-
troller on one bus and the NIC on the other bus has no load balanc-
ing benefit because the buses are essentially one. Figure 2.13 shows a
diagram of a bridged PCI bus.
Memory Installation
If you must install additional memory into the network server, be
sure that you follow the ESD best practices listed earlier in this
chapter. Always follow the server hardware vendor’s installation
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 165
System Bus
FIGURE 2.13
Bridged PCI bus.
Processor Memory
Bridge
Bridge
Primary PCI Secondary
Bus PCI Bus
Bridged PCI Buses
instructions. Again, some servers require that memory be installed in

groups of 2 or 4 memory modules. You must check several factors
about additional memory before installing the additional memory.
Match Memory Type

The memory type must meet the requirement of the network server
hardware. You cannot mix types of memory in a server, even if the
memory can be physically installed into the server. Check the mem-
ory type required by the network server hardware and make sure
that all memory to be installed into the network server is of the cor-
rect type. Chapter 1 fully describes the different types of memory.
Match Memory Speed

The memory speed must be the same for all the memory in the net-
work server. Check the memory speed required by the network
server hardware and make sure that all memory to be installed into
the network server is the same speed. Chapter 1 fully describes
memory speed.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 166
Disk Subsystem Installation

The installation process of the disk subsystem for the network server
will vary greatly depending on the type and number of disk drives to
be installed. Be sure to use ESD best practices when installing disk
subsystem components. Most server hardware uses SCSI disk drives
for their speed and the number of disk that you can attach to a single
SCSI controller. IDE or EIDE disks are seldom used in servers due to
the load that they put on the processor and the limited number of
disk drives that can be installed on a single disk controller (2 disks
per channel, 2 channels per controller). IDE and EIDE disk con-
trollers are also limited to disk drives that are internal to the network
server. (No external connections allowed.) SCSI can support both
internal and external disk drives. Most RAID controllers are also
SCSI controllers; therefore the same installation rules for SCSI apply
for SCSI-based RAID. Chapter 1 fully discusses disk subsystems.
IDE/ATA Disks
IDE disk drives and controllers (also known as ATA disk drives and
controllers) are limited to two channels with a maximum of 2 disk
drives per channel. The IDE/ATA channel is a 40-conductor ribbon
cable that is a maximum of 18 inches long. The short channel
length limits IDE/ATA to devices that are internal to the network
server. That is a total of 4 disk drives per IDE/ATA disk controller.
These disk controllers rely on the processor of the computer to per-
form most of the disk input/output operations.
Each disk drive that is attached to an IDE/ATA disk controller must
have a jumper set on the back of the disk drive to specify the role the
disk will perform in relationship to the other disk on the same chan-
nel. A single IDE disk is usually set to the master role. If a second
IDE disk is attached to the same channel as an existing IDE disk
drive that is set to Master, it must be set to the slave role. In essence,
the disk hardware on the Master disk drive controls both the Master
and Slave disk drives. A third option called Cable Select (CSEL) will
allow the IDE adapter to select which IDE disk drive will function as
Master and which IDE disk drive will function as Slave. If both IDE
disk drives that are on a single channel are set to Master, or if both
are set to Slave, the disk subsystem will not work. No industry stan-
dard applies to the jumper settings for IDE disk drives, so read your
drive documentation carefully. Figure 2.14 shows a diagram of the
selections available for a typical IDE disk drive.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 167
FIGURE 2.14
Representative IDE disk drive jumper settings.
Drive 1:
Master
Drive 2:
Slave
40-pin connector Jumper block Power connector
EIDE/ATA-2 Disks
NOTE
ATA-2/RAID At least one manufac-

Enhanced IDE disk drives (also known as ATA-2 disk drives) are an
turer builds a RAID controller based
enhancement to the original IDE/ATA disk drive specification and on an ATA-2 disk controller. However,
allow for increased performance. The length of the EIDE/ATA-2 this ATA-2/RAID controller limits you
channel (ribbon cable) remains at 18 inches. to using only four disk drives.
Each disk drive that is attached to an EIDE/ATA-2 disk controller
must have a jumper set on the back of the disk drive to specify the
role the disk will perform in relationship to the other disk on the
same channel. A single EIDE/ATA-2 disk is usually set to the master
role. If a second EIDE/ATA-2 disk is attached to the same channel
as an existing EIDE/ATA-2 disk drive that is set to Master, it must
be set to the slave role. In essence, the disk hardware on the Master
disk drive controls both the Master and Slave disk drives. CSEL will
allow the EIDE/ATA-2 adapter to select which EIDE/ATA-2 disk
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 168
drive will function as Master and which EIDE/ATA-2 disk drive will
function as Slave. If both EIDE/ATA-2 disk drives that are on a sin-
gle channel are both set to Master, or are both set to Slave, the disk
subsystem will not work.
Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA

Ultra ATA, which is also known as Ultra DMA, disk drives adhere to
the ATA-3 specification. These disk drives are typically much faster
than the older ATA and ATA-2 disk drives. These disk drives are
installed and configured the same way that ATA-2 disk drives are con-
figured (Master/Slave/CSEL). However, the faster versions, ATA-66
and ATA-100, require that a special ribbon cable be used to connect
the disk drives to the ATA adapter. This special cable contains 80 con-
ductors, but it still uses the same 40-pin connectors used by earlier
ATA disk drives. Failure to use these special cables for these high-speed
disks can result in disk system problems and possible data loss.
EXAMTIP
Drives Know the STEP BY STEP

IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 2.1 Installing IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 Disk Drives
Master/Slave/CSEL requirements.
1. Set the Master/Slave/CSEL jumper on each disk drive.
IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 disk controller. (Red line
on ribbon cable connects to pin 1 on connector on disk
controller.)
IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 disk drive. (Red line on ribbon
cable connects to pin 1 on connector on disk drive.)
4. Connect power cable to each IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2
disk drive.
SCSI Disks
The majority of server hardware will use Small Computer Systems
Interface (SCSI) disk drives for a multitude of reasons, including
the following:
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 169
á SCSI is a bus controller (not a disk controller).

á The SCSI bus controller is an intelligent device that off-
loads from the server processor the tasks of accessing the disk
subsystem.
á SCSI disks are generally very fast compared to other disk
drive systems.
á A SCSI controller can control up to 7 devices per channel (15
devices on SCSI-3 controllers).
á A SCSI controller can have up to 5 channels.
á SCSI devices can be internal to the server or external to the
server (in a separate enclosure).
á You should not run both internal and external devices on the
same SCSI channel.
The SCSI bus identifies each device by a SCSI ID number. Most
E X A MT I P
SCSI buses can handle a total of 8 devices per channel, which are Terminating SCSI Know that
numbered from 0 through 7. (Some versions of SCSI support a total both ends of a SCSI bus must
of 16 devices per channel, which are numbered 0 through 15.) Each be terminated.
device on a SCSI channel must have a unique SCSI ID. SCSI ID
numbers are generally set by jumpers on the SCSI disk drive itself.
Duplication of the SCSI IDs on a SCSI channel can cause the chan-
nel to be inaccessible. If you want to be able to boot from a SCSI
disk drive, give it a SCSI ID of 0 or 1.
Other rules for SCSI are pretty simple. Each end of the SCSI bus
must be terminated. Generally the SCSI controller itself is on one
end of the SCSI bus and it usually has onboard termination. The
other end of the SCSI cable is either terminated by a resistor on the
last disk drive on the chain or a physical terminator on the end of
the SCSI bus. Figure 2.15 shows an example of SCSI termination. SCSI
Controller
There are three types of SCSI termination: passive termination,
active termination, and forced perfect termination (FPT). Passive
termination is cheap to implement, but should be used only for
lower speed SCSI channels with relative short cables. Active termina-
tion is preferred and can handle much higher speeds and longer
cables. Forced perfect termination is the best method and can be Terminated Not Terminated
Terminated
used for even the highest speed SCSI implementation. It also is the
most complex to implement and therefore the most costly. However, FIGURE 2.15
the extra cost will result in a much more reliable SCSI system. SCSI bus termination.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 170
SCSI termination may be implemented in several ways. Because

both ends of the SCSI bus must be terminated and because the
SCSI adapter is going to be on one end of the SCSI bus, one termi-
nation point will be on the SCSI adapter itself. This is usually done
automatically and there is no need for additional changes to the
SCSI adapter for it to terminate the SCSI bus at one end.
On the other end of the SCSI bus, the last disk drive on the SCSI
channel must be terminated (usually done via a jumper on the disk
drive or a special terminator inserted on the last connector on the
SCSI cable). In fact, it is very common for low-voltage differential
SCSI devices to not have the capability to terminate the SCSI bus
on the device itself; you must use a special terminator inserted in the
last connector on the SCSI cable.
SCSI-1, SCSI-2, and SCSI-3 disk drives can be mixed on the same
SCSI channel, but it is not recommended. Mixing disk drives from
the different versions of SCSI can seriously impact performance of
the SCSI channel.
Chapter 1 includes a detailed discussion of SCSI in all its
various forms.
SCSI Disk Types

Three major versions of the SCSI standard are currently on the
market. Luckily, they are known as SCSI-1, SCSI-2, and SCSI-3.
Installation of SCSI devices among the three different SCSI standards
is very similar. The differences are mainly in the size of the SCSI con-
nector that is used to connect the SCSI disk drive to the SCSI cable.
There are also three signaling systems (single-ended [SE], differential
[DIFF]—also known as high-voltage differential [HVD]—and low-
voltage differential [LVD]) that can be used by SCSI devices. There is
no difference in the connectors used among the three different signal-
ing systems. To help identify the signaling system used by SCSI
devices (controllers and drives), a system of symbols has been devised
to identify the different signaling systems. Look for these symbols on
all SCSI devices. Figure 2.16 shows examples of the SCSI symbols.
SCSI-1
Originally just known as SCSI, it was used by many Apple computers
in the early 1980s. By today’s standards it was rather slow. The SCSI
bus ran at 5MHz using an 8-bit data path. This allowed a data
transfer rate of 5MB per second.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 171
SCSI-1 generally supported a single channel per SCSI controller.
WA R N I N G
The SCSI-2 internal cable was a ribbon cable that was attached to Differential Danger Attaching a
the disk controller by a 50-pin connector. Many early SCSI con- device using the differential (HVD)
trollers used a DB-25, 25-pin connector for external SCSI devices. signaling method can seriously
The termination for the SCSI-1 was usually a set of 3 resistors on damage devices designed to use
the single-ended or low-voltage dif-
the SCSI controller (assuming it was at the end of the SCSI bus) or
ferential signaling systems.
a set of three resistors on the last SCSI disk drive on the bus, or an
actual terminator attached to the end of the SCSI bus. Maximum
cable length of SCSI-1 is 6 meters.
SCSI-2
SCSI-2 uses two different signaling systems, known as single-ended
interface and differential interface. The two signaling systems are
incompatible and cannot be mixed on the same SCSI bus. Make
sure that all devices, including the SCSI-2 controller, are all using
either single-ended interface or all using the differential interface.
Due to bus length restrictions, single-ended SCSI-2 cabling is usu-
ally found inside a server chassis. The differential interface allows for
longer cable lengths and is generally found connecting the server to
an external SCSI device. SCSI-2 uses the same 50-pin connector on
the internal SCSI cable that is used by SCSI-1 devices.
However, SCSI-2 also has a variant called Wide SCSI-2, which can
transfer 16 bits at a time as opposed to the 8 bits at a time used by
normal SCSI-1 and normal SCSI-2. This extra bus width requires
the use of a 68-pin connector. Wide SCSI-2 allows for 16 devices on
the SCSI-2 channel, whereas normal SCSI-2 (also called narrow
SCSI-2) and SCSI-1 only allow 8 devices on the SCSI channel.
SCSI SE SCSI LVD
Single Ended Low Voltage

SCSI Devices Differential
SCSI
SCSI LVD/SE SCSI DIFF
Low Voltage High Voltage

Differential/Single-Ended Differential FIGURE 2.16
Multi-mode SCSI SCSI SCSI symbols.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 172
Another variant of SCSI-2 is Fast SCSI-2, which doubles the bus

speed from 5MHz to 10MHz. Fast SCSI-2 requires an active termi-
nation technique. Due to the increased speed, the bus length is
reduced from 6 meters to 3 meters.
And, of course, there also is a Fast-Wide SCSI-2 implementation.
It requires 68-pin cables, active termination, and short cable length
(3 meters), but it can transfer data at 20MBps.
SCSI-2 (Narrow SCSI-2) uses 50-pin connectors on the internal
SCSI-2 devices. Wide SCSI-2 uses 68-pin connectors on the internal
SCSI-2 devices. Figures 2.17, 2.18, and 2.19 show examples of 50-
pin, 68-pin, and 80-pin (SCA) connectors respectively. The Fast
SCSI-2 and Fast-Wide SCSI-2 variants require active termination.
Regular SCSI-2 and Wide SCSI-2 can use passive termination,
although active termination is preferred.
The SCSI 80-pin connector is a special connector that is often used
Know Your Connectors Be able to by server hardware OEMs. The 80-pin connector is a single connec-
TIP
identify 50-pin, 68-pin, and 80-pin tor that combines the functions of a normal SCSI connector, a
SCSI connectors.
power connector, and the SCSI ID’s jumpers into one connector.
EXAM
This makes the installation of hot-swappable disk drives very easy.

The single 80-pin SCA connector provides power to the disk drive,
provides all SCSI control functions, and sets the SCSI ID of the disk
drive (usually based on the position of the drive in the chassis).
FIGURE 2.17 25 1
50-pin SCSI connector.
50 26
FIGURE 2.18 34 1
68-pin SCSI connector.
68 35
FIGURE 2.19 Pin 2 Pin 1

80-pin or SCA SCSI connector.
Pin 80
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 173
SCSI-3
SCSI-3 is the latest standard of the SCSI family. It combines all the
best features of the previous SCSI standards. It uses LVD, which
uses differential signaling, and supports up to 15 devices on a single
cable, which can be up to 12 meters long. SCSI-3 supports three
different bus speeds, known as Ultra (20MHz), Ultra2 (40MHz),
and Ultra3 (double-clocked 40MHz). There are both narrow (8-bit)
and wide (16-bit) implementations of the three SCSI-3 bus speeds.
Ultra SCSI-3 and Ultra2 SCSI-3 both use 50-pin connectors. The
wide variants (Wide Ultra SCSI-3 and Wide Ultra2 SCSI-3) as well
as Ultra3 (also known as Ultra160 SCSI-3) use 68-pin connectors.
All versions of SCSI-3 require active termination. Table 2.1 summa-
rizes the maximum cable lengths for various types of SCSI.
TABLE 2.1
M A X I M U M SCSI B U S L E N G T H BY TYPE
Type of SCSI Length
Standard 6 meters
Fast 3 meters
Wide-Ultra 1.5 meters
Low-voltage differential 12 meters
Differential 25 meters
Installing SCSI
Step-by-Step 2.2 walks you through the process of installing SCSI
components.
STEP BY STEP
2.2 Installing SCSI Components
1. Set the SCSI IDs on the disk drives (see Table 2.2).
2. Insert SCSI controller into the server.
3. Install SCSI disk drives into the server.
continues
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 174
continued
4. Connect the SCSI ribbon cable to SCSI controller. (Red
strip on the ribbon cable should be attached to pin 1 on
the SCSI controller.)
5. Connect the SCSI ribbon cable to SCSI disk drives. (Red
strip on the ribbon cable should be attached to pin 1 on
the SCSI connector on the disk drive.)
6. Terminate both ends of the SCSI bus.
7. Connect the power connector to the SCSI disk drives.
Table 2.2 shows the various jumper settings for setting the SCSI ID
on SCSI devices.
TABLE 2.2
SCSI A D D R E S S J U M P E R S E T T I N G S
SCSI ID Jumper 4 Jumper 3 Jumper 2 Jumper 1
0 OFF OFF OFF OFF
1 OFF OFF OFF ON
2 OFF OFF ON OFF
3 OFF OFF ON ON
4 OFF ON OFF OFF
5 OFF ON OFF ON
6 OFF ON ON OFF
7 OFF ON ON ON
8 ON OFF OFF OFF
9 ON OFF OFF ON
10 ON OFF ON OFF
11 ON OFF ON ON
12 ON ON OFF OFF
13 ON ON OFF ON
14 ON ON ON OFF
15 ON ON ON ON
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:48 AM Page 175
Only Wide SCSI devices have 4 jumpers. All other SCSI devices
have 3 jumpers. Notice that if you substitute the numeral 1 for all
the ON settings and the numeral 0 for all the OFF settings, you are
counting from 0 to 15 in binary.
Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop

If the network server is going to be attached to an external Fibre
Channel Arbitrated Loop disk system, insert the FC-AL HBA into
an available slot on the network server bus. The disk system to be
attached to the FC-AL HBA is generally external to the network
server chassis. The connectors on the FC-AL can be either fiber-
optic or copper wire. Check that the correct external cable is avail-
able. Chapter 3 discusses FC-AL in more detail.
Network Subsystem Installation

Many network servers come with a built-in NIC. Other vendors
install the NIC in an available slot on the PCI bus in the server. In
either case, the NIC must match the network to which the server is
going to be attached (Ethernet or Token Ring).
Ethernet
The vast majority of networks today are based on a version of
Ethernet. The two most common types of Ethernet are known as
10BASE-T and 100BASE-T. 10BASE-T Ethernet operates at
10Mbps. 100BASE-T Ethernet operates at 100Mbps and is known
as Fast Ethernet. 1000BASE-T is becoming available and operates at
1Gbps (1000 megabits per second) and is known as Gigabit
Ethernet. Luckily 10BASE-T and 100BASE-T use the same type of
network cabling, unshielded twisted-pair (UTP). The connector on
the end of the UTP is known as an RJ-45 connector. The twisted-
pair cable contains 4 pairs of 2 wires each that are twisted around 8 1
each other. One end of the UTP cable plugs into an RJ-45 jack on
the back of the NIC in the server. The other end of the UTP cable
plugs into a network device (either a hub or a switch). The maxi-
mum distance from the hub or switch to the NIC is 100 meters. FIGURE 2.20
Figure 2.20 shows an example of an Ethernet connection. Ethernet RJ-45 connector.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 176
Token Ring
Token-Ring networks can use either the same type of cable that is
used by Ethernet network (UTP) or a more expensive type of cable
known as shielded twisted-pair (STP). If UTP cable is used, the
cable plugs into an RJ-45 jack on the back of the NIC in the server.
The other end of the cable is plugged into an RJ-45 connector on a
device known as a multi-station access unit (MSAU). If STP cable is
used, the cable plugs into a DB-9 connector on the back of the NIC
(only 4 pins are used). The other end of the STP cable has an IBM
Universal Data Connector on it that plugs into an MSAU. The dis-
tance from the NIC to the MSAU in either case is limited to 100
meters. Token Ring operates at either 4Mbps or 16Mbps. Figure
2.21 shows an example of a Token-Ring connection.
Network Interface Cards

A network server can have multiple NICs. These can be used to
attach the network server to multiple networks, which can be the
same type or different types (for instance, both Ethernet, both Token
Ring, or one Ethernet and the other Token Ring). Multiple NICs
also can be used to provide fault tolerance. (For instance, if one NIC
fails the other NIC takes over.) Multiple NICs also can be used
together to provide more network throughput to the server. (For
instance, four 100Mbps NICs in one server used together would
provide 400Mbps throughput to the server.)
Network Cabling
Most networks today are built using UTP cable. The connector on
the end of the cable is known as an RJ-45 connector. UTP cable has
a total of 8 wires in it (4 pairs of 2 wires each). The RJ-45 connector
terminates all 8 wires in a clear plastic connector. The 8 wires are
Token Ring DB-9 Connector

(Connects to Network Interface Card)
FIGURE 2.21 Token Ring Universal Data Connector
Connectors for Token-Ring network cable. [Connects to MultiStation Access Unit (MSAU)]
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 177
color coded to allow them to be placed in the correct order when the
UTP cable is terminated. A crimping tool is used to terminate a UTP
cable in an RJ-45 connector. Figure 2.22 shows a crimping tool.
NIC to Hub
The cable used to connect an Ethernet NIC to an Ethernet hub (or FIGURE 2.22
A UTP crimping tool.
switch) is called a straight-through cable. The 8 wires are in the same
order (1–8) at each end of the cable. This is the most common type
of Ethernet cable. It also is sometimes called a patch cable. Figure
NOTE
2.23 shows an example of wiring a straight-through UTP cable. Add to Tool Kit A server hardware
supply of RJ-45 connectors and a
Hub to Hub crimping tool.
If you need to connect two Ethernet hubs together in a network, you
have two choices. If the Ethernet hub has a special RJ-45 jack known
as an uplink port (also sometimes labeled MDI-X ), you can use a
EXAMTIP
standard Ethernet straight-through UTP cable. This is just like the
cable normally used to attach an Ethernet NIC to an Ethernet hub. Ethernet Wiring Know the wiring
for an Ethernet UTP straight-through
The other choice comes into play when the Ethernet hubs do not cable.
have an uplink port. You can connect two Ethernet hubs together by
using a special UTP cable known as a crossover-cable. In a cross-over
cable, the 8 wires in the UTP cable are wired differently. In a cross-
over cable, wire 1 goes to wire 3 on the other end, wire 2 goes to NOTE Add to Tool Kit A server hardware
wire 6 on the other end. Wires 4, 5, 7, and 8 go straight through. specialist’s tool kit should include a
Figure 2.24 shows an example of a cross-over cable. 10-foot straight-through cable.
Pins 4, 5, Transmit (1&2)

7 and 8 Receive (3&6)
are not used
Pins 4, 5,
Receive (3&6) 7 and 8
Transmit (1&2) are not used
Pin number Wire color Straight-Through Pin number Wire color

Pin 1 Orange/White Pin 1 Orange/White
Pin 2 Orange Wire Becomes Pin 2 Orange
Pin 3 Green/White 1 Pin 3 Green/White
Pin 4 Blue 1 Pin 4 Blue
Pin 5 Blue/White 2 2 Pin 5 Blue/White
Pin 6 Green 3 3 Pin 6 Green
Pin 7 Brown/White 6 6 Pin 7 Brown/White
Pin 8 Brown Pin 8 Brown FIGURE 2.23
Ethernet RJ-45 straight-through cable.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 178
FIGURE 2.24
Ethernet RJ-45 cross-over cable. Pins 4, 5, Transmit (1&2)
7 and 8 Receive (3&6)
are not used
Pins 4, 5,
Receive (3&6) 7 and 8
Transmit (1&2) are not used
Pin number Wire color Crossed-Over Pin number Wire color

Pin 1 Orange/White Pin 1 Orange/White
Pin 2 Orange Wire Becomes Pin 2 Orange
Pin 3 Green/White 3 Pin 3 Green/White
Pin 4 Blue 1 Pin 4 Blue
Pin 5 Blue/White 2 6 Pin 5 Blue/White
Pin 6 Green 3 1 Pin 6 Green
Pin 7 Brown/White 6 2 Pin 7 Brown/White
Pin 8 Brown Pin 8 Brown
Backup System Hardware Installation

EXAMTIP
More Ethernet Wiring Know the

The backup system hardware is generally a tape drive of some sort.
wiring for an Ethernet UTP cross-
over cable. For top performance, the tape drive should have a SCSI interface.
The tape drive should be connected to a SCSI controller that is dif-
ferent from the SCSI controller that has the hard disk drives that
you are going to back up to the tape drive. This provides the best
backup performance. Tape drives can be internal to the server chassis
or external in a different cabinet.
NOTE

10-foot cross-over cable.
Uninterruptible Power-Supply
Installation
The UPS is always a device that is external to the server itself. The
NOTE
NIC to NIC You also can use a

UPS is plugged directly into the power source. The server and its
cross-over cable to connect two NICs
components are then plugged into the UPS. A serial or USB cable
together to form a two-computer net-
work without a hub in between them.
that runs from the UPS to a port on the server gives the network
operating system the capability to monitor the UPS, so that it will
know when the power has failed and the UPS is providing power via
batteries. A rack-mounted UPS is generally installed as the lowest
device in the rack. Figure 2.25 shows a diagram of UPS cabling.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 179
Server Serial Port FIGURE 2.25

Cabling an uninterruptible power supply.
Seria
l Cab Serial Port
le
Server UPS
Power Power Cord
Wall
Outlet
Cord
UPS
Power UPS outlet
Connector
UPS Cabling
Miscellaneous Server Components

Installation
The remaining miscellaneous server components are installed
as needed.
Monitor
The monitor is connected to the video adapter via a 15-pin HD-15
connector. If the CRT monitor is to be rack mounted, it usually sits
on a specially designed shelf in the rack (see Figure 2.26).
Keyboard
The keyboard plugs into the keyboard port on the server. There is
no difference between plugging a keyboard into a server and plug-
ging a keyboard into a standard desktop computer. Care must be
taken not to reverse the mouse and keyboard connections, because
they use the same type connector. If the keyboard is a special rack-
mount keyboard, it will fit into a rack-mounted drawer in the rack.
The rack-mounted keyboard may have an integrated trackball or
touch pad to substitute for a mouse (see Figure 2.27).
Mouse
The mouse plugs into the mouse port (sometimes called a PS/2
mouse port) on the server. There is no difference between plugging a
mouse into a server and plugging a mouse into a standard desktop
computer. Care must be taken to not reverse the keyboard and
mouse connections, because they use the same type PS/2 connector.
A mouse with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector might also be
utilized on a network server.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 180
FIGURE 2.26
CRT monitor on shelf in rack.
FIGURE 2.27
Rack-mounted keyboard.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 181
Video Adapter
The video adapter for the server may be either built in or an adapter
that plugs into an available bus slot. No need for a fancy video
adapter with lots of video memory. The server video display is usu-
ally used only for simple administrative tasks that do not require
high resolution.
Server Management Adapter

Some vendors of network servers also sell a specialized server manage-
ment adapter to aid in the management of the server hardware. This
adapter usually includes a built-in modem to allow server manage-
ment via a dial-in connection. Some server management adapters
require that the VGA video be routed from the standard video adapter
to the server management board, which then routes it to the video
display. This feature allows the server management adapter to capture
the boot-up sequence of the network server for playback on demand.
CD-ROM/DVD-ROM Drive
Most server hardware includes either a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
drive. This is usually required for operating system and other soft-
ware installation.
Redundant Component Installation

Many times server hardware that is prone to failure will be dupli-
cated in the server to provide redundancy. The following sections
address components that are commonly set up in redundant fashion.
Power Supply
Server hardware may have multiple hot-swappable power supplies.
Having two or even three power supplies allows the power supplies
to balance the electrical load. If one power supply fails, the other
power supply can and will handle the entire electrical load. The
failed power supply can be replaced with a new power supply with-
out taking the network server offline.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 182
Cooling Fan
Keeping the inside of the server chassis relatively cool is of major
importance. If components inside the server chassis get too hot, they
will tend to fail. Server hardware has cooling fans to keep air circulating
around the components. If you have only one cooling fan and it fails,
the inside of the server chassis will overheat and the server will fail.
Many hardware manufacturers provide the ability to add a redundant
cooling fan, which is hot swappable in case of a cooling fan failure.
Redundant NIC
Having a redundant NIC in the network server will allow the net-
work server to keep communicating over the network even if a NIC
fails. This usually is accomplished by having two identical NICs in
the server, only one of which is actually communicating over the net-
work. A special software driver for the redundant NICs constantly
monitors the network communications and if the software driver
determines that the NIC currently being used to communicate over
the network has failed, it will automatically switch to the other NIC.
Server-Rack Installation
If the network server you are installing is a rack-mount server, you
must take a few special steps. You must follow the rack-installation
instructions provided by the server vendor. Not only do you have to
have all rack-mount components (server, UPS, monitor, keyboard/
mouse, and so on), but there are also recommendations that you
should follow as to the order that equipment is installed in the rack.
Also, each rack-mount component has special supports that must be
installed on the component and the rack to later provide access to
the components installed in the rack. Because servers installed in the
rack must be slid out of the rack for you to gain access to the inside
of the chassis, special cable management arms are attached to the
back of the components. This allows the server chassis, for example,
to be slid out of the rack for access without having to disconnect any
of the cables attached to the rear of the server (for instance, network
cable, UPS monitor cable, SCSI cables). Figure 2.28 shows a picture
of a cable management arm.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 183
If more than one network server is installed into a single server rack,
a keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) switch should also be installed to
allow the use of one keyboard, one video monitor, and one mouse to
control all network servers in a single rack. Figure 2.29 shows the
wiring for a KVM switch.
FIGURE 2.28
Cable management arm in server rack.
MON
ITOR
VGA
1
VGA
2
VGA
3
Keyboard 1 VGA
Mouse 1
4
Keyboard 2
Mouse 2
Keyboard 3
Mouse 3
Keyboard 4
Mouse 4
FIGURE 2.29
Wiring a KVM switch.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 184
Power-On Test
NOTE
Reinstall Chassis Covers Install all

covers on the network server chassis After all components have been installed into the server chassis and
before attempting power on. Some all external connections (keyboard, mouse, and so on) have been
servers have an interlock mechanism made, it is time to see whether the server will power on. If there are
that prevents power on if a cover is external powered devices (disk drives, tape drives), turn them on
not in place. first. Then power on the server. You should see a series of messages
that count the amount of RAM in the server, the number and types
of processors installed, and then you should see a series of messages
from the SCSI controllers as they go through and locate SCSI
devices on each SCSI channel (see Figure 2.30). If you don’t see the
SCSI devices listed during the power- on process, read Chapter 7,
“6.0—Troubleshooting and Problem Determination.”
524288 KB Detected
COMPAQ System BIOS - E16 (12/30/1996)
Copyright 1982, 1996 Compaq Computer Corporation. All rights reserved.
Processor Slot 9, Processor 1 Initialized at 200 MHz

Adaptec AHA-2940 Ultra/Ultra W BIOS v1.25

(c) 1996 Adaptec, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
<<< Press <CTRL><A> for SCSISelect (TM) Utility! >>>
SCSI ID:LUN NUMBER #:# 0:0 - COMPAQ DFHSS42 - DRIVE (80H)

SCSI ID:LUN NUMBER #:# 1:0 - COMPAQ ST15150@ - DRIVE (80H)
SCSI ID:LUN NUMBER #:# 2:0 - COMPAQ ST34371W - DRIVE (80H)
SCSI ID:LUN NUMBER #:# 3:0 - COMPAQ ST15150W - DRIVE (80H)
SCSI BIOS Installed Successfully!
FIGURE 2.30
SCSI adapter finds SCSI devices during
power up.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 185
Document, Document, Document

After the installation is complete, write down the entire hardware
configuration in a log book for the network server. This information
will prove to be invaluable later in the life of the server. Be sure to
write down the following (at least):
á The amount of memory, including size and type of each mem-
ory module and which memory slot it occupies. Also record
the number of available (empty) memory slots.
á Number of SCSI or RAID controllers.
á The SCSI channel, SCSI ID, size, and the speed of each SCSI
disk drive.
á The SCSI ID of the tape backup system.
á The SCSI ID of the CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 186
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The chapter discussed verification of the installation plan and then
KEY TERMS
focused on the actual installation of the hardware for a network server.
• ANSI
The discussion began with the verification of the installation plan.
• ATA You read about the need to check the installation site for power,
• ATA-2 cooling, and network connectivity. You also learned to check the
network server components that are available and compare them to
• Bus the network server components as specified in the installation plan.
• Cross-over cable The discussion then turned to the process of installing the compo-
• Differential nents into the network server chassis. These components include
processors, memory, adapter cards (such as SCSI, RAID, FC-AL,
• EIDE
and network). After installation of the components, you learned to
• Electrostatic discharge run a preliminary test of the server by performing a power on.
• Ethernet In the next chapter, you will configure the components and install
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 187
CHAPTER SUMMARY
• IDE
• L2 cache
• Low-voltage differential
• Keyboard/video/mouse switch
• PCI bus
• Rack
• RAID
• RJ-45
• SCSI
• SCSI-1
• SCSI-2
• SCSI-3
• Single ended
• Standard rack unit
• Stepping
• STP
• Straight-through cable
• Token Ring
• Ultra ATA
• Ultra DMA
• Ultra SCSI
• Ultra2 SCSI
• Uninterruptible power supply
• UTP
• Wide Ultra SCSI
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 188
Exercises 3. Does the disk drive use a 50-pin, a 68-pin, or an
80-pin connector?
2.1 Becoming Familiar with IDE Disk Drives 4. Attach the cable to the disk drive.
You are probably already familiar with IDE drives and
their installation in a desktop PC. Just in case you are
not, this exercise runs you through some drive basics.
Review Questions
And even if you are familiar with IDE drives, it doesn’t 1. What are the different types of server chassis?
hurt to refresh your memory.
2. How big is one rack unit?
3. How do you convert watts to volt-amps?
1. Get an IDE/ATA or EIDE/ATA-2 disk drive
4. What is the rule on processor steppings when
and cable.
multiple processors are installed in a server?
2. Examine the disk drive. You should notice a
5. What is electrostatic discharge?
sticker on the back of the disk drive that gives you
instructions on how to set the disk drive to be a 6. When do you use a UTP cross-over cable?
single drive, to be a Master drive, or to be a Slave 7. How many terminators are on a properly termi-
drive. You might also see whether the disk drive nated SCSI bus?
supports CSEL. The jumper settings and their
names are not standardized and therefore differ 8. How many ATA-2 disk drives can be connected
from one manufacturer to another. to one ATA-2 channel?
3. Attach the cable to the disk drive. 9. How many Wide SCSI-2 disk drives can be
connected to one Wide SCSI-2 channel?
2.2 Becoming Familiar with SCSI 10. What is a KVM switch?

Disk Drives 11. What are the three different types of SCSI bus
The objective of this exercise is the same as that of 2.1, termination?
but as it applies to SCSI drives. You may not have the 12. What is the maximum length of a low-voltage
same level of familiarity with these drives because they differential (LVD) SCSI cable?
are less often encountered in desktop machines.
13. What is the purpose of having redundant power
Estimated Time: 10 minutes. supplies in a network server?
1. Get a SCSI disk drive and a SCSI cable. 14. What is the purpose of a hardware compati-
2. Examine the disk drive. You should notice a label bility list?
on the back of the disk drive that gives you 15. How is the size of an uninterruptible power supply
instructions on how to set the SCSI ID for the determined?
disk drive.
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 189
Exam Questions A. 10 meters
1. Which of the following is a connector that can be B. 100 meters

used with SCSI devices? C. 150 meters
A. 9-pin D connector D. 1000 meters
B. 15-pin D connector 6. To minimize the floor space used by multiple
C. 37-pin connector network servers, which type of server chassis
should be utilized?
D. 50-pin connector
A. Tower
2. What is the maximum SCSI cable length for
differential SCSI? B. Wide tower
A. 3 meters C. Rack-mount
B. 6 meters 7. Which of the following hardware components is

of little importance for a network server?
C. 1.5 meters
A. Hard disk drive
D. 25 meters
B. Processor
3. Which of the following is a typical processor L2
cache size? C. Video adapter
A. 32KB D. Memory
B. 64KB 8. Which of the following is an advantage of SCSI

over EIDE/ATA-2?
C. 512KB
A. SCSI is limited to two devices per channel.
D. 4096KB
B. SCSI is limited to two channels.
4. How many devices can be attached to a normal
(narrow) SCSI channel? C. SCSI supports both internal and
external devices.
A. 2
D. SCSI is cheaper than EIDE/ATA-2.
B. 4
9. Which of the following devices is the most
C. 7 common device used as a backup device?
D. 15 A. Magnetic tape drive
5. For an Ethernet 100BASE-T network, what is B. CD-R drive
the maximum cable length (UTP cable) from the
hub to the server? C. CD-RW drive
D. Hard disk drive
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 190
10. How many wires are in a UTP cable that is B. 36 inches
terminated with an RJ-45 connector?
C. 72 inches
A. 2
D. 144 inches
B. 4
15. If the first disk drive on an EIDE/ATA-2 channel
C. 6 is set to the master role, what role must a second
disk drive take when attached to the same channel?
D. 8
A. Master
11. What is the name of the tool that is used to
terminate a UTP cable in an RJ-45 connector? B. Slave
A. Terminator C. CSEL
B. Pliers
C. Crimper Answers to Review Questions
D. Pincher 1. There are three major types of chassises for
servers: tower, wide tower, and rack mount. For
12. How should the jumpers on a SCSI disk drive be
more information, see the section “Server
set in order for it to have a SCSI ID of 6?
Chassis.”
A. ON ON ON
2. One standard rack unit is 1.75 inches. For more
B. ON ON OFF information, see the section “Server Rack.”
C. ON OFF OFF 3. A good estimate to convert watts to volt-amps is
to multiply watts by 1.5. For more information,
D. OFF OFF OFF
see the section “UPS Sizing Worksheet.”
13. Which of the following SCSI connectors com-
4. When multiple processors are installed in a net-
bines the normal SCSI control lines, SCSI ID
work server the steppings (versions) must be
setting, and power into a single connector?
within 1 number of each other (known as (N+1)
A. 50-pin connector stepping). For more information, see the section
B. 68-pin connector “Match Processor Stepping.”
C. 80-pin (SCA) connector 5. Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is the release of

static electricity from a human body to an elec-
D. 25-pin connector tronic component. For more information, see
14. What is the maximum cable length for an the section “Electrostatic Discharge.”
IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 cable? 6. UTP cross-over cables are used to connect two
A. 18 inches Ethernet hubs that do not have uplink ports. For
more information, see the section “Hub to Hub.”
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 191
7. A SCSI bus must be terminated on both ends, 15. An uninterruptible power supply should be large
therefore two terminators are required. For more enough to keep the network server equipment
information, see the section “SCSI Disks.” running long enough to allow a graceful shut-
down on the network server. For more informa-
8. Two ATA-2 disk drives can be connected to a sin-
tion, see the section “Verifying the
gle ATA-2 channel. One disk assumes the master
Uninterruptible Power-Supply Size.”
role and the other disk assumes the slave role.
For more information, see the section
“EIDE/ATA-2 Disks.” Answers to Exam Questions
9. A wide SCSI channel can support 16 devices; one 1. D. SCSI uses 50-pin, 68-pin, and 80-pin (SCA)
must be the SCSI controller, the other 15 devices connectors. For more information, see the section
can be disk drives. For more information, see the “SCSI Disk Types.”
section “SCSI-2.”
2. D. Differential SCSI has a maximum cable
10. A KVM switch (keyboard/video/mouse) permits length of 25 meters. For more information, see
control of several servers from a single keyboard, Table 2.1.
video monitor, and mouse. The alternative is to
use a keyboard, video monitor, and mouse for 3. C. Typical processor cache sizes are 256KB,
each server. For more information, see the section 512KB, 1024KB, and 2048KB. For more
“Miscellaneous Hardware.” information, see the section “Match Processor
Cache Size.”
11. The three types of SCSI bus termination are pas-
sive, active, and forced perfect. See “SCSI Disks.” 4. C. Seven devices can be attached to a narrow
SCSI channel. (There are actually 8 devices, but
12. The maximum length of a low-voltage differen- one of them is the SCSI controller itself.) For
tial (LVD) SCSI cable is 12 meters. For more more information, see the section “SCSI Disks.”
information, see Table 2.1.
5. B. The maximum cable length between an
13. Redundant power supplies can balance the Ethernet hub and an Ethernet NIC in a com-
electrical load and can power the network puter is 100 meters. For more information, see
server in the event of a single power-supply the section “Ethernet.”
failure. For more information, see the section
“Power Supply.” 6. C. A rack-mount chassis is designed to use a
minimum amount of floor space. In normal prac-
14. A hardware compatibility list (HCL) lists the tice, several network servers can be installed into
hardware that has been verified as working with a a single rack. For more information, see the
particular network operating system. For more section “Server Rack.”
information, see the section “Verifying Hardware
Compatibility with the Operating System.”
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 192
7. C. The video adapter is the least important of the 12. B. The SCSI jumpers set to ON ON OFF repre-
four hardware components listed for a network sents the SCSI ID 6. For more information, see
server. For more information, see the section Table 2.2.
“Video Adapter.”
13. C. The 80-pin SCA SCSI connector combines
8. C. SCSI supports both internal devices and exter- the SCSI control signals, the SCSI ID settings,
nal devices. For more information, see the section and power into a single connector. For more
“SCSI Disks.” information, see the section “SCSI-2.”
9. A. A magnetic tape drive is the most common 14. A. The maximum IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 cable
device used for backups. For more information, length is 18 inches. For more information, see the
see the section “Backup System.” section “IDE/ATA Disks.”
10. D. There are 8 wires (4 pairs) in a UTP cable that 15. B. The second EIDE/ATA-2 disk drive must
is terminated with an RJ-45 connector. For more assume the slave role if the first disk drive is set
information, see the section “Network Cabling.” to the master role. For more information, see the
section “EIDE/ATA-2 Disks.”
11. C. The tool that is used to terminate a UTP
cable in an RJ-45 connector is called a crimper.
For more information, see the section “Network
Cabling.”
1. Field, Gary. The Book of SCSI, 2nd Edition. 4. SCSI FAQ

No Starch Press, 2000.
2. Basics of SCSI, Fourth Edition. ANCOT
Corporation, 1998.
http://scsifaq.paralan.com/
3. Brooks, Charles J. A+ Certification Training
Guide, Third Edition. New Riders Publishing, www.scsifaq.org/scsifaq.html
2001. www.scsita.org/experts/SCSI_ExpertFAQ.html
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 193
5. Fibre Channel FAQ 10. Tom’s Hardware Guide

www.finitesystems.com/PRODUCT/san/fc/ www.tomshardware.com
fcfaq.htm
11. Winn L. Rosch Hardware Bible,
6. Disk Drives (ATA and SCSI) Electronic Edition
www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/ www.leroctechnologies.com/offline/
index_faq.html BookInfo/Ebook/newtoc.htm
7. IDE/EIDE Disk Drives FAQ 12. Electronic Dictionaries on the World Wide
Web
www.faqs.org/faqs/pc-hardware-
faq/enhanced-IDE/part1 Whatis.com
www.faqs.org/faqs/pc-hardware- www.whatis.com
faq/enhanced-IDE/part2/
Webopedia.com
8. Disk Drive Specifications and Jumper www.webopedia.com
Settings
13. Free On-Line Dictionary Of Computing
www.thetechpage.com/cgi-bin/default.cgi
(FOLDOC)
General Computer Hardware Sites
http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/
index.html
9. The PC Guide
http://www.pcguide.com
07 Serv+ Ch_02 7/10/01 9:49 AM Page 194
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/11/01 10:01 AM Page 195
OBJECTIVES
This chapter covers the CompTIA-specified

objectives for the Configuration section of the
Server+ Certification exam.
2.1 Check/upgrade BIOS/firmware levels
(system board, RAID controller, hard
drive, etc.)
. Every server hardware specialist should be able to
check the version of the network server’s
BIOS/firmware and upgrade the BIOS/firmware if
necessary to support the network server.
2.2 Configure RAID

configure hardware-based RAID. Different RAID
levels have different configuration requirements.
2.3 Install NOS (Network Operating System).

Related activities include:
• Configure network
install the selected network operating system for the
network server. Installation of the network operating
system may require that the server hardware special-
ist utilize vendor-specific NOS installation software.
3
Although a server hardware specialist would not
actually configure the network, you need to under-
stand network configuration well enough to verify
that the server is connecting to the network. C H A P T E R
2.4 Configure external peripherals (UPS,

external drive subsystems, etc.)
. Every server hardware specialist should be able
to configure devices that are external to the network
server, such as an uninterruptible power supply
(UPS), external disk drives, or external CD-ROM
drives.
2.0—Configuration
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 196
OBJECTIVES OUTLINE
2.5 Install NOS updates to design Introduction 198

specifications
check the availability of updates (patches) to the Network Server Configuration 198
specific network operating system installed on the Checking the System BIOS 199
network server.
Checking the SCSI Controller BIOS 199
Checking the RAID Controller BIOS 200
2.6 Update manufacturer specific drivers
identify and install updated drivers for vendor- Configuring Hardware-based RAID 200
specific hardware. Hardware-based RAID Configuration 200
RAID 0 Configuration 203
2.7 Install service tools (SNMP, backup soft-
RAID 1 Configuration (Mirroring) 203
ware, system monitoring agents, event
logs, etc.) RAID 1 Configuration (Duplexing) 204
RAID 5 Configuration 204
identify and install service tools on the network RAID 0/1 Configuration 205
software. Some service tools may be hardware
vendor specific. Installing the Network Operating
System 207
2.8 Perform server baseline
File Systems 207
. Every server hardware specialist should be able to Windows NT Server 4 208
perform a baseline performance measurement on Windows 2000 Server 209
the newly installed and configured network server Novell NetWare 5 210
to be used to gauge performance against a similar
UNIX 211
measurement on the same network server at a
Linux 212
future time.
IBM OS/2 Warp Server 213
Installing the Network Operating System 213
2.9 Document the configuration
Configuring the Network 215
. Every server hardware specialist should document Verifying Network Connectivity 216
(in a log book) the complete installation and con-
figuration of the network server.
Configuring External Peripherals 216
Configuring an External Disk Subsystem 217
Configuring an External CD-ROM System 218
Configuring an Uninterruptible Power
Supply 218
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 197
OUTLINE S T U DY S T R AT E G I E S
Installing Network Operating To prepare for the Configuration objective of the

System Updates 220 Server+ exam, do the following:
chapter.
Configuring Manufacturer Specific
Drivers 220 . Study the information in this chapter.
. Review the objectives again.
Installing Service Tools 221 end of the chapter and check your results
Installing and Configuring SNMP 222 . Use the ExamGear test on the CD-ROM that
accompanies this book for additional Exam
Installing Backup Software 223
Questions concerning this material.
Installing Anti-Virus Software 223
. Review the Exam Tips available in various
Installing System Monitor Agents 224 places in this chapter. Make certain that you
Configuring Event Log(s) 225 understand the information in the Exam Tip. If
Configuring Swap file(s) 225 you don’t fully understand the Exam Tip, review
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4 226 the information in the chapter related to this
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server 226 topic.
Novell NetWare 5.1 227
IBM OS/2 Warp Server 227
Linux 227
Performing a Server Baseline 228
Documenting the Network Server

Configuration 230
Chapter Summary 230

08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 198
INTRODUCTION
This job dimension covers the configuration of network server hard-
ware and software and it is the topic of approximately 18% of the
After installation of the hardware components for the network
server, the next step is to configure the hardware components as
specified in the installation plan. This includes checking and if
necessary upgrading the BIOS of major components, system, SCSI
controller, and RAID controller. If hardware-based RAID is being
implemented on the network server, it must be configured (select
RAID levels and disk partitions) before any software can be installed
on the network server. The network operating system is installed
next and any “patches” or “updates” to the network operating system
are applied. Drivers specific to the manufacturer hardware in the
network server must be installed to support the manufacturer-
specific hardware. External devices, such as a UPS, must be config-
ured. Network server management software—such as SNMP,
backup, system monitoring agents, and antivirus software—must
be installed and configured. After all software has been installed
and configured, a performance baseline measurement should be
taken and the complete hardware and software configuration should
be documented.
NETWORK SERVER CONFIGURATION

. 2.1 Check and upgrade if necessary the Basic Input Output
System (BIOS) or other firmware levels (system board,
RAID controller, hard drive, etc.)
• System BIOS
• SCSI controller BIOS
• RAID controller BIOS
Several components in a network server have a built-in BIOS (Basic
Input/Output System). The BIOS is a program that performs low-
level input and output operations among the components in the net-
work server. The BIOS is usually stored in a chip and due to its
combination software and hardware nature, it is often called firmware.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 199
Chapter 3 2.0—CONFIGURATION 199
The system BIOS is the most well known of the several BIOSs usually
found in the network server. On occasion the network server hardware
manufacturer might update the system BIOS. These changes or
updates to the BIOS are usually done to add features to the system
BIOS (such as Plug and Play support, or support for large hard disk
drives), correct BIOS bugs (such as the recent Year 2000 date prob-
lem), or support new hardware. Most system BIOSs can be upgraded
by a program supplied by the server hardware manufacturer.
Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) controllers have a BIOS
on the controller itself. Although not updated as frequently as a
system BIOS, on occasion the SCSI controller manufacturer might
upgrade the SCSI controller BIOS to correct bugs in the original
BIOS or to add new features.
RAID controllers also contain a BIOS. Again, the BIOS on a
RAID controller will have updates issued by the RAID controller
manufacturer.
Checking the System BIOS

When the network server goes through power up, the version num-
WA R N I N G
ber of the system BIOS usually displays. Check the network server Take Care When Flashing That
vendor’s web site to determine whether the version of the system BIOS Loss of power to the net-
BIOS installed on your network server is the latest system BIOS work server while its flash BIOS is
available for the model of the network server that you have. If a being upgraded could result in a
totally unusable server, requiring
newer version of the system BIOS is available on the vendor’s web
replacement of the system board.
site, download the upgrade and follow the vendor’s instructions to
This is a good example of when you
update the system BIOS on the network server. Most network would want to make sure that the
servers have a BIOS that is flashable, meaning that it can be easily network server is plugged into a
erased and updated via software. functioning uninterruptible power
supply. This will prevent the flash
upgrade of the BIOS from becoming
Checking the SCSI Controller BIOS a total disaster if an electrical
power outage occurs during the
During the network server’s power up, the SCSI controller displays
upgrade.
the current version of the BIOS on the SCSI controller. It is advis-
able to check the vendor’s web site for the latest BIOS available for
the model of SCSI controller that you have. If the SCSI controller
has a flashable BIOS, it can be updated via software. Some SCSI
controllers require that a new chip containing the new BIOS be pur-
chased to replace the BIOS chip on the SCSI controller.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 200
Checking the RAID Controller BIOS

WA R N I N G
A SCSI BIOS Upgrade Is

Dangerous Don’t upgrade the A RAID controller will also display the version of its BIOS on the
BIOS on a SCSI controller unless screen during the power-up process of the network server. Like SCSI
absolutely necessary. This usually controllers, the RAID controller may have a flashable BIOS, whereas
means that you have experienced other RAID controllers may require a BIOS chip replacement for a
some problem with the SCSI con- BIOS upgrade. The RAID controller vendor’s web site will have
troller and the technical support information on how to update the BIOS on a particular model
people of the SCSI controller manu-
RAID controller.
facturer have instructed you to
upgrade the BIOS. If you must
upgrade the SCSI BIOS, make sure
that you perform and verify a full CONFIGURING HARDWARE-BASED
system backup before attempting
the upgrade, because a corrupted
RAID
SCSI BIOS upgrade could destroy
all data stored on the disk drives . 2.2 Configure hardware-based RAID
attached to the SCSI controller. • Hardware RAID Configuration
• RAID 0 (stripe set without parity) configuration
• RAID 1 (mirroring) configuration
WA R N I N G
A RAID BIOS Upgrade Is

Dangerous Don’t upgrade the • RAID 1 (duplexing) configuration
BIOS on a RAID controller unless
• RAID 5 (stripe set with parity) configuration
absolutely necessary. This usually
means that you have experienced • RAID 0/1 (mirrored stripe sets without parity)
some problem with the RAID con- configuration
troller and the technical support
people of the RAID controller manu- Network servers that contain a RAID controller must have the
facturer have instructed you to RAID system configured before the network operating system can
upgrade the BIOS. If you must be installed. Configuration of the RAID system consists of selecting
upgrade the RAID BIOS, make sure actual physical disk drives and grouping them together into one of
that you perform and verify a full the available RAID configurations (usually RAID 1 or RAID 5).
system backup before attempting The network hardware vendor or the RAID hardware vendor usually
the upgrade, because a corrupted supplies software to aid in the configuration of the RAID system.
RAID BIOS upgrade could destroy The disk drives of the RAID system might be internal to the net-
data on the disk drive attached to
work server chassis or external in a separate enclosure.
the RAID controller.
Hardware-Based RAID Configuration

As a reminder from Chapter 1, “0.0—Planning and Specifications,”
RAID stands for redundant array of inexpensive disks. RAID is used
to provide fault tolerance in case of a disk drive failure in the network
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 201
server. Because disk drives are mechanical devices, they will fail at
some time. It is not a matter of if they will fail, it is just a matter of
when they will fail. The term hardware-based RAID means that the
disk drives in the network server have RAID implemented by a spe-
cial disk controller, the RAID controller. Some network operating
systems can implement software-based RAID at the expense of addi-
tional load on the network server processor. Most RAID controllers
are designed to use SCSI disk drives. However, at least one disk con-
troller manufacturer makes a RAID controller that uses EIDE/ATA-2
disk drives. For an in-depth discussion of the different RAID levels,
see Chapter 1, “0.0—Planning and Specifications,” and Chapter 8,
“7.0—Disaster Recovery.”
The RAID disk controller has its own processor to implement the
RAID configuration, thus relieving the network server processor of
this task.
The configuration of the RAID controller in the network server is
accomplished by software provided by the network server (or RAID
controller) vendor. Although vendor specific, all the software works
basically the same way. It enables you to see the disk drives attached
to the RAID controller. You select the disk drives that you want to
utilize and specify the version of RAID that you want to implement
using the selected disk drives. The software then “prepares” the disk
drives to implement the RAID solution. For example, you might
pick two physical disk drives and tell the RAID configuration soft-
ware to use these two disk drives to implement a RAID 1 (mirror-
ing) solution. The RAID controller would tell the network server
operating system that there is a single logical disk drive. (When in
actuality, the RAID controller is reading and writing to two physical
disk drives.)
In another example, you might select five physical disk drives and
tell the RAID configuration software to use these five physical disk
drives to implement RAID 5 (disk striping with parity). The RAID
controller would tell the network server operating system that there
is a single logical disk drive. (When in actuality, the RAID controller
is reading and writing data in blocks across all five disk drives in the
RAID 5 disk array.)
In yet another example, you might select the same five physical disk
drives and tell the RAID configuration software to use these five
physical disk drives to implement RAID 5 (disk striping with parity).
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 202
Further, the single logical disk drive could be “partitioned” into two
NOTE
What Is a Partition? A disk partition partitions by the RAID configuration software. The network operat-
is a portion of a physical disk drive (or ing system would see two logical disk drives (one on each partition),
in the case of a RAID system, a por- whereas in actuality the RAID controller is reading and writing data
tion of a logical disk drive) that can be
in blocks across all five disk drives in the RAID 5 disk array.
identified (by drive letter or volume
name) and used separately from the Figure 3.1 shows an example of how a RAID controller manages
other portions of the physical disk disk drives and shows the logical disk drive to the network server
drive. operating system.
18 Gigabytes 18 Gigabytes 18 Gigabytes
Physical Disk Physical Disk Physical Disk

Drive Drive Drive
The RAID controller sees RAID Disk Controller
three 18-GB disk drives configured for

RAID-5
The operating system

sees one 36 Gigabyte
disk drive.
36 Gigabytes
Logical Disk
Drive
FIGURE 3.1
RAID controller disk drive presentation.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 203
RAID 0 Configuration Disk 1 Disk 2 Disk 3
RAID 0 is known as disk striping (specifically, it is a stripe set with-

out parity). RAID 0 is not fault tolerant, but it is used to improve
disk input/output performance. RAID 0 should not be used in a pro- Block 4 Block 5 Block 6
duction server environment. However, RAID 0 is often used in a

high-powered workstation to improve disk input/output perfor-
mance by reading and writing files in blocks to several disks simulta-
neously as opposed to reading and writing a file sequentially to a
single disk drive. You need at least two disk drives to implement
Disk Controller
RAID 0. Figure 3.2 shows an example of a RAID 0 implementation.
For example, two 18GB disk drives configured to implement RAID
0 have a storage capacity of 36GB.
FIGURE 3.2
RAID 0 (disk striping without parity).
RAID 1 Configuration (Mirroring)
TIP
RAID 1 has two different implementations: disk mirroring and disk
duplexing. In disk mirroring, everything written to one disk is also RAID 0 Is Not Fault Tolerant
Know that RAID 0 is not fault toler-
EXAM
written to a second disk. Reading can be performed from either
ant. It is used only to improve disk
disk. Because data is duplicated on two different disk drives, the fail-
input/output performance.
ure of one disk drive does not represent a catastrophe, but merely an
inconvenience. The network server will keep running using the sin-
gle working disk drive. When time permits, the broken disk drive
can be replaced and the data on the working disk drive copied to the Drive 1 Drive 2
replacement, thus re-creating the mirror. A minimum of two disk

drives is required to implement RAID 1. In disk mirroring, both
disk drives are attached to the same disk controller. The “disk over- Block 1 Block 2 Block 1 Block 2
head” for RAID 1 is 50%. The disk controller represents a single

point of failure for mirrored disk drives. Figure 3.3 shows an exam-
ple of a RAID 1 (mirroring) implementation. Block 5 Block 5 Block 5 Block 6
Disk Controller
FIGURE 3.3
RAID 1 (disk mirroring).
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 204
IN THE FIELD
NOTE
RAID 1 Disk Overhead If you config-

ure two 18GB disk drives to use RAID BIG FAN OF DISK MIRRORING
1, the storage capacity of the “mirror
set” will be only 18 GB. I’m a big fan of disk mirroring. During the useful life (about 4 years)
of the first three file servers that I ever had, one of the mirrored
disk drives failed in each of the servers. Because the disk drives
were mirrored, none of the users knew that there was a disk drive
failure, and I kept my job.
NOTE
Another Use for Multiple Disk

Controllers A network server serving
as a database server can benefit from
having multiple disk controllers. A RAID 1 Configuration (Duplexing)
database server needs to write the
Disk duplexing eliminates the single point of failure that exists in
database files and the database log
disk mirroring. This is done by adding another disk controller and
files simultaneously. Placing the data-
base files on disk drives attached to
configuring the RAID system to “duplicate” data on disk drives that
one disk controller and placing the are attached to two different disk controllers. There is generally no
database log files on disk drives significant performance difference between disk mirroring and disk
attached to another disk controller duplexing (although see the Note, “Another Use for Multiple Disk
can significantly improve performance Controllers”). You are just adding further redundancy in the form of
of the database server. a second controller. The overhead of RAID 1 (mirroring or duplex-
ing) is 50%. Figure 3.4 shows an example of a RAID 1 (duplexing)
implementation.
Drive 1 Drive 2
RAID 5 Configuration
RAID 5 uses a much more complicated scheme to provide fault tol-
Block 3 Block 4 Block 3 Block 4 erance in the case of a single disk failure. Chapter 1 provides an in-
depth discussion of RAID 5.
RAID 5 requires a minimum of three disk drives to implement. The
disk drives that comprise a RAID 5 solution are often referred to as a
RAID 5 array. The failure of a single disk drive does not cause the
Disk Controller Disk Controller
network server to fail. The “missing” information that was on the
failed disk can be re-created on-the-fly using the information on the
remaining disks. The failed disk drive should be replaced as quickly
as possible. RAID 5 cannot survive the failure of a second disk drive
FIGURE 3.4 after one disk drive has failed. Because of this fact, some RAID
RAID 1 (disk duplexing).
systems allow for the configuration of a “hot spare” disk drive in the
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 205
RAID system. A hot spare disk drive is powered up and running, but Disk 1 Disk 2 Disk 3
contains no data; it is just waiting for a drive in the disk array to fail
so that it can be used. When the failure of a disk drive in the RAID Block 1 Block 2 Block 3
array occurs, the RAID system starts rebuilding the data that was on
the failed drive on the hot spare disk drive. This hot spare methodol- Parity 1 Block 4 Block 5
ogy minimizes the amount of time it takes to get the RAID rebuilt Block 6 Parity 2
and the windows of time that the RAID system is vulnerable to a

second drive failure that could destroy all data stored on the RAID
array. Figure 3.5 shows an example of a RAID 5 implementation.
RAID
RAID 5 is more efficient than the other RAID levels in that the Disk Controller
overhead is 1/n * 100, where n is the number of disk drives in the

RAID 5 array. In other words, if your RAID 5 array is comprised of
six 18GB disk drives, the overhead is 1/6 * 100, or 16.7%. Another FIGURE 3.5
RAID 5 (disk striping with parity).
way of looking at this is that you lose the capacity of one of the disk
drives in the RAID 5 array. (This space is used to store the parity
information.) The parity information is actually stored across all the
EXAM TIP
drives in the RAID 5 array. RAID 1 Disk Overhead Is 50%
Know that the disk overhead for
The total storage capacity of the RAID 5 array is (n – 1) * c, where c
RAID 1 is 50%.
is the capacity of each of the disk drives. In this example, the total
storage capacity of the RAID 5 array is (6 – 1) * 18, or 90GB.
RAID 0/1 Configuration

TIP
RAID 5 Disk Overhead Know that

RAID 0/1 (sometimes called RAID 0+1 or RAID 10) involves mir- the disk overhead of a RAID 5 array
EXAM
roring (or duplexing) two RAID 0 arrays. This yields the fault toler- is 1/n * 100, where n is the num-
ance of RAID 1 and the input/output speed of RAID 0. RAID 0/1 ber of disk drives in the array.
requires a minimum of four disk drives to implement. Figure 3.6
shows an example of a RAID 0/1 implementation.
RAID 5 Array Storage Capacity

TIP
Know that the total storage capac-

ity of a RAID 5 array is (n – 1) * c,
EXAM
where n is the number of disk

drives in the array and c is the
capacity of each of the disk drives
in the array.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 206
FIGURE 3.6 Disk 1, 2, and 3 are RAID 0
RAID 0/1 (mirrored stripe sets without parity). Disk 1 Disk 2 Disk 3
RAID 1 mirror
Disk Controller
Stripe set [1,2,3]
is mirrored on
Stripe set [4,5,6]
Disk 4, 5, and 6 are RAID 0
Which RAID level should you use? You must decide based on both
performance requirements and economic considerations.
RAID 0 provides excellent read and write performance, but provides
TIP
What Is RAID 0/1? Know that no fault tolerance. Because there is no fault tolerance in RAID 0,
RAID 0/1 combines the fault toler- you should not use it in a production network server.
EXAM
ance of RAID 1 with the input/

output performance of RAID 0. RAID 1 offers very good read performance, good write performance,
and fault tolerance. However, the disk overhead (loss of storage
capacity) for RAID 1 is 50%. A minimum of two disk drives is
required to implement RAID 1. Two 18GB disk drives, used to
implement a RAID 1 array, have a storage capacity of 18GB.
NOTE
Something for the Truly Paranoid

There is an implementation of RAID RAID 0/1 combines the great performance of RAID 0 with the fault
known as RAID 5+1 (also called RAID tolerance of RAID 1. However, RAID 0/1 requires a minimum of
51 and RAID 6) that mirrors a pair of four disk drives to implement, and the disk overhead for RAID 0/1
RAID 5 disk arrays. This has dual
is 50%.
redundancy (the redundancy of RAID 1
with the redundancy of RAID 5) and it RAID 5 has lower disk overhead than RAID 1 or RAID 0/1 but it
is very expensive to implement. has only good read performance and fair write performance. RAID 5
However, it does provide a very high requires a minimum of three disk drives to implement. The disk
level of redundancy.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 207
overhead for RAID 5 is equal to the capacity of one of the disk drives
in the array. For example, three 18GB disk drives in a RAID 5 array
have a storage capacity of 36GB.
Table 3.1 summarizes characteristics of the different RAID levels.
TABLE 3.1
CHARACTERISTICS OF RAID L E V E L S
Know Characteristics of the
TIP
RAID Level Minimum Number Read Write
Various RAID Levels Know the
of Drives Performance Performance
characteristics of the different RAID
EXAM
RAID 0 2 Excellent (but Very good (but levels presented in Table 3.1.
no fault no fault
tolerance) tolerance)
RAID 1 2 Very good Good
RAID 0/1 4 Excellent Very good
RAID 5 3 Good Fair
INSTALLING THE NETWORK

OPERATING SYSTEM
. 2.3 Install the Network Operating System (NOS)
• Configure network
After the RAID system has been configured, the server hardware
specialist is ready to install the network operating system (NOS).
However, one final planning step remains before the actual
installation of the NOS: the selection of the file system to be
used by the NOS.
File Systems
A file system defines how files are stored on a disk drive. The original
file system used by early versions of the Disk Operating System
(DOS) was called the File Allocation Table (FAT) file system. The
original FAT used 12 bits to address clusters and was limited to a
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 208
single disk partition of about 32MB. Later versions of DOS increased

NOTE
What Is a Cluster? A disk cluster is the number of bits from 12 to 16 and could address a disk partition
a group of disk sectors (512 bytes) up to 2GB in size. This version of the FAT file system is now called
that are accessed together. This FAT16, to indicate that it uses 16 bits to address the clusters on the
means that a disk cluster is the
disk drive. Fat16 was used by early versions of Windows 95. The
smallest amount of disk space that
OSR2 (OEM Service Release 2) update to Windows 95 introduced a
can be allocated to a file. Common
new version of the FAT file system that uses 32 bits to address the
cluster sizes are 2KB (4 sectors),
4KB (8 sectors), 8KB (16 sectors), clusters on the disk drive, hence the name FAT32. FAT32 can
16KB (32 sectors), and 32KB (64 address large disk drives with ease. Using the default cluster size of
sectors). The larger the cluster size, 4KB, FAT32 can access a disk drive up to 8GB in size.
the more inefficient the use of the
The various network operating systems have their own file systems.
disk space. For example, a file con-
The following sections give some details about the various file
taining one character would be allo-
system that can be used by NOSs.
cated 8KB of disk space when the
cluster size is 8KB.
Windows NT Server 4
Microsoft’s Windows NT Server 4 supports both the FAT16 file
system and its own native file system known as NTFS (NT File
System). (Since the introduction of Windows 2000, the NTFS that
is used on Windows NT Server 4 has been called NTFS version 4.)
Installing Windows NT Service Pack 4 or higher allows Windows
NT 4 to read and write FAT32 file systems as well. However,
Windows NT Server 4 requires either FAT16 or NTFS on the disk
partition from which it boots.
The installation of Windows NT Server 4 itself was often done on a
FAT16 file system. This allowed a failed (and unbootable) network
NOTE
HPFS on Windows NT Previous ver- server running Windows NT Server 4 to be booted from a floppy
sions of Microsoft’s Windows NT (ver- disk using DOS and its FAT-based file system. Once booted from
sions 3.1, 3.5, and 3.51) supported the floppy, the files (including the NT system files) that were
the OS/2 HPFS file system. installed on the FAT16-formatted C: drive could be read and writ-
ten using standard DOS FAT16 utilities. This means that corrupted
Windows NT Server 4 system files stored on FAT16 could be
replaced from the original Windows NT Server 4 CD-ROM.
The Windows NT Server 4 file systems are as follows:
á FAT16. Partitions up to 4GB. (Partitions over 2GB are not read-
able by DOS.) Supports long filenames (up to 254 characters).
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 209
á FAT32. Partitions up to 8GB using the smallest cluster size of
NOTE
4KB. Partitions up to 2 terabytes can be supported using larger What Is Unicode? Unicode is a 16-
cluster sizes. Supports long filenames (up to 254 characters). bit code that can represent 216, or
65,536 characters. This is more than
á NTFS version 4. File and volumes up to 16 exabytes (264 bytes, enough to represent all the characters
or 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 bytes). Supports long filenames in all the different languages currently
(up to 254 characters). Supports compression and NTFS file used on the earth.
system permissions. Stores characters and filenames as Unicode.
The root volume is C:\. All volumes on Windows NT Server 4 are
assigned drive letters (A–Z).
Windows 2000 Server

Microsoft’s Windows 2000 Server supports the FAT16, FAT32, and
NTFS version 5 file systems. With the introduction of the Recovery
Console with Windows 2000 Server, it is no longer necessary to
install the network operating system on a FAT partition. The
Recovery Console can perform all the operations (copying and
replacing corrupted files) that were done when booting from a
DOS floppy disk under Windows NT 4. However, it can perform
these operations on the NTFS version 5 file system.
The only other reason to have FAT16 or FAT32 file systems
available is to support dual booting of two different operating
systems (such as Windows 95 and Windows 2000). However,
servers are seldom configured to support booting to other operating
systems (other than in learning and teaching environments). As
one of my former students said while taking a Windows 2000
upgrade class that I was teaching: “We now have a FAT-free
network operating system.”
Windows 2000 Server supports the following file systems:
á FAT16. Partitions up to 4GB. (Partitions over 2GB are not read-
able by DOS.) Supports long filenames (up to 254 characters).
á FAT32. Partitions up to 8GB using the smallest cluster
size of 4KB. Partitions up to 2 terabytes can be supported
using larger cluster sizes. Supports long filenames (up to
254 characters).
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 210
á NTFS version 5. File and volumes up to 16 exabytes

(264 bytes, or 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 bytes). Supports
long filenames (up to 254 characters). Stores characters and
filenames as Unicode. Supports file compression, file encryp-
tion, disk quotas, and NTFS file system permissions.
Root volume is C:\.
In Windows 2000 Server, volumes can be assigned drive letters
the same way as in Windows NT Server 4. However, Windows
2000 Server’s NTFS version 5 file system has an additional fea-
ture in that it allows disk partitions to be mounted on empty
folders much like the mount points available in UNIX file
systems. This mechanism eliminates the limitation of 26 disk
drive letters that hampered Windows NT Server 4. In theory a
Windows 2000 Server could be configured with a single disk
drive letter, C:, with all the other disk drives in the network
server “mounted” to empty folders on the C: disk drive.
Novell NetWare 5
Even with the latest version of Novell’s NetWare, a small (Novell
recommends 50MB) FAT partition is required to start up the
NetWare server.
Novell NetWare supports two different native file systems: the origi-
nal NetWare File System (NWFS) and the newer Novell Storage
Services (NSS) file system.
The NWFS was available on previous versions of NetWare. Maximum
file size is 2GB. It has a maximum of 64 volumes, and each volume
can be 1TB in size. Supports file compression. The required SYS vol-
ume must use NWFS. Used on all previous versions of NetWare.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 211
The NSS file system is new to NetWare 5. Maximum file size is

8TB. It has a maximum of 256 volumes, and each volume can be
up to 8TB in size. It does not support file compression. It’s the best
choice for RAID systems and stores characters as Unicode.
Root Volume is SYS:.
The basic structure of the SYS volume on NetWare is as follows:
SYS:
|
| | | | | | |
ETC LOGIN MAIL SYSTEM PUBLIC NOVDOCS DELETED.SAV
SYS: The Main NetWare Volume.

ETC TCP/IP configuration files.
LOGIN User Login files.
Mail Not Used (backward compatibility)
SYSTEM NetWare Operating System files.
PUBLIC NetWare Utilities.
NOVDOCS NetWare documents in HTML format.
DELETED.SAV Deleted files before they are purged.
UNIX
Each of the various versions of UNIX that run on an Intel-based
network server has its own, often unique, file systems. However,
most of them do support the FAT file system for compatibility with
other operating systems.
The file structure of UNIX/Linux systems differs significantly from
the more familiar DOS file structure used by many other network
operating systems, where each volume is assigned a drive letter. The
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 212
UNIX/Linux file structures (sometimes referred to as the standard

system directories) vary among the different versions of UNIX/Linux,
but most have the following file structure in common:
/ (aka root)
|
| | | | | | | |
/bin /dev /etc /home /lib /tmp /usr /var
/ (root) The top level directory of the file

➥system.
/bin UNIX standard utilities.
/dev UNIX devices.
/etc Password files and system startup
➥files.
/home or /u User home directories.
/lib UNIX program libraries.
/tmp Temporary file space.
/usr System files.
/var Various stuff and e-mail spool.
Linux
The most popular native Linux file system is the ext2 (the second
TIP
What Is the Root of the extended file system) file system, which is an enhancement of an
UNIX/Linux File Structure? Know older extended file system known as ext. Other much less commonly
EXAM
that the name of the root of the used native Linux file systems include minix and xia. Minix is the
UNIX/Linux file structure is “/.” oldest of the Linux file systems and probably the least used due to its
lack of features (for instance, file names limited to 30 characters and
a maximum file system size of 64MB). Xia was an enhancement that
removed some of the file system restrictions of minix.
It appears that the Linux support community wants to be compatible
with every file system ever created; so for compatibility with other
operating systems, Linux also supports (among others) the following
(non-native) file systems:
á Msdos. For compatibility with FAT file systems
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 213
á Usmdos. Enhanced msdos file system that supports long file-

names and has the capability to be treated like a regular Linux
file system
á Hpfs. For compatibility with OS/2’s HPFS file system
á Ntfs. For compatibility with Windows NT NTFS file system
á Sysv. For compatibility with AT&T variants of UNIX file
systems

IBM’s OS/2 Warp Server supports several file systems. File systems
and their characteristics include the following:
á FAT. Used for backward compatibility with other operating
systems.
á HPFS (High Performance File System). Supports long file-
names (up to 254 characters).
á HPFS386. Best used for file servers.
á JFS (Journaled File System). Best used for application
servers. Stores characters as Unicode.
Root volume is C:\.
Installing the Network Operating

System
The installation of the network operating system is often assisted by
vendor-supplied network server setup software. This same software,
which is often supplied on a bootable CD-ROM disk, usually pro-
vides software to configure the RAID controller if one is being used
in the network server. Another very useful feature of the setup soft-
ware is that it often creates a special “diagnostics” or “configuration”
partition on the first disk drive in the network server. The software
utilities installed on this special partition are accessible during the
network server’s power up. The setup software also enables you to
partition the disk space available on the network server.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 214
Examples of special network server setup software supplied by the

network server vendors are as follows:
Compaq—Compaq SmartStart
Dell—Dell OpenManage Server Assistant
Hewlett-Packard—HP NetServer Navigator
IBM—IBM Netfinity Setup and Installation CD
Use of the vendor-supplied server setup software has many advan-

tages, including the installation of vendor-specific drivers for hard-
ware in the network server. The network server setup software
usually simplifies the installation of the network operating system by
prompting the installer for configuration information on one or two
screens and then supplying the information to the operating system
installation process.
Use of the vendor-supplied network server setup software is not
required. The network operating system can be installed following
the network operating system vendor’s instructions. However, this
method requires that you later load the vendor-specific drivers for
special hardware in the network server. It also means that the special
“diagnostics” partition is not created on the network server disk
drive. Most network operating system software is supplied on a
bootable CD-ROM disk.
Some network operating systems (for example, Windows 2000) sup-
port Plug and Play detection of the hardware in the network server
and install the correct drivers automatically. Other network operat-
ing systems (for example, Windows NT) do not use Plug and Play
and you must configure some hardware components. It is a very
good idea to have the interrupt requests (IRQ), direct memory
access channels (DMA), and I/O addresses available for the NICs,
sound cards, and SCSI controllers in your network server.
The following information is generally needed to complete the
installation of the network server. This information should be
included in the installation plan for the network server.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 215
Server name
Password for the administrative account
If using TCP/IP protocol:
IP domain name
IP address
Subnet mask
Default gateway address
Address of DNS server(s)
Address of WINS server(s) (Microsoft networks only)
If using IPX/SPX protocol:
Frame type
Configuring the Network

The network configuration consists of selecting the network proto-
col and configuring it to operate correctly on your network. Most
network servers use either the TCP/IP protocol or the IPX/SPX pro-
tocol or both.
To configure TCP/IP, you need the following information:
IP address
Subnet mask
Default gateway
IP address of DNS server(s)
IP address of WINS server(s) (Microsoft networks only)
To configure IPX/SPX (Microsoft’s NWLink is their version of
the IPX/SPX protocol.)
Ethernet frame type or Token Ring frame type
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 216
You can use the following commands to view or change the network
configuration for various network operating systems:
Windows NT/Windows 2000 Server—ipconfig
Novell NetWare 4.x/5.x—inetcfg
UNIX/Linux—ifconfig
IBM OS/2 Warp Server—ifconfig
Verifying Network Connectivity

To test network connectivity when using the TCP/IP protocol, all
network operating systems use the ping command.
ping 192.168.1.200
The best IP address to ping is the IP address of the default gateway,

because it should always be available to return the ping request. See
Chapter 7, “6.0—Troubleshooting and Problem Determination,” for
additional information about the ping command.
CONFIGURING EXTERNAL
PERIPHERALS
. 2.4 Configure external peripherals (UPS, external drive sub-
systems, etc.)
• Configure an external disk subsystem
• Configure an external CD-ROM system
• Configure an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
This section discusses the configuration of external disk subsystems,
external CD-ROM systems, and uninterruptible power supplies.
External disk subsystems are necessary when the amount of disk stor-
age cannot be accommodated by the disk drive bays internal to the
network server chassis. These external disk subsystems can be either
SCSI or Fibre Channel. Generally, Fibre Channel–based systems can
support many more disk drives than a SCSI-based external system.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 217
External CD-ROM systems are generally used to implement

CD-ROM libraries, which can accommodate a large number of
CD-ROM drives and make them available to client computers on
the network. The network servers that implement CD-ROM
libraries are often called CD-ROM servers.
To configure an uninterruptible power supply, you generally need to
install the UPS monitoring software and attach the UPS monitoring
cable to the network server and the UPS to be monitored.
Configuring an External Disk

Subsystem
Even though server class microcomputers often have many empty
bays designed to hold disk drives, it is often necessary to have disk
drives external to the actual server chassis. External disk subsystems
may consist of a single disk drive in its own chassis with its own
power supply. On the high end, an external disk subsystem chassis
might have 100 or more disk drives in it.
The simple external disk subsystem with only a few disk drives
might just be attached to the external port on a SCSI or RAID con-
troller. The external disk drives would then function in the same
way that internal disk drives function. The disk drives just happen
to be external to the network server chassis.
Some large external disk subsystems may have their own RAID
mechanism built right in. These large systems are often configured
separately from the disk controller in the network server to which
they will be attached.
Often you can configure large external disk subsystems to be shared
by more than one network server. This is one way to implement a
high-availability server solution.
To connect the external disk subsystem to the network server, you
could use a standard external SCSI cable or even Fibre Channel.
Generally, Fibre Channel–based external disk systems can handle a
very large number of disk drives. Fibre Channel is described in detail
in Chapter 1.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 218
In all cases, be sure that the power switch on the external disk sub-
system is turned on before turning on the network server.
Configuring an External CD-ROM

System
External CD-ROM systems are often referred to as a CD-ROM
library. Imagine a tower chassis with 7, 14, 21, or more CD-ROM
drives. Having these CD-ROM drives attached to a network server
means that it is possible to share all these CD-ROM drives and the
CD-ROMs that they contain with all users on the network.
You might be wondering how to attach that many CD-ROM drives
to a single network server. The process is actually pretty simple. Part
of the SCSI standard is a little-used feature called a Logical Unit
Number (LUN). Although LUNs are defined in the SCSI standards,
they are seldom used (except on large groups of CD-ROM drives).
A LUN enables you to assign “sub-SCSI IDs” to a single SCSI ID.
EXAM TIP
What Are LUNs? Know that LUNs This means that you could have 7 CD-ROM drives all with the
allow multiple devices to share the SCSI ID of 5, each having a different LUN (1 through 7) all on the
same SCSI ID.
same SCSI channel. This means that on a single SCSI channel with
SCSI IDs of 1 through 7, you could have 7 LUNs for each SCSI
ID, for a total of 49 CD-ROM drives on a single SCSI channel.
To configure the external CD-ROM system, follow the manufac-
turer’s installation and configuration instructions. Be sure that the
external CD-ROM system is powered up before powering up the
network server.
Configuring an Uninterruptible
Power Supply
The installation of a UPS was covered in Chapter 2,
“1.0—Installation.” Be aware that a network server does
not automatically monitor a UPS. You must install UPS
monitoring software on the network server to give it this
capability. The network server needs to know when a power
failure has occurred and that the UPS is supplying power to
the network from its batteries. Follow the UPS vendor’s instruc-
tions to install the UPS monitoring software.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 219
After you have installed the UPS monitoring software, you must
configure the following parameters:
á Time to wait before sending a warning to clients that the
server is running on battery power. This is generally a few
seconds. This allows time for power to be restored before send-
ing a message. This prevents warning messages from being sent
to clients when there is a momentary loss of power.
á Time to wait before beginning a shutdown of the network
server. This is generally a few minutes.
á Name of a program or group of commands to run as part
of the shutdown process. This may be just the name of the
server shutdown command, but it also may include programs
that do things such as sending a message to the network
server’s administrator’s pager along with the network server
shutdown command.
The UPS monitoring software often enables you to check the
status of the UPS. Status items include such things as the voltage
level entering the UPS as well as the voltage level leaving the UPS.
Figure 3.7 shows an example of the Windows 2000 Server UPS
Configuration dialog box.
FIGURE 3.7
UPS Configuration dialog box in Windows
2000 Server.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 220
INSTALLING NETWORK OPERATING

SYSTEM UPDATES
. 2.5 Install NOS updates to design specifications
Periodically, network operating system vendors issue updates to their
network operating systems. These updates have various names.
(Microsoft calls them service packs, IBM calls them fixpacs, and
Novell calls them patches.) These updates usually fix bugs or close
security holes that have been found in the released version of the
operating system. You should download updates that fix or close
security holes from the network operating system vendor’s web site
and immediately install them on the network operating system. Be
aware that some network applications (for example, Microsoft
Exchange Server, an email server) require you to install a specific ser-
vice pack level before you can install the network application. Such
an update is required for the network application to operate correctly.
Download the updates from the operating system vendor’s web site.
To install the update, follow the network operating system vendor’s
instructions.
CONFIGURING MANUFACTURER-
SPECIFIC DRIVERS
. 2.6 Update manufacturer specific drivers
Always check the version number of drivers for devices in the net-
work server. Check the vendor’s web site for the latest driver for the
hardware device. You can always find the newest drivers available at
the hardware vendor’s web site. For example, check Compaq’s web
site (www.compaq.com) for the latest drivers for Compaq hardware
components. If the driver available on the manufacturer’s web site is
a newer version than the one you have installed on the network
server, download the newer version and install it. Record the driver
version for each hardware device in the network server as part of the
configuration documentation.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 221
INSTALLING SERVICE TOOLS

. 2.7 Install service tools (SNMP, backup software, system mon-
itoring agents, event logs, etc.)
• Install and configure SNMP
• Install backup software
• Install anti-virus software
• Install system monitor agents
• Configure event log(s)
• Configure swap file(s)
After installing the network server operating system, it is time to install
a variety of service tools. These software tools perform many useful
functions on the network server. Installation of any of these “service
tools” usually requires “supervisor” permissions on the network server.
To facilitate the management of the network server, you should
install and configure the Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP). SNMP is covered in detail in Chapter 5, “4.0—Proactive
Maintenance.” You also can install various system monitoring agents
to monitor the various components on the network server.
Several types of service software, such as antivirus software and
backup software, are vital to the network server’s successful operation.
The antivirus software will protect the network server from computer
viruses. The backup software enables you to write the contents of the
network server’s disk drives to magnetic tape for safe, off-site storage.
Many network servers and their operating systems can log events to
a log file as they occur. Many times these log files are created auto-
matically when the network operating system is installed. Some net-
work server operating systems require that you “activate” the log files
before they can be utilized by the network server operating system.
The swap file (also called a paging file) facilitates virtual memory on
network operating systems that support virtual memory. The swap
file is a space on a disk drive that temporarily holds portions of
programs (pages) while the memory space that they were using is
needed by other programs. Network server operating systems enable
you to specify the size (and in some cases the number) and location
of the swap file on the system.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 222
Installing and Configuring SNMP

SNMP allows an SNMP management console to manage devices
that have an SNMP agent installed on them. SNMP was designed
to make it possible to manage network devices, such as routers.
However, the use of SNMP has been expanded to allow it to be
able to manage practically any device, including a computer,
attached to a network. You should install the SNMP agent on
your network operating system. To install the SNMP agent on the
network operating system, follow the instructions that come with
After you have installed the SNMP agent, you must configure it
EXAM TIP
SNMP Community Know the with an SNMP community name. The default SNMP community
purpose of the SNMP community name is Public. You should always change this to something other
name. than Public. The community name is a primitive password mecha-
nism. SNMP management console and SNMP agents with the same
SNMP community name can exchange information. If the SNMP
community names differ, they will not be able to communicate.
Figure 3.8 shows the configuration of an SNMP community name
in Microsoft Windows 2000 Server.
FIGURE 3.8
Configuring SNMP community in Windows
2000 Server.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 223
The SNMP agent knows what to monitor on the network device by

looking at a Management Information Base (MIB) for the device. SNMP’s Management Information
TIP
Each unique network device has a unique MIB defined. For exam- Base Know the purpose of the
SNMP MIB.
ple, there are MIBs for routers, hubs, switches, computers, and even
EXAM
some software packages, such as database systems. The MIB contains
a list of the items that can be managed by SNMP on the device
associated with the MIB.
Installing Backup Software

Backup Software Know the pur-
TIP
The backup software for a network server has to be specific to the pose of backup software.
network operating system installed on the network server. For exam-
EXAM
ple, backup software for Microsoft Windows NT Server must be
certified to work with Microsoft Windows NT Server. There are var-
ious reasons for this. In the case of Windows NT Server, it is
required because the Windows NT Server Registry must be backed
up. Only backup software certified to work with Microsoft
Windows NT Server can back up the Registry. The Registry is a spe-
cial system file that is always open when Microsoft Windows NT
Server is running. Usually, backup software cannot back up open
files (files being used by other programs).
Backup software certified to work with Microsoft Windows 2000
Server can back up the “system state.” The system state contains
the Windows 2000 Registry; and on domain controllers, it also
contains the Active Directory and the contents of the system
volume (SYSVOL).
Some network operating systems provide a rudimentary backup
system. Unfortunately, this backup system is often not feature rich.
This lack of features often requires the purchase of a third-party
backup software package. To install the backup software, follow
the backup software vendor’s installation instructions.
Installing Antivirus Software

One of the fastest ways to spread a computer virus through your
organization is to allow a file infected with a computer virus to be
copied to your network server. Therefore, it is even more important
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 224
to install antivirus software on the network server than on most

Antivirus Software Know the pur- desktop computers. The antivirus software for a network server dif-
TIP
pose of antivirus software. fers somewhat from the antivirus software that you would use on a
desktop computer. The biggest difference is that it generally costs
EXAM
much more than its desktop computer counterpart. Despite the

expense, antivirus software is vital software for a network server.
Other features often found on an antivirus software package
designed for a network server include the capability to notify the
network server administrator via email or pager that a computer
virus has been located, and the capability to put entries into a log
file about viruses detected or files checked for viruses.
To install antivirus software, follow the antivirus software vendor’s
installation instructions. You can usually install antivirus software on
the network server by just following a series of installation screens.
If the antivirus software has an option to perform a live update via
the Internet, be sure to configure the option to update the virus sig-
nature files frequently. Given the number of new computer viruses
that appear on almost a daily basis, configuring the signature files
update option to “daily” is not a bad idea.
System Monitor Agents Know the

Installing System Monitor Agents
TIP
purpose of system monitor agents. Major network server hardware vendors often have server monitor-
ing and management software available. To enable this software to
EXAM
monitor the different components of the network server—such as

temperature, processor utilization, and network utilization—you
must install monitoring agents on the network server. Usually, you
can do so automatically when using the network server vendor’s
server setup software. However, it may be necessary to install these
monitoring agents after the network operating system has been
installed. To install the system monitor agents, follow the network
server vendor’s installation instructions.
The following are a few examples of network server monitoring and
management software available from various vendors:
Compaq—Compaq Insight Manager
Dell—Dell OpenManage IT Assistant
HP—HP Toptools
IBM—Netfinity Director
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 225
Some network server vendors also offer optional hardware and soft-
ware that enable you to perform remote management of network
servers. The following are a few examples of the remote network
management hardware and software available from various vendors:
Compaq—Compaq Remote Insight Board
Dell—Dell OpenManage Remote Assistant Card (DRAC)
HP—HP Toptools Remote Control Card
HP—Integrated HP Remote Assistant
IBM—Advanced System Management Processor
Configuring Event Log(s)

Event logs are usually installed on the network server by default.
However, the size of the event logs is usually set to a minimum
amount. You should consider increasing the default size of the log
files. Most implementations of logs are done in a circular fashion.
When the log file is full, either all logging ceases until the log is emp-
tied, or the logs start at the top of the log file, overwriting old entries
in the log. The overwriting of the circular logs might destroy messages
that would have helped solve a problem. Increasing the size of the log
file will help prevent the overwriting of log entries. Figure 3.9 shows
the configuration of the size of the Windows NT Server 4 event logs. FIGURE 3.9
Configuring the size of Windows NT Server 4
event logs.
Configuring Swap File(s)

Network operating systems that use virtual memory (NetWare 5.x,
Windows NT, Windows 2000, UNIX, Linux, OS/2) have a swap
file on the network server disk drive. For optimum performance, the
swap file should be installed on or moved to a different physical disk
drive from the disk drive that contains the operating system files, or
frequently accessed application files (such as databases).
The following sections identify the swap file names and default sizes
for various network operation systems.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 226

The Windows NT Server 4 defaults include the following:
Swap file name: C:\PAGEFILE.SYS
Default size: Same as amount of RAM in server
One swap file is allowed per volume.
To change the number of paging files or to change the size of a page

file, select Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, Performance,
Virtual Memory button.
Figure 3.10 shows the Windows NT Server 4 paging file configura-
tion dialog box.

The Windows 2000 Server defaults include the following:
Swap file name: C:\PAGEFILE.SYS
Default size: Amount of RAM in server times 1.5
FIGURE 3.10
Windows NT Server 4 paging file dialog box.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 227
To change the number of page files or to change the size of a paging

file, select Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/Advanced tab/ Windows NT and Windows 2000
TIP
Performance Options button/Virtual Memory Change button. Paging Files Know the name of
the Windows NT Server 4 and
EXAM
Figure 3.11 shows the Windows 2000 Server paging file configura- Windows 2000 Server paging files
tion dialog box. and how to configure them.
Novell NetWare 5.1

The Novell NetWare 5.1 defaults include the following:
Swap file name: SYS:<unspecified name>
Default size: 2 Megabytes
Utility used to create swap file: SWAP ADD <volume name>

The OS/2 defaults include the following:
Swap file name: C:\OS2\SYSTEM\SWAPPER.DAT
Utility used to create swap file: none
Swap file size is set by the SWAPPATH= statement in the

CONFIG.SYS file. The format is as follows:
SWAPPATH= path minfree initial_size
FIGURE 3.11
Windows 2000 Server paging file dialog box.
Linux
Linux uses swap partitions, which are created by the installation
process and/or the administrator.
Adding NetWare Swap Files Know
TIP
The mkswap utility “formats” the swap partition. that NetWare allows one swap file
per volume. Also know that the
The swapon utility makes the swap partition(s) available.
EXAM
SWAP ADD command is used to

add a swap file to a volume.
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 228
OS/2 Swap File Know the name PERFORMING A SERVER BASELINE

TIP
and location of the OS/2 swap file

and how to configure it. . 2.8 Perform server baseline
EXAM
A server baseline is a measurement of the server performance. Some

network operating systems include a performance monitoring tool.
A performance monitoring tool enables you to ascertain the perfor-
mance of various network server components under normal operat-
ing conditions. The major network server components that should
be monitored are the processor(s), the memory, the disk subsystem,
and the network subsystem. The utilization of these four network
server components will generally increase as the network server goes
into service and as the demands on the network server increase over
time. The purpose of a baseline measurement is to capture perfor-
mance information about these four network server components
under an initial load. You can compare these numbers with those
collected over time to see how these four network server components
are being utilized. As a component nears its maximum utilization, it
is time to consider upgrades to the component.
Most network operating systems have as standard some system utili-
ties that can measure resource utilization. Various third-party utilities
also enable you to measure a network server’s resource utilization.
The following are examples of performance monitoring software
tools for various network server operating systems:
Microsoft Windows NT Server—Performance Monitor
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server—System Monitor
Novell NetWare—ManageWise
UNIX/Linux—sar, iostat, vmstat, ps
IBM OS/2—System Performance Monitor/2 (SPM/2)
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 229
Chapter 7 covers some of these utilities in more detail.

Using the utilities available for the various network operating
systems, baseline measurements can be performed. The baseline
measurements should include the following statistics:
Processor: Percent utilization
Processor: Processor queue length
Memory: Hard page faults
Memory: Soft page faults
Disk subsystem: Percent disk utilization
Disk subsystem: Disk queue length
Network: Percent network utilization
Network: Network queue length
In Figure 3.12, the Microsoft System Monitor utility shows heavy

processor utilization on a Windows 2000 Server.
FIGURE 3.12
Microsoft System Monitor showing heavy
processor utilization.
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DOCUMENTING THE NETWORK

SERVER CONFIGURATION
. 2.9 Document the configuration
You should document the entire configuration of the network server.
You should have completed some of this documentation during the
installation process. At this point, however, you can add the follow-
ing items to the documentation:
Network operating system version
Update level for network operating system
RAID configuration
Server name
Antivirus software and version
Backup software and version
Network address for each NIC
Location and size of swap file(s)
SNMP community name
Server monitoring agents installed
System BIOS version
The server baseline measurements
CHAPTER SUMMARY
This chapter covered the job dimension having to do with the con-
KEY TERMS
figuring of the server. It dealt with the configuration of RAID on
• Antivirus software the network server, the selection of the proper file system, and the
• Backup software installation of the network operating system. It also covered the
• BIOS installation of common network server software, such as antivirus
• Cluster software and backup software. The chapter concluded by reminding
you to document all of these items.
• Disk array
• Disk duplexing
• Disk mirroring
• FAT
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 231
CHAPTER SUMMARY
• FAT16
• FAT32
• Flashable BIOS
• Hot spare
• HPFS
• LUN
• MIB
• NTFS
• NWFS
• NSS
• Paging file
• Partition
• Plug and Play
• RAID controller BIOS
• RAID 0
• RAID 1
• RAID 5
• RAID 0+1
• RAID 0/1
• RAID 10
• SCSI controller BIOS
• Sector
• SNMP
• SNMP community
• Stripe set with parity
• Stripe set without parity
• Swap file
• System BIOS
• Unicode
• Virtual memory
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 232
Exercises • Sun Solaris 8 Intel Platform
www.sun.com/software/solaris/
binaries/get.html
3.1 Installing and Configuring Network
Operating Systems • Linux versions
Installing a network server operating system is a major RedHat Linux (free, unsupported)
task. However, the experience gained by installing a www.redhat.com/download/
network operating system is invaluable. You need a howto_download.html
computer system that meets the minimum require- Caldera Linux (60-day trial and installa-
ments of the network operating system. The computer tion computer-based training)
system can be a desktop computer system for practicing www.calderasystems.com/products/
the network operating system installation. You also volution/cbt/
need a copy of the network operating system software
itself. If you don’t have a copy of the network operating After you have the computer system and copies of the
system software, you can find a free or low-cost copy (it network operating systems on hand, just follow the
may be a time-limited evaluation copy) of popular installation instructions of the network operating
network operating systems at the following web sites. system. Most network operating systems come on
You may want to get several different network operat- bootable CD-ROMs. As long as the computer system
ing systems so that you can practice the different instal- has a bootable CD-ROM drive, the installation process
lation scenarios. begins by inserting the network operating system
Estimated Time: 30 minutes to several hours (will vary CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive and rebooting
with operating system). the computer system.
You can obtain the following operating systems from

the listed web sites:
Review Questions
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced
Server (180 days) www.microsoft.com/
required for a RAID 5 array?
windows2000/edk/default.asp
2. What is the disk overhead associated with RAID 1?
• Novell NetWare 5.1 (90 days), $15 for
5-user version www.novell.com/products/ 3. What is the difference between disk mirroring
netware/evaluation.html and disk duplexing?
• UNIX flavors 4. Which RAID level is not fault tolerant?
UnixWare 7 (free, noncommercial) 5. How do you check the version of the system
www.sco.com/offers/license.html BIOS?
SCO OpenServer 5.0.5 (free, 6. What is the purpose of the SNMP community
noncomercial) name?
www.sco.com/offers/license.html
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 233
7. What is the name of and the default size of the 2. Which of the following technologies allows a net-
swap file on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server? work server to run more programs than will fit
into its physical RAM?
8. How many swap files are allowed in Microsoft
Windows 2000 Server? A. RAID 1
9. What is the purpose of UPS monitoring software? B. RAID 5
10. What is the name of the utility that enables you C. Virtual memory
to test TCP/IP network connectivity?
D. Backup software
3. Which of the following software packages are not
needed to implement RAID 0/1?
normally installed on a network server to support
12. What is the most popular native Linux file system? its operation?
13. What processor statistics should be included in A. Antivirus software
the server baseline measurement?
B. Backup software
14. What is a SCSI LUN?
C. UPS monitoring software
15. What is the “top” of the UNIX/Linux file struc-
D. Spreadsheet software
ture called?
4. Which RAID level does not provide fault tolerance?
A. RAID 0
Exam Questions B. RAID 1
1. You have a group of six 36GB disk drives that you C. RAID 5
want to configure as a RAID 5 array. After you
D. RAID 10
have configured the RAID array with the six disk
drives, what is the total storage capacity of the 5. Which of the following is not a network server
single logical drive created by the RAID array? component that should be monitored to deter-
mine resource usage?
A. 216GB
A. Processor(s)
B. 180GB
B. Memory
C. 108GB
C. Power supplies
D. 36GB
D. Disk subsystem
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 234
6. What is the best place to find the latest driver 10. What is the name of the Windows NT Server 4
for a network server component? command that will display the current TCP/IP
configuration?
A. The network operating system vendor’s
web site A. winipcfg
B. The CD-ROM that was packaged with the B. inetcfg
hardware component
C. ifconfig
C. The hardware vendor’s web site
D. ipconfig
D. The network operating system CD-ROM
11. Where is the best place to look for the latest
7. You have four 18GB disk drives that you want security patches for a network server operating
to configure using RAID 0/1. What will be the system?
storage capacity of the RAID 0/1 array after it
A. The network server hardware vendor’s
has been configured?
web site
A. 18GB
B. The network operating system vendor’s
B. 36GB web site
C. 54GB C. The CD-ROM that came with the network
server
D. 72GB
D. The CD-ROM that contains the network
8. You discover that the very top of the file structure
operating system
for a network server is “/”. What network server
operating system is installed on the network 12. What is the maximum disk partition size that can
server? be addressed by the FAT16 file system?
A. Windows NT Server 4 A. 32MB
B. Novell NetWare B. 2GB
C. IBM OS/2 Warp Server C. 8GB
D. UNIX/Linux D. 32GB
9. What is the name of the IBM OS/2 Warp Server 13. The High Performance File System(HPFS) is
swap file? native to which network operating system?
A. PAGEFILE.SYS A. IBM OS/2 Warp Server
B. SWAPPER.DAT B. Windows 2000 Server
C. SWAPPER.SYS C. Novell NetWare
D. PAGEFILE.DAT D. UNIX
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 235
14. What is the storage capacity of a RAID 0 array 4. RAID 0, disk striping without parity, is not fault
that contains three 18GB disk drives? tolerant. It is used to improve disk drive
input/output. For more information, see the sec-
A. 18GB
tion “RAID 0 Configuration.”
B. 36GB
5. The system BIOS version displays on the server
C. 54GB monitor when the server is powered up. For
D. 9GB more information, see the section “Checking
System BIOS.”
15. What is the default SNMP community name?
6. The SNMP community is a primitive form of
A. Public security for the SNMP protocol. To access infor-
B. Private mation through SNMP, the community name of
the SNMP agent and the SNMP manager must
C. SemiPrivate be the same. For more information, see the sec-
D. Open tion “Installing and Configuring SNMP.”
7. The swap file for Microsoft Windows 2000
Server is called PAGEFILE.SYS. The default size
of PAGEFILE.SYS is 1.5 times the amount of
Answers to Review Questions RAM in the server. (For instance, a server with
1. The minimum number of disk drives required to 512MB of RAM will have a PAGEFILE.SYS file
implement RAID 5 is three. For more informa- that is 768MB in size.) For more information, see
tion, see the section “RAID 5 Configuration.” the section “Configuring Swap File(s).”
2. The disk overhead associated with RAID 1 is 8. There can be one swap file per volume in
50%. For more information, see the section Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. For more
“RAID 1 Configuration (Mirroring)” or “RAID information, see the section “Configuring
1 Configuration (Duplexing).” Swap File(s).”
3. The cute answer to this question is one disk con- 9. UPS monitoring software allows the network
troller. In disk mirroring, both disk drives are server to determine when a power failure has
attached to a single disk controller. In disk occurred and that the UPS is supplying power to
duplexing, each disk drive is attached to a differ- the network server from its batteries. For more
ent disk controller. Hence, the difference between information, see the section “Configuring an
mirroring and duplexing is one disk controller. Uninterruptible Power Supply.”
For more information, see the section “RAID 1
10. The ping command is used to test TCP/IP net-
Configuration (Duplexing).”
work connectivity. For more information, see the
section “Verifying Network Connectivity.”
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 236
11. RAID 0/1 requires a minimum of four disk drives 4. A. RAID 0 (disk striping without parity) does
to implement. For more information, see the not provide any fault tolerance of disk drives. It
section “RAID 0/1 Configuration.” does provide improved disk input/output perfor-
mance. For more information, see the section
12. The most popular native Linux file system is ext2
“RAID 0 Configuration.”
(the second extended file system). For more
information, see the section “Linux.” 5. C. The power supply is not a network server
component that requires monitoring to deter-
13. When performing a server baseline measurement,
mine percentage of the resource being utilized.
the processor percent utilization and the proces-
sor queue length statistics should be recorded.
“Performing a Server Baseline.”
“Performing a Server Baseline.” 6. C. The best place to look for the latest driver for
a network server component is the component
14. A SCSI LUN is a Logical Unit Number that
vendor’s web site. For more information, see the
allows multiple SCSI devices to share a single
section “Configuring Manufacturer-Specific
SCSI ID. For more information, see the section
Drivers.”
“Configuring an External CD-ROM System.”
7. B. The storage capacity of a RAID 0/1 array
15. The “top” of the UNIX file structure is named
with four 18GB disk drives is 36GB. For
“/” or root. For more information, see the section
more information, see the section
“File Systems.”
“RAID 0/1 Configuration.”
8. D. The UNIX/Linux operating systems have a
Answers to Exam Questions file structure with the top designed as “/” or
root. For more information, see the section
1. B. The total storage capacity of the single logical “File Systems.”
disk drive created by the RAID 5 array is 180GB.
Using the formula (n – 1) * c, (6 – 1) * 36 = 180. 9. B. The name of the IBM OS/2 Warp Server swap
For more information, see the section “RAID 5 file is SWAPPER.DAT. For more information,
Configuration.” see the section “Configuring Swap File(s).”
2. C. Virtual memory allows a network server to 10. D. The Windows NT Server 4 command that
run more programs than will fit in its physical will display the current TCP/IP configuration is
RAM. For more information, see the section ipconfig. For more information, see the section
“Configuring Swap File(s).” “Configuring the Network.”
3. D. Spreadsheet software is not used to support 11. B. The best place to look for the latest security
the operation of the network server. Spreadsheet patches for a network server operating system is
software may be installed on the network server the network operating system vendor’s web site.
for delivery to network client computers. For For more information, see the section “Installing
more information, see the section “Installing Network Operating System Updates.”
Service Tools.”
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 237
12. B. The maximum disk partition that can be 14. C. The storage capacity of a RAID 0 array with
addressed by the FAT16 file system is 2GB. For three 18GB disk drives is 54GB. For more infor-
more information, see the section “File Systems.” mation, see the section “RAID 0 Configuration.”
13. A. The High Performance File System (HPFS) is 15. A. The default SNMP community name is
native to the IBM OS/2 Warp Server network Public. For more information, see the section
operating system. For more information, see the “Installing and Configuring SNMP.”
section “File Systems.”
1. Mueller, Scott. Upgrading and Repairing 5. Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

PCs, 12th Edition. Que Publishing. online documentation
(ISBN 0-7897-2303-4) http://windows.microsoft.com/
windows2000/en/server/help/
2. Novell NetWare 5.1 online documentation
www.novell.com/documentation/lg/nw51/ 6. Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced
docui/index.html Server online documentation
http://windows.microsoft.com/
3. Novell NetWare 4.2 online documentation
windows2000/en/advanced/help/
http://www.novell.com/documentation/lg/
nw42/docui/index.html 7. Microsoft Windows 2000 DataCenter
Server online documentation
4. SCO OpenServer Release 5.0 online docu-
http://windows.microsoft.com/
mentation http://osr5doc.sco.com/
windows2000/en/datacenter/help/
08 Serv+ Ch_03 7/10/01 9:50 AM Page 238
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/11/01 10:02 AM Page 239
OBJECTIVES

objectives for the Upgrading section of the Server+
Certification exam.
3.1 Perform full backup
• Verify backup
. Every server hardware specialist should always per-
form and verify a full backup before beginning any
upgrade to the network server.
3.2 Add Processors

• On single processor upgrade, verify
compatibility
• Verify N+1 stepping
• Perform BIOS upgrade
• Perform OS upgrade to support
multiprocessors
• Perform upgrade checklist, including: locate/
obtain latest test drivers, OS updates, software,
etc.; review FAQs, instruction, facts and issues;
test and pilot; schedule downtime; implement
ESD best practices; confirm that upgrade has
been recognized; review and baseline; docu-
4
ment upgrade
add processors to a network server and upgrade the
C H A P T E R
network operating system to recognize multiple
processors.
3.3 Add hard drives

• For ATA/IDE drives, confirm cabling, master/
slave and potential cross-brand compatibility 3.0—Upgrading
• Upgrade mass storage
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 240
OBJECTIVES
• Add drives to array 3.5 Upgrade BIOS/firmware

• Replace existing drives • Perform upgrade checklist, including: locate/
obtain latest test drivers, OS updates, soft-
• Integrate into storage solution and make it
ware, etc.; review FAQs, instruction, facts and
available to the operating system
issues; test and pilot; schedule downtime;
• Perform upgrade checklist, including: locate/ implement ESD best practices; confirm that
obtain latest test drivers, OS updates, soft- upgrade has been recognized; review and
ware, etc.; review FAQs, instruction, facts and baseline; document upgrade
issues; test and pilot; schedule downtime; . Every server hardware specialist should be able check
implement ESD best practices; confirm that the versions of the BIOS/firmware on a network
upgrade has been recognized; review and server and upgrade the BIOS/firmware as necessary.
baseline; document upgrade
. Every server hardware specialist should be able to 3.6 Upgrade adapters (e.g., NICs, SCSI cards,
install hard disk drives in the network server. RAID, etc.)
3.4 Increase memory obtain latest test drivers, OS updates, soft-
• Verify hardware and OS support for capacity ware, etc.; review FAQs, instruction, facts and
increase issues; test and pilot; schedule downtime;
implement ESD best practices; confirm that
• Verify memory is on hardware/vendor com- upgrade has been recognized; review and
patibility list baseline; document upgrade
• Verify memory compatibility (e.g., speed, . Every server hardware specialist should be able to
brand, capacity, EDO, ECC/non-ECC, upgrade adapters for a network server.
SDRAM/RDRAM)
• Perform upgrade checklist, including: locate/ 3.7 Upgrade peripheral devices, internal and
obtain latest test drivers, OS updates, soft- external
• Verify appropriate system resources (e.g.,
expansion slots, IRQ, DMA, etc.)
upgrade has been recognized; review and • Perform upgrade checklist, including: locate/
baseline; document upgrade obtain latest test drivers, OS updates, soft-
add memory to a network server. issues; test and pilot; schedule downtime;
upgrade has been recognized; review and
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 241
OBJECTIVES OUTLINE
. Every server hardware specialist should be able to Introduction 243

add peripheral devices to the network server.
The Upgrade Checklist 243

3.8 Upgrade system monitoring agents
• Perform upgrade checklist, including: locate/ Locating the Latest Software 244
obtain latest test drivers, OS updates, soft- Reviewing Instructions and FAQs 244
ware, etc.; review FAQs, instruction, facts and Testing the Upgrade 245
issues; test and pilot; schedule downtime; Scheduling Downtime 245
Performing a Full System Backup 245
upgrade has been recognized; review and
baseline; document upgrade Implementing Electrostatic Discharge
Best Practices 246
. Every server hardware specialist should be able to ESD Best Practices 246
upgrade the system monitoring agents for the net-
Confirming the Upgrade 246
work server.
Reviewing the Upgrade and Performing
3.9 Upgrade service tools (e.g., diagnostic a New Baseline 247
tools, EISA configuration, diagnostic
partition, SSU, etc. Documenting the Upgrade 247

obtain latest test drivers, OS updates, soft- Performing a Full Backup 247
Adding Processors 248
upgrade has been recognized; review and Replacing a Single Processor with
baseline; document upgrade a Faster Processor 248
. Every server hardware specialist should be able to Installing Additional Processors 249
upgrade the service tools for the network server. Upgrading the Operating System for
Multiple Processors 253
3.10 Upgrade UPS Microsoft Windows NT Server 4 253
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server 253
• Perform upgrade checklist, including: locate/ Novell NetWare 5 254
obtain latest test drivers, OS updates, soft- Red Hat Linux 255
Adding Hard Drives 255
upgrade has been recognized; review and Upgrading ATA Hard Disk Drives 256
Upgrading IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 Disk Drives
. Every server hardware specialist should be able to to SCSI Disk Drives 257
upgrade the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for
the network server.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 242
Upgrading SCSI Hard Disk Drives 258 To prepare for the Upgrading objective of the
Adding SCSI Hard Disk Drives 258 Server+ exam, do the following:
Replacing SCSI Hard Disk Drives 258
Adding Drives to a RAID Array 259 chapter.
New Drives in a Separate Array 259
New Drives in an Existing Array 259 . Study the information in this chapter.
. Review the objectives again.
Adding Memory 260 . Answer the Review and Exam Questions at the
end of the chapter and check your results.
Check Existing Memory 260
Checking Memory Upgrade Feasibility 261 . Use the ExamGear test on the CD-ROM that
accompanies this book for additional Exam
Checking Memory Upgrade Compatibility 262
Installing Additional Memory 262
. Review the Exam Tips available in various places
Upgrading the BIOS/firmware 263 stand the information in the Exam Tip. If you
Upgrading Adapters 265
Upgrading Adapter Memory 265
Upgrading Adapter BIOS or Firmware 266
Replacing an Adapter 266
Upgrading Peripheral Devices 268
Upgrading System Monitoring Agents 269
Upgrading Service Tools 270
Upgrading the Uninterruptible

Power Supply 271
Chapter Summary 274

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Chapter 4 3.0—UPGRADING 243
INTRODUCTION
This job dimension covers the upgrading of network server hardware
and software and is the topic of approximately 12% of the exam
questions. This chapter covers the upgrading of various types of
network server hardware and software. The network server hardware
upgrades that are discussed include processors, hard disk drives,
memory, UPS, adapters, and peripherals. The software upgrades
discussed include BIOS/firmware, system monitoring agents, and
service tools.
THE UPGRADE CHECKLIST

All network server upgrades have the potential to render the network
server inoperative. For that reason, you need to approach all upgrades
in a systematic, organized, and careful manner. To most easily com-
plete an upgrade successfully, the server hardware specialist should
follow an upgrade checklist. An upgrade checklist is just a list of items
that should be followed to perform an upgrade to a network server.
The upgrade checklist includes the following components:
á Locate and obtain the latest hardware drivers, operating system
updates, and other software needed for the upgrade.
á Review FAQs, instructions, facts, and issues about the
upgrade.
á Test the upgrade and perform a pilot deployment.
á Schedule downtime for the upgrade.
á Perform a full system backup before attempting the upgrade.
á Implement ESD best practices.
á Confirm that the network server and the operating system
have recognized the upgrade.
á Review the upgrade and perform a new server baseline.
á Document the upgrade.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 244
Locating the Latest Software

Most upgrades, even those that involve hardware, often require that
some of the software on the network server be updated as part of
the upgrade.
For new or upgraded hardware, a new updated hardware driver
will probably be necessary. Check the hardware vendor’s web site
for the latest driver for the hardware you are going to install. Even
though the new hardware will probably have a driver available on a
CD-ROM or floppy disk that comes with the hardware, these are
often not the latest drivers available.
For an operating system upgrade or patch, you must obtain the oper-
ating system upgrade from the operating system vendor’s web site.
Often these upgrades are also available on a CD-ROM. Some operat-
ing system upgrades (such as Microsoft service packs) can be very large
(more than 20MB) and can take a very long time to download from
the vendor’s web site at speeds available via dial-up connections. Some
operating system vendors, such as Microsoft, offer technical library
subscription services where the latest operating system updates (and
other things) are shipped to you monthly on CD-ROMs.
In some cases you need new copies of other software such as config-
Latest Software Know where to
TIP
uration and diagnostic tools, system monitoring agents, or BIOS

locate the latest software needed upgrades. Again, these software items are generally available from
to perform an upgrade. For the lat-
the network server vendor’s web site. In some cases (Compaq, for
EXAM
est drivers for a new network server

example), these software packages are available on CD-ROMs.
hardware component, visit the hard-
ware component manufacturer’s
web site. For the latest patches to
the network server operating sys-
Reviewing Instructions and FAQs
tem, visit the operating system After you have obtained the software updates, read the instructions
manufacturer’s web site. For the lat- that accompany the updates.
est upgrades to configuration and
diagnostic software for the network Also check the vendor’s web site for any known issues affecting the
server hardware, visit the network upgrade. It is not uncommon for the upgrade to work correctly in
server hardware manufacturer’s most situations and for it to not work correctly under certain cir-
web site. cumstances. If the upgrade does not work correctly under certain
conditions (for instance, with specific hardware), and you have those
same conditions at your site, do not install the upgrade.
It also is a very good idea to read the opinions of others who have
attempted the same upgrade that you are planning. You can obtain
this type of information from newsgroups on the Internet that
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 245
specialize in the hardware, software, or operating system that you are

using. A compilation of questions that are asked frequently in these
news groups is usually available. These are called Frequently Asked
Questions, or FAQs (pronounced “facts”). FAQs have become so
popular that many vendor sites include FAQs areas on their web
sites to answer common questions. You can use most common
Internet search engines, such as Yahoo!, to search the Internet for
FAQs on specific subjects.
Testing the Upgrade

If at all possible, you should test the upgrade on a nonproduction
network server that is identical to the production network server
that you plan to upgrade. If the upgrade fails on the nonproduction
or test server, you don’t adversely affect the users on the production
network server. If the upgrade fails on a production server, it may
well be time to dust off the old resume.
Scheduling Downtime
Because most upgrades require that the network server be shut down
for a while, you need to schedule a time to perform the upgrade that
will have the least effect on the work being performed on the net-
work server. Unfortunately, this often means that many upgrades are
performed in the wee hours of the morning or on weekends.
Of course, the network server administrator should be involved in
the discussion of when to perform the upgrade. The downtime
should be announced so that everyone is aware that the network
server will be unavailable.
Performing a Full System Backup

Before performing any upgrade to a network server, it is a very good
idea to perform a full system backup. In fact, it is a good idea to
have more than one copy of the system backup; so you may need to
perform a full backup at least twice. Some upgrades, particularly
those involving the disk subsystem, might destroy data on the disk
drives. A full backup is the only way to restore the data to the net-
work server if a data loss results from the upgrade.
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Implementing Electrostatic Discharge

Best Practices
Many system upgrades, mainly those involving hardware, require
that the network server chassis be opened. Any time that you open a
network server chassis, you run the risk that electrostatic discharge
(ESD) might damage the components in the network server. When
performing a network server upgrade, be sure to follow the ESD best
practices (as mentioned in Chapter 2, “1.0—Installation,” and
repeated in the following section).
ESD Best Practices

Know the ESD Best Practices
TIP
This material is likely to be asked You should adhere to the following list of best practices to ensure
about on the exam that you do not have a problem with ESD while working on a
EXAM
network server:
á Always use a static discharge device (static wrist strap, antista-
tic mat) when you open the server chassis to access compo-
nents in the server.
á Always store components in static bags until you are ready to
use them.
á Before you touch anything inside a network server, touch the
housing of the power supply. This discharges any static charge
that may have built up on your body.
á Use antistatic solutions on carpets in the server room.
á Use a room humidifier if the humidity is constantly below
50%.
á If possible, install antistatic carpet in the server room.
á Hold disk drives by the edges. Don’t touch the circuit board
on the bottom of the disk drive.
Confirming the Upgrade

After you have completed the upgrade, you must confirm that the
network server itself has recognized the upgrade and ultimately that it
has been recognized by the operating system on the network server.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 247
Some upgrades—such as a BIOS upgrade, a memory upgrade, or
NOTE
SCSI disk drive additions—are verifiable during the power-up POST Items to Include in a Baseline You
of the network server. Other upgrades require that new drivers for the should include the following items in
hardware be installed after the hardware upgrade has been performed. your baseline measurement (as also
discussed in Chapter 2):
Some upgrades, such as migrating from a single processor network
server to a multiple-processor network server, may require major • Processor: Percent utilization
operating system software changes on the network server. • Processor: Processor queue
length
Reviewing the Upgrade and • Memory: Hard page faults
Establishing a New Baseline • Memory: Soft page faults
After you have completed the upgrade, and verified that both the • Disk subsystem: Percent disk
utilization
network server hardware and the network server operating system
have recognized the upgrade, you should review the upgrade process. • Disk subsystem: Disk queue
Note any major problems, because you might need to perform the length
same upgrade on another network server sometime in the future. • Network: Percent network
A should establish a new baseline measurement. You can compare utilization
this baseline to the original baseline measurement that was taken • Network: Network queue length
when the network server was originally installed. This comparison
should confirm whether the upgrade meets the intended goal of
increased performance.
Documenting the Upgrade Upgrade Checklist Know the

TIP
As a final step, you should document the entire upgrade process in the steps outlined in the upgrade
network server log. Actually, you should be documenting the entire checklist.
EXAM
process as it is occurring. Be sure to note any problems encountered

during the upgrade and your solutions to those problems.
PERFORMING A FULL BACKUP

Back Up Before Upgrade Know
TIP
. 3.1 Perform full backup that you should always perform a

• Verify backup full system backup before attempt-
EXAM
ing any upgrade to the network

Before you attempt any upgrade operation, always fully back up server.
the entire network server. It cannot be overstated how important a
full backup of the entire system is for the successful completion of
an upgrade.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 248
You also should verify the backup. During verification, you check
the contents of the tape against that of the corresponding files on
the disk drives. Performing a verification of the backup is usually an
option that you can select as part of the backup process. Verification
effectively doubles the time that it takes to perform a backup, but
you get the assurance that the contents of the disk drives and the
backup tapes match exactly.
ADDING PROCESSORS
. 3.2 Add Processors
• On single processor upgrade, verify compatibility
• Verify N+1 stepping
• Perform BIOS upgrade
• Perform OS upgrade to support multiprocessors
• Perform upgrade checklist
Processor upgrades fall into two general categories: replacing an
existing processor with a faster processor, or adding an additional
processor to a multiprocessor-capable network server.
Replacing a Single Processor with a

Faster Processor
Whether a processor in a network server can be replaced with a faster
processor depends on several factors, the most important of which is
whether the motherboard in the network server will support a proces-
sor with a faster clock cycle. The other factors include the physical
package that the existing processor uses and whether a faster processor
is available that utilizes the same physical package (or form factor).
You can obtain this important upgrade information from the manu-
facturer of the network server’s motherboard. Check the mother-
board manufacturer’s web site to see whether you can upgrade the
processor to a faster processor. You then have to determine whether a
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 249
faster processor is available in a form factor that is compatible with

the existing processor. Upgrading to a faster processor may also
require that you upgrade the BIOS on the system board.
For pictures and descriptions of form factors used by Pentium II
and Pentium III processors, check out the web site at
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/procid/ptype.htm.
STEP BY STEP
4.1 Performing a Single Processor Upgrade
Upgrading a Single Processor
TIP
1. Follow the upgrade checklist. Know the steps necessary to
2. Upgrade the system BIOS. upgrade a single processor to a
EXAM
faster processor.
3. Open the network server chassis (following ESD best
practices).
4. Remove the current processor.
5. Insert the new processor.
6. Close the network server chassis.
7. Verify that the new processor is recognized by the network
server hardware and the network operating system.
Installing Additional Processors

To add another processor to a multiprocessor-capable network
server, the new processor must meet the following criteria:
á Be the same model processor (Pentium, Pentium Pro,
Pentium II, Pentium II Xeon, Pentium III, Pentium III Xeon,
Pentium 4, and so on) as the existing processor
á Have the same clock speed
á Have the same Level 2 (L2) cache size
á Match the stepping within one version (N+1)
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 250
You may be wondering how to tell what processor is currently in

your network server (so that you can match it). You can find the
answer quite simply. Intel provides information on all of its proces-
sors on its web site; it also offers a utility that detects and identifies
the Intel processor that is currently in your network server.
The Intel processor identification utility is available in two versions:
one that operates under the Microsoft Windows operating system,
and one that runs from a bootable DOS floppy disk.
You can obtain the Microsoft Windows version of the Intel
identification utility can be downloaded from
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/tools/
frequencyid/freqid.htm.
Figure 4.1 shows sample output from the Windows version of the
Intel identification program.
You can download the bootable floppy disk version of the Intel iden-
tification utility from http://support.intel.com/support/
processors/tools/frequencyid/bootable.htm.
FIGURE 4.1
Intel identification program (Windows version).
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 251
Figure 4.2 shows sample output from the bootable floppy disk
version of the Intel identification program.
You can find a description of the Intel identification program along
with installation instructions at http://support.intel.com/
support/processors/tools/frequencyid/download.htm.
You also can identify the current processor by a tag on the processor
itself. This tag contains a 5-digit S-spec number that starts with the
letter “S.” You can use this 5-digit number and the Intel web site to
identify the Intel processor that is in your network server. Figure 4.3
shows a sample Intel tag and identifies the S-spec number.
Bootable Intel(R) Processor Frequency ID Utility version 3.00.20001114

Copyright (C) 2000 Intel Corp. All rights reserved.
Intel (R) Pentium (R) III Xeon(TM) Processor
Frequency Test
Reported CPU Frequency: 733 MHz

Intel Expected CPU Frequency: 733 MHz
Report System Bus Frequency: 133 MHz

Intel Expected System Bus Frequency: 133 MHz
The tested Intel(R) processor and system bus appear to be operating

within their frequency specifications.
If this information differs from what was expected, please contac the PC
system manufacturer or microprocessor place of purchase.
CPUID Data
Processor Type: 0 Packaging: S.E.C.C./S.E.C.C.2

Family: 6 Level 2 cache: 256 KB
Model: 8 Level 1 data cache: 16 KB
Stepping: 3 Level 1 instruction cache: 16 KB
MMX(tm) Technology: YES

Streaming SIMD Extensions: YES
Streaming SIMD Extensions 2: NO
Utility completed. Eject the Bootable Intel(R) Processor Frequency ID FIGURE 4.2
Utilty version 3.0 floppy disk, then press "Ctrl + Alt + Delete"
Output from the bootable version of Intel
to restart the system.
identification program.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 252
500V512/100/2.0V S1 You can use the S-spec number from the processor label and the fol-
FFFFFFFF-NNNN XXXXX
TM
©’98 SYYYY
lowing Intel web sites to identify the processor currently in your net-
work server:
S-spec
á Pentium
FIGURE 4.3 http://developer.intel.com/design/pentium/qit/
Intel processor S-spec number location.
á Pentium Pro
http://developer.intel.com/design/pro/qit/index.htm
á Pentium II
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/sspec/p2p.htm
á Pentium II Xeon
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/sspec/
p2xp.htm
á Pentium III
á Pentium III Xeon

http://support.intel.com/support/processors/sspec/
p3xp.htm
á Pentium 4
The processor that you are adding to the network server should
come with installation instructions. The installation instructions for
Intel processors are also available at the Intel web site.
You can obtain Intel processor installation manuals at
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/manuals/.
STEP BY STEP
4.2 Adding an Additional Processor
1. Follow the upgrade checklist.
2. Open the network server chassis (following ESD best
practices).
3. Insert the new processor(s).
4. Close network server chassis.
5. Upgrade the system BIOS.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 253
6. Upgrade the operating system to recognize multiple

processors.
7. Verify that the new processor is recognized by the network
server hardware and the network operating system.
Upgrading the Operating System for Upgrading to Multiple Processors
TIP
Multiple Processors Know the steps necessary to
upgrade to multiple processors.
EXAM
Quite often a network server operating system will not recognize
that an additional processor has been installed on the network
server. The following sections detail how to remedy this situation.

If your original installation of Microsoft Windows NT Server 4 was
on a network server with a single processor, the hardware abstraction
layer (HAL) on the network server must be updated for the network
server to recognize and use multiple processors. To upgrade Windows
NT 4 to a multiprocessor HAL, you need to use the UPTOMP.EXE
utility available on the Microsoft Windows NT 4 Server Resource Kit.
For information about the processors recognized by the current ver-
sion of Microsoft Windows NT Server 4, open a command prompt
window and type the following command:
SET
This command prints a list of all the current environment variables.

Look for the variable Number_of_processors to see how many
processors Microsoft Windows NT Server 4 recognizes. You can
determine the number of processors in other ways, but this is one of
the easiest.

If your original installation of Microsoft Windows 2000 Server was
on a network server with a single processor, the HAL on the network
server must be updated for the network server to recognize and use
multiple processors. To install support for multiple processors on
Windows 2000, follow the procedure in Step by Step 4.3 (from
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q234558).
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 254
STEP BY STEP
4.3 Activating Multiple Processor Support on
Windows 2000 Server
1. Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, and then click
System.
2. Click the Hardware tab, and select Device Manager.
3. Double-click to expand the Computer branch. Note the
type of support that you currently have.
4. Double-click the computer type that is listed under the
Computer branch, and then select the Drivers tab, Update
Driver, and then click Next.
5. Click Display a List of Known Drivers for This Device,
and then click Show All Hardware of This Device Class.
6. Click the appropriate computer type (a computer type
that matches your current type, except for multiple
CPUs), click Next, and then click Finish.
For information about the processors recognized by the current ver-

sion of Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, open a command prompt
window and type the following command:
SET
This command prints a list of all the current environment variables.

Look for the variable Number_of_processors to see how many proces-
sors Microsoft Windows 2000 Server recognizes. You can determine
the number of processors in other ways, but this is one of the easiest.
Novell NetWare 5
If your original installation of Novell NetWare 5 was on a network
server with a single processor, you must make several changes in the
configuration of the Novell NetWare 5 server for it to recognize and
use multiple processors. To upgrade Novell NetWare 5 so that it will
recognize the additional processor, follow these steps:
1. Load NWCONFIG | Multi CPU Options | Select a Platform
Support Module.
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2. Restart the Novell NetWare 5 network server after

NWCONFIG modifies the STARTUP.NCF and the
AUTOEXEC.NCF files.
For information about the processors recognized by the current
version of Novell NetWare 5, use the following command on the
NetWare console:
DISPLAY PROCESSORS
Red Hat Linux

For Red Hat Linux (and other versions of Linux as well) to recog-
nize multiple processors, the Linux kernel must be rebuilt. Make
sure that the main Makefile (/usr/src/linux/Makefile) contains the
line SMP=1. Rebuild the Linux kernel using the normal methods.
For information about the processors recognized by the current
version of Linux, use the following command:
cat /proc/cpuinfo
ADDING HARD DRIVES

. 3.3 Add hard drives
• For ATA/IDE drives, confirm cabling, master/slave and
potential cross-brand compatibility
• Upgrade mass storage
• Add drives to array
• Replace existing drives
• Integrate into storage solution and make it available to the
operating system
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Disk drive upgrades come in two varieties: adding disk drives to an

NOTE
Disk System Upgrades Are existing network server, or replacing existing disk drives with larger
Dangerous to Data Before attempt- or faster disk drives. Upgrades to disk drives have the most potential
ing any upgrade to the disk subsys- of any upgrade to destroy data. Before attempting any disk drive
tem of a network server, make upgrade, make absolutely sure that you have at least one, preferably
absolutely sure that you have at least
two, verified full backups of the data on the disk drives.
one, preferably two, verified full back-
ups of the data on the disk drives.
Upgrading ATA Hard Disk Drives

This section shows you how to upgrade ATA hard disk drives. To
shorten the discussion, the term “ATA refers to IDE/ATA,
EDIE/ATA-2, and Ultra ATA hard disk drives. The process is the
same for all versions of ATA disk drives.
Upgrades to ATA disks generally fall into two categories: adding
disk drives, and replacing existing disk drives with faster or larger
disk drives.
Adding ATA disk drives to an existing ATA disk subsystem is rela-
tively straightforward. ATA disk controllers generally have two chan-
NOTE
Ultra ATA Ribbon Cables The ribbon

cables used by the high-speed Ultra nels to which ATA devices (disk drives, CD-ROM drives, and so
ATA disk subsystems actually contain forth) can be attached. Each channel consists of a ribbon cable that
80 conductors, but they still utilize a can be up to 18 inches long, to which a maximum of two disk drives
40-pin connector to attach the Ultra
can be attached. One end of the channel is attached to the ATA disk
ATA disk drives.
controller, which may actually be built in to the system board. The
channel (a 40-conductor ribbon cable) usually has two 40-pin con-
nectors attached to it. These 40-pin connectors are used to attach
ATA disk drives to the ATA channel.
The ATA channels are usually labeled “primary” and “secondary” so
that the system can distinguish between them.
When only a single disk drive is attached to the ATA disk controller,
you can attach a second disk drive in either of the two following ways:
á You can attach the second disk drive to the same ribbon cable
as the existing disk drive using the second 40-pin connector on
the ribbon cable. In this case, one disk drive must be set to the
master ATA disk role and the other must be set to the slave
ATA disk role. Alternatively, you could set cable select (CSEL)
for both disk drives.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 257
á You can attach the second disk drive to the secondary ATA
channel using a second ribbon cable for the ATA controller.
You would set this single drive to either the single drive or
master ATA disk role depending on the manufacturer’s instruc-
tions for configuring a single disk drive on an ATA channel.
Chapter 2 details how to select the hard disk drive role. By putting
the second ATA disk drive onto the secondary channel, thus having
one ATA disk drive on each ATA channel, you can enhance the per-
formance of the disk subsystem.
A system BIOS upgrade might be required when upgrading from
small ATA disk drives to very large ATA disk drives. See “Upgrading
NOTE
ATA Interoperability Even though
BIOS/Firmware” later in this chapter for details on how to upgrade ATA is an ANSI standard, on occasion
the system BIOS. Older system BIOSs might not have the capability ATA implementations by different disk
to address all the space on very large ATA disk drives. The definition drive vendors don’t interoperate cor-
of “very large” has changed over the years. Various definitions of rectly. Be sure to check the disk drive
“large” have been 504MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, and 8.4GB. Many of vendor’s web site for any known
issues between disk drives made by
these have proven to be barriers to ATA that had to be overcome by
different manufacturers. You can
newer, better, or improved BIOSs.
avoid conflicts by acquiring disk drives
Disk drive speeds are characterized by their rotational speed. from the same manufacturer, because
Common rotational speeds are 5400rpm, 7200rpm, and most manufacturers perform tests to
10,000rpm. The faster the rotational speed, the faster the disk can make sure that their own products
access data. Upgrading from slow disk drives to faster disk drives operate together correctly.
involves a complete replacement of the disk drives.
ATA Interoperability Know that

Upgrading IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 Disk
TIP
there have been and may continue

Drives to SCSI Disk Drives to be manufacturer-interoperability
EXAM
issues with ATA/ATA-2 disk con-

There is really no upgrade path from IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 disk troller implementations. It is best
drives to SCSI disk drives. If you want to change from to use disk drives made by the
IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 disk drives to SCSI disk drives, you literally same manufacturer on the same
remove all the IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 disk drives, remove or disable ATA or ATA-2 channel. Remember
the built-in IDE/EIDE controller, and install a SCSI bus controller one disk drive is going to be the
and SCSI disk drives. Remember that to boot from a SCSI disk master drive and the other disk
drive, the BIOS on the SCSI bus controller must be enabled, and drive is going to be the slave drive.
the SCSI ID of the boot disk must be set to 0. The two disk drives need to work
well together, which they usually
do when made by the same
manufacturer.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 258
Upgrading SCSI Hard Disk Drives

Upgrades to SCSI disk drives fall into two categories: adding SCSI
disks to an existing SCSI channel, and replacing existing SCSI disks
with disk drives with a faster rotation speed. The SCSI disk drive in the
upgrade should match the existing SCSI disk in SCSI level (1, 2, or 3),
type (normal, wide), and signaling system (SE, LVD, differential).
Adding SCSI Hard Disk Drives

Adding SCSI disk drives to an existing SCSI channel is a rather sim-
ple process. To guarantee the success of the addition, however, the
server hardware specialist must review the documentation of the
SCSI bus. You need to know the SCSI IDs of the existing disk drives
and where the SCSI bus is terminated. For internal SCSI devices, you
also need to determine whether any SCSI connectors are available
on the SCSI bus ribbon cable. If no SCSI connectors are available
on the SCSI bus ribbon cable, you must obtain a new SCSI ribbon
cable with the correct number of connectors. You need to set the
SCSI ID of the new disk drive to a SCSI ID that is not already in
use on the SCSI bus. You might also have to move the SCSI termi-
nator, remembering that the SCSI bus must be terminated at both
ends.
External SCSI devices are usually connected to the SCSI channel in
a daisy-chain manner. Adding an additional external SCSI device
involves picking a SCSI ID that is not currently in use on the SCSI
channel, and adding the SCSI device into the daisy chain. Exceeding
the SCSI cable length is the biggest problem encountered when
adding an additional external SCSI device. The second most com-
mon problem is proper termination of both ends of the SCSI bus.
Replacing SCSI Hard Disk Drives

Replacing an existing SCSI hard disk is just a matter of removing
the old SCSI hard disk and checking its SCSI ID. Set the SCSI ID
on the new SCSI hard disk to match the SCSI ID of the SCSI disk
drive that was removed and install the new SCSI hard disk.
If the SCSI disk to be replaced uses an SCA connector, you can just
remove the old SCSI disk drive and insert the new SCSI disk drive
in its place. SCA connectors automatically set the SCSI ID of the
SCSI disk drive.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 259
Adding Drives to a RAID Array

Adding drives to a SCSI-based RAID array is no different from adding
drives to a SCSI channel; except that after the disk drives are added to
the array, you must use the RAID configuration utility to add the disk
drives to the RAID array.
New Drives in a Separate Array

If you configure the newly installed disk drives as a separate array
from the existing array, the data on the existing disk array will be
unaffected.
If you have an existing RAID 5 array consisting of three disk drives
and you install two new disk drives that you want to configure as a
RAID 1 array, for instance, the original RAID 5 array will not be
affected. No loss of data on the original array will occur. After
installing the two new disk drives, use the array configuration utility
to initialize the two new disk drives and configure them as a RAID
1 array. The RAID controller will then have two separate RAID
arrays configured: the original RAID 5 array, consisting of three disk
drives; and the new RAID 1 array, consisting of two disk drives.
New Drives in an Existing Array

If you want the newly installed SCSI disk drives to become part of
an existing RAID array, you need to initialize all disk drives in the
array, including the existing drives. This means a loss of data on the
existing disk drives.
If you have an existing RAID 5 array consisting of three disk drives
NOTE
and you install two new disk drives that you want to configure into EIDE-Based RAID Upgrade Adding
a RAID 5 array using all five disk drives, for instance, you must ini- disk drives to an EIDE-based RAID
tialize all five disk drives. You can then combine the five disk drives array is similar to just adding disk
drives to a EIDE controller. You must
into a single RAID 5 array using all five disk drives. However, the
use the RAID configuration utility to
data that was on the original RAID 5 array (with the three disk
add the disk drives to the RAID array.
drives) will be destroyed in the process and will need to be reloaded
from the backup tape. The RAID controller will have a single RAID
5 array consisting of five disk drives.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 260
ADDING MEMORY
. 3.4 Increase memory
• Verify hardware and OS support for capacity increase
• Verify memory is on hardware/vendor compatibility list
• Verify memory compatibility (e.g., speed, brand, capacity,
EDO, ECC/non-ECC, SDRAM/RDRAM)
It has been said that there is no such thing as too much memory in
a server. Although in many cases this is true, there are a few excep-
tions. One, you can only put as much memory in the network server
as it was designed to contain. There is always a maximum amount
of memory that can be supported by the processors and/or the con-
trol chipsets of the motherboard of the network server. The other
exception is having more memory than the network server operating
system can utilize. You must keep both of these exceptions in mind
when considering a memory upgrade to a network server.
Check Existing Memory

Before adding memory to a network server, you need to verify the
current memory configuration. The documentation for the configu-
ration of the network server should have all the details of the mem-
ory configuration. When this information isn’t readily available,
however, you need to determine it.
The most reliable way to check the existing memory configuration is
to open the chassis of the network server. You want to answer the
following questions:
How many memory slots does the network server have?
How many memory slots are empty and available for additional
memory to be installed?
What is the size (megabytes) and speed of the current memory
modules?
What type of memory module (SIMMs, single in-line memory
modules; DIMMs, dual in-line memory modules; RIMMs,
RAMbus in-line memory module; buffered; unbuffered; regis-
tered) is currently installed?
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 261
What type of memory is the memory module (EDO, DRAM,

SDRAM, RDRAM) used in the network server?
What error-detection method is used on the memory module
(parity, non-parity, ECC, non-ECC)?
You should answer these questions by reviewing the documentation

that shipped with the network server. You might also find this infor-
mation in the log that was kept as part of the installation process.
Chapter 1, “0.0—Planning and Specifications,” discusses the differ-
ent types of network server memory. For more information on
memory, check out “Kingston’s Ultimate Memory Guide” at
www.kingston.com/tools/umg/umg2000.pdf.
Checking Memory Upgrade Feasibility

Before attempting a memory upgrade, you must first determine
whether the network server hardware can support the amount of
memory that you want to have in the network server. Some system
board control chipsets limit the amount of memory that can be
utilized in the network server. Limitations might also apply to the
maximum size of a memory module that you can place into a single
memory slot. This will limit the total amount of memory as well.
The best source of information about how much memory can be
installed in a particular network server is the documentation that
came with the network server or the network server vendor’s web site.
You also should verify that the network server operating system sup-
ports the amount of memory that you plan to install. Check the
network server operating system vendor’s web site for maximum
memory supported.
Be aware that you might have to remove the existing memory mod-
ules and replace them with larger memory modules to achieve the
total amount of memory required. If the network server has only
four memory slots and two of them are occupied by 64MB memory
modules and you want to achieve a total of 512MB (which in this
example requires four 128MB modules), for instance, you must
remove the two 64MB memory modules.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 262
Checking Memory Upgrade

NOTE
Vendor Memory Selection Tools

Most major memory suppliers have Compatibility
software tools available on their web
sites that enable you to specify the
After you have answered all these questions, check the network
brand and model of your network server vendor’s hardware compatibility list to make sure the vendor
server, and they will tell you the mem- has certified the memory that you have selected.
ory modules that they have available One other very important consideration is the metal plating on the
that are designed to work in your net-
leads of the memory module. Two common metals are used on the
work server. Kingston’s web site con-
memory module leads and the connectors in the memory slots: tin
tains one such tool
(www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/kepler/m
and gold. Both metals work just fine. However, never mix the two
frmod_Bod.asp).
metals (for example, gold on the memory module and tin in the
connector or vice versa). This mismatching of metals causes corro-
This particular tool will not only show sion at the contact points and results in a bad connection over time.
which Kingston memory modules are
This bad connection causes memory errors to occur.
available that will work in the network
server, but it also specifies the mem-
ory layout of the network server and
whether the memory modules must
Installing Additional Memory
be installed singly, in pairs, or in After determining the feasibility of the memory upgrade and the
groups of four. The tool also specifies compatibility of the memory with the network server, the last step is
whether a BIOS upgrade is required to to actually install the additional memory. Be sure to install the mem-
support larger memory modules. ory according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Remember that the
memory modules may have a requirement to be installed in pairs or
groups of four. Most network servers have SIMMs, DIMMs, or
RIMMs. Figure 4.4 shows a diagram of SIMM installation.
NOTE
Don’t Mix Metals Do not mix tin

and gold between memory modules
and memory slot connectors.
STEP 1
Insert the SIMM into the
socket at a slight angle.
STEP 2
Rotate the SIMM into the
upright position, making sure
FIGURE 4.4 the clips at each end of the
SIMM memory module installation. SIMM socket click into position.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 263
Figure 4.5 shows a diagram of DIMM and RIMM installation.

RIMM installation differs only slightly from DIMM installation. All
memory module slots designed to use RIMMs must be populated. If
an actual RIMM memory module is not installed in a slot, a conti-
nuity module must be installed. A continuity module does not con-
tain any memory. Adding a RIMM memory module involves
removing a continuity module and replacing it with a RIMM mem-
ory module. Failure to have continuity modules in the memory slots
not occupied by RIMMs may result in a network server that does
not power up.
While performing a memory upgrade, be sure to follow the upgrade
checklist.
FIGURE 4.5
DIMM/RIMM memory module installation.
UPGRADING THE BIOS/FIRMWARE
. 3.5 Upgrade BIOS/firmware
You may need to upgrade the system BIOS to support new hardware
or features in the network server. You might want to upgrade the
system BIOS for some of the following reasons:
á To add support for newer hardware that didn’t exist when the
original BIOS was created
á To correct known bugs in the BIOS code
á To add support for newer and/or faster processors
á To add Plug and Play support
á To add support for larger or faster hard disk drives
á To add boot support to removable media disk drives such as
LS-120 or ZIP drives (more often seen on desktop computers
rather than servers)
Before deciding that a BIOS upgrade is necessary, you need to deter-

mine the version of the BIOS currently in the network server. The
BIOS brand and version number is usually displayed on the system
monitor when the network server is powered up.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 264
The BIOS upgrade process is specific to each different system board

NOTE
EPROMs are Different EPROMs manufacturer. However, most BIOSs manufactured after 1995 can
(Erasable Programmable Read Only usually be upgraded by performing a “flash” upgrade, because the
Memory) are erased via exposure to BIOS code is stored in an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable
ultraviolet light. They also require a
Programmable Read Only Memory) . This is a simple process of
special device to allow them to be
replacing the BIOS program that is stored in flash memory. A flash
reprogrammed after they have been
BIOS upgrade is basically a software upgrade and does not require
erased.
that the network server chassis be opened.
The flash upgrade process is dangerous in that the old BIOS code in
the EEPROM is first erased before the new BIOS code is written to
the EEPROM. A disruption or loss of electrical power to the net-
work server during the flash upgrade process could leave the code in
the EEPROM in an incomplete and invalid state. Without valid
code in the BIOS, the network server cannot boot.
As with all upgrades, be sure to follow the upgrade checklist.
Although the process of upgrading a BIOS is vendor specific, Step
by Step 4.4 lists the procedure you must generally follow.
STEP BY STEP
4.4 Performing a Flash BIOS Upgrade
1. Obtain the latest BIOS program from the vendor (gener-
ally from the vendor’s web site).
2. Follow the vendor’s instructions as you load the BIOS
upgrade program onto a floppy disk drive.
3. Shut down and boot the server from the floppy disk con-
taining the BIOS upgrade program and the latest BIOS.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions as you perform the BIOS
upgrade.
5. Never interrupt the flash BIOS upgrade process, because
it could result in a network server that cannot be booted.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 265
BIOSs that cannot be upgraded via a flash upgrade mechanism

generally require the purchase of a new BIOS chip that must physi- Flash BIOS Upgrade Understand
TIP
cally replace the old BIOS chip. A BIOS upgrade that requires the process of performing a flash
BIOS upgrade.
replacement of the BIOS chip is a hardware upgrade and ESD best
EXAM
practices must be followed (because you must open the network
server chassis to perform this upgrade). You must obtain the new
BIOS chip from the system board manufacturer.
Upgrades to the BIOSs or firmware on certain adapters (SCSI
adapter, RAID controller, FC-AL HBA) follow a very similar proce-
dure to upgrades to the system BIOS.
UPGRADING ADAPTERS
. 3.6 Upgrade adapters (e.g., NICs, SCSI cards, RAID, etc.)
Adapter upgrades also fall into several categories: upgrading compo-
nents on the adapter, such a memory; upgrading the BIOS or
firmware on the adapter; and replacing the adapter with a newer,
faster, or more powerful adapter.
Upgrading Adapter Memory

Often network server adapters have onboard memory that you can
upgrade. Follow the adapter manufacturer’s instructions to perform
the memory upgrade. The following adapters use onboard memory:
á Video adapter. A video adapter uses memory to store the
image that is displayed on the monitor. The more memory on
the video adapter, the higher the resolution and/or the more
colors that can be supported on the video monitor.
á SCSI adapter. A SCSI adapter uses onboard memory as a
buffer or cache between the SCSI disk drives and the network
server’s memory. All read and write operations actually occur
to the buffer rather than the disk drive. The larger the onboard
memory buffer, the faster information can be supplied to the
network server.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 266
á RAID controller. A RAID controller uses onboard memory in

much the same way that a SCSI adapter uses memory, as a
buffer. One big difference is that the onboard memory on a
RAID controller is often “backed up” by an onboard battery.
This prevents the loss of data that is in the buffer if the net-
work server loses power unexpectedly.
Upgrading Adapter BIOS or Firmware

Upgrading the BIOS or firmware on an adapter is very similar to
upgrading the system BIOS. The steps, as you might expect, are ven-
dor specific, but in general they are as follows:
1. Locate the latest BIOS or firmware on the adapter vendor’s
web site.
2. Download the BIOS or firmware upgrade and follow the ven-
dor’s instructions to install the upgrade.
Replacing an Adapter
You generally replace adapters after they fail. The replacement proce-
dure generally follows several simple steps:
1. Power down the network server.
2. Remove the defective adapter.
3. Install the new adapter.
4. Power up the network server.
Obviously this process requires that the network server be taken out
of operation. This results in downtime and lost productivity.
However, a recent technology known as PCI hot plug (or PCI hot
swap) enables you to replace, upgrade, or add an adapter without
powering down the network server.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 267
PCI hot plug has three capabilities:

á Hot replacement. Removing a failed PCI adapter and insert-
ing an identical adapter into the same slot while the network
server is operational
á Hot upgrade. Replacing an existing adapter with an upgraded
adapter while the network server is running
á Hot expansion. Installing a new adapter into a previously
empty slot while the network server is running
For PCI hot plug to work, the network server hardware, the adapter
drivers, and the network server operating system must be PCI hot
plug aware. The network server hardware allows power to be
removed from individual PCI slots and allows adapters to be
removed and inserted without the use of a screwdriver. On a PCI
bus that supports hot plug, a slot release lever replaces the use of a
screw to secure the adapter in the PCI slot.
STEP BY STEP
4.5 Using PCI Hot Plug to Add an Adapter
1. Open the network server chassis.
2. Open the slot release lever on an available PCI slot. This
removes power from the select PCI slot.
3. Install the adapter into the selected PCI slot.
4. Attach any necessary cables to the adapter.
5. Close the slot release lever to secure the adapter in the
PCI slot.
6. Press the PCI hot plug button. This reapplies power to
the PCI slot.
7. The network server operating system locates and loads the
appropriate device drivers for the adapter or prompts the
installer for the location of the appropriate device drivers.
8. Close the server chassis.
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UPGRADING PERIPHERAL DEVICES

. 3.7 Upgrade peripheral devices, internal and external
• Verify appropriate system resources (e.g., expansion
slots, IRQ, DMA, etc.)
A peripheral device is any device that is not part of the core computer
system (processor, memory, and the data bus). Peripheral devices can
be either internal to the server chassis or external to the network
server chassis.
Internal peripherals include such components as disk drives,
Balance the Load When adding CD-ROM drives, floppy disk drives, and network interface cards.
TIP
additional adapters (NICs, SCSI Upgrading disk drives (EIDE and SCSI) is covered in the “Add Hard
controllers, RAID controllers, and so Drives” section in this chapter. Replacing, upgrading, or adding inter-
EXAM
on) to network servers that have

nal peripherals such as a CD-ROM drive, a DVD-ROM drive, a ZIP
multiple peer (not bridged) buses,
drive, a tape drive, or a NIC requires you to shut down the network
consider the data load expected to
be supported by the new adapter.
server. To install the drives, follow the manufacturer’s installation
By doing so you can decide which instructions. To install the NIC, follow the manufacturer’s installation
bus is the best candidate for instal- instructions after you have identified an empty PCI slot into which
lation of the new adapter. you want to install the NIC. Be sure to download the latest drivers
for the NIC from the NIC vendor’s web site. Remember that some
network servers will have peer PCI buses and the “data load” should
be balanced among the buses. This requires some knowledge of
which PCI slots are on which PCI bus, as well as the data load
placed on the PCI bus by the adapters currently on each PCI bus.
If the adapters are not Plug and Play, you may have to configure
the adapters with an interrupt (IRQ), a direct memory access
(DMA) channel, and input/output (I/O) address. The IRQ, DMA,
and I/O address cannot conflict with any adapter already installed
in the network server. As with all upgrades, be sure to follow the
upgrade checklist.
External peripherals are devices external to the network server chassis
(such as printers, modems, monitors, keyboards, and mice). External
SCSI disk drives are discussed in “Adding SCSI Hard Disk Drives”
in this chapter. External devices might be hot plug and Plug and
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 269
Play compatible (printers and monitors, for example). Other exter-

nal devices might require that the network server be shut down
before they can be upgraded. Follow the manufacturer’s installation
instructions for external peripherals. As with all upgrades, be sure to
follow the upgrade checklist.
UPGRADING SYSTEM MONITORING

AGENTS
. 3.8 Upgrade system monitoring agents
System monitoring agents are software specific to the network server
itself (and supplied by the network vendor). These agents are
generally installed, at the installer’s option, when using the vendor-
supplied operating system installation-assistance software (see
Chapter 3, “2.0—Configuration”). As the network server vendor
releases newer versions of the system monitoring agents, you must
upgrade the system monitoring agents. Because the system monitor-
ing agents are extremely vendor specific, you must follow the ven-
dor’s installation instructions to upgrade the system monitoring
agents. In some cases, the network monitoring agents can predict
the impending failure of network server components (such as the
processor, the memory, or the hard disk drives).
System monitoring agents monitor various aspects of the network
server (such as configuration, mass storage, network interface card,
system utilization, thermal conditions, and operating system status).
The agents usually use standard protocols such as HTTP, SNMP,
and DMI to report information to a management console. The
management console might be a standard web browser (for instance,
Netscape or Internet Explorer), a vendor-supplied management con-
sole (for example, Compaq’s Insight Manager), or a third-party net-
work management console (such as Hewlett-Packard’s OpenView).
As with all upgrades, follow the upgrade checklist.
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UPGRADING SERVICE TOOLS

. 3.9 Upgrade service tools (e.g., diagnostic tools, EISA configu-
ration, diagnostic partition, SSU, etc.)
Due to the rather unique nature of network servers compared to
standard desktop microcomputers, a wide variety of service tools are
sometimes necessary to configure, troubleshoot, and maintain them.
These service tools are software that is installed on the network
server during the installation and configuration processes (see
Chapters 2 and 3).
Network server vendors often release new versions of these tools
to fix bugs, add new features, or add support for new hardware
to the utilities.
Some service tools are part of the network operating system. Updates
to these service tools are available from the network server operating
system vendor.
These updated tools are generally available on either CD-ROMs
supplied by the network server vendor or from the vendor’s web site.
After you have access to the updated tools, follow the vendor’s instal-
lation instructions to install the updated tools on the network server.
As with any upgrade, follow the upgrade checklist.
Upgrading service tools is generally a software upgrade operation.
Regardless, you should follow the upgrade checklist.
Upgrading the utilities on the diagnostic partition, which is only avail-
able at network server boot time, does usually require you to shut
down the network server. This means that you need to schedule
downtime to upgrade the software utilities on the diagnostic partition.
Most service tools fall into the following general categories:
á Diagnostic tools. Several sets of utilities can be categorized as
diagnostic tools. Some diagnostic tools might be installed on
the diagnostic partition and specific to the network server.
Other diagnostic tools comprise part of the network server
operating system. There are also third-party diagnostic tools.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 271
á EISA Configuration. On network servers that have an EISA

bus, the EISA configuration utility enables you to configure
the components of the network server. EISA is not Plug and
Play and adapters installed into the network server must have
a “configuration file” loaded from a disk to allow configura-
tion of the adapter. The EISA configuration utility is used
while the network operating system is not loaded.
á Diagnostic partition. The utilities in the diagnostic partition
enable you to view and change the configuration of the hard-
ware components in the network server without the network
server operating system being loaded. This enables you to
troubleshoot nonfunctioning hardware components.
á Server support utilities. These utilities (for example, backup
software and antivirus software) play a vital role in support of
the network server
UPGRADING THE UNINTERRUPTIBLE

POWER SUPPLY
. 3.10 Upgrade UPS
Upgrading an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) could mean
replacing the UPS battery (which can be a hot swap operation) or
putting a UPS with a larger VA rating in place of a smaller UPS.
A UPS upgrade might be required for any of the following reasons:
á The current UPS does not provide power for a time period
that is long enough to allow the network server to shut down
gracefully.
á The network server’s power requirements have increased because
of the addition of power-consuming hardware to the network
server (for instance, additional internal hard disk drives).
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 272
á The amount of equipment (such as external hard disk drives)

that must be supported by the UPS during a power failure has
increased, thus increasing the load on the UPS.
To replace a UPS with one with a higher VA rating, you must

shut down the network server. This shutdown obviously means
that you must schedule downtime. As with any upgrade, follow
the upgrade checklist.
Before installing the new UPS, plug it into a power source to charge
its batteries. The initial charge time is usually 12 hours or more.
Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for unpacking the UPS and
preparing it for use.
Also check power requirements of the new UPS. Is the old power
source adequate? Is it the correct amperage? Does the new UPS use
the same type of power plug that the old UPS used? Does the new
UPS use the same type of monitoring cable as the old UPS (serial
port, USB port)? Does the new UPS need updated or different UPS
monitoring software installed on the network server? Will the new
UPS physically fit into the space currently occupied by the old UPS?
STEP BY STEP
4.6 Replacing an Uninterruptible Power Supply
1. Shut down the network server.
2. Power off the network server and other devices that are
connected to the UPS.
3. Turn off the old UPS.
4. Disconnect all power cords from the old UPS.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 273
5. Disconnect the old UPS power cord from the power

source.
6. Disconnect the old UPS monitoring cable.
7. If the UPS is rack mounted, remove it from the rack.
8. Install the new (fully charged) UPS.
9. Plug the new UPS into the power source.
10. Plug the power cords of the devices to be supported by
the UPS into the UPS.
11. Connect the UPS monitoring cable.
12. Turn on the new UPS.
13. Power up the network server and other devices that are
plugged into the UPS.
14. Upgrade and reconfigure the UPS monitoring software on
the network server.
Although rechargeable, the batteries in a UPS do not last forever.

At some point, you will need to replace the UPS battery. To
replace the battery in a UPS, consult the UPS manufacturer’s
instructions. You can perform some UPS battery replacement
operations while the network server is running and the UPS is
supplying power to the network server. This would be considered
to be a battery hot swap. The battery replacement is just as likely to
require that the UPS be turned off during the battery replacement.
If the UPS has to be turned off, you must shut down the network
server for the UPS battery replacement procedure.
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CHAPTER SUMMARY
This chapter covered upgrades to various components of the net-
KEY TERMS
work server. You also learned about the upgrade checklist. The
• BIOS upgrade checklist is a list of procedures that should always be fol-
• Buffer lowed before, during, and after an upgrade to the network server.
• Cache This chapter started with a full description of the upgrade checklist.
You should consult the upgrade checklist and follow it as a regular
• Diagnostic partition part of any upgrade to a network server. Next, the importance of
• DIMM always performing a full, verified backup before starting any upgrade
was discussed.
• DMI
Discussion of upgrades to the network server hardware included
• EEPROM processors, hard disk drives, memory, adapters, peripherals, and
• EPROM uninterruptible power supplies. Upgrades to network server software
including the system BIOS, firmware, system monitoring agents,
• Firmware and service tools were also discussed in this chapter.
• Flash BIOS upgrade
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• HTTP
• PCI hot plug
• Plug and Play
• RIMM
• Service tools
• SIMM
• SNMP
• System monitoring agents
• Upgrade checklist
• UPS hot swap
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Exercises Estimated Time: 10 minutes.
1. Using a web browser access the Kingston
4.1 Identifying an Intel Processor Memory web site at www.kingston.com.
In this exercise, you download the bootable floppy 2. Access the memory information for a Compaq
DOS version of the Intel Identification Program and Proliant 5000 6/200.
use it to identify the processor in your computer system.
3. Answer these questions about the memory con-
Estimated Time: 15 minutes. figuration of a Compaq Proliant 5000 6/200 as
1. Download the DOS version of the Intel provided by the Kingston Memory web site:
Processor Identification Program from A. What is the standard memory configuration?
http://support.intel.com/
B. What is the maximum memory configuration?
support/processors/tools/frequencyid/
bootable.htm. C. How many memory modules must be added
simultaneously to this network server? (Hint:
2. Follow Intel’s instructions to create a bootable
Click the More Info link.)
floppy disk with the Processor Identification
Program installed. D. What memory modules are used in this net-
work server?
3. Shut down your computer.
E. How many memory sockets (slots) are in the
4. Insert the floppy disk into the floppy disk drive.
server?
5. The computer will boot and automatically run
F. What is the processor found in this server?
the Intel Processor Identification Program.
G. What is the bus architecture of this server?
6. Record the information that displays onscreen.
H. What memory kits are available for this
7. Use the Intel Processor ID links listed above to
server?
find information about the processor in your
computer. 4. Now try that again for a different network
server. While still at the Kingston Memory web
site, access the memory information for a
4.2 Identifying Network Server Memory
Hewlett-Packard NetServer LPr 750/800/850.
The objective of this exercise is to use a memory ven-
5. Answer the questions posed in step 2, but this
dor’s web site to identify memory in specific network
time about the memory configuration of a
servers. This will familiarize you with the process of
Hewlett-Packard NetServer LPr 750/800/850 as
using a memory vendor’s web site as well as the infor-
provided by the Kingston Memory web site.
mation about memory that can be obtained from a
memory vendor’s web site.
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 276
Review Questions Exam Questions
1. What is the purpose of verifying a backup? 1. Where is the best place to locate the latest
updates to the network server operating system?
2. What are system monitoring agents?
A. The network server vendor’s web site.
3. Where is the best place to get the latest drivers
for network server hardware components? B. The network server vendor’s support
CD-ROM.
4. What is the upgrade checklist?
C. The network server operating system vendor’s
5. What types of memory modules are most likely
web site.
to be found in a network server?
D. The network server operating system vendor’s
6. What is a FAQ?
installation CD-ROM.
7. How do you determine whether the current
2. Where is the best place to locate the latest drivers
processor in a network server can be replaced
for a third-party NIC installed in a network
with a faster processor?
server?
8. What are the requirements to add an additional
A. The network server vendor’s web site.
processor to your current network server?
B. The CD-ROM that came with the NIC.
9. How do you identify the processor currently in
your network server? C. The network server operating system vendor’s
web site.
10. Why must the network server operating system
be upgraded after adding an additional processor D. The NIC vendor’s web site.
to a network server that initially had a single net-
3. What is the very first step of any upgrade to a
work server?
network server?
11. What are the requirements to add a SCSI disk
A. Shut down the server operating system.
drive to an existing SCSI chain?
B. Back up the entire contents of the network
12. How do you add disks to a RAID 5 array?
server.
13. How do you determine the maximum amount of
C. Power down the network server.
memory that can be installed in a given network
server? D. Remove the cover of the network server.
14. Under what circumstances would you want to
upgrade the BIOS on a network server?
15. What is PCI hot plug?
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 277
4. After installing a second processor in a network i. Level 2 cache
server, the network server boots up just fine and
ii. Processor clock speed
the second processor is detected by the system
BIOS. However, the network server operating iii. Date of manufacture
system does not recognize the fact that there is iv. S-spec number
now a second processor in the network server.
How do you correct the situation? A. i and ii
A. Double the amount of memory in the B. iii and iv

network server. C. i and iii
B. Configure the system BIOS to report both D. ii and iv
processors to the network operating system.
7. Which memory technology requires that a conti-
C. Upgrade the network operating system to nuity module be inserted into all empty memory
recognize the additional processor. module slots in a network server?
D. Upgrade the processor software drivers to the A. SIMMs
latest version.
B. SIPPs
5. What environment variable in Microsoft
Windows NT and Microsoft Windows 2000 is C. RIMMs
set to the number of processors in the network D. DIMMs
server?
8. A network server has a single EIDE disk drive
A. Number_of_processors configured as a master. You want to add a second
B. NoProcs EIDE disk drive to the same channel. How must
it be configured for both disk drives to work
C. NumbProc correctly?
D. Processors A. Master
6. Which of the following must be the same on the B. Slave
existing processor and the processor that is to be
added to a multiprocessor-capable network C. CSEL
server? D. Secondary
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9. How do you upgrade an EIDE disk subsystem to A. Install the NIC into PCI bus number one.
a SCSI subsystem?
B. Install the NIC into PCI bus number two.
A. Remove all EIDE disk drives, cables, and
C. You cannot install a NIC and RAID con-
controllers. Add the SCSI controller, cables,
troller in the same network server.
and disk drives.
D. The NIC has its own special slot because this
B. Remove the EIDE controller and replace it
is a network server.
with a SCSI controller, using existing cables
and disk drives. 12. What problem are you most likely to encounter
when adding external SCSI disk drives to a SCSI
C. Remove the EIDE controller, add the SCSI
bus?
controller, and change the drive electronics
from EIDE to SCSI. A. No available SCSI IDs
D. Remove the EIDE disk drives, install the B. Exceeding the SCSI channel cable length
SCSI disk drives, and attach the SCSI disk C. Slow performance
drives to the EIDE controller.
D. Heat
10. Which of the following adapters usually contain
onboard memory that can be upgraded? 13. What are the proper combinations for installing
memory modules into memory slots?
i. Video adapter
i. Gold leads on memory modules, gold
ii. Sound card contacts in memory slots
iii. RAID controller ii. Tin leads on memory modules, tin
iv. SCSI controller contacts in memory slots
A. ii and iii iii. Gold leads on memory modules, tin
contacts in memory slots
B. i, ii, and iii
iv. Tin leads on memory modules, gold
C. i, iii, and iv
contacts in memory slots
D. ii only
A. iii and iv
11. Your network server has dual-peer PCI buses. The
B. iii only
RAID controller is installed in PCI bus number
one. You need to install a 100Mbps NIC into the C. iv only
network server. Where do you install the NIC? D. i and ii
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 279
14. Which of the following limits the amount of 2. System monitoring agents monitor critical com-
memory that can be utilized in a network server? ponents in the network server and report their
status to a monitoring console. For more infor-
A. The control chipset on the network server
mation, see the section “Upgrading System
motherboard
Monitoring Agents.”
B. The speed of the processor(s) in the network
3. The best place to find the latest drivers for net-
server
work server hardware components is the hard-
C. The speed of the PCI bus ware component vendor’s web site. For more
D. The width of the data bus information, see the section “Locating the Latest
Software.”
15. What is the process of replacing a SCSI disk
drive with an SCA connector? 4. The upgrade checklist is a list of procedures that
should be followed before, during, and after an
A. Remove the old SCSI disk drive and insert upgrade to a network server. For more informa-
the new SCSI disk drive. tion, see the section “The Upgrade Checklist.”
B. Remove the old SCSI disk drive and note its 5. Most network servers will have SIMM, DIMM,
SCSI ID. Set the SCSI ID on the new SCSI or RIMM memory modules installed. For more
disk drive to the same SCSI ID and insert the information, see the section “Checking Existing
new SCSI disk drive. Memory.”
C. Remove the old SCSI disk drive and note its 6. FAQs are Frequently Asked Questions. A FAQ is
SCSI ID. Set the SCSI ID on the new SCSI a compilation of questions that are often asked in
disk drive to be different from the SCSI ID of newsgroups or are often asked of technical sup-
the old disk drive. Insert the new SCSI disk port personnel. For more information, see the
drive. section “Reviewing Instructions and FAQs.”
D. Remove the old SCSI disk drive. Set the new 7. To determine whether the processor in a network
SCSI disk drive to CSEL. Insert the new server can be upgraded to a faster processor,
SCSI disk drive. check the network server system board vendor’s
web site. For more information, see the section
“Replacing a Single Processor with a Faster
Processor.”
Answers to Review Questions
1. The processing of verifying a backup ensures that
the information stored on the tape matches
exactly the information stored on the disk drives.
“Performing a Full Backup.”
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 280
8. The requirements to add an additional processor 12. Back up the entire system. Add the disk drives as
to a network server are as follows: you would add disk drives to a SCSI chain. Use
the RAID configuration utility for the network
The network server system board must be multi-
server to delete the old RAID configuration and
processor capable.
create a new RAID configuration using the old
The additional processor must be the same disk drives and the additional disk drives. Restore
model, have the same clock speed, the same size the entire system from the backup. For more
Level 2 cache, and be within one stepping of the information, see the section “New Drives in an
existing processor. For more information, see the Existing Array.”
section “Installing Additional Processors.”
13. To determine how much memory can be
9. To identify the processor currently in a network installed in a given network server, consult the
server, use the Intel Processor Identification network server documentation, the network
Utility. For more information, see the section server vendor’s web site, or a memory vendor’s
“Installing Additional Processors.” web site. For more information, see the section
10. If there was only one processor in the network “Adding Memory.”
server when the network operating system was 14. There are many reasons to upgrade a system
installed, the operating system installed support BIOS in a network server, such as adding support
for a single processor. The network operating sys- for new hardware including processors, large hard
tem will not automatically detect the additional disk drives, and new bootable devices. Known
processor once it is rebooted. The operating sys- BIOS bugs are also corrected by BIOS upgrades.
tem must be upgraded to recognize the additional For more information, see the section
processor. For more information, see the section “Upgrading BIOS/Firmware.”
“Upgrading the Operating System for Multiple
15. PCI hot plug technology enables you to replace,
Processors.”
upgrade, or add an adapter without powering
11. The additional SCSI disk drive should use the down the network server. For more information,
same signaling system as the existing SCSI disk see the section “Replacing an Adapter.”
drives. The additional SCSI disk drive should be
of the same type as the existing disk drives. There
must be an available connector on the SCSI cable
for the additional SCSI disk drive. The new disk Answers to Exam Questions
drive must have a SCSI ID that differs from the 1. C. The best place to get the latest updates to the
existing disk drives on the SCSI chain. For more network server’s operating system is the network
information, see the section “Adding SCSI Hard server operating system vendor’s web site. For
Disk Drives.” more information, see the section “Locating the
Latest Software.”
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 281
2. D. The best place to get the latest drivers for a 9. A. To “upgrade” from an EIDE disk subsystem to
third-party NIC is the NIC vendor’s web site. For a SCSI subsystem, you must remove all the EIDE
more information, see the section “Upgrading disk drives, cables, and controllers, and replace
Peripheral Devices, Internal and External.” them with SCSI disk drives, cables, and con-
trollers. It isn’t really an upgrade, it is a complete
3. B. The very first step of any upgrade to a net-
replacement. For more information, see the sec-
work server is to fully back up the entire server.
tion “Upgrading IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 Disk
Drives to SCSI Disk Drives.”
“Performing a Full Backup.”
10. C. Video adapters, SCSI controllers, and RAID
4. C. The network operating system must be
controllers usually have onboard memory that
upgraded or reconfigured for it to recognize the
can be upgraded. For more information, see the
additional processor. For more information, see
section “Upgrading Adapter Memory.”
the section “Upgrading the Operating System for
Multiple Processors.” 11. B. The NIC should be installed on PCI bus
number 2. This will balance the load because the
5. A. The environment variable in Microsoft
RAID controller is on PCI bus number 1. For
Windows NT and Microsoft Windows 2000 that
more information, see the section “Upgrading
is set to the number of processors in the network
Peripheral Devices, Internal and External.”
server is Number_of_processors. For more infor-
mation, see the section “Microsoft Windows NT 12. B. A common problem encountered when
Server 4” or “Microsoft Windows 2000 Server.” adding external SCSI devices to a SCSI bus is
exceeding the maximum cable length for the
6. A. The processor cache size and the processor
SCSI channel. For more information, see the
clock speed must be the same on the two proces-
section “Adding SCSI Hard Disk Drives.”
sors in a network server. For more information,
see the section “Installing Additional Processors” 13. D. Don’t mix metals. Gold to gold. Tin to tin.
For more information, see the section “Checking
7. C. RIMMs require that continuity modules be
Memory Upgrade Compatibility.”
inserted into all unfilled memory slots in a net-
work server. For more information, see the sec- 14. A. The control chipset on the network server
tion “Installing Additional Memory.” motherboard can limit the amount of memory
that can be utilized in the network server. For
8. B. The second EIDE disk drive on the channel
more information, see the section “Adding
must be configured as a slave because the first
Memory.”
disk drive is configured as a master. For more
information, see the section “Upgrading 15. A. The SCA connector sets the SCSI ID. Just
EIDE/ATA-2 Hard Disk Drives.” remove the old SCSI disk drive and install the
new SCSI disk drive. For more information, see
the section “Replacing SCSI Hard Disk Drives.”
09 Serv+ Ch_04 7/10/01 9:51 AM Page 282
1. Mueller, Scott. Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 4. General computer hardware sites
12th Edition. Que Publishing, 2000. The PC Guide
www.pcguide.com
2. The Ultimate Memory Guide
Tom’s Hardware Guide
www.kingston.com/tools/umg/umg2000.pdf
www.tomshardware.com
3. Memory manufacturer’s web sites Whatis.com
www.kingston.com www.whatis.com
www.crucial.com Webopedia.com
www.micron.com www.webopedia.com
Free Online Dictionary of Computing
http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/
index.html
10 Serv+ Ch_05 7/11/01 10:03 AM Page 283
OBJECTIVES

objectives for the Proactive Maintenance section of the
Server+ exam:
4.1 Perform regular backup
. Every system administrator must know how to do
backups on every server in the network. The cost of
lost data to a company can be crippling and often
the only salvation in the event of a disaster is the
faithful backup tape.
4.2 Create baseline and compare performance

. When changes are made to a system they can affect
performance in ways that are both favorable and
adverse. The only way to truly gauge the effect of
any change is to know how the system is perform-
ing before the change and compare it with how the
system is performing afterward. This is known as
creating a baseline.
4.3 Set SNMP thresholds

. SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol)
enables you to monitor your TCP/IP-based net-
work and be alerted when events occur. Those
events happen when a threshold you define is
reached and can encompass and include any
monitorable item. For example, you can be notified
when too much data must be re-sent (alerting you
to consider adding switches in place of hubs on
your network).
4.4 Perform physical housekeeping

. As much fun as it is to tweak the variables and set-
C H A P T E R 5
tings of a system, the mundane must never be over-
looked, for it can affect performance as well. The
mundane referred to is the true physical environ-
ment of the server, and an administrator should
carefully examine the ambient environment for 4.0—Proactive
potential problems that can be avoided.
Maintenance
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OBJECTIVES OUTLINE
4.5 Perform hardware verification Introduction 286

. It is all too often the case that you think the old
machine in the corner is just what you need to add
to the network to meet minimum system require- Understanding Backups 286
ments when a new service must be added to the
Defining “Regular” 287
network, but is it really what you think it is? How
can you be certain that the processor you vaguely Different Types of Backups 288
remember being a 233 isn’t really a 133? Mixing and Matching Backup Types 290
Backup Media 291
4.6 Establish remote notification Multiple Tape Sets 292
Backup Common Sense 293
. Remote notification enables the administrator to
leave the server room for a while and work else- Operating System Notes 294
where. Closely tied to SNMP, it is important to Backups Within Windows NT 294
understand the theory behind remote notification Backups Within Windows 2000 295
for the Server+ exam. Backups with Linux 296
Working with Baselines 297
Working with SNMP 300

SNMP Agents and Management 301
The SNMP Management System 301
The SNMP Agent 302
Management Information Base 303
MIB Structure 303
SNMP Communities 304
Security 304
SNMP Security Parameters 305
SNMP Agent 305
What SNMP Is Really Doing 306
The Physical Environment 307
Verifying Hardware 308

Checking Values Outside the Operating
System 311
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Establishing Remote Notification 313 To prepare for the Proactive Maintenance objectives
of the Server+ exam, do the following:
. Read the objectives at the beginning of
Chapter Summary 315
this chapter.
Apply Your Knowledge 316 . Review the objectives again.
end of the chapter and check your results
. Use the ExamGear test engine on the CD-ROM
that accompanies this book for additional Exam
. Review the Exam Tips available in various
places in this chapter. Make certain that you
understand the information in the Exams Tip. If
you don’t fully understand the tip, review the
. Recognize the importance of doing backups on
a regular basis.
. Understand the different types of backups,
including
• Full
• Incremental
• Differential
. Create a baseline of performance on a system
and note how it changes over time and with
modifications to the system.
. Utilize SNMP (Simple Network Management
Protocol) to monitor TCP/IP performance on
your network.
. Be cognizant of physical issues regarding your
network and server(s). Pay attention to ambient
issues that can negatively affect performance,
such as air temperature.
. Understand how to verify the hardware installed
within a system.
. Realize the possibilities that exist for remotely
notifying an administrator when problems occur.
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INTRODUCTION
Proactive maintenance is one of the most overlooked aspects of any
network. Too often an administrator must turn his attention to
putting out brush fires—at the cost of ignoring issues that give the
appearance of being less pressing.
When users complain that they cannot access their files, or a manager
needs to have a new printer added to the network immediately, you
must respond. These actions, which solve an immediate problem, are
reactive in nature. Often they are isolated incidents or issues that can
be resolved expeditiously.
Proactive maintenance can be summed up as everything you do to a
network, not in response to a brush fire, to ensure the system will con-
tinue to perform in the future. This is the most important concept
within this job domain. If you understand this, it will help you under-
stand the objectives within the domain, and it will help you
immensely in your job. It also will help you in answering the practice
questions that appear at the end of this chapter and the questions on
the actual exam.
UNDERSTANDING BACKUPS
. 4.1 Perform regular backup
An old joke has it that everyone always had plans to do a full backup
the very day a system crashed; it just crashed a bit too early. As sad a
fact as it may be, every system has the potential to crash; therefore,
you should perform backups regularly on all your systems.
One could argue that the importance of backups has diminished
over the years as other technologies such as RAID have been added
to the server. RAID is a wonderful technology that allows the server
to continue operating even in the event of a hard drive failure.
What RAID cannot do, however, is enable you to bring up another
system to continue operations after a tornado completely destroys
the server. Likewise, RAID is of little use when lightning strikes
outside your office building, traverses the ground, and fries all the
hard drives within the system. Page after page could be filled with
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Chapter 5 4.0—PROACTIVE MAINTENANCE 287
examples of similar incidents, but the point should be abundantly
NOTE
clear by now: Backups provide an insurance that goes beyond most What Else RAID Doesn’t Do A
other technologies. worthwhile point to consider: RAID
doesn’t help when a user accidentally
Before going any further, it is important to understand what a deletes a crucial file. It isn’t just
backup is truly intended for. Assume the hard drives on a server system crashes that make backups
crash. You can always bring the machine up again by replacing the so worthwhile.
hard drives and reinstalling the operating system and related service
packs. You also can modify the configuration files and have the
machine back up on the network within a relatively short time.
What you cannot do so easily, however, is recreate the data that was
stored on the server.
Although a backup is often thought of as being a representation of
all the files on the system—including operating system and configu-
ration files—its real purpose should be to save the unique data that
your associates have created. If a network driver file gets lost, you
can grab an exact copy from another system, web site, and so on. If
the file was a bid to do business with your largest customer, however,
you cannot copy that back from anywhere else other than a backup
copy. It is this data that has real (monetary) value and that you
should be most concerned about backing up to be able to recover it
should it get lost or corrupted.
Defining “Regular”
The objective states that you should know how to perform backups
on a regular basis. “Regular” is a relative word, based on the impor-
tance/value of the data the backup holds. If you do backups only
once a week, you are accepting the possibility of losing up to one
week’s worth of data—a cost that most businesses cannot afford.
If you do backups once a night, the maximum data loss that can
occur is equal to one day’s work. Many businesses are comfortable at
this level, and it can be considered the norm. For some businesses,
however, nightly backups represent too high a cost. Instead, such
businesses measure the span between backups in hours. You should
always consider the value of the data being created and the type of
business the enterprise you are working with is in when computing a
backup frequency and defining “regular.”
10 Serv+ Ch_05 7/10/01 9:53 AM Page 288
Different Types of Backups

Not all backups are created equal. Almost every operating system
marketed today includes utilities and tools that enable you to back
up your data. Many of these tools differ somewhat in the names
they call their different backup types, but they tend to fall within
the following categories:
á Full
á Incremental
á Differential
Crucial to understanding how each of these types of backups works

is the knowledge that in many operating systems there is a file
descriptor known as the archive bit. This is just a flag that has two
states: on and off. Figure 5.1 shows a command-line window with
three files listed: FROZEN1.JPG, FROZEN2.JPG, and FROZEN_
TREE.JPG. The archive bit for the first two files is off: whereas for
the latter it is on, as indicated by the “A” appearing as an attribute in
the leftmost column.
You can ascertain the value of this attribute in many different ways,
including graphically. Figure 5.2 shows the same file and the attribute
for it within the graphical interface used by Windows 2000 Server.
A full backup backs up every file on the system—regardless of the
initial value of the archive bit—and turns the archive bit off when it
completes. Full backups are always the best type of backup to per-
form, because they get every file. They also are the most time con-
suming of any type, however, and can bring a network to its knees
rather easily.
FIGURE 5.1
Only the last file of these three has the
archive bit on.
10 Serv+ Ch_05 7/10/01 9:53 AM Page 289
FIGURE 5.2
You can ascertain the value of the archive bit
through the graphical interface.
An incremental backup backs up every file on the system that has its
archive bit on, and then turns off that bit when it completes. By
sheer virtue of backing up only those files that have this bit on, an
incremental backup is getting only a subset of all the files on the
system and can finish more quickly than a full backup.
A differential backup backs up every file on the system that has its
NOTE
archive bit on, and does not change the value of the bit. In other Other Forms of Backup Many backup
words, if the bit was on when the backup started (which it would utilities include different choices as
need to be to be included in the backup), it will continue to be on well, which are modified versions of
these three. A daily backup, for
when the backup completes. Again, by backing up only those files
example, is a backup of all the files
that have the bit turned on, a differential backup is getting only a
created or changed during a one-day
subset of all the files on the system and is thus able to complete
period. A copy backup is just a copy of
operation in a shorter time than a full backup. a file to media. (Think of copying one
Table 5.1 summarizes the differences among these three backup types. file to a floppy.) A partial backup is just
a copy of all the files within specified
directories. For this exam, you should
TABLE 5.1 concentrate only on the three major
backup types.
BACKUP TYPES
Type Includes Only Turns Archive Typical Running
Files with Bit Off upon Time (1=Longest)
Archive Bit On Completion
Full No Yes 1
Incremental Yes Yes 2
Differential Yes No 3
10 Serv+ Ch_05 7/10/01 9:53 AM Page 290
Mixing and Matching Backup Types

It can never be argued that full backups are anything but the best
type to run, due to their all-inclusive nature. If you have the liberty
to do so, you should run a full backup every night. What can be
argued, however, is whether your network can withstand the load
created by running full backups regularly. If it takes 10 hours to run
a full backup, the odds of your users not complaining on a regular
basis that it is still slowing the system down when they arrive in the
morning is pretty slim.
To offset this, full backups are often mixed with one of the two
other types. For example, an administrator can choose to run a
full backup every Saturday night, and an incremental backup every
other night of the week. Saturday night, all files will be backed up,
and the archive bits on them turned off. Sunday night, only the
files changed/created during the day (Sunday) will be backed up.
Monday night, only the files changed/created during the day
(Monday) will be backed up, and so forth. This strategy provides
for one very long backup, and six very short backups throughout
the week. Because the incremental backup is getting only the files
that changed each day, the amount of time each incremental takes
to run is roughly the same every night.
Another strategy is to run a full backup every Saturday night, and a
Don’t Mix Incremental and differential backup every other night of the week. Saturday night, all
TIP
Differential Backups Full backups files are backed up, and the archive bits on them turned off. Sunday
can be mixed with either incremental night, only the files changed/created during the day Sunday are
EXAM
or differential backups but not with

backed up. Monday night, the files changed/created Sunday and
incremental and differential backups.
Monday are backed up. Tuesday night the files changed/created
Because an incremental backup
turns off the archive bit, it would
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday are backed up, and so forth. This
make the next differential backup strategy provides for one very long backup and six backups through-
not get all the files it should, and out the week, starting out short and getting longer each night.
create a nightmare to recover. Because the number of files included in the differential backup
increases each night, the amount of time each differential takes to
run will increase every night.
On the surface, this can make it look as if the full/incremental com-
bination is the best strategy. To be fair, however, you also must con-
sider restoration scenarios for when the server crashes. If the server
crashes on Friday morning, and you have done full backups every
night, you just grab the full backup from Thursday night and copy
all the files over. One operation and you’re back in business again.
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If you are using a full/differential combination, you grab the full

backup from Saturday and the differential backup from Thursday
night. You restore the two backups in order, and you are back in
business once more.
If you are using a full/incremental combination, it takes a while
longer. First you must restore the full backup from Saturday night.
Then you must restore the incremental backup from Sunday night.
When it finishes running, you must restore the incremental backup
from Monday night, and then the one from Tuesday night. Follow
this with a restore for the incremental backup for Wednesday night,
and end by restoring the backup from Thursday night.
Table 5.2 summarizes the number of tapes/restores that must be
done to bring the system back up.
TABLE 5.2
RESTORING FROM A F R I D AY C R A S H
Type of Backup Number of Tapes Typical Restoration
Needed Time (1=Longest)
Full only 1 3
Incremental 6 1
Differential 2 2
Backup Media
By definition, a backup is intended to enable you to recover your
data in the event of hard drive failure(s). By implication, the location
of the backup must be other than the drives that could fail. Creating
a backup of the data on a disk to another partition on the same disk
is a waste of time and does not truly constitute a backup at all. Even
backup to a different fixed drive in the same server could turn out to
be useless in the event of a lightning strike or some other calamity
affecting the whole machine.
Until somewhat recently, backups were always synonymous with tape
media. Tapes are a removable media ideal for backups by virtue of
having the following characteristics:
á They have a large capacity. With compression, the amount of
data they can contain increases.
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á They are easily transported. The days of tapes being bulky and
unwieldy have passed; now they take up very little physical space.
á They are based on proven, reliable technology. Adhering to
standards, it is possible for data on a tape created on one
system to be restored on another, even though the second
machine has a different type of tape drive.
á They are reusable. A backup tape can be overwritten or
appended to many times before degradation becomes a factor.
á They are relatively inexpensive. This makes it possible to buy
several sets of tapes for rotation, thus providing an extra level
of insurance; if one set of tapes goes bad, you have another to
turn to.
á They can withstand a broad range of climate conditions.
TIP
You Can’t Go Wrong with Tapes Although tapes continue to be a common backup medium, it is not
Although all the other possibilities unusual to use other media as well. Some other possibilities include
CD-RW discs, DVD-RW, Zip disks, and removable hard drives.
EXAM
exist and offer some nice features,

you can’t go wrong with using tapes Regardless of the other type of medium used, it should offer as
as your backup medium. many of the features of tapes as possible.
Multiple Tape Sets

An administrator should always have multiple sets of backup media
that are rotated on a regular basis. To illustrate the importance of
this, assume that you are using a full/incremental backup combina-
tion and the system crashes on Friday morning. You gather your set
of tapes, put in the full backup, and go to restore it—only to find
that it is damaged. If you have only seven tapes in your entire pos-
session (one for the full backup, and six for the incremental backups
throughout the week), you are looking at the loss of a considerable
amount of data.
On the other hand, if you own 14 tapes (2 sets), you can turn to the
full backup from the preceding Saturday. You would then follow it
up with the 6 incremental backups for the previous week, and the 6
for this week. True, restoring 13 tapes is very time-consuming, but
at least you have the option of doing so and getting your data
back—an option you do not have with only 1 tape set.
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At a bare minimum, you should have three complete sets of tapes:

the one you are currently using, one from the preceding batch, and
one stored offsite. Never underestimate the importance of this latter
set; it becomes the only way to get your data back when the fire
comes, or the tornado, or whatever other catastrophe lurks around
the bend. You should store this set in a safe location that you can
access when necessary, completely away from the site (not just in a
different room, drawer, or so on).
Backup Common Sense

As with much of a system administrator’s responsibilities, common
sense can go a long way toward helping you craft a backup routine.
The following bullets fall into the common sense category and should
be considered by every administrator when evaluating such a policy:
á Make certain that you can live with the time gaps between
backups, as they represent amounts of data that you are willing
to lose.
á Regularly verify that the backups running are good and can be
restored if the need arises. Don’t just assume that you can
recover the data only to find that you have several bad tapes in
your set. Check the logs regularly and practice restoring files.
á Guard the backup media carefully. If you value the data
enough to back it up, don’t leave the tapes within the reach of
those who should not be able to access them. The tapes hold
files that can help your competition if they fall into the wrong
hands, and the files on the tapes should be protected, as well
as the files on the server.
á Consider adding additional layers of security to the tapes, such
as passwords to the data, write-protect tabs, and so on.
á Replace the media on a regular basis. If you are using tapes
over and over, they are going to wear; you should have a plan
in place to routinely rotate a set to the trash in place of a new
set of tapes.
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á Know what you are not backing up. Although it is important

to know what is there, you also must know what you will have
to manually restore in the event of a crash. Some entities that
may not be in the backup—or that may need to be rebuilt,
depending on the operating system—can include the kernel,
Registry, and so forth. Files that are always open (such as print-
ers) are notorious for needing to be recreated after a restore.
á Know the difference between a backup and an archive. A
backup is a copy of the data that you need to have on the
server for users to interact with; it represents current data—
data you would restore if the system crashed. An archive can
be to tape or removable media, as well, but represents old data
that is no longer needed on the server.
á Expect and prepare for the worst disaster that could happen.
When something lesser happens, you will always be ready.
Operating System Notes

The Server+ exam expects you to be familiar with a few operating
systems. The following sections discuss how to perform backups
within Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Linux.
Backups Within Windows NT

To perform a backup in Windows NT, follow the steps outlined in
Step by Step 5.1.
STEP BY STEP
5.1 Backing Up Windows NT 4.0 Server
1. Windows NT 4.0 can back up only to tape, so verify that
a tape device is connected. Click Start, Programs,
Administrative Tools, Backup. (You also can start it from
the command line with NTBACKUP.EXE.)
2. Click the Backup button on the toolbar, or choose
Operations, Backup.
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3. The Backup Information dialog box offers a set of

options, including information to log from the operation.
Make any desired choices (the defaults are typically suffi-
cient), and then click OK.
Windows NT also enables you to make a backup of the Registry

that will fit on a floppy disk (and only on a floppy disk) using a util-
ity named RDISK.EXE. This compresses the hives that constitute
the Registry to where they will fit on a floppy disk, and enables you
to recover only the Registry should it become corrupted. This disk is
referred to as the Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).
Backups Within Windows 2000

With the release of Windows 2000, the backup utility that existed
with Windows NT was greatly enhanced. It is now the tool used
(rather than RDISK) to back up the Registry. No longer confined
to only tapes as output media, it now offers a number of other
possibilities as well.
Figure 5.3 shows the possibilities available for backups within
Windows 2000.
To perform a backup in Windows 2000, follow the steps outlined in
Step by Step 5.2.
FIGURE 5.3
The backup utility from Windows NT has been
greatly enhanced with Windows 2000.
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STEP BY STEP
5.2 Backing Up Windows 2000 Server
1. Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Backup.
2. Choose the Backup tab and select the files/directories that
you want to back up.
3. Specify a backup media (destination) for the backup, and
then click Start Backup.
Backups with Linux

Linux includes two utilities that you can use to perform backups:
tar and cpio. The tar utility (tape archiver) combines multiple files
into a single file that can be copied to the media. The syntax for tar
is as follows:
tar {options} {target_file} {source_files}
Both the target file and source files can be paths (such as /dev/tape).
The options include
á c To create a new file
á d To compare contents and display the differences between
the target and source
á f To specify a file
á p To keep the permissions
á r To append to an existing file
á t To show the names of the files in the tar file
á u To add only files that are new
á v To run in Verbose mode
á x To extract files
á z To compresses files
Examples of common commands include

tar cvf /dev/tape {files}
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to create a new tar file on the tape and do so in verbose mode, and
tar xf feb.tar
to extract/restore the files from the FEB.TAR backup file.

The cpio utility is used to copy in/out. It can perform three basic
actions, one of which must be specified:
á -i To extract from an archive
á -o To make a new archive
á -p To print/pass (through the files)
You can use following options with the cpio utility:

á d To create directories, if necessary
á f To specify a file
á t To show the contents
á u To overwrite existing files
á v To run in Verbose mode
Examples of common commands include

cpio -iv < /dev/tape
to read in files from a tape and display them as it is operating

(Verbose mode), and
find / -name kad* | cpio -pdv /home/kad
to find all files on the system starting with “kad” and copy them
beneath the /home/kad directory, creating all the needed sub-
directories in the process.
WORKING WITH BASELINES

. 4.2 Create baselines and compare performance
A baseline is a snapshot in time of how a server is running. When you
create a baseline, you determine relevant factors (such as processor
utilization). Then you can compare all future actions against the
baseline to see trends that are happening. An established baseline
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enables you to compare system performance and note the deviations

whenever any changes are made to the system. In the absence of this
baseline, you can only guess at the results changes make.
To be accurate, you should never create a baseline just by opening a
logging tool, seeing what is happening, writing down the numbers,
and exiting. This can be an inaccurate baseline, because it shows too
small a moment in time; as soon as you exit, a user can start request-
ing large graphic files that bring the system to its knees while your
numbers showed next to no activity. To be accurate, you must create
the baseline by sampling activity at intervals and creating a snapshot
of normal behavior over time.
A system’s baseline should always be a collection of utilization data
on a wide range of resources. Choose all the resources that are rele-
vant now and expected to be in the future when choosing how to
create the baseline. If you fail to choose key objects in the baseline,
and then want to add them later, you lack the historical data against
which to compare the new results.
Every operating system has its own objects that can be monitored,
and tools for doing so, but you should always oversee the following:
á Memory
á Processor
á Disk
á Network
To monitor system performance in Windows 2000, you can use

the Performance tool and follow the steps outlined in Step by
NOTE
Performance Monitor in Windows NT

4.0 and Window 2000 For all Step 5.3.
practical purposes, Performance
Monitor in Windows 2000 is identical
to its counterpart in Windows NT 4.0.
STEP BY STEP
5.3 Monitor Performance in Windows 2000 Server
1. Click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Performance.
2. Choose System Monitor in the left frame, and then click
the + button in the toolbar to add a counter.
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3. Choose a performance object. This can be one of dozens

of entities, such as Cache, Memory, and so on. For illus-
trative purposes, choose Processor.
4. Choose a counter that would relate to the object. For
processor, a good choice is %Processor Time.
5. Click the Add button.
6. Click the Close button. You are now monitoring the
processor utilization. The display will resemble Figure 5.4.
If you have multiple processors, you can choose which
one (known as an instance) to monitor.
7. To create log files, click on Performance Logs and Alerts
in the left frame and choose to save data to files instead of
viewing in real-time.
After you have created the initial baseline, use the same settings and
capture data on a regular basis to compare against it. Place this
information in a database and analyze possible changes that can be
extrapolated from your findings. Has the system become slower? Has
it become more responsive? Are there fewer/more lost packets? With
a good set of data, you can analyze performance, isolate trends, and
plan proactively for problems that can be slowly creeping up.
FIGURE 5.4
The System Monitor tool in Performance
enables you to monitor system resources in
Windows 2000.
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Update Your Baselines When you WORKING WITH SNMP

TIP
make significant changes to the

system—such as adding faster . 4.3 Set SNMP thresholds
EXAM
hard drives or more RAM—you are SNMP is the Simple Network Management Protocol. Running at
making the old baseline no longer
port 161 by default, it is the only way to obtain true statistics of net-
reflective of the system. Whenever
work usage under TCP/IP. Installation and configuration of SNMP
you make significant changes, you
need to toss away the old baseline
was discussed in Chapter 2, “1.0—Installation”; the focus here will
and create a new one for the new supplement, rather than repeat, that information.
configuration. SNMP enables network administrators to remotely troubleshoot and
monitor hubs and routers. Much of SNMP is defined within RFCs
1157 and 1212, although many more RFCs discuss SNMP. SNMP
can be found, along with other RFCs, on various web sites,
including http://rs.internic.net. You also can perform a search
on SNMP or RFC and find more specific information related to a
specific part of SNMP—for example, on just Ethernet and SNMP.
Using SNMP, you can find out information about these remote
devices without having to physically be at the device itself. This can
be a very useful tool if understood and used properly. You can find a
wide variety of information about these devices, depending on the
device itself, of course. Some examples include the following:
á IP address of a router
á Number of open files
á Amount of hard drive space available
á Version number of a host (such as Windows NT)
Before you set up SNMP, you need the IP address or host names of
the systems that will either be the initiators or those that will respond
to the requests. Microsoft’s SNMP Service, for example, uses the reg-
ular Windows NT host name resolution, such as HOSTS, DNS,
WINS, and LMHOSTS. Therefore, if you are using one of these res-
olution methods, add the correct host name to IP address resolution
for the computers that you are setting up with SNMP.
The types of systems on which you can find data include the following:
á Mainframes
á Gateways and routers
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á Hubs and bridges

á Windows NT servers
á LAN Manager servers
á SNMP agents
SNMP uses a distributed architecture design to facilitate its proper-

ties. This means that various parts of SNMP are spread throughout
the network to complete the task of collecting and processing data Load Balance SNMP Because
TIP
to provide remote management. SNMP is a distributed system, you
can spread out the management of
An SNMP Service by Microsoft enables a machine running
EXAM
it in different locations so as not to
Windows NT to be able to transfer its current condition to a
overtax any one PC, and for multi-
computer running an SNMP management system. However, this is ple management functionality.
only the agent side, not the management tools. Various third-party
management utilities are available, including the following:
á IBM NetView
á Sun Net Manager
á Hewlett-Packard OpenView
SNMP Agents and Management

There are two main parts to SNMP: the management side and the
agent .
á The management station is the centralized location from which
you can manage SNMP.
á The agent station is the piece of equipment from which you
are trying to extract data.
The following sections discuss each part.
The SNMP Management System

The management system is the key component for obtaining infor-
mation from the client. You need at least one management system to
even be able to use the SNMP Service. The management system is
responsible for “asking the questions.” As mentioned earlier, it can
ask each device a certain number of questions, depending on the
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type of device. The management system is a computer running one

of the various software components mentioned earlier.
In addition, you can issue certain commands specifically at the
management system. These are generic commands not specific to
any type of management system directly:
á get. Requests a specific value. For example, it can query how
many active sessions are open.
á get–next. Requests the next object’s value. For example, you
can query a client’s Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) cache
and then ask for each subsequent value.
á set. Changes the value on an object that has the properties of
read-write. This command is not often used due to security, and
the fact that the majority of objects have a read-only attribute.
Usually, you have only one management system running the SNMP
Service per group of hosts. This group is known as a community.
Sometimes, however, you may want to have more. The following list
identifies reasons why you might want to have more:
á You may want to have multiple management systems make
different queries to the same agents.
á There might be different management sites for one community.
á As the network grows and becomes more complex, you may
need to help differentiate certain aspects of your community.
The SNMP Agent

You have seen so far what the SNMP management side is responsi-
ble for and can specifically do. For the most part, the management
side is the active component for getting information. The SNMP
agent, on the other hand, is responsible for complying with the
requests and responding to the SNMP manager accordingly.
Generally, the agent is a router, server, or hub. The agent is usually
a passive component only responding to a direct query.
In one particular instance, however, the agent is the initiator, acting
on its own without a direct query. This special case is called a trap. A
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trap is set up from the management side on the agent. But the man-
agement does not need to go to the agent to find out whether the
trap information has been tripped. The agent sends an alert to the
management system telling it that the event has occurred. Most of
the time, the agent is passive except in this one occasion.
Management Information Base

Now that you have learned a little about the management system
and agents, you can delve into the different types of query databases.
The data that the management system requests from an agent is
contained in a Management Information Base (MIB). This is a list
of questions that the management system can ask. The list of ques-
tions depends on what type of device it is asking about. The MIB
is the database of information that can be queried against. The type
of system it is determines what specifically can be queried. The MIB
defines what type of objects can be queried and what type of infor-
mation is available about the network device.
A variety of MIB databases can be established. The MIB is stored on
the SNMP agent and is similar to the Windows NT Registry in its
hierarchical structure. These MIBs are available to both the agent
and management systems as a reference from which both can pull
information.
The Microsoft SNMP Service, for example, supports the following
MIB databases:
á Internet MIB II
á LAN Manager MIB II
á DHCP MIB
á WINS MIB
MIB Structure
The namespace for MIB objects is hierarchical. It is structured in
this manner so that each manageable object can be assigned a
globally unique name. Certain organizations have the authority to
assign the namespace for parts of the tree design.
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The MIB structure is similar to TCP/IP addresses. You get only one
address from the InterNIC and then subnet it according to your
needs. You do not have to contact them to inquire about each address
assignment. The same applies here. Organizations can assign names
without consulting an Internet authority for every specific assignment.
SNMP Communities
A community is a group of hosts running the SNMP Service to
which they all belong. These usually consist of at least one manage-
ment system and multiple agents. The idea is to logically organize
systems into organizational units for better network management.
Communities are called by a community name. This name is case
sensitive. The default community name is “public” and generally all
hosts belong to it. Also by default, all SNMP agents respond to any
request using the community name “public.” By using unique
community names, however, you can provide limited security and
segregation of hosts.
Agents do not accept requests nor respond to hosts that are not from
their configured community. Agents can be members of multiple
communities simultaneously, but they must be explicitly configured
as such. This enables them to respond to different SNMP managers
from various communities.
Security
There really is no established security with SNMP. The data is not
encrypted, and there is no setup to stop someone from accessing the
network, discovering the community names and addresses used, and
sending fake requests to agents.
A major reason most MIBs are read-only is so that unauthorized
changes cannot be made. The best security you can have is to use
unique community names. Choose Send Authentication Trap and
specify a Trap Destination, and stipulate Only Accept SNMP
Packets from These Hosts.
You also might set up traps that let you know whether the agents
receive requests from communities or addresses not specified. This
way, you can track down unauthorized SNMP activity.
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SNMP Security Parameters

You can set several options that affect the security of the SNMP
agent. By default the agent responds to any manager using the com-
munity name “public.” Because this can be inside or outside your
organization, you should at very least change the community name.
Table 5.3 describes the available options.
TABLE 5.3
SECURITY OPTIONS FOR THE SNMP A G E N T
Parameter Description
Send Authentication Trap Sends information back to the trap
initiator responding that the trap failed.
This could be because of an incorrect
community name or because the host is
not specified for service.
Accepted Community Names When a manager sends a query, a
community name is included; this is a
list of community names that the agent
will respond to.
Accept SNMP Packets from Responds to any query from any
Any Host management system in any community.
Only Accept SNMP Packets from Responds only to the hosts listed.
These Hosts
SNMP Agent
In some cases you will configure other aspects of the SNMP agent.
These set the type of devices that you will monitor and who is
responsible for the system.
The options available on this screen are as follows:
á The contact name of the person you want to be alerted about
conditions on this station—generally, this is the user of the
computer.
á The location is a descriptive field for the computer to help
keep track of the system sending the alert.
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á The last part of the screen identifies the types of

connections/devices this agent will monitor. These include
• Physical. You are managing physical devices such as
repeaters or hubs.
• Applications. Set if the Windows NT computer uses an
application that uses TCP/IP. You should check this box
every time, as just by using SNMP you should have
TCP/IP set up.
• Datalink/Subnetwork. For managing a bridge.
• Internet. Causes the Windows NT computer to act as
an IP gateway, or router.
• End-to-End. Causes the Windows NT computer to act
as an IP host. You should check this box every time, as
you are most likely an IP host.
Any errors with SNMP are recorded in the system log. The log
records any SNMP activity. Use Event Viewer to look at the errors
and to find the problem and possible solutions.
What SNMP Is Really Doing

The following example tracks a sample of SNMP traffic between a
manager and an agent. Remember in real life you will use manage-
ment software, such as HP’s OpenView, that enables you to see the
MIBs and query without knowing all the numbers.
1. The SNMP management system makes a request of an agent
using the agent’s IP address or host name.
a. Request sent by the application to UDP port 161.
b. Host name resolved to an IP address, if host name was
used, using host name resolution methods: localhost,
HOSTS file, DNS, WINS, broadcast, LMHOSTS file.
2. SNMP packet gets set up with the listed information inside,
and routes the packet on the agent’s UDP port 161:
a. The command for the objects: get, get-next, set.
b. The community name and any other specified data.
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3. An SNMP agent gets the packet and puts it into its buffer.
a. The community name is checked for validity. If it is not
correct or is corrupted, the packet is rejected.
b. If the community name checks out, the agent checks to see
whether the originating host name or IP address is correct
as well. If not, it is thrown out.
c. The inquiry is then passed to the correct dynamic link library
(DLL) as described in the preceding section on MIBs.
d. The object identifier gets mapped to the specific applica-
tion programming interface (API) and that call gets made.
e. The DLL sends the data to the agent.
4. The SNMP packet is given to the SNMP manager with the
requested information.
THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

. 4.4 Perform physical housekeeping
This is another category where a little common sense can carry you
a long way. Any computer will work best in a pristine environment
that is temperature/humidity controlled and free of dust. Alas not
many networks can afford such an environment, so an administrator
must make the best of the environment he has.
Pay attention to ambient factors such as the heat; never put the
server against ductwork, next to the air conditioner, and so on. Be
wary of items that can cause interference with electrical pull
(motors, microwaves, and the like) or EMI (electromagnetic interfer-
ence), and try to utilize only isolated grounding circuits.
Keep the area around the server as free of debris and clutter as
possible; the more clean air the server can pull through it, the better
chance it has of running longer. Ideally, the server should be locked
in a closet with limited access and no likelihood of being bumped,
jostled, accessed directly, or otherwise disturbed by non-administrators.
One last note: The space above a drop ceiling (between the ceiling and
the floor of a building’s next level) is extremely significant to both net-
work administrators and fire marshals. This space (called the plenum)
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is a convenient place to run network cables around a building. The

plenum, however, is typically an open space in which air circulates
freely, and consequently, fire marshals pay special attention to it.
The most common outer covering for coaxial cabling is polyvinyl
chloride (PVC). PVC cabling gives off poisonous fumes when it
burns. For that reason, fire codes prohibit PVC cabling in the
plenum because poisonous fumes in the plenum can circulate freely
throughout the building.
Plenum-grade coaxial cabling is especially designed to be used with-
out conduit in plenums, walls, and other areas where fire codes pro-
hibit PVC cabling. Plenum-grade cabling is less flexible and more
expensive than PVC cabling, so it is used primarily where PVC
cabling cannot be used.
Additional coverage of these issues appears in Chapter 6,
“5.0—Environment.”
VERIFYING HARDWARE
. 4.5 Perform hardware verification
One of the simplest objectives within the exam, hardware verifica-
tion merely implies identifying the hardware that you have. Suppose,
for example, that there is an old server sitting in the closet and you
are considering using it as a print server. Your memory tells you that
it is a Pentium 233 with 64MB of RAM. But how can you verify
that before using it?
Many operating systems can provide information through the tools
within them to help with this. Figure 5.5 shows an example of the
System Properties dialog box in Windows 2000 Server. Using the
General tab, you can identify that the processor is at least a Pentium
(Family 6) and there is 128MB of RAM.
To get more detailed information, you can resort to the Device
Manager, as shown in Figure 5.6.
Step by Step 5.4 details how to see how many COM ports are in the
system on a machine running Windows 2000 Server and what
resources they are using.
10 Serv+ Ch_05 7/10/01 9:53 AM Page 309
FIGURE 5.5
The General tab of the System Properties
dialog box offers some identification information
in Windows 2000.
FIGURE 5.6
The Device Manager provides specific informa-
tion about resources and associated drivers in
Windows 2000.
10 Serv+ Ch_05 7/10/01 9:53 AM Page 310
STEP BY STEP
5.4 Verify COM Ports in Windows 2000 Server
1. Right-click the My Computer icon on the desktop and
choose Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. Select the Hardware tab in the System Properties dialog box.
3. Click the Device Manager button.
4. Click the plus sign (+) beside Ports (COM & LPT) to
expand the list. The ports installed in the machine display.
5. Right-click Communications Port (COM1) and choose
Properties from the pop-up menu.
6. Select the Resources tab and you can see the IRQ and I/O
resources associated with the port.
Within Linux, the proc filesystem structure can provide you with
information about your system. For example, /proc/interrupts
identifies the currently used interrupt request lines on your system,
as shown in Figure 5.7.
[root@localhost /proc]# cat /proc/interrupts
CPU0
0: 1025278 XT-PIC timer
1: 496 XT-PIC keyboard
2: 0 XT-PIC cascade
3: 1303 XT-PIC 3c589_cs
8: 1 XT-PIC rtc
11: 41 XT-PIC aha152x
12: 3588 XT-PIC PS/2 Mouse
13: 1 XT-PIC fpu
14: 110060 XT-PIC ide0
NMI: 0
[root@localhost /proc]#
FIGURE 5.7
The /proc files in Linux can identify hardware
resources.
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Checking Values Outside the

Operating System
Although you can find some hardware identifiers within the operat-
ing system, you must find others outside of the operating system
(such as through the BIOS). When a machine is booted, an option
is always available to access the system BIOS, usually by pressing a
key on the keyboard.
The information that appears can identify such values as the
installed hard drives, and related parameters under which the system
operates. Figure 5.8 shows an example of the hard drive information
found in the BIOS.
You also can create a boot disk that you can use to identify hardware
components. Windows NT 4.0 included an excellent utility on the
operating system CD named NTHQ, which stood for NT
Hardware Query. To use it, this utility was first installed to a floppy
disk and then the machine had to be booted on that floppy disk.
When booted, the utility checked the hardware within the machine
for any identifying characteristics that it could find and wrote back
to the floppy disk a large log file of identified devices. The most
wonderful thing about this utility is that it was self-contained:
Because you were booting on the floppy disk, it did not matter what
operating system was on the machine; you could use it to identify
hardware on any machine.
Date (mm:dd:yy) : Sun, Nov 12 2000

Time (hh:mm:ss) : 17 : 41 : 35
HARD DISKS TYPE SIZE CYLS HEADPRECOMP LANDZSECTOR MODE
Primary Master : User 3166 767 128 0 6135 63 LBA

Primary Slave : None 0 0 0 0 0 0 -----
Secondary Master : Auto 0 0 0 0 0 0 LBA
Secondary Slave : None 0 0 0 0 0 0 -----
Drive A : 1.44M, 3.5 in.

Drive B : None
Video : EGA/VGA Base Memory: 648K

Halt On : All Errors Extended Memory: 64512K
Other Memory: 384K FIGURE 5.8
The BIOS holds much information about the
Total Memory: 65536K
hardware within the system.
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A truncated example of its output follows:
Hardware Detection Tool For Windows NT 4.0 Beta 2

Master Boot Sector Virus Protection Check
Machine Revision: 00
Microprocessor: Pentium
Conventional memory: 653312
Available memory: >=48
BIOS Name: Phoenix
BIOS Version: EPP revision 1.90
BIOS Date: 10/17/96
Bus Type: ISA
Device: Communications Port
Hardware ID (for Legacy Devices): *PNP0500
Friendly Port Name: COM1
I/O: 3f8 - 3ff
IRQ: 4
Enumerate all IDE devices
IDE Devices Detection Summary Report
Primary Channel: master drive detected
Model Number: Maxtor 90845U2
Firmware Revision: FA550480
Serial Number: E2051MCC
Type of Drive: Fixed Drive
Number of Cylinders: 16383
Number of Heads: 16
Number of Sectors Per Track: 63
Number of unformatted bytes per sector Per Track: 0
LBA Support: Yes
DMA Support: Yes
Drive Supports PIO Transfer Cycle Time Mode: 1
Drive Supports Fast PIO Mode: 3
Drive Supports Fast PIO Mode: 4
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Step by Step 5.5 outlines how to use this tool to create the log file
and identify resources on a machine.
STEP BY STEP
5.5 Using the Windows NT Hardware Query Tool
1. Insert the Windows NT Workstation CD into the drive.
When the installation pop-up menu appears, choose the
Browse this CD button.
2. Open the Support folder.
3. Open the Hqtool folder.
4. Insert a blank, formatted disk in the system and double-
click the MAKEDISK.BAT icon. The boot disk is now
created.
5. Shut down the machine on which you want to query the
hardware.
6. Insert the disk into the machine and boot it. After all the
querying is done, the resources identified are shown
within the tool. When you exit the tool, all the informa-
tion is written to a file named NTHQ.TXT (on the
floppy disk) that you can reference at any time.
ESTABLISHING REMOTE NOTIFICATION

. 4.6 Establish remote notification
The single best way to be notified of situations when they arise is
through SNMP (discussed earlier). SNMP is an application of
TCP/IP and available for any network utilizing TCP/IP as its net-
work protocol. This makes it available for Windows 2000, Windows
NT, Linux, OS/2, and so on.
10 Serv+ Ch_05 7/10/01 9:53 AM Page 314
Aside from SNMP, notification is possible on an operating

system–by–operating system basis. Within Windows 2000, for
instance, you can establish thresholds to notify you when conditions
exist (such as when the available memory on a machine drops below
a specified level). Such notifications are sent via the Messenger
Service, as shown in Figure 5.9.
Similar features exist within other network operating systems as well,
but the impetus of the Server+ exam is that you understand that
remote notification is possible through the use of SNMP.
FIGURE 5.9
The Messenger Service in Windows NT and
2000 can send alerts.
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CHAPTER SUMMARY
Proactive maintenance is not a difficult process. It amounts to using
KEY TERMS
a good deal of common sense and looking for the possibilities for
problems to occur before they do. Most importantly, however, it • Ambient conditions
involves taking steps to ensure that when a problem does occur you • Archive bit
will know about it and have the resources in place to correct it.
• Baseline
Backups enable you to recover data in the event of a hard drive or
system failure, and baselines give you a starting point against which • Differential backup
you can gauge system performance. SNMP thresholds can send • Full backup
remote verification and alerts, letting you know what is going on
• Incremental backup
with your network. Physical housekeeping and hardware verification
are used to identify what you have and keep it operating under the • Proactive maintenance
best conditions possible.
• SNMP trap
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Exercises 5.2 Interacting with the Messenger service
Through the Graphical Interface
5.1 Interacting with the Messenger Service
The same exercises done in 5.1 is repeated using the
from the Command Line
graphical interface rather than the command line. In
The Windows-based operating systems require the this exercise, you look to see whether the service is
Messenger Service to be running for remote notifica- currently running, and then stop and start it.
tion to even be a possibility. In this exercise, you look
to see whether the service is currently running, and
then stop and start it (all from the command line). 1. In Windows 2000, select Start, Programs,
Administrative Tools, Services.
2. An alphabetic list of services appears. Move down
1. Open a command-line window. To do so in
the list until you see Messenger. It should be have
Windows NT and 2000, select Start, Run, and
a status of Started and a startup type of
enter cmd.
Automatic.
2. Enter the command
3. To stop the service, right-click it and choose
net start
Stop from the pop-up menu. A progress bar
This will show, in alphabetic order, all services appears as the service is being stopped. When it
currently running. The Messenger Service, by is no longer running, the progress bar disappears
default, is automatically started upon boot, so it and there is no entry in the Status column for
should appear in the list. this service.
3. To stop the service, use the command 4. To start the service, right-click it and choose
net stop messenger Start from the pop-up menu. A progress bar
appears as the service is being started. When it is
Two messages should display; the first indicating running, the progress bar disappears and the
that the service is stopping, and the second indi- word “Started” displays in the Status column for
cating when it has stopped. this service.
4. To start the service, use the command
net start messenger
Review Questions
Two messages should display; the first indicating
1. What is the most complete type of backup that
that the service is starting (with a series of periods
you can create? Why is it the most complete?
that tick off as seconds pass), and a second indi-
cating that it has successfully started.
10 Serv+ Ch_05 7/10/01 9:53 AM Page 317
2. Martin is creating a log file of the performance of 2. Which TCP/IP service can be used for remote
key operating system parameters on the server. notification?
He wants to safely store the file for two months
A. Messenger
and then use it to compare against the perfor-
mance of the system at that time. What is Martin B. SMTP
said to be making? C. POP
3. Which protocol is used in TCP/IP to enable you D. SNMP
to monitor network operations using agents?
3. John did a full backup on the server on Tuesday
4. Servers should be kept away from other devices morning and it is now Thursday evening. Which
that could generate EMI. What does the abbrevi- type of backup will take the longest to run
ation EMI stand for? tonight?
5. In Windows 2000, the System Properties dialog A. Full
box can be used to identify the processor from
which tab? B. Incremental
6. What service must be running in Windows C. Differential

NT Server 4.0 to be able to receive remote D. Daily
notifications?
4. Kristin needs to run cabling from the server to
another room and wants to go above the drop
Exam Questions ceiling in her office. What type of cabling should
she use?
1. Jeff is the network administrator for Mercury
Technical Solutions. He has the server do a full A. PVC.
backup every Sunday and Wednesday night, and B. Plenum-grade.
an incremental backup every other night of the
week. The server crashed on Wednesday night, in C. Non-plenum-grade.
the middle of the backup. How many tapes does D. She cannot run cabling in this space.
he need to do a restore?
5. Within Windows 2000, what tool can be used to
A. 1 identify what resources a sound card is utilizing?
B. 2 A. proc
C. 3 B. NTHQ
D. 4 C. Device Manager
E. 5 D. Query
F. 6
G. 7
10 Serv+ Ch_05 7/10/01 9:53 AM Page 318
6. Windows NT 4.0 enables you to compress the 10. Which tool was included with Windows NT to
Registry to where it will fit on one disk and be enable you to verify hardware in a machine
stored offsite. What tool is used to create this disk? before installing the operating system?
A. ERD A. FDISK
B. Backup B. NTHQ
C. RDISK C. SYS
D. Services D. COM
7. Windows 2000 enables you to create the same
compression of the Registry onto a single floppy Answers to Review Questions
disk. What tool is used in this operating system
for creating such? 1. A full backup is the most complete backup that
can be made on a system because it includes
A. ERD every file. For more information, see the section
B. Backup “Understanding Backups.”
C. RDISK 2. Martin is said to be making a baseline. A baseline
is a gauge of present performance that can be
D. Services
compared against future performance. For more
8. Which filesystem within Linux can tell you what information, see the section “Working with
resources are currently in use? Baselines.”
A. proc 3. SNMP is the Simple Network Management
Protocol, and it is used to monitor performance
B. etc
on a TCP/IP network. For more information, see
C. boot the section “Working with SNMP.”
D. tmp 4. EMI is an abbreviation for electromagnetic inter-
9. At what port does the SNMP Service run by ference. It can be caused by any device using
default? electricity but is common with such things as
fluorescent lights, industrial air compressor
A. 80 motors, and the like. For more information, see
B. 110 the section “The Physical Environment.”
C. 161 5. The General tab of the System application will

show information about the processor and RAM
D. 21 in Windows 2000. For more information, see the
section “Verifying Hardware.”
10 Serv+ Ch_05 7/10/01 9:53 AM Page 319
6. To receive remote notifications, the Messenger 4. B. The reason plenum-grade cable exists is to run
Service must be running. To receive remote noti- it within this space. A is incorrect as PVC is the
fications “Establishing Remote Notification.” most common cable, and specifically cannot be
run in this space. C is incorrect because any non-
plenum-grade cable would be strictly prohibited
Answers to Exam Questions from being run in this place. D is incorrect as
1. C. He must first restore the full backup done on plenum-grade cable can be run in this space. For
Sunday night, and then the incremental done on more information, see the section “The Physical
Monday and Tuesday nights, for a total of three Environment.”
tapes. All other choices are incorrect because they 5. C. Device Manager can be used to identify
misstate the number of tapes needed for this resources in use in Windows 2000. A is incorrect;
operation. For more information, see the section the proc filesystem does not exist in Windows
“Understanding Backups.” 2000, but is a feature of Linux. B is incorrect
2. D. The SNMP (Simple Network Management because NTHQ makes a bootable disk but the
Protocol) is a service available for TCP/IP to question asks for a way to do so within Windows
monitor the network and alert you to problems. 2000. D is incorrect because it is a nonexistent
A is incorrect because the Messenger Service command/tool. For more information, see the
exists within Windows-based operating systems section “Verifying Hardware.”
but not across all platforms capable of running 6. C. Known as the Error Recovery Disk (presented
TCP/IP. B is incorrect because SMTP (Simple as choice A), it is created using the RDISK.EXE
Mail Transfer Protocol) is used to route mail. C is utility in Windows NT. In Windows 2000, the
incorrect because POP (Post Office Protocol) is utility was removed and the ability to create the
used to receive mail and nothing more. For more disk was moved to the Backup utility (choice B).
information, see the section “Establishing The Services utility enables you to start and stop
Remote Notification.” services, but has no bearing on the creation of the
3. A. Regardless of when any backup has been done ERD disk. For more information, see the section
last, a full backup will always take longer than any “Backups Within Windows NT.”
other type to run because it copies every file. B 7. B. Known as the Error Recovery Disk (presented
and C are both incorrect; but given the scenario as choice A), it is created using the Backup utility
outlined, they would take an equal amount of in Windows 2000. In Windows NT, the RDISK
time because they both would backup all files utility (choice C ) was used for this purpose. The
created or changed since the full backup was Services utility enables you to start and stop ser-
completed. D is incorrect because it would get vices, but has no bearing on the creation of the
only the files changed one day and be the shortest ERD disk. For more information, see the section
of those choices offered here. For more informa- “Backups Within Windows 2000.”
tion, see the section “Understanding Backups.”
10 Serv+ Ch_05 7/10/01 9:53 AM Page 320
8. A. The proc filesystem is dynamically created to 10. B. The NTHQ (NT Hardware Query) tool was
report the devices in existence on a particular included with Windows NT to enable you to
host within Linux. The other filesystems listed as query all components of your system and verify
choices are all valid directories under Linux, but that NT will run correctly before doing an instal-
none of them would hold any information rele- lation. A is incorrect because FDISK is used to
vant to the question. For more information, see partition a hard drive. C is incorrect because this
the section “Verifying Hardware.” utility is used to place an operating system on a
hard drive. D is incorrect because this is not the
9. C. The SNMP Service runs at UDP port 161 by
name of a valid utility (but represents a com-
default. A is incorrect because this is the port
monly used extension on many utilities). For
used for the WWW service. B is incorrect
more information, see the section “Checking
because this is the port used by the email service
Values Outside the Operating System.”
POP3. D is incorrect because it is the port used
by FTP. For more information, see the section
“Working with SNMP.”
1. Dulaney, Emmett and Chris Hare. LPI 3. Maione, Dennis. MCSE Training Guide:
General Linux II Exam Cram. The Coriolis Windows NT Server 4. New Riders Publishing,
Group, 2001. Discusses the Linux operating 1999. Includes discussion of backups,
system and hardware verification. Performance Monitor, and so on.
2. Weiss, Martin and Emmett Dulaney. i-Net+ 4. Maione, Dennis. MCSE Training Guide:
Exam Cram. The Coriolis Group, 2000. Windows 2000 Server. New Riders Publishing,
Includes coverage of TCP/IP ports and their 2000. Includes discussion of backups,
relationship to the operating system(s). Performance Monitor, and so on.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/11/01 10:04 AM Page 321
OBJECTIVES

objectives for the Environment section of the Server+
Certification exam.
5.1 Recognize and report on physical
security issues
• Establish anti-theft devices for hardware (lock
server racks)
. One of the commonly overlooked aspects of server
management is the physical security of the server. It
is hard to pick up a technical magazine and not
read something about the latest virus or latest web
site hacked. Information security is rapidly becom-
ing one of the most talked about topics in the com-
puter field. What you don’t see discussed are the
backup tapes that are stolen, the servers that are
vandalized, or the other issues related to the physi-
cal security of the server. Every server hardware
specialist should be able to recognize and report
issues with the physical security of the network
server, both for this exam as well as in his or her
day to day duties on the job.
C H A P T E R 6
5.0—Environment
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 322
OBJECTIVES OUTLINE
5.2 Recognize and report on server room Introduction 324

environmental issues (temperature,
humidity/ESD/power surges, back-up Open-Office Environment 324
generator/fire suppression/flood Server Room 324
considerations)
Computer Data Center 325
. When companies look into buying a server, they
generally consider what vendor to buy the hardware
Environmental Issues 325
from, how much RAM to put in the server, and
what operating system it should run. What is fre- Temperature 328
quently overlooked is what sort of environment will
the server be running in? Is there adequate power, is Humidity 331
the fire-protection system going to make things bet- Air Quality 332
ter or worse in the event of a fire (imagine a pro- Power-Line Issues 332
duction server under a sprinkler if you can), and is
Fire Suppression 335
the air conditioning going to keep the server room
cool when it’s 105 degrees outside for the third Flooding 336
consecutive week? Every server hardware specialist Electrostatic Discharge 337
should be able to recognize and report on environ- Monitoring Server State 338
mental conditions that might adversely affect the
network server, as well as provide environmental
planning prior to a server being installed. Physical Security Issues 339
Physically Securing the Data
Center/Computer Room 340
Establish Anti-Theft Devices for Hardware 344
Limiting Access to Removable Media 346
Chapter Summary 348
Apply your Knowledge 350

11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 323
To prepare for the Environment objectives of the . Look around your work environment for some of
Server+ exam, do the following: the physical security and environmental condi-
tions, and see how the concepts discussed in
this chapter apply. If you don’t work in a place
chapter.
where you have access to a server environment,
. Study the information in this chapter. go to a library and check the security associated
. Review the objectives again. with the walk-up machines. Look for sprinklers,
. Complete the exercises at the end of the chapter. and think about the other factors discussed in
. Answer the Review and Exam Questions at the the chapter. If you are a student, a high school
end of the chapter and check your results. or college computing facility is another place to
apply some of the concepts surrounding physi-
. Use the ExamGear test engine on the CD-ROM cal security and environmental factors.
that accompanies this book for additional Exam
. Review the Exam Tips available in various places
stand the information in the Exam Tip. If you
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 324
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, the discussion moves outside the server box, and
starts looking at some of the other important things about maintain-
ing a production server: the environment in which the server is
placed. Often overlooked, the operating environment is a critical
factor frequently left out of the planning when a server is deployed.
The environmental factors discussed in this chapter include temper-
ature, humidity, static discharge, power, fire, flood, and finally, the
state of the server itself and ways to measure it. This chapter also
discusses the physical security considerations you need to take into
account as you architect your computing environment.
While reading about each of the components of the computing
environment, you also will learn how they apply to the three most
common environments in which you will find servers. To fully
appreciate the environmental factors, you need be familiar with
these three environments:
á Open-office environment
á Server room
á Computer data center
The following sections take a closer look at each of these environments.
Open-Office Environment
The open-office environment is probably the most common environ-
ment for small business and workgroup servers. In this environment
you typically find servers in either a cube or maybe under a desk in
someone’s office. Although certainly not an ideal environment, this
environment is useful for businesses without the resources or space to
provide a dedicated server room. It can also make supporting a server
more convenient for a busy administrator. In larger companies it is
not uncommon to find development servers in the developer’s cube,
allowing easy access while application development is underway.
Server Room
The server room is generally a room dedicated to computing equip-
ment. You will frequently find the server, network equipment, and
cabling (sometimes even phone equipment will share this room).
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 325
Chapter 6 5.0—ENVIRONMENT 325
Generally this is a locked area, and it provides a more secure area for
storing a server than under someone’s desk as discussed with regard
to the preceding environment. You will generally find dedicated
server rooms in branch offices of larger companies or in companies
where there are enough people to require network cabling and
phone wiring. In this environment it is not unusual to find the
servers located on the floor or on a table or desk that is not in use.
Computer Data Center

A computer data center is the ideal place to store your server. It is
an environmentally controlled, secure, raised-floor area specifically
designed for storing large numbers of servers, minicomputers, and
mainframes. These are expensive areas to build, maintain, and staff.
As a result, there are generally a limited number of data centers even
in the largest companies, and they are generally used for centralized
operations and enterprise application servers. You will generally find
rack-mounted servers used widely in this environment, with exten-
sive environmental controls to ensure the health of the servers.
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
. 5.2 Recognize and report on server room environmental
issues (temperature, humidity/ESD/power surges,
back-up generator/fire suppression/flood considerations)
Now that you know the basic types of environments you may find
your servers in, you need to learn the environmental factors you
must be concerned about when installing and maintaining a server.
The first piece of information you need is the operating parameters
of your server. The next page presents a sample server specifications
document. This should be your guide while designing or verifying
an operating environment for your server. This information can
generally be found on the server vendor’s web site, as well as in the
documentation that comes with the server.
Various sections of the server specifications document are discussed
throughout the chapter, with references to the specifics for each of
the environmental sections.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 326
Server Specifications Document

NOTE
What If I Didn’t Buy My Server from

Processors
a Major Vendor? If you use “white
box” computers or build your own for Up to 4 Intel Pentium III processors, 550MHz and 800MHz
your production servers, you will need 100MHz front side bus
to make sure you can come up with
your own server specifications. You 32KB level 1 cache (16KB instruction cache and 16KB two-way
can generally accomplish this by get- write-back data cache)
ting the specifications for each of the 512KB, 1MB, or 2MB level 2 cache
components used to build the server
and aggregating them into a single Memory
document. Up to 8GB ECC SDRAM DIMM memory
24 DIMM sockets
Storage
Hard drives: 9GB, 18GB, 36GB, 73GB Ultra3 SCSI (7,200 and
10,000rpm) hard drives
9GB, 18GB, 36GB Fibre Channel (10,000rpm) hard drives
(external only)
Integrated Ultra/Narrow SCSI Adaptec AIC-7880
Drive Bays
Hot-pluggable hard drive bays: Six 2.0” or eight 1.0” hard drive bays
Removable media bays: two 5.25” half-height bays
Up to 60 × max. SCSI CD-RW ROM
Standard 3.5” 1.44MB disk drive
I/O Ports
PS/2 keyboard port
PS/2 mouse port
2 serial ports
2 parallel ports
2 video ports
3 Universal Serial Bus ports
Communications
Intel PRO/100+ Server Adapter
Intel PRO/100+ Dual-Port Server Adapter
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Intel PRO/100S Server Adapter (with IP SEC Encryption)

Intel PRO/1000 Gigabit Server Adapter
3Com EtherLink Server 10/100 PCI NIC (3C980C-TXM)
56K external modem
Chassis
Tower chassis: 18.95” (h) × 11.25” (w) × 25.75”
(d)9U rack height
Weight 95 lbs.
Power
Four standard 420W redundant hot-pluggable power supplies
Redundant hot-pluggable cooling fans
110/220 volts
200VAC single-phase @ 16A
3.1 kVA max consumption
Management
Fault monitoring of voltage, fan, and thermal conditions available
Tracks memory errors that have been corrected by the ECC memory
Automatic Server Recovery will reboot and restart the server if the
OS hangs without user intervention
Remote Assistant Card Version 4.3
Environmental
NOTE
What Model Server Is This? If you

Operating Temperature: 50º F to 95º F
are trying to figure out what kind of
Storage Temperature: – 40º F to 105º F server is referenced in the example,
10,000 BTU/hour max heat dissipation don’t bother. This is a sample only,
and the server is a product of the
Relative humidity: 10% to 80% (non-condensing) author’s imagination.
Operating vibration: 0.75G at 1Hz to 400Hz for 45 minutes
Storage vibration: 1.5G at 1Hz to 400Hz for 45 minutes
Operating shock: 6 shock pulses of 75G for up to 20ms
Storage shock: 6 shock pulses of 190G for up to 20ms
Operating altitude: –50 ft to 10,000 ft.
Storage altitude: –250 ft to 35,000 ft.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 328
By now you should have a good understanding of what the term

NOTE
Why Do I Need to Worry About This computing environment means. Now it’s time to discuss the specific
When I Install the Server? There factors you should understand as you install your server.
are two reasons you need to take
these factors into account before you
install the server. First, if your environ- Temperature
ment is not up to standard at the
time of installation, you run the risk of Just like many homes, two things control the temperature of the
damaging the server either before you computing environment. First, during cold weather, the heating sys-
are able to correct the issues, or tem maintains the temperature at a comfortable level. This is applic-
sometimes while you are correcting able to the open-office and server room environments. Enterprise
the issues. One example is air condi- data centers are usually air conditioned year round, due to the heat
tioning. If your air conditioning is not generated by the equipment. During hot weather, you need to use
adequate, you run the risk of burning
air conditioning to ensure the server remains under the maximum
up the server due to lack of cooling.
operating temperature.
You also have a potential problem if
you try to add air conditioning after Whenever you are implementing a new server, one of the things you
the server is installed to correct the should check is the number of BTUs (British Thermal Units) that
issue. If your environment needs air your server puts out (this is sometimes difficult to determine,
conditioning added, and holes need to because the BTUs are frequently left off the server specifications)
be cut for vents, if you (or the contrac-
and make sure that the aggregate number of BTUs can be cooled by
tors) are not careful you can end up
your air conditioning unit. If you will be rack mounting the server,
with a server full of drywall dust,
you should also check to make sure the rack is well ventilated and if
potentially shortening the useful life
of the server. Even small holes in dry- possible, contains some sort of airflow management (such as a fan)
wall can put an unbelievable amount to ensure the server stays cool when in a closed rack enclosure.
of dust into an enclosed area such as Liebert (www.liebert.com) is a leading manufacturer of precision air
an office or server room.
conditioning systems for use in critical environments such as data cen-
The second reason will probably not ters. Liebert’s enterprise air conditioners actually measure their cooling
be mentioned on the Server+ exam, capacity based on the volume of air in the data center. The Liebert
but is equally valid. If you install the web site is an excellent place to find more information on data center
server and it appears to be working environmental controls, as they are the industry leader in data center
fine, justifying the costs of correcting cooling systems, offering systems ranging from 6 tons to 60 tons.
environmental deficiencies to manage-
ment becomes that much more diffi- One of the easiest environmental issues to identify is the tempera-
cult. If your management happens to ture. If you walk into your computer room and it is really hot, you
have a technical background it may have a problem. In this case a thermometer on the wall can be your
not be as large an issue, but the “If best friend. One thing you should be very aware of is the designed
it’s not broken, don’t fix it” mentality operating temperature for your equipment. A typical server would
still persists in many companies. operate in the following ranges:
Operating temperature: 50º F to 95º F
Storage temperature: – 40º F to 105º F
10,000 BTU/hour max heat dissipation
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 329
In this example you can see that if the area your computer is stored
in exceeds 95 degrees, you will probably have a serious problem. How Much of This Do You Need to
TIP
Know for the Exam? Because
IN THE FIELD configuring and installing enterprise
EXAM
environmental conditioning equip-
MELTING DOWN COMPUTERS ment is almost always done after a
lot of consulting with the vendor, or
I once worked in a government building in an office area that also is done by someone with an exten-
housed some special-purpose computers. One of these was an old sive background in data center
machine used to gather and process a series of reports on system design, the details of the Liebert
accesses. It was a very old machine and could not be repaired or offerings (or comparable competitor
replaced. The year we were in the building summer came early to offerings) are beyond the scope for
New York with temperatures in the 90s in mid-May. The temperature the exam. It is good information to
in our office, with all the PCs and other computers, was in excess of have, but you won’t need to start
100 degrees during the middle of the day. And because this was a memorizing statistics.
controlled environment building, opening the windows was not an
option. We had some fans, but we really needed the air conditioning
turned up. The facilities manager informed us that it didn’t get hot
enough in New York for the air conditioning until June 10th, and there
was nothing he could do. The machine in question burnt itself up
about five days before the air conditioning came on. All the data and
programming was lost, and the reports were never generated again.
Okay, you have identified a temperature problem with your computing

environment. What do you do? Let’s start with the easiest and work
our way down. In a data center, the temperature is controlled very
closely, and in general the air conditioner will give an alarm if the tem-
perature rises too far out of the set range. If you notice your data center
is getting warm, it is time to service or upgrade your air conditioner.
IN THE FIELD
RAISED FLOORS
One of the key components in the air conditioning in a data center

is the use of a raised floor. The advantage of a raised floor in air
conditioning is that the raised floor provides a mechanism for
evenly distributing cold air throughout the environment. You also
have the corollary benefits of a place to run cabling easily and
without interfering with the ability to service the computers. In
many server room environments, the cabling can get so thick that
you cannot even access the servers to work on them.
continues
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 330
continued
NOTE
It’s Not Just the Operating

Temperature If you look at server Although the installation of a raised floor is well beyond the scope
specifications, you will usually see of this exam, or this book (because it is better left to experts in the
field), be sure that you verify one fact before starting the installa-
not only an operating temperature,
tion. Make sure that the raised floor you select will support the
but also a storage temperature. This
weight of the servers you are installing as well as any servers you
is very important to pay attention to.
may install in the future. Speaking from experience, there are few
If you live in Florida, leaving the
things as disruptive to a production computing environment as an
server in the trunk of your car in July
attempt to install a new raised floor when the one you have has
is probably a bad idea. Will the server buckled under the weight of your equipment. You cannot just stick
boot after spending an afternoon in the floor under your equipment. You must remove your equipment,
your 120-degree trunk? It probably install the floor, allow at least 24 hours for the cement to dry, and
will. But you will have weakened the then you can reinstall the equipment. In large environments you
electronic components and probably can end up moving everything in the data center three or four times
shortened their operating life. This as you juggle to free up large sections of flooring to be replaced.
means you may encounter intermit-
tent or permanent hardware problems
with your server long before you ordi- In a server room environment, you generally don’t have as much
narily would. The same types of control over the temperature as you would in a data center, but you
issues can occur by storing a server
should be able to turn down the thermostat in the room to keep it
in the extreme cold for long periods
cool on a hot day. You also can install portable air conditioners
of time, although electronic compo-
nents are generally more tolerant of
(either free standing or something like the window air conditioner
cold than they are of extreme heat. It you might see in an apartment or house) to control room tempera-
is also important to note that any ture. In the absence of an air conditioner, a fan will do wonders for
rapid change in temperature can have reducing the system’s temperature. In fact, a good rack system will
an impact on your server hardware. If include fans for additional cooling for the equipment contained in
your server goes from 65 degrees the rack.
within your data center to 90 degrees
in a moving van, you can also dam-
In the open office environment, you have two basic choices: You can
age components. either cool down the entire office to an acceptable level, or you can
try placing fans or portable air conditioners strategically to con-
tribute to the cooling. Given the temperatures that generally impact
the usability of a system, you will undoubtedly have other employees
complaining about a 95 degree Fahrenheit office environment. If
this is the case, you will probably have no problem getting the air
conditioning serviced or upgraded.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 331
Humidity
NOTE
How Big an Issue Is Humidity? It is
Humidity is another environmental quality that is critical to the very rare for humidity to be an issue
proper functioning of your server. As you can see in Table 6.1, the in a standard office setting. Where
relative humidity is another metric that is usually included in the you need to be very careful about
server specifications. Too much humidity in the air and the moisture humidity is in areas where the envi-
can damage your server’s electronic components. Too dry and your ronment either has a very high or
environment can be subject to electrostatic discharge (ESD) which very low humidity. If your server is
located in a greenhouse, you proba-
will be discussed later in this chapter in the “Electrostatic Discharge”
bly need to keep a close eye on the
section of the chapter.
humidity. If you are in a very dry, arid
environment where you notice a lot of
static, you will probably want to inves-
TABLE 6.1
tigate using a humidifier to bring the
C O M M O N E L E C T R O S TAT I C D I S C H A R G E humidity up into the server’s operat-
PREVENTION DEVICES ing specifications.
Device Description
Mats and flooring Floor mats, floor tiles, mat tape, bench and shelf mats.
Wearable protection Wrist straps, coil cords, ESD watches.
Floor grounding Foot grounders, sole grounders, and ankle straps.
ESD packing materials Bags, boxes, tape, trays, and cabinets.
Monitors and testers These devices are used to test the ESD devices to
ensure they are discharging appropriately.
If your server is in any sort of a controlled environment (air condi-

tioned office area, server room or data center), the control of the
humidity is usually a function on the air conditioning and heating
units. If you are in an environment where humidity is not controlled,
you should invest in a dehumidifier (or humidifier) for the immedi-
ate server area.
Operating temperature: 50º F to 95º F
Storage temperature: – 40º F to 105º F
10,000 BTU/hour max heat dissipation
Relative humidity: 10% to 80% (non-condensing)
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 332
Air Quality
NOTE
How Can You Tell Whether You Have

Reached the Capacity on Your Air No discussion of a server’s operating environment would be com-
Conditioning? There are two complete without a discussion of the air quality. This is generally not an
mon methods for determining whether issue in a data center environment, but can be an issue when servers
you are due for an air conditioning are placed in areas with a lot of dust and debris in the air. If you
upgrade. First, check the specifica- think about it, the fans from the server can turn the server into a
tions for your air conditioner, and com- really expensive vacuum cleaner by pulling all the dust in the air
pare them to the operating
through the system and depositing them on components. Over time
parameters for all the computers in
this can cause components to become caked in dust, and they will
your computer room/area. If you have
more heat than you have capacity to
overheat and fail in a much shorter time than they should.
cool, it is time to upgrade. Because If your equipment is in an area where the air quality is questionable,
heat can be particularly damaging, you should schedule weekly or monthly maintenance to clean out
you should try to get the air condition- the system using a computer vacuum cleaner or some canned air.
ing upgrade justified to management
in advance of reaching capacity for
the existing system. You don’t want to
be waiting for your new air conditioner
Power-Line Issues
while your servers are cooking like Now that you have a better understanding of the physical server
eggs in the server room. The second environment, it’s time to cover some of the issues surrounding the
method is more empirical. Get an power that the server is receiving. Power issues come in essentially
accurate thermometer and place it the following three varieties:
close to your servers. Monitor the
temperature. If you see the tempera- á Transients (spikes and surges). A transient is a condition
ture routinely approaching the maxi- where the line voltage is too high. If an over-voltage condition
mum operating temperature, it is time can be measured in nanoseconds, this condition is considered
to investigate a new air conditioning a spike; if measured in milliseconds, it is considered a surge.
solution for your servers. One thing
you should also be ready to check is á Low voltage (sags and brownouts). A low-voltage condition
whether your air conditioning is work- exists if the line is not delivering enough power. An under-
ing at all. Be sure you know where voltage condition is considered a sag if it is corrected in a few
your air conditioning enters the area. milliseconds. Brownouts can last for extended periods of time.
If you suspect you are not getting the
á Outage (blackout). A power outage occurs when there is no
cooling you should, place the thermo-
meter directly in the duct, and make
power being delivered to the server. These can vary from an
sure that you are getting the level of instant to an extended period of time.
cooling you expect. You might want to
baseline this if you suspect cooling Although you will learn some of the disaster recovery options in the
may be an issue in the future. event of a total power outage in Chapter 8, “Disaster Recovery,” you
need to be aware of how to deal with transients and low-voltage con-
ditions. Some of these methods are as follows:
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 333
á Surge suppressors. A surge suppressor is an inexpensive
NOTE
power-line filter, which will filter an incoming power signal What if Your Equipment Is in a
to smooth out variations. Although not effective against sags, Smoking Area? Although smoking in
offices is becoming less of an issue
these can be very effective against spikes and surges and can
as the anti-smoking laws become
be a lifesaver in the event of catastrophic power surge, such as
more wide spread, if you have equip-
a lightning strike. It is generally better to replace a $25 surge ment in an area where smoking is
suppressor than a $5,000 server. You should evaluate two fac- permitted, expect problems. The parti-
tors when selecting a surge suppressor: cles in tobacco smoke are just as
• Clamping speed. The speed at which a surge suppressor dangerous (and in some cases more
dangerous) than other environmental
reacts to a power spike or surge. The faster the clamping
particle hazards. You should avoid
speed, the better the surge suppressor.
exposing your equipment to tobacco
• Clamping voltage. The voltage at which the surge suppres- smoke whenever possible.
sor reacts to a spike or surge. The lower the clamping volt-
age, the better the surge suppressor.
á Uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Uninterruptible power
NOTE
After the Strike Keep in mind that
supplies are battery-based systems designed to monitor incom- you can see just as much damage
ing power and then take over when an unacceptable voltage is done by the surge that occurs when
measured on the line. There are two basic types of UPS: power is restored after an outage as
you see caused by an outage. You
• Standby power system. A standby power system monitors
should always be sure to power off
the power line for an unacceptable power variation to and/or unplug any systems that have
occur. The battery in this model is not part of the power lost power due to an outage to avoid
line and draws current only to remain charged. In the damage (or additional damage) being
event of an interruption of power, the UPS switches from done when the power comes back on.
line power to battery power, converting the direct current
power stored in the battery to an alternating current volt-
age like the line power in use. This is done using an
inverter circuit, and the switch can take up to 10 minutes.
NOTE
Watch the Cutover Time If you have

an older server, or a server with a
•Uninterruptible power-supply system. A true uninterruptible potentially faulty power supply, you
power system keeps the batteries and converter as part of may find that the amount of time it
the power-delivery system. In this case there is not cutover takes to cutover to the battery system
time involved, because the batteries are already delivering can cause the system to reboot, or
the power. Although this is the ideal circumstance, these otherwise fail. Be sure to test this
systems are typically much more expensive than their prior to putting the server into produc-
standby counterparts. tion. You should also be sure to
schedule monthly tests of your UPSs.
á VA rating. When considering purchasing a UPS, check the VA The worst time to discover the battery
(volt-ampere) rating. This rating should be less than the aggre- in your UPS is bad is after lightning
gate rating for all the equipment you will be plugging into it. hits the pole out in front of the office
You can see a sample rating in the following list. You should and your lights go off.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 334
also consider the amount of time the UPS can supply that
NOTE
What if the Power Goes Out When power. Ideally you should have an automated shutdown set to
No One Is in the Office? Most busi- occur in the event of a power outage; but if you do not, you
ness-quality UPSs can be purchased should ensure the server will operate long enough for you to
with software and cabling to allow
shut it down manually. Usually 15 to 30 minutes of operation
them to automatically shut down your
are adequate.
server in the event of an outage.
Make sure you test this process thor- Four standard 420W redundant hot-pluggable power supplies
oughly. The worst thing to find out the
Redundant hot-pluggable cooling fans
day after an outage is that your UPS
ran out of battery power one minute 110/220 volts
before the software completed the 200VAC single-phase @ 16A
shutdown.
3.1 kVA max consumption
á Backup generator. A backup generator is used to provide

power to large data centers and mission-critical offices in the
WA R N I N G
What About My Printer? Never

event of a power outage. Due to the amount of time involved
connect high-amperage devices,
such as printers or copiers, to a
with starting a backup generator, they are generally installed in
UPS. Not only are these nonessen- conjunction with a battery-powered UPS. This UPS provides
tial pieces of equipment, but their power to the facility until the generator is running and is able
high initial amperage requirements to provide power. Things to consider when dealing with
at power up can overload a UPS. backup generators include the amount of time it takes for the
generator to begin delivering power, the power capacity of the
generator, and the amount of fuel on hand for the generator. A
good minimum is usually 36 hours for a backup generator to
handle major outages. If you have the facilities to store more
fuel, 72 hours or even more will make sure you are prepared
for anything.
IN THE FIELD
LINE CONDITIONING
This chapter has discussed the various types of protection for your
server power, but only discussed line conditioning briefly. This topic
is usually considered only when implementing a large-scale server
installation. Usually the answer for a server in an office or a server
room is to connect the server to a standby UPS. This is the most
cost-effective solution, and works very well in the event of a hard
outage. Because the battery and cutover circuits are not in line
with the power, however, the power-conditioning capabilities of this
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 335
type of UPS are limited. They will usually have circuits for handling
surges and spikes, but their capability to supplement power during
a brownout is limited. A true UPS, with its batteries in line, has the
capability to supplement power from the batteries during periods of
sags or brownouts. If you have a facility using a backup generator,
the odds are pretty good that you have additional line-conditioning
equipment designed specifically to supply your data center with a
clean line voltage.
Now that you know more about the important topic of power, con-
sider some of the other environmental factors you should take into
account when you are installing a server.
Fire Suppression
You may be asked to install servers in several different environments.
You need to be aware of fire-suppression considerations in these areas.
In a data center environment, you will generally have an inert gas-
based fire-suppression system that works by driving all the oxygen
out of the air. Halon was a favorite for many years but is being
phased out in favor of more environmentally friendly gases such as
carbon dioxide. Table 6.2 includes a list of some of the more com-
mon clean replacement chemicals for Halon.
TABLE 6.2
NOTE
Be Sure to Close the Door on Your

HALON REPLACEMENTS Way out of the Burning Data Center.
The key to using the latest genera-
Chemical Name Trade Name Manufacturer tion of environmentally friendly fire-
FC-3-1-10 CEA-410 3M Specialty Chemicals suppression chemicals is to make
sure your data center is a sealed
HFC-23 FE 13 DuPont
environment. These chemicals rely
HFC-27ea FM-200 Great Lakes Chemical on the capability to reach a specific
IG-541 Inergen Ansul Fire Protection concentration in the data center
atmosphere to put out the fire. If
CO2 — Various, including Kidde, Fike Protection your environment is not sealed, the
Systems, and Ansul Fire Protection
chemicals cannot reach the neces-
sary concentration, and they will not
be effective.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 336
How do these chemicals work? Carbon dioxide extinguishes a fire by

NOTE
What Do the Letters on the Fire reducing the oxygen content of the protected area below the point
Extinguisher Mean? The letters where it can support combustion. DuPont originally developed
have the following meanings: FE13 as a chemical refrigerant, and it suppresses fire by absorbing
A indicates fires where ordinary com- heat from a fire until the atmosphere can no longer support the fire.
bustibles such as wood, cloth, and
Another type of fire suppression is the use of foam to extinguish the
paper are burning.
fire. Foam fire-suppression systems work by separating the fire from
B indicates fires where flammable the oxygen in the air. Depending on the type of foam system, this
liquids, oils, and grease are burning. can be done by using the foam to blanket the fuel surface, smother-
C indicates fires where live electrical ing the fire by cooling the fuel with the water content of the foam,
equipment. (This is the one you want.) or by suppressing the release of flammable vapors that can mix with
the air and burn.
D indicates fires containing com-
bustible metals such as magnesium, In a server room you generally have the same sprinkler system you
potassium, and sodium. would find out in the office space. This is generally a remarkably bad
idea. Not only is water one of the worst things you can pour on an
electrical fire, but what if the fire is in a wastebasket on the other end
of the floor? Suddenly the sprinklers go off and your server resembles
the Fourth of July with all the sparks shooting out of it. Step one in a
server room should be to have maintenance disable the sprinkler. The
next step should be to buy a good ABC or BC fire extinguisher. (See
the sidebar for details on the lettering code.) Mount this prominently
either directly inside or on the wall outside the door to your server
room. If there is a fire in the server room, you should have ready
access to a fire extinguisher rated for electrical fires.
In a shared office environment, it is generally not practical to disable
the sprinklers. Your best bet in this instance is to try to shield the
server from any possible water from the sprinklers. This can mean
placing the server under a desk, enclosing the server in some sort of
sealed rack, or otherwise shielding it from moisture. You should keep
an ABC or BC fire extinguisher handy in this case as well.
Flooding
You should sincerely hope that you never have to deal with a flood-
ing situation with regard to your servers. In most cases if you are
unable to save the equipment before the flood, it will be damaged
or completely unrecoverable. In the event of impending flooding,
however, you can do a few things:
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 337
á Remove all removable media and backup tapes from the

premises prior to the flooding. Ensure they are stored in water-
proof containers in case you have to recover the data as part of
a disaster-recovery program.
á Power off all servers and move them to the highest location in
the building. If possible remove them from the building
entirely and store them on high ground. In many instances the
power will shut down before the flooding has time to damage
your servers.
á In the event of flooding, immediately remove any hot-swap
drives from your servers and move them to a dry location. In
the event you need to recover the data from these drives, you
will want to limit the amount of time they are exposed to
moisture.
á If your servers have been completely flooded, they are proba-
NOTE
bly not going to be dependable. If you want to try to recover How Big a Jolt Can You Get from
them, you should completely remove all components and dry ESD? The actual voltage involved
them as quickly as possible. Allow the components to air dry with ESD varies widely. Humans start
to feel a static shock at about 3,000
for at least 48 hours before cleaning and testing them.
volts. It is important to remember that
Corrosion is one area of concern and moisture on the compo-
although the voltage is high, the
nents is another. If you apply electric current to a motherboard amperage is very low, which is why
that still has a couple droplets of water on it, you could experi- ESD is does not injure people. Static
ence some “shocking” results. charges of up to 30,000 volts are not
uncommon and can be generated by
If you work in a known flood plain, make sure your flood insurance the simple act of walking across a
is paid up, or at least have an excellent disaster-recovery plan in carpeted floor. To damage a piece of
place in case of floods. sensitive electronics, a charge of as
little 10 volts can do the trick.
Electrostatic Discharge
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is defined as the transfer of charge
What Should You Know About
TIP
between bodies at different electrical potentials. You may be more

ESD? Be sure you know that an
familiar with it as the shock you get after walking on a carpet and
ESD of as little as 10 volts can
touching a doorknob. ESD can change the electrical characteristics
EXAM
damage sensitive components. You

of a computer component, degrading or destroying it. ESD can also should also be aware of the envi-
upset the normal operation of a server, causing the server to mal- ronmental factors to reduce or elim-
function or fail. inate ESD in your environment.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 338
You can do several things to your environment to help control ESD,

including the following:
á Use a static discharge device (static strap, mat, and so forth)
whenever servicing your server.
á Avoid deploying servers in carpeted areas. If you must put
your server in a carpeted environment, set it on a static mat.
You can also have the carpet treated periodically with chemi-
cals to help keep the static electricity to a minimum.
á Always store spare parts in static bags.
á Before you touch a piece of equipment, ground yourself and
your tools. This can be done by touching a metal object (not
the server) and discharging any built-up potential.
Monitoring the Server State

The final topic discussed is the server’s state in relation to its envi-
ronment. You have already learned about the environmental factors
that might adversely affect the server. To keep them from affecting
the server, you need to monitor the temperature, line voltage, and
other environmental operating statistics of your server. There
are ways to measure the server’s temperature, including the old
fashioned thermometer. In addition, a new generation of add-on
server cards can give you detailed information on the environmental
state of your server.
The best way to monitor your servers is to add a hardware remote
management card. Each vendor has his own flavor of this card, but
what it provides is detailed information on the internal environment
of your server. You can usually get information on the hardware com-
ponents (for example, active hard drives and processor utilization)
and sometimes OS statistics as well. The key from an environmental
perspective is that you can also get information such as system tem-
perature and line voltage. In fact with many of these remote manage-
ment cards you can set temperature thresholds that will shut down
the server if the temperature is out of the operating range.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 339
Now that you are familiar with the environmental factors you
should consider when installing a server, it’s time to discuss securing
your server.
PHYSICAL SECURITY ISSUES

. 5.1 Recognize and report on physical security issues
• Establish anti-theft devices for hardware (lock server racks)
All right, now it’s time to discuss the other often-neglected portion
of server installations: making sure that your server is physically
secure. You also need to be aware that removable media are vulner-
able, and ensure such media are secured as well.
IN THE FIELD
A TRUE STORY FROM THE FIELD
In a branch office for a company, about 20 people were working

busily in their cubes and offices on a variety of reports, spread-
sheets, email, and other computer-related tasks. It was about 1:00
p.m. Suddenly people started noticing they had been knocked off
the server, that they couldn’t print, or couldn’t save files. Some
user’s PCs locked up. They started rebooting PCs and checking net-
work connections. Finally someone stuck his head in the server
room, where he discovered that someone had walked in through
the loading dock and left with their very expensive file server. The
culprits were never found.
The following section discusses how you should physically secure

your servers.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 340
Physically Securing the Data

Center/Computer Room
The best place to start this discussion is with the perimeter. If you
want to protect your computing resources, you should make sure
that there is a locked door and four walls between your server and
the rest of the world. That said, there are a variety of ways to permit
access to that area after it has been secured, including the following:
á Lock and key. The venerable lock and key is a tried and true
method for physically securing your server environment. This
model works great if there are a limited number of people
who need access, but key management is a real issue in larger
environments. This is frequently the most cost-effective mech-
anism, although once you’ve had the lock rekeyed two or three
times and new keys issued, the cost savings become less com-
pelling a reason not to implement a more expensive solution.
IN THE FIELD
NOTE
How Do I Control My Keys? The

biggest drawback to locking up any- SEVEN STEPS TO EFFECTIVE KEY CONTROL
thing using keys is key control. How
do you keep track of who has keys, If you are responsible for key control in your organization, the
who needs keys, how do you retrieve following seven steps will help you manage your keys effectively
keys when people leave the team and and securely:
rekey locks when keys are lost? 1. Keys should be accessible only to people whose official duties
These are all issues involved in main- require them. This sounds very obvious until you find out how
taining effective security using a lock- many people in your organization have keys because it is conve-
and-key method. The best way to nient for them rather than because their job requires it. Giving a
institute a key-based physical security secretary a key to the phone/server room so you don’t have to let
model is if you have only two keys the phone technicians in is not effective key control. Her job does
made for the server room. One should not include a requirement for access to the phone/server room.
be for you and one for your backup in
case you are hit by a bus on your way 2. If you have key control responsibilities for a high-security access
to work. Keys are like secrets. The area, you should have a plan for annual replacement of the lock-
odds of a secret remaining a secret ing mechanism. This can be a cabinet lock, a padlock, or in
are inversely proportional to how extreme cases, the lock on the door. This is especially important
many people know it. They say two in an area with high employee turnover, unless the tracking and
people can keep a secret as long as access to keys is very closely managed.
one of them is dead. Keys are not 3. Issue of keys to secure areas should be kept to an absolute mini-
quite as bad, but it’s also not a bad mum. In circumstances where keys are maintained centrally and
philosophy to follow. are issued to access an area or device (this could be a cabinet
key, a key to a server rack, or the key to a secure area), you
should follow these steps:
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 341
• Secure all keys in a locked, fireproof container when not in

use. Hanging the keys on the wall, sticking them in a desk
drawer where “no one knows they’re there,” or keeping them in
your pocket are not good methods for maintaining key control.
• Whenever possible, keys should not be issued to people, and

should not be allowed to leave the building. This prevents unau-
thorized copying of the keys. The “Do Not Copy” imprint on
many keys is not effective in preventing the copying of the key.
• You should maintain an access list of users who are autho-

rized to possess keys. This list should be stored in the key
control container to prevent alteration or misplacement. When
the person responsible for key control is asked to provide a
key, he should check the authorization list once the key control
container is opened.
4. Keep track of your keys. You should know how many keys have
been made for each lock, to whom they have been issued,
where the spares are stored, and whether the lock is on a build-
ing master key. You also need to ensure you know who has
access to that key, as well as ensure that there are effective key
control measures in effect for the building master keys. It is
also an excellent idea to make users sign for keys.
5. Inventory your keys at least once a year.
6. Make sure returning keys is on every exit checklist for departing

employees, and make sure that the list of keys issued to an
employee matches the list of keys returned.
7. Only one person should be authorized to create new, duplicate,

or replacement keys, to order new keys and locks, and to dis-
pose of keys. This authorization should always be in writing.
á Combination locking mechanisms. Using a combination

locking mechanism is just like locking up your high school
locker. The advantage to this method is that you no longer
have to distribute keys or maintain key control lists. You can
also reset the combination when your administrators leave.
The one drawback to this model is that it is very easy to share
a combination with someone who isn’t on the authorized
users list.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 342
IN THE FIELD
FIVE STEPS TO EFFECTIVE USE OF COMBINATIONS
If you are using combination locks to secure access to rooms,

servers, or media cabinets in your organization, the following five
steps will help you manage your keys effectively and securely:
1. Choose good combinations. A good combination should not be

made up of repeated numbers (for example, 1111), ascending
or descending numbers (for example, 1234 or 8765), be made
up of multiples (for example, 2468), or be a known number such
as a phone number or birth date. If it is an easy combination for
you to remember, it is probably an easy combination for some-
one to guess.
2. Fixed combination locks should never be used to secure sensi-

tive systems or data. Although the trusty Masterlock was great
for a high school locker, your sensitive data should be secured
by a configurable combination lock. If you cannot use a config-
urable lock, change the lock frequently.
3. Combinations of locks should be given only to people whose

official duties require access to them. This sounds very obvious
until you find out how many people in your organization have the
combination because it is convenient for them, and not because
their job requires it. Giving a secretary the combination to the
phone/server room so that you don’t have to let the phone tech-
nicians in is not effective security. Her job does not include a
requirement for access to the phone/server room.
4. Keep track of who has been given combinations. This should be

documented, not only so that you know who has access to an
area, but also so that you know who to tell when you change the
password. You should also have a written policy concerning dis-
closure of a combination without authorization. If possible, have
the person sign the policy and have the document stored in his
or her HR records.
5. Make sure you change the passwords whenever someone

leaves, not only if that person has the combination(s) but also
even if you suspect that he or she might have learned the
combination while working for the company.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 343
á Card readers and proximity readers. Probably the most com-
NOTE
mon of the access control mechanisms, these readers work by Who Was Sleeping in My Computer
reading a magnetic signature off an access card or token. The Room? You would think that with the
ability to tell which card was used to
advantage of this system over a key system is you can authorize
access the computer room, you would
and remove access from the central authentication server. So
be able to tell who was in stealing
instead of having to rekey a lock and redistribute keys, or reset a your servers. Unfortunately that is not
combination and redistribute the combination, you just need to the case. Although you can tell whose
turn off the access card or token. This yields a much more card was used to gain access, you
secure environment than the previous mechanisms. You also have no way of telling who was hold-
have the added benefit of being able to track access based on ing the card at the time.
access token. You can tell what token was used to access an area.
IN THE FIELD
ANOTHER TRUE STORY FROM THE FIELD
NOTE
What About Effective Card Control?
One company I used to work for paid an external security firm to The most effective way to ensure
perform a security audit of one of their facilities. The first thing the security using card readers is three-
security consultant did was ask someone in the hall who he fold. First, periodically review who has
needed to see to get a card for access to the building. When told been issued cards, and what areas
HR, he followed the signs and told the secretary in HR he was they have access to. Make sure they
working on a project and needed access to the building. The secre- are still appropriate. As an adjunct to
tary asked what parts of the building, he told her the entire build- that, also make sure that cards are
ing, and 5 minutes later badged himself into the data center. returned by departing employees, or
An uproar ensued, and procedures were promptly put in place to at least ensure their cards are
ensure that people would be authorized before receiving a card. deleted from the system after they
The next day the same consultant arrived in HR and requested card leave. Second, make sure no cards
access. The secretary, being aware of the new policy, asked who are issued without written authoriza-
had authorized his access. He gave her the name of the security tion. Finally, review usage. If you see
officer who had engaged him. Five minutes later he badged himself someone on the day shift is in the
into the data center again, with his shiny new access card. data center from 3:00 a.m. until 5:00
a.m. every night for a week, check
and make sure that he or she is
á Biometrics. Biometrics is the most promising access control supposed to be there.
technology on the horizon for future use. In fact some of these
products are available today, and as the cost comes down you
will see more and more of these systems in place. A biometrics-
based access control system uses measurable physical character-
istics to authenticate users into an environment. Examples of
biometrics that might be used to authenticate a user include
fingerprints, retinal patterns, or speech. There have even been
some discussions about using DNA or scent as the biometric
key for these systems in the future. Although the field is still in
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 344
its infancy, many people believe that biometrics will play a

NOTE
What About the Server under My critical role in future computers, and especially in electronic
Desk? You may have noticed that commerce. There are some concerns from privacy advocacy
this discussion does not cover how to groups that these types of authentication systems are an inva-
secure a server in a shared office
sion of privacy.
environment. That’s because you
really can’t secure a server in that
All right, now that you have learned the best way to keep the general
environment. It is very difficult to
secure the space under your desk.
public away from your equipment, it’s time to discuss some of the
Some of the server-specific pre- other things you should be doing to physically secure your server.
cautions won’t hurt, but you should
be aware that your server just isn’t
secure until there is a locked door Establish Anti-Theft Devices
between it and the rest of the world.
for Hardware
Now that you have secured the perimeter, consider some of the security
measures you can take in case an intruder sneaks in through a window.
NOTE
Lights . . . Camera . . . Action

Although not strictly a physical secu- á Server security (inherent). One of the most common security
rity mechanism, you should investi- measures is the locking mechanisms included as part of the
gate adding a video component to server itself. Most high-end servers enable you to lock the case,
your physical security plan. Having and in many cases to lock the drives into the server chassis. It is
cameras on key access points such always a good idea to keep your production servers locked with
as entries, elevators, and data center a good key management program in place so that you can find
doors is an excellent mechanism for
the key you need when the time comes to get into the server.
discouraging people from theft or
malicious acts. These cameras don’t
IN THE FIELD
need to be monitored around the
clock, but you should at least video
WHY SHOULD I LOCK MY SERVER?
tape the accesses and change the
tape once a day. You should save at This is another true story. I was working in a NetWare environment
least one week’s worth of video, back in the days before Windows NT had been released. I had
although a month is an even better installed a server about a month before I got the call; the server
idea if practical. You may not be was crashing regularly. We had standardized on a specific network
aware of a theft for 10 days and being interface card for new servers, and in this server I knew I had fol-
able to go back to the tape to see lowed the standard because I had provisioned the hardware and
who has been in the area is invalu- performed the installation. I arrived onsite and started checking out
able in recovering your assets and the server. Memory utilization was fine, all the hard drives were
prosecuting the guilty party. spinning, and the server applications didn’t appear to be mis-
behaving. I was doing a physical inspection of the server and I
noticed something odd. Somehow it had two network interface
cards in it. I knew I had only installed one. As it turned out,
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 345
someone in one of the other departments was having problems

with his network adapters, so he removed them from their servers
and put them in this one. He even loaded the correct drivers so
that no one would be able to tell that he had performed a five-
finger upgrade to his own system. The customer had to purchase
another network interface card to replace the one that had
been stolen.
á Server racks. The logical follow-up to securing the server is

securing the rack in which the server is mounted. Almost all rack
systems include locking front and back doors. Where people will
tend to get into trouble is when they decide to save some money
and not order the back door for the rack, or they skip the side
panels. This is akin to putting a deadbolt on the front door of
your new house, but forgetting to actually build the back wall of
the house. Not a good idea. This is another instance where good
key control is critical. You don’t want to have a server down and
not be able to fix it because the person with the keys took the
day off and forgot to take her pager home.
á Add-on server security. In addition to the built-in security of
the server itself, you might want to use some additional devices
to ensure your server remains secure, including the following:
• Removable media drive locks. These are locking devices
that fit over the floppy drive, Zip drive, and
CD-ROM drive to prevent unauthorized access.
Information can’t be loaded or copied without by-
passing this additional hardware. As an example,
Kensington makes a product for securing floppy
drives called FloppyLock, which can be found at
www.kensington.com.
• Additional server case locks. Some servers ship with holes

in the case predrilled for a padlock, and there are also
third-party products that can be added to secure a
server. In an office environment, it is sometimes worth
the money to invest in the cabling security products
that will enable you to tie the server physically to a
desk, similar to the way bike locks work.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 346
• Alarms. The final add-on is really best suited for the

shared office environment, and is really a paranoid
adaptation of a notebook security product. If you are
concerned that someone is going to physically remove
your server, you can add a motion-sensitive alarm to
the server to alert you when the server is moved. This
is only a recommendation for extremely open environ-
ments with a history of thefts. It is not needed in
most environments.
Limiting Access to Removable Media

The final subject with regard to physical security is the security of
your removable media, which includes the following:
á Removable disks (floppy, Zip, Jaz, LS120, CD-RW)
á Removable hard drives
á Backup media (tapes)
As discussed in the preceding section, devices are available to secure

the drives for this media. But what about the media itself?
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 347
IN THE FIELD
FOR WANT OF A TAPE, THE DEPARTMENT WAS LOST
One of my customers in the early 1990s was using the open-office

environment for their workgroup server. They were a product devel-
opment organization, and they had a server with a RAID array that
they backed up religiously. The backup tapes were stored right next
to the server, so that in the event of a problem, the data could be
restored immediately.
On Friday a decision was made to let one of the developers go. He
wasn’t performing his job adequately. Unfortunately he discovered
he was going to be let go the day before he was supposed to.
Mysteriously the hard drives in the server crashed that evening,
and all the backup tapes disappeared. These events were never
proven to have been the result of this individual’s actions, but the
department spent the better part of a month re-creating all the
data on the server. Much of it had to be rewritten from printouts
and memory.
Several methods are typically used to ensure the security of your

removable media, including the following:
á Lock the media in an office.
á Place the media in a locked cabinet with strict key control.
á Place the media in a safe, or even better, a firesafe.
á Engage a third-party firm to store the tapes in their
secure facility.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 348
CHAPTER SUMMARY
This chapter has discussed a number of environmental factors that
KEY TERMS
could impact the heath and well being of your server, including the
• Biometrics following:
• Blackout á Temperature
• British thermal unit (BTU) á Humidity
• Brownout á Air quality
• Clamping speed á Power-line issues
• Clamping voltage á Fire suppression
• Electrostatic discharge (ESD) á Flooding
• Sag á Electrostatic discharge
• Spike á Server state
• Surge
This chapter discussed these environmental factors with an eye
• Transients toward three different types of server environments:
• Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) á Open-office environment. This environment typically has
• VA (volt-ampere) servers in either a cube or someone’s office, and is common in
smaller companies, or for development servers.
á Server room. The server room is a room dedicated to com-
puting equipment. You will generally find dedicated server
rooms in branch offices of larger companies, or in companies
where there are enough people to require network cabling and
phone wiring.
á Computer data center. A computer data center is the ideal
place to store your server. An environmentally controlled,
secure, raised-floor area specifically designed for storing large
numbers of servers, minicomputers, and mainframes—these
are expensive areas generally limited to larger companies.
The important thing to understand when you are designing your server
environment, or adding a new server to an existing environment, is
what the operating requirements for that server are. For this exercise,
the server’s specifications are your best friend. If you don’t understand
what type of environment your server needs to function, you will not
be able to complete your installation and ongoing support successfully.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 349
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Next you learned some of the aspects of physical security. The first
important concept dealt with securing the computing environment.
The key methods include the following:
á Lock and key
á Combination locking mechanisms
á Card readers and proximity readers
á Biometrics
The discussion then turned to some of the anti-theft measures you

can take in your server environment. This is not only for the server
itself, but also for any removable media that might have server infor-
mation on it.
á Server security (inherent). Always use the locking mecha-
nisms included as part of the server.
á Server racks. Be sure to use a rack system with locking front
and back doors.
á Add-on server security. If the security of the server and the
rack are not sufficient, you can also use additional devices
such as removable media drive locks, additional server case
locks, or alarms.
The chapter concluded with a discussion of the importance of secur-

ing the removable media itself. You should always secure removable
media, such as removable disks or backup media, in a locked cabi-
net, safe, or in an outside storage location; and you should ensure
any removable hard drives (hot-swap drives) are locked in the chas-
sis, or otherwise secured. All the security in the world won’t help if
someone can just pull your drives and walk out.
Now that you have a thorough understanding of the environmental
and physical security issues associated with deploying a server, test
your understanding of these issues with some review questions.
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 350
Exercises 9. Are all production servers secured within a locked
rack?
6.1 Complete a Physical Security Review 10. Are the cases on all production servers locked,
Checklist and is access to the keys controlled?
The purpose of this exercise is to get you thinking 11. Is removable media kept secured at all times?
about the factors involved in reviewing physical secu- Where is this media secured (desk, locked cabi-
rity issues. This checklist is a good basis for a physical net, next to the server, offsite)?
security review, but should in no way be considered
exhaustive. 12. How recently have the physical security measures
been audited? Was it an internal or external
Estimated Time: 30 minutes. audit? Were deficiencies revealed corrected?
In your computing environment, complete the follow- 13. If a card reader system is being used, how often is
ing checklist concerning the physical security of the usage monitored? By whom?
facility. If you do not have access to a computing
environment, you can use a public library, university,
or other public area that contains computers. 6.2 Complete an Environmental Review
Checklist
1. How are the premises protected against external
intruders (guards, cameras, fences, secure parking The purpose of this exercise is to get you thinking about
area)? the factors involved in checking for environmental issues.
This checklist is a good basis for an environmental
2. How is the building protected (security doors, review, but should in no way be considered exhaustive.
locked/barred windows, building guards)?
3. How is access to sensitive areas within the build-
ing maintained (keys, combination locks, prox- In your computing environment, complete the follow-
imity readers)? ing checklist concerning the computing environment.
If you do not have access to a computing environment,
4. Who controls access to the sensitive areas of the you can use a public library, university, or other public
building (facilities, security, IT)? area that contains computers.
5. Is there a security alarm on the building? On the 1. Are all your servers located in an environmentally
sensitive areas within the building? controlled space (data center, air conditioned
6. How frequently is access to sensitive areas reviewed server room)?
(monthly, semi-annually, annually, never)? 2. Is adequate fire protection in place for the com-
7. Are key control/card control measures in place puting environment (fire suppression, building
for departing employees? firewalls, fireproof doors)?
8. Are all production servers secured within a con- 3. Are all servers on uninterruptible power supplies?
trolled access area? Do these UPSs provide enough power to ensure
the controlled shutdown of the server?
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 351
4. If the servers are located in a rack, are there fans 3. You’re the administrator of Little Faith Enterprise’s
in the rack to provide sufficient cooling? network. Your manager has asked you to install
three mission-critical mail servers in your location.
5. Are fire extinguishers of the correct type available
What environmental factors should you consider
for fire outbreaks outside of the computer room?
before installing these servers?
Is this a building sprinkler system, fire extin-
guishers, or both? 4. Where can you find the information you need to
determine whether your operating environment
6. Is the facility on a flood plain?
will support the server you want to deploy?
7. Are the computers stored in a facility with good
5. You’re a LAN administrator for Think About IT
air quality? Areas of concern include office
Consulting Services Company. You have noticed
environments where a lot of printing occurs,
that that the server backup tapes for your depart-
construction areas, manufacturing floors, and
ment’s server are stored in a cardboard box under
smoking areas.
the table the server is on. Why is this a problem,
8. Are measures in place to reduce or prevent ESD and how should you correct it?
(mats, static bags, static straps)?
9. Is the temperature monitored? How often?
10. Is the server’s operating state (temperature, line
Exam Questions
voltage) monitored? Are alerts generated on an 1. You are the network administrator for Wild
error condition (sag, temperature exceeds operat- Widgets Inc. and have been asked to install a badge
ing limits)? reader system to secure your computer data center.
Which of the following are advantages of a badge
reader system?
Review Questions i. Low cost.
1. You are the network administrator for Exponent
ii. Eliminates the need for key control.
Mathematicians and your manager has asked you
to “lock up those servers!” He recommends that iii. Allows for more flexible access management.
you have a lock installed on the server room and
iv. Enables you to track who accesses a spe-
distribute keys to the rest of your team. What are
cific area.
the benefits and drawbacks to this security
method? v. Badges are easier to distribute and main-
tain than keys.
2. What are the advantages and drawbacks to each
A. ii, iii, and v
of the remaining access control mechanisms dis-
cussed in the chapter? Which is the most appro- B. i and iv
priate for your environment? C. i only
D. iv only
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 352
2. You are the system administrator for Phil’s Phill-up 4. You are the LAN administrator for Little Faith
Stations, a chain of gas stations. As part of your Enterprises Meat Packing. Your manager wants to
responsibilities you have been asked to add surge be able to track who goes in and out of the meat
suppressors to all the servers to prevent an outage refrigerators to prevent theft.
in the event of a lightning strike or power surge.
Which technology do you choose?
What two factors should you consider when
A. Lock and key
selecting your surge suppressor?
B. Combination lock
i. Clamping speed
C. Badge reader
ii. Clamping voltage
D. Biometric system
iii. Amperage
5. You are the lead engineer for Little Faith
iv. Number of outlets
Enterprises. You are installing a server in your
v. Surge capacity data center. You notice that the data center is get-
ting very hot, and you need to keep your systems
A. i and iii
cool. It appears the air conditioner is failing.
B. i and ii What are some ways of cooling the system?
C. ii and iv i. Rent a portable air conditioner.
D. iv and v ii. Remove the cover of the server.
3. You are the LAN administrator for the OUI iii. Power off unused or unnecessary equipment.
Find-em detective agency. You are using a phone
iv. Open a window or door.
closet as your computer room, and your server
just caught on fire. Which of the following would A. i and ii
be appropriate for putting out the fire?
B. ii and iii
i. A BC-type fire extinguisher
C. iii and iv
ii. An AD-type fire extinguisher
D. i and iii
iii. An ABD-type fire extinguisher
6. You are the network administrator for the Hittem
iv. An ABC-type fire extinguisher Boxing Glove Corporation. You are installing
three new servers in your data center, and want to
v. A bucket of water
rack mount them.
A. i and ii
What features should you be looking for in a rack
B. ii and iii system to ensure the adequate cooling and good
C. i and iv physical security?
D. iv and v
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 353
i. Front and rear locking doors 8. You are the LAN administrator for UR Write
Publishing, a publishing company. You are
ii. Side panels
responsible for maintaining the data center envi-
iii. A KVM switch ronment. You have been tasked with providing
iv. Fans power fault tolerance for your mission-critical
data center.
v. Cable management
What is the best solution for providing power
A. i, iii, and v fault tolerance in a data center?
B. ii, iv, and v A. Surge suppressor
C. i, ii, and iv B. Battery backup
D. iii, iv, and v C. Uninterruptible power supply
7. You manage the servers for the Bang Bang D. Backup generator
Hammer Corporation. Your director is very con-
cerned about protecting the system from power 9. You are the collaborative computing administra-
problems since his neighbor’s house was hit by tor for the Call-me Telephone Company. You
lightning. have just installed your first UPS and are plug-
ging in devices.
What are the three types of power-line conditions
he needs to worry about? Which of the following should you plug into the
UPS?
i. Wrong amperage
i. Server
ii. Too many watts
ii. Monitor
iii. Line transients
iii. Router
iv. Low voltage
iv. Printer
v. Outage
v. Copier
A. i, ii, and iii
A. i and v
B. ii, iii, and iv
B. iv and v
C. iii, iv, and v
C. i, ii, and iii
D. i, iii, and v
D. iii, iv, and v
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 354
10. You are the server administrator for Jim’s House of • Card readers and proximity readers. The
Wrenches. Your main data center just had a pipe advantage of this system over a key system is
burst in the hallway outside your data center. Your you can authorize and remove access from the
data center is in danger of filling with water. central authentication server. You can also
track access based on access token. This is
What is the first thing you should do to protect
generally a more expensive solution, and you
your equipment?
have to deal with lost tokens.
A. Call your insurance company.
• Biometrics. The advantage to biometrics is
B. Unplug all the servers. there is no key control, because you are using
C. Remove all the hard drives from the servers. a person’s characteristics (fingerprints and so
forth) for access control. This is a very new
D. If your backup media is stored in the data technology, and is still very expensive.
center, move it to a dry location.
For more information, see the section “Physically
Securing the Data Center/Computer Room.”
Answers to Review Questions 3. The environmental factors you need to be aware of

include temperature, humidity, air quality, power-
1. Using a lock and key has the following advan- line issues, fire suppression, flooding, electrostatic
tages. It is a familiar, tested security model that is discharge, and the server state. For more informa-
generally cost effective. The main drawback is tion, see the section “Environmental Issues.”
maintaining key control. For more information,
see the section “Physically Securing the Data 4. You can usually find all the answers to the server’s
Center/Computer Room.” operating requirements in the server specification
sheet. If you cannot find this sheet, the manufac-
2. The remaining methods for access control are as turer or vendor should be able to provide the
follows: information you need. For more information, see
• Combination locking mechanisms. The the section “Environmental Issues.”
advantage to this method is that you no 5. Those tapes hold a copy of every byte of data on
longer have to worry about key control, and your server. If someone wants to get a look at
you can reset the password periodically. The your confidential marketing plans, all he needs to
one drawback to this model is the fact that it do is take that cardboard box, restore the data
is very easy to share a combination with some- from tape, and do some reading. The tapes
one who isn’t on the authorized users list. should be secured in a cabinet, a safe, or ideally
by an offsite data repository service. For more
information, see the section “Limiting Access to
Removable Media.”
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 355
Answers to Exam Questions 5. D. Adding additional cooling capabilities and
reducing the number of heat-generating devices
1. A. Using a badge reader removes the need for key are both excellent ideas. Removing the cover of
control, enables you to be more flexible in what the server actually can make the heat a bigger
areas people can access; and because badges can problem, because many servers incorporate the
be disabled if lost or stolen, they are also easier to cover into the cooling mechanism of the server.
distribute than keys. It is not a low-cost solution, Most data centers don’t have windows, due to the
so i is not the correct answer; iv is incorrect security issues, and it would really only help cool
because all you can tell is what badge was used to the room if it were winter, and you weren’t in a
enter the area, and not who physically used the hot part of the country. For more information,
badge, you can’t track the actual person who see the section “Temperature.”
accessed an area. For more information, see the
section “Physically Securing the Data 6. C. To secure the rack, you need locking front and
Center/Computer Room.” rear doors, and a fan will help keep the systems
cool. Although a KVM switch and cable manage-
2. B. When you are looking for a surge suppressor, ment are nice features, they don’t contribute to the
you really want to look at the clamping speed environment or security of the rack. For more
and voltage. The speed tells you how quickly the information, see the sections “Temperature” and
suppressor will respond to a voltage spike, and “Establish Anti-Theft Devices for Hardware.”
the clamping voltage tells you how much voltage
it will take to trigger the suppressor. The amper- 7. C. Transients, low voltage, and outage are the
age is not really a function of the surge suppres- three conditions to worry about. Wrong amper-
sion, and the number of outlets won’t help age and too many watts are not problems that
prevent an outage. The surge capacity is a occur. For more information, see the section
meaningless term. For more information, see “Power-Line Issues.”
the section “Power-Line Issues.” 8. D. Although all these provide some type of fault
3. C. BC or ABC are the types of fire extinguishers tolerance for power, the backup generator is the
that should be used in the event of a fire in your best solution for a data center environment. It is
server. An AD or ABD wouldn’t have the proper certainly not the least expensive. For more infor-
chemicals for combating an electrical fire. Water mation, see the section “Power-Line Issues.”
is always a bad idea with electrical equipment. 9. C. A server, monitor, and router are all
For more information, see the section “Fire relatively low-power, mission-critical devices.
Suppression.” Devices such as printers and copiers have such
4. D. You need a biometric system, because that is high power requirements that they will burn out
the only technology that enables you to track the a UPS. For more information, see the section
individual based on his/her physical characteristics. “Power-Line Issues.”
For more information, see the section “Physically
Securing the Data Center/Computer Room.”
11 Serv+ Ch_06 7/10/01 9:54 AM Page 356
10. D. Although A, B, and C are all possible answers,
your first concern should be protecting the data.
Get your tapes out of there. Then save whatever
servers you can, keeping in mind electricity and
water is a dangerous combination. For more
information, see the section “Flooding.”
1. Tyska, Louis A. and Lawrence J. Fennelly. 2. Toigo, Jon William. Disaster Recovery Planning,
Physical Security: 150 Things You Should Know, Prentice Hall PRT, 2000.
Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/11/01 10:04 AM Page 357
OBJECTIVES
This chapter covers the CompTIA-specified objectives

for the Troubleshooting and Problem Determination
section of the Server+ Certification exam.
6.1 Perform problem determination
• Use questioning techniques to determine
what, how, when
• Identify contact(s) responsible for problem
resolution
• Use senses to observe problem (e.g., smell of
smoke, observation of unhooked cable, etc.)
determine the problem with a network server by
using questioning techniques, as well as his or her
personal senses. A server hardware specialist should
know the proper contact people who can aid in
problem resolution.
6.2 Use diagnostic hardware and software
tools and utilities
• Identify common diagnostic tools across the
following OSs: Microsoft Windows
NT/2000, Novell NetWare, UNIX, Linux,
IBM OS/2
• Perform shutdown across the following OSs:
Microsoft Windows NT/2000, Novell
NetWare, UNIX, Linux, IBM OS/2
• Replace defective hardware components
as appropriate
C H A P T E R 7
6.0—Troubleshooting
and Problem
Determination
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 358
OBJECTIVES OUTLINE
• Identify defective FRUs and replace with Introduction 361

correct part
• Interpret error logs, operating system errors, Performing Problem Determination 361
health logs, and critical events
Using Questioning Techniques 362
• Use documentation from previous technician Identifying Contacts 362
successfully
Using Your Senses 363
• Locate and effectively use hot tips (e.g., fixes,
OS updates, E-support, web pages, CDs) Using Diagnostic Hardware and Software
Tools and Utilities 364
• Gather resources to get problem solved:
• Identify situations requiring call for Diagnostic Tools by Operating System 365
assistance Microsoft Windows NT Server 365
System Tools for Microsoft Windows
• Acquire appropriate documentation NT Server 365
• Describe how to perform remote trou- Task Manager 365
bleshooting for a Wake-On-LAN Windows NT Diagnostics 367
• Describe how to perform remote trou- Event Viewer 369
bleshooting for a remote alert. Network Diagnostic Tools for Microsoft
Windows NT 371
Ipconfig 371
use diagnostic hardware and software tools and util-
Nbtstat 372
ities to diagnose problems with a network server.
Netstat 374
6.3 Identify bottlenecks (e.g., processor, Nslookup 376
bus transfer, I/O, disk I/O, network Ping 377
I/O, memory) Tracert 378
. Every server hardware specialist should be able to Microsoft Windows 2000 Server 379
determine which network server component is System Tools for Microsoft
causing a performance bottleneck and be able to Windows 2000 379
take corrective action to eliminate the bottleneck. Task Manager 379
6.4 Identify and correct misconfigurations Computer Management 381
and/or upgrades Event Viewer 382
Network Diagnostic Tools for
. Every server hardware specialist should be able to Microsoft Windows 2000 385
identify and correct network server problems that Ipconfig 385
are caused by misconfigurations and/or upgrades. Nbtstat 387
6.5 Determine if problem is hardware, soft- Netdiag 388
ware or virus related Netstat 392
Nslookup 394
Ping 395
determine whether a problem with a network server
is caused by hardware, software, or a computer virus. Tracert 397
Pathping 398
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 359
OUTLINE
Novell NetWare 399 Microsoft Windows NT/2000

System Tools for Novel NetWare 400 Newsgroups 418
Network Diagnostic Tools for Novell IBM OS/2 Newsgroups 418
NetWare 401 Novell NetWare Newsgroups 419
UNIX/Linux 401 UNIX Newsgroups 419
System Tools for UNIX/Linux 401 Linux Newsgroups 419
Network Diagnostic Tools for Network Server Hardware Vendor
UNIX/Linux 402 Web Sites 419
Ifconfig 402 Server Vendors 419
Netstat 402 Network Operating System Vendor
Ping 405 Web Sites 420
Traceroute 406 Gathering Resources 420
IBM OS/2 Warp Server 407 Remote Troubleshooting for a
System Tools for IBM OS/2 Warp Wake-On-LAN 421
Server 407 Remote Troubleshooting for a Remote
Network Diagnostic Tools for IBM OS/2 Alert 421
Warp Server 407
Tcpcfg 407
Identifying Bottlenecks 422
Ping 407
Netstat 408 Processor Bottlenecks 427
Ifconfig 408 Memory Bottlenecks 428
Tracerte 409 Disk Subsystem Bottlenecks 429
System Shutdown 409 Network Subsystem Bottlenecks 430
Microsoft Windows NT Server
Shutdown 410
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Identifying and Correcting
Shutdown 411 Misconfigurations and/or Upgrades 431
Novell NetWare Shutdown 411 Troubleshooting Disk Drives 431
UNIX Shutdown 412 Troubleshooting a SCSI Subsystem 432
Linux Shutdown 413
Troubleshooting an ATA Subsystem 433
IBM OS/2 Shutdown 414
Troubleshooting an Ultra ATA Subsystem 434
Selecting the Appropriate Tool and Using
it Effectively 414 General Network Troubleshooting 434
Replacing Defective Hardware Troubleshooting TCP/IP Network
Components 415 Problems 434
Identifying and Replacing Defective Field Troubleshooting Boot Failure 438
Replaceable Units 415
Interpreting Error logs, Operating System Determining Whether a Problem is
Errors, Health Logs, and Critical Events 416 Hardware, Software, or Virus Related 438
Using Documentation 417
Locating and Using Support Resources 417 Chapter Summary 439
Newsgroups 418
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 360
To prepare for the Troubleshooting and Problem . Use the ExamGear test on the CD-ROM that
Determination objectives of the Server+ exam, do accompanies this book for additional Exam
the following: Questions concerning this material.
. Read the objectives at the beginning of this . Review the Exam Tips available in various places
chapter. in this chapter. Make certain that you under-
. Study the information in this chapter. stand the information in the Exam Tip. If you
don’t fully understand the exam tip, review the
. Review the objectives again. information in the chapter related to this topic.
end of the chapter and check your results
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 361
Chapter 7 6.0—TROUBLESHOOTING AND PROBLEM DETERMINATION 361
INTRODUCTION
This chapter covers the Troubleshooting and Problem Determination
(hardware and software) section of the Server+ exam. This job
dimension is the topic of approximately 27% of the exam questions.
As with any troubleshooting task, knowledge of how the system
works proves very useful in finding and eliminating the problem. The
same applies here; knowledge from the other chapters of this book is
very useful in troubleshooting problems with a network server.
Not only does this chapter cover troubleshooting techniques, it also
discusses ways to find network server bottlenecks. You will also learn
various ways to eliminate network server bottlenecks.
PERFORMING PROBLEM
DETERMINATION
. 6.1 Perform problem determination
• Use questioning techniques to determine what, how, when
• Identify contact(s) responsible for problem resolution
• Use senses to observe problem (e.g., smell of smoke, obser-
vation of unhooked cable, etc.)
Troubleshooting is often more of an art than a science. The ability
to be a good troubleshooter is frequently found in people who
always break everything into very small logical steps and then follow
those steps to a very logical conclusion. There are way too many
people whose approach to troubleshooting is more like firing a shot-
gun than a rifle. With the shotgun approach to troubleshooting,
many solutions are tried at one time in the hope that one of them
will solve the problem. This is not the correct approach to trou-
bleshooting. Effective troubleshooting is a methodical process, where
there is only one change made at a time.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 362
Using Questioning Techniques

The first of the troubleshooting arts is the ability to figure out
exactly what the problem is. To reach this goal, you need to ask and
answer many questions.
Just like a good newspaper article answers the six questions (who,
what, where, when, why, and how) a good troubleshooter seeks
answers to the same six questions related to network server problems.
Typical questions about a problem with a network server include:
When was the last time that the network server was operational?
What has changed since the last time the network server was
operational?
What hardware has been recently added to the network server?
What software has been recently added to the network server?
Who first reported the problem with the network server?
Where is the network server logbook?
How is the failure of the network server affecting the operation of
the corporation?
Of course, you may also ask other questions, but this group should
cover most of the ground. In addition to asking questions of those
directly connected to the server’s operation, you can certainly benefit
from talking to other contacts as well.
Contacts Know the correct person

Identifying Contacts
TIP
to contact for specific information. To aid in troubleshooting some problems, the server hardware spe-
Have that information on hand and cialist should maintain a list of contact people who can offer assis-
EXAM
readily available. tance for specific problems.

If the server room is too hot or too humid, for example, the server
hardware specialist will need to contact the people responsible for
the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment.
Know who that person is before this happens.
Another example: The UPS log shows that at 6 a.m. every day for
the past 5 days, a power loss to the network server has occurred
(each loss lasting exactly 5 minutes). In this case, the server hardware
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 363
specialist will need to contact the people responsible for electrical

power to the server room, probably the building superintendent.
Other contact names that the server hardware specialist should have
available include the network administrator, the Internet service
provider (ISP), the network server administrator, and the Information
Technology (IT) director. A server hardware specialist should also have
contact information for a more experienced server hardware specialist,
a network operating system specialist, and a network specialist.
Other information that the server hardware specialist should have
handy is contact information for the hardware vendor’s technical
support hotline. Information on the network server should be avail-
able to provide to the vendor’s technical support people include the
serial number of the network server, any service agreement contracts,
warranty information, and account numbers.
Using Your Senses
NOTE
A good troubleshooter uses his or her senses to help find problems. specialist’s tool kit should include a
Questions that can be answered by senses include: digital thermometer. The digital ther-
mometer can be used to get an exact
Is the server room too hot? temperature reading for the server
Is the server room too humid (above the maximum operating room.
humidity for the equipment)?
Is there the smell of something burning in the server room?
Is smoke visible in the server room?
NOTE
Are server alarms sounding? Add to Tool Kit A server hardware

Are UPS alarms sounding? hygrometer (humidity meter). The
Are error lights flashing on disk drives? hygrometer can be used to get an
Are any of the network server components hot to the touch? exact humidity reading for the server
room.
Are power cords disconnected from any of the components?
Are network cables disconnected from any of the network
devices, including the servers?
Are all external SCSI cables properly connected?
Using your senses to answer these basic questions is an integral part

of troubleshooting. Also important are hardware and software tools
and utilities.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 364
USING DIAGNOSTIC HARDWARE AND

SOFTWARE TOOLS AND UTILITIES
. 6.2 Use diagnostic hardware and software tools and utilities
• Identify common diagnostic tools across the following
OS: Microsoft Windows NT/2000, Novell NetWare,
UNIX, Linux, IBM OS/2
• Perform shut down across the following OS: Microsoft
Windows NT/2000, Novell NetWare, UNIX, Linux,
IBM OS/2
• Replace defective hardware components as appropriate
• Identify defective FRUs and replace with correct part
• Interpret error logs, operating system errors, health logs,
and critical events
• Use documentation from previous technician successfully
• Locate and effectively use hot tips (e.g., fixes, OS updates,
E-support, web pages, CDs)
• Gather resources to get problem solved:
• Identify situations requiring call for assistance
• Acquire appropriate documentation
• Describe how to perform remote troubleshooting for a
wake-On-LAN
• Describe how to perform remote troubleshooting for a
remote alert.
Most network server operating systems include some diagnostic soft-
ware tools. In addition, some network server vendors include diag-
nostics that are not operating system dependent on the diagnostic
partition of the network server’s disk drives. These diagnostics are
used to configure and test the hardware in the network server. These
built-in tools almost always include the ability to test the memory in
the network server.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 365
Other diagnostic software tools are a standard part of the network

server operating system. Diagnostic software tools are also available
from third-party vendors.
Diagnostic Tools by Operating System

The following sections address general troubleshooting tools and net-
work diagnostic tools for a number of different operating systems.
Microsoft Windows NT Server

Microsoft’s Windows NT Server includes several tools that are very
useful for troubleshooting. Some are more central to the operating
system itself, whereas others are more network-centered. The various
types of tools are discussed in the following sections.
System Tools for Microsoft Windows NT Server

Task Manager, Windows NT Diagnostics, and Event Viewer are
each useful in its own way for troubleshooting system resources.
Task Manager
The Windows NT Task Manager has three basic functions. Task
Manager enables you to see the current processor and memory uti-
lization on the Performance tab (see Figure 7.1). It also enables you
to see what processes are running on the network server by looking
FIGURE 7.1
Windows NT Task Manager Performance tab.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 366
at the Processes tab. Processes can also be “ended” or “killed” from

this tab in Task Manager (see Figure 7.2). You can also view, on the
Applications tab, the applications or programs running on the net-
work server. You can end or kill applications from the Applications
tab of Task Manager (see Figure 7.3).
FIGURE 7.2
Windows NT Task Manager Processes tab.
FIGURE 7.3
Windows NT Task Manager Applications tab.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 367
To start the Windows NT Server Task Manager, right-click any

unoccupied space on the taskbar and select Task Manager.
Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+Alt+Del and select Task Manager
from the dialog box that appears. Yet another way to start Task
Manager is to click the Start menu, select Run, and enter taskman
in the run dialog box.
Windows NT Diagnostics
The Windows NT Diagnostics program provides a huge amount of
information about the network server. Windows NT Diagnostics is
an enhanced version of the old Microsoft Diagnostics (MSD.EXE)
from Windows 3.1. Perhaps the most useful enhancement is the
addition of a Print button (see Figure 7.4). The Print button will
print a detailed report about the hardware and software installed in
the network server. You should generate and save this report after
every new network server installation.
The Windows NT Diagnostics window contains the following nine
tabs, each of which provides information about the network server:
á Version tab. The Version tab contains information on the ver-
sion of Windows NT Server running on the network server,
the service pack level that has been installed, and the registered
owner of the software.
FIGURE 7.4
Windows NT Diagnostics.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 368
á System tab. The System tab contains information about the

network server itself (such as the BIOS date and system name),
the HAL (hardware abstraction layer) being used, and infor-
mation about the processor(s) installed in the network server.
á Display tab. The Display tab contains information about the
video adapter that is in the network server and the version of
the software driver for the video adapter.
á Drives tab. The Drives tab displays information about the
drives in the network service. These can be displayed either
by drive type (floppy, local hard drives, and CD-ROM) or
ordered by drive letter. To display information about the disk
drive and the file system that it contains, just selecting a drive
and click Properties.
á Memory tab. The Memory tab displays information about the
actual memory installed in the network server and its current
utilization. Information about the location and size of the
paging file(s) also displays on this tab.
á Services tab. The Services tab displays the name and status of
all services currently installed on the network server. To get
detailed information about the service or device driver, just
Select the Devices button on this tab to display the device
drives currently installed on the network server, and then select
any single service or device driver and click Properties.
á Resources tab. The Resources tab has multiple displays. It can
display interrupts (IRQ) used, I/O ports used, direct memory
access channels (DMA) used, memory used, and devices.
á Environment tab. The Environment tab can display the
names and values of the current system or local user environ-
ment variables.
á Network tab. The Network tab can display general informa-
tion about the network to which the network server is
attached, the transports (protocols and hardware addresses of
NICs), network settings, and current network statistics.
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As you can imagine, the Windows NT Diagnostics program can

provide a wealth of information that can be utilized to help trouble-
shoot a problem with the network server.
To start the Windows NT Diagnostics program, select Start, Program,
Administrative Tools, Windows NT Diagnostics. Alternatively, click
Start, Run, and type winmsd in the Run dialog box.
Event Viewer
The Windows NT Event Viewer is used to view the three logs that
are generated by Windows NT: the System log, the Security log, and
the Application log.
The first log is the System log. The System log contains entries
about services starting, stopping, or failing to load or start. This is
the first place to look if the message One or More Services Failed
to Start appears on the network server monitor. Figure 7.5 shows
an example of the Event Viewer displaying the System log.
The second log is the Security log. The Security log is empty unless
Auditing has been enabled on the network server. If Auditing is
enabled, entries appear in the Security log each time an audited
event is performed. Figure 7.6 shows an example of the Event
Viewer displaying the Security log.
FIGURE 7.5
Windows NT Event Viewer System log.
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The third log is the Application log. It is used by various services or

applications on the network server to record their activity. This log is
used by such services as the Windows NT WINS service and the
Windows NT DHCP service to record their activity reading and
writing their databases. Other services and programs use the
Application log to record significant events. Figure 7.7 shows an
example of the Event Viewer displaying the Application log.
FIGURE 7.6
Windows NT Event Viewer Security log.
FIGURE 7.7
Windows NT Event Viewer Application log.
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To run the Windows NT Server Event Viewer, click Start, Programs,

Administrative Tools, Event Viewer. Alternatively, click Start, Run,
and type eventvwr in the Run dialog Box.
Network Diagnostic Tools for Microsoft

Windows NT
Microsoft’s Windows NT includes several tools used specifically
to troubleshoot Windows NT networking problems, including
Ipconfig, Nbtstat, Netstat, Nslookup, Ping, and Tracert.
ipconfig
The Windows NT Server ipconfig command enables you to
display the TCP/IP protocol configuration for the network server.
The ipconfig command is accessed from the Windows NT
command prompt. The flags available for the Windows NT Server
ipconfig command are as follows:
C:\>ipconfig /?
Windows NT IP Configuration
usage: ipconfig [/? | /all | /release [adapter] | /renew

➥[adapter]]
/? Display this help message.

/all Display full configuration information.
/release Release the IP address for the
➥specified adapter.
/renew Renew the IP address for the specified
➥adapter.
The default is to display only the IP address, subnet mask, and

default gateway for each adapter bound to TCP/IP.
For release and renew, if no adapter name is specified, the IP address
leases for all adapters bound to TCP/IP will be released or renewed.
The following listing shows example of output from a Windows NT
Server ipconfig command:
C:\>ipconfig
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Ethernet adapter CpqNF31:
IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 10.20.30.40
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . : 10.20.30.1
The following listing shows an example of the output using the

Windows NT Server ipconfig /all switch:
C:\>ipconfig /all
Host Name . . . . . . . . . : nt-pdc.mysite.com

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . : 10.20.30.103
Node Type . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
NetBIOS Scope ID. . . . . . :
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . : No
NetBIOS Resolution Uses DNS : No
Ethernet adapter CpqNF31:
Description . . . . . . . . : Compaq NetFlex-3

➥Driver, Version 4.13
Physical Address. . . . . . : 01-88-5F-12-D1-99
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 10.20.30.40
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . : 10.20.30.1
Primary WINS Server . . . . : 10.20.30.9
Secondary WINS Server . . . : 10.20.30.18
nbtstat
The Windows NT Server nbtstat command enables you to
NOTE
Flags Are Case Sensitive Note that

the –r flag and the –R flag on the display information about sessions that are using NetBIOS over
Windows NT Server nbtstat com- TCP/IP (NBT). The flags available for the Windows NT Server
mand have different meanings. The nbtstat command are
flags have different meaning based on
whether they are uppercase or lower- C:\>nbtstat
case.
Displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections
➥using NBT (NetBIOS over TCP/IP).
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 373
nbtstat [-a RemoteName] [-A IP address] [-c] [-n]

[-r] [-R] [-RR] [-s] [-S] [interval] ]
-a (adapter status) Lists the remote machine’s name table given its name.
-A (Adapter status) Lists the remote machine’s name table given its
➥IP address.
-c (cache) Lists the global remote name cache including the IP
➥addresses.
-C (cache) Lists the remote name cache with IP addresses on a
➥per-device basis.
-n (names) Lists local NetBIOS names.
-r (resolved) Lists names resolved by broadcast and via WINS.
-R (Reload) Purges and reloads the remote cache name table.
-S (Sessions) Lists sessions table with the destination IP addresses.
-s (sessions) Lists sessions table converting destination IP
➥addresses to host names via the HOSTS file.
-RR (ReleaseRefresh) Sends Name Release packets to WINs and then, starts
➥Refresh.
RemoteName Remote host machine name.
IP address Dotted-decimal representation of the IP address.
interval Redisplays selected statistics, pausing interval seconds
➥between each display. Press Ctrl+C to stop redisplaying
➥statistics.
An example of Windows NT Server nbtstat command would look

something like this:
C:\>nbtstat -n
NetBIOS Local Name Table
Name Type Status

——————————————————————-
NT-PDC <00> UNIQUE Registered
MYSITE <00> GROUP Registered
MYSITE <1C> GROUP Registered
HR <00> GROUP Registered
MARKETING <00> GROUP Registered
MYSITE <1B> UNIQUE Registered
MYSITE <1E> GROUP Registered
MYSITE <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered
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netstat
The Windows NT Server netstat command enables you to display
information about current TCP/IP connections to the network
server. The flags for the Windows NT Server netstat command are
as follows:
C:\>netstat /?
Displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP network connections.
netstat [-a] [-e] [-n] [-s] [-p proto] [-r] [interval]
-a Displays all connections and listening ports. (Server-side

➥connections are normally not shown.)
-e Displays Ethernet statistics. This may be combined with the -s
➥option.
-n Displays addresses and port numbers in numeric form.
-p proto Shows connections for the protocol specified by proto; proto
➥may be tcp or udp. If used with the -s option to display
➥per-protocol statistics, proto may be tcp, udp, or ip.
-r Displays the contents of the routing table.
-s Displays per-protocol statistics. By default, statistics are
➥shown for TCP, UDP, and IP; the -p option may be used to specify
➥a subset of the default.
➥statistics. If omitted, netstat will print the current
➥configuration information once.
The following listing shows an example of Windows NT Server

netstat –s:
C:\>netstat -s
IP Statistics
Packets Received = 8198071

Received Header Errors = 0
Received Address Errors = 1073
Datagrams Forwarded = 0
Unknown Protocols Received = 0
Received Packets Discarded = 0
Received Packets Delivered = 8197430
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Output Requests = 4426115

Routing Discards = 0
Discarded Output Packets = 0
Output Packet No Route = 0
Reassembly Required = 0
Reassembly Successful = 0
Reassembly Failures = 0
Datagrams Successfully Fragmented = 0
Datagrams Failing Fragmentation = 0
Fragments Created = 0
ICMP Statistics
Received Sent
Messages 34566 176
Errors 0 0
Destination Unreachable 34560 175
Time Exceeded 5 0
Parameter Problems 0 0
Source Quenchs 0 0
Redirects 0 0
Echos 1 0
Echo Replies 0 1
Timestamps 0 0
Timestamp Replies 0 0
Address Masks 0 0
Address Mask Replies 0 0
TCP Statistics
Active Opens = 3100

Passive Opens = 7137
Failed Connection Attempts = 8
Reset Connections = 2412
Current Connections = 18
Segments Received = 326743
Segments Sent = 326406
Segments Retransmitted = 485
UDP Statistics
Datagrams Received = 7815681

No Ports = 55008
Receive Errors = 0
Datagrams Sent = 4099055
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 376
nslookup
The Windows NT Server nslookup command enables you to test
host name resolution by using a DNS server. The nslookup com-
mand can be used in two ways: command line or interactively.
The commands available in nslookup when it is used interactively
are as follows:
C:\>nslookup
Default Server: dsn.myisp.com
Address: 10.18.6.103
> help
Commands: (identifiers are shown in uppercase, [] means optional)
NAME - print info about the host/domain NAME using default server
NAME1 NAME2 - as above, but use NAME2 as server
help or ? - print info on common commands
set OPTION - set an option
all - print options, current server and host
[no]debug - print debugging information
[no]d2 - print exhaustive debugging information
[no]defname - append domain name to each query
[no]recurse - ask for recursive answer to query
[no]search - use domain search list
[no]vc - always use a virtual circuit
domain=NAME - set default domain name to NAME
srchlist=N1[/N2/.../N6] - set domain to N1 and search list to N1,N2, etc.
root=NAME - set root server to NAME
retry=X - set number of retries to X
timeout=X - set initial time-out interval to X seconds
type=X - set query type (ex. A,ANY,CNAME,MX,NS,PTR,SOA,SRV)
querytype=X - same as type
class=X - set query class (ex. IN (Internet), ANY)
[no]msxfr - use MS fast zone transfer
ixfrver=X - current version to use in IXFR transfer request
server NAME - set default server to NAME, using current default server
lserver NAME - set default server to NAME, using initial server
finger [USER] - finger the optional NAME at the current default host
root - set current default server to the root
ls [opt] DOMAIN [> FILE] - list addresses in DOMAIN optional: output to FILE)
-a - list canonical names and aliases
-d - list all records
-t TYPE - list records of the given type (e.g. A,CNAME,MX,NS,PTR etc.)
view FILE - sort an ‘ls’ output file and view it with pg
exit - exit the program
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The following example shows a Windows NT Server nslookup

command executed on www.newriders.com:
C:\>nslookup www.newriders.com
Server: dns.myisp.com
Address: 10.18.6.103
Name: newriders.com
Address: 63.69.110.220
Aliases: www.newriders.com
ping
The Windows NT Server ping command is used to test communica-
tions between two network devices such as the current network
server and another server on the network. The flags for the
Windows NT Server ping command are as follows:
C:\>ping
Usage: ping [-t] [-a] [-n count] [-l size] [-f] [-i TTL] [-v TOS]
[-r count] [-s count] [[-j host-list] | [-k host-list]]
[-w timeout] destination-list
Options:
-t Ping the specified host until interrupted.
-a Resolve addresses to host names.
-n count Number of echo requests to send.
-l size Send buffer size.
-f Set Don’t Fragment flag in packet.
-i TTL Time To Live.
-v TOS Type Of Service.
-r count Record route for count hops.
-s count Time stamp for count hops.
-j host-list Loose source route along host-list.
-k host-list Strict source route along host-list.
-w timeout Timeout in milliseconds to wait for each reply.
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The following listing is an example Windows NT Server ping com-

mand using an IP address:
C:\>ping 63.69.110.220
Pinging 63.69.110.220 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 63.69.110.220: bytes=32 time=31ms TTL=243

Here is an example Windows NT Server ping command using an

IP name:
C:\>ping www.newriders.com
Pinging newriders.com [63.69.110.220] with 32 bytes of data:

tracert
The Windows NT Server tracert command is similar to the ping
command, but it provides information about the routers that the
communications passes through going from the current network
server to another server on the network. The flags available for the
Windows NT Server tracert command are as follows:
C:\>tracert
Usage: tracert [-d] [-h maximum_hops] [-j host-list] [-w timeout] target_name
Options:
-d Do not resolve addresses to host names.
-h maximum_hops Maximum number of hops to search for target.
-w timeout Wait timeout milliseconds for each reply
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Here is an example Windows NT Server tracert:
C:\>tracert www.newriders.com
Tracing route to newriders.com [63.69.110.220]

over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 <10 ms <10 ms <10 ms [172.16.34.254]

2 <10 ms <10 ms <10 ms [172.16.33.1]
3 <10 ms <10 ms <10 ms [172.16.250.26]
4 <10 ms <10 ms <10 ms [172.16.250.9]
5 <10 ms <10 ms <10 ms 204.194.39.157
6 <10 ms <10 ms 15 ms Serial5-1-0.GW1.JAX1.ALTER.NET [157.130.68.173]
7 <10 ms 15 ms 16 ms 153.at-2-1-0.XR1.ATL1.ALTER.NET [152.63.84.34]

8 <10 ms 16 ms 16 ms 0.so-3-0-0.TR1.ATL1.ALTER.NET [152.63.10.69]
9 31 ms 31 ms 31 ms 109.at-5-0-0.TR1.NYC9.ALTER.NET [146.188.141.74]
10 32 ms 31 ms 31 ms 287.ATM6-0.XR1.EWR1.ALTER.NET [152.63.20.253]
11 31 ms 31 ms 47 ms 193.ATM6-0.GW7.EWR1.ALTER.NET [152.63.24.205]
12 31 ms 31 ms 47 ms headland-media-gw.customer.ALTER.NET [157.130.19.94]
13 31 ms 31 ms 47 ms 63.69.110.220
Trace complete.

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server includes several programs that are
useful for troubleshooting. The following sections discuss these tools.
System Tools for Microsoft Windows 2000

Like Windows NT, Windows 2000 has several tools that enable you
to assess system resources and services.
Task Manager
The Windows 2000 Server Task Manager has three basic functions
and is very similar in function and appearance to the Windows NT
Server Task Manager. Task Manager displays the current processor
and memory utilization on the Performance tab. Figure 7.8 shows an
example of a Windows 2000 Server Task Manager Performance tab.
It also displays the processes that are running on the network server
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 380
by looking at the Processes tab. Processes can also be “ended” or

“killed” from this tab in Task Manager. Figure 7.9 shows an example
of a Windows 2000 Server Task Manager Processes tab. On the
Applications tab, you can view the applications or programs running
on the network server. You can end or kill applications from the
Applications tab of Task Manager. Figure 7.10 shows an example of
a Windows 2000 Server Task Manager Applications tab.
FIGURE 7.8
Windows 2000 Task Manager Performance tab.
FIGURE 7.9
Windows 2000 Task Manager Processes tab.
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FIGURE 7.10
Windows 2000 Task Manager Applications tab.
Computer Management
The Windows 2000 Server System Information function is a replace-
ment for the Windows NT Server NT Diagnostics program. However,
the information is arranged very differently. Figure 7.11 shows an
example of the Windows 2000 Computer Management snap-in.
The Windows 2000 Computer Management snap-in contains
several nodes that can prove useful in providing information about
the configuration of the network server.
á System Summary node. This node displays general informa-
tion about the network server, including the version of
Windows 2000 installed, the system name, the system type,
the location of the Windows system directory, and statistics
about both physical and virtual memory.
á Hardware Resources node. This node displays all the hard-
ware settings in the network server, such as direct memory
access (DMA) channels, hardware interrupts (IRQs), I/O
addresses, and memory addresses of hardware components
installed in the network server.
á Components node. This node displays information about the
Windows 2000 configuration. It is useful in determining
information about device drivers and networking. This
includes the history of drivers installed on the network server.
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FIGURE 7.11
Windows 2000 Computer Management snap-in.
á Device Manager node. This node is very similar to the Device

Manager in Windows 98. It displays information about all the
devices in the network server, including the resources being
used by these devices.
Event Viewer
The Windows 2000 Server Event Viewer is similar in function to the
Windows NT Server Event Viewer, but is very different in appear-
ance. The appearance differs because the Windows 2000 Event
Viewer has been rewritten and it is now a snap-in to the Microsoft
Management Console (MMC).
You can view at least three logs with the Windows 2000 Event
Viewer: the System log, the Security log, and the Applications log.
In addition, you can view several other logs depending on the ser-
vices installed on the Windows 2000 Server. For example, if the
Domain Name System (DNS) service is installed on the Windows
2000 Server, there will be a DNS log listed in Event Viewer.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 383
FIGURE 7.12
Windows 2000 Event Viewer System log.
The Windows 2000 System log contains messages about device

drivers and services starting up, or failing to start up. The System
log should be checked on a daily basis to make sure that no major
negative events have occurred. Figure 7.12 shows an example of a
Windows 2000 System log.
The Windows 2000 Security log contains auditing information, if
Auditing has been enabled on the Windows 2000 Server. Many dif-
ferent events can be audited on a Windows 2000 Server, including
user logon, user logoff, file access, and folder access. Figure 7.13
shows an example of a Windows 2000 Security log.
The Windows 2000 Applications log contains information that has
been written by different services or programs (such as a database
server) running on the Windows 2000 Server. Figure 7.14 shows an
example of a Windows 2000 Applications log.
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FIGURE 7.13
Windows 2000 Event Viewer Security log.
FIGURE 7.14
Windows 2000 Event Viewer Applications log.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:56 AM Page 385
Network Diagnostic Tools for Microsoft

Windows 2000
The network diagnostic tools for Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
include Ipconfig, Nbtstat, Netstat, Nslookup, Ping, and Tracert,
which are similar to their Windows NT counterparts. Windows
2000 Server also includes the Netdiag and Pathping commands,
which were not available in Windows NT Server.
ipconfig
The Windows 2000 Server ipconfig command enables you to dis-
play the TCP/IP protocol configuration for the network server. The
ipconfig command is accessed from the Windows NT
command prompt. The flags /flushdns, /registerdns, /displaydns,
/showclassid, and /setclassid are new to the Windows 2000
Server ping command. The flags available for the Windows 2000
Server ipconfig command are as follows:
Windows 2000 IP Configuration
USAGE:
ipconfig [/? | /all | /release [adapter] | /renew [adapter]
| /flushdns | /registerdns
| /showclassid adapter
| /setclassid adapter [classidtoset] ]
adapter Full name or pattern with ‘*’ and ‘?’ to ‘match’,

* matches any character, ? matches one character.
Options
/? Display this help message.
/all Display full configuration information.
/release Release the IP address for the specified adapter.
/renew Renew the IP address for the specified adapter.
/flushdns Purges the DNS Resolver cache.
/registerdns Refreshes all DHCP leases and re-registers DNS names
/displaydns Display the contents of the DNS Resolver cache.
/showclassid Displays all the DHCP class IDs allowed for adapter.
/setclassid Modifies the DHCP class id.
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The default is to display only the IP address, subnet mask, and

default gateway for each adapter bound to TCP/IP.
For release and renew, if no adapter name is specified, the IP address
leases for all adapters bound to TCP/IP will be released or renewed.
For setclassid, if no class ID is specified, the class ID is removed.
Examples include the following:
> ipconfig ... Show information.

> ipconfig /all ... Show detailed information
> ipconfig /renew ... renew all adapters
> ipconfig /renew EL* ... renew adapters named EL....
> ipconfig /release *ELINK?21* ... release all matching adapters,
eg. ELINK-21, myELELINKi21adapter.
The following listing is an example of the Windows 2000 Server

ipconfig command:
C:\>ipconfig
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.130
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

ipconfig /all command:
C:\>ipconfig /all
Windows 2000 IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : tunis

Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . : africa1.nwtraders.msft
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : africa1.nwtraders.msft
nwtraders.msft
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

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Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com 3C920 Integrated Fast Ethernet Controller
(3C905C-TX Compatible)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-B0-D0-71-B6-0A
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.130
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.200
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.200
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, April 22, 2001 5:10:49 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, April 22, 2001 6:10:49 PM
nbtstat
The Windows 2000 Server nbtstat command enables you to
display information about sessions that are using NetBIOS over
TCP/IP (NBT). The flags available for the Windows 2000 Server
nbtstat command are as follows:
C:\>nbtstat /?
Displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections using NBT (NetBIOS over TCP/IP).
nbtstat [ [-a RemoteName] [-A IP address] [-c] [-n] [-r] [-R] [-RR] [-s] [-S] [interval] ]
-a (adapter status) Lists the remote machine’s name table given its name.
-A (Adapter status) Lists the remote machine’s name table given its IP address.
-c (cache) Lists NBT’s cache of remote [machine] names and their IP addresses.
-n (names) Lists local NetBIOS names.
-r (resolved) Lists names resolved by broadcast and via WINS.
-R (Reload) Purges and reloads the remote cache name table.
-S (Sessions) Lists sessions table with the destination IP addresses.
-s (sessions) Lists sessions table converting destination IP
➥addresses to computer NETBIOS names.
-RR (ReleaseRefresh) Sends Name Release packets to WINs and then starts Refresh.
RemoteName Remote host machine name.

IP address Dotted-decimal representation of the IP address.
interval Redisplays selected statistics, pausing interval seconds between each
➥display. Press Ctrl+C to stop redisplaying statistics.
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The following listing shows an example of Windows 2000 Server

nbtstat command:
NOTE
Watch Out for APIPA Windows

2000 supports Automatic Private IP
Addressing (APIPA) as does Windows C:\>nbtstat -n
98 and Windows ME. If IPCONFIG
reports that the IP address is on the Local Area Connection:
169.254.0.0 network, the address Node IpAddress: [169.254.238.32] Scope Id: []
was assigned by APIPA. If the client
was configured to use a DHCP server NetBIOS Local Name Table
to obtain its IP address, and the
address was assigned by APIPA, how- Name Type Status
ever, it indicates that the client com- ——————————————————————-
puter was not able to communicate PROLIANT5000 <00> UNIQUE Registered
with a DHCP server. It is time to begin WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered
network troubleshooting! PROLIANT5000 <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1E> GROUP Registered
PROLIANT5000 <03> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered
ADMINISTRATOR <03> UNIQUE Registered
PROLIANT5000 <01> UNIQUE Registered
netdiag
The Windows 2000 Server netdiag command runs a standard
set of network tests and generates a report of the results. The
Windows 2000 Server netdiag command is not part of a
standard Windows 2000 Server installation. It must be installed
from the Windows 2000 Server CD-ROM from the Support
Tools folder. The Windows 2000 netdiag command has one
very nice feature: It can be used without any flags at all and it
will perform a complete set of network tests. A server hardware
specialist just needs to analyze the output from the netdiag
command looking for the word Failed to find possible network
problems. Even though the netdiag command can be used without
any flags, several are available. The flags that can be used with the
Windows 2000 Server netdiag command are as follows:
C:\>netdiag /?
Usage: netdiag [/Options]>

/q - Quiet output (errors only)
/v - Verbose output
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/l - Log output to NetDiag.log

/debug - Even more verbose.
/d:<DomainName> - Find a DC in the specified domain.
/fix - fix trivial problems.
/DcAccountEnum - Enumerate DC machine accounts.
/test:<test name> - tests only this test. Non - skippable tests will still be run
The following listing is an example of Windows 2000 Server

netdiag command:
C:\>netdiag
.....................................
Computer Name: LONDON

DNS Host Name: london.nwtraders.msft
System info : Windows 2000 Server (Build 2195)
Processor : x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 3, GenuineIntel
List of installed hotfixes :
Q147222
Netcard queries test . . . . . . . : Passed
Per interface results:
Adapter : Local Area Connection
Netcard queries test . . . : Passed
Host Name. . . . . . . . . : london.nwtraders.msft

IP Address . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.200
Subnet Mask. . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway. . . . . . :
Dns Servers. . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.200
AutoConfiguration results. . . . . . : Passed
Default gateway test . . . : Skipped

[WARNING] No gateways defined for this adapter.
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NetBT name test. . . . . . : Passed

No remote names have been found.
WINS service test. . . . . : Skipped

There are no WINS servers configured for this interface.
Global results:
Domain membership test . . . . . . : Passed
NetBT transports test. . . . . . . : Passed

List of NetBt transports currently configured:
NetBT_Tcpip_{3D7725D9-B03F-4250-983E-F9F1BF0B69FB}
1 NetBt transport currently configured.
Autonet address test . . . . . . . : Passed
IP loopback ping test. . . . . . . : Passed
Default gateway test . . . . . . . : Failed
[FATAL] NO GATEWAYS ARE REACHABLE.

You have no connectivity to other network segments.
If you configured the IP protocol manually then
you need to add at least one valid gateway.
NetBT name test. . . . . . . . . . : Passed
Winsock test . . . . . . . . . . . : Passed

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DNS test . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Passed

PASS - All the DNS entries for DC are registered on DNS server ‘192.168.1.200’.
Redir and Browser test . . . . . . : Passed

List of NetBt transports currently bound to the Redir
The redir is bound to 1 NetBt transport.
List of NetBt transports currently bound to the browser

The browser is bound to 1 NetBt transport.
DC discovery test. . . . . . . . . : Passed
DC list test . . . . . . . . . . . : Passed
Trust relationship test. . . . . . : Skipped
Kerberos test. . . . . . . . . . . : Passed
LDAP test. . . . . . . . . . . . . : Passed
Bindings test. . . . . . . . . . . : Passed
WAN configuration test . . . . . . : Skipped

No active remote access connections.
Modem diagnostics test . . . . . . : Passed
IP Security test . . . . . . . . . : Passed

IPSec policy service is active, but no policy is assigned.
The command completed successfully

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Note that in the output of this netdiag command that the default
gateway test failed, because no default gateway address is defined on
this particular network server.
netstat
The Windows 2000 Server netstat command enables you to display
information about current TCP/IP connections to the network
server. The flags for the Windows 2000 Server netstat command
are as follows:
C:\>netstat /?
Displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP network connections.
netstat [-a] [-e] [-n] [-s] [-p proto] [-r] [interval]
-a Displays all connections and listening ports.

-e Displays Ethernet statistics. This may be combined with the –s option.
-n Displays addresses and port numbers in numerical form.
-p proto Shows connections for the protocol specified by proto; proto
➥may be TCP or UDP. If used with the-s option to display
➥per-protocol statistics, proto may be TCP, UDP, or IP.
-r Displays the routing table.
-s Displays per-protocol statistics. By default, statistics are
➥shown for TCP, UDP and IP; the -p option may be used to specify
➥a subset of the default.
➥statistics. If omitted, NETSTAT will print the current
➥configuration information once.

netstat command:
C:\>netstat -s
IP Statistics
Packets Received = 2411554

Received Header Errors = 0
Received Address Errors = 318
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Datagrams Forwarded = 0
Unknown Protocols Received = 0
Received Packets Discarded = 0
Received Packets Delivered = 2411236
Output Requests = 137224
Routing Discards = 0
Discarded Output Packets = 0
Output Packet No Route = 0
Reassembly Required = 0
Reassembly Successful = 0
Reassembly Failures = 0
Datagrams Successfully Fragmented = 0
Datagrams Failing Fragmentation = 0
Fragments Created = 0
ICMP Statistics
Received Sent
Messages 43 72
Errors 0 0
Destination Unreachable 5 34
Time Exceeded 0 0
Parameter Problems 0 0
Source Quenches 0 0
Redirects 0 0
Echos 38 0
Echo Replies 0 38
Timestamps 0 0
Timestamp Replies 0 0
Address Masks 0 0
Address Mask Replies 0 0
TCP Statistics
Active Opens = 4015

Passive Opens = 7
Failed Connection Attempts = 136
Reset Connections = 1025
Current Connections = 1
Segments Received = 93566
Segments Sent = 105512
Segments Retransmitted = 743
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UDP Statistics
Datagrams Received = 2292417

No Ports = 25216
Receive Errors = 0
Datagrams Sent = 30570
nslookup
The Windows 2000 Server nslookup command tests DNS service IP
name resolution. The Windows 2000 Server nslookup command can
be used in two different modes: command line and interactive. The
commands available in the interactive version of the Windows 2000
nslookup command are as follows:
> help
Commands: (identifiers are shown in uppercase, [] means optional)
NAME - print info about the host/domain NAME using default server
NAME1 NAME2 - as above, but use NAME2 as server
help or ? - print info on common commands
set OPTION - set an option
all - print options, current server and host
[no]debug - print debugging information
[no]d2 - print exhaustive debugging information
[no]defname - append domain name to each query
[no]recurse - ask for recursive answer to query
[no]search - use domain search list
[no]vc - always use a virtual circuit
domain=NAME - set default domain name to NAME
srchlist=N1[/N2/.../N6] - set domain to N1 and search list to N1,N2, etc.
root=NAME - set root server to NAME
retry=X - set number of retries to X
timeout=X - set initial time-out interval to X seconds
type=X - set query type (ex. A,ANY,CNAME,MX,NS,PTR,SOA,SRV)
querytype=X - same as type
class=X - set query class (ex. IN (Internet), ANY)
[no]msxfr - use MS fast zone transfer
ixfrver=X - current version to use in IXFR transfer request
server NAME - set default server to NAME, using current default server
lserver NAME - set default server to NAME, using initial server
finger [USER] - finger the optional NAME at the current default host
root - set current default server to the root
ls [opt] DOMAIN [> FILE] - list addresses in DOMAIN (optional: output to FILE)
-a - list canonical names and aliases
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-d - list all records

-t TYPE - list records of the given type (e.g. A,CNAME,MX,NS,PTR etc.)
view FILE - sort an ‘ls’ output file and view it with pg
exit - exit the program
The following listing is an example of a Windows 2000 Server

nslookup command:
C:\>nslookup www.microsoft.com
Server: dns.myisp.net
Address: 192.168.6.103
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.microsoft.akadns.net
Addresses: 207.46.230.218, 207.46.131.91, 207.46.230.219, 207.46.131.199 207.46.230.229
Aliases: www.microsoft.com
This example shows another Windows 2000 Server nslookup:

C:\>nslookup newriders.com
Server: dns.myisp.net
Address: 192.168.6.103
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: newriders.com
Address: 63.69.110.220
ping
The Windows 2000 Server ping command enables you to test com-
munications between the current network server and another server
on the network. The flags for the Windows 2000 Server ping com-
mand are as follows:
C:\>ping /?
Usage: ping [-t] [-a] [-n count] [-l size] [-f] [-i TTL] [-v TOS]
[-r count] [-s count] [[-j host-list] |[-k host-list]]
[-w timeout] destination-list
Options:
-t Ping the specified host until stopped.
To see statistics and continue –type Control-Break;
➥To stop – type Control-C.
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-a Resolve addresses to host names.

-n count Number of echo requests to send.
-l size Send buffer size.
-f Set Don’t Fragment flag in packet.
-i TTL Time To Live.
-v TOS Type Of Service.
-r count Record route for count hops.
-s count Timestamp for count hops.
-k host-list Strict source route along host-list.
-w timeout Timeout in milliseconds to wait for each reply.
This following example shows a Windows 2000 Server ping using an

IP address:
C:\>ping 192.168.1.200

Reply from 192.168.1.200: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.200:

Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 10ms, Average = 2ms
This example shows a Windows 2000 Server ping command using

an IP name:
C:\>ping london.nwtraders.msft
Pinging london.nwtraders.msft [192.168.1.200] with 32 bytes of data:


12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 397

Note that in this ping example the IP name london.nwtraders.msft

has been resolved to the IP address 192.168.1.200. Both the IP
name and IP address are listed in the Ping output.
tracert
The Windows 2000 Server tracert command is similar to the ping
command, but it provides information about the routers that the
communications passes through going from the current network
server to another server on the network. The flags that can be used
with the Windows 2000 Server tracert command are as follows:
C:\>tracert
Usage: tracert [-d] [-h maximum_hops] [-j host-list] [-w timeout] target_name
Options:
-d Do not resolve addresses to host names.
-w timeout Wait timeout milliseconds for each reply.
The following example illustrates the use of Windows 2000 Server

tracert command:
C:\>tracert www.newriders.com

1 <10 ms <10 ms <10 ms [172.16.34.254]

2 <10 ms <10 ms <10 ms [172.16.33.1]
3 <10 ms <10 ms <10 ms [172.16.250.26]
4 <10 ms <10 ms <10 ms [172.16.250.9]
5 281 ms <10 ms 310 ms 204.194.39.157
6 <10 ms 10 ms <10 ms Serial5-1-0.GW1.JAX1.ALTER.NET [157.130.68.173]
7 10 ms 10 ms 20 ms 153.at-1-0-0.XR1.ATL1.ALTER.NET [152.63.84.26]
8 10 ms 10 ms 20 ms 0.so-3-0-0.TR1.ATL1.ALTER.NET [152.63.10.69]
9 30 ms 30 ms 40 ms 109.at-5-0-0.TR1.NYC9.ALTER.NET [146.188.141.74]
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 398
10 30 ms 40 ms 30 ms 287.ATM6-0.XR1.EWR1.ALTER.NET [152.63.20.253]
11 31 ms 40 ms 30 ms 193.ATM7-0.GW7.EWR1.ALTER.NET [152.63.24.197]
12 30 ms 40 ms 40 ms headland-media-gw.customer.ALTER.NET [157.130.19.94]
13 30 ms 30 ms 40 ms 63.69.110.220
Trace complete.
pathping
The Windows 2000 Server pathping command is a combination of
the ping command and the tracert command. The flags that can be
used with the Windows 2000 pathping command are as follows:
C:\>pathping
Usage: pathping [-n] [-h maximum_hops] [-g host-list] [-p period]

[-q num_queries] [-w timeout] [-t] [-R] [-r] target_name
Options:
-n Do not resolve addresses to host names.
-g host-list Loose source route along host-list.
-p period Wait period milliseconds between pings.
-q num_queries Number of queries per hop.
-w timeout Wait timeout milliseconds for each reply.
-T Test connectivity to each hop with Layer 2 priority tags.
-R Test whether each hop is RSVP aware.
The following listing shows an example of Windows 2000 Server

pathping command:
C:\>pathping www.newriders.com
0 [172.16.34.132]
1 [172.16.34.254]
2 [172.16.33.1]
3 [172.16.250.26]
4 [172.16.250.9]
5 204.194.39.157
6 Serial5-1-0.GW1.JAX1.ALTER.NET [157.130.68.173]
7 153.at-1-0-0.XR1.ATL1.ALTER.NET [152.63.84.26]
8 0.so-3-0-0.TR1.ATL1.ALTER.NET [152.63.10.69]
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 399
9 109.at-5-0-0.TR1.NYC9.ALTER.NET [146.188.141.74]
10 287.ATM6-0.XR1.EWR1.ALTER.NET [152.63.20.253]
11 193.ATM7-0.GW7.EWR1.ALTER.NET [152.63.24.197]
12 headland-media-gw.customer.ALTER.NET [157.130.19.94]
13 .63.69.110.220
Computing statistics for 325 seconds...

Source to Here This Node/Link
Hop RTT Lost/Sent = Pct Lost/Sent = Pct Address
0 proliant5000 [128.186.34.132]
0/ 100 = 0% |
1 0ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% fe400.c7507.cob.fsu.edu [128.186.34.254]
0/ 100 = 0% |
2 0ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% vlan333.rsm.rsb.fsu.edu [128.186.33.1]
0/ 100 = 0% |
3 0ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% fe6101.c7507.dsl.fsu.edu [128.186.250.26]
0/ 100 = 0% |
4 5ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% vlan908.c7507.dsl.fsu.edu [128.186.250.9]
0/ 100 = 0% |
5 5ms 1/ 100 = 1% 1/ 100 = 1% 204.194.39.157
0/ 100 = 0% |
6 0ms 1/ 100 = 1% 1/ 100 = 1% Serial5-1-0.GW1.JAX1.ALTER.NET [157.130.68.173]
0/ 100 = 0% |
7 10ms 2/ 100 = 2% 2/ 100 = 2% 153.at-1-0-0.XR1.ATL1.ALTER.NET [152.63.84.26]
0/ 100 = 0% |
8 10ms 2/ 100 = 2% 2/ 100 = 2% 0.so-3-0-0.TR1.ATL1.ALTER.NET [152.63.10.69]
0/ 100 = 0% |
9 30ms 1/ 100 = 1% 1/ 100 = 1% 109.at-5-0-0.TR1.NYC9.ALTER.NET [146.188.141.74]
0/ 100 = 0% |
10 30ms 2/ 100 = 2% 2/ 100 = 2% 287.ATM6-0.XR1.EWR1.ALTER.NET [152.63.20.253]
0/ 100 = 0% |
11 30ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/ 100 = 0% 193.ATM7-0.GW7.EWR1.ALTER.NET [152.63.24.197]
1/ 100 = 1% |
12 36ms 3/ 100 = 3% 2/ 100 = 2% headland-media-gw.customer.ALTER.NET [157.130.19.94]
0/ 100 = 0% |
13 30ms 1/ 100 = 1% 0/ 100 = 0% 63.69.110.220
Trace complete.
Novell NetWare
Novell NetWare includes useful system and network diagnostic tools.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 400
System Tools for Novel NetWare

The primary Novell NetWare diagnostic tool is monitor
(MONITOR.NLM). The monitor program displays a great deal of
information about the Novell NetWare server. The most important
information on the General Information page is as follows:
á Utilization. This shows the percentage of processor utilization
on the NetWare server. This number should not be
constantly over 70%. If it is constantly over 70%, you have
a processor bottleneck. You need a faster processor and an
additional processor.
á Total Cache Buffers. The lower this number, the slower the
file access on the NetWare server. A very low number of cache
buffers indicates that it is time to add more memory to the
NetWare server.
á Packet Receive Buffers. This indicates how well the NetWare
server is handling network traffic.
á Current Service Processes. These handle read requests. If this
number is large, there may be too few cache buffers on the
NetWare server. If there are plenty of cache buffers, the prob-
lem may be a disk subsystem that is too slow and in need of
being upgraded.
A Novell NetWare server also contains several log files that contain
information that might be useful in troubleshooting. The logs
á SYS$LOG.ERR. This log file contains server error messages
and general server status information.
á VOL$LOG.ERR. These logs (one per volume) contain
volume error and status information.
á TSS$LOG.ERR. These logs (one per volume that has the
Transaction Tracking System (TSS) enabled) contain informa-
tion about TSS.
All three of these logs are text files and can be used with any editor.
Novell NetWare 5 also has a great new management tool that can be
used to aid in troubleshooting problems with the Novell NetWare
server and with the NetWare Management Portal, which is a web-
based management tool for NetWare servers. Besides the normal
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 401
information that you would expect to see in any management tool,

the NMP includes Hardware Management and Health Monitor,
both of which are useful troubleshooting tools.
Hardware Management provides network statistics, processor infor-
mation, hardware resource utilization, and PCI device information.
The Health Monitor provides a great deal of real-time information
about processor utilization, memory utilization, and disk utilization
to name just a few.
Network Diagnostic Tools for Novell NetWare

The Novell NetWare config command displays information about
the network configuration on the Novell NetWare network server.
Novell also sells a network analysis product known as LANalyzer,
which captures network traffic for analysis.
If the NetWare server is running TCP/IP, the standard TCP/IP
troubleshooting utilities, such as Ping and Tracert can be used from
a client computer to test TCP/IP connectivity on the Novell
NetWare server.
Novell NetWare servers also have a couple of utilities that can be
used from the NetWare console: the IPXCON command and the
TCPCON command.
The IPXCON command provides general statistics and other informa-

tion about the IPX/SPX protocols running on the NetWare server.
The TCPCON command provides general statistics and other informa-
tion about the TCP/IP protocols running on the NetWare server.
UNIX/Linux
The various versions of UNIX/Linux have their own (usually
unique) software tools that you can use for diagnostic purposes.
System Tools for UNIX/Linux

Some of the software tools used for performance monitoring (dis-
cussed later in this chapter) can also be used for diagnostic purposes.
See descriptions of the UNIX/Linux performance monitoring tools
(iostat, vmstat, ps, and sar) in the “Identifying Bottlenecks” sec-
tion later in this chapter.
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Network Diagnostic Tools for UNIX/Linux

The various UNIX/Linux operating systems have several utilities
that you can use to diagnose network performance. The various ver-
sions of UNIX/Linux have slightly different implementations of
these commands. Use the UNIX/Linux man command to display
specific information about the flags or switches used with these com-
mands on the different versions of UNIX/Linux.
ifconfig
The ifconfig (interface configuration) utility is used to configure
the TCP/IP configuration for a specific NIC. It can also be used to
display the TCP/IP configuration. For specifics on the ipconfig
command, enter the following command at a UNIX/Linux prompt:
man ifconfig. The information displayed by the man command also
tells how to interpret the output generated by the command.
The following listing is an example of UNIX/Linux ifconfig output:
>ifconfig -a
lo0: flags=e08084b<UP,BROADCAST,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST,GROUPRT,64BIT
>
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000 broadcast 127.255.255.255
inet6 ::1/0
fi0: flags=e0a0843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,ALLCAST,MULTICAST,GROUPRT,64BIT>
inet 192.168.197.3 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.197.255
en1: flags=e080863<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST,GROUPRT,64BIT>
inet 192.168.2.23 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255
netstat
The netstat utility is used to display TCP/IP network statistics. For
specifics on the netstat command, enter the following command at
the UNIX/Linux prompt: man netstat. The information displayed
by the man command also tells how to interpret the output generated
by the command.
The following listing is an example of UNIX/Linux netstat output:
>netstat -s
ip:
1071952632 total packets received
0 bad header checksums
0 with size smaller than minimum
0 with data size < data length
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 403
0 with header length < data size

0 with data length < header length
0 with bad options
0 with incorrect version number
218 fragments received
1 fragment dropped (dup or out of space)
5 fragments dropped after timeout
106 packets reassembled ok
1071764722 packets for this host
187795 packets for unknown/unsupported protocol
0 packets forwarded
5 packets not forwardable
0 redirects sent
985853653 packets sent from this host
3035 packets sent with fabricated ip header
0 output packets dropped due to no bufs, etc.
0 output packets discarded due to no route
958 output datagrams fragmented
0 fragments created
958 datagrams that can’t be fragmented
0 IP Multicast packets dropped due to no receiver
0 successful path MTU discovery cycles
0 path MTU rediscovery cycles attempted
0 path MTU discovery no-response estimates
0 path MTU discovery response timeouts
0 path MTU discovery decreases detected
0 path MTU discovery packets sent
0 path MTU discovery memory allocation failures
0 ipintrq overflows
0 with illegal source
icmp:
87435 calls to icmp_error
0 errors not generated because old message was icmp
Output histogram:
echo reply: 475341
destination unreachable: 87433
2741 messages with bad code fields
0 messages < minimum length
0 bad checksums
14 messages with bad length
Input histogram:
echo reply: 508
destination unreachable: 41409
source quench: 328
routing redirect: 26
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 404
echo: 475341
#10: 2
time exceeded: 10835
parameter problem: 2
475341 message responses generated
igmp:
128264 messages received
0 messages received with too few bytes
0 messages received with bad checksum
128247 membership queries received
0 membership queries received with invalid field(s)
17 membership reports received
0 membership reports received with invalid field(s)
17 membership reports received for groups to which we belong
3 membership reports sent
tcp:
969995197 packets sent
829617186 data packets (3708222803 bytes)
3802849 data packets (1840909853 bytes) retransmitted
42344148 ack-only packets (31663214 delayed)
388 URG only packets
43394 window probe packets
89208904 window update packets
4978328 control packets
1056319126 packets received
365380856 acks (for 3429378578 bytes)
9787520 duplicate acks
5 acks for unsent data
877867036 packets (3622795012 bytes) received in-sequence
1108797 completely duplicate packets (184293621 bytes)
199773 packets with some dup. data (4072561 bytes duped)
5051682 out-of-order packets (751752818 bytes)
2507 packets (331001 bytes) of data after window
1514 window probes
2358506 window update packets
184753 packets received after close
0 packets with bad hardware assisted checksum
13521 discarded for bad checksums
48 discarded for bad header offset fields
1487 connection request
549677 connection requests
4595174 connection accepts
4933946 connections established (including accepts)
6188958 connections closed (including 682010 drops)
1190931 embryonic connections dropped
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 405
329719854 segments updated rtt (of 258942471 attempts)

0 resends due to path MTU discovery
0 path MTU discovery terminations due to retransmits
1458815 retransmit timeouts
3802 connections dropped by rexmit timeout
45683 persist timeouts
24887 keepalive timeouts
2790 keepalive probes sent
20365 connections dropped by keepalive
189 connections in timewait reused
0 delayed ACKs for SYN
0 delayed ACKs for FIN
0 send_and_disconnects
udp:
14968028 datagrams received
0 incomplete headers
0 bad data length fields
0 bad checksums
87435 dropped due to no socket
81632 broadcast/multicast datagrams dropped due to
➥no socket
0 socket buffer overflows
14798961 delivered
14909194 datagrams output
0 message response generated
ping
The ping command enables you to test TCP/IP communications
between two devices on the network, such as two network servers.
For specifics on the ping command, enter the following command at
the UNIX/Linux prompt: man ping. The information displayed by
the man command also tells how to interpret the output generated by
the command.
The following listing is an example of UNIX/Linux ping output:
>ping -c 10 www.newriders.com
PING newriders.com: (63.69.110.220): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 63.69.110.220: icmp_seq=0 ttl=244 time=38 ms
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 406

——newriders.com PING Statistics——

10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 37/37/39 ms
traceroute
The traceroute command is also used to test TCP/IP communica-
tions between two network servers, but it also reports the routers
that the communications packets travel through going from one net-
work device, such as a network server, to another network device.
For specifics on the traceroute command, enter the following com-
mand at the UNIX/Linux prompt: man traceroute. The informa-
tion displayed by the man command also tells how to interpret the
output generated by the command.
The following listing is an example of UNIX/Linux traceroute
output:
>traceroute www.newriders.com
trying to get source for www.newriders.com
source should be 192.168.2.23
traceroute to newriders.com (63.69.110.220) from 192.168.2.23, 30
hops max
outgoing MTU = 1500
1 vlan602.rsm.bfs.fsu.edu (192.168.2.1) 4 ms 1 ms 1 ms
2 fe600.c7507.bfs.fsu.edu (192.168.250.18) 1 ms 1 ms 2 ms
3 atm5001.c7507.dsl.fsu.edu (192.168.250.54) 2 ms 2 ms 2 ms
4 204.194.39.157 (204.194.39.157) 4 ms 4 ms 4 ms
5 Serial5-1-0.GW1.JAX1.ALTER.NET (157.130.68.173) 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms
6 153.at-2-1-0.XR1.ATL1.ALTER.NET (152.63.84.34) 16 ms * *
7 0.so-3-0-0.TR1.ATL1.ALTER.NET (152.63.10.69) 15 ms 16 ms 15 ms
8 109.at-5-0-0.TR1.NYC9.ALTER.NET (146.188.141.74) 36 ms 35 ms 36 ms
9 287.ATM6-0.XR1.EWR1.ALTER.NET (152.63.20.253) 38 ms 38 ms 39 ms
10 193.ATM6-0.GW7.EWR1.ALTER.NET (152.63.24.205) 37 ms 37 ms 37 ms
11 headland-media-gw.customer.ALTER.NET (157.130.19.94) 39 ms 39 ms 39 ms
12 web05.ot.hdmss.net (63.69.110.67) 56 ms * 38 ms
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 407

IBM’s OS/2 Warp Server includes a number of diagnostic tools.
System Tools for IBM OS/2 Warp Server

The primary system management tool for OS/2 Warp Server version
4 is OS/2 SystemView. Later versions of OS/2 Warp Server (OS/2
Warp Server SMP feature and OS/2 Warp Server for e-business) use
Netfinity version 5.2 as the system management tool.
Both OS/2 SystemView and Netfinity Service Manager have similar
capabilities that can be used to aid in troubleshooting. These include
the following:
á Process Manager. The Process Manager enables you to exam-
ine, initiate, and terminate processes running on the OS/2
network server.
á System Information. The System Information enables you to
show the hardware and software configuration of the OS/2
network server.
á System Monitor. The System Monitor enables you to monitor
the performance of the OS/2 network server.
Network Diagnostic Tools for IBM OS/2

Warp Server
IBM’s OS/2 Warp Server includes a set of diagnostic software tools
that you can use to troubleshoot TCP/IP problems. To view the
current TCP/IP configuration, start TCP/IP Configuration Local
from the TCP/IP folder. Figure 7.15 shows a sample window
displaying the TCP/IP configuration.
tcpcfg
The tcpcfg command will display the current TCP/IP configuration
for OS/2 Warp Server. Once issued it brings up the same window as
shown in Figure 7.15.
ping
The ping command in OS/2 Warp Server is similar in function to
the ping command in other network server operating systems. The
format of the OS/2 ping command is as follows:
ping ipaddress
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 408
FIGURE 7.15
OS/2 TCP/IP configuration.
netstat
The OS/2 netstat command is similar to the netstat command
in Microsoft’s Windows NT Server, Windows 2000 Server, and
UNIX/Linux systems. The flags for the OS/2 netstat command
are as follows:
netstat [-a] [-r] [-s] [-n] [-p] [-t] [-u] [-i] [-c] [-m]
-a Lists IP addresses in use.

-r Lists TCP/IP routing tables.
-s Lists TCP/IP connections.
-n Shows characteristics of IP interfaces.
-p Lists the ARP table.
-t Shows the TCP status.
-u Shows the UDP status.
-i Shows the IP status.
-c Shows the ICMP status.
-m Shows memory buffer usage.
ifconfig
The OS/2 ifconfig command is similar to the ifconfig command
found in UNIX/Linux systems. It displays the TCP/IP configuration
information for a particular NIC.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 409
The format of the OS/2 ifconfig command is as follows:
ifconfig interface
Where interface can be any of the following:
Interface Description
lo loopback
lan0 thru lan7 LAN interfaces (Ethernet, Token Ring)
The following listing is an example of ifconfig command on

OS/2 output:
[C:tcpipbin]ifconfig lan0
lan0: flags=3030<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING,BRIDGE,SNAP>
inet 192.168.1.202 netmask ffffff00x broadcast 192.168.1.255
tracerte
The OS/2 tracerte command is similar in function to the Windows
NT Server and the Windows 2000 Server Tracert command and the
UNIX/Linux traceroute command. It provides a list of routers that
a packet travels through as it goes from the network server that
issued the tracerte command to the destination network device.
The format of the OS/2 tracerte command is as follows:
tracerte ipaddress
System Shutdown
To perform some troubleshooting activities, you must shut down the
network server. The different network server operating systems have
different procedures or commands to shut down the system. That
said, some general steps should always be followed when shutting
down the network server.
Always inform the users that you are going to shut down the system,
by broadcasting a message to all users letting them know that the
network server is going to be shut down. Allow enough time for the
users to save their work and to log off of the network server.
Typically a message such as
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 410
Network server will be shut down in 5 minutes. Please log off.

should be sent about 5 minutes before the actually shutdown.
Another message, similar to
Network server shutdown imminent. Log off now !
should be sent right before you start the shutdown process.
Some applications or services should be shut down before the
network server operating system itself is shut down. For example,
Microsoft’s Exchange should be shut down before the network server
operating system is shut down.
Follow the shutdown procedure for the network operating system
that is running on the network server.
Microsoft Windows NT Server Shutdown

Shut ’em Down Know how to shut
TIP
down the different network server To shut down a Microsoft Windows NT network server, follow
operating systems. these steps:
EXAM
1. Inform users of network server shutdown by using either of

the following methods:
A. Select Start, Programs, Administrative Tools (Common),
Server Manager.
B. Select the network server from the list of servers in Server
Manager. Click the Computer menu. Select Send
Message. Enter the message in the dialog box. Click OK.
or
1. Open a command prompt and use the NET SEND command.
2. Select Start, Programs, Command Prompt.
3. In the command-prompt window, type the net send
“message” command.
To shut down Microsoft Windows NT, use either of the following

methods:
1. Click Start, Shut Down.
2. Select Shut Down the Computer?, and then click Yes.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 411
or
1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del, click the Shut Down button, click Shut
Down, and then click OK.
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Shutdown

To shut down a Microsoft Windows 2000 network server, follow the
steps outlined in this section.
Inform users that the network server is going to be shut down using
either of the following methods:
1. Click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Computer
Management.
2. Open System Tools, right-click Shared Folders, select All
Tasks, and then select Send Console Message.
3. In the message box enter the message, to whom it is to be
sent, and press Send.
or
1. Click Start, Programs, Accessories, Command Prompt.
2. In the command-prompt window, type the net send
“message” command.
To shut down Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, use either of the

following methods:
1. Click Start, Shut Down.
2. Select Shut Down from the drop-down box, and then click
OK.
or
1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del, and then select Shut Down from the
drop-down box. Click OK.
Novell NetWare Shutdown

To shut down a Novell NetWare server, you must issue the down
command at the system console.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 412
UNIX Shutdown
Remember that all commands and their flags in UNIX are case sen-
sitive. All commands are always entered using lowercase characters.
To send a message to all users who are logged in to the UNIX net-
work server, use the UNIX wall command, as follows:
wall message
All versions of UNIX have a command to shut down the system,

named shutdown. However, the flags or switches that are available
differ with each version of UNIX. To determine the flags or switches
available for the shutdown command on the version of UNIX that is
being used on the network server, type
man shutdown
at a UNIX command prompt. The UNIX man command provides

online documentation (known as man pages) for UNIX commands.
The man shutdown command will provide information about the
flags and switches of the shutdown command. The following are
some typical flags and parameters for the shutdown command for a
version of UNIX:
shutdown [ -F ] [ -h ] [ -k ] [ -r ] [ +Time [ Message ] ]
-F Does a fast shutdown, bypassing the messages to other users

and bringing the system down as quickly as possible.
-h Halts the operating system completely.
-k Avoids shutting down the system.
-r Restarts the system after being shutdown with the reboot
command.
+Time Specifies the time at which the shutdown command stops
the system. An immediate shutdown is indicated by the
word now displayed onscreen. A future time can be
specified in one of two formats: +number or hour:minute.
The first form brings the system down in the specified
number of minutes and the second brings the system down
at the time of day indicated (as a 24-hour clock). If the
Message parameter is specified, the Time parameter must
also be specified.
Message Specifies the message that is sent to the users notifying them
that the system is going to shut down.
Only a user with root user (administrator) authority can run

shutdown. During the default shutdown, users are notified of the
impending system shutdown with a message.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 413
After the specified number of seconds (60 by default), the system

stops the accounting and error logging processes and writes an entry
to the Error log. The shutdown command then ends any remaining
processes and flushes all memory-resident disk blocks. Finally, it
unmounts the file systems.
If you request a complete halt to the operating system, the shutdown
command stops all processes, unmounts all file systems, and calls the
halt command.
Linux Shutdown
Like other versions of UNIX, Linux includes a wall command that
can be used to notify all logged-in users that the network server is
going to be shutdown. However, the Linux wall command uses a
file to contain the message. The format for the Linux wall com-
mand is as follows:
wall [file]
Because in both UNIX and Linux a file can be standard input, how-
ever, the message for the wall command could be created this way:
wall
server shutdown message line 1
server shutdown message line 2
ctrl+d
The Linux shutdown command has several combinations of flags or

switches. The Linux shutdown command operates much the same
way that the shutdown command works in other operating systems.
First, all logged-in users are sent a message that the server is shutting
down. New user logins are not processed. Next, all processes on the
Linux server are notified that the system is shutting down.
To use the shutdown command, a terminal console must be started
(using Xterm, aterm, or eterm). The format of the Linux shutdown
command is as follows:
/sbin/shutdown [–h | –r | –c] time [shutdown message]
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 414
The time parameter is required. The word now may be used to indicate
immediate shutdown. Here are several examples of Linux shutdowns:
Example 1:
/sbin/shutdown –r 17:00 server shutting down at 5:00pm
The preceding command restarts (shutdown and reboot) the server

at 5 p.m., and will send the message “server shutting down at
5:00pm” to all the users.
Example 2:
/sbin/shutdown –h 17:00 server shutting down at 5:00pm
The preceding command halts (shuts down) the server at 5 p.m., and
will send the message “server shutting down at 5:00pm” to all the users.
Example 3:
/sbin/shutdown –c
The preceding command cancels a previously scheduled shutdown.
IBM OS/2 Shutdown

To send a message to all logged-in users to warn them that the OS/2
network server is going to be shut down, open a command prompt
and use the following command:
net send “message”
To shut down IBM OS/2 use the following command from a com-
mand prompt:
shutdown
Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+Esc, select the desktop, press

Shift+F10, and select Shutdown.
Selecting the Appropriate Tool and

Using It Effectively
There is an old expression that goes something like this: “If the only
tool that you know how to use is a hammer, you tend to treat every-
thing like it is a nail.” The implication of this expression is that you
need to use the right tool for the job at hand. Use a hammer for a
nail, but use a screwdriver for a screw.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 415
An experienced server hardware specialist should have a variety of

tools available to troubleshoot and solve problems and know how to
use all the tools and what situations call for which tools.
Once the appropriate tool is selected, the experienced server hard-
ware specialist should know how to use the tool effectively to trou-
bleshoot and solve the problem with the network server.
If there is a network performance problem, for instance, a network
analysis tool needs to be run to determine why the network is slow.
Make sure you understand the system and network analysis tools
discussed in this chapter and which tools you can use to successfully
investigate problems.
Replacing Defective Hardware

Components
If the problem with the network server turns out to be a defective
hardware component, it is the job of the server hardware specialist to
replace the defective component. If spare components are on hand,
the replacement can take place immediately. If no spare hardware
components are on hand, the appropriate replacement must be
acquired as quickly as possible. Chapter 8, “7.0—Disaster Recovery,”
discusses many of the specific strategies that a server hardware special-
ist can use to prepare for dealing with this eventuality.
Identifying and Replacing Defective

Field Replaceable Units
Field replaceable units (FRUs) are network server components that
can be easily replaced in the field (on the client’s site).
The following list identifies typical FRUs:
á Keyboard
á Monitor
á Mouse
á Power supply
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 416
á CD-ROM drive
á DVD-ROM drive
á Floppy disk drive
á Hard disk drive
á System Board
á SCSI bus controller
á Video controller
á Network interface card
á Processor
á Cooling fans
á Memory
Interpreting Error logs, Operating

System Errors, Health Logs, and
Critical Events
A server hardware specialist should be able to use logs and error
messages generated by the network server operating system as aids
in troubleshooting.
The typical logs and error messages available on most network server
operating systems include the following:
á Error logs. These logs contain errors that have been generated
by the network operating system itself, or applications running
on the network operating system.
á Operating system errors. These messages generally display on
the network server console. Experience with the network server
operating system will make the interpretation of these error
messages relatively easy. Unfamiliar operating system error
messages can generally be interpreted by looking at documen-
tation supplied by the network operating system vendor in
print, electronically, or on the vendor’s web site.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 417
á Health logs. These logs are generally maintained by software

provided by the network server hardware vendor. These health
logs record failure of specific hardware on the network server.
á Critical events. This is another form of log that records events
as they occur on the network server. These events are not nec-
essarily errors, but they are significant events on the network
server, such as a service starting up.
Using Documentation
The network server logbook can be a most useful tool in trouble-
shooting. Assuming that the logbook has been kept up-to-date,
reading the last few pages of the log can provide a valuable clue
that can aid in troubleshooting. Perhaps a new software package
has recently been installed on the network server. Or maybe a new
hardware component was recently added to the network server.
The logbook proves it value when it holds a clue that helps solve
a problem with the network server.
Locating and Using Support Resources

Sources of information about how to fix problems are available in
many forms. A server hardware specialist should be aware of these
sources and should know how to make use of them.
Major network server operating system vendors (such as Microsoft
NOTE
and Novell) offer through an annual subscription service a set of Add to Tool Kit A server hardware
technical support CDs that are updated on a monthly basis. These specialist’s tool kit should include a
CDs contain not only recent patches to the operating system, but technical support subscription service
they also contain many articles or white papers with technical details for the network operating system
most often en-countered by the server
of the operating system, knowledge bases of reported problems and
hardware specialist.
their solutions, resource kits, and utilities.
Microsoft’s technical support subscription service is called TechNet.
Novell calls their technical support subscription service the Novell
Support Connection CD. Both of these services are extremely valuable
to the server hardware specialist.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 418
Other sources of information to aid in troubleshooting include

the following:
á Newsgroups
á Network server hardware vendor web sites
á Network operating system vendor web sites
Newsgroups
Newsgroups are accessed by using a newsreader such as Microsoft
Outlook Express or the newsreader option in NetScape. The follow-
ing sections list some of the more useful newsgroups for the major
operating systems.
Microsoft Windows NT/2000 Newsgroups

comp.os.ms-windows.networking.tcp-ip
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.admin.misc
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.admin.networking
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.admin.security
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.setup.hardware
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.setup.misc
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.software.services
IBM OS/2 Newsgroups

comp.os.os2.bugs
comp.os.os2.comm
comp.os.os2.misc
comp.os.os2.networking.misc
comp.os.os2.setup.misc
comp.os.os2.utilities
comp.os2.networking.tcp-ip
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 419
Novell NetWare Newsgroups

comp.os.netware.connectivity
comp.os.netware.misc
comp.os.netware.security
UNIX Newsgroups
comp.unix.admin
comp.unix.misc
comp.unix.pc-clone.16bit
comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit
comp.unix.questions
comp.unix.sco.misc
comp.unix.solaris
comp.unix.unixware.misc
Linux Newsgroups
comp.os.linux.answers
comp.os.linux.hardware
comp.os.linux.misc
comp.os.linux.networking
comp.os.linux.security
comp.os.linux.setup
Network Server Hardware Vendor Web Sites

Another invaluable source of information is vendor web sites. The
following sections list sites for server vendors and network operating
system vendors.
Server Vendors
Compaq www.compaq.com
Dell www.dell.com
Hewlett-Packard www.hp.com
IBM www.ibm.com
Unisys www.unisys.com
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Network Operating System Vendor Web Sites

Microsoft www.microsoft.com
Novell www.novell.com
UNIX www.sco.com
www.sun.com
Linux www.redhat.com
www.caldera.com
www.suse.com
IBM www.ibm.com
Gathering Resources
When a problem has been reported with the network server, it is
time to shift into “troubleshooting mode.” Many things need to be
done to effectively troubleshoot the problem. The first step is to
gather all the information about the problem and the resources that
will be needed to help troubleshoot the problem. The resources to
be gathered depend on the apparent source of the problem. A net-
work performance problem will probably need a network analysis
tool. An apparent disk failure will require the ability to check
whether the disk drive has actually failed (using senses to check for
loose cables, checking for lack of power, checking for error LEDs on
the disk drive, touching the failed drive to feel whether it is spin-
ning, and so on). That spare external SCSI cable might come in
handy in this situation. Failure of the network server to power up
will probably require the use of a POST Diagnostics Board. There is
always the possibility that you might not be able to solve the prob-
lem with the network server. If the problem is beyond your ability to
solve, call for help from a senior server hardware specialist. Or if you
suspect that the problem is actually a network problem and not a
problem with the network server or its NIC, it is time to call in the
network specialist. Remember the goal is get the network server back
in operation as quickly as possible. If that means making a few
phone calls, make the phone calls.
As a standard part of the troubleshooting process, the server hard-
ware specialist should make sure that he or she has all the available
documentation, the network server logbook, errors logs, event logs,
answers to the questioning process, and support CDs. If you suspect
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 421
that a recent upgrade to the network server operating system or a

driver for one of its components is the cause of the current problem,
be sure to find all the information related to the upgrade. Read the
information thoroughly, looking for references to cautions that were
not heeded before the upgrade was performed. Also check the news-
groups for the operating system in question for references to a simi-
lar problem.
Be sure to search any operating system support CDs for references to
a similar problem. It is likely that the problem has been reported by
others and that there is a fix or patch available on the support CD.
Remote Troubleshooting for a

Wake-On-LAN
Some network interface cards support a technology known as Wake-
On-LAN (WOL). The purpose of WOL technology is to enable a
network administrator to power up a computer by sending a signal
to the NIC with WOL technology. The signal is called a magic
packet. When the magic packet is received by the NIC, it will power
up the computer in which it is installed. When fully powered up,
the remote computer can be accessed through normal remote diag-
nostic software. The WOL technology also enables you to power up
a computer so that it can have the data on its hard disk drives
backed up to tape over the network.
In the Windows NT Server 4 NT Diagnostics, for example, it is
possible to select the computer that you would like to see informa-
tion about. If the computer that you want to examine using NT
Diagnostics is not powered up, however, you cannot perform the
examination. If that computer has a NIC with WOL technology,
you can power it up remotely by sending the WOL magic packet to
that NIC. After the computer is powered up, you can run NT
Diagnostics on that computer.
Remote Troubleshooting for a

Remote Alert
A remote alert is usually generated by a Simple Network
Management Protocol (SNMP) agent that resides on a network
device. The alert is sent to an SNMP management console. The
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 422
software that runs on the SNMP management console will enable

the network administrator to use SNMP to troubleshoot the prob-
lem with the network device.
IDENTIFYING BOTTLENECKS
. 6.3 Identify bottlenecks (e.g., processor, bus transfer, I/O,
disk I/O, network I/O, memory)
To be able to diagnose which network server component is causing
a system bottleneck, the server hardware specialist must have access
to performance-monitoring software tools specific to the network
server operating system. Most network server operating systems
have at least a basic performance-monitoring software package
included with the operating system. Third-party vendors also have
performance-monitoring software tools available for most network
server operating systems.
Examples of performance-monitoring software tools for various net-
work server operating systems include the following:
á Performance Monitor. For Microsoft Windows NT Server
á Performance. For Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
á ManageWise. For Novell NetWare
á sar, iostat, vmstat, ps. For UNIX/Linux
á System Performance Monitor/2 (SPM/2). For IBM OS/2
The primary performance-monitoring tool for Microsoft’s Windows

NT Server is Performance Monitor (see Figure 7.16). Performance
Monitor can monitor nearly all hardware and software components
on a Windows NT Server. The monitoring can take the form of cre-
ating a real-time chart of resource utilization or it can take the form
of a log file for later analysis. The log file can be analyzed by using
Performance Monitor, or the log file can be exported in a format that
can be used by other software, such as a standard statistics software
package for analysis or Microsoft Excel to generate charts or statistics.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 423
FIGURE 7.16
Windows NT Server Performance Monitor.
The primary performance-monitoring tool for Microsoft’s Windows

2000 Server is just called Performance (see Figure 7.17). The primary
difference between the Windows 2000 Server Performance tool and
the Windows NT Server Performance Monitor is that the Windows
2000 Server tool is a snap-in to the Microsoft Management Console.
The appearance is a little different, but the basic functionality is
nearly identical to the Windows NT Server Performance Monitor.
The various versions of the UNIX/Linux operating systems have
command-line utilities that you can use to monitor performance of
the UNIX/Linux network server. The primary tools are sar, vmstat,
iostat, and ps. The flags used by these commands can vary among
the different versions of UNIX/Linux. Use the UNIX/Linux man
command to get specifics about the use of these commands. The
information displayed by the man command also tells you how to
interpret the output generated by the command.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 424
FIGURE 7.17
Windows 2000 Server Performance.
The UNIX/Linux System Activity Reporter, or sar command, col-

lects and reports system activity (processor utilization, buffer utiliza-
tion, and so forth) for the UNIX/Linux network server.
Output from a typical UNIX/Linux sar command looks something
like this:
>sar
3 3 4 000078638900 04/23/01
00:00:01 %usr %sys %wio %idle

00:00:11 53 47 0 0
00:00:21 67 33 0 0
00:00:31 68 32 0 0
00:00:41 79 21 0 0
00:00:51 52 48 0 0
00:10:01 64 36 0 0
00:10:11 77 23 0 0
00:10:21 89 11 0 0
00:10:31 68 32 0 0
00:10:41 81 19 0 0
00:10:51 66 34 0 0
00:20:00 72 28 0 0
00:20:10 74 26 0 0
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 425
00:20:20 68 32 0 0
00:20:30 51 49 0 0
00:20:40 78 22 0 0
00:20:50 83 16 0 0
00:30:01 76 24 0 0
00:30:11 86 14 0 0
00:30:21 76 24 0 0
00:30:31 75 25 0 0
00:30:41 87 13 0 0
00:30:51 79 21 0 0
00:40:01 70 29 0 0
00:40:11 57 43 0 0
00:40:21 67 33 0 0
00:40:32 46 54 0 0
00:40:42 63 37 0 0
00:40:52 76 24 0 0
00:50:01 66 34 0 0
00:50:11 80 20 0 0
00:50:21 76 24 0 0
Average 78 22 0 0
The UNIX/Linux Virtual Memory Statistics, or vmstat command,

provides information about the virtual memory system on the
UNIX/Linux network server.
Output from a typical UNIX/Linux vmstat command looks like this:
>vmstat
kthr memory page faults cpu
——- —————- ———————————— —————— —————-
r b avm fre re pi po fr sr cy in sy cs us sy id wa
1 0 31888 144430 0 0 0 2 9 0 344 197 312 27 23 46 4
The UNIX/Linux Input/Output Statistics, or iostat command,

provides information about disk subsystem input/output on the
UNIX/Linux network server.
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Output from a typical UNIX/Linux iostat command looks like this:
>iostat
tty: tin tout avg-cpu: % user % sys % idle % iowait

2.1 163.1 27.2 22.8 46.5 3.5
Disks: % tm_act Kbps tps Kb_read Kb_wrtn

hdisk0 1.9 14.5 2.5 36007861 75913088
hdisk1 2.0 27.5 2.9 36566322 175307653
hdisk2 8.9 231.9 8.5 31974140 1757195716
cd0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 0
The UNIX/Linux Processes (ps) command lists all the processes that
are running on the UNIX/Linux network server.
Output from a typical UNIX/Linux ps command looks like this:
>ps -A
PID TTY TIME CMD
0 - 46:02 swapper
1 - 118:31 init
516 - 64493:11 kproc
774 - 2:58 kproc
1032 - 794:35 kproc
1860 - 0:00 kproc
2234 - 0:09 errdemon
2364 - 558:09 syncd
2648 - 0:00 srcmstr
3396 - 33:04 syslogd
3642 - 0:00 lpd
3904 - 0:06 xntpd
4180 pts/12 0:23 pine
4388 - 0:00 portmap
4644 - 78:41 inetd
4918 - 0:06 kproc
5160 - 3395:21 kproc
8002 - 0:00 biod
8260 - 1:01 sshd2
9038 - 0:00 rpc.statd
9806 - 0:27 rpc.lockd
10776 pts/11 0:00 ksh
11172 - 0:00 sleep
11954 - 0:00 telnetd
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 427
12398 - 0:46 lmgrd

12650 - 0:00 logdaemon
13194 - 5:58 httpd
13424 - 2:07 HLM_SPSS
13680 - 0:04 nqsdaemon
13938 - 0:00 netdaemon
14466 - 0:00 sh
14970 - 4:43 cron
15264 - 2:06 sh
16368 - 0:00 telnetd
17034 - 1:15 httpd
19098 - 2:40 ksh
19616 - 23:49 sh
19902 - 475:09 rpc.rstatd
20388 - 0:05 uprintfd
21678 - 0:19 qdaemon
22450 - 0:01 i4llmd
22710 - 0:00 writesrv
23742 0 0:00 getty
24072 - 1:11 httpd
24768 - 0:00 diagd
25038 pts/8 0:00 ksh
26318 - 65:13 i4llmd
27814 pts/0 0:00 ksh
28130 pts/12 0:00 ksh
31716 - 0:00 telnetd
31930 - 0:00 telnetd
33806 - 1:10 httpd
34604 - 1:21 httpd
35012 - 1:11 httpd
35606 pts/6 0:06 pine
36454 - 0:04 klogind
38162 - 1:02 httpd
39384 pts/12 0:00 menu.bin
39916 - 4:39 sendmail
Indicators of Processor Bottleneck

TIP
Processor Bottlenecks Know which statistics indicate that

the processor is the bottleneck in a
EXAM
Using the performance-monitoring tools available for the network network server.
server operating system, the server hardware specialist should be able
to monitor the utilization of the processor(s) in the network server.
The two counters to watch most closely are the percent processor
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 428
utilization and the processor queue length. The percent processor

Eliminate Processor Bottleneck utilization is the percentage of the time that the processor is busy.
TIP
Know the options for eliminating a If the processor utilization percentage is constantly greater than
processor bottleneck. 70%, the processor is the bottleneck in the network server.
EXAM
The processor queue length is the number of processes waiting for the
processor. If the processor queue length is constantly greater than 2,
the processor is the bottleneck in the network server.
You can alleviate the processor bottleneck by doing any of the
following:
á Upgrade the existing processor to a faster processor.
á Add an additional processor to the network server.
á Move applications or services from this network server to
another network server.
Memory Bottlenecks
On network servers with operating systems that do not support virtual
memory (for instance, Novell NetWare 4 and below), memory bottle-
necks are rather easy to detect. Memory shortages manifest themselves
on these systems as the inability to load additional software or the lack
of “buffers” (temporary storage between the system and its disk dri-
ves), which are easily detected using standard server management soft-
ware. The solution to a memory shortage is to add more memory.
On network servers with operating systems that do support virtual
memory, several indicators or counters should be monitored. The
first counter is the amount of available memory (memory that is not
being used) after all the network server software has been loaded. To
totally prevent paging or swapping of memory pages to disk, just
have more actual or physical memory than is needed by all the soft-
ware running on the network server.
The other counter that should be monitored to check for memory
bottlenecks is the number of pages that are read from or written to the
paging file on the disk in 1 second. The number of pages per second
that is acceptable depends on the speed of the processor. Generally the
number should be less than 2,000 per second. Heavy paging often
manifests itself as high disk utilization, because the memory pages are
written to disk when the memory is needed by another program.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 429
Another indicator of lack of memory is the number of page faults

generated per second. A page fault is the condition encountered Indicators of a Memory Bottleneck
TIP
when there is an attempt to access a program page and the page is Know which statistics indicate that
memory is the bottleneck in a net-
no longer in memory, but it must be retrieved from disk. A page
EXAM
work server.
fault problem is indicated if the number of page faults per second is
more than double the number of page faults recorded on the server
baseline measurements taken under a normal workload.
To alleviate a memory bottleneck, add more memory to the net-
work server.
Eliminate Memory Bottleneck
TIP
Paging performance can often be improved by placing the paging file
(or the swap file) on the fastest disk in the network server and on a disk Know the options for eliminating a
memory bottleneck.
that doesn’t contain the network server operating system or the data
EXAM
files used by the major application running on the network server.
Disk Subsystem Bottlenecks

The disk subsystem can cause system bottlenecks, especially when
the network server has the role of a network server requiring a fast
disk subsystem (for instance, a database server).
The disk subsystem counters that should be monitored are disk sub-
system utilization and disk queue length. A disk subsystem utiliza-
tion percentage should not be constantly greater than 90%. This
very high disk subsystem utilization rate indicates that the disk sub-
system is the bottleneck.
The disk subsystem queue length indicates how many items are
waiting to be written to the disk subsystem. A disk subsystem queue
length that is constantly greater than 2 indicates that the disk sub-
system is too slow.
Several things might improve disk subsystem performance:
Indicators of a Disk Subsystem
TIP
á Defragment the disk drive. Having fragmented files on the Bottleneck Know which statistics
disk drive can drastically reduce disk performance. indicate that the disk subsystem is
EXAM
the bottleneck in a network server.

á Move the network server operating system paging file to the
fastest disk drive in the network server, and off of the disk
drive where the network server operating system is located.
á Move the application causing high disk utilization to another
network server.
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If defragmenting the disk subsystem and moving the paging file to

Eliminate Disk Subsystem
TIP
another disk drive doesn’t improve performance, more drastic (and

Bottleneck Know the options for costly) measures must be taken to improve disk performance:
eliminating a disk subsystem bottle-
EXAM
neck. á Replace the disk controller with a disk controller that has a
built-in memory cache.
á Replace the disk drives with disk drives with a higher rota-
tional speed (and therefore faster access time).
á Replace the entire disk subsystem (controller and disk drives)
with a faster disk subsystem.
Indicators of a Network
Network Subsystem Bottlenecks
TIP
Subsystem Bottleneck Know Network subsystem bottlenecks are perhaps the most difficult to
which statistics indicate that the detect and solve. Typical performance-monitoring software can sup-
EXAM
network subsystem is the bottle- ply counts of packets sent and received and little else. To analyze
neck. network performance, a network analyzer (hardware or software) is
needed. A network analyzer can actually capture packets on the net-
work for later analysis. The percent network utilization, a very valu-
able indicator of network performance, can be determined easily. A
network analyzer can also determine the type of network packets (for
instance, broadcasts, multicasts, or unicasts) and the protocols that
are consuming the most network bandwidth.
A network utilization percentage that is constantly greater than
65% is generally considered to be high utilization, and can consti-
tute a bottleneck.
Solutions to a network subsystem bottleneck are generally expensive
Eliminating a Network Subsystem and include the following:
TIP
Bottleneck Know the options for

eliminating a network subsystem á Replace the network subsystem with a faster network sub-
EXAM
bottleneck. system. Replacing a 10Mbps Ethernet network with a

100Mbps Fast Ethernet network will likely eliminate the
network subsystem as a bottleneck.
á Replace Ethernet hubs with Ethernet switches. In an Ethernet
hub, all the available network bandwidth is shared. Using an
Ethernet switch instead provides each port a full amount of
bandwidth (no sharing of the bandwidth).
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 431
á If the bottleneck appears to be caused by too many clients
NOTE
trying to get to the network server, consider using adapter Two Versions of Microsoft Network
teaming to increase the network bandwidth available to the Monitor There are two different ver-
sions of Microsoft’s Network Monitor
network server. This requires multiple NICs to be installed
software. A cut-down version is
in the network server and a Fast Ethernet switch that supports
included with Microsoft Windows NT
bandwidth aggregation to be installed. (See the section
Server and Microsoft Windows 2000
“Adapter Teaming” in Chapter 1, “0.0—Planning and Server operating systems. This ver-
Specifications,” for more details.) sion can monitor only network traffic
á Eliminate unnecessary protocols from the network. When leaving or entering the network server
on which it is running. The full version
multiple protocols are installed on a network server, announce-
of Network Monitor is a component of
ments sent from the network server are sent once for each
the Microsoft System Management
installed protocol (thus increasing network traffic).
Server 2.0 BackOffice Product. The
The following are a couple of well-known network monitoring and full version of Network Monitor can
analysis tools: capture and analyze all packets on
the network.
á Microsoft Network Monitor
á Novell LANalyzer for Windows
NOTE
IDENTIFYING AND CORRECTING specialist’s tool kit should include a

network monitor software package
MISCONFIGURATIONS AND/OR running on a laptop computer. This is
an expensive, but invaluable tool for
UPGRADES diagnosing network traffic problems.
. 6.4 Identify and correct misconfigurations and/or upgrades

There are various ways to detect and correct misconfigurations and
upgrades. The following sections discuss troubleshooting tips for
various subsystems.
Troubleshooting Disk Drives

Because disk drives are practically the only mechanical devices in a
network server (with the exception of cooling fans), they are the
components most prone to failure. Fortunately, disk drive failures
are usually easy to diagnose.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 432
Here is the short list of things to check if you suspect a disk drive
failure in the network server:
á Check to make sure that the data cable is firmly attached to
the disk drive.
á Check to make sure the disk drive is getting power. Check to
make sure that the power plug is plugged into the disk drive.
á By touching a disk drive, an experienced server hardware spe-
NOTE
Add to Tool Kit A server hardware cialist can actually feel the disk drive spinning. In a non-noisy
specialist’s tool kit should include environment, an experienced server hardware specialist can
a stethoscope for listening to hard also hear the disk drive spinning. However, very few network
disk drives. Can a Server Hardware servers are located in non-noisy environments. By using a
Specialist who uses a stethoscope to
stethoscope, a server hardware specialist can easily hear
listen to hard disks be referred to as
whether a hard disk drive is functioning normally.
a “spin doctor”?
á Any “clicking” noise coming from a hard disk drive is defi-
nitely a bad sign. It usually indicates a catastrophic failure of
the disk drive.
Troubleshooting a SCSI Subsystem

Troubleshooting a SCSI subsystem is also very straightforward. First
you should check to make sure that the disk drives themselves are
functioning normally, by performing the hard disk troubleshooting
suggestions listed earlier.
Some SCSI subsystems have disk drives in cabinets that are external
to the network server chassis. These external components should be
powered on before the network server itself is powered on. If the
external cabinets are not powered, the SCSI adapter in the network
server chassis will not be able to locate devices in the external cabinet.
The short list of items to check when troubleshooting SCSI sub-
systems includes the following:
á Make sure that the SCSI controller is firmly seated in the
network server chassis.
á Check to make sure that the SCSI connectors are firmly
attached to the SCSI controller and the SCSI disk drives.
á Make sure that the power connectors are firmly attached to the
SCSI disk drives.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 433
á Check to make sure that there are no duplicate SCSI IDs

among the devices on a single SCSI channel.
á Check to make sure both ends of the SCSI channel are
terminated properly.
á Make sure that the total length of the SCSI channel (cable)
NOTE
does not exceed the maximum allowed for the SCSI signaling Add to Tool Kit A server hardware
system (single-ended, high-voltage differential, or low-voltage specialist’s tool kit should include
differential) being used. a known good external SCSI cable
with 68-pin HD connectors, a known
á Remember that to achieve their high data-transfer speeds, good external SCSI cable with 68-pin
some high-speed SCSI systems (such as Ultra 160) do not VHDCI connectors, and a known
allow the maximum number of devices to be attached to the good external SCSI cable with 50-pin
SCSI bus. (Usually the maximum is seven.) Some high-speed connectors.
SCSI systems limit the number of disk drives to three.
á Make sure that the SCSI cables are top quality. Quality cables
are needed to support high data-transfer speeds.
Troubleshooting an ATA Subsystem

Troubleshooting an ATA subsystem is also very straightforward. First
you should check to make sure that the disk drives themselves are
functioning normally, by performing the hard disk troubleshooting
suggestions listed earlier.
The short list of items to check when troubleshooting an ATA sub-
systems includes the following:
á Make sure that the ATA controller is firmly seated in the net-
work server chassis.
á Check to make sure that the ATA connectors are firmly
attached to the ATA controller and the ATA disk drives.
á Make sure that the power connectors are firmly attached to
the ATA disk drives.
á Check to make sure that when there are two ATA disks on a
NOTE
single ATA channel (ribbon cable) that one of the disk drives is Add to Tool Kit A server hardware
set to the master role and that the other is set to the slave role. specialist’s tool kit should include a
Alternatively, both disk drives may be set to cable select (CSEL). known good IDE/ATA cable and extra
IDE/ATA jumpers.
á Make sure that the ATA cable does not exceed the maximum
ATA cable length (usually 18 inches).
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 434
Troubleshooting an Ultra ATA

Subsystem
Troubleshooting an Ultra ATA subsystem is exactly the same as
troubleshooting an ATA subsystem, except that Ultra ATA systems
NOTE
Add to Tool Kit A server hardware require an ATA cable that differs from regular ATA system cables.
specialist’s tool kit should include a The Ultra ATA systems require an 80-conductor cable with a 40-pin
known good Ultra ATA 80-conductor
connector rather than the 40-conductor cable with a 40-pin connec-
cable.
tor used by regular ATA system.
General Network Troubleshooting

When troubleshooting network problems, first make sure that the
network cable is plugged into the NIC. Most NICs have a “link”
LED on the NIC near where the network cable is attached. The link
light should be on when the other end of the network cable is
plugged into a hub or switch. The power for this LED comes from
the hub or cable, so it should be on even if the network server is
powered down.
Ethernet NICs that can operate at either 10Mbps or 100Mbps
NOTE
Add to Tool Kit A server hardware (known as 10/100 Ethernet NICs) generally have an LED to indicate
specialist’s tool kit should include a the speed at which the NIC is communicating.
Category 5 UTP path cable that is at
least 10 feet long and is known to be If the network cable is attached to both the NIC and a hub or
in good working condition. switch and there is still a problem with the network communication,
replace the network patch cable with a cable that is known to work.
If the network still does not communicate, the problem is either
with the NIC (which should be replaced with a known working
NIC) or with the port on the hub/switch. Try using a different port
on the hub/switch.
If none of these changes clear up the network problem, it is time to
call the network expert on your contact list.
Troubleshooting TCP/IP Network

Problems
This is the preferred order in which to run tests on TCP/IP:
1. hostname. Prints the name of the network server. Note the
host name for future reference.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 435
2. ipconfig. Prints the current TCP/IP configuration. (On

UNIX/Linux systems use the ifconfig command rather than
ipconfig.) Note the IP address and subnet mask of the net-
work server for future reference. If the IP address of the
default gateway displays, note it also.
3. Ping 127.0.0.1. Ping the loopback address to see whether
TCP/IP is installed correctly. If any error message appears, it is
time to remove and reinstall the TCP/IP protocol on the net-
work server.
4. Ping own IP address. This tests that TCP/IP can commu-
nicate with the network adapter in the network server. The IP
address of the network server displays in the output of the
IPCONFIG command.
5. Ping default gateway. This tests that the network server can
communicate from the network to another system on the net-
work, in this case the router. The IP address of the default gate-
way (router) displays in the output of the ipconfig command.
6. Ping remote host. A remote host is a computer on the other
side of the default gateway (router). This tests that the router
is doing its job and forwards the TCP/IP packet to a computer
system on the other side of the router.
7. Ping own IP name. This tests that the network server can
resolve its own IP name.
8. Ping remote host IP name. This tests that the DNS server is
working and resolving the host IP name of a remote computer.
What follows are examples of running Ping and the messages

that result.
A successful ping command using a TCP/IP address should look
something like this:
C:\>ping 192.168.1.200

12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 436


A successful Ping command using the IP name should look some-

thing like this:
C:\>ping london.nwtraders.msft
Pinging london.nwtraders.msft [192.168.1.200] with 32 bytes

➥of data:


Notice that the IP name london.nwtraders.msft has been resolved to

IP address 192.168.1.200 and both the IP name and IP address dis-
play in the output of the Ping command.
An unsuccessful Ping command using the IP name would look
like this:
C:\>ping seattle.namerica1.nwtraders.msft
Unknown host seattle.namerica1.nwtraders.msft.
The message Unknown host indicates that the IP name seattle.

namerica1.nwtraders.msft could not be resolved to an IP address
by a DNS server. This is either a name resolution problem (bad IP
name) or the IP address of the DNS server is incorrect in the TCP/IP
configuration of the computer issuing the Ping command.
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An unsuccessful ping command using an IP address would look

like this:
C:\>ping 10.2.3.12
Destination host unreachable.


The message Destination host unreachable indicates that there is

not a route from the computer issuing the ping command to the
computer being pinged. The most likely cause is that there is not a
valid default gateway configured in the TCP/IP configuration of the
computer issuing the ping command. In other words, “you can’t get
there from here.”
An unsuccessful ping command using an IP name would look
like this:
C:\>ping vancouver.namerica1.nwtraders.msft
Pinging vancouver.namerica1.nwtraders.msft [192.168.1.112]

➥with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 438
The Request timed out message indicates that the pinged computer
NOTE
Add to Tool Kit A server hardware did not reply to the ping command. This usually means that the
specialist’s tool kit should include a computer being pinged is not currently running. On the plus side,
POST Diagnostics Board designed for the name vancouver.namerica1.nwtraders.msft was resolved to the
a PCI bus.
address 192.168.1.112 as shown in the output of the ping com-
mand. Also because the message is Request timed out rather than
Destination host unreachable, the default gateway was properly
configured on the computer issuing the ping command.
NOTE
POST Diagnostic Boards for Other

Buses There are POST Diagnostic
Boards for ISA and EISA buses as Troubleshooting Boot Failure
well as the popular PCI bus.
Failure of the network server to boot up at all can be particularly dif-
ficult to resolve. Several manufacturers build a Power-On Self-Test
(POST) Diagnostics Board that is invaluable in diagnosing boot up
problems. Figure 7.18 shows a diagram of a typical POST
POST Diagnostics Board Know
TIP
Diagnostics Board.
the purpose of a POST Diagnostics
Board. A POST Diagnostics Board is a diagnostic device that plugs into any
EXAM
available PCI expansion slot in the network server and tests the
operation of the system as it powers up. Any error condition displays
on a set of LEDs or LCDs mounted on the POST Diagnostics
Board. The meaning of the error code and the action to take to
resolve the boot failure are included with the documentation of the
POST Diagnostics Board.
DETERMINING WHETHER A PROBLEM

IS HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, OR VIRUS
RELATED
. 6.5 Determine if problem is hardware, software, or virus related
Network server problems can be caused by faulty hardware, miscon-
figured or poorly written software, or computer viruses.
Computer viruses cause strange behavior in a network server. Some
viruses might act like a hardware or software failure. If after checking
all the hardware components using normal troubleshooting tech-
FIGURE 7.18 niques, there still appears to be a problem with the hardware, it
A typical POST Diagnostics Board. could very easily be a computer virus causing the problem.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 439
Good troubleshooting techniques dictate that you should update

the virus signature file and run virus-scan software as a standard part
of troubleshooting.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
This chapter covered troubleshooting. You learned about the uses of
KEY TERMS
questioning techniques and the use of your senses as aids in trouble-
shooting network server problems. The value of knowing whom to • APIPA
contact for specific problems and failures was discussed. The names • Event Viewer
and examples of common troubleshooting and diagnostic tools for • FRU
various network server operating systems were presented. The proper • hostname
commands used to shut down various network server operating sys-
tems were also documented. • ifconfig
• iostat
The ways to determine network server bottlenecks were presented
and solutions to the various bottlenecks were discussed. Various • ipconfig
troubleshooting techniques for different hardware components were • Magic packet
explained. • man
• nbtstat
• netstat
• nslookup
• pathping
• ping
• POST Diagnostics Board
• ps
• sar
• shutdown
• Task Manager
• traceroute
• tracert
• tracerte
• vmstat
• Wake-On-LAN
• wall
• Windows NT Diagnostics
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 440
Exercises 3. Ping the IP address of the default gateway and
note the results.
7.1 Using Network Tools and Utilities 4. Ping the IP address of any remote computer (a
It’s time to try some of these network utilities. computer on the other side of the router) and
Windows 2000 Server is used as the example in this note the results.
exercise, but you can use any network server operating 5. Perform a Tracert to the same IP address that you
system, although some of the actual commands will used in step 4 and note the results.
have to be changed (for example, Windows 2000 server
uses ipconfig to obtain TCP/IP configuration informa-
tion and UNIX/Linux uses ifconfig). 7.3 Using Other TCP/IP Utilities
Estimated Time: 15 minutes. Now try a few of the other TCP/IP utilities to see how
they work.
Use the network troubleshooting tools you have avail-
able to answer the following questions about the Estimated Time: 20 minutes.
TCP/IP configuration: 1. Try the netstat command to get TCP/IP statis-
What is the host name of the network server? (Hint: tics. The Windows 2000 netstat command to do
Use the hostname command.) this is netstat –s.
What is the TCP/IP address of the network server? 2. Try the nslookup command to look up the IP
(Hint: Use ipconfig /all.) address of the following IP names:
www.microsoft.com
What is the TCP/IP subnet mask?
www.newriders.com
What is the IP address of default gateway?
www.comptia.org
What is the IP address of the DNS server?
The format of the nslookup command to do
7.2 Testing the Network these is:
Now that you have gathered information about the nslookup ipname
TCP/IP configuration, use this information to test
the network.
Estimated Time: 15 minutes. Review Questions
1. Ping the loopback address (127.0.0.1) and note 1. You’ve just arrived at a client site and when you
the results. enter the server room you notice that it seems to
2. Ping the IP address of the network server and be rather warm. Who should you contact to dis-
note the results. cuss the temperature of the server room?
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 441
2. What processor utilization percentage indicates 15. What is the name of the utility in Microsoft
that the processor is the bottleneck in the net- Windows NT Server and Microsoft Windows
work server? 2000 that will display the processes running on
the network server?
3. When analyzing network server bottlenecks, a
lack of memory when you are using an operating
system that supports virtual memory may mani-
fest itself as what? Exam Questions
4. How are memory bottlenecks eliminated? 1. A network interface card’s Wake-On-LAN tech-
5. What disk subsystem utilization percentage indi- nology is activated when the NIC receives a spe-
cates that the disk subsystem is the bottleneck in cial TCP/IP packet. What is the special TCP/IP
the network server? packet called?
6. What piece of equipment is used to troubleshoot A. A power-up packet
a network server boot failure? B. A magic packet
7. What is the purpose of Wake-On-LAN C. A cookie packet
technology?
D. A startup packet
8. What is the Windows NT Server command-line
utility that will display the current TCP/IP con- 2. You have just run a performance test on a net-
figuration? work server and obtained the following results:
9. What is the UNIX/Linux command-line utility Processor: Percent Utilization 97%

that will display the current TCP/IP configuration? Processor: Processor Queue Length 1
10. What is the name of the TCP/IP utility used to Memory: Pages per second 20
test communications between the current net-
work server and another server on the network? Disk Subsystem: Percent Disk Utilization 15%
11. What is the name of the TCP/IP utility used to Disk Subsystem: Disk Queue Length 1
test name resolution from a DNS server? Network: Percent Network Utilization 20%
12. What is the UNIX/Linux command that will Based on this information, what is the network
send a message to all users logged in to the netserver bottleneck?
work server?
A. Processor
13. What is the proper way to shut down a Windows
NT/Windows 2000 network server? B. Memory
14. What is the name of the performance-monitoring C. Disk subsystem

tool built in to Microsoft Windows NT Server 4? D. Network subsystem
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 442
3. Which of the following commands is used to 6. Under what conditions should you consider the
shut down a Novell NetWare network server? use of a POST Diagnostics Board?
A. shutdown A. When the network server is performing
poorly
B. down
B. When the network server will not boot
C. stop
C. When the network server will not connect to
D. exit
the network
4. Which indicators (statistics) should be monitored
D. When the network server services file to load
to determine whether the processor is the bottle-
neck in the network server? 7. You have just run a performance test on a net-
work server and obtained the following results:
i. Percent processor utilization
Processor: Percent Utilization 30%
ii. Percent disk utilization
Processor: Processor Queue Length 1
iii. Processor queue length
Memory: Pages per second 15020
iv. Disk queue length
Disk Subsystem: Percent Disk
A. i and ii
Utilization 99%
B. i, ii, and iv
Disk Subsystem: Disk Queue Length 5
C. i and iii
Network: Percent Network Utilization 15%
D. iii and iv
Based on this information, what is the network
5. Which TCP/IP utility is used to test network server bottleneck?
communications from the network server to
A. Processor
another server on the network?
B. Memory
A. IPCONFIG
C. Disk subsystem
B. NETSTAT
D. Network subsystem
C. Ping
D. NETDIAG
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 443
8. Which of the following are acceptable ways to 10. Which indicators (statistics) should be monitored
eliminate processor bottlenecks? to help determine whether the disk subsystem is
the bottleneck in the network server?
i. Upgrade the existing processor to a faster
processor. i. Percent disk utilization
ii. Add another processor to the network server. ii. Percent processor utilization
iii. Move applications or services to another iii. Disk queue length
network server.
iv. Processor queue length
iv. Add more memory to the network server.
A. i, ii, iii, and iv
A. i, ii, iii, and iv
B. i and ii
B. i and iv
C. iii and iv
C. i, ii, and iii
D. i and iii
D. i only
11. What is the TCP/IP utility that will report the
9. Which of the following methods can be used routers that a communications packet passes
to eliminate a memory bottleneck on a net- through when traveling from one network server
work server? to another network server?
i. Install faster memory A. netstat
ii. Add more memory B. ping
iii. Install a slower processor C. tracert
iv. Replace SIMMs with DIMMs D. route
A. i and iii 12. What is the very first step that should be taken
as part of the process of shutting down a net-
B. ii only
work server?
C. iv only
A. Notify logged-in users that the network server
D. i only will be shut down shortly.
B. Turn the network server power switch off.
C. Issue the shutdown command (or equivalent)
for the network server operating system.
D. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and stand back.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 444
13. A new hard disk drive has been added to a SCSI A. The DNS server could not resolve the name of
channel. However, when the network server boots the host computer being pinged.
the SCSI controller not only doesn’t it see the new
B. There is no default gateway configured on the
disk drive, but one of the disk drives that it previ-
network server that issued the Ping command.
ously saw no longer appears in the list of devices
attached to the SCSI controller. Which of the fol- C. The pinged computer did not reply to the ping.
lowing is the most likely cause of the problem? D. The Ping service is not running on the destina-
A. The new SCSI disk drive has the same SCSI tion computer.
ID as the SCSI device already attached to the
SCSI channel.
B. The SCSI bus is not terminated at both ends. Answers to Review Questions
C. The SCSI channel is too long. 1. You should contact the person responsible for
D. The SCSI disk drive is set to master rather HVAC for the building where the server room is
than slave. located about the temperature in the server room.
For more information, see the section “Identify
14. A second disk drive has been installed on an ATA Contacts.”
disk channel that already had a disk drive attached
to it. However, the network server now fails to 2. If the processor utilization percentage is con-
boot. What is the most likely cause of the problem? stantly over 70%, the processor is the bottleneck
in the network server. For more information, see
A. The ATA disk channel is not terminated the section “Processor Bottlenecks.”
correctly.
3. The lack of memory in a network operating
B. The ATA disk channel is too long. system that supports virtual memory causes much
C. The ATA disk drives are misconfigured; one paging activity. This increases disk subsystem uti-
disk drive must be set to the master role, and lization. Even though it may look like the disk
the other must be set to the slave role. subsystem is too slow, the high utilization of the
disk is caused by lack of memory. For more infor-
D. The ATA disk drive ID number of the new mation, see the section “Memory Bottlenecks.”
disk drive conflicts with the ATA disk drive
ID number of the existing disk drive. 4. A memory bottleneck is eliminated by adding more
memory to the network server. For more informa-
15. You issue the following Ping command: tion, see the section “Memory Bottlenecks.”
ping 10.20.30.40
5. If the disk subsystem utilization is constantly over
And you receive the following message: 90%, the disk subsystem is the bottleneck in the
network server. For more information, see the
Destination host unreachable
section “Disk Subsystem Bottlenecks.”
What does this message indicate?
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 445
6. A POST Diagnostics Board is used to help 12. The UNIX/Linux command that will send a
troubleshoot network server boot problems. message to all users logged in to the network
For more information, see the section server is the wall (write all) command. For more
“Troubleshooting Boot Failure.” information, see the sections “UNIX Shutdown”
or “Linux Shutdown.”
7. Wake-On-LAN (WOL) technology allows a net-
work interface card to power up the computer in 13. A Windows NT/Windows 2000 network server
which it is installed upon receiving a special can be shut down in several ways. Use the Start
packet (known as the WOL Magic packet). For menu, select Shut Down, and then select Shut
more information, see the section “Remote Down the Server. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del, click the
Troubleshooting for a Wake-On-LAN.” Shutdown button, click Shutdown, and then
click OK or Yes. For more information, see the
8. The Windows NT Server command-line utility
sections “Windows NT Server Shutdown” or
that will display the current TCP/IP configura-
“Windows 2000 Server Shutdown.”
tion is ipconfig. For more information, see the
section “Network Diagnostic Tools for Microsoft 14. The performance-monitoring tool built in to
Windows NT.” Microsoft Windows NT Server is called
Performance Monitor. For more information, see
9. The UNIX/Linux command-line utility that will
the section “Identifying Bottlenecks.”
display the current TCP/IP configuration is
ifconfig. For more information, see the sections 15. The utility in Microsoft Windows NT Server and
“Network Diagnostic Tools for UNIX” or Microsoft Windows 2000 Server that will display
“Network Diagnostic Tools for Linux.” the processes currently running on the network
server is called Task Manager. For more informa-
10. The TCP/IP utility used to test communications
tion, see the section, “Diagnostic Tools by
between the current network server and another
Operating System.”
server on the network is ping. For more informa-
tion, see the sections “Network Diagnostic Tools
for Windows NT” or “Network Diagnostic Tools
for Windows 2000.” Answers to Exam Questions
11. The name of the TCP/IP utility used to test name 1. B. A NIC with Wake-On-LAN technology pow-
resolution from a DNS server is nslookup. For ers up the computer when it receives a magic
more information, see the sections “Network packet. For more information, see the section
Diagnostic Tools for Windows NT” or “Network “Remote Troubleshooting for a Wake-On-LAN.”
Diagnostic Tools for Windows 2000.”
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 446
2. A. The processor utilization is greater than 70%, 8. C. A processor bottleneck can be eliminated by
indicating that the processor is the network server upgrading the existing processor to a faster proces-
bottleneck. For more information, see the section sor, adding another processor to the network server,
“Processor Bottlenecks.” and by moving applications on the network server
to a different network server. For more informa-
3. B. The command used to shut down a Novell
tion, see the section “Processor Bottlenecks.”
NetWare network server is down. For more informa-
tion, see the section “Novell NetWare Shutdown.” 9. B. The way to eliminate a memory bottleneck is
to install additional memory into the network
4. C. The indicators (statistics) that should be
server. For more information, see the section
monitored to determine whether the processor
“Memory Bottlenecks.”
is the bottleneck in the network server are per-
cent processor utilization and processor queue 10. D. The indicators (statistics) that should be
length. For more information, see the section monitored to determine whether the disk sub-
“Processor Bottlenecks.” system is the bottleneck in the network server are
percent disk utilization and disk queue length.
5. C. The Ping command is the TCP/IP utility used
For more information, see the section “Disk
to test network communications from one net-
Subsystems Bottlenecks.”
work server to another network server. For more
information, see the section “Troubleshooting 11. C. The Tracert command is the TCP/IP utility
TCP/IP Network Problems.” that reports the routers that a network packet
passes through going from one network server to
6. B. A POST Diagnostics Board is used when
another network server. The UNIX/Linux version
the network server will not boot. For more
of Tracert is traceroute. For more information,
information, see the section “Troubleshooting
see the section “Network Diagnostic Tools for
Boot Failures.”
Microsoft Windows NT” or “Network
7. B. The performance tests indicate a very high Diagnostic Tools for Microsoft Windows 2000.”
paging rate, which indicates high memory utiliza-
12. A. The very first thing to do as part of the net-
tion. The high percentage on disk subsystem uti-
work server shutdown process is to notify the
lization could indicate that the disk subsystem is
logged-on users that the network server is going
the network server bottleneck; however, the high
to be shut down shortly. For more information,
disk utilization is caused by the paging, which is
see the section “System Shutdown.”
caused by a shortage of memory in the network
server. For more information, see the section
“Memory Bottlenecks.”
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 447
13. A. The new SCSI disk drive has duplicated the 14. C. The ATA disk drives are not configured prop-
SCSI ID of another device on the SCSI channel, erly. One of the disk drives must be set to the
thus making both not appear on the list of recog- master role and the other must be set to the slave
nized SCSI devices. The SCSI bus being not cor- role because they are on the same ATA disk chan-
rectly terminated would cause all SCSI devices to nel. For more information, see the section
be unrecognized. The SCSI bus being too long “Troubleshooting an ATA Subsystem.”
would cause the system to be “flaky” in perfor-
15. B. The Destination host unreachable message
mance. Answer D is totally wrong, because SCSI
from a Ping command indicates that there is no
disk drives do not have master and slave settings.
way to get to the IP address of the Ping com-
mand. This indicates that the default gateway is
“Troubleshooting a SCSI Subsystem.”
not configured on the computer issuing the Ping
command. For more information, see the section
“Troubleshooting TCP/IP Network Problems.”
1. Brooks, Charles J. A+ Certification 4. Granite Digital SCSI Troubleshooting

Training Guide, 3rd Edition. New Riders www.scsipro.com/trbshoot/02fs_trouble.htm
Publishing, 2001.
5. IBM SCSI Troubleshooting
2. Mueller, Scott. Upgrading and Repairing PCs, www.storage.ibm.com/techsup/hddtech/
12th Edition. Que Publishing, 2000. rma/fascsi.htm
3. Edmead, Mark T. and Hinsberg, Paul. 6. Memory Troubleshooting From Kingston

Windows NT Performance Monitoring, www.kingston.com/tools/umg/newumg08.asp
Benchmarking, and Tuning. New Rider’s
Publishing, 1998.
12 Serv+ Ch_07 7/10/01 9:57 AM Page 448
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/11/01 10:05 AM Page 449
OBJECTIVES
This chapter deals with the planning and implementa-

tion of a disaster-recovery process for your production
servers. A disaster-recovery plan is a lot like car insur-
ance. You hope you will never need it, but when you
are standing on the curb looking at the big dent in the
door, you’re sure glad you spent all that money. In the
event of a server outage, you want to be absolutely sure
you have your disaster-recovery plan ready to go. This
will include everything from redundant hardware
components to hot-site capabilities for the restoring of
critical business processes.
objectives for the Disaster Recovery section of the
7.1 Plan for disaster recovery
• Plan for redundancy (e.g., hard drives, power
supplies, fans, NICs, processors, UPS)
• Use the techniques of hot swap, warm swap
and hot spare to ensure availability
• Use the concepts of fault tolerance/fault
recovery to create a disaster recovery plan
• Develop disaster recovery plan
• Identify types of backup and restoration
schemes
• Document and test disaster recovery plan reg-
ularly, and update as needed
C H A P T E R 8
7.0—Disaster
Recovery
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 450
OBJECTIVES OUTLINE
. This objective covers all the facets of disaster-recov- Introduction 452

ery planning, from the configuration of the server
for the appropriate redundancy, to backup hardware
and methods, to testing your disaster-recovery plan Creating a Disaster-Recovery Plan 452
after it has been developed. Beyond the require-
ments for this objective on the exam, you also will Risk Analysis 453
find this will be a key component of most jobs Understanding Redundancy, Clustering,
involving servers. A good server implementation Scalability, and High Availability 455
not only needs to incorporate high availability and Redundancy 455
disaster recovery as part of its design, but you also RAID types 456
are providing many of the building blocks of the Hardware Versus Software RAID 461
disaster-recovery plan. Redundancy of Other System
Components 463
7.2 Restoring Introduction to Clustering 464
Introduction to Scalability 466
• Identify hardware replacements Introduction to High Availability 467
• Identify hot and cold sites Understanding Hot Swapping, Warm
Swapping and Hot Spares 468
• Implement disaster recovery plan
Creating a Disaster-Recovery Plan
. After you have completed all your disaster- Based on Fault Tolerance/Recovery 470
recovery planning, have put all the components and
backup strategies into place, there is only one other Backing Up Your Data 471
piece of the disaster–recovery plan that you may Testing the Plan 477
encounter. It’s the one you hope you’ll never need,
but in the event of disaster you will need to recover
from the outage. This objective tests your under-
Restoring Your Server 480
standing of the disaster-recovery concepts related to
the ability to recover from a disaster, using replace-
ment equipment, hot and cold sites, and the other Chapter Summary 482
facets of a disaster-recovery plan.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 451
To prepare for the Disaster Recovery objectives of . If you have access to a server with a RAID con-
the Server+ exam, do the following: troller and hot-swap drives, set up the different
types of RAID arrays and experiment with drive
. Read the objectives at the beginning of
failures by pulling a drive from the array.
this chapter.
. Play the “what if?” game. Look around at the
computers that you have access to and figure
. Review the objectives again. out what you would do if something went
. Answer the Review and Exam Questions at the wrong. What if the hard drive fails? What if
end of the chapter and check your results. there is a flood? What if your office/house is
hit by lightning and your computer is dam-
. Use the ExamGear test engine on the aged? How would you continue to do busi-
CD-ROM that accompanies this book for ness? It doesn’t even need to be business
additional Exam Questions concerning systems. What if your PC hard drive crashes?
this material. How would you use the ExamGear CD included
. Review the Exam Tips available in various with this book to prepare for this exam? If you
places in this chapter. Make certain that you have no access to computers at this time, you
understand the information in the Exam Tip. If can do the same exercise with appliances.
you don’t fully understand the Exam Tip, How would you watch the Super Bowl if your
review the information in the chapter related TV is broken? What would you do with your
to this topic. food if your refrigerator stops working? The
object of this exercise is to put yourself in a
. If you are working for a company that has disaster-recovery frame of mind and get you
servers deployed, think about the different thinking about not only what is covered in this
types of things that could go wrong with them, chapter, but also the thousands of things that
and then think about what you would do in there is no way for us to cover here.
the event of a failure. Review your company’s
disaster-recovery procedure if available.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 452
Test, Test, Test Your Disaster- INTRODUCTION

TIP
Recovery Plan! If you are ever Probably the best place to start a discussion of disaster recovery is
asked what is the most important with a definition of what is meant by disaster recovery. Disaster
EXAM
part of a disaster-recovery plan, the

recovery can be defined as a set of activities designed to reduce the
correct answer is the testing of the
likelihood, duration, and impact of a disaster. Here’s where some
plan. The worst time to find out
your disaster-recovery plan doesn’t
people get confused. A disaster is not just a tornado, hurricane,
work is when the water is three flood, fire, or earthquake, although those are certainly major disas-
inches from the server room and ters. In a server environment, a disaster can be something as simple
you need to provide uninterrupted as a failed hard drive, a bad Ethernet adapter, or a deleted mailbox
services to your customers. on a mail server. The difficult part of disaster-recovery planning is
that you have to take into account all these factors during your plan.
This chapter covers the two facets of disaster recovery. The first facet
is the planning for the disaster. This includes everything from the
initial configuration of the server to determining what equipment to
put at a hot site in the event of a major disaster. The second facet is
the actual recovery process. This includes the restoring of data,
replacement of failed hardware, or even bringing a cold or hot site
online when your facility suffers a catastrophic failure.
CREATING A DISASTER-RECOVERY
PLAN
. 7.1 Plan for disaster recovery
• Plan for redundancy (e.g., hard drives, power supplies,
fans, NICs, processors, UPS)
• Use the techniques of hot swap, warm swap and hot spare
to ensure availability
• Use the concepts of fault tolerance/fault recovery to create
a disaster recovery plan
• Develop disaster recovery plan
• Identify types of backup and restoration schemes
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 453
Chapter 8 7.0—DISASTER RECOVERY 453

• Document and test disaster recovery plan regularly, and
update as needed
Okay, you need a disaster-recovery plan. It is very tempting to jump
right in and start designing your disk arrays for maximum availabil-
ity and ordering spare parts. In fact, a lot of this chapter focuses on
the discussion of how to design highly available servers, as part of
your disaster-recovery plan. But there is one thing you need to do
before you start putting your disaster-recovery plan on paper. You
NOTE
But My Risk Analysis Book Says
need to perform a risk analysis.
There Are Three Parts! One thing is
very important to remember when you
do a risk analysis—and it’s not how
Risk Analysis many steps are in your process. It’s
“Why do I need to do a risk analysis?” is a common question asked be consistent. Make sure you use the
by technical staff. After all, isn’t that what the business people are same process for all your analysis to
for? If you’re a technical person, a lot of time the last thing you want ensure you get consistent results.
Everyone has his or her own ways to
to be doing is dealing with the processes, procedures, and paperwork
perform a risk analysis, and as long
involved in doing a risk analysis. And a risk analysis is not usually
as your method works for you, and
something a technical person can complete without some input gives you results you can work from, it
from the business people. As far as why a risk analysis is important, is a great tool. The four-step break-
think about driving your car. If you were to do a complete disaster- down is just suggested as a guideline.
recovery plan for your car, you would want to stock spare parts for
any component that might fail. So in addition to the spare tire, you
should also have a spare rear-view mirror, a spare steering wheel, and
a spare windshield. This is an extreme example to illustrate the
point. In your car, you know that a tire is the most likely thing to
fail that you might have a chance to repair. With your server, not
only do you need to know what components are most likely to
fail, are repairable, or can be dealt with by using high-availability
techniques, but you also need to understand what the value of the
information is.
So your first response is probably something along the lines of “Well
I already know what’s important, so why do I have to go through all
this analysis?” Besides, no one really understands this risk analysis
stuff anyway. Let’s take a look at what a risk analysis really is, and
discuss why you really need this.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 454
A good risk analysis can be broken into the following four parts:
1. Identify your business processes and their associated infra-
structure. For example, communications is a business process
that involves a mail server, a network connection, and the end-
user workstation. Remote access is a process that might involve
modems, modem lines, a RAS server, and a network connec-
tion. It is absolutely critical that you involve someone from the
business in this part of the analysis. In a perfect world, the IT
department would be fully cognizant of all the processes and
procedures used by the business. The reality is frequently that
the IT department builds the infrastructure, but is not com-
pletely sure how the business is using it. And even if you do
know what the infrastructure is being used for, the value of the
business processes is generally not well understood. In many
cases the risk analysis will be the first time anyone thought to
place a value on processes and services.
2. Identify the threats associated with each of the business
processes and associated infrastructure. This could be any-
thing from a hard drive in the mail server to a failed modem
line on your RAS server to a network cable going bad. Try to
be specific and thorough. Be sure to list all the threats, and
not just the ones that you know you can address.
3. Define the level of risk associated with each threat. This
includes the likelihood of the threat occurring, as well as the
severity of the threat. You can do this by ranking the threats
on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is unlikely and 5 is very likely.
The severity scale would also be from 1 to 5, where 1 is minor
impact to the business and 5 is major impact to the business.
If possible, associate costs with each threat. This will make
justifying your disaster-recovery plan much easier.
4. Rank the risks based on severity and likelihood. One
method that works fairly well is to add the scores of the two
levels. The higher the score, the more important that risk is
to avoid. Low scores can generally be placed at the end of the
list and are usually the last risks to be planned for.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 455
Now comes the fun part. You have now gotten a list of your poten-
tial threats. If you have done a thorough job, the odds are pretty
good that there are things on your list that you wouldn’t have
thought of if you just started with issues that you knew about. You
also now have a valuable tool for justifying the costs of your disaster-
recovery plan. It is much easier to justify that server cluster for the
company’s web server when you can show management that a
4-hour outage will cost the company $100,000 in lost business. If
you still have any question about why to invest your time and effort
in a risk analysis, think about this. When the risk that management
decided wasn’t worth the cost actually happens (and they inevitably
do) and they start looking for someone to blame it on, it will not be
the person who has the risk analysis documentation and manage-
ment’s refusal to make the necessary investment.
Now you need to determine how you can avoid these threats, and
provide the kind of availability your company needs. Let’s start by
talking about some of the more basic building blocks of disaster
recovery: the use of redundant components, clustering, scalability,
and high availability.
Understanding Redundancy,
Clustering, Scalability, and High
Availability
Because the topic of this book is servers, one of the best places to
start discussing some of the mechanisms for ensuring high avail-
ability is to look at some of the server components that can fail
from time to time. The most common component to be imple-
mented in a redundant fashion is that of the server hard drives.
Redundancy
Most of this discussion of redundancy focuses on hard drives, partic-
ularly RAID implementation. But following the sections on RAID,
the discussion focuses on some other components that are candi-
dates for redundancy.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 456
RAID Types
An Easy Place to Ask Questions
TIP
This section starts by diving right into the most common redundant
This chapter spends a lot of time
technology you will encounter. RAID (redundant array of inexpen-
discussing RAID technologies
sive disks) technology enables you to configure your drive arrays to
EXAM
because RAID is an excellent topic

from which to generate test ques- balance performance and redundancy. The most common types of
tions. Be sure you understand how RAID include the following:
RAID works, and what the benefits á RAID 0, striped disk array. In a RAID 0 array, the data is
and drawbacks of each type of
broken down into blocks and each block is written to a
RAID technology are.
separate disk drive (see Figure 8.1). This is the highest perform-
ing RAID configuration because the I/O (input/output) load is
spread across many channels and drives. If you really want to
crank up the performance you can place each drive in the
striped array on its own controller. There is also a reduced over-
NOTE
Additional RAID Levels Additional

RAID Levels are discussed in detail in head with this configuration because there is no overhead for
Chapter 1, “0.0—Planning and redundancy. This is also the drawback, because although RAID
Specifications.” 0 provides very high performance, there is no redundancy. In
fact you are more likely to lose data in this configuration than
you are with a group of standalone drives, because the failure
of any single drive destroys all the data in the array. If you have
5 drives in a RAID 0 configuration, you have increased your
vulnerability by a factor of 5. RAID 0 requires N drives to
implement, where N is the number of drives. To get 10GB
of storage, for example, you need 2 × 5GB drives. You can use
up to 32 drives.
Data 1 Data 4 Data 7 Data 10 Data 2 Data 5 Data 8 Data 11 Data 3 Data 6 Data 9 Data 12
Disk Controller
FIGURE 8.1
RAID 0 uses data striping across all disks with
no parity. RAID 0 - Disk Striping
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 457
á RAID 1, mirrored pair. In a RAID 1 array, each drive is

completely mirrored to another drive (see Figure 8.2). This
configuration will not perform as well as a RAID 0 configura- Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 Data 4 Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 Data 4
tion, because you can perform only one write to the array at a Disk 1 Disk 2
time. This is because each piece of information has to be writ-

ten to the drives at the same time. It is possible to perform two
reads at a time per mirrored pair, because you don’t need to
read the same data from both disks. This means that a mirrored
pair (RAID 1) has twice the read transaction rate of a single
disk, but has the same write transaction rate. The major benefit
of this configuration is that it provides 100% redundancy of
data. This also means there is no rebuild overhead when a drive
Drive Controller
is replaced. The information is just copied to the replacement
RAID 1 - Mirroring
disk. RAID 1 has the additional benefit of being the simplest
RAID design. But there is one major drawback to this configu- FIGURE 8.2
ration. RAID 1 requires the highest disk overhead of all RAID RAID 1 writes the same data to each disk in
types. It’s 100% of the available storage, which makes RAID 1 the mirror set.
a very expensive proposition. You will need a minimum of
2 drives to implement RAID 1, and the drives will need to be
added in increments of 2 to continue mirroring. This requires
NOTE
What’s the Difference Between
2N drives to implement, where N is the number of drives Mirroring and Duplexing? There are
needed to make up the requisite storage capacity. To get 10GB two main differences between mirror-
of storage, for example, you need 2 × 10GB drives. ing and duplexing (see Figure 8.3).
First, with duplexing, because both dri-
á RAID 5, a striped array with parity. In a RAID 5 array, the
ves can be written to concurrently,
data is striped across the disks, much like RAID 0, but each there is a performance advantage
block of data has a parity bit written to a parity drive (see over a mirrored configuration. The sec-
Figure 8.4). There is not a specific drive dedicated to parity, ond advantage to duplexing is the
but for each block of data the parity information is stored on a increased redundancy. In a mirrored
different drive. RAID 5 requires a minimum of 3 drives to configuration, you can survive a drive
implement, but provides very fast read performance, and failure, but not a controller failure. In
medium write performance. Write performance in this config- a duplexed configuration, you can sur-
uration suffers due to the requirement to write parity informa- vive the loss of a drive or the loss of
tion for each block of data written. RAID 5 will also add a controller.
considerable overhead on the system when it needs to recover
from a failed drive, due to the need to re-create data using the
parity information before it can be read. RAID 5 is also the
most complex RAID configuration to design. RAID 5 needs
N + 1 drives to implement. To get 10GB of storage, for exam-
ple, you need 3 × 5GB drives.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 458
FIGURE 8.3
With duplexing, each drive in the RAID 1 set is
connected to a different controller.
Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 Data 4 Data 1 Data 2 Data 3 Data 4
Disk 1 Disk 2
Disk Controller 1 Disk Controller 2
RAID 1 - Duplexing
Data 1 Data 3 Parity Data 7 Data 2 Parity Data 5 Data 8 Parity Data 4 Data 6 Parity
FIGURE 8.4
RAID 5 is a good compromise between
Disk Controller
the redundancy of mirroring and the cost
of striping. RAID 5 - Striping with Parity
RAID 5 does lose some of its effectiveness in instances where

all the drives are on a single controller. Lose the controller and
you lose the entire array. Also, if the drives are differing sizes,
you can stripe only across the smallest drive. (That is, if you
have a 500MB, a 1GB, and 2GB drive, you must stripe across
the 500MB for a total of 1GB of usable space.) You can have
up to 32 drives.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 459
á RAID 0/1, a mirrored striped array. In a RAID 0/1 array,

you have 2 RAID 0 arrays that are mirrored (see Figure 8.5).
This configuration combines the performance advantages of
the RAID 0 array with the redundancy of a RAID 1 array.
RAID 0/1 requires a minimum of 4 drives to implement, but
yields the same fault tolerance as RAID 5. It is very expensive
because it has the same overhead for fault tolerance as mirror-
ing alone. It also suffers from the fact that if one drive fails
you have essentially created a single RAID 0 stripe set. This
RAID configuration requires 4N drives to implement, making
it extremely inefficient. To get 20GB of storage, for example,
you need 4 × 10GB drives. This is a fairly uncommon config-
uration, reserved for systems that are very disk I/O intensive.
Stripe Set 1
Disk Controller
FIGURE 8.5
In RAID 0/1 you get the performance of a
striped set combined with the redundancy of
Stripe Set 2 mirroring. This is an expensive solution in
RAID 0/1 - Mirrored Stripe Sets terms of the number of drives required.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 460
Just to help get these RAID levels straight in your head, take a look
at Table 8.1, which compares the different RAID levels discussed in
this chapter.
TABLE 8.1
RAID L E V E L S
RAID Desc. Min.# of Max.# of Performance Fault
Level Drives Drives Tolerant
0 Striping 2 32 IO performance No
is very high
due to IO being
spread across
multiple drives.
No parity cal-
culation.
1 Mirroring 2 2 Twice the read Yes, 1
transaction drive
rate of single
disks, same
write trans-
action rate as
single disks.
1 Duplexing 2 2 Twice the read Yes, 1
transaction drive, 1
rate of single control-
disks, same ler
write trans-
action rate as
single disks.
5 Striping 3 32 Highest read Yes, 1
with data trans- drive
parity action rate.
Write perform-
ance slower than
striping due to
parity calcul-
ation.
0/1 Mirrored 4 32 High I/O due Yes, 1

stripe to data drive
sets striping.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 461
IN THE FIELD
WHICH RAID IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
Now let’s talk about what you will generally see in the field. It is pos-
sible that you will see all these RAID configurations in the field, but
some are used more often than others. RAID 5 is probably the most
common configuration, because it gives you the best trade off
between fault tolerance and performance. It is also the most effi-
cient of the redundant configurations, requiring only 3 drives, and
then using the N + 1 drive cost, where N is the number of drives
needed for the array. The more drives in your array, the more efficient
a RAID 5 array is. With 3 drives, your overhead is 33%, but with 5
drives it drops to 20%. This is very attractive to cost-conscious com-
panies. You may also encounter mixed RAID implementations, where
the system volume is mirrored on a couple of small drives (RAID 1),
whereas the application/storage drives are in a RAID 5 configuration.
This is an excellent configuration for a mail server or a web server,
because it balances the performance and costs with the require-
ments of the operating system and the application. You will generally
not see RAID 0 or RAID 0/1, due to the lack of fault tolerance in the
former, and the expense of the latter.
Now that you are familiar with the different types of RAID, it’s time
to take a look at how to implement the RAID array—using hard-
ware or software.
Hardware Versus Software RAID

This is a topic that can reach the level of a religious discussion in
some departments, depending on where you work. On the one side
are the people who don’t want to spend the money for a hardware
Know the Advantages and
TIP
RAID controller because the operating system can handle the RAID Disadvantages of Hardware Versus
stuff without having to spend the additional money. The other side Software Implementations One of
EXAM
thinks that the benefits of a hardware controller outweigh the mar- the areas that it is very easy to get
ginal cost savings of not buying the controller. confused about when talking about
the pros and cons of RAID imple-
mentations is the differences
between the two ways to support
your array. Be sure you know what
the pros and cons for both hard-
ware- and software-based arrays for
the exam.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 462
Before getting too much further into discussing why to select hardware
NOTE
A Special Note for Windows NT or software RAID, you need to define exactly what is meant by both:
Users If you are using software RAID
on a Windows NT server, the system á Software RAID. Software RAID implementations are either
and boot partitions cannot be part of operating system–based, or they are RAID applications that
a stripe set. run on the server. You will most frequently see operating
system–based implementations in new server installs, but
may find RAID applications in use in older servers. Most
recent operating systems will support RAID 0 (striping),
RAID 1 (mirroring), and to a lesser extent RAID 5 (striping
with parity). In a software implementation, all array configura-
tion and management activities are controlled by a software
application and utilize the host processor for processing.
á Hardware RAID. Hardware RAID implementations are gen-
erally implemented using a host-based RAID adapter and ties
the array functions directly to the disk interface. This means
all array configuration and management activities are con-
trolled by the hardware controller and utilize the controller’s
CPU for processing. Different hardware RAID adapters offer
different combinations of RAID support, but most will sup-
port RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 5. Other RAID configura-
tions such as RAID 0/1 and RAID 3 are supported based on
the host controller’s capabilities.
NOTE
Hot Spare Drives One feature avail-

able in some of the hardware RAID
For you to make an informed decision and duck the endless battles
controllers is the ability to designate a over software versus hardware RAID, it is important to understand
hot spare disk. Although this requires the pros and cons of each implementation.
you to add an additional drive to your á Software RAID. The main benefit to a software-based RAID
configuration, it does make recovering
implementation is the fact that these are typically the least
from a drive failure several orders of
expensive to implement. There is no additional cost for the
magnitude easier. When the RAID con-
troller senses a drive has failed, it
hardware controller. However, the cost of a software imple-
automatically brings the hot spare mentation in terms of the additional processor requirements is
online and starts copying data to it. very difficult to measure. Significant overhead is added to the
You can then replace the failed drive operating system in a software RAID system, especially during
at your convenience. data-intensive operations, such as remirroring a hard drive or
rebuilding a RAID 5 array after a drive failure. You may find
you need to add additional processors to support the RAID
array. Software RAID also uses host memory, and your RAID
options are limited to whatever the operating system supports.
This can be an issue if you need high availability and your
operating system won’t support it.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 463
á Hardware RAID. Except for the fact that both are used for
NOTE
creating and maintaining arrays, hardware RAID implementa- Hardware Arrays Have Another
tions have little in common with their software counterpart. Advantage Hardware RAID imple-
mentations don’t need an operating
Unlike the software RAID, hardware arrays do not use server
system to boot. Because the array
resources such as memory or processor cycles. Because the
software is in the controller hardware,
server processor can execute applications while the array con-
you can access the software or work
troller’s processor is executing the array functions, the result is on the array even if you can’t get the
a much higher performance implementation. This is especially operating system up and running. In a
true during processor-intensive operations such as rebuilding software RAID, there can be a prob-
an array. Hardware controllers also have the additional benefit lem if the server can’t load the array
of being operating system independent. software when the disk that contains
the array software has failed. If you
Now that you have a good understanding of the intricacies of imple- are implementing a software RAID,
menting a RAID solution to ensure drive redundancy, take a look at you may find you need a separate
some of the other components in a server that are commonly used boot drive, which is not part of the
in redundant configurations. array. This adds another failure point
to the server drives.
Redundancy of Other System Components
A number of other components in your server can be configured in
a redundant manner, including the following:
á Power supplies. Most high-end servers will come with an
option to install additional power supplies. This allows the
server to shift the power load when a power supply fails.
á Cooling fans. Have you ever noticed how hot a server can get
after it has been running for a while? If you want to ensure your
server stays cool, you should look for a server that utilizes redun-
dant cooling fans. Not only does this allow the server to avoid
overheating in the event of a fan failure, but your server also ben-
efits from the additional cooling while all the fans are running.
Additional cooling fans are usually part of the server configura-
tion, and are not usually ordered as an option for the server.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 464
á Network interface adapters. Network interface cards (NICs)

are something that are frequently not installed in a redundant
manner, in large part due to the challenges with many operat-
ing systems in configuring them in a truly redundant form.
Because each NIC (particularly in a TCP/IP environment) has
its own address, it is usually difficult to configure a reliable
failover method for NICs. If you want truly redundant NICs,
you need to buy cards with drivers specifically designed for
redundant use. For example, 3Com Corporation makes an
EtherLink Server 10/100 PCI Dual Port network interface
card specifically for load balancing and resiliency in a server
environment. Be sure you order the correct type of NIC if you
want redundant network interface cards.
á Processors. Processors are a relatively easy component to
implement in a fault tolerant way. If you buy a multiprocessor
server from most of the major vendors, the server will continue
to run (albeit with a degradation in performance) with a failed
processor.
á UPS. Even if you have four power supplies in your server, they
are only as good as the power available. To add an additional
layer of redundancy to your power supplies, an uninterruptible
power supply (UPS) can continue to provide power in the
event of a power outage. You need to be sure to calculate the
amount of power needed, and the duration you need it for,
and make sure your UPS can accommodate your require-
ments. See Chapter 2, “1.0—Installation,” for directions on
how to estimate these needs.
The main point to take out of this section is that with the exception
of the system board, any critical components in your server can gen-
erally be configured in a redundant manner. And if your data is so
critical that you think you need an additional motherboard, it’s time
to think about clustering.
Introduction to Clustering
A cluster is a group of independent computers working together as a
single system. This system is used to ensure that mission-critical
applications and resources are as highly available as possible. (High
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 465
availability is discussed in a minute). These computers are managed

as a single system and are specifically configured to tolerate compo-
nent failures, as well as to support the transparent addition or
removal of components. If you have configured your cluster cor-
rectly, you can literally drop a bowling ball on one of the servers in
the cluster and not see any difference in user performance. Windows
2000, Novell NetWare, and most types of UNIX all support some
form of clustering.
The advantages to running a clustered configuration include the
following:
á Fault tolerance. A cluster of computers is very fault tolerant
because it can support the failure of components up to a com-
plete computer without impacting the capability of the cluster
to support the mission-critical applications.
á High availability. One step up from fault tolerant is high
availability. What high availability indicates is that not only
can the system remain running in the event of a fault, but also
the cluster won’t be unavailable for other reasons such as main-
tenance, upgrades, or configuration changes. Although 100%
availability is not always possible, a correctly configured cluster
will come very close.
á Scalability. A cluster is considered scalable because as addi-
tional resources become necessary, resources can be added to
the cluster transparently to the system users.
á Easier manageability. Because the servers can be managed as
a group, the number and amount of management tasks are
dramatically reduced when compared to an equivalent number
of standalone servers.
There are a couple of downsides to using clusters. First, clusters can

be significantly more expensive than the equivalent standalone
servers, due to the additional software costs, and the need (in some
cases) for specialized hardware. Second, clustering is generally more
complex than setting up a server. The latest generation of clustering
software has done a lot to reduce this complexity, but it is still very
different from setting up a single server.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 466
There are two different types of cluster models in the industry: the
shared-device model and the nothing-shared model.
á Shared-device model. In the shared-device model, applica-
tions running within a cluster can access any hardware
resource connected to any node/server in the cluster. As a
result, access to the data must be carefully coordinated. This
function is coordinated by a distributed lock manager (DLM),
which handles the arbitration of resources in the event of a
conflict. The coordination of the access adds significant over-
head to the cluster, as well as making it much more complex
to design, configure, and maintain. This model can also suffer
issues with scalability, because of the amount of coordination
required between nodes.
á Nothing-shared model. In the nothing-shared model, each
node has ownership of a resource, so there is no competition
for the resources. In this model, two servers share a disk
resource, but one of the servers owns the resource, and the
other server takes ownership of the resource only if the pri-
mary server fails.
This section briefly mentioned the concept of scalability, but it needs

to be covered in a little greater detail, because it is a critical concept
NOTE
Wow, Is This Clustering Technology

New? Actually, clustering has been for implementing a server or cluster in a production environment.
available in the enterprise server mar-
ket for almost 20 years. Digital
Equipment Corporation was one of the
Introduction to Scalability
pioneers of the technology. What is Scalability refers to how well a hardware or software system can
new is the amount of the clustering adapt to increased demands. In other words, a scalable email server
technology that is now available in the can start with 10 mailboxes, but can easily expand to accommodate
Intel server space. an additional 1,000 mailboxes. In the mid-1990s when America
Online was gaining popularity, its dial-in network was an example
of a system that was not scalable. Busy signals, dropped users, and
mandatory disconnects became common for AOL users because the
network couldn’t handle the load of users who wanted to get on.
How do you design a system to be scalable? In the case of most clus-
ters, it’s relatively easy, because you can add additional nodes to add
capacity. When you are dealing with a standalone server, however, it
becomes a little more complex. To ensure your server is scalable, you
need to do two things. First, you need to ensure that you configure
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 467
the server with excess capacity. If you know you need 5GB of disk
space today, you can plan on needing more in the future. So be sure
to put the additional storage in the server at the outset. If you need
5GB today, put in 10GB. If your application will need a single
Pentium III 850MHz processor, put in a GHz processor, or dual
processors. In the long run spending the money at the outset is far
cheaper that trying to add components later. That said, the second
thing you need to do to ensure your server is scalable is to make sure
that you can add additional resources if necessary. If you are putting
a single Pentium III processor in your server, for example, it is a
good idea to purchase a server that can handle multiple processors,
so you can add an additional CPU if you need it. Don’t fill every
drive bay in the server if you can help it. Leave yourself the ability to
add a couple of 72GB drives if you need more storage in the future.
The question is how much extra capacity should you build in, and
how much additional capacity should you be able to add once the
server is installed? Although capacity planning is frequently more of
an art than a science until you can get some historical numbers to
plan from, it is usually a good idea to add an additional 25% to any
new server configurations to ensure scalability. You should also try to
leave some capacity for each of the components in the system. Don’t
fill all the card slots, memory slots, drive bays, or CPU slots if you
can help it. You never know when you might need to add additional
capacity, and taking out hardware to upgrade it is an order of mag-
nitude more difficult that just adding additional capacity.
The final concept covered relating to clustering and fault tolerance is Know Your Concepts Be sure you
TIP
the concept of high availability. understand the definition of scala-

bility for the exam. It is easy to get
EXAM
scalability, high availability, and fault

Introduction to High Availability tolerance mixed up in an exam envi-
High availability is by definition the designing and configuring of a ronment.
server to provide continuous use of critical data and applications.
Highly available systems are required to provide access to the enter-
prise applications that keep businesses up and running, regardless of
planned or unplanned interruption. When you discuss high avail-
ability, you are discussing systems that are available nearly 100% of
the time. It is not uncommon for mission-critical applications to
have an availability requirement of 99.999%. If you do the math for
a 24 × 7 × 365 installation, that means you can have no more than
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 468
5 minutes of downtime in that year. Some organizations will even

include scheduled maintenance in those calculations, so that means
you would have time for one maintenance reboot in the course of a
year for a system that requires 99.999% availability. Table 8.2 con-
tains some of the calculations for common availability numbers.
TABLE 8.2
C O M M O N A VA I L A B I L I T Y N U M B E R S
Availability Requirement Allowable Downtime Per Year
99.999% 5 minutes
99.99% 53 minutes
99.95% 2 hours, 23 minutes
99.9% 8 hours, 45 minutes
99.5% 44 hours
99% 88 hours
The need for high availability is not limited to 365 × 24 × 7 envi-

ronments. In many companies, the availability requirements might
pertain to business hours only. For example, a customer service desk
at an electronics firm might need access to their knowledge base dur-
ing normal business hours but not after hours, when the system can
be taken down as needed. However, a system outage during the
required hours might be catastrophic.
Now that you understand the concept of high availability, consider
some of the types of components you might use to ensure that high
availability.
Understanding Hot Swapping, Warm

Swapping, and Hot Spares
The types of components that you might want to keep on hand in
case of a problem they break into the following three basic categories:
á Hot swap (also known as hot pluggable). A hot-swap com-
ponent has the capability to be added and removed from a
computer while the computer is running and have the operat-
ing system automatically recognize the change. This occurs
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 469
with no disruption to I/O requests and transactions on the

system and no powering down of any part of the system
except the failed component. From a user’s perspective, the
server is never down, and operations (outside of the failed
component) are never interrupted. Some examples of this you
may recognize for your PC are PCMCIA adapters and
Universal Serial Bus peripherals. An example of components
that are frequently capable of hot swap in a server is hard
drives. (This is particularly useful in conjunction with a hard-
ware RAID controller.)
á Warm swap. Warm swap is a compromise between hot swap
and using a hot spare. Warm swaps are generally done in con-
junction with the failure of a hard drive. In this case, you have
to shut down the disk array before you can replace the drive.
All I/O for that array will stop until you replace the drive and
restart the drive array. While the drive array is offline, users
cannot access the system. This is referred to as a warm swap
because the server does not have to be powered down to replace
the drive. This eliminates the delays associated with powering
up the system after the replacement, and is normally available
only in conjunction with a hardware RAID controller. In other
words, warm swap falls between hot swap and hot spare. The
server is down, but can be brought back online faster than
shutting down the server and using a hot-spare part.
á Hot spare/redundant components. A hot-spare component is
a component you keep on hand in case of an equipment fail-
ure. Examples of this include disk drives, RAID controllers,
NICs, and any other critical component that could be used to
replace a failed component. In some mission-critical environ-
ments, entire servers are designated hot spares, and are used to
bring a server back online quickly in the event of a failure.
Great, now you know about these components. How can you use
them as part of your disaster-recovery process? As part of your risk
analysis, you should have identified components in your server that
are at risk of failure. As part of the mitigation process for providing
steps to recover from this potential threat, you need to identify
replacement parts. You also need to make sure you understand the
underlying technologies involved. Do you need hot-swap hard drives
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 470
for that server, or can it be down for an hour while you replace the
drive from stock? This is where the cost-versus-benefit calculations
NOTE
Standards Are the Key You know, if

you implement a standard server plat- come into effect. If you determine that your company loses $40,000
form, you can save a few dollars by for every hour the server is down, you want the best hot-swap drives
having the ability to buy spare parts on the market. If the server is a backup DNS server, you can proba-
that can be used in many servers in
bly get away with a spare drive.
case of an outage. The odds of the
same component failing on two differ- You want to be sure to have some spare parts on hand for your critical-
ent servers are astronomical, and you application servers. Hot-plug components are great if you need to keep
can save money by not having to buy the server up and running while a fault is corrected, but just having
hot spares for each of your servers. parts on hand when one fails can reduce your downtime by hours.
Creating a Disaster-Recovery Plan

Based on Fault Tolerance/Recovery
All right, here’s where it’s all put together. You have learned many of
the different ways you can ensure that your system is fault tolerant,
as well as a number of ways to ensure that you can recover from an
outage using anything from fault-tolerant technologies to keeping
spare parts on hand. This section shows you how you can turn that
information into a disaster-recovery plan.
The first thing to recognize is that just using fault-tolerant configura-
tions is not the complete picture from a disaster-recovery plan perspec-
tive. You will be filling in the remaining pieces of your plan throughout
the rest of the chapter. But this is the first piece of your plan.
To create the fault-tolerance portion of your disaster-recovery plan,
follow these steps:
1. From your risk analysis, identify the hardware failure-related
threats. These should include the possibility of the failure of
any of the components of the server.
2. From your list of components, identify the components that
place your data at the most risk if they were to fail. Remember,
if you lose access to data, your users are inconvenienced. If you
lose the data, you could be out of luck.
3. Take each component and make a list of the methods you
could use to implement it in a fault-tolerant configuration.
List approximate costs for each solution, and the estimated
outage time in the event of a failure for each component.
Keep in mind that clustering or other server high-availability
solutions should be considered at this time.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 471
4. Take any components that can be implemented in a cost-
NOTE
effective manner (this varies from server to server, and Where Should the Spare Parts Go?
depends on the cost of an outage) and start documenting As part of this process, you should be
the configuration. sure to identify a location for the stor-
age of spare parts. This should be a
5. Take any components that either cannot be implemented in a secure location ideally located in
fault-tolerant configuration or that for which a fault-tolerant close proximity to the server. You
configuration would be cost-prohibitive, and determine should also ensure that you are not
whether a spare part should be kept on hand in the event of the only person with access to these
an outage. If the answer is yes, prepare a list with part num- parts. You don’t want them stolen, but
bers and costs for those components. If the answer is no, try to you also don’t want to be flying back
from Aruba to open the parts cabinet
plan what you would do in the event that part fails. This could
when the server crashes. You also
be something like using a hot-spare server, making sure the
need to consider the environmental
server and its components remain under warranty, or making factors associated with storing your
sure you know where to get a new part. parts. These factors include keeping
6. Now that you have identified the hardware needed for your the parts stored at a safe tempera-
disaster-recovery plan, here comes the fun part: documenta- ture, away from static electricity or
moisture, and any of the other envi-
tion of the plan. Your disaster-recovery plan should include
ronmental factors covered in Chapter
documented contingencies for any of the threats you identified
6, “5.0—Environment.”
as part of the risk analysis. The purpose of this is threefold.
First, it gives management a warm, fuzzy feeling when they
realize you have your disaster-recovery plan in a folder next to
the server and are ready to go in the event of a problem. WA R N I N G
Second, if you are not available in the event of an outage, I’ve Got RAID 5, So I Don’t Need a
someone else can get the process started. Third, right now as Backup, Right? Wrong. You
should always back up your data to
you document all this, there are no alarms going off and no
a media that can be stored in a
VPs screaming at you to get the server fixed. This is an excel-
location that is physically separate
lent time to figure out what you’ll need to do in the event of
from the server itself. There are
an outage so that when the day comes that you are paged at 2 always those people who think they
a.m. you aren’t trying to remember that command to rebuild can save the cost and administra-
the RAID array. It will be part of your disaster-recovery plan. tion of a tape backup by putting in
redundant disks; but it is a mis-
7. After all this information has been documented, you need to
take, which they generally discover
place your orders and get ready to start configuring the server.
when the server crashes and they
You are ready to deal with a hardware failure.
can’t get to those highly redundant
disks.
Now that you have dealt with the potential hardware problems, take
a look at how to keep your data safe in the event of a disaster.
Backing Up Your Data

All right, now that you have gotten your server configured so that it
is fault tolerant, how do you protect the data, just in case?
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 472
The following list identifies some of the tape technologies you will
encounter in the industry. Table 8.3 contains the storage and
throughput statistics for some of the more popular technologies, as
well as some that are a little less well known, for your reference.
á DDS (Digital Data Storage). DDS is the industry standard
for digital audio tape (DAT) formats. DAT tape backup drives
were very popular several years ago, and remain popular in
smaller servers. Their limited capacity compared to that of
newer technologies have prevented them from being used
heavily in an enterprise role. DDS drives tend to be inexpen-
sive, relative to the other, higher-capacity drives.
á DLT (Digital Linear Tape). DLT was the technology seen as
the successor to DDS drives toward the end of the 1990s.
DLT was a technology originally developed by Digital
Equipment Corporation but which is now available from a
variety of vendors. Its higher capacity and higher speed made
it popular for larger installations, and this is the technology
that the other manufacturers are competing against in high-
end installations.
á Mammoth. Developed in 1996 by the Exabyte Corporation,
Mammoth drives were to be the competitor to DLT from a per-
spective of capacity and performance. Although optimized for
superior reliability and exceptional price/performance, Mammoth
drives are not as popular as the more widely used DLT drive.
á Ultrium LTO (Linear Tape Open). Ultrium LTO technology
was developed jointly by HP, IBM, and Seagate to provide a
next-generation tape technology to compete in the high end of
the backup market. Although there hasn’t been wide adoption of
this high-end technology yet, Ultrium’s high capacity and
throughput performance make it a solid selection if you need the
horsepower. Expect to pay a premium for the new technology.
á AIT (Advanced Intelligent Tape). AIT was originally devel-
oped by Sony, and is available from a number of vendors. Like
the Ultrium technologies, AIT offers a high-capacity, high-
speed tape backup technology. AIT tape drives are known for
their unique MIC (Memory in Cassette) feature, which acts as
NOTE
More on Tapes Additional informa-

tion about tape technology can be a data index. This allows for reduced load times, as the drives
found in Chapter 1. have a built-in index. Other technologies build their indexes as
the tapes are loaded.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 473
When you get ready to pick your tape drive, you should determine
NOTE
how much data you will need to back up, and the amount of time you But My Data Won’t Fit on a Single
can allocate to the backup. You should avoid running backups during Tape If you have more data than you
can comfortably squeeze on a single
production hours, so be sure to determine what your maintenance
tape (and with the new AIT and
window will be for backups. Next, keeping in mind that the through-
Ultrium drives, that’s a lot of data),
put numbers listed in the table are theoretical, and your performance
you should investigate using a tape
will probably not be quite as high, select a technology that will enable library. A tape library is a backup sys-
you to complete your backup within that window. You should also take tem that contains multiple tapes (and
the backup method into account while making these calculations. sometimes drives) along with the
mechanics to allow it to automatically
change tapes. These units can scale
TABLE 8.3 up to multiple terabytes of data, so
you should be able to find one to
TA P E B A C K U P H A R D W A R E
accommodate your requirements.
Format Native Compressed Throughput Throughput
Capacity Capacity (Native) (Compressed)
(GB) (GB) (MBps) (MBps)
Travan-4 4 8 .5 1
AIT-2 25 50 2 4
DDS-4 50 100 6 12
DLT 8000 40 80 6 12
LTO 100 200 20 40
(Ultrium)
NOTE
It’s in the Software All these differ-
ent backup methods are pretty con-
Mammoth 2 60 120 12 24
fusing, especially if you are new to
some of the concepts. It took me for-
ever to keep the difference between
As noted in Chapter 5, “4.0—Proactive Maintenance,” there are
incremental and differential straight.
three different types of backups, as follows: Fortunately today’s tape backup soft-
á Full. A full backup will back up all the files marked for ware does most of the work for you. A
backup, and after the file has been backed up will set the good backup product will enable you
archive bit on the file to indicate it has been backed up. Full to select the backup method you want
to use, and will keep track of what
backups have the advantage of requiring a single tape or tape
tapes you will need when you do a
set to do a restore. If you want to perform a restore on
restore. Some will even enable you
Wednesday, you just use the Tuesday tape set. Because you are to select rotation strategies, and
backing up all the files, however, this is the slowest of the won’t allow you to overwrite a tape
backup methods. With a single-tape restore capability, how- unless it is ready to be taken out of
ever, this is the best method for recovering. Use full backups the rotation.
whenever possible for this reason.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 474
á Differential. A differential backup will back up any files that

have not been backed up since the last full or incremental
backup. A differential backup does not set an archive bit after
the backup. This means that you need two backup sets to
restore, the most recent full backup and the latest differential
backup. If your tape rotation calls for a full backup on
Monday and then differential backups during the rest of the
week, a restore on Thursday would require restoring the full
backup from Monday, followed by the Wednesday tape. This
is a faster method of backup than the full backup. Incremental
backups make a good compromise between the full and incre-
mental backups, and should be used whenever a full backup is
not an option.
á Incremental. An incremental backup will back up all the files
that have been modified since the last backup, and then resets
the archive bit. This is the fastest backup method, but carries
the drawback of requiring all the tapes since the last full
backup in order to perform a restore. If your tape rotation calls
for a full backup on Monday, and then an incremental for the
rest of the week, a restore on Thursday would require restoring
Monday’s full backup, and then Tuesday and Wednesday incre-
mental tapes. If one of those tapes goes bad, or gets lost, you
will not be able to restore from that set of tapes. Depending
on when you need to restore, you could need up to six tapes to
restore the week’s data. Use incremental tapes only when a fast
backup is an absolute necessity.
IN THE FIELD
BEYOND BACKUP TYPES: TAPE ROTATION
As important as the backup type is, something that is frequently

overlooked is how to do a logical tape rotation method, so that you
can keep a maximum amount of information using the least
amount of tapes. One popular method for tape rotations is known
as the G-F-S method, or the grandfather-father-son tape rotation
scheme. This method requires 21 tapes, and ensures you can
restore files from as far back as a year.
Here’s how it works. You have 4 daily tapes, 4 weekly tapes, 12
monthly tapes, and a yearly tape. Monday through Thursday, you use
a daily tape. These tapes are reused every week. On Friday, you use
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 475
a weekly tape. These tapes are reused monthly. On the first of the
month, replace the tape that would ordinarily run with the monthly
tape, and perform a full backup. These tapes can be reused yearly.
And on December 31st you use the yearly tape, and put it aside
until the end of the following year. This theoretically gives you the
ability to go back as far as a year to recover your data.
Now, after you have all those tapes stored offsite, and you have a
year’s worth of tapes, how do you go about restoring a file that is
two months old? It’s simple. Go to the monthly tape that was used
just before the file you want was deleted or modified. If you want a
file that was deleted on April 13, and you run your monthly tapes
on the first of every month, you need the April tape to restore the
file. But wait, there’s a catch! What if you created and deleted the
file in January, and now it’s June? How do you get the data back?
The answer is you don’t. The G-F-S method is great for keeping
most of your data backed up, but it won’t get all your data. You will
be able to be sure of restoring only all your data during the week
the daily tapes are run.
Sounds horrible doesn’t it? But think about how many times you
have created a file, made a lot of changes, then saved it, and when
you went back in you accidentally deleted all your changes.
Because that file won’t be backed up until that evening, there is no
way to restore from tape. So the G-F-S method gives you one of the
better ways to keep your data archived, without the expense of 365
tapes a year.
IN THE FIELD
WHERE IS THE TECHNOLOGY GOING?
One of the biggest problems with having to do a complete restore

of a server in the event of a complete disaster is all the work you
have to do before you can start actually running the restore of your
data. First you have to load an operating system. Depending on the
operating system and the configuration, this can take anywhere
from 20 minutes to a couple hours. In many cases the first thing
you do once the operating system is installed is to get TCP/IP run-
ning, so you can get on the web to download all the drivers you
should have copied to disk or CD but left on the server hard drive
because it was more convenient. When the operating system is up
to par, you need to load the tape backup software. In some cases
you may also have to work with the system to get the tape drive
recognized, get the SCSI ID set right, and make sure the software
continues
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 476
continued
NOTE
One-Button Disaster Recovery

recognizes the tape. When the tape can be recognized, the soft-
(OBDR) For more information on
ware generally needs to index the tape so that it can find the data
OBDR, see Chapter 1.
it needs. When all this is done, you can finally start moving data
back to the server. For something like a Microsoft Exchange server,
this can take upwards of 8 hours. That’s a long time for the CEO to
not have mail.
Fortunately the industry has risen to the occasion with the introduc-
tion of one-button disaster recovery. Instead of needing to find boot
disks, format drives, and load operating systems, you can just
insert the latest backup tape and push one button on your tape
drive. Your tape drive will restore your operating system, configura-
tion, applications, drivers, and data files without requiring further
intervention on your part. One vendor who is supporting this tech-
nology on their latest generation of drives is Hewlett-Packard.
Hewlett-Packard’s entire line of DAT drives and Ultrium drives sup-
port one-button disaster recovery.
The final piece of the backup and restore puzzle is what you should
do with your tapes after you have data on them. As discussed in
Chapter 5, here are several schools of thought on this matter.
The easiest ways to store tapes is to place them in a fireproof box in
the server room. This protects the tapes from fire or water damage,
but keeps them close to the server for ease of tape management. If
you need to restore from tape, you just unlock the box, pull the
tape(s) you need, and perform your restore. You are at risk from a
catastrophic failure in the event of a tornado, flood, or major fire.
Another way to store tapes is to have them picked up by an offsite
storage facility. These facilities will come to your office once a day or
once a week and take your backup tapes to a secure warehouse.
Although his service incurs a cost, this is the most secure way to
store tapes, and it’s what most major corporations do.
Some other common methods for storing tapes include leaving them
on top of the server, locking them in the manager’s desk, having one
of the administrators take them home, and many other variations on
the same theme. The security, reliability, and tape-integrity issues
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 477
related to these types of tape storage methods make them very haz-
ardous to your continued employment. They just are not workable
in a business environment. Avoid them at all costs.
Testing the Plan

Okay! The plan is finished. Now it’s time to head out and grab a
cold carrot juice and wait for something to fail, right? Okay, I know
you didn’t fall for that one, did you? Now that you have a plan, it’s
time to test it. You need to not only make sure that your plan is
workable, but also ensure that everyone who has a role in a recovery
understands what that role is. Because every disaster-recovery plan is
different, this chapter covers some of the areas that you should
review periodically, and then you’ll perform a couple of step-by-step
exercises to test specific areas of your plan. Some of the things you
should test include the following:
á Have someone check your documentation to ensure that it is
understandable and that it is complete.
á Do a “dry run” of each of the components of your plan. For
example, take the procedure for recovering from a hard drive
failure and run through it. Make sure you can locate your
spare drives (if applicable) and that you can order replacement
parts from your vendor.
á Test your notification processes. In any good disaster-recovery
plan you should document who is to be notified in case of an
outage. If the company’s e-commerce site crashes, there’s a
good bet that your boss (and his boss, and possibly her boss)
will want to know about it immediately.
á Check the locations of any hot-spare equipment or servers. Are
all your spares still in storage? Is the server identified as a hot
spare still available, or has it been redeployed as a development
server. Do you have numbers for all your vendors, and are they
still in business?
á Verify that any support contracts you have on equipment are
still in effect, and that you have all the contact numbers, and
any other information you’ll need to open a call with them is
fully documented.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 478
The following couple of exercises can help you get an idea of how to
test the pieces of your disaster-recovery plan.
STEP BY STEP
8.1 Testing Your Backups
In preparation for this test, you should create a directory on your
server with some test data in it. Make sure that it also has a directory
structure and custom permissions.
1. Retrieve a full backup tape from the preceding week’s
backup rotation. Insert it in your drive and after it has
completed loading, open your backup software application.
2. From the restore function of the tape backup software (this
varies from site to site, but all backup software has the same
basic features), select the test directory and select restore.
You should restore the data to a different location (different
drive if possible) than it was backed up from, to ensure that
your results are not contaminated by existing files.
3. When the restore has completed, check for the following:
• Was the data restored correctly? Is it all there; are
the files the correct size; and if you open a data
file, is the information correct?
• Was the directory structure restored correctly?
• Are the file and directory permissions correct?
4. If all the data was restored correctly, replace the tape in
the rotation and start planning for next week’s test. Be
sure to document your results. If your disaster-recovery
plan is ever audited, the auditor will want to see that your
tests have been successful.
You should test your tape backups at least once a week, and if
possible perform a full restore to a different machine quarterly, to
ensure the process is working, and that your administrators under-
stand the process.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 479
STEP BY STEP
8.2 Testing Your RAID Configuration
Ideally this test should be done against a spare machine, or a lab
machine running a configuration similar to that of your production
equipment. You should never run a test of this type against a produc-
tion system. The purpose of this test is to verify that your recovery
procedure works.
1. After identifying a test machine, and verifying its RAID
configuration, remove a hard drive from the array. In a
system with hot-plug drives, this can be done by removing
the drive. If you do not have hot-pluggable drives, open
the case and remove the power cable from your drive.
2. Verify the system’s alarms on the drive failure. If the system
does not give you an alarm of some type, ensure that the
settings on the RAID controller are correct, and that any
software RAID-monitoring software is loaded on the
system. Then verify that your production systems are
configured correctly.
3. After the alarm has been verified, test the system. Log in,
run some applications, and do whatever you would nor-
mally do on the system. Ensure that the RAID did its job
and that all your data is available. Note any performance
degradation.
4. Bring the “failed” drive back into the system. Follow your
procedures for rebuilding the array. After the array has
been rebuilt, perform the same tests you performed in
step 3. Note any performance changes.
This test should be done at least twice a year, and any administrators
on the system should perform the test at least once to ensure that
they are familiar with the process and understand the documentation.
In some larger companies, yearly full tests of disaster-recovery plans
are done. This can include bringing hot sites (discussed later in the
chapter) online and ensuring business continuity is maintained,
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 480
deploying replacement hardware, and basically tying up the IT staff

for days of planning and execution to ensure that, in the event of a
catastrophic outage, the business systems will remain available.
RESTORING YOUR SERVER

. 7.2 Restoring
• Identify hardware replacements
• Identify hot and cold sites
• Implement disaster recovery plan
Okay, now it’s show time. You have developed your plan, tested it,
and the big day is at hand. Your server just crashed. Let’s talk about
how you will implement your disaster-recovery plan. This is where
the rubber hits the road.
In the event of a failure, the first thing you need to do is determine
the cause of the outage. After you have identified the outage, it’s
time to figure out how to fix it. If you have a failed component, you
need to identify your hardware replacements. Each type of replace-
ment has different parameters you need to check to ensure it will
work in your system.
á Memory. For memory, you want to verify that the type of
memory is correct. (That is, is it error-correcting memory,
non-error-correcting, parity, and so forth?) You should also
check the speed of the memory (50 nanosecond, 60 nanosec-
ond, and so on), and finally check the form factor. Is it a
DIMM (dual in-line memory module) or the older SIMM
(single in-line memory module) type of memory? Also be
aware of any restrictions the server has on the way memory is
added. Some older servers required that memory be installed
in pairs, or in some cases sets of four.
á Disk drives. Disk drives are a little easier to replace than
memory, because there are fewer variables. You need to make
sure that the replacement drive is the same type (SCSI in most
cases, or possibly IDE), the same speed (most drives on the
market today are either 7,200 or 10,000 revolutions per
minute), and the same capacity. The size and speed are espe-
cially critical in a RAID array, because all the drives should be
the same size for the most efficient configuration.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 481
á CPUs. You should always replace CPUs with a like model (for
example, Pentium II for a Pentium II). In a system with only
one CPU, you can often upgrade the speed of the CPU with-
out negatively affecting the system. If it is a multiprocessor
server, you need to keep the same speed and type as the rest
of the processors in the server.
á Network interface cards. NICs differ a little bit from the
previous items, because they interact with the operating
system through drivers. If you can manage it, you should
try to replace your NIC with the same make and model. If
you don’t mind updating drivers, however, you can replace a
NIC with a different make, model, or even vendor if neces-
sary. You just need to make sure that they match the media
type (10BASE-T Ethernet, 100BASE-T Ethernet, Token
Ring, and so forth).
Now that you understand all the facets of recovering from a server
outage, you need to consider one final topic: What do you do when
your facility is down? This could be due to a natural disaster such as
an earthquake or a flood, sabotage such as the bomb that went off in
the World Trade Center, or even just an extended power outage. You
need to find a place to resume your critical business activities. This
is where disaster-recovery sites come into the picture. Two types of
disaster-recovery sites are commonly used in the industry:
á Hot sites. A hot site is a commercial facility available for systems
backup. For a fee, these vendors provide a facility with server Hot and Cold For the exam, be
TIP
hardware, telecommunications hardware, and personnel to assist sure to know the difference
between a hot site and a cold site.
your company with restoring critical business applications and
EXAM
There will probably not be any

services in the event of an interruption in normal operations.
detailed questions on the makeup
These facilities provide an in-depth disaster-recovery capability,
of a hot or cold site, because in a
but this level of recovery is very expensive. Be sure to weigh the real business environment the para-
cost of the service against the risk and cost of a major outage. meters of either implementation
á Cold sites. A cold site (also known as a shell site) is a facility vary dramatically from company to
company. But you should know the
that has been prepared to receive computer equipment in the
basic distinction between the two.
event that the primary facility is destroyed or becomes unus-
able. This solution is significantly less expensive than a hot
site, but relies on your ability to supply hardware, software,
and personnel in the event of an outage. This location could
be an unused office facility, a warehouse (if prepared suitably),
or an unoccupied data center.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 482
CHAPTER SUMMARY
You should now have a good handle on how to plan for and recover
KEY TERMS
from any disasters that might strike your server. As with just about
• Clustering anything in the IT industry, the key is good planning.
• DIMM This chapter began by looking at disaster-recovery planning. The
• Disaster-recovery plan importance of performing a risk analysis before starting your disaster-
recovery planning was discussed. This step is frequently overlooked as
• Distributed lock manager (DLM) people rush to start configuring servers, but for servers that contain
• Hardware RAID mission-critical data, this is an exercise that shouldn’t be skipped. In
summary, a good risk analysis contains the following steps:
• Hot spare
1. Identify your business processes and their associated
• Hot swap
infrastructure.
• Network interface card
2. Identify the threats associated with each of the business
• RAID processes and associated infrastructure.
• RAID 0 3. Define the level of risk associated with each threat.
• RAID 0/1 4. Rank the risks based on severity and likelihood.
• RAID 1
When you understand the risks, you can do a much better job of mak-
• RAID 5 ing sure you can recover from the most likely or most critical outages.
• Redundancy The discussion moved from risk analysis into some of the configura-
tions for high availability, starting with the different types of RAID
• Risk analysis
technologies available, and their pros and cons.
• Scalability
You also learned the pros and cons of software versus hardware
• SIMM RAID. Software RAID is less expensive, but adds a lot of overhead to
• Software RAID the system, because it uses the server processor and memory to per-
form its RAID functions. Although hardware RAID is more expen-
• Warm swap sive, it performs much better, is generally more flexible, and doesn’t
require the operating system to boot in order for it to be managed.
You also learned about other components that can be configured for
redundant operations. These include power supplies, cooling fans,
network interface adapters, CPUs, and UPSs.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 483
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The discussion then turned to the advantages of using clustering
technologies to ensure system high availability. There are two types
of clustering, with different pros and cons. In the shared-device
model, applications running within a cluster can access any hard-
ware resource connected to any node/server in the cluster. This
model suffers from additional overhead and scalability issues, due to
the amount of coordination required between nodes. In the nothing-
shared model, each node has ownership of a resource, so there is no
competition for the resources. This model is more scalable and
higher performing than the shared device model, but can be more
expensive due to the lack of shared hardware.
Some of the advantages of clustering in general include the following:
á Fault tolerance
á High availability
á Scalability
á Easier manageability
From clustering, the discussion jumped to scalability. Scalability

refers to how well a hardware or software system can adapt to
increased demands. A scalable system can support an additional load
either through unused capacity in the server, or by accommodating
upgrades to handle the increased load. This is especially important
with fast-growing businesses, for which the load on the infrastruc-
ture can increase sharply over a short period of time.
All the concepts discussed in this chapter are directly related to pro-
viding a highly available solution. In the business, numbers of
99.999% availability are mentioned as targets all the time. You
learned what these figures mean from an operational perspective,
and you learned some ways to meet them.
This chapter also discussed the types of components that can be
used in the event of a failure, including the following:
á Hot swap (also known as hot pluggable)
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 484
CHAPTER SUMMARY
á Warm swap
á Hot spare / redundant components
You learned how to utilize the server components to make a server

fault tolerant. From there, this chapter showed you how to use this
information to create a disaster-recovery plan. It is important to note
that this is just one part of your overall disaster-recovery plan, but it
can be used to make sure that your server hardware is highly available.
From the hardware, the discussion turned to how to protect critical
data on the system, and covered some of the tape backup technologies
available to you for backing up your data, including the following:
á DDS (Digital Data Storage)
á DLT (Digital Linear Tape)
á Mammoth
á Ultrium LTO (Linear Tape Open)
á AIT (Advanced Intelligent Tape)
You also learned about the different types of backups: full, differen-
tial, and incremental.
This rounded out the development of a disaster-recovery plan, and
from there the discussion focused on how to test a disaster-recovery
plan. This discussion dealt with some guidelines for testing, but rec-
ognized that detailed testing will vary from plan to plan. The key
concepts for testing a disaster-recovery plan include the following:
á Checking the recovery-plan documentation
á Doing a “dry run” of each of the components of your plan
á Testing your notification processes
á Checking the locations of any hot-spare equipment or servers
á Verifying your support contracts
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 485
CHAPTER SUMMARY
One other thing that you can add if applicable is to verify that your
hot or cold site is ready to accept the transfer of operations.
And the final section of the chapter dealt with what to do when dis-
aster strikes. In the event of a component failure in your server, you
need to make sure that you have a like component on hand, or that
you can get one quickly. Some components will allow you more flex-
ibility in their replacement than others; and this section covered the
parameters of the common replacement parts.
The final topic covered was the use of alternative facilities in the
event of a major outage. You can use two types of facilities in this
event. A hot site is a commercial facility available for system back-
ups. A cold site (also known as a shell site) is a facility that has been
prepared to receive computer equipment in the event that the pri-
mary facility is destroyed or becomes unusable.
You have made it to the end of the discussions on disaster recovery.
This is an area of the business that is often neglected, and by having
the ability to design and document a thorough, structured, and doc-
umented disaster-recovery plan, you can ensure that your servers will
remain highly available. If you don’t, you may find that your server
isn’t the only thing that isn’t highly available; you may find your job
isn’t either.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 486
Exercises 4. Rank the risks based on severity and likelihood.
One method that works fairly well is to add the
8.1 Performing a Risk Analysis and scores of the two levels. The higher the score, the
Creating a Disaster-Recovery Plan more important that risk is to avoid. Low scores
can generally be placed at the end of the list, and
The purpose of this exercise is to give you practice per- are usually the last risks to be planned for.
forming a risk analysis and creating a disaster-recovery
plan for a relatively simple server: your home PC. 5. Starting with the most critical risk, and working
your way down through at least the first five risks
Estimated Time: 60 minutes. (do more if you want the additional practice)
Required Equipment: Personal computer. devise a way to either counter or recover from the
threat. If your number one threat is a virus, pur-
1. Identify your business processes and their associ- chasing virus protection and updating the virus
ated infrastructure. In this case, think about what signatures weekly could be your counter. Think
you use your PC for. Your “business process” may about how you could use some of the technolo-
be email, writing letters, online chats, preparing gies in the chapter (redundancy, spare parts,
for the Server+ exam, or whatever you use your RAID, and so on) to reduce the threats.
home PC for.
6. Associate costs with each disaster-recovery item.
2. Identify the threats associated with each of the How many are worth the investment? Include in
business processes and associated infrastructure. your calculations things such as the cost of a
What would happen if your modem were to fail? resume that you submit to a potential employer
Your hard drive? What if you caught a virus? Try that has a virus in it, and costs you the job, or the
to think of all the possible threats to your PC. cost of failing the Server+ exam if your monitor
Include things that you would consider low risk, fails, in your decision as to whether it is a worth-
as well as high-risk threats. while investment.
3. Define the level of risk associated with each 7. Document your findings.
threat. This includes the likelihood of the threat
occurring, as well as the severity of the threat.
You can do this by ranking the threats on a scale 8.2 Working with Tape Backup Methods
of 1 to 5, where 1 is unlikely and 5 is very likely. The purpose of this exercise is to give you practice
The severity scale would also be from 1 to 5, working with the different tape backup methods for
where 1 is minor impact to the business and 5 is backups and restores.
major impact to the business. In this exercise
(unless you use your home PC for a business), it Estimated Time: 60 minutes.
will be difficult to associate a direct cost for the Required Equipment: 3 × 5 index cards.
threat. In a true risk analysis, you should associ-
ate costs with each threat. 1. Take 7 index cards and label them with the days
of the week. These are your tapes.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 487
2. For the purpose of this exercise, assume your 8.3 Creating RAID Configurations
backup rotation begins on Monday. Label each
index card Full Backup. The backups run at 10 The purpose of this exercise is to give you practice cre-
p.m., and take 2 hours to complete. ating RAID arrays. If you have the correct equipment
(a computer with four hard drives), you can perform
3. Assume you have successful backups throughout this as a live exercise. If you do not, use the index
the week, and it’s Saturday morning, around 11 cards.
a.m. Your server just crashed, and you need to do
a full restore to a spare server. How many tapes Estimated Time: 60 minutes.
will you need to complete the restore? Which Required Equipment: 3 × 5 index cards.
tape(s) will you need?
1. Take 4 index cards and label each 10GB. It repre-
4. Now leave the Monday card labeled Full, and sents a disk drive for your RAID array.
label the rest of the cards with Incremental. The
backups still run at 10 p.m., and the Monday 2. You need to create a RAID 0 array with your
backup takes 2 hours, but the remaining backups drives. What is the minimum number of drives
take approximately 1 hour. you will need? How much effective disk space
will that provide? If you use all 4 drives for this
5. Assume you have successful backups throughout array, how much effective disk space will be
the week, and it’s Thursday evening, around 8 available?
p.m. Your server just crashed, and you need to do
a full restore to a spare server. How many tapes 3. Using the same 4 drives, create a RAID 1 array.
will you need to complete the restore? Which What is the minimum number of drives needed?
tape(s) will you need? How much effective disk space will that array
provide? If you use all 4 drives for this array, how
6. Once again, leave the Monday card labeled Full, much effective disk space will be available? (Hint:
and label the rest of the cards Differential. The You can create 2 RAID 1 arrays for this step.)
backups still run at 10 p.m., and the Monday
backup takes 2 hours, but the remaining backups 4. Using the same 4 drives, create a RAID 5 array.
take approximately 45 minutes. What is the minimum number of drives needed?
How much effective disk space will that array
7. Assume you have successful backups throughout provide? If you use all 4 drives for this array, how
the week, and it’s Wednesday evening, around much effective disk space will be available?
10:15 p.m. Your server just crashed, and you
need to do a full restore to a spare server. How 5. Using the same 4 drives, create a RAID 0/1 array.
many tapes will you need to complete the restore? What is the minimum number of drives needed?
Which tape(s) will you need? How much effective disk space will that array
provide? If you use all 4 drives for this array, how
much effective disk space will be available? (Hint:
You can create 2 RAID 1 arrays for this step.)
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 488
6. If you think you need additional practice with 5. You’re the LAN administrator for Jeff ’s
RAID arrays, try this exercise using different Automotive Repair Ltd. You have been asked to
numbers of drives. configure the backup software for backing up the
customer database server. If the goal of the back-
ups is to allow for the fastest possible restore,
what type of backup should you use? How would
Review Questions you do it if the goal was to allow for the fastest
1. You are the server administrator for Exponent backup time? What type of backup provides a
Mathematicians and you have just taken over good compromise between the two?
responsibility for a server running a RAID 1
drive configuration. What are the benefits and
drawbacks to this RAID method? What are the
benefits and drawbacks to using a different RAID
Exam Questions
configuration? 1. You are the network administrator for Wild
Widgets Inc. and you need to build a front-end
2. You have been tasked to evaluate your company’s
web server to provide transactional data for
existing disaster-recovery plan, and see whether
e-commerce customers. This server will be part
adding a hot or cold site to the plan would make
of a redundant cluster of servers, and you need to
sense. What are the uses of each, and why would
design it so that it can deliver data from the disk
you select one over the other?
as quickly as possible. Because it is part of a
3. You are the administrator for John’s House of redundant cluster, the data integrity/availability
Tires, and you have been asked to evaluate the of the server is not a main concern. Performance
possibility of using clustering technologies for is critical.
your mission-critical web site. What are the two
Which RAID type should you select?
types of clustering, and how do they differ?
A. RAID 0
4. You are building a new file server for your corpo-
rate headquarters and want to make sure that you B. RAID 1
can recover from a disk failure as quickly as possi-
C. RAID 5
ble. What kind of disks should you use? What are
your other options? D. RAID 0/1
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 489
2. You are the network administrator for Wild Which of the following are benefits to running a
Widgets Inc. and you need to build a database clustered environment?
server for the accounting department. The man-
i. Fault tolerant
ager of the accounting department is concerned
about the integrity of his data, but he is also very ii. High availability
cost conscious. He wants to implement this as iii. Scalability
efficiently as possible.
iv. Simple configuration
v. Easier manageability
A. RAID 0
A. i only
B. RAID 1
B. i, ii, iii, and iv
C. RAID 5
C. i, ii, iii, and v
D. RAID 0/1
D. v only
3. You are the network administrator for
Wild Widgets Inc. and you need to build 5. You are the lead engineer for Little Faith
an e-commerce server for your company’s Enterprises, and you have guaranteed 99.99%
online store. This application is absolutely availability for the server cluster that you just
critical to the company’s success, so the implemented.
need for redundancy is absolute. Because Because the application must be available 24 × 7
thousands of customers will be placing × 365, how much downtime enables you to still
orders and viewing the catalog, however, meet your availability numbers?
performance is equally important.
A. 5 minutes
B. About an hour
A. RAID 0
C. More than 2 hours
B. RAID 1
D. 30 minutes
C. RAID 5
6. You are the network administrator for the Hittem
D. RAID 0/1 Boxing Glove Corporation. You are installing a
4. You have been asked to deploy a clustered server new server and want to configure it as redun-
as part of your job as Widgets, Inc.’s server dantly as possible.
administrator. Your manager has asked you to
assist him in justifying the expense.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 490
Which of the following are not redundant com- i. Flexible
ponents in most servers?
ii. Inexpensive
A. CPU
iii. Less impact to system performance
B. Motherboard
iv. More redundant than software RAID
C. Power supply
A. i and ii
D. Network interface card
B. ii and iii
E. Hard drives
C. i, iii, and iv
7. You manage the servers for the ACME
D. iv only
Screwdriver Corporation. You are in the process
of developing a disaster-recovery plan and you 9. You are the LAN administrator for UR Write
have just started your risk analysis. Publishing, a technical publishing company. You
are in the process of implementing a RAID con-
Which of the following are part of a good risk
figuration using software RAID and your manager
analysis?
wants to know why you selected software RAID.
i. Justifying costs
Which of the following are advantages of hard-
ii. Identifying threats ware RAID?
iii. Ranking threats based on cost A. Flexible
iv. Identify business processes B. Inexpensive
v. Deciding which RAID level to use C. Less impact to system performance
A. i and v D. More redundant than hardware RAID
B. ii, iii, and iv 10. You are the data center manager for Mount Abora
Consulting, an independent consulting company,
C. ii and v
and you have been asked to specify the backup
D. i, ii, iii, iv, and v media for the new data warehouse application.
8. You are the LAN administrator for UR Write This application will eventually have between 100
Publishing, a technical publishing company. You and 150GB of data, and needs to be backed up
are in the process of implementing a RAID config- after hours, to reduce the impact on users.
uration using hardware RAID and your manager
wants to know why you selected hardware RAID.
Which of the following are advantages of hard-
ware RAID?
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 491
What tape technology should you recommend? i. Highly redundant
A. DDS-4 ii. Very efficient use of hardware
B. LTO iii. Highest performance RAID configuration
C. DLT iv. No degradation in performance when a
drive fails
D. Mammoth
A. iii and iv
E. Floppy disks
B. ii and iii
11. You are the owner/operator for Phil’s Vacuum
Cleaner Repair Service. In support of your busi- C. i and iv
ness, you have five PCs and a small server that
D. i only
stores your accounting information.
13. You have just set up a tape backup rotation and
Which of the following tape technologies would
are using the G-F-S method.
not be appropriate in your situation?
How many tapes will you need if you want to
i. DDS-4
have a full archive of tapes for two years?
ii. LTO
A. 20
iii. DLT
B. 21
iv. Mammoth
C. 40
v. Floppy disks
D. 42
A. ii, iv, and v
14. You are the lead administrator for the Got Bux
B. i only Savings and Loan, and you have just completed
your disaster-recovery plan.
C. i and v
Which of the following are part of a good disaster-
D. ii and v
recovery test?
12. You are the lead engineer for Zanzibar Dream Ice
i. Have someone check your documentation
Cream and you have just implemented mirroring
for completeness.
on your primary production server. Your manager
wants to know why you selected mirroring for ii. Cause one of your servers to fail and then
fault tolerance. recover from it.
Which of the following statements about mirror- iii. Inventory your spare parts.
ing would not be accurate in your justification?
iv. Identify a cold site to relocate your
servers to.
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 492
A. i 2. A hot site is a facility provided by a outside vendor
and contains all the facilities you need for business
B. i and ii
resumption. It is the more expensive of the two
C. i and iii possibilities. The cold site is just a facility that can
D. ii and iv hold your equipment in the event of an outage.
Although this is a less expensive solution, it will
15. You are the lead administrator for the Got Bux take longer to resume operations. For more infor-
Savings and Loan, and you are configuring your mation, see the section “Restoring Your Server.”
server with as much redundancy as possible. You
would like the server to continue to run without 3. The two clustering models are the shared-device
intervention in the event of a component failure. and the nothing-shared models. In the shared-
device model, applications running within a clus-
Which of the following components could fit this ter can access any hardware resource connected to
description? any node/server in the cluster. This model can
i. Power supply also suffer issues with scalability and perfor-
mance, but is more efficient from a hardware per-
ii. Fan spective. In the nothing-shared model, each node
iii. Motherboard has ownership of a resource, so there is no com-
petition for the resources. This model requires
iv. Video adapter more hardware to implement, but is more effi-
A. i cient and scalable, because there is not resource
contention. For more information, see the section
B. i and ii “Introduction to Clustering.”
C. i and iii 4. If speed is of the essence, you should use hot-
D. ii and iv swap drives, which you can add and remove from
a computer while the computer is running. If you
could handle a greater downtime, you could use
either warm-swap or hot-spare drives. Warm-
Answers to Review Questions swap drives requires that processing be halted
1. RAID 1 provides excellent redundancy, but is until the drive is replaced. A hot-spare drive
very inefficient. RAID 0 is very high perfor- would require the system be shut down while it is
mance, but offers no redundancy. RAID 5 offers replaced. For more information, see the section
the best combination of performance, efficiency, “Understanding Hot Swapping, Warm Swapping,
and redundancy, but requires more drives than and Hot Spares.”
the existing RAID 0 implementation. RAID 0/1
is the most inefficient, but if configured correctly
offers high performance and complete redun-
dancy. For more information, see the section
“RAID Types.”
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 493
5. For the fastest restore time, you would want to do 5. B. A 99.99% availability guarantee allows you
full backups every night. That would enable you less than an hour of downtime per year. 53 min-
to always restore from a single tape. For the short- utes to be more exact. For more information, see
est backup times, you would want to do a full the section “Understanding Redundancy,
backup on a non-business day and then incremen- Clustering, Scalability, and High Availability.”
tals for the rest of the week. To restore you would
6. B. In most servers you can get redundant CPUs,
need the full backup plus any subsequent incre-
NICs, power supplies, and hard drives.
mental tapes. And a good compromise would be a
Motherboards cannot be implemented redun-
full backup one night, with a differential the rest
dantly. For more information, see the section
of the week. You can restore from just two tapes,
“Redundancy of Other System Components.”
and you don’t have the additional overhead of a
full backup every night. For more information, 7. B. Deciding which RAID level to use is part of
see the section “Backing Up Your Data.” your disaster-recovery planning, which is probably
when you’ll be justifying the costs as well. For
more information, see the section “Risk Analysis.”
Answers to Exam Questions 8. C. Hardware RAID offers flexibility, higher perfor-

mance, and greater redundancy than the software
1. A. If data integrity is not an issue, you should use alternative. You will pay for those advantages with
RAID 0. This offers the best performance and as a higher cost. For more information, see the sec-
long as the server is part of a cluster, the failure of tion “Hardware Versus Software RAID.”
a disk will not impact the business. For more
information, see the section “RAID Types.” 9. B. The only true benefit of software RAID over
hardware RAID is the cost. Because this capabil-
2. C. RAID 5 offers the best compromise between ity is part of the operating system, there is no
redundancy and efficiency. For more information, additional cost for the RAID capability. For more
see the section “RAID Types.” information, see the section “Hardware Versus
3. D. RAID 0 + 1 combines the performance of Software RAID.”
RAID 0 with the full redundancy of RAID 1. As 10. B. The Ultrium LTO, with a capacity of 200GB
long as money is no object, this is the best imple- and a throughput of 32Mbps, is the only choice
mentation for the server. For more information, from this list. DDS, DLT, and Mammoth just
see the section “RAID Types.” don’t have the capacity for this much data. And
4. C. All four answers are examples of benefits of you would need a lot of floppy disks to back up
clustering. Unfortunately a cluster can be very 150GB. The AIT-2 technology, not referenced in
complex to configure. For more information, see the question would provide the only other possi-
the section “Introduction to Clustering.” ble solution. For more information, see the sec-
tion “Backing Up Your Data.”
13 Serv+ Ch_08 7/10/01 9:59 AM Page 494
11. A. The Ultrium LTO and Mammoth technolo- 14. C. You should always have your documentation
gies are overkill for the environment described, double-checked, and be sure you have the appro-
and would be prohibitively expensive for a small priate spare parts on hand. Identifying a cold site
operation of this type. Floppy disks are not an should be part of the planning process, and you
appropriate backup technology anywhere. For should never induce a problem in a production
more information, see the section “Backing Up system just to see whether your process works.
Your Data.” What if it doesn’t work, and your server is down
for a week? For more information, see the section
12. B. RAID 1 (mirroring) is highly redundant, and
“Testing the Plan.”
there is no degradation in performance during an
outage due to the lack of parity calculations 15. B. Fans and power supplies can usually be con-
found in RAID 5. Mirroring is not an efficient figured redundantly. Motherboards and video
way to use hardware, due to the 100% overhead adapters usually cannot, although an additional
in disks, and it does not perform as well as RAID video card could be installed and the cutover
0. For more information, see the section “RAID done manually. For more information, see the
Types.” section “Redundancy of Other System
Components.”
13. D. To archive 2 years of data, you will need 24
monthly tapes, 8 weekly tapes, 8 daily tapes, and
2 yearly tapes, totaling 42. For more information,
see the section “Backing Up Your Data.”
1. www.labmice.net/disaster.htm 5. www.gedisasterrecovery.com/index.html
2. www.microsoft.com/windows2000/library/ 6. http://developer.novell.com/research/
operations/fileandprint/recovery.asp appnotes/1999/septembe/03/index.htm
3. www.microsoft.com/technet/win2000/ 7. Toigo, Jon William. Disaster Recovery Planning.

recovery.asp Prentice Hall PTR, 2000.
4. www.tekcentral.com/teknetwork/
Disaster_Recovery/
14 Serv+ Ch_P2 7/10/01 10:01 AM Page 495
II
P A R T
FINAL REVIEW
Fast Facts
Study and Exam Preparation Tips
Practice Exam
14 Serv+ Ch_P2 7/10/01 10:01 AM Page 496
15 Serv+ Ch_FF 7/11/01 10:06 AM Page 497
The Fast Facts listed in this chapter are designed

as a refresher of key points and topics, knowledge
of which is required to be successful on the
Server+ Certification exam. By using these sum-
maries of key points, you can spend an hour prior
to your exam to refresh your understanding of key
topics and ensure that you have a solid under-
standing of the objectives and the information
required for you to succeed in each major area of
the exam.
The chapter is organized like the test objectives,
and each job dimension that follows includes the
key points from each chapter. If you have a thor-
ough understanding of the key points here,
chances are good that you will pass the exam.
Chapter 1 provided you with an overview of impor-
tant server concepts and was intended to set you
up for tackling the specific job dimensions and
objectives for the Server+ exam outlined by
CompTIA. Chapters 2 through 8 were designed to
specifically address those seven job dimensions.
Now that you have read those chapters, performed
the designated hands-on procedures, answered all
the Review and Exam Questions at the ends of the
chapters, and explored the ExamGear test engine
(an electronic exam simulator) on the CD that
accompanies this book, you should be ready to
take the exam.
This chapter is designed as a quick study aid that
you can use just prior to taking the exam. You
should be able to review the Fast Facts in less
than an hour. It cannot serve as a substitute for
knowing the material supplied in these chapters.
However, its key points should refresh your memory
on critical topics. In addition to the information
located in this chapter, remember to review the Fast Facts
Glossary terms because they are intentionally not
covered here.
SERVER+ CERTIFICATION
15 Serv+ Ch_FF 7/10/01 10:02 AM Page 498
498 FAST FACTS
The following list runs down the job dimensions á An enterprise server is a network server that can
discussed in this book and that CompTIA uses to support a very large number of users or a very
arrange the objectives for the Server+ exam: large application, such as a major database.
á 0.0—Planning and Specifications á A server appliance is a network server that is
á 1.0—Installation designed to provide one service to the network
and take a relatively small amount of space.
á 2.0—Configuration
á A gateway server provides a communications path
á 3.0—Upgrading between two systems that use a totally different
á 4.0—Proactive Maintenance communications system, such as an Ethernet
LAN communicating with an IBM mainframe
á 5.0—Environment that is using SNA.
á 6.0—Troubleshooting and Problem á A router connects several network segments
Determination together and sends data packets from one seg-
á 7.0—Disaster Recovery ment to another based on the network address of
the data packet.
á A bridge segregates data frames between two sec-
tions of the same network and passes packets from
0.0—PLANNING AND one section to another based on the hardware
SPECIFICATIONS addresses of the source and destination computers.
á A firewall connects a corporate LAN to the
This job dimension is not one of the job dimensions Internet while restricting access from the Internet
listed on the Server+ Exam Blueprint from CompTIA. to the corporate LAN based on source IP address
However, there are items on CompTIA’s “Server+ and/or protocol type.
Concepts and Skills” document that aren’t included in
any of the job dimensions of CompTIA’s Server+ Exam á A Network Address Translation (NAT) server con-
Blueprint. These items are covered in the author- nects a corporate LAN to the Internet. The corpo-
created Job Dimension 0, Planning and Specifications. rate network generally uses private IP addressing
The main points are as follows: and the NAT server has a limited number of valid
IP addresses that it uses to translate the private
á There are two types of computer networks: peer addresses to addresses that are valid on the Internet.
to peer, and server centric (aka client/server).
á A proxy server connects a corporate LAN to the
á Peer-to-peer networks are useful for only relative- Internet. A proxy server is often the only computer
ly small networks of 20 computers or fewer. in the corporation that is actually attached directly
á A workgroup server is a network server that can to the Internet. All requests for Internet access are
support about 20 users. actually directed to the proxy server. The proxy
server retrieves the requested information, provides
á A departmental server is a network server that can it to the client computer who requested it, and
support up to 300 users. may also cache it on its own disk drives for future
access by all the clients on the corporate LAN.
15 Serv+ Ch_FF 7/10/01 10:02 AM Page 499
FAST FACTS 499
á A database server runs an application known as a á A Domain Name Service (DNS) server provides
database management system. The database server TCP/IP name resolution for computers on the
stores databases on its hard disk drives. Client TCP/IP network.
computers send requests or queries to the database
á A Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS)
server, the database server processes the request
server provides NetBIOS name resolution for
and retrieves the data from the database on its
Microsoft computers on a TCP/IP network.
hard disk drives, and then the database server
sends the results to the query back to the client. á A Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
(DHCP) server provides automated TCP/IP con-
á A client/server is actually a classification for a
figuration for client computers on the network.
type of relationship between network servers and
their clients. The classic example of a client/server á A web server stores and provides web pages to
relationship is the database server. client computer web browsers.
á An application server is a server that provides a á A video server stores digitized video and provides
major service to the clients on the network. Good it on demand to client computers on the network.
examples of application servers include email,
á A CD-ROM library server provides access to the
database, and web servers.
information stored on many CD-ROMs to
á A mail server provides electronic mail services to clients on the network.
client computers on the network.
á A directory services server provides a searchable
á An FTP server provides a repository of files that database of objects (users, groups, computers,
can be accessed by and copied to client computers printers, and so forth) on the network that can be
on the network using the File Transfer Protocol. used by client computers on the network.
á An SNA server provides communications and á The Intel Pentium Pro processor supports up to 4
character translation between a LAN and an processors in a network server. It is available in
IBM mainframe. speeds from 150MHz to 200MHz. Its Level 2
cache runs at the same speed as the processor.
á A remote access server enables client computers
to access the network via modems attached to á The Intel Pentium II processor supports up to 2
telephone lines. processors in a network server. It is available in
speeds from 233MHz to 450MHz. Its Level 2
á A file and print server provides access to files and
cache runs at one-half the speed of the processor.
network printers to clients on the network. This
is the classic network server role. á The Intel Pentium II Xeon processor supports up
to 4 processors in a network server. It is available
á A terminal server provides access to desktop
in speeds of 400MHz and 450MHz. Its Level 2
applications to client computers on the network
that don’t have the resources to run these desktop
applications themselves. (These clients are often á The Intel Pentium III processor supports up to 2
called thin clients.) processors in the network server. It is available in
speeds from 450MHz to 1130MHz. Its Level 2
á A fax server provides client computers on the
network access to both incoming and outgoing
facsimiles.
15 Serv+ Ch_FF 7/10/01 10:02 AM Page 500
500 FAST FACTS
á The Intel Pentium III Xeon processor supports up á Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) allows multi-
to 4 processors in the network server. It is available ple processors to be used cooperatively in a net-
in speeds from 500MHz to 1000MHz. Its Level 2 work server.
á The memory bus connects main memory to the
á The Intel Pentium 4 processor supports only one processor of the network server. The memory bus
processor in the network server. It is available in operates at 66MHz, 100MHz, or 133MHz. The
speeds from 1300MHz to 1500MHz. Its Level 2 memory bus is also called the front-side bus.
á The system bus allows expansion of the input and
á The future Intel Itanium processor is Intel’s first output capabilities of the network server by inser-
64-bit processor and it will support up to 4 proces- tion of expansion boards (video, disk controller,
sors in a network server. It will initially be available network adapter, and so on) into slots on the bus.
in speeds of 733MHz and 800MHz. It will have
á Table 1 summarizes system buses that have been
both Level 2 and Level 3 caches available.
used in computers over the past few years.
á Level 1 processor cache is built on the chip with
the processor. The relatively small Level 1 cache has
two parts: the data cache and the instruction cache. SUMMARY TABLE 1
Each of these is usually 8KB or 16KB in size. SYSTEM BUSES
á The memory used in both Level 1 and Level 2 Bus, Bus Width Bus Speed Bandwidth
cache is static ram (SRAM). SRAM is much Year Introduced (Bits) (MHz) (MBps)
faster than dynamic RAM (DRAM), which is ISA (8-bit), 1981 8 4.77 4.77
used as main system memory; however, it also ISA (16-bit), 1984 16 8 16
costs much more.
EISA, 1988 32 8 32
á Level 2 processor cache acts as a buffer between
main memory and the processor. Level 2 cache,
like Level 1 cache, consists of SRAM. On Micro Channel, 1987 32 8 32
Pentium processors and higher, Level 2 cache is VESA Local Bus, 1992 32 33 132
on the chip with the processor. Level 2 cache PCI, 1992 32 33 132
ranges in size from 128KB to 2MB.
PCI, 1992 64 33 264
á When writing to cache memory, there are two PCI 2.1, 1995 64 66 528
different methods that are used: write thru and
PCI-X 1.0, 1999 64 132 1056
write back.
AGP, 1996 32 66 264
á In the write thru cache method, data is written
back to cache and main memory at the same time. AGP (x2), 1996 32 132 528
AGP (x4), 1998 32 264 1056

á In the write back cache method, data is written
only to the cache, and then the cache is written
to main memory at later time.
15 Serv+ Ch_FF 7/10/01 10:02 AM Page 501
FAST FACTS 501
á The Extended Industry Standard Architecture á Extended data out (EDO) RAM has access speeds
(EISA) bus, which is compatible with ISA measured in nanoseconds (typically fewer than
adapter cards, was designed by nine IBM 100 nanoseconds).
competitors in response to IBM’s Micro
á Synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) runs at
Channel Architecture bus.
bus speeds, which are measured in megahertz.
á The Peripheral Component Interconnect Common speeds are 66MHz, 100MHz, and
(PCI) bus is a local bus that was designed by 133MHz.
Intel Corporation.
á Error Correction Code (ECC) is a sophisticated
á The PCI bus can support a technology known as method of memory data protection that can
PCI hot swap, which allows a PCI adapter to be detect and correct single-bit errors. RAM that has
installed, removed, or replaced without shutting ECC capabilities is known as ECC memory.
down the network server.
á Memory that does not have ECC capabilities is
á The PCI-X (PCI Extended) bus is an enhance- known as non-ECC memory.
ment to the PCI bus and has a higher bus
á Buffered EDO memory has better performance
transfer speed.
than regular EDO memory because of the ampli-
á The AGP (Advanced Graphics Port) bus was fied control signals provided by buffering.
designed by Intel Corporation as a high-speed
á Registered SDRAM memory has better perfor-
local bus to be used primarily for video graphics.
mance than regular SDRAM because of the
á Intelligent Input/Output (I2O) technology is amplified control signals provided by registering.
designed to remove the burden of performing
á Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) is a disk sub-
input and output operations from the network
system that supports up to two channels with up
server processor. It is also designed to implement
to two disk drives on each channel, for a total of
device driver independence from the operating
four disk drives.
system.
á IDE is also known as ATA (Advanced Technology
á Memory interleaving is a technique used to
Attachment) by the American National Standards
speed up memory access by dividing memory in
Institute.
sections, which can be accessed simultaneously.
á IDE/ATA disk drives can transfer data at a rate of
á A single in-line memory module (SIMM) can
3.3 to 8.3 megabytes per second.
transfer data 32 bits at a time, and they are
usually installed in pairs (because most data á Enhanced IDE (EIDE), also known as ATA-2,
buses are 64 bits wide). can transfer data at a rate of 11.3 to 16.5
megabytes per second.
á A dual in-line memory module (DIMM) can
transfer data 64 bits at a time, and hence they á ATA 33, also known as Ultra ATA 33, can trans-
can be installed singly. fer data at up to 33 megabytes per second.
15 Serv+ Ch_FF 7/10/01 10:02 AM Page 502
502 FAST FACTS
á ATA 66, also known as Ultra DMA 66, can á The standard SCSI channel width is 8 bits (1 byte
transfer data at up to 66 megabytes per second. or 1 character).
á Ultra DMA 100 can transfer data at up to 100 á Each end of a SCSI channel must be terminated.
megabytes per second.
á Each device on a SCSI channel must have a
á The Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) unique SCSI ID.
is a bus controller that can have many devices
á There is a Wide SCSI channel standard, which is
attached to a single SCSI channel.
16 bits wide (2 bytes or 2 characters).
á Table 2 summarizes the many versions of the
á Characteristics of the SCSI-1 standard include a
SCSI standard.
bus speed of 5MHz, a bus width of 8 bits, and a
data-transfer speed of 5MBps.
SUMMARY TABLE 2 á SCSI-1 uses the single-ended (SE) signaling system

S M A L L C O M P U T E R S Y S T E M I N T E R FA C E with a maximum cable length of 6 meters.
(SCSI) V E R S I O N S á Characteristics of the SCSI-2 standard include a
SCSI Marketing Bus Speed Bus Width Transfer bus speed of 5MHz (10MHz for Fast SCSI-2) and
Standard Term (MHz) Speed a bus width of 8 bits (16 bits for Wide SCSI-2).
(MBps) The Fast Wide SCSI-2 standard has a bus speed
SCSI-1 5 8 bits 5 of 10MHz and a bus width of 16 bits.
SCSI-2 Fast 10 8 bits 10 á SCSI-2 uses either the single-ended (SE) signal-
SCSI-2 Wide 5 16 bits 10 ing system or the high-voltage differential (HVD)
SCSI-2 Fast Wide 10 16 bits 20 signaling system.
SCSI-3 Ultra 20 8 bits 20 á The SCSI high-voltage differential (HVD) signal-
SCSI-3 Ultra Wide 20 16 bits 40
ing system supports a cable length of 25 meters.
SCSI-3 Ultra2 40 8 bits 40 á SCSI-3 introduced many new standards, includ-

ing the low-voltage differential (LVD) signaling
SCSI-3 Ultra2 Wide 40 16 bits 80
system, higher speed SCSI buses, and serial SCSI.
SCSI-3 Ultra160 40DT 16 bits 160
á The SCSI low-voltage differential signaling
SCSI-3 Ultra320 80DT 16 bits 320
system supports a cable length of 12 meters.
SCSI-3 Fibre Channel 1 bit (serial) 100
á Table 3 summaries cable type and lengths, num-
SCSI-3 IEEE 1394 1 bit (serial) 400 ber of devices per SCSI channel, and cable types
for the various SCSI standards.
15 Serv+ Ch_FF 7/10/01 10:02 AM Page 503
FAST FACTS 503
SUMMARY TABLE 3 á A storage area network is a group of storage

SCSI C A B L E L E N G T H , C A B L E T Y P E , AND devices that are accessed by using high-speed
DEVICES PER CHANNEL technology such as Fibre Channel or Serial
SCSI Maximum Cable Single- HVD LVD Storage Architecture (SSA).
of Devices Cable á Network-attached storage (NAS) is similar to
SAN; however, NAS uses the network protocol
SCSI-1 7 50-pin 6 - -
(for instance, Ethernet or Token Ring) rather
SCSI-2 Fast 7 50-pin 3 25 - than Fibre Channel or SSA.
SCSI-2 Wide 15 68-pin 6 25 -
á Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) has a data-transfer rate of
SCSI-2 15 68-pin 3 25 - 10Mbps and it uses the Carrier Sense Multiple
Fast Wide
Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD)
SCSI-3 Ultra 7 50-pin 3 25 media access method.
SCSI-3 7 68-pin 3 25 - á 10BASE-5 Ethernet uses thick coaxial cable
Ultra Wide
known as RG-8. It has a data-transfer rate of
SCSI-3 7 50-pin - - 12 10Mbps, uses baseband transmission, and it has a
Ultra2
maximum cable length of 500 meters.
SCSI-3 15 68-pin - - 12
Ultra2 Wide á 10BASE-2 Ethernet uses thin coaxial cable
known as RG-58. It has a data-transfer rate of
SCSI-3 15 68-pin - - 12
Ultra160 10Mbps, uses baseband transmission, and has a
maximum cable length of 185 meters.
SCSI-3 15 68-pin - - 12
Ultra320 á 10BASE-T Ethernet uses unshielded twisted-pair
(UTP) cable. It has a data-transfer rate of
10Mbps, uses baseband transmission, and has a
á Fibre Channel is one of the SCSI-3 serial SCSI maximum cable length (from computer to hub)
standards. of 100 meters.
á Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) can use á Fast Ethernet (IEEE 802.3u) uses UTP cable, but
either fiber-optic cable or copper cable, transfers it has a data-transfer rate of 100Mbps.
data at a rate of 100 megabytes per second, and
á 100BASE-T Ethernet uses Category 5 UTP
can support up to 127 ports in a single-loop
cable. It has a data-transfer rate of 100Mbps, uses
configuration.
baseband transmission, and has a maximum cable
á FC-AL can support a large number of disk drives length (from computer to hub) of 100 meters.
configured in a storage area network (SAN).
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504 FAST FACTS
á 100BASE-F Ethernet uses fiber-optic cable. It has á Network interface cards (NICs) are installed in
a data-transfer rate of 100Mbps, uses baseband network servers to give them the capability to
transmission, and has a maximum cable length of attach to a network. The speed and width of the
2 kilometers. system bus determine the performance (data-
transfer speed) of the NIC.
á Gigabit Ethernet has a data rate of 1000 megabits
(1 gigabit) per second. It can use UTP cable for a á Adapter teaming is a technique of using multiple
distance of 100 meters. It can also use fiber-optic NICs in a network server to provide adapter
cable for a distance up to 2 kilometers. fault tolerance, adapter load balancing, or port
aggregation.
á 1000BASE-T (IEEE 802.3ab) uses Category 5 or
higher UTP cable. It has a data-transfer speed of á Adapter fault tolerance is achieved when two
1 gigabit per second, uses baseband transmission, NICs are installed in a network server, but only
and has a maximum cable length (from computer one is active. If the active NIC fails, the second
to hub) of 100 meters. NIC is automatically activated.
á 1000BASE-X (IEEE 802.3z) uses fiber-optic á Adapter load balancing is achieved when two or
cable, has a data-transfer rate of 1 gigabit per more NICs attached to the same network are
second and uses baseband transmission. The installed in a network server, all of them being
maximum cable length is 2 kilometers. utilized at the same time.
á 10 Gigabit Ethernet (802.3ae) uses fiber-optic á Port aggregation allows multiple NICs to act
cable exclusively to transfer data at 10 gigabits per together to increase the bandwidth available to
second. It uses only fiber-optic cable. It is antici- the network server. This requires an Ethernet
pated that the new standard will allow data trans- switch that supports port aggregation.
mission speeds of 10 gigabits per second for dis-
á NICs with Wake-On-LAN (WOL) technology
tances of 100 meters using multimode fiber-optic
allow the NIC to power up the computer in
cables and distances of at least 2 kilometers using
which it is installed upon receipt of a special
single-mode fiber-optic cable.
WOL magic packet.
á IBM created Token Ring network technology.
á A repeater is a network device that extends the
The original Token Ring network had a data-
length of a network by attaching multiple net-
transfer speed of 4Mbps and used shielded
work cable segments together and regenerating all
twisted-pair (STP) cable. Token Ring was stan-
data received from one cable segment and send-
dardized by IEEE as the 802.5 standard.
ing it to the other cable segment.
á Later versions of Token Ring had data-transfer
á A hub is a “repeater” with multiple ports.
speeds of 16Mbps, and could use either STP or
UTP cable.
15 Serv+ Ch_FF 7/10/01 10:02 AM Page 505
FAST FACTS 505
á An Ethernet switch is a network device that cre- SUMMARY TABLE 4

ates temporary (one frame long) communications QIC T A P E S TA N D A R D S
connections between devices attached to the QIC QIC Storage Capacity Interface
switch. Because it can make multiple connections Standard Cartridge Native/Compressed
at the same time, it achieves higher performance QIC-40 DC-2000 40MB/80MB Floppy
than a hub.
á Network protocols allow devices using the same QIC-80 MC-2120 125MB/250MB Floppy,
protocol to communicate with each other. parallel
á One of the most popular protocols is TCP/IP QIC-80 MC-2120Extra 400MB/800MB Floppy,
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet parallel
Protocol), mostly because it is the protocol used QIC-80XL MC-2120XL 170MB/340MB Floppy,
on the Internet. parallel
QIC-3020XL MC-3020XL 680MB/1.36GB Floppy,
á Another popular protocol is IPX/SPX used in parallel,
Novell NetWare networks. IDE
á NetBEUI is a protocol that is simple to imple- QIC-3020XL MC-3020Extra 1.6GB/3.2GB Floppy,
ment; however, it is not routable and therefore parallel,
IDE
cannot be used to build large networks.
QIC-3095 MC-3095 4GB/8GB IDE,
á The Simple Network Management Protocol SCSI-2
(SNMP) is a standard TCP/IP protocol that is
QIC-3220 MC-3220 10GB/20GB SCSI-2
used to manage network devices.
QIC-5010 DC-5010 16GB/32GB SCSI-2
á The Desktop Management Interface (DMI) is a
QIC-5210 DC-5210 25GB/50GB SCSI-2
means to collect information about a computer’s
operating environment and reporting it to a cen-
tral information point.
á Travan cartridge tapes are an enhancement to
á SAF-TE (SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant QIC technology with some backward compatibil-
Enclosures) is a methodology for the management ity with QIC tapes.
of external enclosures containing SCSI devices.
á Table 5 summarizes Travan tape drive standards.
á The most popular backup hardware is magnetic
tape drives.
á QIC (Quarter Inch Cartridge) tape drives are
generally found in entry-level servers due to their
relatively limited storage capacity.
á Table 4 summarizes QIC tape standards.
15 Serv+ Ch_FF 7/10/01 10:02 AM Page 506
506 FAST FACTS
SUMMARY TABLE 5 á 8mm tape technology uses helical scan recording,

T R AVA N T A P E D R I V E S TA N D A R D S much like a VCR.
Travan Tape Storage Capacity Interface
á Table 7 summarizes 8mm tape technology.
Cartridge Native/Compressed
Travan-1 TR-1 400MB/800MB Floppy,
parallel
SUMMARY TABLE 7
Travan-2 TR-2 800MB/1.6GB Floppy,
parallel
8 M M TA P E T E C H N O L O G Y
8mm Tape Storage Capacity Transfer Speed
Travan-3 TR-3 1.6GB/3.2GB Floppy,
Technology Native/Compressed
parallel
8200 2.5GB 246KBps
Travan-4 TR-4 4GB/8GB SCSI-2,
EIDE 8500 5GB 500KBps
Travan NS-8 NS-8 4GB/8GB SCSI-2, Mammoth-1 20GB/40GB 3MBps
EIDE
Travan-5 TR-5 10GB/20GB SCSI-2,
EIDE
Travan NS-20 NS-20 10GB/20GB SCSI-2, á Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT) uses 8mm tape
EIDE technology but also contains Memory-In-Cassette
(MIC), which contains the tape log.
á Table 6 summarizes QIC and Travan compatibility. á Table 8 summarizes AIT tape technology.
SUMMARY TABLE 6 SUMMARY TABLE 8

QIC AND T R AVA N C O M PAT I B I L I T Y AIT T A P E T E C H N O L O G Y
Travan Standard Can Read/Write Can Read AIT Tape Storage Capacity Transfer
Standard Media Native/Compressed Speed
Travan-1 QIC-80 QIC-40
Travan-3 TR-2, QIC-3010, QIC-80, TR-1
QIC-3020 AIT-1 SDX135C 35GB/70GB 3MBps
Travan-4 QIC-3095 QIC-3010, AIT-2 SDX236C 36GB/72GB 6MBps

QIC-3020, AIT-2 SDX250C 50GB/100GB 6MBps
QIC-80,
TR-3, TR-1 AIT-3 Prototype 100GB/200GB 12MBps
Travan NS-8 QIC-3010,
QIC-3020,
QIC-80 á Digital Audio Tape (DAT) uses 4mm tape and
stores data in the Digital Data Storage (DSS)
Travan NS-20 TR-4, QIC-3095
format.
15 Serv+ Ch_FF 7/10/01 10:02 AM Page 507
FAST FACTS 507
á Table 9 summarizes DAT tape technology. á Table 11 summarizes LTO tape technology.
SUMMARY TABLE 9 SUMMARY TABLE 11

DAT T A P E T E C H N O L O G Y WITH DSS LTO T A P E T E C H N O L O G Y
F O R M AT S LTO Format Storage Capacity Transfer Speed
DDS Storage Capacity Transfer Speed AKA Native/Compressed Native/Compressed
Format Native/Compressed Ultrium 100GB/200GB 20MBps/40MBps
DDS-1 2/4GB 1MBps
Accelis 25GB/50GB 20MBps/40MBps
á A tape array is multiple tape drives that are used
together to provide redundancy (called a redun-
dant array of independent tapes, or RAIT).
á Digital Linear Tape offers high capacity and high- á Tape autochangers will automatically remote one
speed tape backup. tape (when it is full) and insert a new blank tape
into a tape drive.
á Table 10 summarizes DLT tape technology.
á Tape libraries can have hundreds of tapes in a
library that can be automatically retrieved and
SUMMARY TABLE 10 inserted into one or more tape drives that are part
DLT T A P E T E C H N O L O G Y of the library.
DLT Storage Capacity Transfer á Backups can also be written to hard disk drives,
Standard Native/Compressed Speed CD-R (CD-Recordable), and CD-RW (CD-
DLT-2000 10GB/20GB 1.25MBps Rewritable) devices.
DLT-2000XT 15GB/30GB 1.25MBps á To provide fault tolerance, network servers often
DLT-4000 20GB/40GB 1.5MBps have redundant devices such as power supplies
and cooling fans.
DLT-8000 40GB/80GB 6MBps á Hot swapping is the ability to replace compo-
nents in a network server while the network
Super DLT 110GB/220GB 11MBps
server is running.
á Server clustering is having multiple network
á Linear Tape-Open (LTO) technology offers two servers perform as a single system.
different formats (one designed for high-speed
á Scalability is the ability to “grow” a network
backup [Ultrium] and the other designed for fast
server. The ability to add memory, disk drives,
access [Accelis] to data stored on the tape).
and processors to a network server are examples
of scalability.
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508 FAST FACTS
á High availability is the goal of keeping the net- á RAID 4, which requires a minimum of three
work server operational 24 hour per day, 7 days disk drives to implement, uses block-level parity
per week. This is accomplished by using methods to implement disk fault tolerance. The parity
such as redundancy, fault tolerance, RAID, UPS, information is stored on a single disk drive in
and clustering. the disk array.
á An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is a very á RAID 5, which requires a minimum of three disk
necessary part of a network server. It provides drives to implement, uses block-level parity to
temporary power to the network server when the implement disk fault tolerance. The parity infor-
electrical power fails. mation is stored across all the disk drives in the
disk array.
á RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) is a
technique for providing fault tolerance in the á RAID 0/1 is a combination of RAID 0 (disk
event of a disk drive failure. striping without parity) and RAID 1 (disk mir-
roring or duplexing). This provides the fault tol-
á RAID 0 was not part of the original RAID speci-
erance of RAID 1 with the disk input and output
fication and does not provide any fault tolerance.
performance of RAID 0, but it requires a mini-
However, it does provide improved disk input
mum of four disk drives to implement.
and output performance.
á To implement RAID using hardware, a disk con-
á RAID 1 provides redundancy by copying data
troller that supports RAID is required. Most RAID
to two separate disk drives. In the event of one
disk controllers support the use of SCSI disk drives.
disk drive failure, the data is still available on the
second disk drive. á Some network operating systems support the
implementation of RAID solutions using soft-
á RAID 1 can be implemented in two different
ware. This requires the use of the network server
ways. When both disk drives are attached to the
processor to support the RAID solution.
same disk controller, the RAID solution is known
as disk mirroring. á A video adapter and monitor that supports a
video resolution of 1024 × 768 and 64K colors is
á When both of the RAID 1 disk drives are
adequate for most network server consoles.
attached to different disk controllers, the RAID
solution is known as disk duplexing. Disk á The Universal Serial Bus (USB) supports up to
duplexing eliminates the single point of failure 127 devices at a data-transfer rate of 12Mbps.
(the disk controller) that is the weak part of disk Uses of the USB port on a network server include
mirroring. UPS monitoring, and the attachment of such
devices as a mouse, a keyboard, or a modem.
á RAID 2, which requires a minimum of three disk
drives to implement, uses a hamming code to á IEEE 1394 (FireWire) is a serial implementation
implement disk fault tolerance. RAID 2 is not of SCSI-3. It supports up to 63 devices at a data-
used in any commercial RAID hardware. transfer rate of 400Mbps.
á RAID 3, which requires a minimum of three disk á Network servers usually include other devices,
drives to implement, uses bit-level parity to such as CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drives and a
implement disk fault tolerance. 3.5-inch floppy disk drive.
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FAST FACTS 509
á To minimize the space required by multiple á The installation, configuration, and maintenance
network servers, they can be mounted into a of the network server should be recorded (docu-
server rack. mented) in a logbook.
á Network servers and other components, such á A installation plan is a document that defines the
as a UPS, can be acquired in special rack-mount role of the network server along with its hardware
configurations. configuration.
á There are several network operating systems avail-
able for network servers, including the following:
• Novell NetWare 4 1.0—INSTALLATION
This job dimension covers the pre-installation and instal-
• Microsoft Windows NT Server 4 lation of network server hardware, and it is the topic of
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server 17% of the exam questions. The main points follow:
• UNIX á The installation process starts with the installa-

tion plan, which should specify the role of the
• SCO OpenServer 5 network server, where the network server will be
• SCO UnixWare installed, and what software (including the net-
work operating system) should be installed.
• SUN Solaris
á All the network server hardware should be on the
• Linux hardware compatibility list (HCL) provided by
• Caldera Linux the network server operating system vendor.
• Red Hat Linux á The server hardware specialist should verify that
the installation site for the network server has
• SuSE Linux adequate power (and that it is of the correct volt-
• VA Linux age and amperage) and cooling to support the
new network server.
á The server hardware specialist should verify that
á Many network server hardware vendors supply there is a live network connection at the installa-
software to aid in the installation and configuration site for the new network server.
tion of the network operating system.
á Many network server hardware vendors supply the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is of
hardware and software to aid in the management adequate size to support the new network server
of the network server hardware independent of and that the power plug on the UPS matches
the network operating system. the power outlet at the installation site.
á It is highly recommended that antivirus software
be installed on the network server.
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510 FAST FACTS
á If the network server is to be installed in a server á A network server might have more than one system
rack, the server hardware specialist should verify bus. Multiple buses can be either bridged or peer.
that all the network server components are
á Bridged buses share the bus bandwidth.
designed to fit into the rack.
á Peer buses provide additional bandwidth because
each can transfer data at full speed.
the processors to be installed in the network serv-
er are of the same speed, cache size, and stepping. á Adapters (disk controllers, NICs, and so on)
should be installed in such a manner as to
balance the load on peer buses.
the memory to be installed in the network server
is the correct size and amount and that it is com- á When two ATA (includes IDE, EIDE, ATA-2,
patible with the memory slots available in the Ultra ATA) are attached to the same ATA chan-
network server. nel, the disk drive role must be set to master on
one disk drive and slave on the other disk drive.
A third setting on some ATA disk drives, called
the disk drives and controllers are of the size
cable select (CSEL), automatically sets the role of
and type (ATA or SCSI) as specified by the
the disk drive.
installation plan.
á Each SCSI devices on a channel must have a
unique SCSI ID number, including the SCSI
the backup system is adequate to meet the needs
controller itself. A single SCSI channel can have
of the network server backup strategy.
up to 7 devices attached (15 devices on a Wide
á The server hardware specialist should verify that SCSI channel).
the SCSI cables are of the correct length and have
á Both ends of the SCSI channel must be terminat-
the correct number and type of connectors to
ed. There are three types of SCSI termination:
attach the SCSI devices to the SCSI controller.
passive, active, and forced perfect.
á SCSI has three different signaling systems: single
the disk controller type (ATA, SCSI-1, SCSI-2,
ended (SE), high-voltage differential (HVD), and
SCSI-3, FC-AL) and the number of channels and
low-voltage differential (LVD). The signaling
the bus type (PCI, EISA, PCI-X) is as specified in
system dictates the length of the SCSI channel.
the installation plan.
á There are three different types of SCSI connec-
á The server hardware specialist should verify that the
tors: 50-pin, 68-pin, and 80-pin (SCA).
network interface cards (NICs) are of the correct
type (Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, á The 50-pin connectors (both internal and external
Token Ring) as specified in the installation plan. versions) are used by Narrow (8-bit) SCSI channels.
á The server hardware specialist should follow á The 68-pin connectors (both internal and external
ESD (electrostatic discharge) best practices versions) are used by Wide (16-bit) SCSI channels.
during the installation of the network server á The 80-pin SCA connector is a special-use
and its components to prevent damage to them connector that not only allows the transfer of
that can be caused by the buildup and discharge data, but also supplies power to the SCSI device
of static electricity. and SCSI ID configuration.
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FAST FACTS 511
á When connecting an Ethernet NIC to an á A server hardware specialist should verify that the
Ethernet hub, a standard Category 5 unshielded system BIOS on the network server is the latest
twisted-pair (UTP) cable that contains 4-pair available by checking the network server vendor
(8 wires) is used. The patch cable is terminated web site. If the current system BIOS is not the
with an RJ-45 connector. latest available, download and install the latest
system BIOS.
á A special patch cable that attaches the transmit
pair to the receive pair on the other end of the á Other network server hardware components,
cable is called a cross-over cable, and it is used such as the SCSI controller and the RAID
to attach two hubs together or to attach two controller, also have a BIOS. These can also be
computers together. upgraded, but only do so when absolutely neces-
sary to fix a problem.
á When installing a network server and its compo-
nents into a server rack, the heavier components á Before upgrading the BIOS on a SCSI or RAID
(usually the UPS) should be installed near the controller, always back up the data on the net-
bottom of the rack. work server’s disk drives.
á External devices attached to the network server á A hardware RAID system must be configured
should be powered up before the network server using software provided by the RAID system
is powered up. manufacturer before the network operating
system can be installed.
á During power-up of the network server, the num-
ber of processors installed in the network server, á The RAID system configuration software allows
the amount of memory in the network server, and the server hardware specialist to select which of
any devices attached to a SCSI controller should the disk drives that are connected to the RAID
be displayed on the network server monitor. controller are to be combined into a RAID con-
figuration and which RAID configuration that
á Always document the network server installation
they will be combined into.
in the server logbook.
á The disk overhead for implementing RAID 1
is 50%. For example, two 18GB disk drives
configured as RAID 1 will provide 18GB of
2.0—CONFIGURATION storage capacity.
á The disk overhead for implemented RAID 5 is
This job dimension covers the configuration of network
((1/n) * 100)%. For example, five 18GB disk
server hardware and software, and it is the topic of
drives configured as RAID 5 will have a disk
approximately 18% of the exam questions. The main
overhead of ((1/5) * 100)% or 20%. The total
points follow:
storage capacity will be 72GB.
á Table 12 summarizes RAID Characteristics.
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512 FAST FACTS
SUMMARY TABLE 12 á In addition, if the network server is going to

S U M M A R Y O F RAID L E V E L communicate with computers other than those
CHARACTERISTICS on the local network, the IP address of the
RAID Minimum Read Write default gateway (router) must also be entered in
Level Number Performance Performance the TCP/IP configuration.
of Drives
á Configuration of Novell’s IPX/SPX protocol and
RAID 0 2 Excellent (no Very good
fault tolerance) (no fault) Microsoft NWLink (IPX/SPX-compatible proto-
tolerance col) requires that the frame type be selected.
RAID 1 2 Very good Good á The command that will display the TCP/IP config-
RAID 0/1 4 Excellent Very good uration for Microsoft Windows NT Server 4 and
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server is IPCONFIG.
RAID 5 3 Good Fair
á The command that will display the TCP/IP con-
figuration for Novell NetWare 4 and Novell
á Microsoft’s Windows NT Server 4 supports the NetWare 5 is inetcfg.
FAT and NTFS file systems. Root of the file
á The command that will display the TCP/IP con-
structure is C:\.
figuration for UNIX, Linux and OS/2 Warp
á Microsoft’s Windows 2000 Server supports the Server is ifconfig.
FAT, FAT32, and NTFS version 5 file systems.
á The command used to test TCP/IP connectivity
Root of the file structure is C:\.
is Ping.
á Novell NetWare 5 supports the FAT (for server
á The monitoring software for a UPS must be
booting), NWFS, and NSS file systems. Root of
configured by the system administrator for it
file structure is the SYS volume.
to shut down the network server as desired
á UNIX supports its own unique file systems. Root when an electrical power failure occurs.
of the file structure is / (root).
á SNMP clients must be configured with
á Linux’s primary file system is the ext2 (the second the SNMP community name and the address
extended file system). Root of the file structure is of the SNMP management computer.
/ (root).
á Antivirus software is a critical piece of software
á IBM’s OS/2 Warp Server supports the FAT, that should be installed on a network server and
HPFS, HPFS386, and JFS file systems. Root of it should be configured to update its virus signa-
the file structure is C:\. ture files frequently.
á Most network server hardware vendors have soft- á System monitoring agents are supplied by the
ware to assist in the installation of the network manufacturer of the network server hardware and
server operating system. allow monitoring of the components of the net-
á The minimum amount of configuration informa- work server independently of the network server
tion for TCP/IP is the IP address and the subnet operating system.
mask for the network server.
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FAST FACTS 513
á Server log files often need to be configured to á Always review the instructions and Frequently
specify a maximum log file size and the action to Asked Questions (FAQs) before installing a soft-
take when the log file is full. ware upgrade.
á A swap file is used by network server operating á Test the upgrade on a non-production system
systems that support virtual memory. before it is installed on a production system.
á The swap file for Microsoft Windows NT Server á Time must be scheduled to take the network server
4 and Microsoft Windows 2000 Server is out of production while the upgrade is installed.
C:\PAGEFILE.SYS .
á Always perform a full system backup before
á The swap file for IBM OS/2 Warp Server is installing the upgrade.
C:\OS2\SYSTEM\SWAPPER.DAT.
á Implement electrostatic discharge best practices
á The swap file should be located on a disk drive while performing the upgrade.
that does not contain other frequently accessed
á After installing the upgrade, verify that it is rec-
files.
ognized by the network server and the network
á The four major components of a network server operating system.
that should be monitored for performance are
á Perform a new server baseline after the upgrade
processor(s), memory, the disk subsystem, and
has been performed.
the network subsystem.
á Document the upgrade in the network server
á The network server configuration should be
logbook.
documented in the server logbook.
á One way to upgrade the processor in a network
server is to replace the existing processor with a
faster processor.
3.0—UPGRADING á Some network servers have the capability to
install multiple processors. In this case, installing
This job dimension covers the upgrading of network
additional processors is a way to upgrade the
server hardware and software and is the topic of
network server.
approximately 12% of the exam questions. The main
points follow: á Additional processors in a network server must
match the existing processors in speed, amount
á When a server hardware specialist performs an
of Level 2 cache memory, and stepping (within
upgrade to the network server, the upgrade
1 number of the other processors).
checklist should be followed.
á Upgrading to a faster processor or installing an
á The latest drivers for a network server component
additional processor may require an upgrade to
can be found at the hardware component ven-
the system BIOS.
dor’s web site.
á Some configuration changes might be required in
á The latest patches for the network server operat-
the network operating system when upgrading
ing system can be found at the operating system
from one processor to multiple processors.
vendor’s web site.
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514 FAST FACTS
á When adding a second disk drive to an ATA á An differential backup copies all the files on the
channel, one disk drive must be configured in the network server that have changed or been created
master role and the other disk drive must be con- since the last full backup to a backup device.
figured in the slave role.
á Table 13 summarizes the differences among these
á When adding a disk drive to a SCSI channel, it three backup types.
must be configured with a unique SCSI ID.
á Before adding memory to the network server, ver-
ify that the network server and network operating SUMMARY TABLE 13
system can recognize the additional memory. BACKUP TYPES
Type Includes Only Turns Archive Typical
á Additional memory must match the existing Files with Bit Off upon Running
memory in type (EDO, SDRAM, RDRAM), Archive Bit On Completion Time
form factor (SIMM, DIMM, RIMM), speed, and (1=Longest)
error correcting capability (ECC, non-ECC). Full No Yes 1
á The system BIOS might need to be upgraded Incremental Yes Yes 2
to support larger memory modules, larger disk
Differential Yes No 3
drives, or faster processors, or to correct errors
in the existing BIOS.
á PCI hot plug allows an adapter to be replaced, á Don’t mix incremental and differential backups.
upgraded, or added without powering down the á One set of backup tapes should be stored off site.
network server.
á Microsoft Windows NT Server 4 and Microsoft
Windows 2000 Server include a Backup utility.
á UNIX/Linux system use tar and cpio to perform
4.0—PROACTIVE backups.
MAINTENANCE á When changes are made to the hardware or soft-
ware on a network server, the server hardware
This job dimension covers proactive maintenance, specialist should perform a new set of baseline
which can be summed up as everything you do to a net- measurements.
work to ensure the system will continue to perform in
á The Simple Network Management Protocol
the future. This job dimension comprises approximately
(SNMP) is a standard part of the TCP/IP
9% of the exam questions. The main points follow:
protocol suite designed to allow management
á A full backup copies all the files on the network of network devices.
server to a backup system (usually a magnetic
á The SNMP agent is a small program that runs on
tape drive).
the device to be monitored.
á An incremental backup copies all the files on the
á The SNMP management station queries the
network server that have changed or been created
agents on the network devices for information
since the last backup to a backup device.
about the device.
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FAST FACTS 515
á The SNMP agent uses a Management á The temperature of the server room should be
Information Base (MIB), which defines the items below the maximum operating temperature speci-
to be monitored on the network device. fied for the network server.
á A SNMP trap is a condition, which is set on the á The humidity of the server room should be with-
SNMP agent, which is reported to the SNMP in the range specified for the network server.
management station when the condition is met.
á The server room should be protected from
á An SNMP community name is a primitive secu- electrostatic discharge (ESD). Such things as
rity system that defines which SNMP agents can antistatic carpet help reduce ESD.
communicate with which SNMP management
á An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) should
stations.
be installed to provide power to the network
á A network server should be installed in an envi- server during electrical power failures, as well
ronmentally appropriate controlled room (tem- as to provide protection to the network server
perature, humidity, dust free). from power surges.
á Verification of the hardware in a network server á The server room should be located in a part of
can be done using software that comes with the the building that is unlikely to flood.
network server operating system.
á There should be a fire suppression system in the
á Some hardware verification can also be done server room.
using the system BIOS.
á A backup generator will keep the network server
á Remote notification of problems can be done operational for long periods of electrical outage.
using SNMP or utilities that are available with
some network server operating systems.
6.0—TROUBLESHOOTING AND
5.0—ENVIRONMENT PROBLEM DETERMINATION
This job dimension requires an understanding of the This job dimension covers the troubleshooting and prob-
physical environment of the network server and is the lem determination of network server hardware and soft-
topic of approximately 5% of the exam questions. The ware. This job dimension is the topic of approximately
main points follow: 27% of the exam questions. The main points follow:
á A network server should be installed in a secure á The same six questions used by a good reporter
room. (who, what, where, when, why, and how), can be
used by a server hardware specialist to determine
á Make sure that the backup tapes, which contain the cause of a problem.
copies of all the data on the network server, are
also stored in a secure location. á A server hardware specialist should have a list of
contacts that are available to help with specific
á If the network server is mounted in a server rack, problems (for example, the building superintendent
make sure that the service rack doors are locked. for electrical power or air-conditioning problems).
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516 FAST FACTS
á A server hardware specialist should be able to use á To shut down a Novell NetWare server, issue the
his or her senses to help find problems or condi- down command from the system console.
tions that can contribute to problems.
á To shut down UNIX/Linux server use the
á The primary system diagnostic tools available in shutdown command.
Microsoft Windows NT Server are Task Manager,
á To shut down an IBM OS/2 Warp Server, select
Windows NT Diagnostics, and the Event Viewer.
the Shutdown button on the desktop.
á The primary network diagnostic tools available in
á Field replaceable unit (FRUs) are network server
Microsoft Windows NT Server are, ipconfig
components that can be easily replaced on site.
nbtstat, netstat, nslookup, ping, and tracert.
á Event logs are files that contain information on
á The primary system diagnostic tools available in
events that have occurred on the network server.
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server are Task
These are usually maintained by the network
Manager, System Information, and Event Viewer.
server operating system.
á The primary network diagnostic tools available in
á A health log records the failure of network server
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server are ipconfig,
hardware components that is usually maintained
nbtstat, netdiat, netstat, nslookup, ping, tracert,
by special software supplied by the network server
and pathping.
hardware vendor.
á The primary diagnostic tool available in Novell
á When troubleshooting a failure of a network
NetWare is Monitor.
server, be sure to check the server logbook for
á The primary network diagnostic tool available in recent changes in the hardware and software on
Novell NetWare is Config. the network server.
á The primary diagnostic tools available in á When troubleshooting a network server failure,
UNIX/Linux are iostat, vmstat, ps, and sar. be sure to check the network server hardware
vendor’s web site, the network operating
á The primary network diagnostic tools available
system vendor’s web site, and related Internet
in UNIX/Linux are ifconfig, netstat, ping, and
newgroups for information on similar failures.
traceroute.
á If it appears that the network server failure is
á Before shutting down a network server, it is good
beyond your abilities to solve in a timely manner,
practice to send a message to all the users logged
call a more experienced server hardware specialist
in to the network server stating that the network
to assist in solving the problem.
server is going to be shut down.
á Wake-On-LAN technology can be used to
á To shutdown Microsoft Windows NT Server and
power up a computer attached to a network for
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, press the Start
troubleshooting or backup purposes.
button and select Shutdown.
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FAST FACTS 517
á A remote alert is generated by SNMP when a á In the event that a network server fails to boot
preset condition (trap) occurs. up, insert a POST Diagnostics Board in an
empty adapter slot and read the error code form
á Four major components can cause a bottleneck in
the POST Diagnostics Board displays to deter-
the network server: the processor, the memory,
mine the cause of the boot-up failure.
the disk subsystem, and the network subsystem.
á Most major network operating systems provide
software that can be used to measure the utiliza-
tion and performance of the major components 7.0—DISASTER RECOVERY
in the network server.
This job dimension deals with the planning and imple-
á A processor utilization percentage that is con-
mentation of a disaster-recovery process and is the topic
stantly greater than 70% indicates that the
of 12% of the exam questions. The main points follow:
processor is the system bottleneck.
á Disaster recovery is a set of activities that are
á A processor bottleneck can be eliminated by
designed to reduce the likelihood, duration, and
replacing the existing processor with a faster
impact of a disaster.
processor, or by installing additional processors in
a multiprocessor-capable system. á To reduce the likelihood of a disaster striking a
network server, use redundant hardware in the
á A disk subsystem utilization percentage that is
network server.
constantly greater than 90% indicates that the
disk subsystem is the system bottleneck. á Redundancy for hard disk drives is accomplished
by implementing RAID (redundant array of inex-
á Lack of memory in a network server that sup-
pensive disks).
ports virtual memory will cause many pages to be
written to disk, thus increasing the utilization of á RAID 1 (mirroring or duplexing) provides
the disk subsystem. redundancy by duplicating all data on pairs
of disk drives.
á Installing additional memory into the network
server can eliminate a memory bottleneck. á RAID 5 (striped set with parity) provides redun-
dancy by calculating parity information for each
á Computer viruses can manifest themselves as
block of data written to the disks in the array.
either hardware or software problems. Always
update the virus signature file and run the virus- á RAID 0/1 provides redundancy by mirroring a
scan software as a standard part of troubleshoot- striped set without parity onto another striped set
ing a network server problem. without parity.
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518 FAST FACTS
á A hot spare disk drive on a RAID implementa- á A disaster-recovery plan consists of the server
tion allows the RAID system to “rebuild” the hardware specialist’s risk analysis and suggestions
RAID disk set after a single drive failure by using for using fault-tolerant methods to minimize
the “spare” drive for writing data as soon as the these risks. The disaster-recovery plan also
single drive failure is detected. includes a list of spare parts to be kept on hand
in the vent of a component failure.
á Other network server components that are often
configured in a redundant manner are network á A big part of disaster recovery is having copies of
server power supplies, cooling fans, network the data that is stored on the network server
interface cards, and processors. available on some sort of backup media (usually a
magnetic tape).
á An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) provides
power to the network server components in the á Various tape storage devices are available for net-
event of the electrical power failure. A UPS is work servers, including Digital Audio Tape
designed to provide electrical power for a very (DAT) (using Digital Data Storage, or DDS),
short time. If a longer period of time is required, Digital Linear Tape (DLT), Mammoth tape,
an emergency electric generator is required. Linear Tape-Open (LTO), and Advanced
Intelligent Tape (AIT).
á A server cluster is a group of network servers
working together as a single system. A loss of a á Tape backup schemes include full backup, incre-
single network server in the cluster does not stop mental backup, and differential backup.
mission-critical applications from running,
á A copy of the backup tapes should be stored off
because the other network servers in the cluster
site (in a different location from the network
remain operational. A server cluster can be con-
server). After all, if the backup tapes are stored in
sidered to be “redundant servers.”
the same room or in the same building as the
á A hot swap component, such as a disk drive or network server, a building fire puts you out of
power supply, can actually be replaced while the business.
network server is fully operational, resulting in
á The disaster-recovery plan should be written
zero downtime.
down and it should be reviewed regularly and
á A hot spare is a disk drive that is powered up but updated as needed.
that is not being used; however, it is available to
á A hot site is a commercial facility that is available
automatically take the place of a failed drive in a
to provide a fully operational system once your
hardware RAID array.
data is loaded onto their network server.
á A warm swap is a compromise between hot swap
á A cold site is an empty room that your existing
and hot spare techniques.
network servers can be relocated into if the pri-
mary site is destroyed or becomes unavailable.
16 Serv+ Ch_Tips 7/11/01 10:06 AM Page 519
These “Study and Exam Prep Tips” provide you with

some general guidelines to help prepare for the Server+
exam. The information is organized into two sections.
The first section addresses your pre-exam preparation
activities and covers general study tips. Following this
are some tips and hints for the actual test-taking situa-
tion. Before tackling those areas, however, think a little
bit about how you learn.
LEARNING AS A PROCESS
To better understand the nature of preparation for the
exams, it is important to understand learning as a
process. You probably are aware of how you best learn
new material. You may find that outlining works best
for you, or you may need to “see” things as a visual
learner. Whatever your learning style, test preparation
takes place over time. Obviously, you cannot start
studying for this exam the night before you take it; it is
very important to understand that learning is a devel-
opmental process. And as part of that process, you
need to focus on what you know and what you have
yet to learn.
Learning takes place when we match new information
to old. You have some previous experience with com-
puters, and now you are preparing for this certification
exam. Using this book, software, and supplementary
materials will not just add incrementally to what you
know; as you study, you will actually change the
organization of your knowledge as you integrate this
new information into your existing knowledge base. This
will lead you to a more comprehensive understanding of
the tasks and concepts outlined in the objectives and of
computing in general. Again, this happens as a repeti- Study and Exam
tive process rather than a singular event. Keep this
model of learning in mind as you prepare for the exam,
and you will make better decisions concerning what to
Prep Tips
study and how much more studying you need to do.
520 STUDY AND EXAM PREP TIPS
STUDY TIPS An outline provides two approaches to studying. First,

you can study the outline by focusing on the organiza-
There are many ways to approach studying, just as tion of the material. Work your way through the points
there are many different types of material to study. The and subpoints of your outline with the goal of learning
following tips, however, should work well for the type how they relate to one another. Be certain, for example,
of material covered on the certification exam. that you understand how each of the main objective
areas is similar to and different from the others. Then
do the same thing with the subobjectives; be sure you
know which subobjectives pertain to each objective
Study Strategies area and how they relate to one another.
Although individuals vary in the ways they learn, some Next, you can work through the outline, focusing on
basic principles apply to everyone. You should adopt learning the details. Memorize and understand terms
some study strategies that take advantage of these prin- and their definitions, facts, rules and strategies, advan-
ciples. One of these principles is that learning can be tages and disadvantages, and so on. In this pass
broken into various depths. Recognition (of terms, for through the outline, attempt to learn detail rather than
example) exemplifies a more surface level of learning the big picture (the organizational information that
in which you rely on a prompt of some sort to elicit you worked on in the first pass through the outline).
recall. Comprehension or understanding (of the concepts
behind the terms, for example) represents a deeper level Research has shown that attempting to assimilate both
of learning. The ability to analyze a concept and apply types of information at the same time seems to inter-
your understanding of it in a new way represents an fere with the overall learning process. To better per-
even deeper level of learning. form on the exam, separate your studying into these
two approaches.
Your learning strategy should enable you to know the
material at a level or two deeper than mere recognition.
This will help you do well on the exam. You will know Active Study Strategies
the material so thoroughly that you can easily handle Develop and exercise an active study strategy. Write
the recognition-level types of questions used in multiple- down and define objectives, subobjectives, terms, facts,
choice testing. You also will be able to apply your and definitions. In human information-processing
knowledge to solve new problems. terms, writing forces you to engage in more active
encoding of the information. Just reading over it exem-
plifies more passive processing.
Macro and Micro Study Strategies
One strategy that can lead to this deeper learning Next, determine whether you can apply the informa-
includes preparing an outline that covers all the objec- tion you have learned by attempting to create examples
tives and subobjectives for the exam. You should delve and scenarios on your own. Think about how or where
a bit further into the material and include a level or you could apply the concepts you are learning. Again,
two of detail beyond the stated objectives and subob- write down this information to process the facts and
jectives for the exam. Then expand the outline by com- concepts in a more active fashion.
ing up with a statement of definition or a summary for
each point in the outline.
STUDY AND EXAM PREP TIPS 521
Common Sense Strategies You should set a goal for your pre-testing. A reasonable
Finally, you also should follow commonsense practices goal would be to score consistently in the 90% range.
when studying. Study when you are alert, reduce or See Appendix D, “Using the ExamGear, Training
eliminate distractions, take breaks when you become Guide Edition Software,” for a more detailed explana-
fatigued, and so on. tion of the test engine.
Pre-Testing Yourself EXAM PREP TIPS

Pre-testing enables you to assess how well you are
learning. One of the most important aspects of learn- The Server+ certification exam will start out as a stan-
ing is what has been called meta-learning. Meta-learn- dardized, computerized, fixed-form exam that reflects
ing has to do with realizing when you know something the knowledge domains established by CompTIA. After
well or when you need to study some more. In other being in use for some period of time, the questions in
words, you recognize how well or how poorly you have the test banks become stable and CompTIA converts
learned the material you are studying. their tests to an adaptive delivery mode.
For most people, this can be difficult to assess objec- An original fixed-form, computerized exam is based on
tively on their own. Practice tests are useful in that they a fixed set of exam questions. The individual questions
reveal more objectively what you have learned and are presented in random order during a test session. If
what you have not learned. You should use this infor- you take the same exam more than once, you will see
mation to guide review and further study. the same number of questions, but you won’t necessari-
Developmental learning takes place as you cycle ly see the exact same questions. This is because two or
through studying, assessing how well you have learned, three final forms are typically assembled for such
reviewing, and assessing again until you think you are exams. These are usually labeled Forms A, B, and C.
ready to take the exam. As suggested previously, the final forms of a fixed-form
You may have noticed the practice exam included in this exam are identical in terms of content coverage, num-
book. Use it as part of the learning process. The ber of questions, and allotted time, but the questions
ExamGear software on the CD-ROM also provides a differ. You may notice, however, that some of the same
variety of ways to test yourself before you take the actual questions appear on, or rather are shared among,
exam. By using the practice exam, you can take an entire different final forms. When questions are shared among
timed, practice test quite similar in nature to that of the multiple final forms of an exam, the percentage of sharing
actual Server+ exam. The ExamGear Adaptive Exam is generally small. Many final forms share no questions,
option can be used to take the same test in an adaptive but some older exams may have a 10% to 15%
testing environment. This mode monitors your progress duplication of exam questions on the final exam forms.
as you are taking the test to offer you more difficult Fixed-form exams also have a fixed time limit in which
questions as you succeed. By using the Study Mode you must complete the exam. The ExamGear test
option, you can set your own time limit, focus only on a engine on the CD-ROM that accompanies this book
particular domain (for instance, Configuration) and also provides fixed-form exams.
receive instant feedback on your answers.
522 STUDY AND EXAM PREP TIPS
Finally, the score you achieve on a fixed-form exam is Putting It All Together
based on the number of questions you answer correctly.
The exam’s passing score is the same for all final forms Given all these different pieces of information, the task
of a given fixed-form exam. now is to assemble a set of tips that will help you suc-
cessfully tackle the Server+ certification exam.
Table 1 shows the format for the exam.
More Pre-Exam Prep Tips

TABLE 1 Generic exam-preparation advice is always useful. Tips
TIME, NUMBER OF QUESTIONS, AND PA S S I N G include the following:
SCORE FOR EXAM á Become familiar with servers and the operating
Exam Time Limit Number of Passing % systems. Hands-on experience is one of the keys
in Minutes Questions to success. Review the exercises and the Step by
Server+ Exam 90 80 75 Steps in the book.
á Review the current exam-preparation guide on
the CompTIA Web site.
Remember that you do not want to dwell on any one
question for too long. Your 90 minutes of exam time á Memorize foundational technical detail, but
can be consumed very quickly. remember that you need to be able to think your
way through questions as well.
When CompTIA converts the exams to an adaptive-
delivery format (as discussed previously), the number á Take any of the available practice tests. We rec-
of questions you will be asked will decrease. The adap- ommend the ones included in this book and the
tive test engine measures your performance as you ones you can create using the ExamGear software
move through the test and adjusts the difficulty level of on the CD-ROM.
the questions you receive. If you answer introductory
á Look on the CompTIA Web site for samples and
questions correctly, you will be shifted to more difficult
demonstration items.
questions until you have achieved enough points to
pass the test. Therefore, you should see only between
25 and 30 questions under the adaptive exam, versus
the 80 questions in the fixed-length forms. The adap-
During the Exam Session
tive engine also will end the exam when it detects that The following generic exam-taking advice that you
you have mathematically been eliminated from passing have heard for years applies when taking this exam:
the test or have reached a point where you have passed. á Take a deep breath and try to relax when you
The main point to remember when preparing for the first sit down for your exam session. It is very
exam is that the fixed-length and adaptive tests all use important to control the pressure you may (natu-
the same question pools. Study for an adaptive format rally) feel when taking exams.
just as you would for a regular exam. The ExamGear
test engine on the CD also provides adaptive exams. á You will be provided scratch paper. Take a
moment to write down any factual information
and technical detail that you committed to short-
term memory.
STUDY AND EXAM PREP TIPS 523
á Carefully read all information and instruction confidently, noting the relative difficulty of each
screens. These displays have been put together to question, on the scratch paper provided. After
give you information relevant to the exam you you have made it to the end of the exam, return
are taking. to the more difficult questions.
á Read the exam questions carefully. Reread each á If session time remains after you have completed
question to identify all relevant details. all questions (and if you aren’t too fatigued!),
review your answers. Pay particular attention to
á Tackle the questions in the order they are pre-
questions that seem to have a lot of detail or that
sented. Skipping around will not build your con-
involved graphics.
fidence; the clock is always counting down.
á As for changing your answers, the general rule of
á Do not rush, but also do not linger on difficult
thumb here is don’t! If you read the question care-
questions. The questions vary in degree of diffi-
fully and completely and you thought like you
culty. Don’t let yourself be flustered by a particu-
knew the right answer, you probably did. Do not
larly difficult or verbose question.
second-guess yourself. If as you check your
á Note the time allotted and the number of ques- answers, one clearly stands out as incorrectly
tions appearing on the exam you are taking. marked, of course you should change it. If you
Make a rough calculation of how many minutes are at all unsure, however, go with your first
you can spend on each question and use this to impression.
pace yourself through the exam.
If you have done your studying and follow the preced-
á Take advantage of the fact that you can return to ing suggestions, you should do well. Good luck!
and review skipped or previously answered ques-
tions. Record the questions you cannot answer
17 Serv+ Ch_PE 7/11/01 10:09 AM Page 525
This exam is meant to simulate the Server+ exam. It is

representative of the content and types of questions
you should expect to see on the actual exam. The
answers and the explanations for them follow these
questions. It is strongly suggested that when you take
this exam, you treat it just as you would the actual
exam. There are 80 questions, just as on the actual
exam. Set yourself a 90-minute time limit. This is the
amount of time you are given to take the actual exam.
Run through the exam, and if you score less than 75%,
try rereading the chapters on the job dimensions and
objectives related to the questions that gave you trou-
ble. When confident that you know the material, fol-
low up with an exam from the ExamGear test engine
on the CD that accompanies this book.
Practice Exam
17 Serv+ Ch_PE 7/10/01 10:04 AM Page 526
526 PRACTICE EXAM
EXAM QUESTIONS A. iv only

B. i, ii, and iv
1. Which of the following items should an installa-
C. i, ii, and iii
tion plan include?
D. ii only
i.The exact location where the server is to be
installed 4. Which of the following events should occur first
during the power-on sequence?
ii.A complete list of the software for the server
A. Power on the server.
iii. The location of the power outlet for the
server B. View messages that count the amount of
RAM in the server.
iv. The location of the network connection
for the server C. View messages from the SCSI controllers.
A. iv only D. Turn on external devices.
B. i, ii, and iii 5. On a network server, when does the version
number of the system BIOS usually display?
C. i, ii, iii, and iv
A. When the network server goes through
D. i, iii, and iv
power up
2. How are hardware components of the server
B. When the user logs on
most commonly decided on in the installation
plan? C. When the scheduled display is activated by
the administrator
A. According to cost
D. On a network server, the system BIOS never
B. According to the server’s role in the network
displays.
C. According to the expertise of the network
6. Which type of BIOS can be updated via
engineer
software?
D. According to space available
A. ROM BIOS
3. When installing a rack-mounted server, which of
B. Flashable BIOS
the following steps must be followed?
C. RAM BIOS
i.You must follow the rack-installation
instructions provided by the server vendor. D. No BIOS can be updated via software.
ii.You must have all rack-mount components. 7. Disk mirroring and disk duplexing are related to
which RAID level?
iii. You must place the equipment in the rack
according to size. A. RAID 1
iv. You must install special supports on each B. RAID 0
rack-mount component.
17 Serv+ Ch_PE 7/10/01 10:04 AM Page 527
PRACTICE EXAM 527
C. RAID 3 12. How might an external disk subsystem be con-

nected to the network server?
D. RAID 5
A. SCSI cable
8. At a minimum, how many disk drives are
required to implement a RAID 5 array? B. TCP/IP connection
A. 0 C. X-25 connection
B. 1 D. SNA connection
C. 2 13. Which of the following network operating system
updates is/are not issued by IBM, Microsoft, or
D. 3
Novell?
9. Which command enables you to test network
A. Service packs
connectivity when using the TCP/IP protocol?
B. Fixpacs
A. GoTo
C. Patches
B. Ping
D. RTMs
C. Echo
14. What do operating system updates usually fix?
D. Run
i.Installation routines
10. Which of the following commands enable you
to view or change the network configuration for ii.Security holes
various network operating systems?
iii. Bugs
A. ipconfig
iv. Backward compatibility problems
B. inetcfg
A. iv only
C. ifconfig
B. i, ii, and iv
D. All of the above
C. i, ii, and iii
11. On the high end, how many disk drives might an
D. ii and iii
external disk subsystem chassis contain?
15. When updating manufacturer-specific drivers,
A. 1
what do you always check?
B. 10
A. The file size of the new driver
C. 100
B. Virus infections on the drive
D. An external disk subsystem chassis will not
C. Version number of drives for devices in your
contain any disk drives.
network server
D. The number of devices installed on your
network server
17 Serv+ Ch_PE 7/10/01 10:04 AM Page 528
528 PRACTICE EXAM
16. Which of the following do not require drivers? 20. What can be used to ascertain the performance of
various network server components under normal
A. SCSI controllers
operating conditions?
B. RAID controllers
A. A performance-monitoring tool
C. Sound cards
B. An antivirus program
D. Email accounts
C. A workload indexer
17. Where should you install an SNMP agent?
D. Both A and C
i.On the network routers
21. What is the purpose of an SNMP?
ii.On a peripheral network
A. To manage user privileges
iii. On your network operating system
B. To manage diagnostic software
iv. On a standalone machine
C. To manage network devices
A. iv only
D. To manage network capacity
B. i, ii, and iv
22. Which of the following is not a server-monitor-
C. i and iii ing agent?
D. ii only A. Compaq Insight Manager
18. After you have installed an SNMP agent, you B. Dell OpenManage IT Assistant
must configure it with which name?
C. HP Toptools
A. An SNMP community name
D. Java Servlet Engine
B. An SNMP username
23. During the verification of a backup, to what do
C. An SNMP network name you compare your backed-up media?
D. A URL address A. The files you attempted to back up
19. Which term refers to a measurement of how the B. The CD-ROM content
server is currently operating and which can be
C. The access control list
compared against at a later time?
D. The tape vendor’s web site
A. Server baseline
24. When should you perform a full backup of the
B. Server standards
entire contents of a network server?
C. Server diagnostics
A. Before running the POST tests
D. Server partitions
B. Before attempting any upgrade operation
17 Serv+ Ch_PE 7/10/01 10:04 AM Page 529
PRACTICE EXAM 529
C. Before logging off the system 28. What are disk drive speeds characterized by?
D. Daily A. Rotational speed
25. To add another processor to a multiprocessor- B. Speed at which they access the RAM cache
capable network server, the new processor must
C. Different factors by different manufacturers
meet which of the following criteria?
D. Bidirectional speed
i.Be the same model processor
29. Why should you avoid installing a memory mod-
ii.Have the same clock speed
ule with tin leads into a memory slot with gold
iii. Must match the stepping within 1 version connectors?
iv. Must have the same Level 2 (L2) cache size A. The combination can increase electrostatic
discharge.
A. i and ii
B. The combination is cost prohibitive for all
B. i and iii
but the largest of organizations.
C. ii and iv
C. The combination can slow down application
D. i, ii, iii, iv interoperability.
26. If your original installation of Microsoft D. The combination can cause corrosion.
Windows 2000 Server was on a network server
30. What is the most reliable way to check the cur-
with a single processor, what must you update on
rent memory configuration on a network server?
the network server if you now want to use multi-
(Choose the best answer.)
ple processors?
A. Call the vendor’s help desk.
A. The per-seat license
B. Open the server’s chassis and check.
B. The Add New Hardware icon
C. Check the memory vendor’s web site.
C. The hardware abstraction layer
D. Open multiple, memory-intensive programs.
D. The Multitasking dialog box
31. How can you determine the version of the BIOS
27. When adding additional disk drives, what is the
currently in a network server?
best way to ensure interoperability between the
old and new drives? A. The BIOS brand and version number usually
appear on a sticker affixed to the back of the
A. Check the new drive’s dynamic link library.
network chassis.
B. Acquire disk drives from the same
B. The BIOS brand and version number usually
manufacturer.
display when you attempt to open a corrupt-
C. Read the Help files. ed file.
D. Check the IEEE 802 standard. C. The BIOS brand and version number usually
do not display on a server. To obtain this
information, call the vendor’s help desk.
17 Serv+ Ch_PE 7/10/01 10:04 AM Page 530
530 PRACTICE EXAM
D. The BIOS brand and version number usually B. A Directory Memory Access channel for
display on the system monitor when the net- the adapter
work server is powered up.
C. A USRT
32. During a flash BIOS upgrade, when is the old
D. A VLSI
BIOS erased?
36. To what are external devices considered external
A. It is not erased; it resides in the EEPROM.
of?
B. After the new BIOS code is written to the
A. The printer
EEPROM.
B. The monitor
C. Before the new BIOS code is written to the
EEPROM. C. The server chassis
D. While the new BIOS code is being written D. The modem
to the EEPROM. 37. How do system-monitoring agents report infor-
33. With regard to PCI hot plug, what is hot mation to a management console?
expansion? A. A NIC
A. Removing a failed PCI adapter and inserting B. The IRQ channel
an identical adapter into the same slot while
the network server is operational C. Standard protocols such as HTTP, SNMP,
and DMI
B. Replacing an existing adapter with an upgrad-
ed adapter while the network server is running D. The error log
C. Installing a new adapter into a previously 38. What can system-monitoring agents sometimes
empty slot while the network server is running predict?
D. Closing the slot release lever to secure an A. Impending upgrades to system software
adapter in the PCI slot B. Impending failure of network server
34. What does a RAID controller use onboard components
memory for? C. Impending extensions required by hardware
A. A networking interface updates
B. A buffer D. Impending browser wars
C. A firmware extension 39. Which of the following is/are general categories
of service tools?
D. A RIMM update
A. Diagnostic tools
35. If a peripheral’s adapters are not Plug and Play,
you might have to configure what? B. Diagnostic partition
A. A flow control port C. Server support utilities
D. All of the above
17 Serv+ Ch_PE 7/10/01 10:04 AM Page 531
PRACTICE EXAM 531
40. What sort of service tools enable you to view and A. Incremental
change the configuration of the hardware compo-
B. Optional
nents in the network server without the network
server operating system being loaded? C. Full
A. Diagnostic partition utilities D. Differential
B. Server support utilities 45. Which utility do you use to monitor system
performance in Windows 2000?
C. EISA configuration utilities
A. Performance Tool
D. Diagnostic tools
B. IIS CPU Throttling
41. If a UPS replacement requires that the original
UPS be turned off before replacement, what else C. Event Viewer
must you do? D. Resource Meter
A. Turn the modem off. 46. A baseline enables you to do which of the
B. Shut down the network server. following?
C. Reboot the network server. A. View shared objects on the network
D. Call the vendor’s help desk. B. Troubleshoot memory and processor problems
42. What questions should you answer before C. Set counters in Performance Tool
installing a new UPS? D. Compare system performance and note
A. Is the old power source adequate? deviations when changes are made
B. Is it the correct amperage? 47. At what port does the SNMP service run
by default?
C. Does the new UPS use the same type of
power plug that the old UPS is using? A. 80
D. All of the above B. 110
43. Which of the following most closely defines a C. 161
“regular” backup schedule? D. 21
A. Every week 48. Which of the following describes the get-next
B. Every day command in SNMP?
C. Depends on the value of your data and type A. Requests a specific value
of your business B. Changes the value on an object that has the
D. Every month properties of read-write
44. Which of the following is not a normal C. Requests the next object’s value
backup category? D. Run in Verbose mode
17 Serv+ Ch_PE 7/10/01 10:04 AM Page 532
532 PRACTICE EXAM
49. What is a plenum? 54. In Windows 2000, one task of the Messenger
service is to what?
A. The outside covering of coaxial cable
A. Send alerts
B. The area around the server
B. Store hardware information
C. The space above a drop ceiling
C. Keep backup information current
D. EMI
D. Recover data
50. What kind of coaxial cable is prohibited from
existing in the plenum because of fire codes? 55. In a large environment with many people
requiring server access, which is the least
A. All
effective way to secure a server in a server
B. PVC room or computer data center?
C. Plenum-grade A. Combination locks
D. EMI-protected B. Proximity readers
51. What tool in Windows 2000 Server enables you C. Lock and key
verify COM ports?
D. Card readers
A. System Properties
56. Which of the following are built-in server
B. Device Manager locking mechanisms?
C. SNMP A. Locking cases and drives
D. Performance Tool B. Locking network cards
52. What utility in Linux provides system C. Locking motherboards
information?
D. Locking power sources
A. cpio
57. Which of the following can be used to alleviate
B. tar power-line issues?
C. proc i.UPS
D. tar cvf ii.Surge suppressor
53. What is the single best way to be notified of a iii. Antistatic devices
remote situation on a network?
iv. Clamping voltage
A. NTHQ
A. i and ii
B. SNMP
B. i, iii, and iv
C. FTP
C. ii only
D. PVC
D. ii, iii, and iv
17 Serv+ Ch_PE 7/10/01 10:04 AM Page 533
PRACTICE EXAM 533
58. Which of the following environmental factors 61. What command can be used on a Novell server
should also be considered when designing and to see the IP stack configuration?
deploying a safe server environment?
A. ifconfig
i.Fire suppression
B. config
ii.Sound suppression
C. ipconfig
iii. ESD
D. winconfig
iv. Air quality
62. You need to reboot your Linux server and want
A. i and ii to do so as expeditiously as possible. What run
level can be used to reboot the system?
B. i, iii, and iv
A. 0
C. ii only
B. 1
D. ii, iii, and iv
C. 3
59. Your network consists of three 10BASE-2 subnets
with 25 nodes on each. Users on one subnet sud- D. 6
denly report that they are having difficulty com-
63. Users are complaining that they are having diffi-
municating with the network, and there are a
culty running applications from the terminal
high number of collisions. What would be the
server. Which item is most likely the bottleneck?
most likely cause of this?
A. Processor
A. Too many users on the node
B. RAM
B. Bad hub
C. Network I/O
C. Faulty terminator
D. Disk I/O
D. Malfunctioning transceiver
64. Users are receiving error messages that they are
60. Which of the following could be symptoms of an
unable to print after the accounting department
unhooked 10BASE-2 cable on a user’s machine?
submits large print jobs to the server. What would
i.Entire segment unable to communicate. be the most important element you could add to
the server to help alleviate this problem?
ii.User has an IP address of 169.254.2.33.
A. Faster network card
iii. User cannot print to network printer.
B. Faster processor
iv. Computer keeps rebooting.
C. Larger hard drive
A. iv only
D. More RAM
B. i, ii, and iv
65. You are the administrator for a small peer-to-peer
C. i, ii, and iii
network of Windows clients. You add a new
D. ii only computer to the network, but it cannot see other
resources. What would be the most likely cause?
17 Serv+ Ch_PE 7/10/01 10:04 AM Page 534
534 PRACTICE EXAM
A. Wrong workgroup name A. The data is striped across the disks.

B. Wrong frame type B. The data is broken down into blocks and
each block is written to a separate disk drive.
C. Bad network card
C. Each drive is completely mirrored to
D. Wrong authentication protocol
another drive.
66. Which is the least likely to cause a TCP/IP client
D. There are two RAID 0 arrays that
to no longer be able to see an application server
are mirrored.
on a remote network?
70. RAID 5 requires a minimum of _____ drives
A. DHCP server is down.
to implement.
B. Application server is down.
A. N
C. Your default gateway is down.
B. 4
D. The number of licenses for the application
C. 2
has been exceeded.
D. 3
67. A user complains that he cannot print from one
application after upgrading another application. 71. A commercial facility that is available for system
What is the most likely cause of this problem? backups is known as what?
A. A virus was packaged with the new application. A. A cold site
B. DLLs used by the first application were B. A hot site
overwritten.
C. A crisis-recovery center
C. An unrelated hardware error has occurred.
D. An emergency repair site
D. The printer has been taken offline.
72. If you have a failed memory component in a net-
68. John has been using ABC software to retrieve work server and are replacing it, which parame-
email messages from his POP server. Suddenly he ters should you check to ensure system compati-
is being prompted for his email password every bility with the new memory?
15 seconds and can no longer print. What is the
i.Type of memory
most likely cause?
ii.Speed of memory
A. A processor failure
iii. Form factor
B. A virus
iv. Ethernet compatibility
C. ABC has dated and must be upgraded
A. i and ii
D. The POP server is down.
B. i, ii, and iii
69. Which of the following is true about a RAID
1 array? C. ii only
D. ii, iii, and iv
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PRACTICE EXAM 535
73. Which of the following most likely contains the A. i and ii

latest hardware compatibility list for network
B. i, iii, and iv
operating systems?
C. ii only
A. Vendor web sites
D. ii, iii, and iv
B. Operating system manuals
77. When must the RAID controller be configured?
C. Hardware documentation
A. Before the network operating system can
D. Software CD-ROMs
be installed
74. Which tool should be used to check that the
B. After the network operating system
voltage for the power source is correct?
is installed
i.UPS battery
C. Before placing the system in a server rack
ii.KVM switch
D. After adding a DVD-ROM drive
iii. Digital multimeter
78. Which of the following are of critical importance
iv. Volt/ohm meter when backing up a system to a tape drive?
A. i and ii i.Compatibility with a CD-RW
B. i, iii, and iv ii.Capacity of the tape drive
C. iii and iv iii. Capability to back up the system within
5 hours
D. ii, iii, and iv
iv. Data-transfer rate
75. What is the time range for an adequate-size UPS
to keep the network server running long enough A. i and ii
for it to perform a normal shutdown?
B. i, iii, and iv
A. 3 to 5 minutes
C. ii and iv
B. 5 to 10 minutes
D. ii, iii, and iv
C. 10 to 15 minutes
79. Which of the following is most likely the reason
D. 20 to 30 minutes for the server not recognizing all the additional
memory installed?
76. Which of the following are benefits of using a
server rack? A. Memory has been installed in groups of 2 or
4 memory modules.
i.Saves space
B. Memory that has been installed exceeds the
ii.Handles all types of hardware
standard amount.
iii. Provides a secure environment
C. Memory has not been installed correctly.
iv. Aids in cooling
D. Memory has been installed by the vendor.
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536 PRACTICE EXAM
80. Which of the following steps should the server 3. B. When installing a rack-mounted server, you
hardware specialist perform first before beginning must follow the server vendor’s installation
the installation? instructions, have all rack-mount components,
and install special supports for each component
A. Verify that the server rack is assembled.
(install rails on all rack mount components).
B. Verify that the location of the server is close Answer A is incorrect as it is just one step that
to the server hardware specialist. must be followed. Answer C is incorrect as placing
C. Verify that there is another computer system the equipment in the rack according to size is
available for testing. inaccurate. Answer D is incorrect as it is just one
step that must be followed. See Chapter 2, section
D. Verify that everything specified in the installa- “Installing Hardware.”
tion plan is ready and available.
4. D. All externally powered devices should be
turned on first. Answer A is incorrect as it is the
second event that should occur. Answers B and C
ANSWERS AND EXPLANATIONS are incorrect as they occur later in the sequence.
See Chapter 2, section “Installing Hardware.”
Each of the answers below includes several things. You
are presented with the correct answer, then an explana- 5. A. When the network server goes through power
tion of why the correct answer is correct. This is followed up, the version number of the system BIOS
by an explanation of why the incorrect answers are usually displays. Answer B is incorrect because
incorrect. Finally, you are also given a cross-reference to the BIOS does not display upon logon. Answer
the chapter number and section where the information C is incorrect because the administrator cannot
pertaining to the question is covered. schedule the BIOS display. Answer D is incorrect
because the BIOS does usually display upon
1. D. The location of the server, the power outlet power up. See Chapter 3, section “Network
for the server, and the network connection for the Server Configuration.”
server should be included in an installation plan.
Answer ii is incorrect as a complete list of the 6. B. Most network servers have a BIOS that is
hardware should also be included in the plan. See flashable, meaning that it can be easily erased and
Chapter 2, section “Planning for Installation.” updated via software. Answer A is incorrect
because all BIOS is encoded in ROM, but not all
2. B. Hardware components of the server are dictat- BIOS can be updated via software. Answer C is
ed by the server’s role in the network. Answers A, incorrect because the BIOS is encoded in ROM,
C, and D are incorrect because even though cost, not RAM. Answer D is a false statement. See
expertise, and space may indeed be taken into Chapter 3, section “Network Server
consideration, it is the server’s role in the network Configuration.”
that commonly dictates the components used. See
Chapter 2, section “Planning for Installation.” 7. A. RAID 1 has two different implementations,
disk mirroring and disk duplexing. Answers B, C,
and D are incorrect because those RAID levels
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PRACTICE EXAM 537
utilize disk striping or other implementations 12. A. Connecting the external disk subsystem to the
other than mirroring and duplexing. See Chapter network server might be accomplished by using a
3, section “Configure Hardware-based RAID.” standard external SCSI cable or a Fibre Channel
might be utilized. Answers B, C, and D are incor-
8. D. RAID 5 requires a minimum of three disk
rect because these are network protocols, not
drives to implement. Answers A, B, and C are
ways to connect the disk subsystem to the net-
incorrect because RAID 5 protects against a
work. See Chapter 3, section “Configuring
single disk drive’s failure causing the network serv-
External Peripherals.”
er to fail by enabling you to re-create the informa-
tion on the failed drive on-the-fly using the infor- 13. D. RTM is a generic term used by many software
mation on the remaining disks. Therefore, at least vendors as an acronym for “Release To
two other drives (besides the failed one) are Manufacturing”; always in relation to new prod-
required (for a total of 3). See Chapter 3, section ucts and not upgrades. Periodically network oper-
“Configure Hardware-based RAID.” ating system vendors issue updates to their net-
work operating systems. These updates have vari-
9. B. To test network connectivity when using the
ous names. (Microsoft calls them service packs;
TCP/IP protocol, all network operating systems
IBM calls them fixpacs; and Novell calls them
use the Ping command. Answers A, C, and D
patches.) See Chapter 3, section “Installing
are incorrect because they do not enable you to
Network Operation System Updates.”
check network connectivity to the Internet. See
Chapter 3, section “Installing the Network 14. D. Operating system updates usually fix bugs or
Operation System.” close security holes that have been found in the
released version of the operating system. Answer i
10. D. The ipconfig command is used to view
is incorrect because installation updates are not
or change network configuration in Windows
usually incorporated into operating system
NT/2000 systems. The inetcfg command is used
updates. Answer iv is incorrect as this is some-
to view or change network configuration in
thing that is addressed in major software revi-
Novell NetWare 4.x/5.x systems. The ifconfig
sions, not simple updates. See Chapter 3, section
command is used to view or change network con-
“Installing Network Operation System Updates.”
figuration in UNIX/Linux systems. Answers A, B,
and C are incorrect because they are incorporated 15. C. When updating manufacturer-specific drivers,
into choice D. See Chapter 3, section “Installing always check the version number of drives for
the Network Operation System.” devices in the network server. Answers A, B, and
D are incorrect answers because you first need to
11. C. On the high end an external disk subsystem
check whether you have the latest driver (which
chassis might have 100 or more disk drives in it.
you do by comparing the version numbers on
Answers A and B are incorrect because the high-
your devices against those for the latest drivers).
end system might have 100 or more drives.
See Chapter 3, section “Configuring Manufacturer-
Answer D is a false statement. See Chapter 3,
Specific Drivers.”
section “Configuring External Peripherals.”
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538 PRACTICE EXAM
16. D. Email accounts do not require drivers because installed on them. SNMP was designed to make
they are not hardware devices attached to your it possible to manage network devices, such as
system; they are software applications. Answers A, routers. However, the use of SNMP has been
B, and C are incorrect because these are all hard- expanded to allow it to be able to manage practi-
ware devices that may be attached to your net- cally any device, including a computer, attached
work server and therefore require drivers to func- to a network. Answers A, B, and D are incorrect
tion with your server. See Chapter 3, section because SNMP is not used to manage these func-
“Configuring Manufacturer-Specific Drivers.” tions. See Chapter 3, section “Documenting the
Network Server Configuration.”
17. C. You should install the SNMP agent on your
network operating system. You can also install it 22. D. Java Servlet Engine is not a server-monitoring
on the router as well to aid with management. agent. Answers A, B, and C are incorrect because
Answers ii and iv are incorrect because you need they are all examples of server-monitoring agents.
the SNMP functionality available to your server, See Chapter 3, section “Documenting the
and it would not necessarily be so if installed on Network Server Configuration.”
the other choices. See Chapter 3, section “Install
23. A. Verification is a process that checks the content
Service Tools.”
of your backed-up media to the corresponding
18. A. Once the SNMP agent is installed, it must be files you attempted to back up. Answer B is not
configured with a SNMP community name. the best answer because the files you attempted to
Answers B, C, and D are incorrect because you back up might or might not be on a CD. Answer
do not have to configure any of these things with C is incorrect because it is a specific network
an SNMP agent. See Chapter 3, section “Install database that you might or might not have
Service Tools.” attempted to back up. Answer E is incorrect
because the tape vendor would have no idea what
19. A. A server baseline is a measurement of the server
you wanted to back up. See Chapter 4, section
performance. Answers B, C, and D are incorrect
“Perform Full Backup.”
because standards are diagnostics and partitions are
not measurements of performance. See Chapter 3, 24. B. Before you attempt any upgrade operation,
section “Performing a Server Baseline.” you should always fully back up the entire net-
work server. Answer A is incorrect because POST
20. A. A performance-monitoring tool can be used
tests are internal tests that run when you start
to ascertain the performance of various network
or reset your computer. Answer C is incorrect
server components under normal operating
because you do not need to fully back up a net-
conditions. Answer B is incorrect because an
work server upon each logoff. Answer D is incor-
antivirus program protects against viruses; it does
rect because the scheduling of full network server
not monitor performance. Answers C and D are
backups (daily, weekly, annually, and so on) is an
incorrect because “workload indexer” is a made-
administrative decision tailored to the backup
up term that in no way relates to monitoring
needs of the organization. See Chapter 4, section
system performance. See Chapter 3, section
“Perform Full Backup.”
“Performing a Server Baseline.”
25. D. To add another processor to a multiprocessor-
21. C. The Simple Network Management Protocol
capable network server, the new processor must
(SNMP) allows an SNMP management console
meet all four of the listed criteria. That is, the
to manage devices that have an SNMP agent
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PRACTICE EXAM 539
processor must be the same model, have the same follow the rotational-speed standard when identi-
clock speed, have the same Level 2 cache size, fying disk drive speeds. Answer D is incorrect
and must match the stepping within 1 version. because drives rotate in one direction (unless
Answers A, B, and C are incorrect because they something is perilously wrong). See Chapter 4,
each just list two of these factors. See Chapter 4, section “Add Hard Drives.”
section “Add Processors.”
29. D. This mismatching of these metals causes cor-
26. C. If your original installation of Microsoft rosion at the contact points and results in a bad
Windows 2000 Server was on a network server connection over time. This bad connection causes
with a single processor, you must update the memory errors to occur. Answer A is incorrect
hardware abstraction layer (HAL) on the network because the mixing of these metals does not
server if you want the network server to recognize increase ESD. Answer B is incorrect because the
and use multiple processors. Answer A is incor- difference in cost is not prohibitive. Answer C is
rect because per-seat licenses relate to the number incorrect because the combination of these metals
of computers that are legally entitled to run an has nothing to do with application interoperability.
application. Answer B is incorrect because the See Chapter 4, section “Increase Memory.”
Add New Hardware icon is a Windows Control
30. B. The most reliable way to check the existing
Panel icon that enables you to add new devices,
memory configuration is to open the chassis of
to unplug/remove devices from your computer,
the network server. Answer A is incorrect because
and to troubleshoot hardware problems. Answer
there is no reason why the vendor should know
D is incorrect because there is no Multitasking
the memory specs of your network server. Answer
dialog box in Windows 2000 Server. See Chapter
C is incorrect because, as stated previously, the
4, section “Add Processors.”
vendor would have no reason to know the cur-
27. B. When adding additional disk drives, the best rent specs on your particular system. Answer D is
way to ensure interoperability with existing drives incorrect because you would not learn the memo-
is to install drives from the same manufacturer. ry configuration in this way (but you probably
Most manufacturers perform tests to make sure would learn a bit about recovery from system
that their own products operate together correctly. crashes). See Chapter 4, section “Increase
Answer A is incorrect because the DLLs do not Memory.”
reveal potential interoperability problems. Answer
31. D. The BIOS brand and version number usually
C is incorrect because the Help files will give you
display on the system monitor when the network
limited (if any) information about cross-platform
server is powered up. Answer A is incorrect
operability issues. Answer D is incorrect because
because this information is not usually written on
the IEEE 802 standard relates to local area net-
a sticker affixed to the back of the chassis. Answer
works, not to hard drive interoperability. See
B is incorrect because this information does not
Chapter 4, section “Add Hard Drives.”
display when you attempt to open a corrupted
28. A. Disk drive speeds are characterized by their file. Answer C is incorrect because the vendor’s
rotational speed. Answer B is incorrect because help desk would have no reason to know what
the RAM cache refers to the portion of RAM BIOS is on your system (unless you were able to
used as temporary workspace by various applica- identify it by version number, which is the infor-
tions (and is more related to processor speed). mation you’re actually looking for). See Chapter
Answer C is incorrect because drive manufacturers 4, section “Upgrade BIOS/Firmware.”
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540 PRACTICE EXAM
32. C. The flash upgrade process is dangerous in that 36. C. External peripherals are defined as devices
the old BIOS code in the EEPROM is first erased external to the network server chassis, such as
before the new BIOS code is written to the EEP- printers, modems, monitors, keyboards, and mice.
ROM. Answer A is incorrect because the BIOS is Answer A is incorrect because the printer is an
erased. Answer B is incorrect because the erasure external peripheral. Answer B is incorrect because
occurs before, not after. Answer D is incorrect the monitor is an external peripheral. Answer D is
because the erasure doesn’t occur simultaneously incorrect because a modem is an external periph-
with the writing of the new BIOS. See Chapter eral. See Chapter 4, section “Upgrade Peripheral
4, section “Upgrade BIOS/firmware.” Devices, Internal and External.”
33. C. The term “hot expansion” refers to installing a 37. C. The system-monitoring agents usually use stan-
new adapter into a previously empty slot while the dard protocols such as HTTP, SNMP, and DMI
network server is running. Answer A is incorrect to report information to a management console.
because it is the definition of hot replacement. Answer A is incorrect because a network interface
Answer B is incorrect because it is the definition of card is an adapter that enables you to connect a
hot upgrade. Answer D is incorrect because closing network cable to a microcomputer. Answer B is
the slot release lever is one of the last steps in the incorrect because the IRQ channel is the line
process of adding an adapter by using PCI hot through which peripherals let a microprocessor
plug. See Chapter 4, section “Upgrade Adapters.” know they are ready to function. Answer D is
incorrect because even though an error log may be
34. B. A RAID controller uses onboard memory in
the information reported to the management con-
much the same way that a SCSI adapter uses
sole, it is not the means. See Chapter 4, section
memory, as a buffer. Answer A is incorrect because
“Upgrade System Monitoring Agents.”
the memory is not a network interface. Answer C
is incorrect because memory is not used as a 38. B. In some cases, the network-monitoring agents
firmware extension. Answer D is incorrect because are able to predict the impending failure of net-
RIMM is the RAMbus in-line memory module. work server components, such as the processor,
See Chapter 4, section “Upgrade Adapters.” the memory, or the hard disk drives. Answer A is
incorrect because the network monitoring agents
35. B. If the adapters are not Plug and Play, you may
cannot predict updates to system software.
have to configure the adapters with an interrupt
Answer C is incorrect because network-monitoring
(IRQ), a Direct Memory Access (DMA) channel,
agents monitor what is currently on the system,
and input/output (I/O) address. Answer A is
not those devices that will be added in the future.
incorrect because the flow control refers to the
Answer D is incorrect because although the
method of controlling the flow of data between
agents can report information to browsers, they
computers. Answer C is incorrect because a
have no capability to monitor so-called browser
USRT is a Universal Asynchronous Receiver.
wars. See Chapter 4, section “Upgrade System
Answer D is incorrect because a VLSI refers to a
Monitoring Agents.”
very large-scale integration, which relates to IC
devices with a high number of electronic compo- 39. D. All the listed choices are general categories
nents. See Chapter 4, section “Upgrade of service tools. See Chapter 4, section “Upgrade
Peripheral Devices, Internal and External.” Service Tools.”
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PRACTICE EXAM 541
40. A. The utilities in the system/diagnostic partition 45. A. Performance Tool enables you to monitor
enable you to view and change the configuration system performance in Windows 2000. Answer
of the hardware components in the network server B is incorrect as this limits CPU time for web
without the network server operating system applications or sites in IIS. Answer C is incorrect
being loaded. Answers B, C, and D are incorrect as Event Viewer provides only an entry to the
because those utilities require that the operating log files. Answer D is incorrect as this provides
system be loaded. See Chapter 4, section system, user, and GDI resources information
“Upgrade Service Tools.” on local Windows 9x machines. See Chapter 5,
section “Working with Baselines.”
41. B. If the UPS has to be turned off, the network
server must be shut down for the UPS battery 46. D. A baseline is a snapshot in time of how a serv-
replacement procedure. Answer A is incorrect er is running and enables you to compare system
because the modem does not affect the replace- performance over time, and note any deviations
ment of a UPS. Answer C is incorrect because in performance after changes are made. Answer A
you do not need to reboot the network server is incorrect as this is done by Net Watcher or a
before making the replacement. Answer D is similar utility. Answer B is incorrect as you can
incorrect because you do not have to call the help monitor memory and processor objects, but can-
desk; you can usually get the information you not troubleshoot them with baseline data. Answer
need from the Installation Manual or online C is incorrect as this is done within Performance
from the vendor’s web site. See Chapter 4, section Tool to gather baseline data. See Chapter 5, sec-
“Upgrade Uninterruptible Power Supply.” tion “Working with Baselines.”
42. D. Among other questions, you must ask all those 47. C. The SNMP service runs at UDP port 161 by
that are listed in this question. See Chapter 4, sec- default. Answer A is incorrect as this is the port
tion “Upgrade Uninterruptible Power Supply.” used for the WWW service. Answer B is incorrect
as this is the port used by the email service
43. C. A “regular” backup schedule is determined by
POP3. Answer D is incorrect as it is the port
the value of your data and the type of business
used by FTP. See Chapter 5, section “Working
you operate. One company’s “regular” backup
with SNMP.”
schedule could be every day, whereas another
company’s “regular” backup schedule could by 48. C. You can request the next object’s value with
every month. Answers A, B, and D are incorrect get-next, such as query a client’s ARP cache and
because these intervals may not be right for your then ask for each subsequent value. Answer A is
company and the value of your data. See incorrect as this describes the get command.
Chapter 5, section “Understanding Backups.” Answer B is incorrect as this describes the set
command. Answer D is incorrect as this is the v
44. B. Optional is not a normal backup category.
option when using the tar utility in Linux. See
Answers A, B, C are incorrect because they are
Chapter 5, section “Working with SNMP.”
normal backup categories marketed in software
utilities and tools. See Chapter 5, section 49. C. A plenum is the space between the ceiling and
“Understanding Backups.” the floor of a building’s next level. Answer A is
incorrect as this is usually polyvinyl chloride.
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542 PRACTICE EXAM
Answer B is incorrect as this area does not have a Answer C is incorrect as this done by Microsoft
title. Answer D is incorrect as EMI is electromag- Backup. Answer D is incorrect as this is done by
netic interference. See Chapter 5, section “The Backup or other backup utility. See Chapter 5,
Physical Environment.” section “Establishing Remote Notification.”
50. B. PVC is prohibited as it gives off poisonous 55. C. In a large environment, using a lock-and-key
fumes when it burns. Answer A is incorrect as method to secure a server can be ineffective if
plenum-grade cable is allowed in the plenum. locks need rekeying and keys need to be reissued
Answer C is incorrect as this is the type of cable a number of times. Answer A is incorrect as a
that is allowed by fire code. Answer D is incorrect combination lock can be reset at any time.
as this is not a plenum-grade cable. See Chapter Answers B and D are incorrect as you can easily
5, section “The Physical Environment.” authorize and remove access from a central
authentication server. See Chapter 6, section
51. B. Device Manager provides detailed information
“Physical Security Issues.”
about COM ports and other device information.
Answer A is incorrect because it provides general 56. A. Most high-end servers include locking cases
system information, including the processor and and the ability to lock the drives into the server
RAM. Answer C is incorrect because SNMP chassis. Answers B, C, and D are incorrect as
reports network usage statistics. Answer D is these components do not lock. See Chapter 6,
incorrect as it is used to gather system performance. section “Physical Security Issues.”
See Chapter 5, section “Verifying Hardware.”
57. A. A UPS or surge suppressor should be used
52. C. The proc file system structure can provide you on all servers to alleviate power-line issues.
with information about your system. Answer A Answer iii is incorrect as antistatic devices are
is incorrect as this is the Linux utility for copy used to eliminate ESD. Answer iv is incorrect
in/out for backups. Answers B and D are incorrect as it is the voltage at which a surge suppressor
as these are backup commands for performing reacts to a spike or surge. See Chapter 6, sec-
backups in Linux. See Chapter 5, section tion “Environmental Issues.”
“Verifying Hardware.”
58. B. Fire suppression, ESD, and air quality should
53. B. is the Simple Network Management Protocol also be examined when establishing a safe server
and can be used on TCP/IP networks. Answer A environment. Answer ii is incorrect as sound
is incorrect as this is the Windows NT Hardware should not interfere with server safety. See
Query tool. Answer C is incorrect as this is the Chapter 6, section “Environmental Issues.”
File Transfer Protocol and cannot notify you of
59. C. A faulty terminator will not stop messages as
situations that arise. Answer D is incorrect as this
they reach the end of the run, allowing them to
is polyvinyl chloride. See Chapter 5, section
loop back and increase traffic along the wire (also
“Establishing Remote Notification.”
increasing the number of collisions). Tape media
54. A. The Messenger service can send you alerts can hold data in compressed and uncompressed
based on thresholds you’ve established on the net- format. Answer A is incorrect as a 10BASE-2 seg-
work. Answer B is incorrect as this is done by ment can hold 30 nodes. Answer B is incorrect as
Device Manager, the BIOS, and other utilities. hubs are not used with 10BASE-2. Answer D is
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PRACTICE EXAM 543
incorrect as transceivers are used with 10BASE-5, 64. C. Print jobs are spooled to the hard drive. If the
but not with 10BASE-2 networks. See Chapter 7, hard drives are small, users will be unable to add
section “Perform Problem Determination.” jobs when the space is gone. Answers A, B, and
D are incorrect as they do little with assisting
60. C. With 10BASE-2, a disconnected cable can
users with print job submission. See Chapter 7,
prevent all network traffic from traversing the
section “Identify Bottlenecks.”
wire. If the client is running a Windows-based
operating system and a DHCP server is used to 65. A. The workgroup name in this scenario would
issue IP addresses, Automatic IP Addresses be using NetBEUI broadcasts to build the list of
(AIPA) will use addresses in the 169.254.x.x available resources. Without the correct work-
range if the DHCP server cannot be reached. The group name, the resources may not be viewable.
unhooked cable can also prevent printing to, or Answer B is incorrect as frame types are used in
accessing other network resources. Answer iv is NetWare networks, but not this scenario. Answer
incorrect because the inability to communicate C is a possibility, but not the most likely cause.
on the network should not affect other operations Answer D is incorrect as the authentication pro-
at all. See Chapter 7, section “Perform tocol is not needed in the workgroup setting, and
Problem Determination.” improperly configuring would not prevent seeing
the resources. See Chapter 7, section “Identify
61. B. The config command is used on NetWare to
and Correct Misconfigurations and/or Upgrades.”
see the IP stack configuration parameters. Answer
A is incorrect as this command is used on UNIX 66. D. The number of licenses for the application
and Linux systems. Answer C is incorrect as this being exceeded will not prevent you from seeing
command is used on Windows NT and 2000 the server. Answer A will prevent you from com-
systems. Answer D is incorrect as this command municating after your lease expires. Answer B will
is used on Windows 95 and 98 systems. See prevent you from seeing the server. Answer C
Chapter 7, section “Use Diagnostic Hardware will prevent you from communicating outside
and Software Tools and Utilities.” the subnet. See Chapter 7, section “Identify and
Correct Misconfigurations and/or Upgrades.”
62. D. Six, as this will shut the system down and
reboot it. Answer A is incorrect as it will shut the 67. B. When an application is installed, it includes a
system down but not reboot it. Answer B will number of ancillary files needed to make it work.
take the server to administrative mode, but not If those files are also used by other applications, it
reboot. Answer C is the normal operating mode. is possible that newer versions can adversely affect
See Chapter 7, section “Use Diagnostic Hardware operations of the other applications. While answers
and Software Tools and Utilities.” A, C, and D are all possible, they are not the
most likely cause and would also affect issues
63. B. Running applications across a network
other than those presented. See Chapter 7, sec-
requires a great deal of memory. Answers A, C,
tion “Determine If Problem Is Hardware,
and D are incorrect as they would not be as
Software, or Virus Related.”
important in this scenario as RAM. See Chapter
7, section “Identify Bottlenecks.”
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544 PRACTICE EXAM
68. B. A virus will cause the symptoms described. 73. A. Vendor web sites contain the most up-to-date
Answer A will prevent the system from reaching hardware compatibility lists for network operat-
this point. Answer C is not a likely scenario and ing systems. Answers B, C, and D are incorrect as
would not affect printing. Answer D would the information may become obsolete in a short
not affect printing. See Chapter 7, section time because of operating system updates and
“Determine If Problem Is Hardware, Software, changes. See Chapter 2, section “Verifying
or Virus Related.” Hardware Compatibility with the Operating
System.”
69. C. In a RAID 1 array, each drive is completely
mirrored to another drive. Answer A is incorrect 74. C. A volt/ohm meter or a digital multimeter are
as this applies to RAID 5. Answer B is incorrect as used to check the voltage of the power source.
this applies to RAID 0. Answer D is incorrect as it Answer i. is incorrect as it is used as a back up
applies to RAID 0+1. See Chapter 8, section power source in a UPS. Answer ii is incorrect as
“Creating a Disaster-Recovery Plan.” it allows the keyboard, mouse, and video display
to be switched among network servers. See
70. D. A is incorrect as RAID 0 requires N drives
Chapter 2, section “Verifying the Power Source.”
to implement, where N is the number of drives.
Answer B is incorrect as RAID Level 0+1 requires 75. B. The time range for an adequate size UPS to
a minimum of 4 drives to implement. Answer C keep the network server running in order to per-
is incorrect as you will need a minimum of two form a normal shutdown is 5 to 10 minutes.
drives to implement RAID 1. See Chapter 8, Answer A is considered undersized and will only
section “Creating a Disaster-Recovery Plan.” keep the server running a very short period of
time. Answers C and D are considered oversized
71. B. A hot site is a commercial facility that is avail-
time ranges. See Chapter 2, section “Verifying the
able for system backups. Answer A is incorrect
Uninterruptible Power Supply Size.”
because a cold site is a facility that has been pre-
pared to receive computer equipment in the event 76. B. A server rack saves space, provides a secure
that the primary facility is destroyed or becomes environment for equipment, and is designed to
unusable. Answers C and D are incorrect because aid in cooling. Answers A, C, and D are incorrect
they are just made-up terms. See Chapter 8, section as all equipment must be designed to fit into a
“Implementing Your Disaster-Recovery Plan.” server rack. See Chapter 2, section “Server Rack.”
72. B. For memory, you want to verify that the type of 77. A. The RAID controller must be configured
memory is correct (for instance, error-correcting before the network operating system can be
memory, non-error correcting, parity). You also installed. Answer B is incorrect as the configura-
should check the speed of the memory (50 tion must occur prior to installing the network
nanosecond, 60 nanosecond, and so on), and operating system. Answer C is incorrect as when
finally check the form factor. Answer iv is incor- the system is placed in a server rack should not
rect because Ethernet is a cabling standard unre- matter. Answer D is incorrect as a DVD-ROM
lated to memory. See Chapter 8, section drive can be added at any time. See Chapter 2,
“Implementing Your Disaster-Recovery Plan.” section “RAID Controller(s).”
17 Serv+ Ch_PE 7/10/01 10:04 AM Page 545
PRACTICE EXAM 545
78. C. The capacity of the tape drive and the speed

that data can be transferred to the tape drive are
both of critical importance. Answer i is incorrect
as the compatibility between a tape drive and a
CD-RW should not matter. Answer iii is incor-
rect as system backup times vary depending on
the amount of data being backed up. See Chapter
2, section “Backup System.”
79. C. Memory that is not installed correctly is most
likely the reason for the server not recognizing all
the memory. Answer A is incorrect as many
servers require that memory be installed in
groups of 2 or 4 memory modules. Answer B is
incorrect as servers generally require a consider-
able amount of memory to perform adequately.
Answer D is incorrect as vendors establish the
instructions to install their products and usually
install them correctly. See Chapter 2, section
“Memory Installation.”
80. D. The first step that the server hardware specialist
should take is to verify that everything specified in
the installation plan is ready and available before
beginning the installation. Answer A is incorrect
as it is not the first step. Answer B is incorrect as
proximity of the server to the hardware specialist is
not a requirement. Answer C is incorrect as an
additional computer for testing, although nice to
have, is also not a requirement. See Chapter 2,
section “Verifying the Installation Plan.”
17 Serv+ Ch_PE 7/10/01 10:04 AM Page 546
18 Serv+ Ch_P3 7/10/01 10:04 AM Page 547
III
P A R T
APPENDIXES
A Glossary
B Overview of the Certification Process
C What’s on the CD-ROM
D Using the ExamGear, Training Guide Edition Software

18 Serv+ Ch_P3 7/10/01 10:04 AM Page 548
19 Serv+ Ch_AppA 7/10/01 10:05 AM Page 549
A P P E N D I X A
Glossary
100BASETX Ethernet standard that uses unshielded adaptive fault tolerance An adapter teaming tech-
twisted-pair (UTP) cable with a maximum cable length nique in which multiple NICs are used to act as backup
of 100 meters from the NIC to the hub. Operates at for one another in case of a NIC failure.
100 megabits per second.
Advanced Intelligent Tape A tape technology that
10BASE2 Ethernet standard that uses thin coaxial uses 8mm videotapes and an onboard memory.
cable (RG-58) with a maximum length of 185 meters.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
Operates at 10 megabits per second.
Organization that defines standards for the United
10BASE5 Ethernet standard that uses thick coaxial States, many of which deal with network communica-
cable (RG-8) with a maximum length of 500 meters. tions and computers.
American Standard Code for Information
10BASEF Ethernet standard that uses fiber-optic Interchange (ASCII) 7- or 8-bit code that defines
cable. Operates at 10 megabits per second. the representation of the alphabet, punctuation,
numerals, and other symbols used in computers.
10BASET Ethernet standard that uses unshielded
twisted-pair (UTP) cable with a maximum cable length ANSI American National Standards Institute.
of 100 meters from the NIC to the hub. Operates at
antivirus software Software that scans the network
10 megabits per second.
server for files containing viruses. It will then either
802.3 IEEE standard that defines Ethernet networks. isolate or remove the viruses.
802.5 IEEE standard that defines Token Ring APIPA (Automatic Private Internet Protocol
networks. Addressing) A method of assigning an IP address
automatically when a DHCP server is not available on
802.11 IEEE standard that defines Wireless networks.
a network. The IP address assigned will be on the
169.254.0.0 network.
archive bit A flag indicating whether a file has been
A created or modified since the last full or incremental
backup was performed.
adapter load balancing An adapter teaming tech-
nique where multiple NICs are used to share the load ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) The
to and from the network server. ANSI name for the IDE specification.
adapter teaming The technique of using multiple ATA-2 (Advanced Technology Attachment-2) The
NICs together, either for load balancing or fault ANSI name for the EIDE specification.
tolerance.
550 Appendix A GLOSSARY
B C
backup software Software that will copy files from cache A high-speed memory that stores frequently
network server disk drives to a backup device, such as used data and/or instructions that operate between the
a magnetic tape drive. processor and the system memory. Also a temporary
storage area between the disk drives and the processor.
baseline A snapshot of system performance against
which future performance can be measured. clamping speed The speed at which a surge suppres-
sor reacts to a power spike or surge.
Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) A DNS
server often used on the UNIX operating system. clamping voltage The voltage at which the surge
suppressor reacts to a spike or surge.
biometrics Authentication techniques that use
measurable physical characteristics for authentication. cluster A group of disk sectors. The smallest amount
Fingerprints are an example of a biometrics-based of space that be allocated on a disk drive.
authentication mechanism.
clustering Connecting two or more computers
BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) A program that together so that they act as a single computer.
resides in firmware that controls all low-level functions
cross-over cable An Ethernet unshielded twisted-pair
(for instance, starting up and access to devices) on
cable that has wires 1 and 2 crossed with wires 3 and 6.
either the system board or on the individual compo-
This nonstandard cable can be used to connect two
nents in the network server, such as a SCSI controller
Ethernet hubs together.
or a RAID controller.
blackout A blackout (power outage) occurs when
there is no power being delivered to the server. These
can vary from an instant to an extended period of time.
D
British Thermal Unit (BTU) A measure of the daemon The named used for a process or service on
quantity of heat, defined since 1956 as approximately the UNIX operating system.
equal to 1,055 joules, or 252 gram calories.
departmental server A network server designed to
brownout An undervoltage condition that lasts for support a relatively small number of clients on a net-
extended periods of time. work.
buffer A memory storage area between devices of dif- Desktop Management Interface (DMI) A standard
ferent speeds, such as the computer’s memory and its by the Desktop Management Task Force (DTMF) to
disk drives. allow for the monitoring of desktop computers.
buffered memory EDO memory with special diagnostic partition A special disk partition created
circuitry to support a large amount of memory in a by some network server hardware vendors that contains
network server. diagnostics for troubleshooting the network server when
the network server operating system isn’t available.
bus A parallel set of conductors that carry data from
one location to another in a computer. differential backup A backup of all files on the
system that have been created or changed since the
last full backup.
Appendix A GLOSSARY 551
differential SCSI Also known as high-voltage differ- disk mirroring A fault-tolerance technique that stores
ential (HVD). A SCSI signaling system that allows a the same data on two disk drives that are attached to the
total SCSI cable length of 25 meters. HVD is not same disk controller. One of two RAID 1 techniques.
compatible with single-ended (SE) devices.
disk striping with parity A fault-tolerance technique
Digital Audio Tape (DAT) A tape backup system that that writes data to multiple disks with parity information.
uses digital audio tape as a backup medium. Uses Digital
disk striping without parity A technique that is not
Data Storage (DDS) as the data recording system.
fault tolerant for writing data to multiple disks at the
Digital Data Storage (DDS) The recording system same time, improving disk input/output performance.
used by Digital Audio Tape.
Distributed Lock Manager (DLM) Application
Digital Linear Tape (DLT) A tape backup system used in clustering to handle resource contention in a
that records data along linear tracks on a tape. shared resource clustering model.
DIMM (Dual In-line Memory Module) A small cir- DMI (Desktop Management Interface) A standard
cuit board that can hold a group of memory chips, typi- for centrally managing and keeping track of hardware
cally used as computer memory. DIMMs have a 168-pin and software components in a group of microcomputers.
connector. DIMMs have a 64-bit memory path, making
Domain Name Service (DNS) A network service
them well suited for use with Pentium processors.
that resolves TCP/IP names to TCP/IP addresses.
Direct Memory Access (DMA) A methodology that
dual in-line memory module (DIMM) A memory
allows data to be transferred from disk drives or NICs
module with 168 pins used in network servers.
directly to system memory without the processor
being involved. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) A
protocol that provides automatic configuration of
directory services server A network server that stores
TCP/IP for client computers.
and manages the network directory information.
dynamic random access memory (DRAM)
disaster-recovery plan Process developed to ensure
Memory that must be refreshed frequently for it to
computing operations can be resumed in the event of
“remember” the data stored in it.
an outage.
disk array A group of disk drives that perform togeth-
er as a single entity.
E
disk duplexing A method for adding fault tolerance
to drive subsystems. Duplexing duplicates information EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read-
from one set of drives to another (similar to mirroring), only memory) Memory often used to contain a
so that the server always has an exact copy of the data “flash BIOS.” Erasable by applying high voltage levels.
in two different places. Duplexing, however, increases
EIDE (Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics, or
the redundancy by implementing two drive controllers,
Enhanced IDE) An enhanced version of the IDE that
so that the system can survive not only the loss of a
supports storage devices, such as CD-ROMs, tape drives,
drive, but also the loss of a controller. Disk duplexing
and hard disk drives at maximum transfer rates of up to
is one of two RAID 1 techniques.
16.6MBps. Adopted by ANSI as ATA-2 in 1994.
electrostatic discharge (ESD) ESD is the rapid FAT32 File allocation table file system that uses 32
discharge of static electricity from one conductor to bits to address clusters on a disk drive. FAT32 can
another. An electrostatic discharge (static shock) can address disk drive partitions up to 8GB using the
damage computer circuits. smallest cluster size of 4KB. Disk partitions up to 2
terabytes can be addressed using larger cluster sizes.
enterprise server A network server capable of sup-
porting hundreds of users. FAX server A network server that enables clients to
send and receive facsimiles over the network.
EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memo-
ry) Memory that can be programmed once, but it Fibre Channel A communications system that can
can be erased by exposure to ultraviolet light and be used to build storage area networks (SANs). A form
then reprogrammed. of serial SCSI.
Error Correcting Code (ECC) A technique for Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) The most
detecting and correcting a single-bit error in memory popular form of Fibre Channel that connects devices
and detecting a double-bit error. together in a loop.
Ethernet A network communications system created File Transfer Protocol (FTP) A TCP/IP protocol
by Robert Metcalfe and standardized by IEEE as 802.3. that allows files to be transferred between computers.
FireWire (IEEE 1394) A form of serial SCSI that
Event Viewer The Windows NT Server and supports Plug and Play and hot plugging for up to 63
Windows 2000 Server utility that allows viewing of devices at 400Mbps.
the System, Security, and Applications log files.
firmware Halfway between software and hardware,
Extended Binary Coded Decimal Information Code firmware is a program (software) that is “burned into”
(EBCDIC) An 8-bit code used to represent the letters a programmable read-only memory module. This
of the alphabet, numerals, and punctuation marks. firmware usually controls a particular function on an
Used primarily on IBM mainframes. adapter board in a network server. If an EEPROM is
used for the firmware, it can be reprogrammed.
flash BIOS upgrade A process of reprogramming
F a BIOS that is stored in “flash” memory (usually
an EEPROM).
Fast Ethernet An enhancement to the original
flashable BIOS A Basic Input/Output System
Ethernet that operates at 100 megabits per second.
(BIOS) that can be changed by running a program that
FAT (file allocation table) The file system intro- erases the old BIOS and writes a new BIOS.
duced with early versions of DOS. Nearly all micro-
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) A complica-
computer operating systems since DOS can read and
tion of answers to questions that are often asked of
write files written on FAT file systems.
either technical support providers or in newsgroups
FAT16 File allocation table file system that uses 16 dedicated to a particular subject.
bits to address clusters on a disk drive. Fat16 can
FRU (field replaceable unit) A component of the
address disk drive partitions up to 2GB.
network server that can be replaced at the customer’s
site (in the field).
full backup A backup where all of the files on the HTTP (Hypertext Transport Protocol) The net-
network server are written to tape. work protocol used by web browsers and web servers to
communicate with each other.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) The TCP/IP
G protocol that enables web browsers to talk to
web servers.
gigabit (Gb) One billion bits (109) or 1,073,741,824
bits (230) bits depending on context.
Gigabit Ethernet An enhancement to the Ethernet I
standard that operates at 1000Mbps (1 gigabit/second).
IBM OS/2 An IBM network server operating system.
gigabyte (GB) One billion bytes (109) or
1,073,741,824 bytes (230) bytes depending on context. IDE (Intelligent Drive Electronics) IDE is an inter-
face between the computer bus and the disk controller
that is integrated on the disk drive. The IDE specifica-
tion was adopted as the ATA standard by ANSI in
H November 1990.
hardware RAID A RAID system implemented by IEEE 1394 (FireWire) A form of serial SCSI that
using a RAID controller to manage the disk arrays. supports Plug and Play and hot plugging for up to 63
at 400Mbps.
high-voltage differential (HVD) SCSI A SCSI sig-
naling system that allows cable lengths of up to ifconfig The UNIX command that will display the
25 meters. TCP/IP configuration for a network interface card.
hostname A TCP/IP command that will display the incremental backup A backup scheme in which only
name of the network server. the files that were created or changed since the last full or
incremental backup are written to the backup medium.
hot spare A disk drive that is powered up and is part
of a RAID system that is not utilized until one of the InfiniBand Architecture (IBA) A proposed high-
disk drives in a RAID array (RAID 1 or RAID 5) fails. speed input/output system for network servers.
Upon failure of one of the disk drives, the hot spare is
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
automatically utilized to rebuild the RAID array. Also
(IEEE) An association that sets standards, many of
used to refer to any spare component or server kept
which deal with computers and networks.
powered up and available as a replacement part in
the event that a part fails. Can include entire servers Intelligent Input/Output (I2O) An improved
if applicable. input/output system for network servers that removes
the burden of input/output from the processor.
hot swap A drive technology that allows drives to be
swapped in a system without requiring the suspension Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) An email
of activity. protocol that transfers email messages between an
SNMP server and an email client.
HPFS (High Performance File System) File system
used by IBM’s OS/2 operating system.
iostat (Input/Output Statistics) A UNIX command Linux A free, open-source, network operating system
that reports disk input/output activity. This information that is a clone of UNIX.
is useful in finding disk subsystem bottlenecks.
low-voltage differential (LVD) A SCSI signaling sys-
ipconfig The Windows NT/Windows 2000 com- tem that allows a maximum cable length of 12 meters
mand that will display the TCP/IP configuration of the and higher speeds than single-ended signaling systems.
network server.
LUN (Logical Unit Number) A mechanism that
IPX/SPX protocol A network protocol popularized allows several SCSI devices to use the same SCSI ID.
by Novell in its NetWare network operating system.
M
K
magic packet The special TCP/IP packet that is sent
keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) switch A device that to a NIC with Wake-On-LAN technology that will
allows a single keyboard, video display, and mouse to signal the NIC to power up the computer.
be shared among several network servers.
man A UNIX command that can be used to get
kilobit (Kb) One thousand (103) bits or 1,024 bits information about UNIX. This online documentation
(210) depending on the context. commands (known as man pages) is useful to ascertain
the flags for commands that vary among the versions
kilobyte (KB) One thousand (103) bytes or 1,024
of UNIX.
bytes (210) depending on the context.
megabit (Mb) One million bits (106) or 1,048,576
KVM switch (keyboard, video, mouse switch) A
bits (220) depending on the context.
KVM switch allows the use of a single keyboard,
video display, and mouse to control several computers megabyte (MB) One million bytes (106) or
(servers) by means of switching the three devices 1,048,576 bytes (220) depending on the context.
among the servers.
megahertz (MHz) One million hertz (cycles
per second).
MIB (Management Information Base) A database
L of the items that can be managed by an SNMP agent
running on a managed network device.
L2 cache Level 2 microprocessor cache. Level 2 cache
is placed between Level 1 cache (on the processor chip Microsoft Windows 2000 Server A Microsoft net-
itself ) and system memory. Today, Level 2 cache is usu- work operating system built on Windows NT technolo-
ally located on the processor chip along with the Level 1 gy that includes a directory service.
cache. However, the Level 2 cache is usually much larger
Microsoft Windows NT Server A Microsoft net-
than Level 1 cache.
work operating system.
Linear Tape–Open (LTO) A tape backup technology
that promises high storage capacity or high input/
output speed.
N P
nbtstat The Windows NT/Windows 2000 com- paging file The disk space used to augment physical
mand that will display information about NetBIOS system memory in an operating system that supports
over TCP/IP sessions on the network server. virtual memory. Another name for a swap file.
NetBEUI protocol An early network protocol used partition A logical portion of a disk drive that will be
by IBM and Microsoft. identified by a drive letter or volume name.
NetBIOS A network naming system that is part of pathping A Windows 2000 network diagnostic tool
the NetBEUI protocol. that combines the Ping and Tracert utilities.
netstat The Windows NT/Windows 2000 and PCI bus Peripheral Component Interconnect local
UNIX utility that will display statistics about TCP/IP bus introduced by Intel in 1992. A PCI bus operates at
connections on the network server. 33MHz and can transfer 32 bytes at a time. This gives
adapters plugged into the PCI bus a throughput of
network-attached storage (NAS) A network storage
132MB per second.
system that is available via standard network protocols
and available on all computers on the network. PCI hot plug A technology that allows for the instal-
lation, replacement, and upgrades to PCI adapters
network interface card (NIC) Computer card used
without shutting down the network server.
to connect a computer to a network.
peer-to-peer network A network system where each
non-ECC memory Memory that does not have
computer can be both a client and a server at the
Error Correcting Code technology.
same time.
Novell NetWare A network operating system created
ping The TCP/IP utility used to test TCP/IP con-
by Novell.
nectivity between computers on a TCP/IP network.
nslookup The TCP/IP utility used to test name reso-
Plug and Play A technology that allows for the auto-
lution on a DNS server.
matic detection and configuration of components as
NSS (Novell Storage Services) The newest file sys- they are attached to or installed in the network server
tem used on Novell’s latest release of NetWare, version or client computer.
5.
port aggregation A technique that uses several net-
NTFS File system used by Microsoft Windows NT work ports together to act as a single high-speed port.
Server and Microsoft Windows 2000 Server. NTFS
POST Diagnostics Board A special board that will
supports file compression, file and folder permissions,
display error message numbers when a network server
and long filenames.
fails to boot.
NWFS (NetWare File System) The file system used
Post Office Protocol (POP) An email protocol that
on all versions of Novell’s NetWare up to and including
transfers email messages between an SNMP server and
version 5.
an email client.
NWLink protocol Microsoft’s network protocol that
is compatible with Novell’s IPX/SPX protocol.
proactive maintenance Maintenance that is done to RAID 0 Referred to as drive striping, it is imple-
prevent problems from occurring or make it easier to mented by writing data sequentially across a series of
respond to them when they do occur. drives. This configuration provides enhanced disk
performance, but offers no redundancy.
programmed input/output (PIO) The process used
by IDE disk systems that requires the computer proces- RAID 0/1 A stripe set using RAID Level 0 that is
sor to perform the input/output operation. mirrored (RAID Level 1). Requires at least four disk
drives to implement.
ps A UNIX/Linux command that will display the
processes that are currently running on the UNIX/ RAID 0+1 Another name for RAID 0/1.
Linux network server.
RAID 1 Referred to as drive mirroring, it is imple-
mented by writing identical data to two drives concur-
rently. In the event that one drive fails, the other drive
Q containing the “mirror image” data, can pick right up
and continue processing.
Quarter Inch Cartridge (QIC) An early tape backup
RAID 2 A technique requiring at least three disk
technology that was slow by current standards and of
drives and a hamming code to provide fault tolerance.
low storage capacity.
Never implemented commercially.
RAID 3 A technique requiring at least three disk
drives and using a bit-based parity to provide fault tol-
R erance. Parity information is maintained on a separate
disk drive from the data.
rack A rack is a large cabinet used to hold electronic
equipment, such as servers, networking equipment, RAID 4 A technique requiring at least three disk drives
routers, hubs, and so on. The rack is usually 6 to 7 feet and using a block-based parity to provide fault tolerance.
in height, and an industry-standard exists for the width Parity information is maintained on a separate disk
(19 inches), allowing equipment from different manu- drive from the data.
facturers to be mounted in the rack. Rack height is
RAID 5 Referred to as drive striping with parity, it
normally specified in rack units (U) (1.75 inches). A
uses the same basic technique as drive striping, but
42U rack is 73.5˝ (6´ 1.5˝) high.
instead of just writing data to each of the disks, a parity
RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) The bit is written with each data write. This parity data can
strategy of adding redundancy or performance to drive then be used to calculate the value of data in the event
subsystems by striping the data across multiple drives or a drive fails. Requires at least three drives.
by writing the same data to two different disk drives. By
RAID 10 Another name for RAID 0/1.
adding parity, customers can help protect their data,
allowing the system to still retrieve information despite a RAID controller BIOS The fundamental program
drive failure. Used to help ensure high server availability. that controls low-level operations on a RAID controller.
random access memory (RAM) The type of memo-
ry used by network servers for main memory.
redundancy The technique for ensuring availability SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosures (SAF-TE)
by having duplicate hardware available. A specification for monitoring SCSI devices in an
external enclosure.
redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) See
RAID. SCSI controller BIOS The fundamental program
that controls low-level operations on a SCSI controller.
redundant array of inexpensive tapes (RAIT)
RAID technology extended to tape drives. SCSI Enclosure Services (SES) A set of commands
that are defined in the SCSI-3 standard that allow
registered memory SDRAM memory with special
management of SCSI or FC-AL enclosures and the
circuitry to support a large amount of memory in a
devices that they contain.
network server.
SCSI-1 New name for the old SCSI, needed since
remote access server (RAS) A network server that
SCSI-2 and SCSI-3 have been introduced. SCSI-1 is
provides dial-in access to a network.
an 8-bit bus with a transfer speed of 5MBps. Can have
RIMM (Rambus memory module) A memory mod- up to 7 devices.
ule with either a 168- or 184-pin connector. RIMMs
SCSI-2 Defined in 1994, SCSI-2 has 8-bit and 16-
use RDRAM (direct Rambus memory) rather than the
bit buses and can transfer data at 10MBps or 20MBps.
SDRAM used on DIMMs.
Can have up to 7 devices on an 8-bit SCSI channel, 14
risk analysis The process by which the threats to a devices on a 16-bit (Wide) SCSI channel.
resource are analyzed and categorized based on severity
SCSI-3 The third and lastest SCSI standard, which is
and likelihood.
actually a set of standards for parallel SCSI and serial
RJ-45 A modular plug used to terminate 4-pair UTP SCSI. Speeds as high as 320MBps are defined.
cable for networking applications. The RJ-45 connector
sector A 512 byte portion of a disk drive.
plugs in a network interface card in a computer on one
end and a hub on the other end of a network cable. Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology
(S.M.A.R.T.) A technology for monitoring disk drives
that can predict impending failure of the disk drive.
S Serial Storage Architecture (SSA) A fast external
system for creating storage area networks that was
sag An undervoltage condition that is corrected in a created by IBM.
few milliseconds.
server appliance A server designed to deliver one
sar (System Activity Reporter) A UNIX command resource or one service to the network.
that generates a report of system activity that can be
server-centric network A network that has one or
used to analyze system performance.
more servers to provide resources and services. All other
scalability Technology that ensures the available computers on the network are clients.
resources of a system can handle additional load
service tools Software supplied by the network server
through either excess capacity or upgrades.
hardware vendor and the network operating system
SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) (pro- vendor to facilitate the configuration, upgrading, main-
nounced “skuzzy”) SCSI is a parallel interface tenance, and troubleshooting of a network server.
defined by ANSI.
shielded twisted-pair (STP) A type of wiring used static random access memory (SRAM) Memory
to create early Token Ring networks. that does not require frequent refreshing in order to
maintain data stored in it.
shutdown The process of gracefully powering down a
network server. Also the name of the command to initiate stepping Intel’s term for versions of their processors.
a shutdown on some network server operating systems. Each time there is a change to the processor, Intel
assigns a different stepping to it.
SIMM (single in-line memory module) A memory
module with a 72-pin connector and a 32-bit data path. storage area network (SAN) A network storage sys-
tem, implemented by FC-AL or SSA, that is available
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) A TCP/IP
to network servers on a separate network from the net-
protocol for delivering email messages.
work used by client computers.
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) A
STP (shielded twisted-pair) Cable used in Token
TCP/IP protocol designed to allow management of
Ring networks. Uses a DB-9 connector on one end and
network devices.
a Universal Data Connector on the other end.
single-ended SCSI The original SCSI signaling system.
straight-through cable An unshielded twisted-pair
However, it has limited SCSI cable length (6 meters) and
cable where wires 1–8 connect to wires 1–8 on each
is usable only at relatively low speed.
end. This is the standard cable used to connect and
single in-line memory module (SIMM) A memory NIC to a hub.
module with 72 pins and a 32-bit data path.
striped set with parity Also known as a RAID 5 disk
single large expensive disk (SLED) The opposite array. An array of disk drives with built-in redundancy
of RAID. that can survive the failure of one of the disk drives in
Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) A bus the array.
controller system that allows many devices to be striped set without parity Also known as a RAID 0
attached to a single channel. disk array. This array provides no redundancy, but it
SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) A does improve disk input and output performance.
TCP/IP protocol used to manage network devices. surge If an overvoltage condition can be measured in
SNMP community A primitive security system used milliseconds, it is considered a surge.
by the SNMP protocol. swap file The disk space used to augment physical
software RAID RAID implemented by software in system memory in an operating system that supports
a network operating system that requires the use of virtual memory. Another name for a paging file.
the network server’s processor to implement the system BIOS A program that resides in firmware
RAID technology. that controls all low-level input and output among net-
spike An overvoltage condition can be measured in work server components.
nanoseconds, this condition is considered a spike. system monitoring agents Network server vendor-
standard rack unit In a standard 19-inch electronic specific software that monitor the components in the
equipment rack, a standard rack unit is 1.75 inches network server and report the status to a vendor-
in height. supplied monitoring console.
T Ultra 320 A SCSI system that can transfer data

at 320MBps.
Task Manager The Windows NT Server and Ultra ATA An ATA disk technology that can transfer
Windows 2000 Server utility that allows viewing of data at 33MBps, 66MBps, or 100MBps.
processor and memory utilization, processes running
Ultra SCSI An extension to the SCSI-2 standard that
on the network server, and applications running on the
increases the transfer rate to 20MBps regardless of
network server.
bus width.
terminal server A network server that supports thin
Ultra Wide SCSI An extension to the SCSI-2
clients. This allows clients to run applications on the
standard that increases the data transfer rate to 80MBps.
network server that they cannot run locally due to lack
of resources. unbuffered memory EDO memory that does not
have the circuitry the buffered memory does to support
Token Ring A network type created by IBM that uses
large amount of memory.
a token-passing media access mechanism. It operates at
speeds of 4Mbps and 16Mbps and is defined by IEEE Unicode A 16-bit character code that can represent
802.5 specification. up to 65,536 different characters.
traceroute The UNIX/Linux command that provides uninterruptible power supply (UPS) A UPS is gen-
information about the routers that a data packet travels erally an external power supply that includes a battery
through going from one network server to another. to maintain server power in the event of a power out-
age.
tracert The Windows NT/Windows 2000 command
that provides information about the routers that a data Universal Serial Bus (USB) A high-speed Plug and
packet travels through going from one network server Play system that supports up to 127 devices at 12Mbps.
to another.
UNIX A multiuser operating system created by AT&T.
transients A transient is a condition in which the The original UNIX has more than 40 variants on the
line voltage is too high. commercial market.
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol unregistered Memory SDRAM memory without
(TCP/IP) A very popular network protocol that is special circuitry to support a large amount of memory
also used on the Internet. in a network server.
Travan tape An improvement to the early QIC tape unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) A type of wiring
technology that supported larger storage capacities. that is commonly used in networks, due to low cost
and ease of installation.
upgrade checklist A general set of procedures that
U should be following before, during, and after an
upgrade to a network server.
Ultra 2 SCSI A SCSI system that can transfer data
UPS hot swap The ability to replace the battery in an
at 40MBps.
uninterruptible power supply, without disconnecting
Ultra 160 A SCSI system that can transfer data the network server from the UPS and without discon-
at 160MBps. necting the UPS from its power source.
UTP (unshielded twisted-pair) Cable used in

Ethernet networks. Can also be utilized in Token
W
Ring networks.
Wake-On-LAN A technology implemented on some
NICs that allows the NIC to turn on the computer
when a special packet (the magic packet) is received.
V wall A UNIX/Linux command that sends a message
to all logged-on users.
VA (volt-ampere) This UPS rating indicates the
amount of voltage the UPS can deliver and at what warm swap A drive technology that allows drives to
amperage. be swapped in a system without requiring reboot. Array
operations need to be suspended during the swap.
virtual memory A memory-management technique
used by sophisticated network operating systems that Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) A
uses disk storage to supplement main memory. network service that resolves NetBIOS names to
TCP/IP addresses.
vmstat The UNIX/Linux command that supplies
virtual memory usage statistics. Windows NT Diagnostics The Windows NT Server
utility that provides detailed information about the
entire configuration of the network server.
workgroup server A network server designed to sup-
port a small number of users or to provide a network
service to a limited number of users.
20 Serv+ Ch_AppB 7/10/01 10:06 AM Page 561
A P P E N D I X B
Overview of the
Certification Process
DESCRIPTION OF THE PATH ABOUT THE SERVER+

TO CERTIFICATION CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
The Server+ exam is numbered SK0-001. The closed- The Server+ certification is an internationally recognized
book exam provides a valid and reliable measure of industry-standard certification designed to measure the
your technical proficiency and expertise. Developed competency of server hardware specialist. This specialist is
in consultation with computer-industry professionals assumed to have 18 to 24 months in the server technolo-
who have on-the-job experience with multivendor gies industry with hands-on experience installing, config-
hardware and software server products in the work- uring, diagnosing, and troubleshooting server hardware
place, the exams are conducted by Virtual University and network operating system issues. It also is expected
Enterprises (VUE), the electronic testing division of that the candidate will have at least one other IT certifica-
NCS Pearson. VUE has more than 2,500 authorized tion such as CompTIA A+, Compaq ACT, Novell CNA,
testing centers serving more than 100 countries. Microsoft MCP, HP STAR, SCO, or Banyan. CompTIA
Testing is also available from Sylvan Prometric. also says that this specialist should have the ability to
communicate and document effectively.
The exam prices vary depending on your CompTIA
member status: The Computing and Technology Industry Association
(CompTIA) developed the Server+ certification in
CompTIA members: $140 each
response to several factors, not the least of which was
Non-CompTIA members: $190 each the growing need for computer hardware and software
manufacturers to create a standard curriculum. Prior to
To schedule an exam, call VUE at 877-551-7587 or this standard, each manufacturer created individual
952-995-8758. courses to provide a logical path to their own product
offerings. This caused courses to be duplicated by vari-
ous manufacturers, albeit in many different ways and
with many different results.
20 Serv+ Ch_AppB 7/10/01 10:06 AM Page 562
562 Appendix B OVERVIEW OF THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS
In addition, the role of server hardware specialist has á Demonstrates high levels of leadership through
evolved into a clearly defined and crucial one in IT mentoring and training others in server concepts
departments and organizations. CompTIA describes and operations.
the role as follows:
You may be asking why this exam is for you, and why
á Has in-depth knowledge of servers, including
now. Aside from the fact that the certification brings
working knowledge of troubleshooting, physical
certain obvious professional benefits to you, the Server+
security, and disaster recovery. Can recover from a
program gives you access to the CompTIA organization
server failure.
and to the benefits this access affords. CompTIA’s Web
á Ensures high availability by meeting the Service site (www.comptia.com), for instance, identifies the fol-
Level Agreement requirements, including pro- lowing benefits for prospective CompTIA certified
actively recognizing and responding to problems individuals:
and performing recovery.
á Recognized proof of professional achievement.
á Has thorough working knowledge of hardware A level of competence commonly accepted and
configuration and network connectivity. Includes valued by the industry.
the ability to perform problem determination for
á Enhanced job opportunities. Many employers
all aspects of the server (hardware, software,
give preference in hiring to applicants with certi-
networking).
fication. They view this as proof that a new hire
á Installs and configures server hardware to meet knows the procedures and technologies required.
application requirements.
á Opportunity for advancement. The certification
á Implements current and emerging data storage can be a plus when an employer awards job
and transfer technologies such as SCSI and RAID. advancements and promotions.
á Has a thorough working knowledge of network- á Training requirement. Certification may be
ing protocols (for instance, TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, required as a prerequisite to attending a vendor’s
SNMP, DMI) for diagnosing the impact of the training course, so employers will offer advance
network on the server and vice versa. training to those employees who are already
á Provides support, including second-level support certified.
for resellers and end users. á Customer confidence. As the general public
á Performs maintenance on server systems, data learns about certification, customers will require
storage subsystems, and network devices. that only certified technicians be assigned to their
accounts.
á Has good planning and integration skills to be
able to upgrade a server without impacting net- For any additional information or clarification of the
work users, increase storage capacity without CompTIA Server+ certification path and its history
impacting network users, design and implement a and benefits, consult the CompTIA home page at
data recovery plan in the event of a network www.comptia.com.
device failure; perform peripheral upgrades, BIOS
upgrades, memory upgrades, processor upgrades,
mass storage upgrades, and adapter upgrades.
21 Serv+ Ch_AppC 7/10/01 10:06 AM Page 563
A P P E N D I X C
What’s on the
CD-ROM
This appendix is a brief rundown of what you will find chapter in an electronic version of the book where the
on the CD-ROM that accompanies this book. For a topic is covered. Again, for a complete description of
more detailed description of the newly developed the benefits of ExamGear, see Appendix D.
ExamGear test engine, exclusive to New Riders
Before running the ExamGear software, be sure that
Publishing, see Appendix D, “Using the ExamGear,
AutoRun is enabled. If you prefer not to use AutoRun,
Training Guide Edition Software.”
you can run the application from the CD by clicking
START.EXE.
EXAMGEAR
ExamGear is a test engine developed exclusively for
EXCLUSIVE ELECTRONIC
New Riders Publishing. It is, we believe, the best test
engine available because it closely emulates the format
VERSION OF TEXT
of the Server+ exam. The CD contains 150 questions. The CD-ROM also contains the electronic version of
Each time you run ExamGear, it randomly selects a set this book in Portable Document Format (PDF). In
of questions from the question database, so you never addition to the links to the book that are built in to
take the same exam twice. ExamGear, you can use this version to help search for
In addition to providing a way to evaluate your know- terms you need to study or other book elements. The
ledge of the exam material, ExamGear features several electronic version comes complete with all figures as
innovations that help you to improve your mastery of they appear in the book.
the subject matter. ExamGear also includes an adaptive
testing feature that simulates the adaptive testing method
that CompTIA eventually converts its exams into. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION AND
The practice tests enable you to check your score by
exam area or category, to determine which topics you
DISCLAIMER
need to study further. Other test preparation modes New Riders Publishing’s ExamGear test engine:
provide immediate feedback on your responses, expla- Copyright © 2002 New Riders Publishing. All rights
nations of correct answers, and even hyperlinks to the reserved. Made in U.S.A.
21 Serv+ Ch_AppC 7/10/01 10:06 AM Page 564
22 Serv+ Ch_AppD 7/10/01 10:08 AM Page 565
A P P E N D I X D
Using the ExamGear,
Training Guide
Edition Software
This Training Guide includes a special version of Question Quality

ExamGear—a revolutionary new test engine designed
The questions provided in the ExamGear, Training
to give you the best in certification exam preparation.
Guide Edition simulations are written to high
ExamGear offers sample and practice exams for many
standards of technical accuracy. The questions tap
of today’s most in-demand technical certifications. This
the content of the Training Guide chapters and help
special Training Guide Edition is included with this
you review and assess your knowledge before you
book as a tool to utilize in assessing your knowledge of
take the actual exam.
the Training Guide material while also providing you
with the experience of taking an electronic exam.
This appendix describes in detail what ExamGear, Interface Design
Training Guide Edition is, how it works, and what it The ExamGear, Training Guide Edition exam simula-
can do to help you prepare for the exam. Note that tion interface provides you with the experience of tak-
although the Training Guide Edition includes nearly all ing an electronic exam. This enables you to effectively
the test simulation functions of the complete, retail prepare for taking the actual exam by making the test
version, the questions focus on the Training Guide con- experience a familiar one. Using this test simulation
tent rather than on simulating the actual Server+ exam. can help eliminate the sense of surprise or anxiety that
you might experience in the testing center, because you
will already be acquainted with computerized testing.
EXAM SIMULATION
One of the main functions of ExamGear, Training
Guide Edition is exam simulation. To prepare you to
STUDY TOOLS
take the actual vendor certification exam, the Training ExamGear provides you with several learning tools to
Guide Edition of this test engine is designed to offer help prepare you for the actual certification exam.
the most effective exam simulation available.
566 Appendix D USING THE EXAMGEAR, TRAINING GUIDE EDITION SOFTWARE
Effective Learning Environment HOW EXAMGEAR, TRAINING

The ExamGear, Training Guide Edition interface pro-
vides a learning environment that not only tests you
GUIDE EDITION WORKS
through the computer, but also teaches the material ExamGear comprises two main elements: the interface
you need to know to pass the certification exam. Each and the database. The interface is the part of the pro-
question comes with a detailed explanation of the cor- gram that you use to study and to run practice tests.
rect answer and provides reasons why the other options The database stores all the question-and-answer data.
were incorrect. This information helps to reinforce the
knowledge you have already and also provides practical
information you can use on the job. Interface
The ExamGear, Training Guide Edition interface is
Automatic Progress Tracking designed to be easy to use and provides the most effec-
tive study method available. The interface enables you
ExamGear, Training Guide Edition automatically tracks to select from the following modes:
your progress as you work through the test questions.
From the Item Review tab (discussed in detail later in this á Study mode. In this mode, you can select the
appendix), you can see at a glance how well you are scor- number of questions you want to see and the time
ing by objective, by chapter, or on a question-by-question you want to allow for the test. You can select ques-
basis (see Figure D.1). You also can configure ExamGear tions from all the chapters or from specific chap-
to drill you on the skills you need to work on most. ters. This enables you to reinforce your knowledge
in a specific area or strengthen your knowledge in
areas pertaining to a specific objective. During the
exam, you can display the correct answer to each
question along with an explanation of why it
is correct.
á Practice Exam mode. In this mode, you take an
exam designed to simulate the actual certification
exam. Questions are selected from all test-objective
groups. The number of questions selected and the
time allowed are set to match those parameters of
the actual certification exam.
á Adaptive Exam mode. In this mode, you take an
exam simulation using the adaptive testing tech-
nique. Questions are taken from all test-objective
F I G U R E D. 1
groups. The questions are presented in a way that
Item review.
ensures your mastery of all the test objectives.
After you have a passing score or if you reach a
point where it is statistically impossible for you to
pass, the exam ends. This method provides a rapid
assessment of your readiness for the actual exam.
Appendix D USING THE EXAMGEAR, TRAINING GUIDE EDITION SOFTWARE 567
Note: The current Server+ exam is not adaptive á A web browser.

and it will be some time before CompTIA settles
A web browser is not required for the software
its test pool enough to make it adaptive.
to work, but it is invoked from the Online, web
sites menu option.
Database
The ExamGear, Training Guide Edition database stores Installing ExamGear, Training
a group of around 150 test questions and answers. The
questions are organized by chapters.
Guide Edition
Install ExamGear, Training Guide Edition by running
the setup program on the ExamGear, Training Guide
INSTALLING AND REGISTERING Edition CD. Follow these instructions to install the
Training Guide Edition on your computer:
EXAMGEAR, TRAINING GUIDE 1. Insert the CD in your CD-ROM drive. The
EDITION AutoRun feature of Windows launches the soft-
ware. If you have AutoRun disabled, click Start
This section provides instructions for ExamGear, and choose Run. Go to the root directory of the
Training Guide Edition installation and describes the CD and choose START.EXE. Click Open and
process and benefits of registering your Training Guide then click OK.
Edition product.
2. Click the button in the circle. A Welcome screen
appears. From here you can install ExamGear.
Requirements Click the ExamGear button to begin installation.
ExamGear requires a computer with the following: 3. The Installation Wizard appears onscreen and
prompts you with instructions to complete the
á Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows installation. Select a directory on which to install
NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows ME. ExamGear, Training Guide Edition.
A Pentium or later processor is recommended. 4. The Installation Wizard copies the ExamGear,
á 20–30MB free disk space. Training Guide Edition files to your hard drive,
adds ExamGear, Training Guide Edition to your
á A minimum of 32MB of RAM. Program menu, adds values to your Registry, and
As with any Windows application, the more installs the test engine’s DLLs to the appropriate
memory, the better your performance. system folders. To ensure that the process was
successful, the setup program finishes by running
á A connection to the Internet. ExamGear, Training Guide Edition.
An Internet connection is not required for the
software to work, but it is required for online
registration and to download product updates.
5. The Installation Wizard logs the installation you purchased ExamGear, Training Guide Edition from
process and stores this information in a file named a retail store or over the Internet. The information will
INSTALL.LOG. This log file is used by the unin- be used by our software designers and marketing
stall process in the event that you choose to department to provide us with feedback about the
remove ExamGear, Training Guide Edition from usability and usefulness of this product. It takes only a
your computer. Because the ExamGear installation few seconds to fill out and transmit the registration
adds Registry keys and DLL files to your computer, data. A confirmation dialog box appears when registra-
it is important to uninstall the program appropri- tion is complete.
ately. (See the section “Removing ExamGear,
After you have registered and transmitted this informa-
Training Guide Edition from Your Computer.”)
tion to New Riders, the registration option is removed
from the pull-down menus.
Registering ExamGear, Training Registration Benefits

Guide Edition Registering enables New Riders to notify you of prod-
uct updates and new releases.
The Product Registration Wizard appears when
ExamGear, Training Guide Edition is started for the
first time, and ExamGear checks at startup to see Removing ExamGear, Training
whether you are registered. If you are not registered,
the main menu is hidden, and a Product Registration
Guide Edition from Your
Wizard appears. Remember that your computer must Computer
have an Internet connection to complete the Product In the event that you elect to remove the ExamGear,
Registration Wizard. Training Guide Edition product from your computer,
The first page of the Product Registration Wizard an uninstall process has been included to ensure that it
details the benefits of registration; however, you can is removed from your system safely and completely.
always elect not to register. The Show This Message at Follow these instructions to remove ExamGear from
Startup Until I Register option enables you to decide your computer:
whether the registration screen should appear every 1. Click Start, Settings, Control Panel.
time ExamGear, Training Guide Edition is started. If
you click the Cancel button, you return to the main 2. Double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon.
menu. You can register at any time by selecting Online, 3. You are presented with a list of software that is
Registration from the main menu. installed on your computer. Select ExamGear,
The registration process is composed of a simple form Training Guide Edition from the list and click
for entering your personal information, including your the Add/Remove button. The ExamGear,
name and address. You are asked for your level of expe- Training Guide Edition software is then removed
rience with the product you are testing on and whether from your computer.
It is important that the INSTALL.LOG file be present The Practice Exam section has many of the same
in the directory where you have installed ExamGear, options as Study mode, but you cannot reveal the
Training Guide Edition should you ever choose to answers. This way, you have a more traditional testing
uninstall the product. Do not delete this file. The environment with which to practice.
INSTALL.LOG file is used by the uninstall process to
The Adaptive Exam questions continuously monitor
safely remove the files and Registry settings that were
your expertise in each tested topic area. If you reach a
added to your computer by the installation process.
point at which you either pass or fail, the software ends
the examination. As in the Practice Exam section, you
cannot reveal the answers.
USING EXAMGEAR, TRAINING
GUIDE EDITION
ExamGear is designed to be user friendly and very
intuitive, eliminating the need for you to learn some
confusing piece of software just to practice answering
questions. Because the software has a smooth learning
curve, your time is maximized because you start
practicing almost immediately.
General Description of How the

Software Works
ExamGear has three modes of operation: Study mode,
F I G U R E D. 2
Practice Exam mode, and Adaptive Exam mode (see The opening screen offers three testing modes.
Figure D.2). All three sections have the same easy-to-
use interface. Using Study mode, you can hone your
knowledge as well as your test-taking abilities through
the use of the Show Answers option. While you are
taking the test, you can expose the answers along with a
brief description of why the given answers are right or
wrong. This enables you to better understand the mate-
rial presented.
Menu Options Registration

Registration is free and enables you access updates.
The ExamGear, Training Guide Edition interface has Registration is the first task that ExamGear, Training
an easy-to-use menu that provides the following Guide Edition asks you to perform. You will not have
options: access to the free product updates if you do not register.
Menu Command Description
File Print Prints the current screen.
Check for Product Updates
This option takes you to ExamGear, Training Guide
Print Setup Enables you to select a printer. Edition’s web site, where you can update the software.
Exit ExamGear Exits the program. You must be connected to the Internet to use this
Online Registration Starts the Registration Wizard and option. The ExamGear web site lists the options that
enables you to register online. This have been made available since your version of
menu option is removed after you ExamGear was installed on your computer.
have successfully registered the
product.
Web Sites
Check for Opens the ExamGear web site with
Product Updates available updates. This option provides a convenient way to start your
web browser and connect to either the New Riders or
Web Sites Opens the web browser with either
the New Riders Publishing or
ExamGear home page.
ExamGear home pages.
Help Contents Opens ExamGear, Training Guide Help
Edition’s Help file. As it suggests, this menu option gives you access to
About Displays information about ExamGear’s Help system. It also provides important
ExamGear, Training Guide Edition, information like your serial number, software version,
including serial number, registered and so on.
owner, and so on.
Starting a Study-Mode Session

Study mode enables you to control the test in ways that
File actual certification exams do not allow:
The File menu enables you to exit the program and
configure print options. á You can set your own time limits.
á You can concentrate on selected skill areas
Online (chapters).
In the Online menu, you can register ExamGear, á You can reveal answers or have each response
Training Guide Edition, check for product updates graded immediately with feedback.
(update the ExamGear executable as well as check for
free, updated question sets), and surf applicable web á You can restrict the questions you see again to
sites. The Online menu is always available, except those missed or those answered correctly a given
when you are taking a test. number of times.
á You can control the order in which questions are Below the Exam drop-down list, you see the questions
presented—random order or in order by skill area that are available for the selected exam. Each exam has
(chapter). at least one question set. You can select the individual
question set or any combination of the question sets if
To begin testing in Study mode, click the Study
more than one is available for the selected exam.
Mode button from the main Interface screen. You
are presented with the Study Mode configuration page Below the Question Set list is a list of skill areas or
(see Figure D.3). chapters on which you can concentrate. These skill areas
or chapters reflect the units of exam objectives defined
At the top of the Study Mode configuration screen, you
by CompTIA for the exam. Within each skill area you
see the Exam drop-down list. This list shows the acti-
will find several exam objectives. You can select a single
vated exam that you have purchased with your
skill area or chapter to focus on, or you can select any
ExamGear, Training Guide Edition product, as well as
combination of the available skill areas/chapters to cus-
any other exams you may have downloaded or any pre-
tomize the exam to your individual needs.
view exams that were shipped with your version of
ExamGear. Select the exam with which you want to In addition to specifying which question sets and skill
practice from the drop-down list. areas you want to test yourself on, you also can define
which questions are included in the test based on your
previous progress working with the test. ExamGear,
Training Guide Edition automatically tracks your
progress with the available questions. When configur-
ing the Study-mode options, you can opt to view all
the questions available within the question sets and skill
areas you have selected, or you can limit the questions
presented. Choose from the following options:
á Select from All Available Questions. This
option causes ExamGear, Training Guide Edition
to present all available questions from the selected
question sets and skill areas.
á Exclude Questions I Have Answered Correctly
X or More Times. ExamGear offers you the
F I G U R E D. 3
The Study Mode configuration page.
option to exclude questions that you have previ-
ously answered correctly. You can specify how
many times you want to answer a question cor-
rectly before ExamGear considers you to have
mastered it. (The default is two times.)
á Select Only Questions That I Have Missed X á Order by Skill Area. This option causes
or More Times. This option configures ExamGear to group the questions presented in
ExamGear, Training Guide Edition to drill you the exam by skill area. All questions for each
only on questions that you have missed repeated- selected skill area are presented in succession. The
ly. You may specify how many times you must test progresses from one selected skill area to the
miss a question before ExamGear determines that next, until all the questions from each selected
you have not mastered it. (The default is two skill area have been presented.
times.)
ExamGear offers two options for scoring your exams.
At any time, you can reset ExamGear, Training Guide Select one of the following options:
Edition’s tracking information by clicking the Reset
á Grade at the End of the Test. This option con-
button for the feature you want to clear.
figures ExamGear, Training Guide Edition to
At the top-right side of the Study Mode configuration score your test after you have been presented with
sheet, you can see your access level to the question sets all the selected exam questions. You can reveal
for the selected exam. Access levels are either Full or correct answers to a question, but if you do, that
Preview. For a detailed explanation of each of these question is not scored.
access levels, see the section “Obtaining Updates” in
á Grade as I Answer Each Question. This option
this appendix.
configures ExamGear to grade each question as
Under your access level, you see the score required to you answer it, providing you with instant feed-
pass the selected exam. Below the required score, you back as you take the test. All questions are scored
can select whether the test will be timed and how much unless you click the Show Answer button before
time will be allowed to complete the exam. Select the completing the question.
Stop Test After 90 Minutes check box to set a time
limit for the exam. Enter the number of minutes you You can return to the ExamGear, Training Guide Edition
want to allow for the test. (The default is 90 minutes.) main startup screen from the Study Mode configuration
Deselecting this check box enables you to take an exam screen by clicking the Main Menu button. If you need
with no time limit. assistance configuring the Study-mode exam options,
click the Help button for configuration instructions.
You also can configure the number of questions included
in the exam. The default number of questions changes After you have finished configuring all the exam
with the specific exam you have selected. Enter the options, click the Start Test button to begin the exam.
number of questions you want to include in the exam
in the Select No More than X Questions option.
Starting Practice Exams and
You can configure the order in which ExamGear,
Training Guide Edition presents the exam questions. Adaptive Exams
Select from the following options: This section describes the practice and adaptive exams,
á Display Questions in Random Order. This defines the differences between these exam options and
option is the default option. When selected, it the Study-mode option, and provides instructions for
causes ExamGear, Training Guide Edition to pre- starting them.
sent the questions in random order throughout
the exam.
Differences Between the Practice even more difficult. If you answer the question incor-
and Adaptive Exams and rectly, however, the exam “adapts” to your skill level by
presenting you with another question of equal or lesser
Study Mode difficulty on the same subject. If you answer that ques-
Question screens in the practice and adaptive exams are tion correctly, the test begins to increase the difficulty
identical to those found in Study mode, except that the level again. You must correctly answer several questions
Show Answer, Grade Answer, and Item Review buttons at a predetermined difficulty level to pass the exam.
are not available while you are in the process of taking After you have done this successfully, the exam is ended
a practice or adaptive exam. The practice exam provides and scored. If you do not reach the required level of
you with a report screen at the end of the exam. The difficulty within a predetermined time (typically 30
adaptive exam gives you a brief message indicating minutes) the exam is ended and scored.
whether you have passed or failed the exam.
When taking a practice exam, the Item Review screen is
not available until you have answered all the questions.
Why Do Vendors Use
This is consistent with the behavior of most vendors’ Adaptive Exams?
current certification exams. In Study mode, Item
Many vendors who offer technical certifications have
Review is available at any time.
adopted the adaptive testing technique. They have
When the exam timer expires, or if you click the End found that it is an effective way to measure a candi-
Exam button, the Examination Score Report screen date’s mastery of the test material in as little time as
comes up. necessary. This reduces the scheduling demands on the
test taker and allows the testing center to offer more
Starting an Exam tests per test station than they could with longer, more
From the ExamGear, Training Guide Edition main traditional exams. In addition, test security is greater,
menu screen, select the type of exam you want to run. and this increases the validity of the exam process.
Click the Practice Exam or Adaptive Exam button to
begin the corresponding exam type.
Studying for Adaptive Exams
Studying for adaptive exams is no different from study-
What Is an Adaptive Exam? ing for traditional exams. You should make sure that
To make the certification testing process more efficient you have thoroughly covered all the material for each of
and valid and therefore make the certification itself the test objectives specified by the certification exam
more valuable, some vendors in the industry are using a vendor. As with any other exam, when you take an
testing technique called adaptive testing. In an adaptive adaptive exam, either you know the material or you
exam, the exam “adapts” to your abilities by varying the don’t. If you are well prepared, you will be able to pass
difficulty level of the questions presented to you. the exam. ExamGear, Training Guide Edition enables
you to familiarize yourself with the adaptive exam test-
The first question in an adaptive exam is typically an ing technique. This will help eliminate any anxiety you
easy one. If you answer it correctly, you are presented might experience from this testing technique and allow
with a slightly more difficult question. If you answer you to focus on learning the actual exam material.
that question correctly, the next question you see is
ExamGear’s Adaptive Exam Overall Scores

The method used to score the adaptive exam requires a To pass the exam, you must pass all chapters and
large pool of questions. For this reason, you cannot use achieve an overall score of 86% or higher.
this exam in Preview mode. The adaptive exam is pre- You fail if the overall score percentage is less than or
sented in much the same way as the practice exam. equal to 85% or if any chapter score is less than 66%.
When you click the Start Test button, you begin
answering questions. The adaptive exam does not allow Inconclusive Scores
item review, and it does not allow you to mark ques-
If your overall score is between 67 and 85%, it is con-
tions to skip and answer later. You must answer each
sidered to be inconclusive. Additional questions will be
question when it is presented.
asked until you pass or fail or until it becomes statisti-
cally impossible to pass without asking more than the
Assumptions maximum number of questions allowed.
This section describes the assumptions made when
designing the behavior of the ExamGear, Training
Guide Edition adaptive exam. Question Types and How to
á You fail the test if you fail any chapter, earn a fail- Answer Them
ing overall score, or reach a threshold at which it
Because certification exams from different vendors vary,
is statistically impossible for you to pass the exam.
you will face many types of questions on any given
á You can fail or pass a test without cycling exam. ExamGear, Training Guide Edition presents you
through all the questions. with different question types to enable you to become
familiar with the various ways an actual exam may test
á The overall score for the adaptive exam is Pass or
your knowledge. This section describes each of the
Fail. However, to evaluate user responses dynami-
question types presented by ExamGear and provides
cally, percentage scores are recorded for chapters
instructions for answering each type.
and the overall score.
Multiple Choice
Algorithm Assumptions Most of the questions you see on a certification exam
This section describes the assumptions used in design- are multiple choice (see Figure D.4). This question type
ing the ExamGear, Training Guide Edition Adaptive asks you to select an answer from the list provided.
Exam scoring algorithm. Sometimes you must select only one answer, often indi-
cated by answers preceded by option buttons (round
Chapter Scores selection buttons). At other times, multiple correct
You fail a chapter (and the exam) if any chapter score answers are possible, indicated by check boxes preced-
falls below 66%. ing the possible answer combinations.
You can use any one of three methods to clear an

option button:
á Click another option button.
á Click the text of another answer.
á Press the alphabetic key that corresponds to
another answer.
You can use any one of three methods to clear a check

box:
á Click the check box next to the selected answer.
á Click the text of the selected answer.
F I G U R E D. 4
á Press the alphabetic key that corresponds to the
A typical multiple-choice question.
selected answer.
To clear all answers, click the Reset button.

You can use three methods to select an answer:
Remember that some of the questions have multiple
á Click the option button or check box next to the
answers that are correct. Do not let this throw you off.
answer. If more than one correct answer to a
The multiple-correct questions do not have one answer
question is possible, the answers will have check
that is more correct than another. In the single-correct
boxes next to them. If only one correct answer to
format, only one answer is correct. ExamGear, Training
a question is possible, each answer will have an
Guide Edition prompts you with the number of
option button next to it. ExamGear, Training
answers you must select.
Guide Edition prompts you with the number of
answers you must select.
Standard ExamGear, Training Guide
á Click the text of the answer. Edition Options
á Press the alphabetic key that corresponds to Regardless of question type, a consistent set of clickable
the answer. buttons enables you to navigate and interact with ques-
tions. The following list describes the function of each
of the buttons you may see. Depending on the ques-
tion type, some of the buttons will be grayed out and
will be inaccessible. Buttons that are appropriate to the
question type are active.
á Run Simulation. This button is enabled if the á << Previous. This button displays the previous
question supports a simulation. (It is disabled for question on the exam.
this book.) Clicking this button begins the simu-
á Next >>. This button displays the next question
lation process.
on the exam.
á Exhibits. This button is enabled if exhibits are
á << Previous Marked. This button displays if you
provided to support the question. An exhibit is
have opted to review questions that you have
an image, video, sound, or text file that provides
marked using the Item Review screen. This but-
supplemental information needed to answer the
ton displays the previous marked question.
question. If a question has more than one exhibit,
Marking questions is discussed in more detail
a dialog box appears, listing exhibits by name. If
later in this appendix.
only one exhibit exists, the file is opened immedi-
ately when you click the Exhibits button. á << Previous Incomplete. This button displays if
you have opted to review questions that you have
á Reset. This button clears any selections you
not answered using the Item Review screen. This
have made and returns the question window
button displays the previous unanswered question.
to the state in which it appeared when it was
first displayed. á Next Marked >>. This button displays if you
have opted to review questions that you have
á Instructions. This button displays instructions
marked using the Item Review screen. This but-
for interacting with the current question type.
ton displays the next marked question. Marking
á Item Review. This button leaves the question win- questions is discussed in more detail later in this
dow and opens the Item Review screen. For a appendix.
detailed explanation of the Item Review screen, see
á Next Incomplete>>. This button displays if you
the “Item Review” section later in this appendix.
have opted to review questions, using the Item
á Show Answer. This button displays the correct Review screen, that you have not answered. This
answer with an explanation of why it is correct. If button displays the next unanswered question.
you choose this option, the current question will
not be scored.
á Grade Answer. If Grade at the End of the Test is Mark Question and
selected as a configuration option, this button is
disabled. It is enabled when Grade as I Answer Time Remaining
Each Question is selected as a configuration ExamGear provides you with two methods to aid in
option. Clicking this button grades the current dealing with the time limit of the testing process. If you
question immediately. An explanation of the cor- find that you need to skip a question or if you want to
rect answer is provided, just as if the Show check the time remaining to complete the test, use one
Answer button were pressed. The question is of the options discussed in the following sections.
graded, however.
á End Exam. This button ends the exam and dis-
plays the Examination Score Report screen.
Mark Question The Item Review Questions Tab

Check this box to mark a question so that you can The Questions tab on the Item Review screen (see
return to it later using the Item Review feature. The Figure D.5) presents the exam questions and question
adaptive exam does not allow questions to be marked information in a table. You can select any row you want
because it does not support item review. by clicking in the grid. The Go To button is enabled
whenever a row is selected. Clicking the Go To button
Time Remaining displays the question on the selected row. You also can
If the test is timed, the Time Remaining indicator is display a question by double-clicking that row.
enabled. It counts down minutes remaining to com- Columns
plete the test. The adaptive exam does not offer this The Questions tab contains the following six columns
feature because it is not timed. of information:
á Seq. Indicates the sequence number of the
Item Review question as it was displayed in the exam.
The Item Review screen enables you to jump to any á Question Number. Displays the question’s
question. ExamGear, Training Guide Edition considers identification number for easy reference.
an incomplete question to be any unanswered question
á Marked. Indicates a question that you have
or any multiple-choice question for which the total
marked using the Mark Question check box.
number of required responses has not been selected. If
the question prompts for three answers and you selected á Status. The status can be M for Marked, ? for
only A and C, for example, ExamGear considers the Incomplete, C for Correct, I for Incorrect, or X
question to be incomplete. for Answer Shown.
The Item Review screen enables you to review the exam á Chapter Name. The chapter associated with
questions in different ways. You can enter one of two each question.
browse sequences (series of similar records): Browse á Type. The question type, which can be Multiple
Marked Questions or Browse Incomplete Questions. Choice or Hot Spot.
You also can create a custom grouping of the exam
questions for review based on a number of criteria. To resize a column, place the mouse pointer over the
vertical line between column headings. When the
When using Item Review, if Show Answer was selected mouse pointer changes to a set of right and left arrows,
for a question while you were taking the exam, the you can drag the column border to the left or right to
question is grayed out in item review. The question can make the column more or less wide. Just click with the
be answered again if you use the Reset button to reset left mouse button and hold that button down while
the question status. you move the column border in the desired direction.
The Item Review screen contains two tabs. The The Item Review screen enables you to sort the ques-
Questions tab lists questions and question information tions on any of the column headings. Initially, the list
in columns. The Current Score tab provides your exam of questions is sorted in descending order on the
score information, presented as a percentage for each sequence number column. To sort on a different col-
chapter and as a bar graph for your overall score. umn heading, click that heading. You will see an arrow
Just click the column heading you want with the left
mouse button, hold that button down, and move the
mouse into the area directly above the Questions table
(the custom grouping area). Release the left mouse but-
ton to drop the column heading into the custom group-
ing area. To accomplish the custom grouping previously
described, first check the Custom Grouping check box.
Then drag the Marked column heading into the custom
grouping area above the Questions table. Next, drag the
Chapter Name column heading into the custom group-
ing area. You will see the two column headings joined
together by a line that indicates the order of the custom
grouping. Finally, drag the Seq column heading into the
custom grouping area. This heading will be joined to
F I G U R E D. 5
The Questions tab on the Item Review screen. the Chapter Name heading by another line indicating
the direction of the custom grouping.
Notice that each column heading in the custom grouping
appear on the column heading indicating the direction area has an arrow indicating the direction in which items
of the sort (ascending or descending). To change the are sorted under that column heading. You can reverse
direction of the sort, click the column heading again. the direction of the sort on an individual column-heading
The Item Review screen also enables you to create a basis using these arrows. Click the column heading in
custom grouping. This feature enables you to sort the the custom grouping area to change the direction of the
questions based on any combination of criteria you pre- sort for that column heading only. For example, using
fer. For instance, you might want to review the ques- the custom grouping created previously, you can display
tion items sorted first by whether they were marked, the question list sorted first in descending order by
then by the chapter name, and then by sequence num- whether the question was marked, in descending order
ber. The Custom Grouping feature enables you to do by chapter name, and then in ascending order by
this. Start by checking the Custom Grouping check sequence number.
box (see Figure D.6). When you do so, the entire ques- The custom grouping feature of the Item Review screen
tions table shifts down a bit onscreen, and a message gives you enormous flexibility in how you choose to
appears at the top of the table that reads Drag a Column review the exam questions. To remove a custom group-
Header Here to Group by That Column. ing and return the Item Review display to its default
setting (sorted in descending order by sequence num-
ber), just uncheck the Custom Grouping check box.
á Attempted. This column lists the number of

questions you answered either completely or par-
tially for each objective group.
á Correct. This column lists the actual number of
questions you answered correctly for each objec-
tive group.
á Answer Shown. This column lists the number
of questions for each objective group that you
chose to display the answer to using the Show
Answer button.
The columns in the scoring table are resized and sorted
in the same way as those in the questions table on the
F I G U R E D. 6 Item Review Questions tab. Refer to the earlier section
The Custom Grouping check box enables you to create your “The Item Review Questions Tab” for more details.
own question sort order.
A graphical overview of the score is presented below the
grid. The graph depicts two red bars: The top bar repre-
The Current Score Tab sents your current exam score; the bottom bar represents
the required passing score. To the right of the bars in the
The Current Score tab of the Item Review screen pro-
graph is a legend that lists the required score and your
vides a real-time snapshot of your score (see Figure D.7).
score. Below the bar graph is a statement that describes
The top half of the screen is an expandable grid. When
the required passing score and your current score.
the grid is collapsed, scores are displayed for each chap-
ter. Chapters can be expanded to show percentage In addition, the information can be presented on an
scores for objectives and subobjectives. Information overall basis or by exam chapter. The Overall tab shows
about your exam progress is presented in the following the overall score. The By Chapter tab shows the score
columns: by chapter.
á Chapter Name. This column shows the chapter Clicking the End Exam button terminates the exam and
name for each objective group. passes control to the Examination Score Report screen.
á Percentage. This column shows the percentage of The Return to Exam button returns to the exam at the
questions for each objective group that you question from which the Item Review button was clicked.
answered correctly.
answer or did not completely answer display for your

review. While browsing the incomplete questions, you
will see the following changes to the buttons:
á The caption of the Next button becomes Next
Incomplete.
á The caption of the Previous button becomes
Previous Incomplete.
Examination Score
Report Screen
F I G U R E D. 7 The Examination Score Report screen appears when
The Current Score tab on the item review screen.
the study Mode, practice exam, or adaptive exam
ends—as the result of timer expiration, completion of
all questions, or your decision to terminate early (see
Review Marked Items Figure D.8).
The Item Review screen enables you to enter a browse
This screen provides you with a graphical display of
sequence for marked questions. When you click the
your test score, along with a tabular breakdown of
Review Marked button, questions that you have previ-
scores by chapter. The graphical display at the top of
ously marked using the Mark Question check box are
the screen compares your overall score with the score
presented for your review. While browsing the marked
required to pass the exam. Buttons below the graphical
questions, you will see the following changes to the
display enable you to open the Show Me What I
buttons available:
Missed browse sequence, print the screen, or return to
á The caption of the Next button becomes Next the main menu.
Marked.
á The caption of the Previous button becomes Show Me What I Missed
Previous Marked. Browse Sequence
The Show Me What I Missed browse sequence is
invoked by clicking the Show Me What I Missed but-
Review Incomplete ton from the Examination Score Report or from the
The Item Review screen enables you to enter a browse configuration screen of an adaptive exam.
sequence for incomplete questions. When you click the Note that the window caption is modified to indicate
Review Incomplete button, the questions you did not that you are in the Show Me What I Missed Browse
Sequence mode. Question IDs and position within the
browse sequence appear at the top of the screen, in
place of the Mark Question and Time Remaining indi-
cators. Main window contents vary, depending on the
á Print. Prints the current screen.

á Previous or Next. Displays missed questions.
CHECKING THE WEB SITE

To check the New Riders home page or the ExamGear,
Training Guide Edition home page for updates or other
product information, choose the desired web site from
the web sites option of the Online menu. You must be
connected to the Internet to reach these web sites.
F I G U R E D. 8
The Examination Score Report screen. Frequently Asked Questions
ExamGear FAQ can be found at
http://www.newriders.com/examgear/support/faq.cfm
question type. The following list describes the buttons
available within the Show Me What I Missed browse
sequence and the functions they perform:
OBTAINING UPDATES
á Return to Score Report. Returns control to the
Examination Score Report screen. In the case of This section summarizes procedures for
an adaptive exam, this button’s caption is Exit, obtaining updates.
and control returns to the adaptive exam configu-
ration screen.
á Run Simulation. Opens a simulation in Grade The Catalog Web Site
mode, causing the simulation to open displaying for Updates
your response and the correct answer. If the cur-
rent question does not offer a simulation, this Selecting the Check for Product Updates option from
button is disabled. the Online menu shows you the full range of products
you can either download for free or purchase from your
á Exhibits. Opens the Exhibits window. This but- web browser. You must be connected to the Internet to
ton is enabled if one or more exhibits are avail- reach these web sites.
able for the question.
á Instructions. Shows how to answer the current Types of Updates
question type. Several types of updates may be available for download,
including various free updates and additional items
available for purchase.
Free Program Updates You can also reach us on the World Wide Web:
Free program updates include changes to the
http://www.newriders.com
ExamGear, Training Guide Edition executables and
runtime libraries (DLLs). When any of these items are
downloaded, ExamGear automatically installs the Technical Support
upgrades. ExamGear, Training Guide Edition will be
reopened after the installation is complete. Technical support is available at the following phone
number during the hours specified:
Free Database Updates Telephone: 317-581-3833
Free database updates include updates to the exam(s)
that you have registered. Exam updates are contained in Email: examgear@newriders.com
compressed, encrypted files and include exam databases Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
and exhibits. ExamGear, Training Guide Edition auto- Central Standard Time.
matically decompresses these files to their proper loca-
tion and updates the ExamGear software to record You can visit the online support web site at
version changes and import new question sets. www.newriders.com/support and submit a support
request over the Internet.
CONTACTING NEW RIDERS Customer Service

PUBLISHING If you have a damaged product and need a replacement
or refund, please call the following phone number:
At New Riders, we strive to meet and exceed the needs
800-858-7674
of our customers. We have developed ExamGear,
Training Guide Edition to surpass the demands and
expectations of network professionals seeking technical Product Updates
certifications, and we think it shows. What do you think?
Product updates can be obtained by choosing
If you need to contact New Riders regarding any aspect ExamGear, Training Guide Edition’s Online pull-down
of the ExamGear, Training Guide Edition product line, menu and selecting Check For Products Updates. You
feel free to do so. We look forward to hearing from will be taken to a web site with full details.
you. Contact us at the following address or phone
number:
New Riders Publishing Product Suggestions
201 West 103 Street and Comments
Indianapolis, IN 46290
We value your input! Please email your suggestions and
800-545-5914
comments to the following address:
nrfeedback@newriders.com
LICENSE AGREEMENT LICENSE TERM AND CHARGES

YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOW- The term of this license commences upon delivery of
ING TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE the Software to you and is perpetual unless earlier ter-
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AMONG OTHER THINGS, THIS AGREEMENT
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AND CONTAINS WARRANTY AND LIABILITY TITLE
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AGREEING TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS in and to the Software and Documentation shall
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BREAK THE SEAL. YOU SHOULD PROMPTLY vided for your own internal use under this license. This
RETURN THE PACKAGE UNOPENED. license does not include the right to sublicense and is
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1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 587
Index
SYMBOLS Windows 2000, 253-254
Windows NT, 253
addresses, IP (Internet Protocol), 31
8mm tape, 85, 506 adequate cooling, verifying, 152
10 Gig Ethernet, 73 Advanced Attributes dialog box, 289
10BASE2, 69 Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT), 85-86, 472, 506
10BASE5, 69 agents, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 301-306
10BASEF, 70 AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port), 51
10BASET, 69-70, 175 air quality, 332
100BASEF, 72 AIT (Advanced Intelligent Tape), 85-86, 472, 506
100BASET, 72, 175 American National Standards Institute (ANSI), 58
1000BASELX, 73 amount of memory, 53
1000BASESX, 73 analysis, risk, 453-455
1000BASET, 73 anti-theft devices, 344-346
antivirus applications, 117, 223-224
APIPA (Automatic Private IP Addressing), 388
A AppleTalk, 78
appliances, servers, 26
Application log, Windows NT, 370
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP), 51
applications
access. See also physical security
antivirus, 117, 223-224
remote-control remote access techniques, 35
backups, 223
remote-node remote access techniques, 35
configuration, 115
removable media, 346-347
diagnostic. See diagnostic tools
access points (APs), 74
ExamGear, 521
Active Server Pages (ASP), 40
performance-monitoring, 422-427
active study strategies, 520
RAID, 461-466
adapters
searching, 244
adding, 267
server roles, 32
BIOS/firmware, 266
system monitor agents, 224-225
configuring, 268
troubleshooting, 438-439
replacing, 266
vendor-specific management, 115-116
SCSI, 159
Applications log, Windows 2000, 384
server management, 181
applying troubleshooter senses, 363
teaming, 74
architecture
upgrading, 265-267
buses, 48-49
video, 160, 181
SSA (Serial Storage Architecture), 65
adding
archive bits, 288
adapters, 267
arrays
hard drives, 256-259
RAID 5, 204-205
memory, 260-263
SCSI RAID, 259
processors, 248-255
tape, 88
SCSI hard disk drives, 258
ASP (Active Server Pages (ASP), 40
additional memory, installing, 262-263
assigning server roles, 26-28, 30-41
additional processors
asymmetric multiprocessing, 46
installing, 249-253
ATA (AT Attachment), 58-59
operating systems, 253
serial ATA, 60-61
Linux, 255
subsystems, 433
Novell NetWare, 254
upgrading, 256-257
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 588
588 INDEX
Attachment Unit Interface (AUI), 69

attributes, files, 288-289 C
AUI (Attachment Unit Interface), 69
autochangers, tape, 88 cable select (CSEL), 256
Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA), 388 cables, 108
availability, 467-468 crossover, 177
networks, 176-177
SCSI, 158, 258, 503
B server-centric networks, 24
STP (shielded twisted-pair), 176
Token-Ring networks, 176
Backup command (Start menu), 294 Ultra ATA ribbon, 256
Backup Information dialog box, 295 UTP (unshielded twisted-pair), 175-178
backups, 94-95, 158, 471-476, 514 caches, 44-45, 162
executing, 245, 247 Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection
hardware, 82-88 (CSMA/CD), 503
installing, 178, 223 case sensitivity, flags, 372
multiple tape sets, 292-293 categories, network servers, 24-26
operating systems, 294, 296-297 CD-R (CD-Recordable), 507
performing regularly, 286-287 CD-ROM, 106
routines, 293 configuring, 218
strategies, 94-95 installing, 181
types of, 288-291 library server roles, 40
balancing loads, 268 CD-RW (CD-Rewritable), 507
baselines central processing unit (CPU), 481
creating, 297-300 certification, 561-562
implementing after upgrading, 247 CGI (Common Gateway Interface), 40
servers, 228-229 channels, ATA, 256. See also ATA hard disk drives
best practices, ESD (electrostatic discharge), 162, 246 chassises, servers, 155
BIOS (Basic Input Output System), 311 cheapernet, 69
adapters, 266 checklists
upgrading, 198-200, 263-265 installation plans, 149-153
Boggs, Dave, 68 upgrading, 243-247
boot disks, creating, 311 CIFS (Common Internet File System), 66
boot failure, troubleshooting, 438 Citrix Metaframe web site, 36
bottlenecks client/server networks. See also networks
disk subsystems, 429-430 identifying, 23
memory, 428-429 roles, 32
processors, 427-428 SNMP management systems, 301-302
bridges, 76 clustering, 92-93, 208, 464-466
buses, 164 cold sites, 481
roles, 29 combinations
BTUs (British Thermal Units), 328 differential/full backups, 290
buffered memory, 56-57 incremental/full backups, 291
buses command line window, 288
AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port), 51 commands
bridged, 164 IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 407-409
IBA (InfiniBand Architecture), 52 Linux
identifying, 46-52 ifconfig, 402
installing, 163 iostat, 426
PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect), 50 man, 423
peer, 163 netstat, 402-405
system, 500 ping, 405-406
transfer rates, 47 ps, 426
sar, 424
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 589
INDEX 589
traceroute, 406 installing, 181-182

vmstat, 425 NIC fail overs, 92
NetWare, 401 power supplies, 90
ping, 216, 436-437 SCSI, 173-175
Start menu, Backup, 294 servers, 179, 181
system shutdown, 409-414 upgrading, 243-247
UNIX CompTIA (Computing and Technology Association), 561
ifconfig, 402 computer data centers, 325, 340-344
iostat, 426 Computer Management, Windows 2000, 381-382
man, 423 Computing and Technology Association (CompTIA), 561
netstat, 402-405 config command (NetWare), 401
ping, 405-406 configuration
ps, 426 adapters, 268
sar, 424 applications, 115
traceroute, 406 backups. See backups
vmstat, 425 baselines, 297-300
Windows 2000 boot disks, 311
ipconfig, 385-386 CD-ROM, 218
nbtstat, 387-388 drivers, 220
netdiag, 388-391 EISA, 271
netstat, 392-393 event logs, 225
nslookup, 394-395 external disk subsystems, 217-218
pathping, 398-399 hardware, 185, 511-512
ping, 395-397 hardware-based RAID, 200-207
tracert, 397-398 log files, 299
Windows NT misconfigurations, 431-438
ipconfig, 371-372 network servers, 198-200, 230
nbtstat, 372-373 NOS (Network Operating System), 215-216
netstat, 374-375 peripherals, 216-219
nslookup, 376-377 RAID configuration utility, 259
ping, 377-378 SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 222-223
tracert, 378-379 agents, 305-306
Common Gateway Interface (CGI), 40 MIB (Management Information Base), 303
Common Internet File System (CIFS), 66 security parameters, 305
communities, SNMP (Simple Network Management thresholds, 300-302
Protocol), 304 tracking traffic, 306-307
comparisons, performance, 297-300 swap files, 225
compatibility IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 227-228
hardware, 148 Linux, 227
Travan, 506 Novell NetWare, 227
upgrading memory, 262 Windows 2000, 226-227
components Windows NT, 226
bottlenecks TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), 215
disk subsystems, 429-430 UPS (uninterruptible power supply), 218-219
memory, 428-429 confirmation of upgrades, 246
network subsystems, 430 connections
processors, 427-428 bridges, 29
troubleshooting, 422-427 hubs, 177
FRUs (field replaceable units), 415-416 networks, 153
hardware, 153-160 USB (Universal Serial Bus), 157
redundancy, 89, 463-464 verifying, 216
fail overs, 91 connectors
fans, 90 SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), 258
hot plugging, 91 STP (shielded twisted-pair), 176
hot spares, 91 UTP (unshielded twisted-pair), 175
hot swapping, 91 contents, identifying, 362-363
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 590
590 INDEX
controllers system shutdown, 409-414

RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks), 159, 266 UNIX, 402-406
video, 104 web sites, 419-420
cooling Windows 2000
fans, 182 Computer Management, 381-382
racking servers, 109 Event Viewer, 382-384
verifying, 152 ipconfig command, 385-386
copy backups, 289 nbtstat command, 387-388
cpio utility, 296-297 netdiag command, 388-391
CPU (central processing unit), 481 netstat command, 392-393
crossover cables, 177 nslookup command, 394-395
CSEL (cable select), 256 pathping command, 398-399
CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision ping command, 395, 397
Detection), 503 Task Manager, 379-381
tracert command, 397-398
Windows NT, 365, 371
D Diagnostics (MSD.EXE), 367-368
ipconfig command, 371-372
nbtstat command, 372-373
daily backups, 289. See also backups netstat command, 374-375
DAT (Digital Audio Tape), 86 nslookup command, 376-377
Data Link Control (DLC), 79 ping command, 377-378
databases Task Manager, 365-366
MIB (Management Information Base), 303 tracert command, 378-379
server roles, 32 Diagnostics (MSD.EXE), Windows NT, 367-368
DDNS (Dynamic DNS), 37 dialog boxes
DDR (double data rate (DDR) DRAM), 56 Advanced Attributes, 289
DDS (Digital Data Storage), 472 Backup Information, 295
dedicated application models, 32 Run (Windows NT), 369
departmental servers, 25 System Properties, 309
Desktop Management Interface (DMI), 79-80 Windows 2000 Server UPS Configuration, 219
determining problems, 361. See also troubleshooting DIFF (differential) signaling systems, 170
applying senses, 363 differential backups, 288-289, 474, 514. See also backups
identifying contacts, 362-363 Digital Audio Tape (DAT), 86, 506-507
questioning techniques, 362 Digital Data Storage (DDS), 472
Device Manager, 309 Digital linear Tape (DLT), 87, 472, 507
devices DIMMs (dual in-line memory modules), 54, 263
anti-theft, 344-346 direct memory access channels (DMA), 214
networks, 76-77 direct Rambus (RDRAM), 54-56
peripheral, 268 directory services server roles, 40-41
removable media, 346-347 disaster recovery, 103, 452. See also troubleshooting
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), 38 backing up data, 471-476
diagnostic partitions, 271 creating plans, 452-468
diagnostic tools, 270, 364-365 fault tolerance/recovery, 470-471
documentation, 417 hot swapping, 468-469
Event Viewer, 369-370 network servers, 517-518
FRUs (field replaceable units), 415-416 servers, 480-481
IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 407-409 testing, 477-479
Linux, 402-406 disk drives, 88, 480
logs, 416-417 Disk Operating System (DOS), 207
Novell NetWare, 399-401 disks
remote, 421 backups, 291
replacing hardware, 415 boot, 311
resources, 420-421 cluster, 208
selecting, 414 drives, 156, 431
support, 417-419 duplexing, 204-205
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 591
INDEX 591
external subsytems, 217-218

mirroring, 203-204 E
partitions, 202
SCSI, 168-175 EDO (extended data out) DRAM, 55
stripping, 203 EEC (Error Correction Code), 56
subsystems, 58 EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only
bottlenecks, 429-430 Memory), 264
EIDE (Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics), 59, 167-168 EIA (Electronic Industry Association) rack units, 107
Fibre Channel, 65 EIA/TIA (Electronics Industry Association / Telecommunications
IDE/ATA (Integrated Drive Electronics/AT Attachment), Industry Association), 71
58-59, 166 EIDE (Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics), 59
installing, 166-175 EIDE/ATA disks, 167-168
NAS (Network-Attached Storage), 66-68 EISA (Extended Industry Standard Architecture)
S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting buses, 49
Technology), 64-65 configuration, 271
SAN (storage area network), 66 Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory
SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), 62, 64 (EEPROM), 264
serial ATA, 60-61 Electronic Industry Association. See EIA
SSA (Serial Storage Architecture), 65 Electronics Industry Association / Telecommunications Industry
Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA, 59 Association (EIA/TIA), 71
distributed application model, 33 electrostatic discharge (ESD), 161-162, 246
DIX connectors, 69 Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics (EIDE), 59
DLC (Data Link Control), 79 enterprise servers, 26
DLT (Digital Linear Tape), 87, 472, 507 environments, 324
DMA (direct memory access channels), 214 network servers, 515
DMI (Desktop Management Interface), 80, 505 open-office, 324-325
DNS (Domain Name System), 37-38 physical, 307
documentation, 117, 417 ERD (Error Recovery Disk), 295
hardware configuration, 185 errors. See also diagnostics; troubleshooting
installation, 148-153 interpreting, 416-417
network server configuration, 230 memory checking, 56
specification, 325-327 ESD (electrostatic discharge), 161-162, 246, 331
upgrades, 247 establishing remote notification, 313-314
Domain Name System (DNS), 37-38 Ethernets, 68-71. See also networks
DOS (Disk Operating System), 207 10 Gig Ethernet, 73
double data rate (DDR) DRAM), 56 Fast Ethernet, 71-72
downtime, scheduling, 245 Gigabit Ethernet, 72
DRAM (dynamic random access memory), 44 installing, 175
drivers, configuring, 220 Event Viewer
drives Windows 2000, 382-384
CD-ROM, 106 Windows NT, 369-370
disk, 431, 480 events
disks, 156 configuring event logs, 225
DVD-ROM, 106 interpreting, 416-417
floppy disk, 106 ExamGear, 521
hard drives, 256-259 exams
Mammoth, 472 certification, 561-562
tape, 82-88 learning process, 519
dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs), 54 pre-testing, 521
duplexing, 98-99, 204-205, 457 prep tips, 521-522
DVD-ROM drives, 106, 181 scores, 522
Dynamic DNS (DDNS), 37 sessions, 522-523
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), 38 SK0-001, 561-562
dynamic random access memory (DRAM, 44 study tips, 520
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 592
592 INDEX
execution swap, 53, 221

full system backups, 245, 247 configuring, 225
scheduling backups, 290-291 IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 227-228
server baselines, 228-229 Linux, 227
existing arrays, adding hard drives, 259 Novell NetWare, 227
existing memory, testing, 260 Windows 2000, 226-227
extended data out (EDO) DRAM, 55 Windows NT, 226
Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA), 49 system. See file system
buses, 49 fire suppression, 335-336
configuration, 271 firewalls, 30. See also security
external CD-ROM systems, configuring, 218 FireWire, 105, 508
external disk subsystems, configuring, 217-218 firmware
external peripheral devices, upgrading, 268 adapters, 266
external peripherals, configuring, 216-219 levels, 198-200
upgrading, 263-265
fixpacs, 220
F flags, 372
flash BIOS, 199, 264-265. See also BIOS
flooding, 336
fail overs, 91-92 floppy disk drives, 106
fans, 90 folder backups. See backups
FAQ (frequently asked question), 244-245 form factors, memory, 54-55
Fast Ethernet, 71-72. See also Ethernet; networks formatting disaster recovery plans, 457-468
FAT (File Allocation Table), 111, 207 backing up data, 471-476
fault tolerance, 95, 470-471, 507 fault tolerance/recovery, 470-471
RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks), 96-99 hot swapping, 468-469
UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), 96 restoring servers, 480-481
fax server roles, 37 testing, 477-479
FC-AL (Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop), 65, 159, 175, 503 frames, 29
FCIA (Fibre Channel Industry Association), 65 frequently asked question (FAQ), 244-245
feasibility, upgrading memory, 261 frontside buses, 47
Fibre Channel, 65 FRUs (field replaceable units), 415-416
Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop. See FC-AL FTP (File transfer Protocol), 34
Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA), 65 full system backups, executing, 245-247. See also backups
Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL), 159
field replaceable units (FRUs), 415-416
File Allocation Table (FAT), 111, 207
file systems, 207 G-H
IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 213
Linux, 212 gang of nine, 49
Novell NetWare, 210-211 gateway servers, 28
UNIX, 211 Gigabit Ethernet, 72
Windows 2000, 209-210
Windows NT 4.0, 208 HAL (hardware abstraction layer), 253
File Transfer Protocol (FTP), 34 halon replacements, 335
files hard drives
attributes, 288-289 adding, 256-259
backups. See backups backups, 291
event logs, 225 hardware
Linux anti-theft devices, 344-346
backups, 296 backup, 82-88
/proc, 310 bottlenecks
log, 299 disk subsystems, 429-430
paging, 53, 221 memory, 428-429
server roles, 36 network subsystems, 430
processors, 427-428
troubleshooting, 422-427
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 593
INDEX 593
components, 153-160 HPTR (High-Speed Token Ring), 73

configuration, 185, 511-512 HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), 39
installing, 147, 161, 509-511 HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), 39
backups, 178 hubs, 76, 177
buses, 163 humidity, 331
disk subsystems, 166-175 HVD (high-voltage differential), 170, 502
ESD (electrostatic discharge), 161-162 hygrometer, 363
memory, 164 Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), 39
network subsystems, 175-178 Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), 39
operating system compatibility, 148
planning, 147-148
processors, 162-163
redundant components, 181-182
I
server components, 179, 181
server-racks, 182-183 I2O (Intelligent Input/Output), 51
UPS (uninterruptible power supply), 178 IBA (InfiniBand Architecture), 52
verifying planning, 148 IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 113-114
visiting installation sites, 149-153 diagnostic tools, 407, 409
network servers, 104-106 file systems, 213
proactive maintenance, 514-515 network diagnostic tools, 407-409
RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks). See hardware- newsgroups, 418
based RAID; RAID swap files, 227-228
replacing, 415 system shutdown, 414
scalability, 93 IDE/ATA (Integrated Drive Electronics/AT Attachment), 58-59,
troubleshooting, 438-439 166, 257
upgrading, 243-247, 513 identifying
values, 311-313 bottlenecks, 422-430
vendor-specific management, 116 buses, 46-52
verifying, 308, 311-313 contents, 362-363
web sites, 419 FRUs (field replaceable units), 415-416
hardware abstraction layer (HAL), 253 hardware vales, 311-313
hardware device module (HDM), 51 Intel processors, 41-46
hardware-based RAID networks
configuring, 200-202 appliance servers, 26
RAID 0 configuration, 203 assigning server roles, 26-41
RAID 0/1 configuration, 205-207 departmental servers, 25
RAID 1 configuration, 203-205 enterprise servers, 26
RAID 5 configuration, 204-205 server categories, 24
HBA (host bus adapter), 159 workgroup servers, 25
HD (high density), 62 peer-to-peer networks, 23
HDM (hardware device module), 51 server-centric networks, 24
hertz, 47 IEEE 1394 (FireWire), 105
high availability, 94, 467-468, 508 ifconfig command
high density (HD, 62 IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 408
High Performance File System (HPFS), 114, 213 Linux, 402
High-Speed Token Ring (HPTR), 73 UNIX, 402
high-voltage differential (HVD), 170, 502 IIS (internet Information Server), 34
host bus adapter (HBA), 159 IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), 33
hosts, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 302-304 implementation of baselines, 247
hot plugging, 90-91 incremental backups, 288-289, 474, 514
hot sites, 481 Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), 48
hot spares, 91 InfiniBand Architecture (IBA), 52
hot swappable power supplies, 90 InfiniBand Trade Association, 52
hot swapping, 91, 468-469 Information technology (IT), 363
HPFS (High Performance File System), 114, 213 infrastructure, server-centric networks, 24
input/output processors (IOPs), 51
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 594
594 INDEX
installation, 147 Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), 33

additional memory, 262-263 Internet Packet eXchange/Sequenced Packet eXchange
additional processors, 249—253 (IPX/SPX), 77
antivirus applications, 223-224 Internet service provider (ISP), 363
backup applications, 223 interoperability, 257
CD-ROM drives, 181 interpreting logs, 416-417
DVD-ROM drives, 181 interrupt requests (IRQ), 214
Ethernets, 175 instructions, viewing, 244-245
hardware. See hardware, installing IOPs (input/output processors), 51
keyboards, 179 iostat command (UNIX/Linux), 426
monitors, 179 IP (Internet Protocol), 31
mouse, 179 ipconfig command
NOS (Network Operating System), 207-215 Windows 2000, 385-386
operating parameters, 325, 327 Windows NT, 371-372
air quality, 332 IPX/SPX (Internet Packet eXchange/Sequenced Packet
ESD (electrostatic discharge), 331, 337 eXchange), 77
fire suppression, 335-336 IPXCON command (NetWare), 401
flooding, 336 IRQ (interrupt requests), 214
humidity, 331 ISA (Industry Standard Architecture), 48
monitoring server states, 338 ISP (Internet service provider), 363
power lines, 332-334 Itanium processors, 44
temperature, 328-332
physical security, 339
anti-theft devices, 344-346
computer data centers, 340-344
J-K-L
removable media, 346-347
planning, 118, 124, 128, 147-148. See also Planning and JFS (Journal File System), 114, 213
Specifications Job Dimension 0, 498-509
verifying, 148 Journal File System. See JFS
visiting installation sites, 149-153 keyboard/video/mouse. See KVM
power-on tests, 184 keyboards, 105, 157
SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), 173-175 installing, 179
server management adapters, 181 racking servers, 109
service monitor agents, 224-225 KVM (keyboard, video mouse), 105-108, 160, 183
service tools, 221-227
SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 222-223 LAN (local area network), 28
Token-Ring networks, 176 LANalyzer, 401
vendor-specific, 115 latest applications, searching, 244
video adapters, 181 layouts, racking servers, 108. See also configuration
instances, 299 learning process, 519
Integrated Drive Electronics. See IDE/ATA Leibert, 328
Intel processors, 41 libraries, tape, 88
caches, 44-45 lien conditioning, 334
Itanium, 44 Linear Tape-Open (LTO), 87, 507
Pentium 4, 43 Linux, 113, 509
Pentium II, 42 backups, 296-297
Pentium II Xeon, 42 diagnostic tools, 401-406
Pentium III, 43 file systems, 212
Pentium III Xeon, 43 hardware, 310
Pentium Pro, 42 iostat command, 426
SMP (symmetric multiprocessing), 46 man command, 423
S-spec numbers, 252 network diagnostic tools, 402-406
Intelligent Input/Output (I2O), 51 newsgroups, 419
interleaving memory, 53 processors, 255
internal peripheral devices, upgrading, 268 ps command, 426
Internet Information Server (IIS), 34 sar command, 424
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 595
INDEX 595
swap files, 227 Management Information Base (MIB), 80, 223, 303
system shutdown, 413-414 matching
vmstat command, 425 backup types, 290-291
load balance, 268, 301 memory, 165
local area network (LAN), 28 processors, 162-163
local buses, 49-50 MBps (megabytes per second), 59
locks, 342. See also security ME (Millennium Edition), 23
Logical Unit Number (LUN), 218 media backups, 291-296. See also backups
logs megabytes per second (MBps), 59
events, 225 megahertz (MHz), 47
files, 299 memory, 52, 156, 480
interpreting, 416-417 adapters, 265-266
NetWare, 400 adding, 260-263
upgrading, 247 amount of, 53
loops, Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop disk system, 175 bottlenecks, 428-429
Low-Voltage Differential (LVD), 62, 170, 502 buses, 47
LTO (Linear Tape-Open), 87 error checking, 56
LUN (logical Unit Number), 218 installing, 164
LVD (Low-Voltage Differential), 62, 170, 502 interleaving, 53
speed, 165
types, 53
M form factors, 54-55
matching, 165
technologies, 55-57
Macintosh, AppleTalk, 78 virtual, 53
macro study strategies, 520 Memory-In-Cassette (MIC), 85, 506
magic packets, 75 messages, error, 416-417
mail server roles, 33 Metcalfe, Bob, 68
maintenance, 514-515. See also troubleshooting MHz (megahertz), 47
networks, 286 MIB (Management Information Base), 80, 223, 303
baselines, 297-300 MIC (Memory-In-Cassette), 85, 506
multiple tape sets, 292-293 Micro Channel Architecture, 48
operating systems, 294-297 micro study strategies, 520
performing regular backups, 286-287 Microsoft Management Console (MMC), 382
routines, 293 Millennium Edition (ME), 23
types of backups, 288-291 minix, 212
operating parameters, 325-327 mirrored pairs, 457
air quality, 332 mirrored striped arrays, 459
ESD (electrostatic discharge), 331, 337 mirroring disks, 203-204
fire suppression, 335-336 misconfigurations, troubleshooting, 431-438. See also
flooding, 336 configuration
humidity, 331 mixing backup types, 290-291. See also backups
monitoring server states, 338 MMC (Microsoft Management Console), 382
power lines, 332-334 models
temperature, 328-332 dedicated application, 32
physical environments, 307 distributed application, 33
physical security, 339 peer-to-peer application, 33
anti-theft devices, 344-346 modems, 106, 160
computer data centers, 340-344 MONITOR.NLM (Novell NetWare), 400-401
removable media, 346-347 monitors, 157
Mammoth drives, 472 installing, 179
man command (UNIX/Linux), 423 racking servers, 109
management server states, 338
cables, 108 SNMP agents, 305-306
networks, 79-81, 114-118 system performance, 298-300
SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 222-223, video, 104
301-302
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 596
596 INDEX
mouse, 106, 157, 179 networks

MSAU (multi station access unit), 74, 176 bottlenecks
MSD.EXE (Windows NT Diagnostics), 367-368 disk subsystems, 429-430
multiple NICs, 75 memory, 428-429
multiprocessor-capable networks servers, installing additional network subsystems, 430
processors, 249-253 processors, 427-428
multi-station access unit (MSAU), 74, 176 troubleshooting, 422-427
multiple processor operating systems bridges, 29
Linux, 255 buses, 46-52
Novell NetWare, 254 cabling, 176-177
upgrading, 253 connections, 153
Windows 2000, 253-254 disaster recovery, 103, 517-518
Windows NT, 253 environments, 515
multiple tape sets, 292-293 hard drives, 256-259
hardware
configuring, 511-512
N installing, 509-511
upgrading, 513
IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 407-409
(N+1) stepping, 163 identifying, 23
names, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 304 infrastructure, 24
namespaces, MIB (Management Information Base), 303 Linux, 402-406
NAS (Network-Attached Storage), 66-68, 503 Novell NetWare diagnostic tools, 401
NAT (Network Address Translation), 30-31 operating systems, 110-114
NBNS (NetBIOS Name Server), 38 peer-to-peer, 23
nbtstat command proactive maintenance, 286, 514-515
Windows 2000, 387-388 baselines, 297-300
Windows NT, 372-373 multiple tape sets, 292-293
NetBIOS Name Server (NBNS), 38 operating systems, 294-297
netdiag command (Windows 2000), 388-391 performing regular backups, 286-287
netstat command routines, 293
IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 408 types of backups, 288-291
Linux, 402-405 server-centric, 24
UNIX, 402-405 servers
Windows 2000, 392-393 appliances, 26
Windows NT, 374-375 departmental, 25
NetWare, 111, 509 documenting configuration, 230
diagnostic tools, 399-401 enterprise, 26
file systems, 210-211 hardware, 104-106
newsgroups, 419 high availability, 94
processors, 254 identifying categories, 24
swap files, 227 installing, 118, 124, 128
system shutdown, 411 managing, 114-118
NetWare File System (NWFS), 111, 210 roles, 26-41
Network Address Translation (NAT), 30-31 scalability, 93
Network File System (NFS), 66 workgroups, 25
network interface card. See NIC subsystems, 175-178
Network Operating System (NOS) systems, 68
configuring, 215 10 Gig Ethernet, 73
installing, 207-213, 215 devices, 76-77
updating, 220 Ethernet, 68-71
verifying connectivity, 216 Fast Ethernet, 71-72
Network-Attached Storage (NAS), 66-68, 503 Gigabit Ethernet, 72
management, 79-81
NICs (Network Interface Cards), 74-75
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 597
INDEX 597
protocols, 77-79
Token Ring, 73-74 O
wireless, 74
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), objectives
434-438 adapters, 265-267
troubleshooting, 434, 515-517 applications, 438-439
UNIX, 402-406 backups
upgrading, 243-247 hardware, 82-88
web sites, 419 performing regularly, 286
Windows 2000 strategies, 94-95
ipconfig command, 385-386 baselines, 297-300
nbtstat command, 387-388 BIOS (Basic Input Output System), 198-200, 263-265
netdiag command, 388-391 bottlenecks
netstat command, 392-393 disk subsystems, 429-430
nslookup command, 394-395 memory, 428-429
pathping command, 398-399 network subsystems, 430
ping command, 395-397 processors, 427-428
tracert command, 397-398 troubleshooting, 422-427
Windows NT buses, 46-52
diagnostic tools, 371 diagnostic tools, 364-372, 376-379
ipconfig command, 371-372 disaster recovery, 103, 452
nbtstat command, 372-373 disk drives, 88
netstat command, 374-375 disk subsystems, 58
nslookup command, 376-377 EIDE, 59
ping command, 377-378 Fibre Channel, 65
tracert command, 378-379 IDE/ATA, 58-59
newsgroups NAS, 66-68
IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 418 S.M.A.R.T., 64-65
Linux, 419 SAN, 66
Novell NetWare, 419 SCSI, 62, 64
UNIX, 419 serial ATA, 60-61
Windows NT/2000, 418-419 SSA, 65
NFS (Network File System), 66 Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA, 59
NIC (network interface cards), 176, 481 drivers, 220
fail overs, 92 external peripherals, 216-219
redundant, 182 fault tolerance, 95
to hub cabling, 177 RAID, 96-99
NOS (Network Operating System) UPS, 96
configuring, 215 full system backups, 247. See also backups
installing, 207-215 hard drives, 256-259
updating, 220 hardware, 104-106
verifying connectivity, 216 installing, 161
notification, establishing, 313-314 troubleshooting, 438-439
Novell NetWare. See NetWare verifying, 308
Novell Storage Services (NSS), 210 hardware-based RAID
Novell’s Directory Service (NDS), 111 configuring, 200-202
nslookup command RAID 0 configuration, 203
Windows 2000, 394-395 RAID 0/1 configuration, 205-207
Windows NT, 376-377 RAID 1 configuration, 203-205
NSS (Novell Storage Services), 210 RAID 5 configuration, 204-205
NT File System (NTFS), 111, 208 high availability, 94
NTBACKUP.EXE, 294 Intel processors, 41
NTFS (NT File System), 111, 208 caches, 44-45
NWFS (NetWare File System), 111, 210 Itanium, 44
NWLink, 78 Pentium 4, 43
Pentium II, 42
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 598
598 INDEX
Pentium II Xeon, 42 racking servers, 107

Pentium III, 43 cables, 108
Pentium III Xeon, 43 cooling, 109
Pentium Pro, 42 EIA rack units, 107
SMP (symmetric multiprocessing), 46 keyboards/trackballs, 109
memory, 52 KVM switches, 108
adding, 260-263 layout, 108
amount of, 53 monitors, 109
form factors, 54-55 security, 108
interleaving, 53 UPS, 109
technologies, 55-57 redundant components, 89
types, 53 fail overs, 91
network server management, 114-118 fans, 90
network systems, 68 hot plugging, 91
10 Gig Ethernet, 73 hot spares, 91
devices, 76-77 hot swapping, 91
Ethernet, 68-71 NIC fail overs, 92
Fast Ethernet, 71-72 power supplies, 90
Gigabit Ethernet, 72 remote notification, 313-314
management, 79-81 scalability, 93
NICs (Network Interface Cards), 74-75 servers
protocols, 77-79 baselines, 228-229
Token Ring, 73-74 clustering, 92-93
wireless, 74 restoring, 480
networks service tools
assigning server roles, 26-41 installing, 221-227
departmental, 25 upgrading, 270-271
enterprise, 26 SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 300
identifying, 23 system monitoring agents, 269
peer-to-peer, 23 upgrades, 431-438
servers, 24-26 UPS (uninterruptible power supply), 271-273
workgroups, 25 viruses, 438-439
NOS (Network Operating System) objects, MIB (Management Information Base), 303
configuring, 215 obtaining certification, 561-562
installing, 207-215 open-office environment, 324
updating, 220 computer data centers, 325
verifying connectivity, 216 server rooms, 324
operating systems, 110 operating parameters, 325, 327
IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 113-114 air quality, 332
Linux, 113 ESD (electrostatic discharge), 331, 337
Novell NetWare, 111 fire suppression, 335-336
UNIX, 112-113 flooding, 336
Windows 2000, 112 humidity, 331
Windows NT, 111 monitoring server states, 338
outlines, 520 power lines, 332-334
peripheral devices, 268 temperature, 328-330, 332
physical environments, 307 operating systems, 509
physical security, 339 backups, 294, 296-297
planning installations, 118, 124, 128 hardware compatibility, 148
pre-installation planning, 147 IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 418
problem determination, 361 Linux
applying senses, 363 newsgroups, 419
identifying contacts, 362-363 processors, 255
questioning techniques, 362 newsgroups, 418
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 599
INDEX 599
NOS (Network Operating Systems), 110-114 peer buses, 163

configuring, 215 peer-to-peer application model, 33
installing, 207-215 peer-to-peer networks, 23
updating, 220 Pentium 4 processors, 43
verifying connectivity, 216 Pentium II processors, 42
Novell NetWare Pentium II Xeon processors, 42
newsgroups, 419 Pentium III processors, 43
processors, 254 Pentium III Xeon processors, 43
system shutdown, 409-410 Pentium Pro processors, 42
IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 414 performance
Linux, 413-414 comparing, 297-300
Novell NetWare, 411 monitoring applications, 422-427
UNIX, 412 Performance tool, 298-300
Windows 2000, 411 Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), 50
Windows NT, 410-411 peripheral devices
UNIX, 419 configuring, 216-219
upgrading, 253 upgrading, 268
web sites, 420 physical environment maintenance, 307
Windows 2000 physical security
newsgroups, 418-419 anti-theft devices, 344-346
processors, 253-254 computer data centers, 340-344
Windows NT removable media, 346-347
newsgroups, 418-419 ping command, 216, 436-437
processors, 253 IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 407
options, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 305 Linux, 405-406
OSM (OS-specific module), 51 UNIX, 405-406
outlines, preparing, 520 Windows 2000, 395-397
Windows NT, 377-378
PIO (programmed input/output), 59
P planning
disaster recovery, 103
backing up data, 471-476
paging files, 53, 221. See also swap files creating, 452-468
Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), 68 fault tolerance/recovery, 470-471
parameters hot swapping, 468-469
operating, 325-327 restoring servers, 480-481
air quality, 332 testing, 477-479
ESD, 331, 337 installation, 118, 124, 128
fire suppression, 335-336 pre-installation, 147-148
flooding, 336 hardware components, 153-160
humidity, 331 operating system compatibility, 148
monitoring server states, 338 verifying, 148
power lines, 332-334 visiting installation sites, 149-153
temperature, 328-332 Planning and Specifications, 498-509
security, 305 Plug and Play adapters, 268
UPS (uninterruptible power supply), 218-219 policies, backups, 293
PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), 68 POP (Post Office Protocol), 33
partial backups, 289 ports, uplink, 177
partitions, 202 POST (Power-On Self-Test), 438
backups, 291 Post Office Protocol (POP), 33
diagnostic, 271 power lines, 332-334
patches, 220 power sources, verifying, 149-153
pathping command (Windows 2000), 398-399 power supplies, 90, 181
PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect), 50 Power-On Self-Test (POST), 438
PCI-X specification, 50 power-on tests, 184
adapters, 267
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 600
600 INDEX
pre-installation, 147 questions

hardware, 148 exams, 522
planning, 147-160 techniques, 362
pre-testing, 521 queues, processors, 428
prep tips, 521-522
preparing outlines, 520 racking servers, 107, 155, 182-183
print server roles, 36 cables, 108
private IP addresses, 31 cooling, 109
proactive maintenance, 514-515. See also maintenance EIA rack units, 107
baselines, 297-300 keyboards/trackballs, 109
multiple tape sets, 292-293 KVM switches, 108
operating systems, 294-297 layout, 108
performing regular backups, 286-287 monitors, 109
routines, 293 security, 108
types of backups, 288-291 UPS (uninterruptible power supply), 109
problem determination, 361. See also troubleshooting RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks), 286, 508
applying senses, 363 BIOS, 200
identifying contacts, 362-363 characteristics, 512
questioning techniques, 362 configuration utility, 259
Process Manager, IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 407 controllers, 159, 266
processors, 156 hardware-based. See hardware-based RAID
adding, 248-255 SCSI arrays, 259
bottlenecks, 427-428 types, 456-463
caches, 162 raised floors, 329
installing, 162-163 RAM (random access memory), 52. See also memory
Intel, 41-46 Rambus direct random access memory (RDRAM), 55
IOPs (input/output processors), 51 random access memory. See RAM
queue length, 428 RAS (remote access server), 35
replacing, 248-249 RDISK.EXE, 295
speed, 162 RDRAM (Rambus direct random access memory), 55-56
stepping, 163 recovery, disaster. See disaster recovery
/proc files (Linux), 310 RedHat Linux, upgrading, 255. See also Linux
programmed input/output (PIO), 59 redundancy, 455. See also redundant components
protocols components, 463-464
AppleTalk, 78 RAID types, 456-463
DLC (Data Link Control), 79 Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. See RAID
FTP (File Transfer Protocol), 34 redundant components, 89
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), 39 fail overs, 91
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), 33 fans, 90
networks, 77-79 hot plugging, 91
POP (Post Office Protocol), 33 hot spares, 91
SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), 33 hot swapping, 91
SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 79, 300-307 installing, 181-182
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), 77 NIC (Network Interface Card), 92, 182
configuring, 215 power supplies, 90
troubleshooting, 434-438 registered memory, 56-57
proxy server roles, 31 Registry
ps command (UNIX/Linux), 426 backing up, 223
backups, 295-296
regular backups. See also backups; maintenance
multiple tape sets, 292-293
Q-R performing, 286-287
routines, 293
QIC (Quarter Inch Cartridge), 82, 506 types of, 288-291
queries, SNMP agents, 302 regular maintenance, 307
remote access server (RAS), 35
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 601
INDEX 601
remote notification, establishing, 313-314

remote troubleshooting, 421 S
remote-control remote access techniques, 35
remote-node remote access techniques, 35 S-spec numbers, 252
removable media S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting
backups, 291-293 Technology), 64-65
limiting access, 346-347 SAF-TE (SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosures), 79-81
repeaters, 76 SAN (storage area network), 66, 503
replacing sar command (UNIX/Linux), 424
adapters, 266 SASI (Shugart Associates Systems Interface), 61
FRUs (field replaceable units), 415-416 scalability, 93, 466-467, 507
hardware, 415 scheduling
processors, 248-249 backups, 290-291
SCSI hard disk drives, 258 downtime, 245
UPS (uninterruptible power supply), 272-273 score, exams, 522
resources, troubleshooting, 420-421 SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), 62, 64
restoring adapters, 159, 265
backups, 290-291 cables, 158, 503
servers, 480-481 controller BIOS, 199-200
reviewing upgrades, 247 disks, 168-171, 173
risk analysis, 453-455 hard disk drives, 258
roles IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 disk drives, 257
application servers, 32 installing, 173-175
bridges, 29 RAID arrays, 259
CD-ROM library servers, 40 subsystems, 432
client/server networks, 32 versions, 502
database servers, 32 SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosures (SAF-TE), 79-81
DHCP servers, 38 SCSI Enclosure Services (SES), 79, 81
directory services servers, 40-41 SCSI-1, 170
DNS servers, 37-38 SCSI-2, 171
fax servers, 37 SCSI-3, 173
file servers, 36 SDRAM (synchronous DRAM), 55
firewalls, 30 SE (single-ended) signaling systems, 170
FTP servers, 34 searching applications, 244
mail servers, 33 security
NAT (Network Address Translation), 30-31 peer-to-peer networks, 23
print servers, 36 physical security, 339
proxy servers, 31 anti-theft devices, 344-346
RAS (remote access server), 35 computer data centers, 340-344
routers, 28-29 removable media, 346-347
servers, 26-28, 30-41 racking servers, 108
SNA, 34-35 SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 30, 304
terminal servers, 36 Security log
video servers, 40 Windows 2000, 384
web servers, 39 Windows NT, 370
WINS servers, 38 selecting
rooms diagnostic tools, 414
computer data centers, 325 RAID types, 461
physical security, 340-344 Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology
servers, 324 (S.M.A.R.T.), 64-65
rotation, tape, 474 serial ATA, 60-61
routers, 28-29, 77 Serial Storage Architecture (SSA), 65, 503
routines, backups, 293 server-centric networks, identifying, 23-24
RRAS (Routing and Remote Access Service), 29 servers
Run dialog box (Windows NT), 369 application roles, 32
baselines, 228-229
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 602
602 INDEX
bottlenecks, 422-430 monitors, 109

buses, 46-52 security, 108
CD-ROM library roles, 40 UPS (uninterruptible power supply), 109
chassises, 155 restoring, 480-481
clustering, 92-93 rooms, 324
components, 179-181 SNA roles, 34-35
database roles, 32 SOHO (Small Office Home Office), 25
DDNS (Dynamic DNS), 37 support utilities, 271
DHCP roles, 38 terminal roles, 36
directory service roles, 40-41 troubleshooting, 515-517
disaster recovery, 103, 517-518 upgrading, 243-247
environments, 515 video roles, 40
air quality, 332 web roles, 39
ESD (electrostatic discharge), 331, 337 web sites, 419
fire suppression, 335-336 Windows 2000, 295-296
flooding, 336 Windows NT backups, 294
humidity, 331 WINS roles, 38
monitoring server states, 338 services
operating parameters, 325-327 SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 301
power lines, 332-334 service packs, 220
temperature, 328-332 tools
fax roles, 37 installing, 221-227
file roles, 36 upgrading, 270-271
FTP (File Transfer Protocol), 34 SES (SCSI Enclosure Services), 79, 81
gateways, 28 sessions, exam, 522-523
hard drives, 256-259 shell sites, 481
hardware, 509-513 shielded twisted-pair (STP), 176, 504
IIS (Internet Information Server), 34 Shugart Associates Systems Interface (SASI), 61
installing, 147-160 shutdown, 409-414
management adapters, 181 signaling systems, 170
NBNS (NetBIOS Name Server), 38 SIMMs (single in-line memory modules), 54
networks, 118, 124, 128 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), 33
appliances, 26 Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), 79, 505
departmental, 25 single in-line memory modules (SIMMs), 54
documenting configuration, 230 single processors, upgrading, 248-249
enterprise, 26 single-ended (SE) signaling systems, 170
hardware, 104-106 SK0-001 exam, 561-562
high availability, 94 Small Computer System Interface. See SCSI
identifying categories, 24 Small Office Home Office (SOHO), 25
managing, 114-118 SMP (symmetric multiprocessing), 46, 113
roles, 26-41 SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), 33
scalability, 93 SNA (System Network Architecture), 28, 34-35
workgroups, 25 SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 79,
open-office environment, 324-325 222-223, 505
power-on tests, 184 SOHO (Small Office Home Office), 25
print roles, 36 source files, backups, 296
proactive maintenance, 514-515 specification documents, 325, 327. See also documentation
proxy server roles, 31 specifications
racking, 107 PCI-X, 50
cables, 108 Planning and Specifications, 498-509
cooling, 109 speed
EIA rack unkits, 107 memory, 165
installing racks, 155, 182-183 processors, 162
keyboards/trackballs, 109 SRAM (static random access memory), 44
KVM switches, 108 SSA (Serial Storage Architecture), 65, 503
layout, 108
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 603
INDEX 603
standards switches, 76, 105-108, 183

QIC tape, 505 Sylvan Prometric, 561
Travan tape, 506 symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), 46, 113
Start menu commands, Backup, 294 synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), 55
starting Diagnostics (Windows NT), 369 system BIOS, testing, 199
states, monitoring, 338 system buses, 47-49, 500
static random access memory (SRAM), 44 System Information, IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 407
stepping processors, 163 System log
storage area network (SAN), 66, 503 Windows 2000, 383
STP (shielded twisted-pair), 176 Windows NT, 369
straight-through UTP cable, 177 System Monitor
strategies agents, 224-225, 269
backup, 94-95 IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 407
study, 520 tool, 299
striped disk arrays, 456-457 System Network Architecture (SNA), 28
stripping disks, 203 System Properties dialog box, 309
structures, MIB (Management Information Base), 303 system shutdown, 409-410
studying IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 414
exam sessions, 522-523 Linux, 413-414
learning process, 519 Novell NetWare, 411
pre-testing, 521 UNIX, 412
prep tips, 521-522 Windows 2000, 411
study tips, 520 Windows NT, 410-411
subobjectives, preparing outlines, 520 system volume (SYSVOL), 223
subsystems systems
ATA, 433 backup, 158
disks, 58 networks, 68
bottlenecks, 429-430 10 Gig Ethernet, 73
EIDE, 59 devices, 76-77
Fibre Channel, 65 Ethernet, 68-71
IDE/ATA, 58-59 Fast Ethernet, 71-72
installing, 166-175 Gigabit Ethernet, 72
NAS, 66-68 management, 79-81
S.M.A.R.T., 64-65 NICs (Network Interface Cards), 74-75
SAN, 66 protocols, 77-79
SCSI, 62, 64 Token Ring, 73-74
serial ATA, 60-61 wireless, 74
SSA, 65
Ultra ATA/Ultra DMA, 59
external disk, 217-218
networks
T
bottlenecks, 430
installing, 175-178 tape. See also backups
SCSI, 432 8mm, 506
Ultra ATA, 434 AIT (Advanced Intelligent Tape), 506
support, 417 archive (tar) utility, 296-297
newsgroups, 418-419 arrays, 88
server utilities, 271 autochangers, 88
web sites, 419-420 backups, 291-294
swap files, 53, 221 DAT (Digital Audio Tape), 506-507
configuring, 225 DLT (Digital Linear Tape), 507
IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 227-228 drives, 82-88
Linux, 227 libraries, 88
Novell NetWare, 227 LTO (Linear Tape-Open), 507
Windows 2000, 226-227 QIC standards, 505
Windows NT, 226 rotation, 474
Travan standards, 506
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 604
604 INDEX
tar (tape archive) utility, 296-297 Transaction Tracking System (TSS), 400
target files, backups, 296 Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP),
Task Manager 77, 505
Windows 2000, 379-381 traps, 302
Windows NT, 365-366 Travan Cartridge Tape, 83-84
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), 77 troubleshooting
configuring, 215 applications, 438-439
troubleshooting, 434-438 ATA subsystems, 433
tcpcfg command (IBM OS/2 Warp Server), 407 boot failure, 438
TCPCON command (NetWare), 401 bottlenecks, 422-430
technologies, memory, 55-57 diagnostic tools. See diagnostic tools
temperature, 328-332 disaster recovery, 452
terminal server roles, 36 backing up data, 471-476
testing. See also exams creating plans, 452-468
disaster recovery plans, 477-479 fault tolerance/recovery, 470-471
existing memory, 260 hot swapping, 468-469
power-on tests, 184 restoring servers, 480-481
pre-testing, 521 testing, 477-479
RAID controller BIOS, 200 disk drives, 431
SCSI controller BIOS, 199-200 existing memory, 260
system BIOS, 199 hardware, 438-439
upgrades, 245 misconfigurations, 431-438
thermometers, 363 networks, 434
thinnet, 69 baselines, 297-300
thresholds multiple tape sets, 292-293
agents, 305-306 operating systems, 294-297
configuring, 300-302 proactive maintenance, 286-287
MIB (Management Information Base), 303 routines, 293
security parameters, 305 servers, 515-517
tracking traffic, 306-307 types of backups, 288-291
time to take exams, 522 operating parameters, 325-327
tips air quality, 332
exam sessions, 522-523 ESD (electrostatic discharge), 331, 337
study, 520-522 fire suppression, 335-336
Token Rings, 73-74, 176 flooding, 336
tools humidity, 331
backups, 288-291 monitoring server states, 338
diagnostic. See diagnostic tools power lines, 332-334
Linux, 296-297 temperature, 328-332
Performance, 298-300 physical security, 339
RDISK.EXE, 295 anti-theft devices, 344-346
server support, 271 computer data centers, 340-344
service, 270-271 removable media, 346-347
System Monitor, 299 problem determination, 361-363
Windows 2000, 295-296 RAID controller BIOS, 200
Windows NT Hardware Query, 313 SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)
Torvalds, Linus, 113 controller BIOS, 199-200
traceroute command subsystems, 432
IBM OS/2 Warp Server, 409 system BIOS, 199
Linux, 406 TCP/IP, 434-438
UNIX, 406 Ultra ATA subsystems, 434
Windows 2000, 397-398 upgrades, 431-438
Windows NT, 378-379 viruses, 438-439
trackballs, racking servers, 109 TSS (Transaction Tracking System), 400
tracking SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 306-307
traffic, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), 306-307
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 605
INDEX 605
UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), 96, 157, 508

U configuring, 218-219
installing, 178
Ultra ATA racking servers, 109
ribbon cables, 256 upgrading, 271-273
subsystems, 434 verifying, 153
Ultra DMA, 59 UPTOMP.EXE utility, 253
Ultrium LTO (Linear Type Open), 472 USB (Universal Serial Bus), 105, 157, 508
unbuffered memory, 56-57 utilities
Unicode, 209 backups, 288-291
Uninterruptible Power Supply. See UPS diagnostic. See diagnostic tools
Universal Serial Bus (USB), 105, 157, 508 Linux, 296-297
UNIX, 112-113, 509 Performance tools, 298-300
diagnostic tools, 401-406 RAID configuration, 259
file systems, 211 RDISK.EXE, 295
iostat command, 426 server support, 271
man command, 423 service tools, 270-271
network diagnostic tools, 402-406 System Monitor, 299
newsgroups, 419 UPTOMP.EXE, 253
ps command, 426 Windows 2000, 295-296
sar command, 424 Windows NT Hardware Query, 313
system shutdown, 412 UTP (unshielded twisted-pair), 69, 175-177, 503
vmstat command, 425
unshielded twisted-pair (UTP), 69, 175, 503
updating
baselines, 300
V
drivers, 220
NOS (Network Operating System), 220 VA (volt-amp), 153
upgrading values, identifying, 311-313
adapters, 265-267 vendor-specific management applications, 115-116
ATA hard disk drives, 256-257 vendor web sites, 419
BIOS (Basic Input Output System), 198-200, 263-265 verifying
checklists, 243-247 adequate cooling, 152
confirming, 246 connections, 153, 216
disk subsystems, 256 hardware, 148, 153-160, 308-313
documenting, 247 installation plans, 148
full system backups, 247 power sources, 149, 152-153
hardware, 513 UPS (uninterruptible power supply), 153
IDE/ATA/EIDE/ATA-2 disk drives to SCSI disk drives, 257 versions, SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), 502
memory very high density cable interconnect. See VHDCI
adapters, 265-266 VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association), 49-50
compatibility, 262 VESA Local Bus (VL-Bus), 49-50
testing, 261 VHDCI (very high density cable interconnect), 62
operating systems, 253-255 video
peripheral devices, 268 adapters, 160, 181, 265
processors, 248-255 controllers, 104
RAID BIOS, 200 monitors, 104
SCSI BIOS, 200 server roles, 40
SCSI hard disk drives, 258 Video Electronics Standards association (VESA), 49-50
service tools, 270-271 viewing FAQs (frequently asked questions), 244-245
system monitoring agents, 269 virtual memory, 53. See also memory
testing, 245 Virtual University Enterprises (VUE), 561
troubleshooting, 431-438 viruses, troubleshooting, 438-439
UPS (uninterruptible power supply), 271-273 visiting installation sites, 149-153
uplink ports, 177 VL-Bus (VESA Local Bus), 49-50
1087-2 index 7/11/01 10:51 AM Page 606
606 INDEX
vmstat command (UNIX/Linux), 425 network diagnostic tools, 371

volt-amp (VA), 153 ipconfig command, 371-372
VUE (Virtual University Enterprises), 561 nbtstat command, 372-373
netstat command, 374-375
nslookup command, 376-377
W-Z ping command, 377-378
newsgroups, 418
wait states, 53 Performance Monitor, 298, 423
Wake-On-LAN (WOL), 75, 421, 504 processors, 253
web server roles, 39 swap files, 226
web sites system shutdown, 410-411
Citrix Metaframe, 36 WINS (Windows Internet Naming Service), 38
CompTIA, 562 wireless, 74
FCIA (Fibre Channel Industry Association), 65 wiring KVM switches, 183
InfiniBand Trade Association, 52 WOL (Wake-On-LAN), 75, 421, 504
Leibert, 328 workgroup servers, 25
operating systems, 420 write back caches, 45
Serial ATA Working Group, 61 write thru caches, 45
vendors, 419
wide-tower server chassises, 155 xia, 212
Windows 2000, 112, 509
backups, 295-296
diagnostic tools
Computer Management, 381-382
Event Viewer, 382-384
Task Manager, 379-381
file systems, 209-210
network diagnostic tools
ipconfig command, 385-386
nbtstat command, 387-388
netdiag command, 388-391
netstat command, 392-393
nslookup command, 394-395
pathping command, 398-399
ping command, 395-397
newsgroups, 418
Performance Monitor, 298, 424
processors, 253-254
swap files, 226-227
system shutdown, 411
Windows 2000 Server UPS Configuration dialog box, 219
Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS), 38
Windows NT, 111, 509
backups, 294
diagnostic tools, 365
Diagnostics (MSD.EXE), 367-368
Task Manager, 365-366
Event Viewer, 369-370
file systems, 208
Hardware Query Tool, 313
Server+ BM 7/11/01 8:38 AM Page 1
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The Road to MCSE Windows 2000

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and Administering Microsoft
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ISBN 0-7357-0965-3 ISBN 0-7357-0968-8 covers the core competencies of exams
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Windows 2000 Network
Infrastructure
Exam 70-217: Implementing

and Administering a Microsoft MCSE Training Guide:
Windows 2000 Directory Core Exams (Bundle)
Services Infrastructure
ISBN 0-7357-0966-1 ISBN 0-7357-0976-9
ISBN 0-7357-0988-2
PLUS - All Candidates - 1 of the Following Core Elective Exams Required:

*Exam 70-219: Designing a Microsoft Windows 2000 Directory
Services Infrastructure
*Exam 70-220: Designing Security for a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network
*Exam 70-221: Designing a Microsoft Windows 2000
Network Infrastructure
ISBN 0-7357-0983-1 ISBN 0-7357-0984-X ISBN 0-7357-0982-3
PLUS - All Candidates - 2 of the Following Elective Exams Required:

Any current MCSE electives (visit www.microsoft.com for a list of current electives)
(Selected third-party certifications that focus on interoperability will be accepted as an alternative to one
elective exam. Please watch for more information on the third-party certifications that will be acceptable.)
*Exam 70-219: Designing a Microsoft Windows 2000 Directory Services Infrastructure
*Exam 70-220: Designing Security for a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network
*Exam 70-221: Designing a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure ISBN 0-7357-0983-1 ISBN 0-7357-0984-X ISBN 0-7357-0982-3
Exam 70-222: Upgrading from Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 to Microsoft Windows 2000
*Core exams that can also be used as elective exams may only be counted once toward a certification; that is, if a candidate receives
credit for an exam as a core in one track, that candidate will not receive credit for that same exam as an elective in that same track.
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03 Serv+ Ch_FM 7/11/01 3:06 PM Page i

Copyright© 2002 by New Riders Publishing ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Printed in the United States of America DEVELOPMENT EDITOR

Composed in Garamond and MCPdigital by New Riders Publishing SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Part I Exam Preparation

1 0.0—Planning and Specifications ..........................................................................13

Part II Final Review

Fast Facts ............................................................................................................497

Part III Appendixes

PART I: Exam Preparation

1 0.0—Planning and Specifications 13

vi SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE

Video Server ....................................................................................................40

Other Backup Devices ....................................................................................89

viii SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE

Network Operating Systems ..............................................................................110

Server-Rack Installation ................................................................................182

x SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE

Configuring Event Log(s) ..............................................................................225

Upgrading Adapters ............................................................................................265

5 4.0—Proactive Maintenance 283

xii SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE

7 6.0—Troubleshooting and Problem Determination 357

Locating and Using Support Resources ..........................................................417

8 7.0—Disaster Recovery 449

xiv SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE

PART II: Final Review

Fast Facts 497

Study and Exam Preparation Tips 519

Practice Exam 525

PART III: Appendixes

B Overview of the Certification Process 561

C What's on the CD-ROM 563

D Using the ExamGear, Training Guide Edition Software 565

xvi SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE

Obtaining Updates ............................................................................................581

ABOUT THE AUTHORS xvii

About the Authors Novell: Certified Novell Engineer (CNE)

Microsoft Certified Systems Certified Network

Microsoft Certified Data Base Cisco: Certified Cisco Network Associate

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer + IBM: Certified AIX User (CAU)

xviii SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE

xx SERVER+ CERTIFICATION TRAINING GUIDE

Thanks to the following for providing me with enter- Dave Bixler

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK xxi

Tell Us What You

As the reader of this book, you are the most important

Mail: Stephanie Wall

How to Use This Book

List of Objectives: Each chapter begins with a

This chapter covers the following CompTIA-specified

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK xxiii

Introduction 147 Match Processor Cache Size 162

xxiv HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

FEATURES WITHIN You are likely to be asked about

Wide-Tower to Rack-Mount Conversion

Verifying the Installation Plan

Warning: In using sophisticated information

or even catastrophes that can occur through

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK xxv

Figure: Detailed figures help clarify your

Review Break: Crucial information is summa-

What Is RAID 0/1? Know that