Timothy
Parker Consulting Incorporated
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Questions and Answers Part 8 Q: I am trying to get DHCP on a
Windows NT machine working. There’s
a lot configured on our NT Advanced Server, including DNS. In addition we have some switches on our network that have
DHCP server and DNS server roles built in. Is disabling the DNS and DHCP server
roles on the switch the best way to go? Why
won’t my DHCP leases get renewed when I try to set up Windows NT as the
server? A: There’s far more going on
here than you might think, and plenty of ways for this to mess up. First, using the switch for DHCP or DNS server roles will
off-load the Windows NT server, but you have less control over the environment
than you do when using DHCP and DNS off the Windows NT server.
If you want to maintain total control of the services and don’t care
about the CPU load on the Windows NT server, disable the switch’s DHCP and DNS
roles and let Windows NT take the lead. Make
sure the switch is not filtering the packets for these DHCP and DNS protocols,
as some switches have built-in packet filtering. As to why the Windows NT DHCP server is
not working properly, there are several potential issues. The easiest thing to check first is whether the clients are
actually reaching the NT server. I’d
first set up a few clients and the server with static IP addresses and make sure
everyone can ping the others. If
they can, the TCP protocol stacks are working well. If they can’t there’s a problem in the network (probably
in the switch or hub, assuming TCP/IP and the network cards are properly
installed). Next, replace the
switch with an unintelligent hub and try setting up Windows NT as a DHCP server
again. The clients should be able
to contact the server and get a lease. If
they can’t, the DHCP configuration on the server is likely incorrect.
If they can get a lease, then the switch is interfering with the packets.
Finally, make sure there is no interference from DNS with DHCP by disabling DNS
on the server and some clients, and see if the leases are then granted. Windows NT is easy to set up as a DHCP
server, and there’s no configuration required on the clients other than to
tell them to acquire an IP address from the DHCP server. My bet is either that the switch is interfering with the
connection to the NT DHCP server, or DNS is interfering with the routing of the
packets to the NT server. Q: I have a choice between two Linux boxes or two Windows NT Server boxes to use as a VPN. We want to replace a very expensive dedicated line between two offices, and VPN seems the way to go over our xDSL lines. Which operating system is more reliable, easier to set up VPNs for, and which is more robust? A: If you are looking for ease of setup for the VPN (Virtual Private Network), then use two Windows NT Servers. There are instructions for configuring VPNs between two servers on the Web, as well as in the NT documentation suite. It takes only a few minutes and works well, as well as allows good security. For speed, Linux VPNs will be a little
faster than the Windows NT machines, but since you are limited to the throughput
of the xDSL lines anyway, any decent Pentium-class machine will do.
Linux allows more tweaking then Windows NT, and is a touch faster, but
the convenience and security of Windows NT Server would be my choice for
trouble-free operations especially since you already have the machine available
to you. Q: I want to buy some backup
software for my network. It will
run on a Windows NT 4.0 Server and needs to back up not only the server, but the
Windows 95/98 clients and a few Linux servers as well.
I am going to use a DLT jukebox for backups. What do you recommend? A: Forget about using the
built-in backup software with Windows NT. It’s
a bare-bones package that is not for network backups. There are two software
backup packages I have used extensively on Windows NT, and both can be
recommended. Computer Associates
ArcServeIT is a good package, but the one I’ve used for the last year (and had
no complaints about) is Veritas Backup Exec (Veritas is a spin-off from
Seagate). Backup Exec has been
bombproof for daily backups of almost a terabyte of data in my lab, and while
there are a few little niggling things I’d change, it is easy to use and
recognizes almost all hardware instantly. Q: I’m considering an upgrade
to a Pentium 4 (my current workstation is an 800MHz Pentium 3). I do a lot of graphics work.
Will I really notice the difference in performance? A: If you are doing a lot of graphics work, either design-intensive or rendering, then horsepower is important. If you can upgrade at a reasonable price (and P4 prices are dropping almost weekly), then yes, you will notice the difference. Only upgrade if you have lots of RAM, though. You didn’t mention how much RAM your machine has, but for graphics and rendering, all Windows platforms like RAM. I have 512MB in my rendering machines, and the amount of RAM is more important than the horsepower gain in CPUs if you have only 128MB or less. Remember that P4 CPUs use a different mobo (motherboard) and a different RAM, so you are looking at more than a simple CPU swap. |
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