Network: management resources

Windows provides four network management tools: Net Watcher, System Monitor, System Policy Editor, and the Registry Editor. Net Watcher and System Monitor are discussed in this section, DOS Net commands are documented on the next two pages, and the System Policy Editor is discussed in another section.

Two non-microsoft utilities can facilitate network administration. The Network Ping Utility will ping all addresses in a defined IP address range, the Network Drive Information Utility can locate free space on network drives.

Net Watcher

Net Watcher is a peer server administration utility that can be used to manage peer server resources and connections. It can also be used to administer peer servers that have been configured for remote administration through the Control Panel > Passwords applet.

The Remote Administration tab of the Passwords Properties dialog box. Netwatcher requires Remote Administration to be enabled to allow a network administrator to remotely administer the system.

Net Watcher is one of the Windows System Tools components that can be accessed from the Programs > Accessories > System Tools menu. It can be installed via the Windows Setup tab in the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box.

Net Watcher provides several views of a peer server. Connections, the default view, displays the user connections to the server. The screen capture below shows two user connections to Client13. Patron on Client11 has opened four files in the Family History Resource File share.

Shared Folders view displays shared resources on the server. In the screen capture below Client13 is sharing the F:\ drive as FHRF and a laser printer. Two clients, Client16 and Client13 have opened files on the FHRF share.

System Monitor

The System Monitor utility can be configured to display information about network client, network server, and LAN performance.

System Monitor is a Windows System Tools component that can be accessed from the Programs > Accessories > System Tools menu. It can be installed via the Windows Setup tab in the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box.

The System Monitor Add Items category window has options for monitoring network client or network server variables if they are installed on the client. The Network Client variables are shown below:

The Add Item dialog of the System Monitor.

The screen capture below shows the System Monitor displaying six peer server variables as a function of time. The peak transfer rate of nearly 500 KB/sec occurred during a Vital Records Index search.

The Microsoft Network Monitor Agent Service and Microsoft Network Monitor Driver must be installed before the System Monitor can display LAN traffic information. They can be installed from the Windows 98 CD directory \Tools\ResKit\NetAdmin\NetMon. The Network Monitor Agent is also available for Windows 95 in the Windows 95 CD directory \Admin\NetTools\NetMon, and can also be downloaded from the Microsoft Windows Update site. The executable files in the Windows 95 download are exactly the same as the Windows 98 CD version, so the download should also work for Windows 98, notwithstanding the warning on the Microsoft web page. (It may work for Windows Me as well.) For more information see Q200910 "How to Install Network Monitor in Windows 95/98".

The Configuration tab of the Network dialog box. Microsoft Netowrk Monitor Agent and Network Monitor Driver components must be installed to perform network monitoring.

The System Monitor Add Items category window will have the Network Monitor Performance option if the Microsoft Network Monitor Agent is installed. The Network Monitor variables are shown in the screen capture below. Note: 00 specifys the LAN adapter.

The Add Item dialog of the System Monitor. Several Ethernet parameters can be selected for monitoring from the Network Monitor Category.

The screen capture below shows the System Monitor displaying four LAN variables as a function of time. This data occurred during a Vital Records Index search.

The System Monitor window shows four Eternet parameters as a function of time.

Clock Synchronization

DOS provides a method to synchronize workstation clocks with the TIME option of the NET command:

net time \\<timehost> /set /yes

The " /SET" option adjusts the Date/Time of the local system-clock and prompts for confirmation; the " /YES" option provides automatic confirmation.

The command can be added to the autoexec.bat file so that the local system clock will be set to the time of the time host computer on the network. Automatic operation via autoexec is being phased out however. Windows Me does not process Autoexec.bat or Config.sys so alternatives must be used.

One alternative is to create a shortcut that executes the Net Time command. Right click the desktop, select New > Shortcut, and enter the command:

C:\WINDOWS\net.exe time \\<time host> /set /yes

Enter a name and select an icon. Open the shortcut file properties, select the Program tab and select Run: minimized and Close on exit. Place the shortcut in the Programs > StartUp folder.

The Program tab of the DOS shortcut Properties dialog. Select Run: minimized and check Close on exit to hide the DOS window.