Here is a collection of my favourite Windows Server 2003 command line tools. My aim is to
offer variety, and I hope you will un-earth at least one utility you had not
considered.
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The number one question I get asked about Group Policies is 'Why won't
they work when I set them up perfectly?' My answer is, run
GPupdate. Result: Bingo, now they work - very satisfying.
When you are at the
command prompt you may need to find files. Try Where, for example,
Where /r e:\ *.log
Notes: The /r means 'keep on looking'.
Observe the space between /r and e:\ and also the space between e:\ and *.log.
Where is flexible, and will search for any file pattern that you can think of,
for example, *.ini or W*.inf.
This command gives you a hard copy of the information displayed in
System Information (Accessories). From the command
prompt type: Systeminfo > server.txt Then Notepad server.txt lets
you read the data captured. The > 'greater than' is an old
trick to redirect information from the screen into a file.
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Take a minute to install this command line program. It will be
a life saver should you system fail to boot. Install CMDCons and practice
copying files, just in case you get a server that will not start because
of a corrupted file.
Imagine you are using explorer. Suddenly, you need to open a folder in a 'DOS Box.
It is frustrating to run CMD, change directory about 7 times before you
navigate to the right folder. Install CMDHere and make it one click to
your 'DOS Box'.
See Diagram 1. DownloadCMDHere
Handy for testing intermittent
connections. PathPing works like ping except it echo-locates for 25 seconds
and reports the percentage of lost packets. As a bonus, PathPing shows you
the hops rather like a tracert printout.
Guy
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performance. You can also select from zillions more performance counters such as
fan temperature and battery level.
Installing ipMonitor is a breeze, but learn from gung-ho Guy's mistake and install SNMP
on each computer that you wish to monitor. What sealed my unreserved
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when you are evaluating the ipMonitor.
