Brien M. Posey

These days it seems that concern over network security is at an all time high. Because of this, it’s important to understand what’s really happening when you encrypt your data. You might have assumed that when you enable encryption, a single type of encryption is at work. However, you’re actually using two types of encryption. […]

If you’ve ever looked at the Windows 2000 security model, you know that it is designed to provide security at the IP level, the application level, and just about everywhere in between. The mechanisms responsible for providing security work together to provide one tight security model. In this article, I’ll introduce you to some of […]

In case you missed Part 1 In the first article, I discuss a variety of situations in which it might be beneficial to change the permissions on the Active Directory. As you probably know, the Active Directory is actually nothing more than a database. As with most databases, you can store any information you want […]

As any good network administrator knows, you should always keep tabs on your servers so that you know exactly how they are performing and you can spot problems in the making. In reality, though, most of the network administrators I know are too busy to constantly monitor their servers. Fortunately, tools built in to Exchange […]

Create your own boot disks Depending on where you acquired your copy of Windows 2000, you may not have the boot disks that normally ship with it. If you didn’t get the set of boot disks, or if your copy is damaged or missing, you can easily create a set. To do so, insert your […]

Do you have a PC in your office that just doesn’t act right? Perhaps it’s configured just like every other computer in the office, but it works much more slowly than the others. If you are shaking your head right now, your problem may be caused by an excessive number of dropped packets–which can be […]

Companies that spend many hours and dollars on network security often don’t give a second thought to securing the computers that users carry out of the office each day. This article explains why they–and you–should be taking the necessary steps to secure laptops as well as PCs and servers. Then, I’ll discuss some techniques you […]

A little over a year ago, I found a good solution to the problem of repairing Windows NT. This solution uses a utility that I purchased off the Internet: ERD Commander Professional by Winternals Software. This wonderful utility is available from the Winternals Web site for about $324 US (winternals). ERD Professional creates a series […]

There are a million reasons why you might want to regulate the Active Directory under Windows 2000. In this article, I’ll discuss some situations in which the default Active Directory permissions might not be appropriate. I’ll then go on to explain how to make some security changes. Before we begin Before we get started, it’s […]

Have you ever come into the office in the morning and discovered that one of your servers crashed in the middle of the night? (For information on server repairs, see the article Repairing Windows 2000 through the Recovery Console ) When this happens, there’s only one thing to do: Hold your breath, reboot the server, […]

If you manage a small network, you might never have considered the complexities involved in connecting networks together. The idea of wide area networking (WAN) may seem far beyond the scope of anything your small network could ever require. However, there may come a time when you need to connect two or more small networks. […]

"The fact is, having a well-documented network can help you solve problems quickly when they arise, and documentation is vital to the overall security of your network. " Undocumented networks are extremely common. Many times this situation is related more to the difficulty of keeping the documentation up to date than to the complexity of […]