380 PART 4: MANAGING AND MAINTAINING HARDWARE ■ Safe mode When a device driver installation renders the computer completely unusable, pressing F8 as the system starts and selecting the Safe mode boot option causes Windows Server 2003 to start in a minimal configuration with only the device drivers needed to start the computer and log on. Once the system is running in Safe mode, you can use Device Manager to disable the offending device. ■ Recovery Console When the Last Known Good Configuration and Safe mode options fail to provide access to the computer, the Recovery Console enables you to log on and access limited parts of the file system from a command prompt. From the Recovery Console, you can disable the device driver that is causing the problem, but to do this, you must know the correct name of the device or driver (or both). CHAPTER 11: MANAGING DEVICE DRIVERS 381 SUMMARY ■ Device drivers are software components that enable applications and operating systems to communicate with specific hardware devices. Every hardware device you install in a computer must have a corresponding driver that is designed for use with the operating system the computer is running. ■ Plug and Play is a standard that enables computers to detect and iden- tify hardware devices, and then install and configure drivers for those devices. PnP dynamically assigns hardware resources to each device and can reconfigure other devices to accommodate each component’s special needs. ■ Windows Server 2003 includes a large library of drivers for many different hardware devices. If Windows does not include a driver for a device in your computer, you must obtain one from the hardware manufacturer. ■ The drivers included with Windows Server 2003 are all digitally signed, to ensure that they have not been tampered with. You can configure the operating system’s behavior when installation of an unsigned driver is attempted, by using the Driver Signing Options dialog box. ■ To communicate with the computer, hardware devices use hardware resources, such as interrupt request (IRQ) lines, I/O addresses, DMA channels, and memory addresses. ■ Device Manager is an MMC snap-in that lists all hardware devices in the computer and indicates problems with identification or driver configuration. ■ Using Device Manager, you can enable and disable devices, update and roll back drivers, manage device and device driver properties, and resolve hardware resource conflicts. ■ Users must have administrative privileges to install and manage hardware devices and their drivers. The one exception to this rule is that users without administrative privileges can install PnP devices, as long as no additional drivers or user intervention are required. ■ Many hardware manufacturers periodically release driver updates, and it is up to system administrators to decide whether to install the updates, as well as who should install them and when. ■ The Last Known Good Configuration option is useful for reverting to a previously used driver, but only if you have not logged on to the system after restarting. ■ Starting the computer in Safe mode loads a minimal set of drivers, enabling you to access Device Manager and to disable, uninstall, or roll back a driver that is preventing the system from functioning properly. 382 PART 4: MANAGING AND MAINTAINING HARDWARE EXERCISES Exercise 11-1: Viewing Hardware Resources In this exercise, you use Device Manager to view the hardware resources in your computer and the devices that are using them. 1. Log on to Windows Server 2003 using the local Administrator account. 2. Click Start, point to Control Panel, and select System. The System Properties dialog box appears. 3. Select the Hardware tab, and then click Device Manager. The Device Manager window appears. 4. On the View menu, select Resources By Type. 5. Expand the Interrupt Request (IRQ) heading and note the devices using the system’s IRQ lines. Exercise 11-2: Configuring Driver Signing Options In this exercise, you configure the computer’s driver signing options. 1. Log on to Windows Server 2003 using the local Administrator account. 2. Click Start, point to Control Panel, and select System. The System Properties dialog box appears. 3. Select the Hardware tab, and then click Driver Signing. The Driver Signing Options dialog box appears. 4. Select the Block option, and click OK. You have disallowed the installation of unsigned drivers. Exercise 11-3: Installing a Device Driver In this exercise, you install the device driver for a nonexistent network interface adapter on your computer. 1. Log on to Windows Server 2003 as Administrator. 2. Click Start, point to Control Panel, and select System. The System Properties dialog box appears. 3. Select the Hardware tab, and then click Add Hardware Wizard. 4. Click Next, and wait for the wizard to scan your computer for new devices. If you have not added any devices, the wizard asks whether the new device has been connected. 5. Select Yes, I Have Already Connected The Hardware, and then click Next. CHAPTER 11: MANAGING DEVICE DRIVERS 383 6. Scroll to the bottom of the Installed Hardware list, select Add A New Hardware Device, and then click Next. 7. Select the Install The Hardware That I Manually Select From A List (Advanced) option, and then click Next. 8. In the Common Hardware Types list, select Network Adapters, and then click Next. 9. Select Microsoft as the Manufacturer, and Microsoft Loopback Adapter as the Network Adapter, and then click Next. 10. Click Next to install the adapter, and then click Finish to close the wizard. Windows Server 2003 loads the driver and installs the device. A new network adapter named Microsoft Loopback Adapter appears in Device Manager under the Network Adapters category. REVIEW QUESTIONS 1. A user with membership only in the Users group wants to install a USB printer connected to her computer. The drivers for the printer are included with Windows Server 2003. Can the user install the printer without help from an administrator? Why or why not? 2. A user with membership only in the Users group wants to install a USB printer connected to his computer. The driver for the printer is not included with Windows Server 2003, but the manufacturer has supplied a digitally signed driver for the printer on CD-ROM. Can the user install the printer without help from an administrator? Why or why not? 3. Under what circumstances do you have to modify the hardware resource settings for a device? 4. You need to remove a PnP device from a computer’s hardware configu- ration temporarily, but you want to leave it physically connected to the computer. You also want to minimize the amount of work required to restore the device later. Which of the following is the best option to accomplish your goal? a. Use Device Manager to uninstall the device. b. Physically remove the hardware device from the computer. c. Use Device Manager to disable the device. d. Move the device driver file to another folder on the local drive. 5. The vendor for a wireless network card installed in your computer has released a new driver. You want to test the driver for proper func- tionality. Which Device Manager option should you use to test the new driver? 6. You want to view a list of devices connected to your Windows Server 2003 system listed numerically by IRQ. Which of the follow- ing methods do you use to do this? (Choose all correct answers.) 384 PART 4: MANAGING AND MAINTAINING HARDWARE a. Use Device Manager, and from the View menu, select Resources By Connection. b. Use Device Manager, and from the View menu, select Resources By Type. c. Use Device Manager, and from the View menu, select Devices By Connection. d. Use Device Manager, and from the View menu, select Devices By Type. 7. You have recently installed three legacy network cards on a Windows Server 2003 member server. Two of the network cards are working prop - erly, but a third appears to be conflicting with another device on your system. How can you determine which other device on the system is conflicting with the third network card? a. Run Device Manager, and look for another device with a yellow and black exclamation mark beside it. b. View the application log, and look for an entry that describes the device that is conflicting with the network card. c. Run Device Manager, and select the network card that has the yellow and black exclamation mark beside it. On the Action menu, select Properties. In the Resources tab, a Conflicting Device list is displayed with the resources that conflict. d. Run the Hardware Troubleshooting Wizard, and select Resolve All Device Conflicts. CASE SCENARIOS Scenario 11-1: Troubleshooting Video Display Driver Problems You have finished configuring a new driver for the computer’s video display adapter and are prompted to restart the computer for the changes to take effect. Shortly after you log on, the computer screen goes blank. Which troubleshooting techniques or tools will enable you to recover from the problem with the display driver most easily? a. Last Known Good Configuration b. Driver Rollback c. Safe mode d. Recovery Console Scenario 11-2: Modifying Hardware Resource Settings You are the part-time systems administrator for a small desktop publishing busi- ness, which has a Windows Server 2003 standalone server. You have recently come into possession of a legacy fax board, a device that allows multiple faxes to CHAPTER 11: MANAGING DEVICE DRIVERS 385 be sent and received at the same time. You install the board on the Windows Server 2003 system, but it does not work. You open Device Manager and notice that a fax board’s icon has a yellow warning with a black exclamation point. You suspect that there is an IRQ conflict with another device on this same system, a leg - acy RAID controller. Which of the following describes the correct method of alter- ing the fax board’s configuration so that there is no IRQ conflict between the legacy fax board and the legacy RAID controller? a. Select the RAID controller in Device Manager. On the Action menu, select Properties. Select the Resources tab, and then clear the Use Automatic Settings check box. Select the IRQ, and click Change Settings. Scroll through the IRQs until you find one that does not conflict with any others. Click OK, and then restart the server. b. Select the fax board in Device Manager. On the Action menu, select Prop- erties. Select the Resources tab, and then clear the Use Automatic Settings check box. Select the IRQ, and click Change Settings. Scroll through the IRQs until you find one that does not conflict with any others. Click OK, and then restart the server. c. Select the RAID controller in Device Manager. On the Action menu, select Properties. Select the Resources tab, and then clear the Use Automatic Settings check box. Select the I/O Range, and click Change Settings. Scroll through the I/O Range until you find one that does not conflict with any others. Click OK, and then restart the server. d. Select the RAID controller in Device Manager. On the Action menu, select Properties. In the Device Usage drop-down list in the General tab, select Do Not Use This Device (Disable). CHAPTER 12 MANAGING DISK STORAGE 387 CHAPTER 12 MANAGING DISK STORAGE If there is one truism about information technology, it’s that no matter how much storage you have today, it will be full tomorrow. Only a decade ago, hard drives were nearly all measured in megabytes; a 1-GB drive was the size of a shoebox and cost thousands of dollars. Many organizations now measure their storage capacities in terabytes, and managing all that data can create an enormous strain on the storage subsystems in your servers. Some large organizations are turning to storage area networks (SANs) made up of fiber-connected, fault-tolerant disk arrays, but it is still common to see servers with large amounts of storage, and it is important to configure the server storage to provide the optimum balance of storage capacity, performance, and fault toler - ance. Microsoft Windows Server 2003 provides tools that enable you to extend the system’s storage capacity, provide fault tolerance, and boost performance of the storage subsystem. System administrators should have a thorough understanding of these tools to keep their drives running smoothly and perhaps delay the inevitable exhaustion of their capacity. Upon completion of this chapter, you will be able to: ■ Understand disk storage concepts and terminology ■ Distinguish between basic and dynamic storage ■ Identify the types of storage volumes supported on Windows Server 2003 managed disks ■ Identify the best RAID implementation given a particular storage requirement, in terms of capacity utilization, fault tolerance, and performance ■ Add storage to a Windows Server 2003 computer ■ Manage disks using Check Disk, Disk Defragmenter, and disk quotas 388 PART 4: MANAGING AND MAINTAINING HARDWARE UNDERSTANDING WINDOWS SERVER 2003 DISK STORAGE Before you can fully appreciate the disk storage capabilities of the Windows Server 2003 operating system, it is important to understand some basic underly - ing concepts. The following sections examine some of the nomenclature that Windows Server 2003 uses when referring to disk storage, and the basic structures that you use to create a data storage strategy. Although the distinction might at first seem obvious, it is important, when you work with the storage subsystem in Windows Server 2003, to remain conscious of the distinction between physical storage devices and the logical divisions you can create on them. A physical disk, as the term implies, is a single, independent drive unit, usually a hard disk drive. Technically, the term disk refers to the magnetically coated platters inside the drive unit. A drive can have a single platter or a stack of platters, all of which are referred to collectively as the hard disk inside the drive. To store data on a physical disk, you must first partition it. In the simplest possible configuration, a physical disk has a single partition that is represented in the oper - ating system by a single drive letter. However, it is also possible to create multiple partitions on a single physical disk. A partition is an area of space on a disk that functions as a physically separate unit of storage. When a physical disk has more than one partition on it, each partition can be represented by a different drive letter in the operating system. NOTE Drive Letters and Physical Disks Just because you see multiple drive letters in the operating system does not necessarily mean that there are multiple disk drives in the computer. Some applications recommend that certain data structures be stored on separate disks, to maximize the efficiency of the applica - tion’s storage operations. For example, the Active Directory Installation Wizard recommends that the Active Directory database and log be stored on separate disks. However, specifying different drive letters for these data structures does not necessarily mean that they will be stored on different physical disks. You must be aware of the actual physical disk infrastructure to know which drive letters actually refer to different physical disks. Unlike disks and partitions, which are rooted in the physical configuration of the storage subsystem, a volume (sometimes called a logical drive) is a logical unit of disk storage that you can create and manage using the Windows Server 2003 storage tools. A volume can consist of all or part of one or more physical disk partitions. Here again, the simplest possible configuration would be one in which a single volume encompasses an entire partition, which in turn encompasses an entire physical disk. However, you can also create multiple volumes out of a single partition, or a single volume out of disk space from multiple partitions. There are valid reasons for both of these approaches to disk management. Creating multiple volumes out of a single partition enables you to logically separate various types of data. For example, you can use one volume to install applications and another to store data files. This simplifies the access control process for administrators and prevents the data types from being accidentally mixed. Combining partitions from multiple physical disks into a single volume enables you to consolidate all of your disk space into a single CHAPTER 12: MANAGING DISK STORAGE 389 pool, which is represented by one drive letter. This technique also enables you to implement advanced disk storage technologies that provide added performance and fault tolerance, such as disk mirroring, disk striping, and redundant array of independent disks (RAID). NOTE Volumes and Drive Letters In most cases, a volume is represented by a single drive letter, even when the volume consists of multiple partitions on differ - ent physical disks. However, a volume does not have to have a drive letter at all. It is possible to mount a volume as a folder in another volume, effectively combining the two volumes into one logical drive letter. The number and nature of the partitions and volumes you can create out of the space on physical disks depends on the Windows Server 2003 storage type you use: basic storage or dynamic storage, as discussed in the following sections. NOTE Confusing the Terminology If you have some difficulty recalling the distinctions between physical disks, partitions, and volumes, you are not alone. Many reference works, and even some Microsoft documents, misuse the terms. However, as you explore the capabilities of the basic and dynamic storage systems in Windows Server 2003, the differences between these storage concepts should become increasingly clear. Using Basic Storage Basic storage is the industry standard for hard disk management and the default storage mode for Windows Server 2003. All versions of Windows, and MS-DOS as well, support basic storage and can access basic disks. In Windows Server 2003, all disks are basic disks until you convert them to dynamic storage. In basic storage, a physical disk is divided into partitions, and each partition functions as a physically separate unit of storage. The information about the loca - tion and size of each partition is stored in the partition table of the Master Boot Record (MBR) on the drive. To create multiple volumes on a single physical disk, you must create multiple partitions. Windows Server 2003 supports up to four partitions on a basic disk, and there are two partition types: ■ Primary A basic disk can have up to four primary partitions, with each primary partition functioning as a separate volume. One of the primary partitions can be designated as the active partition. The computer looks on the active partition for the boot files needed to load the operating system. After creating a primary partition, you must format it with a file system before you can store data on it. ■ Extended A basic disk can have one extended partition, utilizing the space left over after the creation of the primary partitions. Because a basic disk can have no more than four partitions, having an extended partition limits the number of primary partitions on the drive to three. To use the space on an extended partition, you must first create one or more logical drives out of the extended partition space, and then format each logical drive individually. You can create as many logical drives out of the extended partition space as you need. [...]... RAID fault tolerance as either a hardware or a software solution 401 402 PART 4: MANAGING AND MAINTAINING HARDWARE In a hardware solution, a RAID adapter handles the creation and regeneration of redundant information Some vendors implement RAID data protection directly in their hardware, as with disk array adapter cards Because these methods are vendor specific and bypass the operating system’s fault... the 70- 290 exam state that students should be able to “monitor disk quotas.” NOTE CHAPTER 12: MANAGING DISK STORAGE SUMMARY ■ Windows Server 2003 supports two types of storage, basic and dynamic, and three file systems, FAT, FAT32, and NTFS Most of the advanced storage management features are available only on dynamic disk volumes formatted using NTFS ■ Basic disks and the FAT file system provide backward... NTFS-based quota management as a built-in feature, enabling administrators to set limits on the storage space allotted to each user, and Windows Server 2003 provides the same functionality When disk quotas are enabled, the quota manager tracks the files on a volume that are owned by particular users The manager then compares the total disk usage for each user to limits configured by an administrator... Enabling Quotas Disk quotas are disabled by default in Windows Server 2003; you must enable them on a volume-by-volume basis To enable quotas, open the Properties dialog box for a volume using Windows Explorer or the Disk Management snap-in, and select the Quota tab, as shown in Figure 12-13 Then select the Enable Quota Management check box 409 410 PART 4: MANAGING AND MAINTAINING HARDWARE Opening a. .. the best practice when performing any major disk manipulation is to back up your data first 397 398 PART 4: MANAGING AND MAINTAINING HARDWARE When you convert a basic disk that already contains partitions and logical drives to a dynamic disk, those elements are converted to the equivalent dynamic disk elements In most cases, basic partitions and logical drives are converted to simple volumes Windows NT... before you can begin to allocate its space to partitions, logical drives, and volumes Initializing a disk enables the operating system to write a disk signature, the end of sector marker (also called a signature word), and an MBR or GPT to the disk If you start the Disk Management snap-in after installing a new disk, the Initialize And Convert Disk Wizard usually appears automatically The wizard enables... PART 4: MANAGING AND MAINTAINING HARDWARE quick and can be performed at any time with no loss of data However, converting a dynamic disk back to a basic disk is more difficult because all data on the drive is lost and must be restored using a backup copy Therefore, you should be sure that you want or need dynamic storage before performing the conversion Dynamic disks are easy to transfer between servers... tool for creating and managing basic and dynamic disks is an MMC snap-in called Disk Management The Disk Management snap-in is part of the Computer Management console, which you can access from the Start menu’s Administrative Tools program group, or you can add the snap-in to a custom console Running the Disk Management Console Windows Server 2003 also includes a standalone Disk Management console, but... Diskpart.exe Virtually all of the tasks you can perform using the Disk Management snap-in can also be performed from the command prompt using the Diskpart.exe utility Diskpart.exe is a program that you can use interactively or in scripts to automate disk management tasks For more information on using Diskpart.exe, see the online help in Windows Server 2003 395 396 PART 4: MANAGING AND MAINTAINING HARDWARE... is only half of the physical disk space ■ RAID-5 volume RAID-5 is a fault-tolerant data storage technology that stripes data across three or more physical disks, which appear as a single unified volume As with a striped volume, in a RAID-5 volume the system writes data to all of the physical disks at the same rate, but in RAID-5, the data is interlaced with checksum information, called parity Although . Add storage to a Windows Server 2003 computer ■ Manage disks using Check Disk, Disk Defragmenter, and disk quotas 388 PART 4: MANAGING AND MAINTAINING HARDWARE UNDERSTANDING WINDOWS SERVER 2003. 70- 290 exam state that stu- dents should be able to “manage basic disks and dynamic disks.” USING DISK MANAGEMENT The primary Windows Server 2003 tool for creating and managing basic and dynamic. and 392 PART 4: MANAGING AND MAINTAINING HARDWARE quick and can be performed at any time with no loss of data. However, converting a dynamic disk back to a basic disk is more difficult because