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Well, here's another in my small series on how to do things an admin needs to know how to do.
This one relates to IIS (Internet Information Services) which is the service, or rather series of services, that hosts connections to your server. This is also what holds up OWA and your web portal if you are self hosting.
Sample from a blog article I wrote:

One thing alot of admins don't know, is that you should never EVER restart the actual IIS service from the Services console. It's not because this sort of restart can cause harm, it's really because when you stop the IIS service several other services are stopped at the same time.

These services are dependent on IIS to run correctly. When IIS is restarted incorrectly, it doesn't usually come up with a list of services that were stopped during that time. Unless you have all these services memorized, it's best to not do an IIS restart this way.

Instead, it would be preferable to restart IIS with the methods I've outlined for you below. These will restart most of the services that IIS pulls down and will allow your system to resume regular operation the soonest.




Ok, so that's it. I have a MS article linked below for you to look at too, if you need it. :) Enjoy!!

Here's a Microsoft TechNet article with more detailed information about IIS.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/003ed2fe-6339-4919-b577-6aa965994a9b.mspx?mfr=true

Labels: how to, iis, instructions, management console, method, microsoft, MS, phone support, support, system, tech, technical, technical support, windows

I got feedback today, for a customer I'd talked to that took issue with my answer to her question.

She originally called, saying that she'd recently installed some new MS patches, and since then she'd been having trouble with her system. Things were flowing slowly.

She had stopped our services, and suddenly the problem went away - but let's get this straight - she recently installed a ton of new patches.

I had asked her what patches she installed, but mentioned that this was most likely something she'd have to ask MS about. She didn't know what patches she'd gotten. There were too many of them. I told her that I would be happy to see if there were any issues with our software and her patches, but I needed to know what they were. She just didn't know.

I said, ok, well maybe something we're dependent on was changed while we were installed. A big no-no with our software. I offered up a couple things that would have made my program go haywire and do weird stuff.

She pin pointed one and said that she had indeed done an update to it. So I suggested that she reinstall our product so that we could reassociate with the latest changes.

I offered some other things we could do to troubleshoot, but she said that she couldn't do them right now, as she needed permission to do them.

So, uh, no troubleshooting? You're saying you called and expected me to press the magic button?? Lady, I can't pull an answer out of my butt with the information you gave me. You gave me nothing!

So I have her go off and do the uninstall/reinstall and suggested that if that doesn't work, she can get back in touch with me via email.

...

A few days pass and she calls back in, and gets the next guy in line. She lets him troubleshoot. They go back and forth a bit till he figures out what's wrong.

...

She then emailed a supervisor here, and said that she'd called MS and they charged her $500 bucks and it's all my fault because I was not listening to her.

...

No lady, I don't have the magic button. It's not my fault that I gave you that answer, seeing as you gave me the information I used to give you that answer. You don't want to troubleshoot? Then don't complain when I give you a lame answer and your issue is not resolved.

Labels: microsoft, MS, phone, phone support, question, questions, stupid, support, technical, technical support, vague, windows

This morning was a fun morning. I had two calls in a row where I talked to some not so smart people. So today is an instruction lesson. Now, if you get paid more than $60,000 a year to work on a computer, you'd think that you'd know one of the basics of administering said system.



This is how you get to the management console in Windows:

1. Right-click on My Computer
2. Select Manage from the list.

Yay!! That's it. You're there.

Now, here's two ways to find the Services console->

First way:
1. Follow instructions above to get to the management console.
2. Expand "Services and Applications"
(* Left click on the little (+)Plus symbol to it's left to expand)
3. Click Services in the list.

Second way:
1. Click Start -> Run
2. Type Services.msc in the Run window.
3. Hit ENTER or OK

Tada! Now was that so hard?? How could you not know how to do this if you work on computers every day? Well, no more excuses. Now you know.

Labels: admin, how to, instructions, lesson, management console, services.msc, stupid, windows