{"id":474,"date":"2013-04-15T10:21:59","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T15:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/?p=474"},"modified":"2015-11-18T09:14:38","modified_gmt":"2015-11-18T15:14:38","slug":"20-windows-tools-every-sysadmin-should-know-11-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/20-windows-tools-every-sysadmin-should-know-11-20\/","title":{"rendered":"20 Windows Tools SysAdmins Should Know, #11-20"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2026Cont\u2019d from 20 Windows Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know, #1-10<\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n

11. RegEdit \u2013 configure all the things!<\/span><\/h2>\n

Anyone that\u2019s been in IT for long surely must have peaked at their registry.\u00a0 This is where most of the configuration data for most apps and most of the operating system still lives, even in 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"RegEdit<\/p>\n

One handy feature is you can export and import branches of the registry.\u00a0 BUT, do NOT do this if you\u2019re not absolutely sure what you\u2019re doing<\/b>.\u00a0 This can REALLY screw up your machine.\u00a0 Also note, I\u2019ve not seen it documented, but you can export files that are bigger than what the importer will read in (IIRC, the importer will only read the first 64KB or so of a registry file).<\/span><\/p>\n

12. Server Monitoring<\/span><\/h2>\n

If you have more than one or two servers to keep track of, automate the monitoring of those servers so you don\u2019t have to sit and babysit them.\u00a0 There are many good products on the market, all of which will monitor for low disk space, high CPU usage, event log errors, crashed services and more.\u00a0 We\u2019re partial to PA Server Monitor<\/a>, but GFI<\/a> and SolarWinds<\/a> also make nice products.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Server<\/a><\/p>\n

If you like low-level control with scripts and config files to spelunk through, Nagios<\/a> is a very popular (and free) open source product that is very well respected. Open Source Server Monitor List<\/a> tries to collect all of the big names in open source monitoring.<\/span><\/p>\n

13. Password Management<\/span><\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re in IT, it\u2019s very likely you have the keys to the kingdom, so to speak.\u00a0 Please, oh please, don\u2019t store your passwords in a text file or Excel spreadsheet.\u00a0 And do make them long, with non-alphanumeric characters thrown in.\u00a0 This will help keep your systems safe.\u00a0 But then you have passwords that you can\u2019t remember.\u00a0 So you need a password manager.\u00a0 KeePass<\/a> and LastPass<\/a> are two excellent open source solutions you should consider.<\/span><\/p>\n

14. Ping and tracert \u2013 simple connectivity test<\/span><\/h2>\n

Ping is a quick test to check and see if:<\/span><\/p>\n