Setting up Windows 2008 Server

Accessing the switch through a network cable (as opposed to the serial connection).

• Telnet is not automatically enabled in Windows Vista or 7. To turn it on (in Vista):
• Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Turn Windows features on or off -> Check Telnet Client.

Telnet

1. Run cmd.
2. telnet switch ip address
3. Log in as usual.
   

Browser

1. Open browser.
2. Browse to switch ip address.
3. Log in as usual.
   

• Technical difficulties with connecting a laptop to the switch have made my life miserable for the last few days. I have spent more time troubleshooting that today than working on the server. Rocky was a huge help, working away at Server 2008 installation, but I missed out on a lot of the steps that he took, and I certainly didn't get a chance to write them down. Therefore, I am borrowing heavily from his notes and blog entry.

• If I were doing this in the real world, I would have division-owned equipment that would be easier to connect (after the first time, when I would have had more time to get to the root of the problem and fix it).

• We had problems with accessing the internet from the server. Firewalls need to be temporarily turned off during set up, and IE Explorer security settings need to be opened up. Both of these are done through the Server Manager.

To configure IE settings:

• Access the Server Manager 2008
• Scroll down to find (on right hand side) ‘Configure IE ESC’
• Disable the firewall

Turning off firewall:

Access the Server Manager 2008

• Go to Windows Firewall
• Select Windows Firewall Properties
• For ‘Firewall State’ – select ‘OFF’

• Make sure to download and install updates as soon as the internet connection is working.

ROCKY'S NOTES

• To access routing table
• Get in command mode (cmd)
• Enter “ telnet 192.168.24.254 “
• Should get a prompt to enter admin username and password
• telnet is a command interface to connect to a device
• using the browser and entering the URL of 192.168.24.254, the user gets the GUI
• the webview allows the user to see graphically what is happening in the network
• the GUI has more functionality than the telnet client
• the GUI provides the user the ability to see if everything is working properly
• Lyle indicated that he uses the GUI a majority of the time when working with networks
• Again – with the issues, I wasn’t able to catch how he used this webview to monitor connections. Some items he covered were:
• From the left side, there were buttons – as well, there were tabs along the top
• To check connections, Lyle selected the ‘ethernet’ button
• Webview works best using IE
• From the Ethernet button, one can see what ports are up or down; port connections between switches; speed of ports; half/full duplexing
• To modify any of these features – select ‘manually configure’; modify
• The following path NETWORKING – IP – hover over IP – ROUTES – STATIC will show the static IP’s assigned to each switch
• To check the routes for traffic on the network:
• Using telnet, enter “ show ip route “
• Will get a listing of all IPs for routing

Installing Roles

• File Sharing
  
• DNS
• DCHP
• To modify these at a later date, go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services
• We had to do this with the DHCP role because we missed putting the Domain Suffix in when originally setting up the role. We also missed the DNS ip address listings.

Updates

It was really hard to find the updates for the serial adapters, largely because we didn't know the exact model numbers (which is where I usually start looking for updates), but also because the updates were on the Dell site (OK - makes sense) under "Chip Sets" (makes absolutely no sense to me). And to make matters worse, we were to download Vista drivers for Server 2008. My profound thanks to John and Sandie for finding them and sharing them.

All of this goes to prove conclusively that working as a team is the preferred method. I know from talking to my techies in Horizon that they spend a lot of time on the phone tracking down information when installing/troubleshooting equipment. The people who know are always willing to share. And it also shows that trying to install equipment under the pressures of time constraints makes it much easier to miss the tiny details! Plan ahead, plan ahead, plan ahead!