This article, the third of seven in a series covering the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), will detail the Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset (DaRT).

No matter how well managed an IT environment is, unbootable machines are a fact of life. While IT administrators use a variety of methods to repair these machines, few compare to the Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset (DaRT). Now in the seventh major release, DaRT comprises of 14 tools designed to tackle the toughest problems with an unbootable machine.

The Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset welcome screen displays all included tools.

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In this article you will learn how to obtain emergency access to a SQL Server 2008 R2 database instance by using the built-in Dedicated Administrator Connection (DAC) functionality.

In Microsoft Windows, we have Safe Mode. In SQL Server 2008, we have the Dedicated Administrator Connection, or DAC. We can use DAC to obtain emergency access to a SQL Server 2008 database instance in cases where the instance is blocked up, locked up, or just plain hosed.

SQL Server 2008 keeps a dedicated scheduler available at all times for the DAC. Therefore, you should (almost) always be able to connect to SQL Server by using the DAC.

You can log into the SQL Server instance with a DAC while other users are logged in at the same time. However, only one DAC session is allowed at any one time.

Enabling Dedicated Administrator Connection

By default, local connections to a DAC are enabled in SQL Server 2008 R2. Therefore, you can use the DAC during an interactive logon or a quasi-local logon through VNC, Remote Desktop Services, or the like.

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In part 2 of this overview of System Center Advisor we look at how SCA helps with troubleshooting, the different parts of the console, the data that’s collected and conclude with a look at the future of SCA.

Part 1 of this review gave an overview of System Center Advisor. Today, I will discuss how SCA can be integrated in your network.

A typical troubleshooting session without SCA starts when you’re tracking down a problem; when you’ve identified the symptoms and any event log / error log messages you use your favorite search engine to try to come up with a solution. This can sometimes take hours of searching and implementing different solutions until the right one is found.

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In part 1 of this two part review we look at what System Center Advisor is and how it works as well as how to deploy it.

Imagine that you’re a systems administrator troubleshooting an SQL or AD server that’s misbehaving. Now envision a gadget that could send you all the accumulated knowledge and skill contained in a senior Microsoft field engineer to sit right next to you and help you. That gadget is not System Center Advisor, at least not yet, but the vision is there.

System Center Advisor (SCA), formerly known under the codename Atlanta is a new cloud service from Microsoft that assesses server configuration and helps you proactively avoid problems. It gives you access to current and historical configuration data as well as reducing downtime by proposing improvements and notifying you of updates.

System Center Advisor Console

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SimpleSysInfo is a free system information tool for Windows that allows you to retrieve any kind of system information because allows you to customize the displayed sysinfo.

So many sysinfo tools exist for Windows, and I’m guessing you already have a couple of them in your tool box. But SimpleSysInfo is worth a look. It is quite useful for help desk personnel who need to get an overview of a PC’s configuration, and it is also an interesting option for sys admins who have to retrieve the same PC settings frequently.

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SysInternalsUpdater is a free tool that allows you to download updates of the Sysinternals Suite tools.

Microsoft’s Sysinternals tools are essential for every Windows admin. The Sysinternals Suite is a collection of all Sysinternals troubleshooting tools. What all the Sysinternals utilities lack is an update feature. So you have to check regularly whether a new version is available. Or, you subscribe to 4sysops because I always publish a notice if an update of a Sysinternals tool is available. Yet another option is to use SysInternalsUpdater.

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EVT LogParser is a free event log parser that allows you to filter output according full text search in the message text.

The new event log viewer that came with Windows Vista is a major improvement that every Windows admin should appreciate. The filter and search features are great. However, one tiny feature is missing. You can’t filter the output according to a full text search through its GUI. You can only use Event Viewer’s search function to find specific terms in the event log message. But this means that you have to jump from entry to entry, which can be a bit cumbersome in some situations. Of course, you can also write your own parser. If you don’t like to mess with XML, however, you should have a look at EVT LogParser.

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The free Network Simulator TMnetSim allows you to simulate a poor or slow network connection by configuring network latency (packet delay) and packet loss between client and server.

Analysts keep preaching the cloud gospel, and it appears that quite a few CIOs have become believers. What many underestimate is that the connection between earth and heaven, respectively the cloud, can sometimes get clogged when too many believers knock on heaven’s door because they all want "to be in" (as Steve Ballmer would express it).

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SafeMSI is a simple free tool that starts the Windows Installer service, which is required for installing in Safe Mode in Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

By default, installing and uninstalling programs is disabled in Safe Mode in Windows 7. The reason for this is that, in Safe Mode, only a reduced set of services is running. This might cause problems with some installers, which is why the Windows Installer service isn’t running in Safe Mode.

On the other hand, installing and—in particular—uninstalling programs can fail because of interfering services. Thus, if you suspect that such interdependencies are the reason for installation problems, you can try running the setup program in Safe Mode. To start your Windows machine in Safe Mode, press F8 before Windows boots up.

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Memtest86 is a free memory diagnostic tool that allows you to perform RAM tests that go well beyond the test capabilities of most BIOS tools.

As I outlined in my memory diagnostic primer, memory diagnostic tools that are integrated in modern BIOSes can’t guarantee that a memory module is flawless. This also applies to Memtest86, a free standalone memory diagnostic tool. However, the utility is more sophisticated than most BIOS memory diagnostic tools. You can also use Memtest86 if you are uncertain which of the RAM modules has flaws and you just want a second opinion.

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This post gives a short overview of how memory diagnostic tools help you troubleshoot RAM problems.

Physical memory failures do not happen often, but when they occur they are fatal. Sometimes they won’t just crash the operating system but will also cause hard disk corruption. In the worst case, a destroyed database is the end result. This is just because one of the billions of memory cells confused a zero with a one. ECC (Error-Correcting Code) memory improves fault tolerance, but it is expensive and so are the supporting motherboards. And, of course, ECC doesn’t guarantee that RAM failures won’t occur.

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Time Freeze is free software testing tool that combines the sandbox and virtual machine approach of software testing.

Software testing is an important part of an administrator’s daily routine. There are various tools and different approaches for making this task easier and more efficient. Some use virtual machines as test environments, and others prefer sandboxes for software testing. Time Freeze Free is kind of a hybrid. It combines aspects of both approaches, which makes it a perfect software testing tool.

Time Freeze expands the sandbox approach. Rather than launch the software you are testing in a sandbox, the tool turns your whole Windows installation into a sandbox. Every change that is made to your Windows installation is logged. As soon as you turn Time Freeze off, you have exactly the same system as before you started testing the software. So it works more like the snapshot feature of virtual environments such as Hyper-V. The difference is that you can only have one snapshot, but on the other hand you have better performance than in virtualized environments.

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Have you ever had a system that is running a Windows operating system either freeze or hang for no apparent reason? Has it ever become so low on resources that you can barely navigate through the menus? If you have found yourself in this situation recently, then the option of forcing a system crash from the keyboard just may help you discover and diagnose the underlying source of the problem.

In recent times I had to deal with a few of my Terminal Services servers that were hanging or becoming very unresponsive. And the problem was difficult to investigate because the system was not creating a crash dump since the servers weren’t technically crashing. Once I configured my servers to allow me to force a crash and create a dump file, I was able to begin the journey of resolving the issue. For a quick overview on the different types of dump files please check out this article.

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Microsoft currently offers a beta version of the Microsoft Fix it Center. This application has one purpose: It should automatically fix some computer problems and support the user in finding a solution for those problems it can’t solve. As every administrator knows, fixing hardware or software problems can take up a lot of time. So having a tool that automatically fixes various problems would be any administrator’s heaven. But is the Microsoft Fix it Center really a ticket to heaven?

First you have to download it here. During setup, the tool checks your software and hardware configuration. Depending on this configuration it offers to install different so-called troubleshooters. After you choose which of these troubleshooters to install, you are asked if you want to create an online account. (The benefit of having an online account is that you have access to Fix it Center Online.) Here is a picture of the Troubleshooters that were selected for my system:

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The Windows Memory Diagnostic tool checks the computer’s memory (RAM) for failures. If you have recurring error messages or computer crashes and can’t figure out what causes them, it might be time to check the memory.

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