windows

Server Troubleshooting

Server problems can generally be broken down into a few categories:

• Hardware problems
• Operating system configuration problems
• Application/services-related problems

Administrative Tools > Services

Most services have 4 states

Automatic – Services with a startup type of Automatic should start automatically when Windows is booted.

Automatic (Delayed Start) – Automatic services that are configured with the delayed start wait until all of the other automatic services have started before they begin initializing. Even at that, automatic services that use a delayed start use a low priority thread to ensure that the server remains responsive while the services are starting.

Manual – Services that are configured to start manually do not start unless they are instructed to do so either by you, by the operating system, or by an application.

Disabled – If a service is disabled it will not start even if you attempt to manually start the service. Some services are disabled for security reasons, but there are also documented instances of malware disabling system services in order to prevent them from running. If you need to start a disabled service, you can do so by changing the startup type to either Manual or Automatic (or Automatic Delayed Start) and then starting the service.

Manually Start the Service

If you notice that a service that should be running is not running, then the first thing that you should do is to attempt to manually start the service. To do so, just right click on the service and choose the Start command from the resulting shortcut menu. Often times, the service will start without any problems.

Check the Event Log

• There are three main event logs that could potentially contain information about the service that you’re having trouble with. These include:The System Log space – The System Log contains events related to the Windows operating system. If you are having trouble starting a service related to the Windows Operating System then the System Log is the best place to look for information.

• The Applications and Services Logs space – Newer versions of Windows include a set of logs known as the Application and Services Logs. These logs are application specific. In other words, if you are looking for log entries related to a certain application, then this is the first place that you should look. The Applications and Services Logs container contains dedicated logs for things like Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, and Windows PowerShell.

• The Application Log space – most applications do not create a dedicated logs beneath the Applications and Services Logs container. Instead, application related logging information is usually written to the Application log.

Control Panel > Systems and Security > Administrative Tools

Component Services

Computer Management

Data Sources (ODBC)

Event Viewer

iSCSI Initiator

Local Security Policy

Performance Monitor

Print Management

Services

System Configuration

Task Scheduler

Windows Firewall with Advanced Security

Windows Memory Diagnostic

Windows PowerShell Modules

Reliability Monitor

It has been introduced in Windows 2008 Server; it indicates system performance based on hardware, windows and other failures.

Event Viewer

Event viewers can give to lots of information. There are three critical logs that are available in 2008 server:

Application Logs – Where application related information is written

Security Logs – Where security information is noted down

System log – Where system components write the vent for E.g. hardware

MSconfig

This utility provides system configuration information, you can use which mode (e.g.-diag.) Mode needs to be used for troubleshooting.

General

Boot

Service

Startup

Tools

 

IIS

 

shutdown /r – reboot a windows server