Sunday, July 3, 2011

Enhance Employee Productivity With a Dual-core Proxy Server

Author:

Helen Markova

Sharing a single Internet connection among multiple users has never been simpler and UserGate also lets untrained people (not System Administrators) limit the Internet connectivity of their employees.








With a single external Internet connection and multiple users you simply decide on your priorities. If you are managing an office or a corporate network, security and employee productivity take precedence.





One factor that is not commonly recognized is that unlimited Internet connectivity can harm employee performance. When it comes to business networks \'fast\' and \'unlimited\' do not optimize productivity. The Internet is rife with spyware and viruses that can significantly threaten your corporate security and productivity. It only takes one virus getting through your security defenses to corrupt or even destroy the information on all of your networked computers, costing you days and weeks of recovery time. Spyware routinely steals sensitive information such as passwords and private documents. Spyware dramatically decreases computer performance and it displays annoying pop-up windows that distract and have to be closed off. Viruses and spyware have effectively paralyzed even the most technologically sophisticated corporations and you can now benefit from what they learned with the safeguards built into UserGate.





Expensive productivity threats are not always as covert as viruses or spyware. The Internet holds many distractions to your employees’ attention. It has become common for employees to use their office computers and their work time to play online Flash games aptly called \'office killers\'. Online chats and instant messengers are a close second to computer games in wasting employee time. If you pay for Internet traffic, an employee using your Internet connection to download music, games or even movies will cost you directly. If your organization uses VoIP to save on long distance bills, it is vital that no employee can use your Internet connection’s entire bandwidth. Otherwise your calls will not go through, and you can easily lose a client because of a missed call or because the conversation quality is embarrassingly poor.





Even though these various threats are real and are severe, some very highly trained engineers put together a simple solution that minimizes them and increases your employee productivity. UserGate proxy server produced by Entensys (http://www.entensys.com/) provides Internet connectivity to your entire organization while eliminating the usual threats and performance bottlenecks caused by Internet Connection Sharing. UserGate blocks viruses and spyware with its advanced dual-core anti-virus*. UserGate limits your employees to their work assignments instead of socializing over the Internet or wasting time, and it saves on your Internet bills by monitoring, limiting and optimizing the bandwidth used by each employee.





*Dual-core anti-virus is very real and very powerful. When Intel released its first dual-core processor, the benefits of increased performance and smoother multitasking became obvious to even the most conservative users. With two anti-virus cores—Panda and Kaspersky—and real-time online updates, UserGate provides tighter security and higher reliability than any single anti-virus solution. Being a proxy server, UserGate prevents spyware and viruses from getting onto your employee computers by scanning all external Internet traffic.





Once installed, UserGate becomes the only connection between your employees and the Internet. Workers cannot access anything beyond your corporate network and external influences cannot affect your computers. This approach allows for extremely effective control over how and when your employees can use your Internet connections. You can prohibit access to specific file types, sites, resources or protocols making it impossible for employees to chat, download personal-use files or play online games during their work time. VoIP connections can be prioritized over end-user traffic, allowing for crystal clear phone calls over the Internet. Additionally, thanks to extensive journal support, you will always be able to see exactly what has been accessed by each employee and the bandwidths they consumed.





In spite of its sophistication (or because of it), UserGate is easy to install and configure, and it requires no further administration or any extra attention. UserGate improves corporate security and increases employee productivity with no extra effort and zero administration. Download your free evaluation copy now from http://www.entensys.com/


Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/networks-articles/enhance-employee-productivity-with-a-dualcore-proxy-server-229839.html

About the Author

Call of Duty 4 Multiplayer Tips

Author:

Jason Williams

General Tips






Fire in Short Bursts





It’s as simple as this. If you keep your finger on the fire trigger…you’re going to die. Burst fire is by far the most effective firing method in call of duty 4. Short bursts are so effective because in most cases only a few bullets are need to stop your enemy and anything more then a short burst will decrease your shot accuracy





Flanking





Flanking, we’ve found, is the most under used AND most effective method for acquiring multiple quick kills in Call of Duty 4. Flanking is the method of making your way BEHIND your enemy (preferably while they’re in a fire fight with your team mates) so that you are positioned for an easy kill (or hopefully kills). Flanking is not always possible. There are a lot of positions on most maps were getting behind your enemy is impossible. But it usually doesn’t take long for the enemy to advance enough or move locations so that Flanking again becomes a viable strategy.





Use the Knife when in close range





If you are close enough to hit your enemy with the knife…DO IT! Even up against an enemy with a gun, knifes will almost always be more effective. The reason? It only takes ONE swipe with a knife to kill your enemy, were as it’ll usually take a few bullets to take them down.





Crouch





Crouching while moving is the most effective means of getting around the map. While crouching you’re fire is more accurate. To take advantage of this even more, try keeping your sites up while crouching and moving. Any enemy who comes running by will be easy pickins if you are crouched and sited. EXCEPTION: anytime you are in an open space with your back exposed to multiple locations…RUN. Run to a location where you can, 1. Take cover behind an object and crouch shoot or 2. Run to an area where your back is not exposed and you can crouch walk with your sites up.





Take Cover





When you’re taking fire, find the closest cover and crouch behind it. Be careful taking cover behind cars (It they haven’t already, they’ll explode when shot). Be careful taking cover behind objects that bullets can penetrate (crates, fences, clay walls, etc). Once the enemy has stopped firing, quickly take a look and return fire if possible. If you are being shot at by more than one enemy and want to get out from behind your cover to move to a more advantageous location, use a flashbang grenade.





Keep Moving





When you are not behind cover…you better be in motion. Standing out in the open is dumb, plain and simple. If you need to come out behind cover, make sure you know were you are going and if there is cover to hide behind when you get there. Using the crouch method described above when going from cover point to cover point is the best method for staying alive and achieving radar (3kills in a row without dying), airstrike (5 kills without dying) and Helicopter (7 kills without dying). The only time running is recommended is when the match first starts up and you are trying to get to a location that will give you a tactical advantage, (see map by map section), if you’re in an open area, or if you know an enemy is near and you are trying to make it into a building or behind a solid object

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/computer-games-articles/call-of-duty-4-multiplayer-tips-317638.html

About the Author

Jason Williams is the owner of JMW E-books and has published several educational guides. The latest being: The Call of Duty 4 Tactics Guide (unofficial)

Connect to Another Computer Using Remote Access Software

Author:

Mitz

Free Computer Tips

If you have Windows XP it has built in remote access software that helps you connect to a friends computer, by invitation, to help them by taking remote access control of their computer system. This means you could be in the USA and be helping your friend in Australia to find a solution to his or her computer problems. The technology to gain remote access to basically anyone\'s computer is available on most computer users start menu. I regularly give my friends computer support from the comfort of my own home.





What you need to use the Help and Support tool to gain remote access





1. An broadband or cable internet connection.


2. Windows Xp on both computers


3. An email address or be signed into Windows 4. Live messenger.





The easiest way to connect





It is very easy to connect two computers over the internet. One computer can take control and fix problems on the other computer. Following these steps to use the Help and support software that is built in to Windows.





1. Sign in to Windows Live Messenger and have your friend do the same thing.


2. Go to the start menu and choose Help and Support (shown below) Just the computer user that wants to invite does this.


3. The Help and Support Center will appear.


4. Click on Invite a Friend to connect to your computer with Remote Assistance. Located under the Ask For Assistance menu.


5. Then press Invite someone to help you. The window below will appear.


6. Choose your friends name from the Windows Messenger contact list.


7. Click on Invite this person.


8. This will allow your friend to see your desktop. If they want to control your they must press the Take control button and the other person must agree by pressing ok..





Check out the Screenshots for this article at How to connect to another computer. This is what I see when I am in control of my friends computer...I can go on the internet or read their emails etc..





Reasons to use Windows remote help and support





--Your problem is so minor, you do not want to bother an IT support person.





--You cannot afford an It technician, and your know a computer whiz..





--You have already rang software support or your internet service provider and they could not help





--You constantly need desktop computer help and using remote access software is easy!!








Notes:





--If you close the Remote Assistance Window it will disconnect. And you will have to start your remote access again if you want to connect.





--Don\'t worry if it is a bit slow because that is normal. The speed of your remote access depends on your speed of both internet connections.





--You can also connect using an email address. The invitation is sent through email.





Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/networks-articles/how-to-connect-to-another-computer-using-remote-access-software-349688.html

About the Author

About the Author Mitz Pantic wrote this article. Visit http:www.tips4pc.com for more Networking tips

Remotely Spy on Another Pc

Author:


Jeek sun

Before you get start to spy on PCs you must first acknowledge and agree to the fact that you are the owner of the remote PCs you wish to spy on. It is a federal and state offense to install monitoring/surveillance software on a PC of which you do not own.
Why do you want to remotely spy on another PC?
1. To know who touched your PC when you are away.
2. To know what your kids do on the internet and keep them from bad stuffs.
3. To prevent company secrets from leaking.
4. To catch a cheating spouse online.





How to remotely spy on another PC?
Step 1.
Firstly, you need to get the reomte spy software Realtime-Spy
Realtime-Spy is the FIRST remotely installable monitoring solution designed to provide convenient access to the monitored PC from ANY LOCATION without the use of IP addresses and direct connections to the remote PC! It works in totally stealth and can not be detected by the user of the remote PC.
Step 2.
Create customized agent program.
Realtime-Spy comes with a configuration program that allows you to create a remote install module that you e-mail to the remote PC you wish to monitor. You must attach this file you create to an email, and then send it to the remote PC. From there the user must download and run the attached file to install Realtime-Spy. You can choose to enable or disable the \'alert user\' option that Realtime-Spy has. Once the user runs the file, their activities will be stored on our servers, so you can view them from any location - securely, of course.
To aid the install process, you can give any name to the install module you create - such as CoolPictures.exe or FunGame.exe (it must always end with the .exe extension to run).
Step 3.
Mask the agent program to Microsoft Word doc and Send it by email attachement.
Some e-mail systems may block executable attachments - do not worry, however, as this can be avoided. To bypass executable blocking by the remote e-mail server, you can drag and drop the Realtime-Spy module into a WORDPAD or Microsoft Works document. From there you can email this doc file with the embedded executable to the remote user - if they open the doc, and double click the executable - then Realtime-Spy will be installed. Zipping the file with software like Winzip also works.
Note: If the remote user does not download the Realtime-Spy module and run it, then the software will not work - you will have to physically install the software.
Step 4.
Now you are spying on the remote PC.
Login to your realtime-spy account and check the logs
The logs include:
Passwords typed
Keystrokes Typed
Real-time Activity and Keystrokes Viewing
Email Forwarding
Desktop Screenshots
Websites Visited
Windows Opened
Chat Conversations
AOL (including 9.0 and Optimized), AOL Instant Messenger, AIM Triton, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger (including 6.x and 7.x), Excite Messenger, GoogleTalk, Skype, XFire, and ICQ.
Applications Ran
Print Jobs Executed
File Usage
Documents Viewed
E-mails typed
Remote Administration
You can remotely shutdown, reboot, restart, logoff, or freeze the remote PC.
Learn more about Realtime-Spy: http://www.spy-tech-monitoring.com/spytech-realtime-spy.html
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/how-to-remotely-spy-on-another-pc-596161.html
About the Author
Watt is the spy software expert in Spytech. Spytech is industry leading spy software provider

Learn more about Spytech Spy software

Linux Vs Bsd

Author:



Juraj Sipos

What is a BSD Unix?

BSD family of Unix systems is based upon the source code of real Unix developed in Bell Labs, which was later purchased by the University of California - 'Berkeley Software Distribution'. The contemporary BSD systems stand on the source code that was released in the beginning of 1990\'s (Net/2 Lite and 386/BSD release).

BSD is behind the philosophy of TCP/IP networking and the Internet thereof; it is a developed Unix system with advanced features. Except for proprietary BSD/OS, the development of which was discontinued, there are currently four BSD systems available: FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and Mac OS X, which is derived from FreeBSD. There are also various forks of these, like PC-BSD - a FreeBSD clone, or MirOS, an OpenBSD clone. The intention of such forks is to include various characteristics missing in the above BSD systems, on which these (forks), no matter how well they are designed, only strongly depend. PC-BSD, for example, has more graphical features than FreeBSD, but there are no substantial differences between these two. PC-BSD cannot breathe without FreeBSD; FreeBSD or OpenBSD are independent of one another.

What is Linux?

Albeit users like to use the term 'Linux' for any Linux distro including its packages (Red Hat Linux, Mandrake Linux, etc.), for IT professionals Linux is only the kernel. Linux started in 1991, when its author, Linus Torvals, began his work on a free replacement of Minix. Developers of quite a few Linux system utilities used the source code from BSD, as both these systems started parallelly in about the same time (1992-1993) as Open Source.

Today, there are a few, if not many developers of their own kernels/operating systems (FreeDOS, Agnix, ReactOS, Inferno, etc.), but these guys simply missed the right train in the right hour. They did not lose anything except for the fact that they may be even better programmers, but without the public opinion acknowledging this at large. Linus built his fame also from work of many developers and he went on board in the right time. Linus deserves a credit as a software idea policy maker and he helped very much in this respect.

(Open)BSD vs Linux

It is often difficult to say what is better if you compare two things without regarding the purpose of their use. Mobile Internet may appear better for someone who travels often, but for people working at home such mobility is not necessary. In this view, it is a stupid question when someone asks: 'What is better, a mobile or static Internet?' It all depends...

If you compare Linux and OpenBSD in their desktop environment features, Linux offers more applications than OpenBSD; but in a server solution BSD systems are known to be robust, more stable and secure, and without so many patches distributors release soon after their new version of Linux slithered to light.

BSD systems are based upon real Unix source code contrary to Linux, which was developed from scratch (kernel).

Differences between BSD and Linux

1) BSD license allows users/companies to modify a program\'s source code and not to release changes to the public. In other words, BSD licenses allow commercial use and incorporation of a code into proprietary commercial products. This is how Microsoft incorporated BSD networking into their products and how Mac OS X earns money through muscles of FreeBSD.

Linux uses GPL license for most of the time (applications in Linux can also have a BSD license - or any license; it is up to developers how they decide). With a GPL-licensed program anybody can change the source code, but he or she MUST share it with the Open Source community to make sure that everybody will benefit from such a change.

2) BSD has the so-called 'core system' (without packages). The core system consists of basic utilities (like ssh, fdisk, various commands like chmod or sysctl, manual pages, etc.) and anything beyond this is strictly seen as an add-on. Linux (not only the kernel, of course) is usually packaged as the whole system where this difference is not seen.

3) On BSD systems, all add-on packages are strictly installed into the /usr/local directory: documents to user/local/share/docs/application_name; themes and other things to /usr/local/share/application_name; binaries to /usr/local/bin/application_name. By application_name we mean a program\'s name, so if you install IceWM, for example, its binary will be here: /usr/local/bin/icewm. With Linux, on the other hand, all applications get mostly installed into the /usr/bin directory.

4) BSD systems use the system of 'ports', which are fingerprints of applications in the /usr/ports directory, where a user may 'cd' and execute a make command, which will download, via a directive contained in such a fingerprint\'s code, the application\'s source and the system will compile it as well. 'Ports' are actually add-on packages for BSD systems and they are also packaged in packages repository of a concrete BSD system. They can be installed as binaries, too, with use of the 'pkg_add' either directly from the Internet or locally. But 'ports' have that advantage that if an author of any package makes a new version, a user can immediately get its newest/updated version. Packages released for a particular BSD version (like OpenBSD 4.1) are not updated and users have to wait for a new BSD release (like OpenBSD 4.2).

5) BSD systems have also their stable version. With FreeBSD, for example, you have a FreeBSD-Release (a version that can be used normally), FreeBSD-Stable (system more profoundly audited for bugs and security holes), and a development version - Current, which is not stable and not recommended for a regular use. Some Linux distributions started to imitate this philosophy, but with BSD systems this way of making distributions has become a rule.

6) Of course, the kernel is absolutely different.

7) BSD has FFS file system; it is the only file system on BSD\'s contrary to Linux, where you can use dozens of file systems like ext2, ext3, ReiserFS, XFS, etc.

8) BSD systems divide their partitions internally. This means that after installing a BSD system to a hard disk, programs like fdisk, Partition Magic, Norton Ghost and many others will not see this internal division of a BSD (FFS) disk; thus, repartitioning of a disk is not such a pain when administrators require a rigorous partitioning (for /home, /tmp, /var, /etc directories). As a consequence, the naming convention also differs a little: a disk - /dev/ad0s3b in FreeBSD indicates that you deal with 'slice' 3 ('s3'), which is the equivalent of Linux /dev/hda3; the internal 'partition' has the name of a letter: 'a', 'b', 'e', etc. ('b' is a swap partition). BSD systems also use different naming conventions for devices (disks, etc.).

9) Unless you make a good kernel hack, BSD systems can only be installed into the primary partition. This is not the rule with Linux. However, as BSD systems offer the above-mentioned internal division of partitions, this is not any pain. PC architecture for disks (IDE) follows the rule that you can have only four primary partitions. We will illustrate this on Linux: /dev/hda1 (note: first partition on master disk on first IDE channel), /dev/hda2 (second partition), /dev/hda3 (third partition), /dev/hda4 (fourth partition). PC architecture allows creation of the so-called logical disk on a physical disk (/dev/hda5, /dev/hda6, etc.). You can have as many logical disks/partitions as you wish and you can also install Linux into these 'logical disks'. On the other hand, installing a BSD OS into such a 'logical partition' is not normally possible.

10) System configuration is manual for most of the time, but various clones like PC-BSD break this convention. The manual approach is a very good thing, as administrators have everything under control without being pushed to waste time in a labyrinth of bloated configuration menus. A good comparison is to imagine a car mechanic repairing the car\'s engine covered by a thick blanket. To give you even a little better example - you will hardly find a Linux distro that does not have a default X startup (graphical environment). Of course, you can switch off the X environment during the installation configuration, but if you keep forgetting like me and forget to switch this off, or you have difficulties to find it in the menu somewhere, you realize that most Linux distributors do indeed impose on us only one approach - to put our fingers first on the thick blanket, then on the engine. If you are a good administrator, you do not usually trust vendors who program you how to use Linux - you are the boss and you must have your own freedom. However, in most cases you lose few hours instead by deactivating various services, which are, unfortunately, not even necessary but almost always activated by default. Linux is praised both for being a good desktop and server, but administrators of a good server do not need X. The more software is stored on your hard disk, the more security problems you will face, because it is impossible to audit every package in every unthinkable situation. Good and secure systems are always tight, light and simple.

11) All BSD systems have a Linux emulation support. Running BSD binaries on Linux is a little harder.

12) BSD systems have less support from driver vendors, thus they lag behind in this view (they are not worse, but many vendors support only Microsoft and Linux). With a BSD system you must carefully research the Internet for supported products/chipsets before purchasing any hardware.

13) BSD systems do not use the Unix System V 'runlevel scripts' (initialization startup scripts) like Linux.

14) BSD kernels can be set to several security levels. This is also possible with Linux, but BSD\'s have taken a very good care of this kernel-tuning feature, which makes it even impossible to change something in files in higher security levels - you cannot delete them.

15) BSD\'s have everything under one ROOF. Various Linux programs are often not even compatible with other Linuces. For example, if you install a SuSE RPM package on Mandrake, it may not work. BSD\'s have one solid crown of power. If you move from Linux to FreeBSD, you will soon find out that you got out of this chaos. Do you want a package? Just visit: http://www.freebsd.org/ports/ and download it. Unless its developer made some programming errors, it will always work.

16) Generally, BSD systems boot and reboot faster than Linux. Linux can do this, too, but it must be tuned. It is very surprising that Linux is shipped, on the one hand, on huge DVD\'s and, on the other hand, it has a compressed kernel. BSD systems do not use (but they can) a default kernel that is compressed, thus the system boots always faster. As I mentioned earlier in this article, Linux vendors program users to use various, often unnecessary services. I do not need SAMBA (file and print services) and many other things as well. Linux reboot process takes longer because various services running on Linux need time for deactivation. Many Linux users do not even know what is the purpose of these services.

17) In comparison to BSD, most Linux distributions are overbloated. Few good users noticed this some time ago and a new trend in the Linux world started with ideas to get closer to a BSD-style use. One of such distributions is Gentoo Linux, but also Slackware Linux, which has preserved a very good shape since its first release (1993). The Gentoo 'About' page (http://www.gentoo.org) says that, 'Gentoo is a free operating system based on either Linux or FreeBSD...' Therefore, if you use Slackware or Gentoo, these Linuces will always reboot faster than any other Linux.

18) If you compile programs from ports, you will not stumble into compilation errors. BSD packagers prepare their packages carefully, so that users will always compile them successfully. This does not always happen with Linux.

Conclusion

I am the author of One Floppy CD Audio and MP3 Player, and a single floppy OpenBSD router. I really like all BSD systems. If you are interested, look into FreeBSD documentation, which is one of the best. It will give you a very good overview of history and hard work done in the development of these robust systems. Today, BSD Unices are the only quality alternative to Linux in the Open Source world.

Copyright (c) Juraj Sipos

Author\'s website about FreeBSD and OpenBSD

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/operating-systems-articles/linux-vs-bsd-250471.html

About the Author

Juraj\'s karma at freebsd.nfo.sk

Types of Computer Hardware

Author:

Isabel

Computer hardware is a physical part of a computer that executes within the hardware. It is unlike computer software or data that can be frequently changed, modified or erased on a computer. Computer hardware is not frequently changed and so is stored in hardware devices such as read only memory (ROM) where it is not readily changed.


Most computer hardware is embedded and so is not visible to normal users. Below are the different types of hardware\'s found in a computer.



Ø Motherboard: It is the central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system such as a computer. A motherboard is also known as a main board, logic board or system board.

Ø Central processing Unit: A CPU is the main component of a digital computer that interprets instructions and process data in computer programs.

Ø Random Access Memory: A RAM allows the stored data to be accessed in any order. RAM is considered as the main memory of the computer where the working area is used for displaying and manipulating data.

Ø Basic Input Output System: BIOS prepares the software programs to load, execute and control the computer.

Ø Power Supply: Power Supply supplies electrical energy to an output load or group of loads.

Ø Video Display Controller: It converts the logical representation of visual information into a signal that can be used as input for a display medium.

Ø Computer Bus: It is used to transfer data or power between computer components inside a computer or between computers.

Ø CD-ROM drive: It contains data accessible by a computer

Ø Floppy disk: It is a data storage device

Ø Zip Drive: It is a medium capacity removable disk storage system.

Ø Hard Disk: It is a non-volatile data storage system that stores data on a magnetic surface layered unto hard disk platters.


Isabella Rodrigues writes for compatibleinkjetcartridge.info,

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Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/computers-articles/types-of-computer-hardware-33669.html

About the Author

Isabella Rodrigues writes for compatibleinkjetcartridge.info,

offering the latest information on cartridges, visit them today for more best

buy printer cartridges.


Visit today: http://www.compatibleinkjetcartridge.info

How to Configure Windows Server as a Ntp Server



Author:

David Evans

The Microsoft Windows operating systems from Windows 2000 onwards has a built-in time synchronization service – ‘Windows Time’. This article describes how to configure the Microsoft Windows 2003 and Windows 2000 time service as a NTP time server. It shows how to modify registry entries to configure the Microsoft Windows Time Service. The Windows Time service allows a Windows network to provide synchronisation of all machines within a domain.




Windows 2003 Server Configuration




Windows 2003 has expanded on the original Windows 2000 time service by providing a true NTP implementation. The time service, installed by default, can synchronise to a NTP Server. Indeed, by manipulating registry settings for the service it can act as both an NTP server and client to synchronise other network clients in the domain.



The \'Windows Time\' service should be present in the systems service list. The application executable is \'w32time.exe\'. The parameter list for w32time can be found in the registry at:



HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time



Before modifying registry entries it is good a dood idea to backup the registry settings. The registry can then be restored in the event of problems being encountered.

To configure a Windows 2003 machine to synchronise to an external NTP server, edit the following registry entries:



HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Config\AnnounceFlags

Set the ‘Announce Flags’ registry entry to 5, to indicate a reliable time source.



HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NTPClient\SpecialPollInterval

The ‘Special Poll Interval’ registry entry defines the period in seconds that the Windows 2003 machine should poll the NTP server. A recommended value is 900 seconds, which equates to every 15 minutes.



HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\NtpServer

The ‘NTP Server’ parameter is used to provide a list of IP addresses or DNS names, separated by a space, of NTP servers that the Windows 2003 machine can synchronise to.



HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\TimeProviders\NTPServer\Enabled

Changing the ‘Enabled’ flag to the value 1 enables the NTP Server.



HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters\Type

Change the server type to NTP by specifying ‘NTP’ in the ‘Type’ registry entry.



Windows 2000 Time Service Configuration



Windows 2000 has an integrated time synchronisation service, installed by default, which can synchronise to a NTP Server. Indeed, by manipulating registry settings, the service can act as both an SNTP client and SNTP server to synchronise other network clients.



Before modifying registry entries it is good a dood idea to backup the registry settings. The registry can then be restored in the event of problems being encountered.

The \'Windows Time\' service should be present in the systems service list. The application executable is \'w32time.exe\'. The parameter list for w32time can be found in the registry at:



HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\W32Time\Parameters



Windows 2000 can operate as an NTP client and synchronise to an NTP server by setting parameter \'NTP Server\' to the IP address of a NTP Server.



By default, the Microsoft Windows 2000 machine will synchronise to the specified NTP time server every 8 hours (or 3 times a day), which may not be enough to maintain accurate synchronisation. The period can be reduced by setting the \'Period\' parameter to how many times a day synchronisation is required. Setting the period to 48 will activate synchronisation with the NTP server once every half hour.

Windows 2000 can also be configured to act as an NTP server by setting the \'Local NTP\' parameter to \'1\'.



After editing any of the registry entries for the windows time service, the service must be restarted for the settings to take effect. The services can be started or stopped from the service control applet in \'administrative tools\'. Alternatively the service can be controlled via the DOS net command thus:



net start w32time

net stop w32time



NTP Troubleshooting



A number of problems can be encountered when configuring the Windows Time Service. NTP operates using the UDP protocol over TCP/IP. Therefore the TCP/IP network infrastructure must be operational for NTP to be effective. Synchronisation issues may arise when NTP attempts to synchronise to an inaccurate time reference or if network delays are excessive.



Synchronising Time on Network Devices



As well as synchronising Microsoft Windows servers and workstations, NTP can also be used to synchronise network devices, such as hubs, switches and routers. Any network device that can synchronise to a NTP server can be pointed to the Windows server to achieve time synchronisation. In this way the whole network and accompanying infrastructure can be synchronised.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/networks-articles/how-to-configure-windows-server-as-a-ntp-server-108481.html

About the Author

Dave Evans is involved in the development of NTP Server synchronisation solutions to ensure accurate time on PC’s and computer systems. Dave has developed dedicated NTP server systems, NTP synchronised digital clock systems and atomic clock time synchronisation products. Click here to find out more about NTP Server Systems.

 
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