HELP! Need A Crash Course In Windows Server 2000

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Boogalou

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 10, 2005
Messages
101
Hi Guys,

I'm attempting a career change, going back to school, trying to get a little experience in IT.

To make a long story short, my wifes company let me come in to work with the IT manager as an intern for awhile just to get some experience, see how things work, basically to see if I really want to pursue a career in IT.

I've been here about three weeks, have basically dealt with only computer hardware problems, have left the network alone. We were going to go over the network basics next week :rolleyes: Small company about 50 people, server running Windows 2000, half pc's half macs on the same network.

Well the IT manager just had a nervous breakdown and left. No warning, nothing, just in the middle of the day took off.

So that just kind of leaves me sitting here. Can anyone recommend a good book for Windows Server 2000 :D ? I was thinking about heading to Barnes&Nobles and grabbing the largest tome I can find and just speed reading the dumb thing. Anyone know of a networking site for newbies?

Hopefully they'll get someone else in here fast, but I need a quick primer on the easy stuff like what to do if the email server goes down, etc...

Thanks!
 
if the email server goes down and you don't know the first thing about windows server your first step should be to call a reputable local consulting firm to come try to fix it. you may even want to call them in now to do their little assessment visit. then they wouldn't be starting from scratch when they come in cause the whole thing is down.
 
wow, thats really messed up to just up and leave like that, hopefully things are documented. Things could get real bad real fast, and good luck to you.
 
Yeah I don't think they realize how quickly things can go downhill. I'm gonna tell them they need to get some people in here asap.
 
Boogalou said:
Hopefully they'll get someone else in here fast, but I need a quick primer on the easy stuff like what to do if the email server goes down, etc...
Click to expand...

emailserverproblems2vz.jpg
 
First thing...make a full backup. Then you can feel a little less under pressure as you will have the data if anything should happen. Work on implementing a backup plan while things are still going well.
 
Mak said:
First thing...make a full backup. Then you can feel a little less under pressure as you will have the data if anything should happen. Work on implementing a backup plan while things are still going well.
Click to expand...
Right on.

Honestly, having an enormous book to thumb through is nice to wipe your ass with...but to actually learn something you need to have it fuck up. Google is a far, far, far better resource for troubleshoot/fix than a book...at least for W2k.

When something goes wrong there should be entries in the event viewer. Other than that, get somebody else in there quickly.
 
yeah, i didn't want to get into it at first because the important thing is to bring someone else in. but what people have said is right. a book is only really going to tell you how to set things up to work properly. there might be some basic doofus-level troubleshooting suggestions in there, but that's about it. so when there's a problem the book will be useless.

during my time in the industry i've learned that the most important thing you can do is keep a cool head. seriously, with time and effort you're going to learn a l ot about troubleshooting, but you're not going to be a walking dictionary of windows 2000 problems and resolutions. what you can become though is someone who never loses it when the walls are crumbling down around you.

exude confidence in your ability to fix the problem no matter how much pant-shitting is going on inside. the people around you will take some comfort in that. if they see you getting panicky then the level of panick they will feel is incomprehensible. and they'll think you don't know what you're doing.

so yeah, the answers are out there. the microsoft KB is replete with information. technet is valuable. for every product there is a user community to draw upon. all these are your most important resources when things go wrong. trust in yourself to dig up the information you need from these resources, and maintain your cool.

but of course all of this comes with experience. in the meantime, get someone more experienced in there to teach you how not to have a nervous breakdown like the last guy ;)

peace,
cool hand luke
 
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