Troubleshooting SBS 2008
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In this tutorial, we will try to provide some very basic diagnostic areas by which we can fix issues in specific parts of the system.
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[edit] External network
If the internal network is working fine and people can connect to the Internet, but others cannot connect into your system, I would first check the firewall and router. Assuming that the basic connectivity checks are all OK, I would start with the Fix my network option in the Windows SBS Console under Network. Click on Next to start the wizard off and wait a few minutes as it can take some time to run.
Once the wizard has run, it will show you the issues it finds. If your router is not a UPnP router, you will always get a top issue of Could not configure the router. This can be ignored in this case, but other issues need further investigation. Some issues do not have a full description and the only way to understand the problem further is to type the link into a browser to find out more. Clicking on Next will start the automated attempts to fix the issues with the check boxes filled in,
You will be asked to confirm that you wish to continue with the automatic resolution process and you will need to click on the Yes button to continue.
Once all the fixes are in place, you will get a final summary screen to inform you whether you have any further issues to worry about.
[edit] Internal network
Not only can the connection between your server and the Internet stop working, but also the connection between your server and other machines on your network.
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Before delving too deeply into the software side of the network, it is always worth double-checking the cables, switches, and hubs and ensuring they all have their green lights on. I've seen many network issues being resolved by pushing a cable home properly. |
In an attempt to diagnose this, I would recommend first checking the Networking and Sharing Center in Control Panel and ensuring that it has a good connection through to the Internet. This check can be carried out on a problem PC, but more importantly, on the server too.
If there is a problem listed there, then you need to fix this before proceeding. The Diagnose and repair option in the Tasks list will attempt to resolve this problem for you.
There are two services on your server that are important for the smooth running of your internal network, so I would next check these. They are the DHCP and DNS services. Both tools can be found as part of the Windows SBS Native Tools Management or under the Administrators Tools item on the Start menu.
DHCP is responsible for allocating IP addresses to computers and if this is not running, it can cause issues. Go to the DHCP console and check that it is running and has a green arrow in the IPv4 server symbol. If not, try starting the service. If it will not start, this normally points to the fact that another device with a DHCP server has been plugged into the network. You will need to find this new addition and disable DHCP on that device.
If that was not the issue, then check that the IP address Scope, Router, DNS Server, and DNS Domain Name are correct. The Scope is the address range that your computer clients will be allocated IP addresses from. The Router setting should point to your Internet router, the DNS Server should have the IP address of your server, and the DNS Domain Name should be the name of your domain.
The final check is that the DNS service is up and running. You should see a screen similar to the one below with plenty of entries under the domain name. If not, try restarting the DNS service, otherwise you have a significantly painful DNS corruption that will require knowledge beyond this book to repair.
There are two checks you can carry out on the DNS settings. The first is to run the built-in monitoring tool and the second is to check if the DNS is set to send queries to forwarders.
Right-click on the server name in the navigation pane and select Properties. Select the Monitoring tab and put a check mark in the simple and recursive query boxes and then click on Test Now. If the DNS servers are all responding correctly, you will see two Pass responses in the Test results section.
If the Simple Query has a Fail, you should restart your DNS service. If the Recursive Query shows a fail, you need to check your Forwarders.
Select the Forwarders tab and note if there are any items listed. If none are listed, you can ask your ISP for the DNS forwarders you should use as it is possible that your queries are timing out. If you have IP Addresses listed, then you should confirm with your ISP that they are still valid and that they are working correctly.
Some people do not trust the security of using forwarders, so they either leave this section blank or they use another provider, such as OpenDNS.
[edit] Spam
Spam, that is mail that is not wanted or requested, is a waste of system resources, users' time , and is potentially harmful. It is not possible to simple say "no spam" in an email system, so various rules exist to manage spam within Exchange 2007 and Outlook. Should too much spam get through to users, they will find it annoying and potentially offensive. However, on the flip side, if the rules are set too stringently, then valuable email will be stopped as spam and could cost you your business if important communications were lost.
On SBS 2008, spam filtering is delivered as part of Exchange 2007. To understand how much spam is being stopped, look at the Security tab in the Windows SBS Console and select the Spam protection for e-mail line. In the pane at the bottom of the screen, you will see how much spam has been stopped.
To change the settings, perhaps to enable more spam to be quarantined rather than just deleted, you need to start the Exchange Management Console from the Start menu.
Navigate to the Hub Transport under Organization Configuration and then select Anti-Spam in the main information pane.
It is worth looking at all the options; however, the Content Filtering option has the most useful settings to be changed. Select Content Filtering and then click on Properties to bring up the settings for the content filtering. In the Action tab, you will see options for spam. By default, spam is deleted, which makes me nervous that I might miss an important email, so I would recommend making a spam quarantine email account and directing all spam above 6 or 7 (the spam rating) into the quarantine and rejecting mail that is very spam like in content, such as 8.
With these settings, if someone thinks an email might have been rejected as spam, you can log into that account and check it out.
[edit] Poor performance
Poor performance is a nightmare scenario for most people managing a server as tracking down the culprit can be very complicated and time consuming. I am not about to be able to simplify it, so I wanted to give you a first pass glance at a system. Start Performance Monitor from Administrative Tools on the Start menu to get an overview of what your server is doing.
Check each section to find out if it is particularly active. CPU, Disk Active Time, and Networks Utilization that are close to 100% are signs of stress on your SBS 2008 system. High Maximum Frequency and Used Physical Memory are not normally signs of problems. A high Hard Fault/sec for memory is something to worry about, especially if it is tied with high Disk Active Time as this would suggest not enough memory.
However, even when you know what area of the system is under stress the action is very dependent on the cause. If you are unsure how to take this further, talk to a Small Business Specialist Community Microsoft Partner to gain some assistance.
[edit] Additional References
For instructions on Installing SBS 2008, click here
[edit] Source
The source of this content is Chapter 13: Troubleshooting SBS 2008 of Small Business Server 2008 – Installation, Migration, and Configuration by David Overton (Packt Publishing, 2009).
