Forwarding Print Jobs
Setting up a Windows NT server to forward print jobs from its shared printer to another printer doesn't work. After the client submits the print job, the job stalls at the first server because the first server uses a null session to pass the job to the second server. By default, NT doesn't accept null session print requests.
To solve this problem, edit the Registry on the second NT server and add the share name of the printer you want to accept null session print requests. Start regedt32, and go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Services\LanmanServer\Parameters Registry entry. Then, add a line with the printer's share name. After the spooler service starts and stops, the server will accept null session print jobs.
—Keith Lynch
klynch@mssc.com
Modem Tips
I have two modem tips that I've used on my servers and want to share. First, to configure your modem to answer after several rings, edit the modem.inf file in the \%systemroot%\system32\ras directory and change the parameter COMMAND_LISTEN=ATS0=1 to COMMAND_LISTEN=ATS0=number of rings (e.g., COMMAND_LISTEN=ATS0=4 for four rings). For Telephony API (TAPI)- or unimodem-based units, start regedit and go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Services\RasMan\Parameters Registry entry. Select Edit, New, DWORD Value to create a new parameter. Name the parameter NumberOfRings. Then, double-click the parameter and enter the number of rings you want. Finally, click OK and close the Registry editor.
Second, to enhance the performance of your modem dial-up connection to the Internet, eliminate fragmentation on the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) to the remote host. To accomplish this task, you must force Windows NT to discover the MTU's maximum packet value. Then, you can eliminate fragmentation if the value is small. Start regedit, and go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSetServices\Tcpip\Parameters Registry entry. Select Edit, New, DWORD Value to create a new parameter. Name the parameter EnablePMTUDiscovery. Then, double-click the parameter and enter a value of 1. This value forces your modem to use 576 bytes for the MTU for all connections that aren't in the local subnet. Finally, close the Registry editor and restart the computer.
—Dusanka Delovska-Trajkova
dusanka@morm.gov.mk
Manage Services Remotely
I use a simple script, which Listing 1 shows an example of, to manage services on a remote machine. You can use this script to restart a service, as in my example, or to use the other options that Netsvc provides.
To start the script, type
serv
where username is a user whose account can manage services (e.g., an administrator), IPaddress is the address of the machine that you want to manage remotely, password is the user's password, and service is the service's name.
—Vittorio Fassone
v.fassone@cedacriovest.it
Hiding a Workstation
The sidebar "Optimizing Your Browser Service" in Sean Daily's article "NT Workstation Tune-Up" (July 1999) documented the net config server /hidden:yes command for hiding your Windows NT workstation from the browse lists. I discovered a situation in which the workstation still shows up when you use this method. If your workstation is a member of a domain that doesn't exist on the network you're connected to (which might occur if you consult at multiple customer sites), your workstation and the workstation's domain will show up in the browse list. To solve this problem, put your workstation in a workgroup and make the workgroup name the same as the name of an existing domain on the network you're connected to. However, this solution won't work if you must retain your domain's security settings.
—Darwin J. Sanoy
darwin@sanoy.com
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