Win2K Server Services, Part 2

By default, Windows 2000 Server, Standard Edition (without service packs applied) installs 65 services. (The other Win2K Server products and Win2K Professional install different services. For descriptions of the 65 default services that Win2K Server, Standard Edition installs, see Web Table 1 at http://www.win2000mag.com, InstantDoc ID 22762.) In "Win2K Server Services, Part 1," November 2001, I provide a definition of those services and what they do as well as tools and tips for how to manage them. With that foundation, you can begin to evaluate the services running on your system and tune them to your ideal configuration.

What Installs Which Services?
To see which services Win2K Server installs by default, I started with a clean Win2K Server installation and accepted all the default settings (except that I opted to install the management and monitoring tools, which Win2K Server doesn't install by default). Next, I ran the Active Directory Installation Wizard (dcpromo.exe) and accepted all the default settings. Using the wizard, I made the server the first domain controller (DC) in the new domain homedomain.com, and I installed DNS locally. The Active Directory (AD) installation process installed only one new service, the DNS Server service, which answers DNS name queries and update requests.

Although the AD installation added only one new service, the installation changed the status of some of the Win2K Server default services from manual or disabled to automatic. Table 1, page 40, shows the services that AD requires but that don't run in a default standalone server configuration unless you manually turn them on.

Finally, using the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs applet, I installed every possible native Windows service and accepted all the default configuration parameters. (Under most circumstances, I would never take this step on a production server. I did so in this case simply to research the services and their options.) This installation added 24 services to my system and changed the Startup Type parameter of the already installed Win2K Server Terminal Services from Disabled to Automatic. Table 2 lists and describes the 24 services that this step added.

What Can You Afford to Lose?
With 90 services running on your Win2K Server system, won't all that code bring your server to its knees? The answer depends on the server's horsepower. Most of these services don't drain system resources unless they're active. For example, if you don't maintain an active Web site on your server, having Microsoft IIS installed and running won't significantly slow your system's performance.

By default, many services are disabled or set to manual start, but the more services your server loads automatically, the more memory and CPU resources it uses during typical operation. Therefore, if fewer services are running, more resources are available to the system, and the system will run faster. Thus, to improve performance, you should enable applications to load automatically only when necessary and disable or remove (or set to manual start) the other services on your server.

However, be very careful about which services you disable or remove. A good rule of thumb is that if you don't know what it does, don't disable or remove it. Turning off a necessary or dependent service can crash an application, corrupt files, or cause your system to fail. Whether you can safely disable or remove a service depends on your server's configuration, but Table 3, page 42, shows services you might be able to turn off to boost performance (provided you've verified that the system or other applications aren't using the services). To properly remove a service, use the Add/Remove Programs applet. Click Add/Remove Windows Components to launch the Windows Components Wizard, which presents a list of available Win2K services. Currently installed services appear with selected check boxes. To remove a service, clear the service's check box; to modify a service, select its check box, then click Next to step through configuration for the services you selected (some services include multiple components). Be sure to clear a check box only if you want to remove that service.