Windows Server 2003, its predecessor Windows 2000 Server and successor Windows Server 2008 make up the triad of the hugely successful and popular network operating system offerings from Microsoft.
Windows Server 2003 is a highly successful server OS (Operating System) from Microsoft, being a successor to another extremely successful server operating system, Windows 2000 Server, and being succeeded by Microsoft’s latest server OS offering, Windows Server 2008. Let us take a look at some of the most useful commands that can be used with Windows 2003 Server.
defrag (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772772.aspx )
This is a well known command that is used to defragment the specified drive. This command line tool can be called from batch files or through a scheduled task or from many other contexts. Compared with a snap-in in the MMC interface, the only thing that this command line utility won’t deliver is the file by file fragmentation report. Keep in mind that the drive must have a minimum of 15 percent of free space for optimum and total defragment. Also, volumes that contain corrupted files and are marked as dirty by the file system can’t be defragmented.
To defragment the C drive, use the following command:
defrag C:
To analyze if drive C is fit for defragmentation and get a report of the analysis, use the following command:
defrag C: /a /v
freedisk (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772737.aspx )
This is an extremely useful command that lets you find out if the specified amount of space is available in the specified local/remote drive. The great thing about this command is that it uses natural language and is extremely simple to use; plus, it can be used to analyze free space in any computer available in the current network.
To find out if there is 200 MB of free space available in the current drive, i.e. C drive, use the following command:
freedisk 200mb
openfiles (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772842.aspx )
This command is used to query and display all the open files in the network opened by all network users. It also allows you to selectively disconnect the open files. In addition, this command can also be used to enable/disable the system Maintain Objects List global flag. Do note that enabling the global object list in a network system that has a lot of remotely opened files can considerably slow down the system.
To query all open files and display them, use the following command:
openfiles query
iisback (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc755997.aspx )
Of the many default IIS commands in Windows Server 2003, this is one of the most useful. This useful command line utility allows you to create backups of all the settings of your complete IIS installation, such as website addresses, virtual directories and port numbers. Do keep in mind the actual files that are served up by the IIS are not backed up by this command and need to be done so manually. Another useful feature of this command is that it lets you restore a previous backup of your IIS installation; it can’t help you if you need to backup an IIS installation and then move it to another system.
To create a backup of the IIS installation on the local computer and to name that file as ‘ReskitBkp’, use the following command:
iisback /backup/b ReskitBkp
Other useful Windows Server 2003 commands include:
driverquery https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773321.aspx )
fsutil (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc755628.aspx )
winpop (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772824.aspx )
