Using the Network and Sharing Center
The Performance Monitor can help you track real-time information related to a server’s network interface such as packets sent/second and current bandwidth. And the Reliability Monitor can help you quickly track events that may be related to a problem with a network interface (which you can then research using the Event Viewer), the quickest way to check a server’s network connection and network settings is to use the Network and Sharing Center.
To open the Network and Sharing Center, click Start and then Control Panel. In the Control Panel, click the View Network Status and Tasks link under the Network and Internet Group. The Network and Sharing Center window opens (see Figure 22).
Clearing and Saving Log Events
Over time, a number of events build up in the various log files. You can clear the events from a particular log and (if you want) save the log events to a file for later inspection or reference.
In the Event Viewer snap-in, right-click any of the log icons in the tree pane. Select Clear Log from the shortcut menu. A message box appears asking whether you want to save the particular log before clearing or just clear the log. If you want to save the log file, click Save and Clear. The Save As dialog box for the log appears and enables you to designate a filename and path in which to save the log file. Then click Save.
Working with the Event Viewer
A huge number of things are happening at any one time on a server: Users are logging in and accessing files, drives are spinning away, and processors are trying to make sense of it all. Each of these instances is considered an event. Being able to monitor these events and use them to interpret the health of your servers is an important aspect of administering a Windows Server 2008 network.
As its name suggests, the Event Viewer is used to view events. Although it is more of a passive tool (it doesn’t supply you with the real-time data that you see in the Performance Monitor), it does give you access to a great deal of information.