If you are a mid-sized business (
25-300 PCs), use a great free Microsoft tool developed by the Microsoft Essential Business Server team (
http://blogs.technet.com/essentialbusinessserver/ ). The tool scans your network, identifies various networking problems (DNS, AD replication, AD configuration, configuration of network adapters, etc.) and provides links to knowledge based articles that explain how to correct these issues.
Microsoft built this tool for customers who are considering deploying Essential Business Server 2008 (
http://www.microsoft.com/ebs/en/us/overview.aspx ) to prepare their environment for Essential Business Server (hence the name: Preparation Wizard).
But, this tool can be used by anyone with Active Directory in their network who would like to verify the health of their environment. The tool runs over 100 different checks which are based on most common issues resolved by Microsoft Customer Support Services over the past 10 years!
The tool does not change any settings in your network, so it is safe to run at any time. Unlike many other known tools which simply dump large amounts of networking data collected from a single source (such as event logs, for instance), this tool is able to gather data from many different areas( Active Directory, DNS, SYSVOL, event logs, etc.), cross reference that data, and make conclusions about the overall health of the network.
Try it today. Go get it – it’s FREE!http://www.microsoft.com/ebs/en/us/preparation.aspx