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Oct17 lesson

Maintaining Windows

Verifying Critical Windows Settings

  • Windows Updates
  • Antivrus Software
  • Network Secuirty
    • Private VS Public
    • Firewall enabled
  • Proper level of Backups
    • User Data VS Windows Volume VS System files
  • Uninstall unnecessary software and features
  • Regularly clean HD
    • At least 15% free space
    • scheduled defrag on non-SSD

Patches / Drivers

  • x86 VS x64 VS x86_64
  • 64 bit updates/drivers on 64bit OS

Backups

Disaster Recovery Planning

  • Decide the type of backup
    • file-level-backup
      • granular control over user data
      • Not great for system or application content
    • image-level-backup
      • Restores everything
      • Doesn’t allow partial/selective restore
    • critical-applications
      • cloud solutions for backing up these critical applications
  • Decide Backup Destination
    • Cloud
      • Easiest and most reliable
      • Also most costly
    • Local
      • Easy to access at your location
      • Danger of data loss in catastrophic event unless also shipped off-site.
  • Decide Backup Software
    • Consider what it backs up and how full/incremental
    • Is it on separate bootable media for easy restore in case of HD crash
    • Is it schedulable
    • Does it allow for off-site backups
  • Decide Backup Strategy
    • What is acceptable data loss, 4-6 hours?
    • Are partial restores necessary
    • Are speed, network, and/or cost factors?
    • Is documentation necessary for audits?
    • Is off-site necessary?
  • Decide how to ensure business continuity
    • UPS, generator, etc.
    • Regularily test recovery process/media
    • Regularily rotate and replace backup media if local.
    • Where are backups stored and how is integrity guranteed.

Backup User Data

  • File History
    • File-Level-Backup: Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos and Desktop folders to External HD, network share, and OneDrive
    • Offered in 11, 10, and 8
    • Access via Control Panel Items >> File History
    • Restore via Control Panel Items >> File History >> Restore personal files or right clicking a file you want to restore.
  • Backup and Restore
    • Image-Level-Backup: Initial full backup of select folders and volume, then incremental changes backup up to External HD or network share
    • Offered in 11, 10, and 7
    • Access via Control Panel Items >> Backup and Restore
    • Restore via this
    • Can be used to recover a failed HD
    • Should Backup:
      • AppData
      • Favorites
      • or all User Profiles C:\Users
  • recimg
    • Image-Level-Backup
    • Offered in 8
  • System Protection
    • Creates snapshots, called restore points, of changed system files
    • Access via Control Panel >> System >> System Protection or rstrui.exe
    • Restore via Control Panel >> System >> System Protection or rstrui.exe
    • This can’t restore from a HD failure

Files, Folder, and Sorage Devices

Partitions and File Systems

  • MBR Partitions

    • Required for 32bit OS or when using legacy BIOS
    • Max of 4 partitions per drive
    • 3 Primary partitions
    • 4th extended partition of one or mor logical drives
    • Boots off single active partition, which BIOS/UEFI searches for OS on MBR Partitions

  • GPT Partitions

    • Requires 64bit OS and UEFI firmware
    • Supports 128 partitions
    • Required for drives over 2.2TB and to use Secure Boot
    • 1 sector is Protective MBR: Legacy info
    • GPT Header tracks all partitions and immediately follows Protective MBR
    • Partition Table in header, but also backed up at end of disk
    • Boots from ESP which holds a boot loader which knows how to find and start the OS GPT Partitions

  • Windows FS

    • Overall structure an OS uses to name, store, and organize files and folders on a HD
    • High-Level-Formatting
      • Asigns Drive Letter
      • Creates Root Directory
      • Create FS on a volume
    • NTFS
      • Replaced Fat32
      • more reliable, efficient, and secure (admin pass required)
      • Supports encryption, disk quotas, and compression
    • ReFS
      • Improves upon NTFS with better performance and fault tolerance (protects sectors upon HD failure)
      • Better compatibility with virtualization and RAID
    • NFS, exFAT, FAT32, CDFS and UDF

Disk Mgmt

  • We’ve coverd this and will cover it again in the lab, so I’m not going to chat about this except to mention Dynamic Disks

Dynamic Disks

  • Several disks work together to present a single dynamic volume (Linux calls these Volume Groups and Logical Volumes).
  • Extended volume across dynamic disks is called spanning
  • Can improve performance and aid fault tolerance (i.e. to provide software RAID) Software RAID

Storage Spaces

  • Replacement for traditional software RAID
  • Uses storage pools from a mixture of technologies SAS, STA, USB, etc.
  • Options for Storage Spaces
    • Simple: like RAID 0
    • Two-Way Mirror: like RAID 1+0
    • Three-Way Mirror: like RAID 5
    • Parity: like RAID 6
  • Access via Control Panel >> Storage Spaces Storage Spaces