Free Health Check: New Microsoft IT Environment Health Scanner

Does your network need a checkup? The team that develops Windows Essential Business Server (Windows EBS) just released a new tool that administrators of small and mid-size networks are sure to want to download: the Microsoft IT Environment Health Scanner. In just a few minutes, the tool runs more than 100 checks to help you assess the overall health of your Active Directory and network infrastructure, including the configuration of Active Directory Domain Services, DHCP, DNS, Exchange Server, network adapters, and domain controllers. If the tool detects problems, it links to Microsoft Knowledge Base articles and other Web content for resolution information. The IT Environment Halth Scanner doesn't change anything on your network -- it just reports the information.

Besides being a great addition to your adminstrative toolkit, the tool is invaluable for finding subtle (or not so subtle) issues in your Active Directory and network environment that can hang up server deployments, infrastructure upgrades and migrations, and the like. For example, we've heard that it has been a big help to some of our partners preparing for a migration from Windows SBS 2003 to Windows SBS 2008.

Note for those of you who are deploying Windows EBS or are considering it: the tool runs almost the same set of checks as the Windows EBS Preparation Wizard, which makes sure that your existing network environment is functioning properly and ready for a Windows EBS deployment. For more information about that, see Preparation and Planning for Windows EBS in the TechNet Library.

Here's to your continued good (network) health!

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.