How long does it take to copy 1 GB over a slow network connection? How fast does my virtual application start? Today I came across a nice FREE utility called Network Delay Simulator.

Network Simulator tool allows you to perform network bandwidth and delay simulation (simulate slow/congested links between nodes) on any connection from your computer to any remote node (on the local LAN or remote over Internet).

More information and download links can be found here

Here I simulate a slow connection to a remote server.

Here I simulate a slow connection to the internet

If you get tasked to do some system troubleshooting and you just want to get as many information possible from a client, then have a look at the Microsoft Product Support Report Tool and the Product Support Reports Viewer.

The Microsoft Product Support Reports Viewer 2.0 can be downloaded from here and the Microsoft Product Support Reports from here

First launch the Microsoft Product Support Tool, which is a self-extracting executable (no installation needed). Once launched you can select the diagnostics you want to execute, then select Next to get the Diagnostic (Data Collection) started. Note that depending on the diagnostics selected, this process can take a while (up to 25 minutes).

Once the Diagnostic process has completed you can browse, e-mail or save the results. When saving the results, all data is stored in a single CAB file.

The Microsoft Product Support Report Viewer provides an interface to view the collected diagnostic data, which consists of several individual XML files.

While the diagnostic tool was running on my client, I copied the content of the temporary folder that the tool creates within the users TEMP folder into another folder. (if you have many folders in your TEMP folder just sort by date, and open the one with the newest date).

Within that folder you will find a Tools folder which contains all the executables and scripts used by the Diagnosis Tool.

So next time you get one of these famous calls to help solving a system problem, consider using this tool to gather detailed system information data.

Today’s ToolTip is about SoftPerfect Connection Emulator SCE. As the name says the software allows you to emulate different connection types. Unfortunately the tool is not for free, but I found the software nice enough to give it a try and eventually buy it especially since I haven’t been able to find a free alternative yet.

SCE allows you to simulate different network speeds such as modem, ISDN or DSL. You can either choose one of the predefined speed settings or configure your own. Furthermore you can configure the Latency and Packet loss rates. I tested SCE by configuring various network speeds and then used Speedtest.net to check the results and they were very accurate.

A fully functional trial version with a 30 seconds session limit can be downloaded from here

if you found the previous post Windows 7 Service Triggers interesting, then you will like this utility too. The Service Trigger Editor provided by Core Technologies Consulting LLC is a FREE utility providing a UI to list and edit Service Triggers.

The Tool can be downloaded from here and is ready to run (no installation required)

When taking a closer look at the Services in Windows 7 you will notice that many of them are configured to start manually but will be started when needed. For more details read my earlier posts Windows Services, what changed from Vista to Windows7 Part1 and Windows Services, What changed from Vista to Windows7 – Part2.

The technology behind starting Services when needed is called Service Triggers that were introduced with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. If you want the full inside scoop on Service Triggers I recommend that you read through the content listed below.

In simple words Service Triggers help improve system performance by not having Services just running in the background if not needed. Let’s have a look at the Computer Browser Service which by default is configured to start manually but when I took the screenshot it was actually started.

So let’s open a command prompt and enter the following command:SC qtriggerinfo BROWSER

As you can see from the above screenshot this Service has Service Triggers defined. The Computer Browser Service will start as soon as the Firewall port opens and stops when these ports are closed.

I’m writing this article at home where my laptop is connected to the Wireless LAN, so when I disable my Wireless connection, no traffic should go through the firewall anymore, hence the Computer Browser should stop. And indeed 60 seconds after I have disconnected the laptop from the Wireless LAN, the Computer Browser Service is stopped.

Reconnecting the laptop to the Wireless LAN immediately triggers the Computer Browser Service to start again.

Now let’s run the same command against another Service: SC qtriggerinfo DHCP

In this case no Service Triggers are defined.

Additional Resources (that will keep you busy for a while)
Windows 7 Trigger-Start Services
Windows7 Trigger Start Services – Part 1: Introduction
Windows7 Trigger Start Services – Part 2: Building a Trigger Start Optimized Service
Chittur Subbaraman: Inside Windows 7 – Service Controller and Background Processing
How to create a trigger-start Windows service in Windows 7
MSDN – Service Triggers
The Code Project – Windows 7 Trigger Start Service
Using SC to manage Service Triggers

Windows 7 with the Firewall enabled by default does not allow ping requests, hence when you ping a remote Windows 7 client it will not respond.

In this WebCast John Baker explains how to configure the Firewall to respond to ICMPv4 Echo Requests.

Watch the WebCast here

During the Installation of the App-V Management Server on a Windows Server 2008 with SQL Server 2008 Express installed I ran into an problem specifying the database server and got an error as shown in the picture below.

The installation program could not connect to the configuration data store. Please see the installation log file for more information.

I solved the problem by opening the SQL Server Configuration Manager and enabled TCP/IP in the SQL Server Network Configuration options.

Within the Properties specify Port 1433 as shown in the picture below.

Finally restart the SQL Server Service. Once the SQL Service has restarted the App-V Management Server installation Wizard should find the SQL Server Instance.

Update: May, 2010, although I managed to get this running with SQL 2008, i recommend using SQL 2005 as that to my knowledge is the official supported SQL Database. Any inputs welcome.

Just found another nice FREE Utility. As the name says SoftPerfect Network Scanner allows you to scan your network and allows you to find any IP, NetBIOS or SNMP enabled devices. The tool also supports Remote WMI, Registry and Service access that can be customized to your own needs.

The Tool does not require installation. Download SoftPerfect Network Scanner from here

During an Application Compatibility webcast I attended recently the presenter mentioned the Fiddler Tool. There are many network traffic monitoring Tools out there, but if you are just after capturing HTTP traffic, this one should get your attention.

Fiddler is a Web Debugging Proxy which logs all HTTP(S) traffic between your computer and the Internet. Fiddler allows you to inspect all HTTP(S) traffic, set breakpoints, and "fiddle" with incoming or outgoing data

Fiddler is FREE and can be downloaded from here and some demonstration videos here

Microsoft has updated the TCP/IP Registry Values for Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 whitepaper that describes how to modify the TCP/IP behavior by making registry edits.

The document can be downloaded from here

A document that describes the networking enhancements available in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and their benefit to enterprise networks.

Download here

Need an update on TCP/IP ? then download this paper:  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c76296fd-61c9-4079-a0bb-582bca4a846f&DisplayLang=en