By David Gewirtz
Back in October, we ran a very popular piece called "Network Manager Challenge," which asked readers to help us figure out a strange behavior of Exchange. We were recently reminded of that challenge when Todd Murray, a reader, sent us an update with some more insight. We'll get to Todd's comments in a few minutes.
First, we'd like to introduce you to two new challenges--one we're struggling with here at OutlookPower and the other a reader's asked us to look into for him.
Challenge 1: Routing programs to specific NICs (Network Interface Cards)
Let's start with my little problem. My desktop computer is connected to both our corporate T-1 network running behind a Cisco router and a cable modem that runs behind a Linksys router. The same is true of a few other folks here at ZATZ HQ. Initially, we put in the cable modem so we'd have a way to see our network from the outside world. But since then, it's become apparent that we can use the cable modem for all sorts of nefarious, non-productive uses.
For example, if I want to pop into Planetside (a slick, massively multiplayer game I'm currently addicted to), I don't want to use the corporate T-1, but I'm perfectly comfortable using the cable modem. Given that I have two NICs, it would be ideal to use one NIC for serious corporate work and the other for non-productive fun stuff.
On Windows 2000, it's possible to give each NIC its own IP address, but that doesn't seem possible on Windows XP. Even if it were possible, there doesn't seem to be an inherent way to tell Program A to use NIC A, and Program B to use NIC B, even on Windows 2000. Yes, it's possible to disable NIC A when using Program B, and vice versa, but that's a pain.
Here's the challenge: Does anyone know of a program or tool (running on the local box and not dependent specifically on port numbers) that makes it possible to route the traffic from one program (not just Planetside; think Kazaa, ICQ, AIM, etc.) to a given NIC and another program to a different NIC? Any other suggestions?
Send your ideas to me at david@ZATZ.com. I'll summarize them in a future article and if anyone has a truly brilliant, workable solution, you'll win a free Solutions Guide of your choice from the ZATZ Online Store (at http://store.zatz.com).
"You'll win a free Solutions Guide of your choice from the ZATZ Online Store."
Challenge 2: Exporting IDs and passwords from Exchange
Let's move on to our reader's request. For reasons that have little to do with Exchange issues and much more to do with company politics, our reader needs to move about 100 users off an Exchange server and onto a Sun Qube. Although he's thought about using some sort of LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) transfer, he's much more comfortable with the idea of getting a text file he can massage before importing it into the Qube (mostly due to concerns about critical accounts getting overwritten).
