Microsoft Search Problems, RRAS/VPN Server Memory Leak, and Other Concerns

Microsoft Search Out of Service
I visited Microsoft’s main support page at http://support.microsoft.com and the Microsoft for Partners Web site at http://members.microsoft.com/partner/default.aspx multiple times during the past few days. Much to my dismay, the drop-down fields on the search screen were blank, and I couldn't enter any search criteria. In addition, the Go arrow was a placeholder that only changed to an arrow when I placed the cursor over the "X marks the spot" area. Today, the search screen accepts input, but the process is still quite buggy. The engine doesn't return any matches for items entered during the past three to seven days, the font size on the form changes when you click the Go arrow, if you don't enter a search string, the string defaults to "support," and several other glitches appear in the page display. How can our main source of technical "how-to" remain broken for almost a week? Did any of you experience the same problem?

How To Disable SSDP Discovery Packets
In response to my repeated ravings about how Microsoft’s MSN Messenger works, I’ve heard from several Instant Messaging (IM) fans. These folks like the fact that IM is faster and easier than email or voice mail. If your users prefer this form of communication, you can eliminate Messenger’s 25-second interval Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) packets without adversely affecting IM. To disable Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) service messages, locate the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftDirectPlayNATHelpDPNHUPnP subkey and add a value entry with the format: UPnPMode:REG_DWORD:2. Click ok, and exit the registry editor. This edit eliminated all of the SSDP service UPnP broadcasts on my test Windows XP Professional Edition system. I assume you can make the same modification on Windows 2000 machines that run the Messenger service. If you must support IM, this edit enables the technology without wasting bandwidth or firewall log space.

RRAS/VPN Server TCP/IP Memory Leak
Do any of your RRAS/VPN servers hang occasionally? If so, this behavior might be due to an RRAS server TCP/IP memory leak that occurs in nonpaged pool. Over time, the memory leak consumes all available memory, at which point the system hangs. If this problem occurs on your server, you might also see Netlogon errors in the System event log with an Event Id of 5719 and the text "No Windows NT or Windows 2000 Domain Controller is available for domain...Not enough storage is available to process this command." Although the fix isn't available as a single patch from Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS), the documentation indicates that Win2K Service Pack 3 (SP3) will include the fix. For details, see the Microsoft article "A Nonpaged Memory Leak Occurs in Tcpip.sys" at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q317854

Custom Service Name Limitation
If you develop Windows 2000 applications, and you implement the code as a custom service, be aware that the service name can't exceed 40 characters. If you ignore this limitation, you’ll discover that when you reboot your test system, the OS might not detect Plug and Play (PnP) devices properly. If you absolutely require a long service name, you can avoid PnP-detection problems by installing the bug fix. The fix updates five kernel files—basesrv.dll, kernel32.dll, ntkrnlmp.exe, ntkrnlpa.exe, and ntkrpamp.exe—and all files have a release date of June 19. Note: this fix is not included in Service Pack 3 (SP3). See the Microsoft article "Plug and Play Devices Are Not Detected After You Restart Your Windows 2000-Based Computer" at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q324612.