Synopses & Reviews
Anyone faced with the task of setting up and managing a large number of workstations quickly learns the limitations of a graphical user interface. Ashley Meggitt and Matthew Lavy manage the LAN at Jesus College, Cambridge, and they've developed a number of scripts and techniques to bypass the GUI limitations and administer the workstations centrally. The result is Windows NT Workstation Configuration and Maintenance, the only book on the market to focus on automating the management tasks you perform daily to keep a large workstation farm up and running.Instead of trying to provide one-size-fits-all solutions to what are in reality site-specific kinds of problems, the authors concentrate on the techniques you need to master to keep your workstations under control. Their step-by-step approach shows you how to implement Perl scripts to take care of your particular problems. Topics include:
- Running scripts without user intervention
- Remote script installation
- Controlling services and drivers
- Machine-specific settings
- Changing network identity
- Perl modules and functions
Windows NT Workstation Configuration and Maintenance is an indispensable tool for the busy NT system administrator.
Synopsis
Anyone faced with the task of setting up and managing a large number of workstations quickly learns the limitations of a graphical user interface. Ashley Meggitt and Matthew Lavy manage the LAN at Jesus College, Cambridge, and they've developed a number of scripts and techniques to bypass the GUI limitations and administer the workstations centrally. The result is Windows NT Workstation Configuration and Maintenance, the only book on the market to focus on automating the management tasks you perform daily to keep a large workstation farm up and running. Instead of trying to provide one-size-fits-all solutions to what are in reality site-specific kinds of problems, the authors concentrate on the techniques you need to master to keep your workstations under control. Their step-by-step approach shows you how to implement Perl scripts to take care of your particular problems. Topics include: Running scripts without user interventionRemote script installationControlling services and driversMachine-specific settingsChanging network identityPerl modules and functionsWindows NT Workstation Configuration and Maintenance is an indispensable tool for the busy NT system administrator.
Table of Contents
Preface
1. Introduction
Automated Maintenance
Automated Configuration
Scripting with Perl
A Final Note
2. Running a Script Without User Intervention
Using a Scheduler
Using Autologon
Running a Script as a Service
Security Implications
Summary
3. Remote Script Management
Self-Updating Scripts
Writing the Script
Using a Stub Script
Writing the Stub
Summary
4. System Maintenance
Housekeeping
Reporting
Summary
5. Controlling Services and Drivers
Controlling Services with net.exe
Services Versus Drivers
Finding Registry Entries
Event Viewer and Beyond
Summary
6. Machine-Specific Scripting
Extracting the Machine Identifier
What Is a MAC Address?
Retrieving a MAC Address
Summary
7. Changing Network Identity
Retrieving Information from address.mac
Changing the NetBIOS Name
Setting Up IP Networking
Cosmetics
The SID Issue
Access to an NT Domain
Summary
8. Script Safety and Security
Development and Deployment
Security
Summary
9. A Custom Module
The MaintainAndConfigure Module
The Module Code
Summary
Appendix: Perl Module Functions
Index