Sunday, June 3, 2007

Centralised Administration and Client Update Script

Updating host workstations in a networked environment? This script makes it easy! Point it to a single directory where a list of the workstations exists (in a .dat file) and where any number of .ps1 and/or .cmd scripts exist (the scripts that will actually do the updating) and it is all over.... The script doesn't care what the names of the files in the directory are, it just finds them all and runs them!

Our reason for developing this script was to modularise an existing script that was just becoming huge and difficult to maintain. Now we have separate small scripts focusing on discrete problems which are much better for troubleshooting. Also if we want to target specific workstations we just create a new directory put the target IP's or machine names into a .dat file in the directory and copy in the script(s) desired...

This area of support can cost a lot of consultant time what with customising and implementing services that are not included in original images or supported by the WSUS update system. Also scheduling maintenance tasks to run at regular intervals and the copying in of and/or installation of files and shortcuts for new or updated applications can be a labour intensive exercise if these have to be done manually and maintaining consistency between machines can be very difficult.

Links:
  • Get the full explanation and a copy of the script together with sample subscripts.
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