Got questions about scripting? Windows IT Pro author Mike Otey and IT Pro Hero Bill Stewart, answered readers' questions on scripting on August 17, 2005, 12:00 P.M. Eastern. The chat transcript follows.
Welcome to our scripting chat with Michael Otey and Bill Stewart.
Adam Carheden says Greetings all. We will begin shortly
Adam Carheden says Greetings all. If you haven't had a chance to see the article yet, you can see it at http://windowsitpro.com/Windows/Article/ArticleID/46969/46969.html
Adam Carheden says Please feel free to post questions about scripting. Your questions are directed to our speakers, but the question's don't appear on your screen until they are answered.
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Adam Carheden says Greetings all. If you haven't had a chance to see the article yet, you can see it at http://windowsitpro.com/Windows/Article/ArticleID/46969/46969.html
Adam Carheden says Please feel free to post questions about scripting. Your questions are directed to our speakers, but the questions don't appear on your screen until they are answered.
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Original message from joels: Has anyone used monad yet? How is it?
Reply from Michael Otey: Hi, I’m Michael Otey, one of today’s speakers. I’ve used monad and I think it’s pretty cool. However, its quite different from any of the scripting languages and shells that I’ve used so far. I’m definitely looking forward to it being available but that won’t be for awhile yet.
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Original message from New2Scripting: I am trying to create a template
script that will allow me to create user accounts from another template.
Reply from Bill Stewart: Hi New2Scripting, I recommend using the TechNet Script Repository. They have lots of code there dealing with AD user account management. (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/scripts/)
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Original message from joels: Do you know when Monad will be released?
Reply from Michael Otey: Regarding the release of monad, I’ve heard that it will be out at the same time as the next version of Exchange.
Adam Carheden says Please feel free to post questions about scripting. Your questions are directed to our speakers, but the question's don't appear on your screen until they are answered.
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Original message from New2Scripting: how can I create a script from a GUI template in AD and Exchange
Reply from Bill Stewart: Hi New2Scripting, can you explain what you mean a bit more?
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Original message from jg: Afternoon
Reply from Michael Otey: Hi There!
Original message from jg: My biggest problem is the users without admin rights.
Reply from Michael Otey: Do you mean users running scripts that need admin rights to execute?
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Original message from joels: Paul Thurrott said Monad beta has shipped, but I can't find the download anywhere. (http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/46815/46815.html) Is it available to the public yet?
Reply from Michael Otey: A beta version of monad was available following WinHec but that’s no longer available. The final release will be next year at about the same time as Exchange 12.
Original message from New2Scripting: now the question is how can I create a script using tthat same template
Reply from Bill Stewart: Hi New2Scripting, If I understand you correctly, you’d like a scripting equivalent of the Active Directory Users and Computers Copy feature. This is a feature of the ADUC snap-in. To do this in script, you’d need to write code that populates a new user account with the attributes you need.
Original message from jg: yes where trying to detect and install patches and/or a P2P application
Reply from Michael Otey: There are a couple of ways to do this. One way is to run the script using RunAS another way to execute the script might be using psexec. Psexec can also execute remote scripts. It’s part of the sysinternals.com web site.
Adam Carheden says If you just joined or were logged out, you can see a chat transcript here: http://windowsitpro.com/Articles/ArticleID/47023/47023.html
Adam Carheden says Our topic is scripting. Your questions don't appear until they are answered, but we are working on them.
Original message from jg: I used to use psexec before but McAfee AV 7 and higher considers it spyware now.
Reply from Bill Stewart: Hi jg, If psexec is a necessary tool in your environment, you can configure your antivirus software to ignore psexec.exe. Alternatively, I wrote a script called JTRun.vbs that uses the jt.exe command-line tool from Microsoft that lets you execute programs on a remote machine using the Task Scheduler service. You can read about it at http://www.windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/45148/.
Original message from jg: We also setup roaming profiles in the AD but to much hassle now with a mixed w2k and wxp office. Is there a example script to remove the profile variable from with the different OU's in my domain
Reply from Michael Otey: I don’t know of a script to do this but you might want to check out some of Microsoft’s scripting examples at the Script Center Repository. You can find it at:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/scripts/default.mspx
Michael Otey says Following are a couple of cool scripting tools that you might want to check out:
Sciptomatic 2.0
Scriptomatic automates the process of writing WMI scripts helping to take the rocket science out of WMI. Scriptomatic 2.0 can output scripts in VBScript, JavaScript, Perl and Python. Scriptomatic can be downloaded from: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/tools/wmimatic.mspx
HTA Helpomatic
HTA Helpomatic generates the script to use HTAs which you can use to add a UI to your scripts You can download HTA Helpomatic from:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=231D8143-F21B-4707-B583-AE7B9152E6D9&displaylang=en
Michael Otey says I use TextPad most of the time for quick scripts but if I’m doing anything most involved I use PrimalScript
Adam Carheden says Please feel free to post questions about scripting. Your questions are directed to our speakers, but the question's don't appear on your screen until they are answered.
Original message from joels: What editors do you guys use for scripting? Does anyone use Unix editors like emacs or gvim?
Reply from Bill Stewart: Hi joels, my editor of choice is usually The SemWare Editor (www.semware.com), but it’s really an acquired taste (much like emacs or vim). It has a fully-programmable UI and its own programming language. I’ve also experimented a bit with UltraEdit (www.idmcomp.com) and it seems to be a fairly capable general text editor that’s not too expensive. Another possibility is PrimalScript, but it’s a bit expensive.
Original message from Greg: What is a good location for a new net admin to learn about scripting. I've been on the Technet Scripting site and it is a bit overwhelming for somebody starting out. Any tips/suggestions?
Reply from Michael Otey: I use TextPad most of the time for quick scripts but if I’m doing anything most involved I use PrimalScript
A couple of books that I’ve found helpful for VBScript are Managing Windows with VB Script and WMI and Microsoft’s Windows 2000 Scripting Guide.
For shell scripts I like Tim Hill Windows NT Shell Scripting.
Of coarse winitpromag.com has a good Understanding Scripting column along with a bunch of great articles.
Original message from New2Scripting: Do you know of any place I could some turtorial for that?
Reply from Bill Stewart: Hi New2Scripting, the TechNet Script Center Repository (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/scripts/) provides lots topically-organized sample code.
Adam Carheden says If anyone joined late or got logged out, you can see a complete transcript here: http://windowsitpro.com/Articles/ArticleID/47023/47023.html
Adam Carheden says We're just about out of time and out of questions. If anyone has any last questions or if anything wasn't answered yet, please ask your question now.
Michael Otey says Another cool tool that you migh want to check out is the Microsoft Script Debugger. The Microsoft Script Debugger enables you to debug VBScript and JavaScript code. It is also incorporated into some of the better scripting editors. You can download the Microsoft Script Debugger from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2F465BE0-94FD-4569-B3C4-DFFDF19CCD99&displaylang=en
Adam Carheden says Thank you to everyone for attending, If you missed anything, you can get a chat transcript here: http://windowsitpro.com/Articles/ArticleID/47023/47023.html
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Adam Carheden says You can also read the article here: http://windowsitpro.com/Article/ArticleID/46969/46969.html
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