2. A Networked Machine Management System http://www.roth.net/July 16, 1999

3. Needs Assessment Collect information in timely manner Automate Installation of software Perform routine maintenance Alert team of problems

4. Needs Assessment (cont.) Inexpensive Solution!

5. Scripts The Infrastructure Script is any executable task –Applications winword.exe –Batch files cleantmp.bat –Perl scripts perl c:\tools\report.pl

6. Scripts The Infrastructure Script development –Perl Very versatile Extendible Fast development Cycle (cont.)

7. Scripts Script Execution Tracking –Each script maintains a log on each machine indicating if it has already been run. –Prevents multiple execution of scripts which only run once. –No need to remove already run scripts from repository. –Allows new machines to run scripts which. The Infrastructure (cont.)

8. Repository Script Repository –Shared directory centrally located on a server. –The repository directory tree was part of a replication tree across other domain controllers. –When the engine starts it locates a domain controller and uses it as the repository. The Infrastructure (cont.)

9. Scheduler Scheduler Service –Scheduler service configured to run the engine at predetermined time. –Each machine set to run engine at a unique time to prevent network traffic storms. The Infrastructure (cont.)

10. Scheduler Scheduler Service –Configured to logon as a domain account (SchedulerAccount). –Domain account was a member of the Domain Admins group. –Added the Domain Admins group into each machines local Administrators group. Security

11. Repository Repository Permissions –Shared directory was hidden by appending a $ to the share name. –Share permissions only allowed Administrators FULL and SchedulerAccount READ access. –Directory tree secured with the same permissions as on the shared directory. Security (cont.)

12. Variety of Scripts Configure ODBC drivers and Data Source Names Collect system information Scan Event Log for anomalies

13. Conclusion Interactive web based status reports Learning Perl benefited not only this project but others as well. Substantial cost savings. –First use for software deployment took only 4 hours with no human supervision. Compare this to 100 hour man hours at overtime pay.

14. Online version of presentation available at: http://www.Roth.Net/Conference/LisaNT/1999/ Perl is available from: http://www.Perl.com/ http://www.ActiveState.com/