Automating Windows Administration

821 Pages·2004·22.534 MB·English

by  Stein Borge (auth.)

Automating Windows
Administration
STEIN BORGE
APress Media, LLC
Automating Windows Administration
Copyright © 2004 by Stein Borge
Originally published by APress in 2004
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the
publisher.
ISBN 978-1-59059-397-4 ISBN 978-1-4302-0731-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4302-0731-3
Trademarked names may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every
occurrence of a trademarked name, we use the names only in an editorial fashion and to the
benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark.
Lead Editor: Jim Sumser
Technical Reviewer: Eric lippert
Editorial Board: Steve Anglin, Dan Appleman, Ewan Buckingham, Gary Cornell, Tony Davis,
Jason Gilmore, Chris Mills, Steve Rycroft, Dominic Shakeshaft, Jim Sumser, Gavin Wray
Project Manager: Beth Christmas
Copy Edit Manager: Nicole LeClerc
Copy Editor: Nicole LeClerc
Production Manager: Kari Brooks
Production Editor: Kelly Winquist
Compositor: Diana Van Wmkle, Van Wmkle Design Group
Proofreader: liz Welch
Indexer: Kevin Broccoli
Cover Designer: Kurt Krames
Manufacturing Manager: Tom Debolski
The information in this book is distributed on an "as is" basis, without warranty. Although every
precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author(s) nor Apress shall
have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to
be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this work.
To my beautiful wife Alison and children Heidi and Christopher.
Contents at a Glance
Foreword .................................................................................................................. xv
About the Author .............................................................................................. xvii
About the Technical Reviewer ..................................................................... xix
Acknowledgments ................................................................................................... xx
Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................... 1
Chapter 2 Shell Operations .................................................................... 39
Chapter 3 Logon Scripts and Scheduling .......................................... 71
Chapter 4 Networking Resources ......................................................... 107
Chapter 5 File Operations .................................................................... 121
Chapter 6 Input/Output Streams ......................................................... 157
Chapter 7 Registry Operations ........................................................... 175
Chapter 8 Regular Expressions ........................................................... 195
Chapter 9 Application Automation ..................................................... 215
Chapter 10 Network Administration/WMI ............................................ 249
Chapter 11 Internet Applications ....................................................... 359
Chapter 12 Messaging Operations ........................................................ .403
Chapter 13 Data Access .............................................................................4 77
Chapter 14 System Administration ....................................................... 575
Chapter 15 Internet Information Server .......................................... 655
Chapter 16 Exchange Server .................................................................... 695
Chapter 17 Security ................................................................................... 739
Index ...................................................................................................................... 793
v
Contents
Foreword .................................................................................................................. xv
About the Author .............................................................................................. xvii
About the Technical Reviewer ..................................................................... xix
Acknowledgments ................................................................................................... xx
Chapter 1. Introduction .......................................................................... 1
What Is WSH? ........................................................................................................... 1
COM Automation ....................................................................................................... 2
Version 2. o Features .......................................................................................... 4
Scripting Components ........................................................................................ 12
Streams, Standard Input and Output, and Piping ............................... 35
Additional Resources ........................................................................................ 37
Chapter 2 Shell Operations .............................................................. 39
2.1 Reading the Command-Line Arguments ................................................ 39
2. 2 Reading an Environment Variable ...................................................... .46
2. 3 Creating or Updating an Environment Variable .......................... 48
2. 4 Deleting an Environment Variable ..................................................... 51
2. 5 Running Applications .............................................. ,. ............................... 52
2. 6 Accessing Windows-Related Folders ................................................... 58
2. 7 Creating a Windows Shortcut ................................................................ 60
2.8 Displaying a Message Prompt ................................................................ 63
2.9 Sending Keystrokes to Applications ................................................ 65
Chapter 3 Logon Scripts and Scheduling ...............................
71
3.1 Connecting Network Resources at Logon .......................................... 71
3. 2 Scheduling Scripts ................................................................................... 79
3. 3 Displaying a Logon Message .................................................................. 86
3.4 Performing Operations Based on Group Membership .................... 95
3.5 Creating an Inventory of Computers at Logon ........................... l02
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Contents
Chapter 4 Networking Resources ................................................. 107
4.1. Identifying a User ................................................................................. 107
4.2 Finding an Available Network Drive .............................................. 108
4.3 Mapping Network Drives ......................................................................... 11o
4.4 Migrating File Services from One Server
to Another Server. ................................................................................... 112
4.5 Connecting to a Network Printer ..................................................... 115
4.6 Listing Connected Network Printers .............................................. 117
4. 7 Disconnecting Network Printers ....................................................... 118
Chapter 5 File Operations .............................................................. 121
5.1. Determining the Readiness of a Floppy Drive ........................... 122
5.2 Listing the Drives on a System ....................................................... 124
5. 3 Finding the Size· of a User Directory .......................................... 125
5. 4 Determining the Size of a File ....................................................... 127
5. 5 Reading and Changing File Attributes .......................................... 128
5. 6 Determining the Existence of a File or Folder ...................... 131
5. 7 Renaming a File or Folder .................................................................. 132
5. 8 Comparing Files by Version Number ................................................. 133
5. 9 Creating a Folder .................................................................................... 135
5.10 Finding and Deleting Temporary Files ........................................ 137
5 .1.1. Finding Files That Meet Criteria. ................................................ 140
5.1.2 Deleting a Folder ................................................................................. 144
5.13 Copying a File ........................................................................................ 145
5 .1.4 Copying and Moving a Folder ........................................................... 147
5.1.5 Deleting a File ...................................................................................... 148
5.1.6 Creating and Writing to a Text File .......................................... 149
5.1.7 Opening and Reading a File .............................................................. 151
5 .1.8 Updating a Text File ........................................................................... 153
Chapter 6 Input/Output Streams ................................................. 157
6.1. Using Regular Expressions to Filter
the Contents of an Input Stream .. ,. ................................................. 157
6. 2 Reading Keyboard Input ......................................................................... 163
6.3 Generating Template-Based Data ....................................................... 164
6.4 Creating Multiple-User Prompts ....................................................... 170
viii
Contents
Chapter 7 Registry Operations .................................................... 175
7.1 Reading a Value from the Registry. ................................................ 176
7.2 Writing a Value to the Registry ..................................................... 180
7. 3 Deleting a Registry Entry .................................................................. 184
7.4 Listing the Registry Key Values ..................................................... 186
7.5 Searching and Replacing Registry Values ................................... 188
7. 6 Accessing the Remote Registry ......................................................... 192
Chapter 8 Regular Expressions ....................................................
195
8.1 Validating a String ............................................................................... 196
8.2 Matching Multiple Patterns ................................................................ 203
8.3 Matching Subexpressions ...................................................................... 206
8.4 Replacing Values ...................................................................................... 211
Chapter 9 Application Automation ............................................
215
9.1 Creating Formatted Word Documents ................................................. 215
9.2 Identifying Office Documents by Their Properties ................ 227
9.3 Importing Data into Excel .................................................................. 231
9.4 Generating Thumbnail Images for Web Pages ............................... 240
9.5 Building Web Page Rollover Images ................................................. 244
9.6 Generating Electronic Copies of Access Reports .................... 246
Chapter 10 Network Administration/WMI .................................. 249
10.1 Accessing Information about a Computer ................................... 251
10.2 Determining the Role of a Computer ............................................ 263
10.3 Obtaining IP Information .................................................................. 265
10.4 Changing the Location of an NT Dump File ............................... 275
10.5 Setting TCPIIP Information .............................................................. 279
10.6 Inventorying Computer Components ................................................. 288
10. 7 Executing Generic WMI Queries ....................................................... 292
10.8 Changing Environment Variables ..................................................... 298
10.9 Terminating a System Process ......................................................... 300
10.10 Starting an Application on a Remote Computer .................... 304
10.11 Compressing Folders and Files ..................................................... 309
10.12 Copying Files on a Remote Computer .......................................... 312
10.13 Rebooting a Computer ......................................................................... 316
10.14 Checking the Event Viewer for Unauthorized Access ......... 320
10.15 Backing Up Event Viewer Events ................................................... 327
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Contents
10.16 Processing Event Viewer Events ................................................... 329
10.17 Changing NT Service Account Information ............................... 333
10.18 Changing System Time ......................................................................... 336
10.19 Defragging a Drive ............................................................................. 338
10.20 Listing DNS Resources ...................................................................... 341
10.21 Creating a DNS Zone ...........................................................................3 45
10.22 Modifying DNS Zone Properties ..................................................... 350
10.23 Creating DNS Address ......................................................................... 351
10.24 Deleting DNS Resources .................................................................... 355
10.25 Modifying DNS Addresses .................................................................. 356
Chapter 11 Internet Applications ............................................... 359
11.1 Retrieving HTML Data ........................................................................... 359
11. 2 Displaying HTML ...................................................................................... 364
11.3 Displaying an HTML Logon Message ................................................. 369
11.4 Creating an HTML Form .........................................................................3 73
11.5 Enumerating HTML Elements ................................................................ 378
11. 6 Creating a GUI Menu ............................................................................. 387
11. 7 Transferring Files Using FTP ......................................................... 390
11. 8 Domain Name Resolution ...................................................................... 396
11.9 Pinging a Computer ............................................................................... 398
Chapter 12 Messaging Operations ................................................ .403
12.1 Logging On .................................................................................................4 05
12.2 Determining the Default Profile .................................................. .409
12.3 Sending Anonymous Mail ..................................................................... All
12. 4 Running Message Scripts Using NT Scheduler Service ........ .413
12.5 Creating a Mail Message ................................................................... .416
12.6 Setting Message Properties .............................................................. 417
12. 7 Creating Message Recipients .......................................................... .419
12. 8 Sending the Message ............................................................................. 422
12.9 Using a Command-Line Script to Send E-mail .......................... .426
12.10 Checking the Event Log ................................................................... .432
12.11 Getting Computer Status Notification ..................................... .433
12.12 Using the Performance Monitor Event ....................................... .435
12.13 Attaching Files to a Message ...................................................... .436
12.14 Processing Messages ........................................................................... 439
12.15 Filtering Mail ...................................................................................... 441
12.16 Extracting Attachments ................................................................... .444
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Contents
12.17 Using a WSH Script Mail Agent .................................................... .446
12.18 Retrieving a Folder .......................................................................... .451
12.19 Posting Messages to an Exchange Server Public Folder ..
.456
12. 20 Creating Folders ................................................................................. 457
12.21 Copying or Moving Messages ......................................................... ..459
12.22 Copying and Moving Folders .......................................................... .462
12.23 Deleting Messages and Folders .................................................... .464
12. 24 Creating New Message Fields ........................................................ .465
12.25 Retrieving an Address Book Recipient ....................................
..468
12. 26 Creating Recipient Entries .......................................................... .472
12.27 Adding a Distribution List .......................................................... .474
Chapter 13 Data Access ........................................................................ .477
ODBC •.................................•.•........•...........................................................................4 77
OLE DB .............................................................................. ,. .................................... 477
Using AD0 ..............................................................................................................4 78
13.1 Data Source Name Connection Strings ......................................... .480
13. 2 File DSN Connection ............................................................................. 485
13.3 DSN-Less Connection Strings .......................................................... .487
13.4 Opening a Secure Database ............................................................... .492
13. 5 Compacting Access Databases .......................................................... .495
13.6 Querying a Table .................................................................................... 500
13. 7 Opening a Table for Writing ........................................................... 504
13.8 Manipulating a Text File .................................................................. 508
13.9 Accessing Excel Data ...........................................................................
510
13.10 Querying the Index Server ..............................................................
513
13.11 Adding Data ............................................................................................ 515
13.12 Updating Data ........................................................................................
518
13.13 Accessing HTML Data ........................................................................... 520
13.14 Deleting Data ........................................................................................ 524
13.15 Accessing Internet Resources ....................................................... 525
13.16 Exporting Data ......................................................................................
535
13.17 Importing Data ......................................................................................
537
13.18 Executing a Stored Procedure ....................................................... 552
13.19 Executing an Access Parameter Query ........................................
556
13.20 Processing Multiple Recordsets ................................................... 558
13.21 Modifying Command Results .............................................................. 559
13.22 Returning a Parameter Value from a Stored Procedure .....
561
13.23 Transaction Processing .................................................................... 571
xi