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Summary

bull; Demystifies scripting for administrators, showing how VBScript and WMI can help ease repetitive or complex tasks bull; Organized around tasks, and heavily cross-referenced, allowing quick access to information of immediate value bull; Based on the author's years of experience teaching and training bull; Most other books on scripting focus on developers, not administrators

Author Biography

Don Jones, MCSE, CTT+, is an independent consultant and founding partner of BrainCore.Net

Preface	p. xxi
Acknowledgments	p. xxxv
About the Author	p. xxxvii
Introduction to Windows Administrative Scripting	p. 1
Scripting Concepts and Terminology	p. 3
What Is Scripting?	p. 3
Script Hosts	p. 4
ActiveX Scripting Languages	p. 6
The Component Object Model (COM)	p. 9
Critical Scripting Security Issues	p. 9
Review	p. 10
Running Scripts	p. 11
Windows Script Host	p. 11
Command-Line Scripts	p. 13
Notepad and Script Editors	p. 16
Writing Your First Script	p. 23
Running Your First Script	p. 25
Debugging Your First Script	p. 25
Review	p. 26
The Components of a Script	p. 29
A Typical VBScript	p. 29
Functions	p. 32
Subroutines	p. 33
Main Script	p. 34
Comments and Documentation	p. 40
Review	p. 45
Designing a Script	p. 47
Creating a Task List	p. 48
Selecting the Appropriate Tools	p. 50
Creating Modules to Perform Tasks	p. 57
Validating User Input	p. 63
Planning for Errors	p. 63
Creating Script Libraries	p. 66
Review	p. 66
Vbscript Tutorial	p. 69
Functions, Objects, Variables, and More	p. 71
What Are Variables?	p. 72
What Are Functions?	p. 82
What Are Statements and Subroutines?	p. 89
What Are Objects?	p. 92
Review	p. 97
Input and Output	p. 99
Displaying Messages	p. 99
Asking for Input	p. 107
Command-Line Parameters as Input	p. 110
Review	p. 114
Manipulating Numbers	p. 117
Numbers in VBScript	p. 117
Basic Arithmetic	p. 118
Advanced Arithmetic	p. 121
Boolean Math	p. 124
Converting Numeric Data Types	p. 129
Converting Other Data Types to Numeric Data	p. 130
Review	p. 130
Manipulating Strings	p. 133
Strings in VBScript	p. 133
Working with Substrings	p. 135
Concatenating Strings	p. 139
Changing Strings	p. 141
Formatting Strings	p. 143
Converting Other Data Types to String Data	p. 144
Review	p. 145
Manipulating Other Types of Data	p. 147
Working with Dates and Times	p. 147
Working with Arrays	p. 150
Working with Bytes	p. 155
Review	p. 156
Controlling the Flow of Execution	p. 157
Conditional Execution	p. 158
Loops	p. 164
Putting It All Together	p. 170
Review	p. 173
Built-in Scripting Objects	p. 175
The WScript Object	p. 175
The Network Object	p. 176
The Shell Object	p. 183
The Shortcut Object	p. 190
Review	p. 192
Working with the File System	p. 193
The FileSystemObject Library	p. 193
Working with Drives	p. 194
Working with Folders	p. 197
Working with Files	p. 204
Reading and Writing Text Files	p. 207
Other FSO Methods and Properties	p. 211
Creating a Log File Scanner	p. 212
Review	p. 221
Putting It All Together: Your First Script	p. 223
Designing the Script	p. 224
Writing Functions and Subroutines	p. 227
Writing the Main Script	p. 232
Testing the Script	p. 240
Review	p. 251
Windows Management Instrumentation and Active Directory Services Interface	p. 253
Working with ADSI Providers	p. 255
Using ADSI Objects	p. 255
Using the WinNT Provider	p. 257
Using the LDAP Provider	p. 260
Other Providers	p. 263
Review	p. 263
Manipulating Domains	p. 265
Querying Domain Information	p. 265
Changing Domain Settings	p. 267
Working with OUs	p. 268
Putting It All Together	p. 273
Review	p. 279
Manipulating Users and Groups	p. 281
Creating Users and Groups	p. 281
Querying User Information	p. 284
Changing User Settings	p. 285
Working with Groups	p. 286
Putting It All Together	p. 288
Review	p. 292
Understanding WMI	p. 293
The WMI Hierarchy	p. 293
Exploring WMI's Capabilities	p. 296
Installing WMI	p. 301
Using the WMI Tools	p. 302
Really--It's This Easy	p. 304
Review	p. 309
Querying Basic WMI Information	p. 311
The WMI Query Language (WQL)	p. 311
Determining What to Query	p. 316
Testing the Query	p. 319
Writing the Query in VBScript	p. 321
Using the Query Results	p. 326
Alternative Methods	p. 328
Review	p. 329
Querying Complex WMI Information	p. 331
Understanding WMI Relationships	p. 331
Associating WMI Instances	p. 336
Writing the Query	p. 340
Testing the Query	p. 341
Writing the Query in VBScript	p. 341
Another Example	p. 345
Review	p. 349
Putting It All Together: Your First WMI/ADSI Script	p. 351
Designing the Script	p. 351
Writing Functions and Subroutines	p. 357
Writing the Main Script	p. 360
Testing the Script	p. 369
Review	p. 374
Creating Administrative Web Pages	p. 375
Active Server Pages Crash Course	p. 377
About ASP	p. 378
VBScript in ASP	p. 379
The Response Object	p. 381
The Request Object	p. 384
A Sample ASP Script	p. 385
Testing ASP Scripts	p. 389
Review	p. 391
Adding Administrative Script to a Web Page	p. 393
The Basic Web Page	p. 393
Adding Functions and Subroutines	p. 396
Adding Inline Script	p. 397
The Result	p. 403
Review	p. 417
Web Page Security Overview	p. 419
The ASP Security Context	p. 419
Prohibited Behaviors	p. 423
IIS 4.0, 5.0, and 5.1 versus IIS 6.0	p. 424
NTFS and IIS Security	p. 427
Writing Secure ASP Code	p. 427
Review	p. 431
Putting It All Together: Your First Administrative Web Pages	p. 433
Checking User Account Status	p. 433
Administering IIS	p. 443
Review	p. 460
Advanced Scripting Techniques	p. 461
Modular Script Programming	p. 463
Introduction to Windows Script Components	p. 463
Scripting and XML	p. 465
Review	p. 474
Using Script Components	p. 475
Obtaining the Component	p. 475
Reviewing the Component	p. 476
Using the Component	p. 477
Review	p. 479
Encoded Scripts	p. 481
Installing the Script Encoder	p. 482
Writing Encoded Scripts	p. 482
Running Encoded Scripts	p. 485
Review	p. 486
Scripting Security	p. 487
Why Scripting Can Be Dangerous	p. 487
Security Improvements in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003	p. 488
Digitally Signing Scripts	p. 490
Running Only Signed Scripts	p. 493
Ways to Implement Safe Scripting	p. 494
Review	p. 495
Ready-to-Run Examples	p. 497
Logon and Logoff Scripts	p. 499
NT and Active Directory Logon Scripts	p. 500
Active Directory-Specific Logon Scripts	p. 507
Active Directory Logoff Scripts	p. 513
Review	p. 516
Windows and Domain Administration Scripts	p. 517
Automating User Creation	p. 517
Finding Inactive Users	p. 527
Collecting System Information	p. 533
Review	p. 539
Network Administration Scripts	p. 541
Shutting Down Remote Computers	p. 541
Listing Remote Shares	p. 544
Finding Out Who Has a File Open	p. 547
Uninstall Remote MSI Packages	p. 549
Adding Users from Excel	p. 553
Listing Hot Fixes and Software	p. 562
Review	p. 566
WMI and ADSI Scripts	p. 567
The All-Purpose WMI Query Script	p. 567
The All-Purpose WMI Update Script	p. 569
The All-Purpose ADSI Object Creation Script	p. 571
The All-Purpose ADSI Object Query Script	p. 572
The All-Purpose ADSI Object Deletion Script	p. 573
Mass Password Changes with ADSI	p. 574
Review	p. 576
Appendix	p. 577
Administrator's Quick Script Reference	p. 579
Index	p. 591
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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Excerpts

Microsoft introduced Visual Basic, Scripting Edition--commonly known as VBScript--in the mid-'90s, positioning it as a native replacement for Windows' aging command-line batch language, which was based on Microsoft's earliest operating system, MS-DOS. VBScript was intended to be easy to learn, powerful, and flexible. The language was included as an add-on to Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0, was an optional installation component included in Windows 98, and was included in all editions of Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. Software developers immediately seized upon VBScript for Web programming, particularly in Active Server Pages, Microsoft's rapid-development programming framework for the Web. However, Windows administrators--one of VBScript's initial target audiences--were left cold. VBScript seemed to be much more complicated than administrators' beloved MS-DOS-based batch language, and many didn't see the need to learn an entirely new batch language. When Windows 2000 and Active Directory came along, however, administrators found that Windows administration had become a great deal more complex. Suddenly, administrators were searching for Resource Kit and other utilities that offered automated administration, especially for repetitive tasks. Active Directory enabled the use of VBScript for logon and logoff scripts, which seemed to promise more advanced use environment manipulation. At around the same time, Microsoft's naivete in releasing a powerful language like VBScript with absolutely no security controls resulted in a huge wave of high-impact VBScript-based viruses, forcing administrators to lock down their environments and remove VBScript as an option both for viruses and for administrative tools. As a regular speaker at some of the country's top technical conferences that focus on Windows technologies, including MCP TechMentor, the past few years I've given half- and full-day sessions on VBScripting for Windows administrators, and the sessions have been incredibly popular. In these sessions, I try to provide just enough VBScript experience to make scripting possible, and then concentrate on accomplishing common administrative tasks with VBScript. I also cover the security concerns of VBScript and provide administrators with the means for safely using VBScript in their environments. This book is essentially a written form of those sessions, greatly expanded with more coverage of Windows Management Instrumentation and other advanced topics, and with more coverage of VBScript security issues and resolutions. I'm not out to turn you into a programmer. In fact, one of the real successes of VBScript is that you don't need to be a programmer to use it. Most of what you'll be doing in this book involves using VBScript to tell Windows to do things for you; you'll be able to ignore much of VBScript's complexity, using it as a sort of electronic glue to combine various operating system functions. Who Should Read This Book? The only assumption I have about you is that you already know how to administer some version of Microsoft Windows. You'll find that most of the material in this book is suitable for Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 environments, and it will continue to be useful through future versions of Windows. I do not assume that you have any background in programming, and I'm not going to give you a programming background. You should have a desire to learn how to use what I call "the batch language of the twenty-first century" and a wish to move away from clumsier--and often more complex--batch files based on the MS-DOS batch language. Although some folks like to refer to batch files as scripts, I don't; and when you see how easy and flexible VBScript is, you'll understand why! How to Use This Book You can read th