Example of how to join a computer (Windows 8) to a domain using PowerShell.
$Credential = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList @('ALTIRIS\srv_altiris', (ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force 'P@ssw0rd' ))
Add-Computer -DomainName altiris.local -OUPath 'OU=CORPORATE_COMPUTERS,OU=BELGIUM,DC=altiris,DC=local' -PassThru -Verbose -Credential $credential
I was searching for a solution to launch and suspend VMWare Workstation VMs on a CentOS 5-machine during boot/shutdown.
A script script for launching VirtualBox VMS during boot inspired me to create one for VMWare Workstation.
In this example I have teamed my VMs in a team /vms/my_team.vmtm, it could as well be a single VM (.vmx) that is being launched.
The VM Team will be launched with a different user account as VMWare not allows root to launch VMs.
During shutdown root however can suspend the VM Team, and this is also the action being used during system shutdown.
useradd vmuser
passwd vmuser
vi /etc/init.d/vmheadless
#!/bin/bash
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides: vmheadless.sh
# Required-Start: $remote_fs $syslog
# Required-Stop: $remote_fs $syslog
# Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop: 0 1 6
# chkconfig: 2345 99 20
# Short-Description: Start VM
# Description: Start/stop the virtual machines
### END INIT INFO
MACHINE_NAME="/vms/my_team.vmtm"
VM_USER="vmuser"
RETVAL=0
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/vmware:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
PATH=/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
id=`id -u`
if [ "$id" != "0" ] ; then
echo "This script must be run as root" 1>&2
exit 1
fi
# Load the VERBOSE setting and other rcS variables
[ -f /etc/default/rcS ] && . /etc/default/rcS
# Load the VERBOSE setting and other rcS variables
#. /lib/init/vars.sh
# Define LSB log_* functions.
# Depend on lsb-base (>= 3.0-6) to ensure that this file is present.
. /lib/lsb/init-functions
# Get function from functions library
. /etc/init.d/functions
# Load network defaults. Use this if there is any extra network stuff to do first.
case "$1" in
start)
su $VM_USER -c "/usr/bin/vmrun start $MACHINE_NAME nogui"
RETVAL=0
echo "Started VM Headless RETVAL=($RETVAL)"
;;
stop)
/usr/bin/vmrun suspend "$MACHINE_NAME"
RETVAL=$?
echo "Suspended VM Headless RETVAL=($RETVAL)"
;;
status)
ps=`ps -ef | grep vmware-vmx | grep -v grep | wc -l`
if [ "$ps" -gt 0 ] ; then
echo "$ps VMS started"
RETVAL=1
else
echo "VMS not running"
RETVAL=0
fi
;;
restart)
/usr/bin/vmrun suspend "$MACHINE_NAME" nogui
RETVAL=$?
echo "Suspended VM Headless RETVAL=($RETVAL)"
su backup -c "/usr/bin/vmrun -T ws start $MACHINE_NAME nogui"
RETVAL=$?
echo "Started VM Headless RETVAL=($RETVAL)"
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 { start | stop }"
RETVAL=1
;;
esac
exit $RETVAL
chkconfig --add vmheadless
chkonfig --level 2345 vmheadless on
service vmheadless start
This script adds the *NdisDeviceType registry value with value 1 to the keys of the VMWare network cards.
Afterwards it disables and enables the networkcards to let the changes take effect.
$nics = gci "HKLM:\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\Class\\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
$nics | foreach-object -process {
$devInstanceId = $_.getvalue("DeviceInstanceID")
if($devInstanceId -match "VMWARE"){
Write-Host $_.Name
$regpath = ( $_.name ) -replace("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE","HKLM:")
new-itemproperty -path $regpath -name "*NdisDeviceType" -value 1 -PropertyType "DWORD"
}
}
$wminics = get-wmiobject win32_networkadapter | where-object {$_.name -like "*vmware*" }
$wminics | foreach-object -process {
write-host -nonew "Disabling $($_.name) ... "
$result = $_.Disable()
if ($result.ReturnValue -eq -0) { write-host " success." } else { write-host " failed." }
write-host -nonew "Enabling $($_.name) ... "
$result = $_.Enable()
if ($result.ReturnValue -eq -0) { write-host " success." } else { write-host " failed." }
}
I synchronize my Windows Mobile Device with my corporate-exchange account. This way my calendar stays nicely up to date and gives me reminders for the tasks I have to do.
However I find it rather a hassle that I receive reminders for certain activities like holidays. Therefore I have written a small macro that disables the reminders for all future calendar entries with a certain subject.
Private Sub RemoveReminders(sProject As String)
Dim fldMailbox As MAPIFolder
Dim fldCalendar As MAPIFolder
Dim objItem As AppointmentItem
Dim iCntr As Integer
iCntr = 0
Set fldMailbox = Session.Folders(sMailboxName)
Set fldCalendar = fldMailbox.Folders("Calendar")
Set mcolCalItems = fldCalendar.Items
For Each objItem In mcolCalItems
If objItem.start > Now() Then
If objItem.ReminderSet = True Then
If InStr(objItem.Body, sProject) > 0 Then
iCntr = iCntr + 1
With objItem
.ReminderSet = False
.Save
End With
objItem.Save
End If
End If
End If
Next
MsgBox "Modified " & iCntr & " calendar entries"
End Sub
Public Sub RemoveHolidayReminders()
RemoveReminders ("Holiday")
End Sub
After some testing I managed to create a dualboot setup with ESXi 3.5 and Windows Server 2003.
sudo syslinux /dev/hda1 file is read only. overwrite anyway (y/n)? y sudo mkdir /mnt/Hypervisor0 sudo mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/Hypervisor0 vi /mnt/Hypervisor0/syslinux.cfg
original:
default safeboot.c32
modified:
default menu.c32 menu title Dual boot timeout 100 label esx menu label ESXi 3.5 COM32 safeboot.c32 LABEL win MENU LABEL MS Windows Server 2003 COM32 chain.c32 APPEND boot ntldr=/NTLDR
cp /usr/lib/syslinux/menu.c32 /mnt/Hypervisor0 cp /usr/lib/syslinux/chain.c32 /mnt/Hypervisor0
For some tasks it is useful to run a custom query against a database.
The application using the database perhaps does not have the ability to generate certain reports.
Using SQL manager is a viable option, but then everyone who needs to have this installed to be able to run a query.
It is however possible to create some Excel-files which have the queries embedded.
But as an alternative solution I have created this PowerShell app.
It is a GUI-based tool allowing you to select a saved script or enter a custom query and run it.
The output is by default displayed in a datatable but the output can also be exported to an Excel-document.
The available SQL servers are defined in servers.xml
And to avoid the hassle of selecting a server and database after selecting a script you can predefine a combination of a shortname, server and database in shortnames.xml
Eg. if you have a SQL-file hlp_openincidents.sql and hlp is defined in shortnames.xml with server set to SQLSERVER and database to HELPDESK the tool will autoselect the server: SQLSERVER and the database: HELPDESK
SQL tool source code
This is an example in PowerShell of how you can schedule the installation a software package by Altiris DS.
Instead of using the API, the command-line tool axsched is being called to schedule the software package.
function DeploySoftware
{
param( [String] $pcname, [String] $package, [String] $nexttime, [String] $folder)
#Write-Host "Deploy $pcname '$package' /t $nexttime /f '$folder'"
#\\ALTIRIS\express\axsched.exe "$pcname" "$package" / t "$nexttime" / f "$folder"
$StartInfo = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
$StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = $true
$StartInfo.UseShellExecute = $false
$StartInfo.FileName = "\\ALTIRIS\express\axsched.exe"
$StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = "C:\Temp"
$StartInfo.Arguments = "`"$pcname`" `"$package`" /t `"$nexttime`" /f `"$folder`""
$p = [System.Diagnostics.Process] ::Start($StartInfo)
$p.WaitForExit()
if ($p.ExitCode -eq 0) { $TRUE } else { $FALSE }
}
#This function adds a number of minutes to the given date time and outputs the addition in the right format for AxSched.
function Get-ScheduleTime
{
param( [System.DateTime] $starttime, [int] $minutes)
#$minutes = 12
$tspan = New-Object System.TimeSpan(0, 0, $minutes, 0)
$addtime = [System.DateTime] ::op_Addition($starttime, $tspan)
#"2008-10-20 15:00"
$y = $addtime.Year
$mo = $addtime.Month
$d = $addtime.Day
$h = $addtime.Hour
$mi = $addtime.Minute
$schedtime = "$y"
$schedtime += "-"
$schedtime += TwoDecimal("$mo")
$schedtime += "-"
$schedtime += TwoDecimal("$d")
$schedtime += " "
$schedtime += TwoDecimal("$h")
$schedtime += ":"
$schedtime += TwoDecimal("$mi")
$schedtime
}
#Simple function to convert a single decimal to a two decimal, eg 7 becomes 07
function TwoDecimal
{
param( [String] $Number)
while ($number.Length -lt 2) { $number = "0$number" }
$number
}
$now = [System.DateTime] ::Now
$pcname = "COMP007"
$jobname = "Install Outlook 2007"
$jobfolder = "Software"
#The installation of the package needs to be started after 5 minutes.
$nexttime = Get-ScheduleTime $now 5
DeploySoftware $pcname $jobname $nexttime $jobfolder
Powershell excerpts of how to check if .NET FrameWork 3.5, Quest AD, Altiris ASDK is installed
First the functions that execute the installer.
function Execute-Installer()
{
param( [String] $parameters, [String] $msiworkingdir)
$msiworkingdir = Resolve-Path $msiworkingdir
$StartInfo = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
$StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = $true
$StartInfo.UseShellExecute = $false
$StartInfo.FileName = "c:\windows\system32\msiexec.exe"
$StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = "$msiworkingdir"
$StartInfo.Arguments = "$parameters"
$p = [System.Diagnostics.Process] ::Start($StartInfo)
$p.WaitForExit()
if ($p.ExitCode -eq 0) { $TRUE } else { $FALSE }
}
function Execute-Program()
{
param( [String] $parameters, [String] $program)
Write-Host "Execute-Program $program $parameters"
#Write-Host "MSI WorkingDir: $msiworkingdir"
#$msiworkingdir = Resolve-Path $msiworkingdir
$program = Resolve-Path $program
Write-Host "Program: $program"
$StartInfo = New-Object System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
$StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = $true
$StartInfo.UseShellExecute = $false
$StartInfo.FileName = $program
$StartInfo.Arguments = "$parameters"
$p = [System.Diagnostics.Process] ::Start($StartInfo)
$p.WaitForExit()
if ($p.ExitCode -eq 0) { $TRUE } else { $FALSE }
}
The code that checks if .NET FrameWork 3.5 is installed.
A messagebox will be displayed if it is not installed.
If users answers yes to the messagebox the requirement will be installed.
#region Check if .NET 3.5 is installed (Requirement for QuestAD and AltirisASDK
function Check-DotNet35{
Write-Host "Check-DotNet35"
$net35 = get-itemproperty "hklm:\\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v3.5"
if($net35 -eq $null){
Write-Host ".NET 3.5 is not installed."
$install = [Windows.Forms.MessageBox] ::Show(".NET 3.5 Framework is not installed. This is required. Would you like to install it?", "My Application", [Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons] ::YesNo, [Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon] ::Question)
if ($install -eq [Windows.Forms.DialogResult] ::Yes){
Execute-Program "/PASSIVE /NORESTART" "D:\Software\DotNet\3.5\dotnetfx35SP1.exe"
}
}else{
Write-Host "DotNet 3.5 FrameWork is installed"
}
}
Check-DotNet35
#endregion
The code to check if Quest AD is installed.
A messagebox will be displayed if it is not installed.
If users answers yes to the messagebox the requirement will be installed.
Also if the users has an outdated version he will receive a messagebox asking to perform an upgrade.
#region Load Quest AD plugin
function Load-QuestAD-Plugin
{
Write-Host "Load-QuestAD-Plugin"
$retVal = (Get-PSSnapin Quest.ActiveRoles.ADManagement 2>$null)
$qadversion = "1.2.2.1254"
#Write-Host $retVal
if ($retVal -eq $null)
{
Write-Host "Quest.ActiveRoles.ADManagement"
Add-PSSnapin Quest.ActiveRoles.ADManagement
$retVal = "$?"
if ($retVal -eq $false)
{
$install = [Windows.Forms.MessageBox] ::Show("Quest.ActiveRoles.ADManagement is not installed. Would you like to install it?", "My Application", [Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons] ::YesNo, [Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon] ::Question)
if ($install -eq [Windows.Forms.DialogResult] ::Yes)
{
Write-Host "Installing Quest.ActiveRoles.ADManagement"
Write-Host "msiexec.exe /i `"$WorkingDir\Requirements\arps.$qadversion.msi`" /qn /norestart /l*c:\windows\temp\arsps.log"
$retVal = Execute-Installer "/i `"$WorkingDir\Requirements\arps.$qadversion.msi`" /qn /norestart /l* c:\windows\temp\arsps.log" "c:\temp"
if($retVal -eq $true){
Write-Host "Install finished"
}
}
else
{
Write-Host "No install of Quest.ActiveRoles.ADManagement"
}
}
else
{
Write-Host "QAD installed"
$pssnapinversion = (Get-PSSnapin Quest.ActiveRoles.ADManagement).version
$textversion = $pssnapinversion.Major.tostring() + "." + $pssnapinversion.Minor.tostring() + "." + $pssnapinversion.Build.tostring() + "." + $pssnapinversion.Revision.tostring()
Write-Host "Required version: $qadversion - Current version: $textversion "
if ($textversion -ne $qadversion)
{
$install = [Windows.Forms.MessageBox] ::Show("Quest.ActiveRoles.ADManagement is not up to date. Would you like to update it?", "My Application", [Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons] ::YesNo, [Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon] ::Question)
#if ($install.tolower() -eq "y")
if ($install -eq [Windows.Forms.DialogResult] ::Yes)
{
Remove-PSSnapin Quest.ActiveRoles.ADManagement
Write-Host "Installing Quest.ActiveRoles.ADManagement"
Write-Host "msiexec.exe /i `"$WorkingDir\Requirements\arps.$qadversion.msi`" /qn /norestart /l*c:\windows\temp\arsps.log"
$retVal = Execute-Installer "/i `"$WorkingDir\Requirements\arps.$qadversion.msi`" /qn /norestart /l* c:\windows\temp\arsps.log" "c:\temp"
if($retVal -eq $true){
Write-Host "Install finished"
}
}
else
{
Write-Host "No install of Quest.ActiveRoles.ADManagement"
}
}
}
}
}
Load-QuestAD-Plugin
#endregion
Check if Altiris ASDK for NS is installed.
A messagebox will be displayed if it is not installed.
If users answers yes to the messagebox the requirement will be installed.
If it is already installed the connections will be made to the server.
#region Load Altiris ASDK
function Load-AltirisASDK
{
Write-Host "Load-AltirisASDK"
$altirisserver="ALTIRIS"
$global:nsColl = New-Object -comObject Altiris.ASDK.NS.CollectionManagement
if($? -eq $false){
Write-Host "AltirisASDK is not installed"
$install = [Windows.Forms.MessageBox] ::Show("Altiris ASDK is not installed. Would you like to install it?", "My Application", [Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons] ::YesNo, [Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon] ::Question)
#if ($install.tolower() -eq "y")
if ($install -eq [Windows.Forms.DialogResult] ::Yes)
{
#Execute-Program "/S" "$WorkingDir\Requirements\Altiris_ASDK_1_4_209.exe"
$retVal = Execute-Installer "/i `"$WorkingDir\Requirements\Symantec_ASDK_NS_COM_x86.msi`" /qn /norestart /l* c:\windows\temp\asdkNS.log" "c:\temp"
if($retVal -eq $true){
Write-Host "ASDK has been installed"
}else{
Write-Host "ASDK installation failed"
}
}
}else{
$global:nsItem = New-Object -comObject Altiris.ASDk.NS.ItemManagement
$global:nsRes = New-Object -comObject Altiris.ASDK.NS.ResourceManagement
$global:nsReport = New-Object -comObject Altiris.ASDK.NS.ReportManagement
$global:nsReport.targetserver = $altirisserver
$global:nsReport.authenticate()
$global:nsItem.targetserver = $altirisserver
$global:nsItem.authenticate()
$global:nsColl.targetserver = $altirisserver
$global:nsColl.authenticate()
$global:nsRes.targetserver = $altirisserver
$global:nsRes.authenticate()
}
}
Load-AltirisASDK
#endregion
The web-interface of Altiris Notification Server can sometimes be a bit sluggish.
Certainly if you have to add a computer to 10 or more collections.
To speed things a bit up I have written this Powershell script, which uses the Altiris ASDK to perform queries to Altiris NS.
This script was intended to ensure that a new workstation receives the same software as the old workstation.
It also can be used to just clone the software of a workstation to a new workstation.
#Active Directory Domain
$domain = "LCODE"
#Host name of Altiris Notification Server
$nsserver = "ALTIRISNS"
#Major resource collection
$maincollection = "LCODE Software Collections"
#Sub resource collection
$softinstallcollection = "Software Installation"
#This is a schematic of the structure maintained in Notification Server
#The major resource collection is a child of Software Management
#The name of the sub resource collection is just the first part of the full name (Software Installation)
# as this is being matched with the children of the major resource collection
# all children beginning with that name are being enumerated
# eg. "Software Installation" causes "Software Installation 1" and "Software Installation 2" to be enumerated
#
#Resources tab
# Resource Management
# [-] Collections
# [-] Software Management
# [-] LCODE Software Collections
# [-] Software Installation 1
# [] SW Package 1
# [] SW Package 2
# [-] Software Installation 2
# [] SW Package 3
# [] SW Package 4
#
#Load Altiris ASDK
$coll = New-Object -comObject Altiris.ASDK.NS.CollectionManagement
$item = New-Object -comObject Altiris.ASDk.NS.ItemManagement
$res = New-Object -comObject Altiris.ASDK.NS.ResourceManagement
$report = New-Object -comObject Altiris.ASDK.NS.ReportManagement
#Establish connections to Altiris Notification Server
$report.targetserver = $nsserver
$report.authenticate()
$item.targetserver = $nsserver
$item.authenticate()
$coll.targetserver = $nsserver
$coll.authenticate()
$res.targetserver = $nsserver
$res.authenticate()
#Retrieve GUID of the Major resource collection
$maincollectionguid = ($item.getItemsByName($maincollection)).GetValue(0).Guid
#Ask user to enter hostnames of old and new pc
$oldpc = Read-Host "Old PC"
$newpc = Read-Host "New PC"
#Retrieve GUIDs of computers
$oldpcguid = $res.getComputerByNameAndDomain($oldpc,$domain)
$newpcguid = $res.getComputerByNameAndDomain($newpc,$domain)
#Check if we don't have an empty GUID for one of the computers
if(($oldpcguid.length -gt 0) -and ($newpcguid.length -gt 0)){
#Retrieve all software collections
$softwarecoll = $item.GetItemsInFolder($maincollectionguid) | foreach-object -process { $item.GetItemsInFolder($_.Guid) | where-object { $_.parentfoldername -match $softinstallcollection } }
#Enumerate all software collections
$softwarecoll | foreach-object -process{
$softguid = $_.guid
#Check if OldPC is in software collection
$result = $coll.getinclusions($softguid,"Resource") | where-object { $_.name -eq $oldpc}
if($result -ne $null){
$softname = $_.Name
#Display and log that OldPC has this piece of software
Write-Host "$oldpc $softname"
Add-Content ".\$newpc.txt" -value "$oldpc $softname"
#Add NewPC to software collection
$coll.addinclusions($softguid,$newpcguid)
#Check if NewPC is in software collection
$result = $coll.getinclusions($softguid,"Resource") | where-object { $_.name -eq $newpc}
if($result -ne $null){
#Display and log that NewPC has this piece of software
Write-Host "$newpc $softname"
Add-Content ".\$newpc.txt" -value "$newpc $softname"
}
#Refresh the software collection
$coll.updatecollections($softguid)
}
#Write-Host "Result:$result"
}
}else{
#One of the GUIDs could not be found. Most likely computername is wrong or it does not exist in Notification Server
Write-Host "Problem finding GUID for Old/New PC"
Write-Host "Old PC: $oldpcguid"
Write-Host "New PC: $newpcguid"
}
Currently I am using a test-environment to become familiar with Exchange 2007.
Today I tried to upgrade from Exchange 2007 RTM to SP2.
Whilst trying to upgrade my CAS-server I encountered the following error
The virtual directory ‘owa’ already exists under ‘ExchCAS/Default Web Site’ Parameter name: VirtualDirectoryName
The solution that I used to solve this was to delete the offending virtual directory and all other Exchange related virtual directories by issuing the following lines in the Exchange Management Shell.
Get-OwaVirtualDirectory| foreach-object -process { $id=$_.server.tostring() + ‘\’ + $_.name.tostring(); write-host ‘Going to remove $id’; Remove-OwaVirtualDirectory -Identity $id }
Get-OabVirtualDirectory | foreach-object -process { $id=$_.server.tostring() + ‘\’ + $_.name.tostring(); write-host ‘Going to remove $id’; Remove-OabVirtualDirectory -Identity $id }
Get-AutodiscoverVirtualDirectory | foreach-object -process { $id=$_.server.tostring() + ‘\’ + $_.name.tostring(); write-host ‘Going to remove $id’; Remove-AutodiscoverVirtualDirectory -Identity $id }
Get-UMVirtualDirectory | foreach-object -process { $id=$_.server.tostring() + ‘\’ + $_.name.tostring(); write-host $id;
Remove-UMVirtualDirectory -Identity $id }
Get-ActiveSyncVirtualDirectory | foreach-object -process { $id=$_.server.tostring() + ‘\’ + $_.name.tostring(); write-host $id; Remove-ActiveSyncVirtualDirectory -Identity $id }
Get-WebServicesVirtualDirectory | foreach-object -process { $id=$_.server.tostring() + ‘\’ + $_.name.tostring(); write-host $id;
Remove-WebServicesVirtualDirectory -Identity $id }
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