Creating a Shell Scripting Tools Menu System

Users often ask me to check user group memberships, troubleshoot desktop-PC or server problems, determine who's logged on to a PC, or perform other simple administrative or troubleshooting tasks. Usually, before the request is complete, I've typed a few commands and answered the question, much to the user's amazement. I can't count how many times someone has said, "That's incredible! Can you teach me how to do that, too?" This starts a cycle of me teaching the user a few commands, the user forgetting the commands, and me reteaching the commands the next time the task needs to be done.

If you don't use command-shell tools frequently, you can easily forget which command will accomplish a particular task or the command's usage syntax. Even experienced scriptwriters often need to refer to the online Help for the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit, third-party tool, or internal command to refamiliarize themselves with a command's syntax. Users on your security and support teams would certainly benefit from using command-line tools, but often they just don't use the commands frequently enough to remember which command or utility to use in a particular situation or the utility's syntax. . . .