Tools of the Trade

Systems administrators are firefighters, running from one problem to the next, occasionally stopping long enough to do some advance planning. Whether you're new to Windows NT or you're a veteran systems administrator, you need all the tools and knowledge you can get your hands on to keep your systems up and running and your users happy. However, most systems administrators don't have time to scan hundreds of books, Web sites, and newsgroups to keep up with the ever-changing technology. (For a few tips about where to find good NT resources, see the sidebar, "Leads to NT Resources".) The following tools and tips can help you better use your time. With these suggestions, you can start to build a foundation of resources to help you become a more effective and valuable NT systems administrator.

Resource Kit Tools
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation Resource Kit and Microsoft Windows NT Server Resource Kit for NT 4.0 are must-haves in the systems administrator's arsenal. The NT Server resource kit's CD-ROM includes all the utilities on the NT Workstation resource kit's CD-ROM plus more than 30 server-specific utilities. The NT Workstation resource kit's documentation is more complete regarding workstation issues. (For a review of both resource kits, see Jonathan J. Chau, "Resource Kit Review," March 1997.)

The biggest challenge about using the resource kits is remembering all the utilities the kits provide when you need them. (For an overview of the utilities in the NT Server resource kit, see Michael D. Reilly, "Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit Utilities,".) Most systems administrators find that command-line utilities are valuable when you need to perform changes concurrently to many systems. Here are a few command-line tools that I've found indispensable.

RCMD and RCMDSVC. Install the remote command (RCMD) service on all your NT workstations and servers. With the client command-line program, RCMD, you can get a command line on any box running this service. You can connect to and quickly issue commands on remote machines. For example, you can issue a NET START command to verify that a service is up and running, an IPCONFIG command to view TCP/IP configuration information, or an AT command to schedule a job.

Installing the NT Server resource kit sets up the client program. You install and run the server program, RCMDSVC, as a service. On the Services tab of the Network applet in Control Panel, choose Add, then choose Have Disk. Enter the path to your resource kit files. You use the oemnsvrc.inf file to set up the RCMD service.

After you install the RCMD service on all your NT machines, you can create scripts to effect changes on multiple machines. For example, the command

rcmd \\<servera> net stop schedule

connects to servera, stops the Schedule service, and then returns. You can write a batch file to perform this action for multiple machines, and then use the AT command to schedule the batch file's execution at a later time.

The RCMD service installed on each remote machine runs under the security context of the LocalSystem account. The LocalSystem account has Administrator status on the local system, but no access to network resources. Consequently, tasks launched by the RCMD service cannot access network resources. For example, you cannot use RCMD to remotely perform a NET USE command to a network share. However, because the LocalSystem account has rights to do almost everything else on the local system, you can perform remote changes that would not run if a regular user account launched them.

SC. The SC, or Service Controller utility, is a handy tool for scripting changes to service configurations. You can use SC to start and stop services, to change the user account or password that a service employs on startup, to change a service's startup type (e.g., from automatic to manual), or to delete a service from a machine. With RCMD, you can use SC to manipulate services on remote machines.

Perhaps the handiest feature of SC is its ability to change the user account and password that a service uses on startup. For example, suppose that on a large number of machines you install a service that starts with a domain user account. To change the password for this account, you typically must visit each machine's service controller. With SC and RCMD, you can script this change for multiple machines. For instance, if you want to change the password on the Internet Information Server (IIS) service running on a machine, you use SC in the following way:

sc config "World Wide Web Publishing Service" password= newpass

Like many other resource kit utilities, the SC command is very sensitive to correct syntax. For example, take this password option: If you don't insert a space between the equal sign and newpass, the command fails, without an error message.