If you’re a Windows administrator, scripting expertise can liberate you from boring, repetitive work–so you can take on the sophisticated, high-value projects you really want. Top scripting guru Don Jones has written the definitive administrator’s guide to getting results with Microsoft’s key scripting technologies: VBScript, WMI, and ADSI.

Jones draws on his unsurpassed experience training Windows administrators in conferences, classes, and from his enormously popular site, ScriptingAnswers.com.

You’ll learn how to use VBScript, WMI, and ADSI to gain administrative control over nearly every aspect of every recent Windows server or client, including Windows Server 2003, Vista, XP, 2000, and NT. As you gain experience, Jones introduces more advanced techniques, ranging from modular scripting and script encryption to integrating VBScript with HTML code.

Jones concludes with a full section of ready-to-run, real-world examples–from logon/logoff scripts to automated domain and network administration, from querying WMI to creating Active Directory groups. Every script is explained line-by-line, with challenging techniques described in even greater detail.

Detailed information on how to…

• Decide what you can script: a framework for getting started fast
• Understand how scripts are designed, assembled, and run
• Master VBScript from start to finish: functions, I/O, data manipulation, program flow, and much more
• Use scripting objects for tasks ranging from retrieving network information to mapping drives
• Utilize FileSystemObject to manipulate the Windows filesystem
• Write ADSI scripts to manipulate any directory service your company uses, from Active Directory to Novell NDS
• Modify domain information, users, groups, and policies
• Query WMI information–from basic to advanced
• Plan for errors, and test and debug your scripts
• Build your own “resource kit” of reusable script components

ON THE WEB:

Download all examples and source code presented in this book from ScriptingAnswers.com, where you’ll also be able to post follow-up questions directly to the author in a moderated, active community.