Batch file - removing files older than x

I needed to remove IIS logs older than a number of days due to the C drive filling up - I found some information on the net with regards forfiles (instead of using Powershell which was my first port of call but due to the server running Windows 2003).

The script removes files older than 3 days and outputs the errors to a log file (or should - nothing in my log file at present but I've had no errors to date!).

forfiles /p C:\WINDOWS\system32\LogFiles\W3SVC100\ /s /m *.* /d -3 /c "cmd /c del @path" >> C:\Temp\remove_file_log.txt

SCCM 2007 - Remote Tools prompt for credentials

Issue where you are prompted for credentials after starting Remote Tools and your account has the appropriate permissions.

Usually indicates that the SCCM client isn’t installed correctly.

1    Uninstall client from the machine – choose the appropriate method at the time. RDP, PSEXEC, etc.

a.        Go to Windows\ccmsetup folder.

b.       Run ‘ccmsetup /uninstall’

2    From the SCCM Console – Computer Management > Collections > All Systems.

a.        Search for machine.

b.       Right-click on the machine name and choose ‘Install Client’.

      Check the log to see if the changes have taken affect: C:\Windows\ccmsetup\ccmsetup.log

NOTE: To read the log properly you will need to use SMS Trace.

Using PSEXEC for a remote command prompt:

C:\PSTools> psexec.exe \\<remote-machine-name> cmd.exe

Links:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb694276.aspx

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/systemcenter/en-US/c27eb3be-210a-4b4c-aaa8-f6f98dbb5232/uninstalling-sccm-client?forum=configmgrsetup

PSTools http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb896649.aspx

SMS Trace http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=9257

Powershell - Creating a scheduled task to run a script gathering application logs from a number of servers

Hmmm.... long title for such a small task.

As the title says - gathering the application log from a number of servers, running it as a scheduled task.

First of lets start with the script

## List of servers
$server = @('Server1','Server2','Server3');
## Get the application log of every server listed above
foreach ($computer in $server) {
Get-EventLog -ComputerName $server -LogName "Application" |
Export-csv -Path "C:\Data\Log_$((Get-Date).ToString('yyyy-MM-dd-hhmmss')).csv"}

I have found that the script does keep running and running and running......
(Note to self - fix!)

Which leads me onto the scheduled task.

The task is going to run on Windows 2008 R2 server.

Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler > Task Scheduler Library.

General

Created a Domain account purely for this scheduled task.

Run whether user is logged on or not.

Triggers

On a schedule

Daily

Set date/time

Set occurance

Stop task if runs longer than (I set mine to 4 hours)

Check the enabled box

Actions

Action - Start a Program

Program/script: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe

Add arguments: & 'C:\<path>\script-name.ps1'

Conditions

Left at default

Settings

Leave at default settings

History

Log of the task

The scheduled task should now run - the difficult part was working out what arguments should be added to the Actions.

Powershell - Query Group Membership in another Domain

This in one way that I know of to search another Domain by mounting it as a drive (I'm sure there are different ways of skinning a cat but this technique would work for a number of Domains - again I'm sure there are further options to be able to the same thing!!).

## Query Group Membership ##
Import-Module ActiveDirectory
## Mount AD as a drive ##
New-PSDrive -Name OtherDomain -PSProvider ActiveDirectory -Root 'DC=other,DC=domain,DC=co,DC=uk' -Server dc1.other.domain.co.uk -Credential DOMAIN\account
cd OtherDomain:
Get-ADGroup -Filter {Name -eq "ADGroup"} |
     ForEach-Object{
          $hash = @{GroupName = $_.Name ; UserID = '' ; Member = ''}
          $_ | Get-ADGroupMember -ea 0 -recurs |
              ForEach-Object{
                   $hash.Member = $_.Name
                   $hash.UserID = $_.SamAccountName
                   New-Object psObject -Property $hash
              }
          } | sort groupname, member | Export-CSV "C:\Data\ADGroup.csv" –NoTypeInformation

Powershell - Query Group Membership

A quick script to pull a list of users from a AD group:

## Query Group Membership ##
Import-Module ActiveDirectory
Get-ADGroup -Filter {Name -eq "ADGroup"} |
     ForEach-Object{
          $hash = @{GroupName = $_.Name ; UserID = '' ; Member = ''}
          $_ | Get-ADGroupMember -ea 0 -recurs |
              ForEach-Object{
                   $hash.Member = $_.Name
                   $hash.UserID = $_.SamAccountName
                   New-Object psObject -Property $hash
              }
          } | sort groupname, member | Export-CSV "C:\Data\ADGroup.csv" –NoTypeInformation

Microsoft - SQL and anti-virus

Just read an interesting article on AV and SQL by Michael K. Campbell - short, but gets to the point. It has a link to a very useful Microsoft KB article on AV DLLs that cause SQL performance issues.

Solaris - /tmp permissions

Had a bit of a problem when one of the guys decided to restore file to the /tmp directory instead of the original location.

The ownership changed on /tmp to the restored folders owner which had a knock on effect with some scripts.

To fix the problem the following commands were applied:

# chmod 1777 /tmp
# chown root:root /tmp