DotVBS | Windows Systems Management

Sometimes people like to turn off BITS as a security lockdown. When that happens SMS can have issues. Here's a quick and dirty script sample to do the job. ----Begin VBScript---- On Error Resume Next For i = 1 to 30 If Len(i) = 1 then number = "0" & i If Len(i) = 2 then number = i computerName = "name of your computer" Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & computerName & "\root\cimv2") WScript.Echo computerName & " " & Err If Err = 0 Then Set colServiceList = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_Service where Name = 'BITS'") If Err = 0 Then WScript.Echo computerName & vbCrLf For Each objService in colServiceList errReturnCode = objService.Change( , , , , "Automatic") WScript.Echo vbTab & "Changed " & objService.Name & " to automatic" objService.StartService() Next End If Set colServi...

Simple VBScript for setting the client cache size. ----Begin VBScript---- On Error Resume Next ' Declare Variables Dim checkCacheValue Dim setCacheValue ' Set the Cache Size to check for (less than or equal to) checkCacheValue = 1024 ' If less than or equal to the checkCacheValue ' set the Cache Size to this setCacheValue= 1024 Dim oUIResourceMgr Dim oCache Set oUIResourceMgr = CreateObject("UIResource.UIResourceMgr") Set oCacheInfo = oUIResourceMgr.GetCacheInfo ' Set it if it's less than or equal to checkCacheValue if oCacheInfo.TotalSize oCacheInfo.TotalSize = setCacheValue end if 'Return the error so SMS can report it WScript.Quit(Err) ----End VBScript---- About the Author Emmanuel Tsouris is a Systems Management veteran and Developer Advocate specializing in PowerShell and Cloud Automation. He maintains DotVBS to preserve legacy knowledge for the "archaeologist admin." ...

A few things to try... Make sure you've selected the DP to receive the package Check the status messages ( SMS _DISTRIBUTION_MANAGER is one component to check) Check the logs on the SITE server ( sms \logs\ distmgr .log) About the Author Emmanuel Tsouris is a Systems Management veteran and Developer Advocate specializing in PowerShell and Cloud Automation. He maintains DotVBS to preserve legacy knowledge for the "archaeologist admin." Ready to move from VBScript to the Cloud? Check out his book, Pro PowerShell for Amazon Web Services . Visit EmmanuelTsouris.com for his latest projects. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

Theres a good TechNet webcast covering updates to your SMS _DEF. MOF. Basically, you update the file and drop it into sms \ inboxes \ clfiles . src \ hinv SMS will processes the file and your clients will get updated policy, depending on your policy update cycle. If set to an hour, expect new inventory to start coming in within a few hours. About the Author Emmanuel Tsouris is a Systems Management veteran and Developer Advocate specializing in PowerShell and Cloud Automation. He maintains DotVBS to preserve legacy knowledge for the "archaeologist admin." Ready to move from VBScript to the Cloud? Check out his book, Pro PowerShell for Amazon Web Services . Visit EmmanuelTsouris.com for his latest projects. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no c...

How nice of SQL 2000 to pop a dialog during an unattended install. How to Suppress the Appshelp Message in an Unattended Installation About the Author Emmanuel Tsouris is a Systems Management veteran and Developer Advocate specializing in PowerShell and Cloud Automation. He maintains DotVBS to preserve legacy knowledge for the "archaeologist admin." Ready to move from VBScript to the Cloud? Check out his book, Pro PowerShell for Amazon Web Services . Visit EmmanuelTsouris.com for his latest projects. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

Microsoft provides quite a bit of free SMS training online such as SMS Scripting: MMS Lab Exercises . While attending MMS is not free, these exercises are! VBScripts can help you with just about any SMS related tasks. The MMS 2005 Lab exercises were designed to teach some common solutions to the daily chores for SMS Administrators. After running through the lab, you will be able to connect to the SMS Provider, access objects, and perform simply tasks with fewer button clicks. This of course will free up your hand for a nice cold Red Stripe . Here are a few of the tasks the lab covers: Create an SMS package and program Read an SMS package and program object Modify an SMS package Delete an SMS package Create an SMS advertisement Modify an SMS advertisement View available SMS queries Run a specific SMS query Summarize an SMS site's health View an SMS collection View and Modify the SMS Advanced Client cache Check the status of the Advanced Client agent Use Windows M...

Many questions and concerns seem to arise around SMS and SUS . While the two can overlap, its important to understand their similarities and their differences. SUS and the Automatic Update Service The SUS Client is built into Windows Configuration is done with the registry Automatic Update Service Used by both SUS and Windows Update for automatic installs Can be configured by users to download and install at a specific time Concern when both SUS and the SMS 2003 Advanced Client are installed May overlap with an SMS patch and inconvenience the user with an extra reboot. When using the Deploy Software Updates Wizard to create the package, SMS will scan for the patch before installing. SMS should not cause an extra reboot as the patch would already be installed and SMS scanned for it one last time before attempting to install the patch. If the patch needs to be rebooted to be effective and the machine has not been rebooted yet, then SMS could be configured to have the machine r...