Managing Windows With Vbscript and Wmi

Rating:
Summary: Too Basic for System Administrators
Review: I bought this book based on other customers' reviews. The book talks very generally about scripting for Active Directory. The book contains the word "VBScript", as well as "Managing Windows". However, it covers very little about the in's & out's of what it possible. The sections on ADSI are watered down and virtually useless. The script examples are simple, and aren't thorough at all. I found more information on Microsoft's web site.

For an experienced system administrator, this book is not for you. If you are an absolute beginner and want to learn a few simple tasks using VBScript, have at.

Rating:
Summary: Too Basic for System Administrators
Review: I bought this book based on other customers' reviews. The book talks very generally about scripting for Active Directory. The book contains the word "VBScript", as well as "Managing Windows". However, it covers very little about the in's & out's of what it possible. The sections on ADSI are watered down and virtually useless. The script examples are simple, and aren't thorough at all. I found more information on Microsoft's web site.

For an experienced system administrator, this book is not for you. If you are an absolute beginner and want to learn a few simple tasks using VBScript, have at.

As for Mr. O'Connel's comment above, perhaps I should have been more specific. For example, while the book does show you how to create & delete users and OU's (incidentally with error-ridden scripts), nothing about the underlying ADSI object model is discussed. There are hundreds of ADSI objects available through LDAP, few of which are covered in this book. For the ones that are covered, there is no discussion of the attributes or methods of these objects.

So, yes, I did read the same book as Mr. O'Connel. However, I was seeking "way more detail" from a book entitled "Managing Windows".

Rating:
Summary: 5 Stars? Who actually wrote the first 3 reviews.....
Review: I was looking for a book like this. One that focuses on the scripting needs of a network architect, engineer or administrator. The overall framework of the book was well conceived, and thoughtfully written. The author nailed the format for his intended audience. As an engineer, I don't need to know how to redesign an application, or create pretty guis. I need to elliminate administrative steps. Especially if it means I can sit in my chair to accomplish a task in 2 minutes instead of visiting 100+ workstations on foot. Needless to say, I was very excited to see a powerful, Netware style, login script as early as chapter 3. Many of the scrips are so usefull that I have already implemented several in my managed networks.

The problem I have with this book is that the sample/lab scripts contain blatant mistakes. For example, in one early script the writer creates a variable called "oFS" and then refers to it as "objFS" later in the script. The author would have done well to run the final variation of his scripts through the debugger before delivering it to the publisher. By the way, the scripts were wrong on the CD as well, so don't bother trying to find good code there either. I ended up doing a lot of web scrounging to find out how to make the corrections needed to yeald a functional script.

NOTE: I performed my scripting on an XP Pro workstation with the latest wscript.exe (version 5.6). I used PrimalScript 3.1 as an editor.

I am sure I learned more because of all the unexpected debugging I had to do. It is simply irritating as all #*(@ to not be able to trust his scripting as you walk into each chapter.

I WANT A FIXED VERSION OF THIS BOOK WITH ACCOMPANING CD. IT SHOULD BE AN EVEN SWAP.

Rating:
Summary: Solid book... and solid support.
Review: I'm not sure why John Hatt had so much problems with the book. I too have found a few typos and the author clearly points out a web site on which he has posted revisions, corrections, and a whole lot of additional samples and information. I feel I've gotten a lot of value and education from the book as well as the author's web site.

I agree that the framework of the book is perfect - I am learning exactly what I need, which is how to automate Windows without havign to become an expert software developer. Almost all of the samples can be used immediately (and I am doing so) on your network.

I also ran into one script that wouldn't run for me at all. The author's Web site contained no corrections for it. It turned out I didn't have the right stuff installed on my computer to make the script run, but I found this out by contacting the author (his email address is given in the book) and he was very responsive and helped me figure out what was going wrong. I've never had that much help from a book!!! This was a great purchase for me.

Rating:
Summary: Nice introduction, a little code heavy
Review: This is a nice introduction, reasonably well written, introduction to using Windows automation through VBScript. About a third of the book acts as an introduction to the basics of VBScript for use in this context. He covers basics like variables, conditionals, functions, error handling, and more. The other two thirds of the book covers a variety of topics like shell extensions, ASP, XML, active directory and more. This is up-to-date stuff.

On the downside the exposition depends a little too much on code. But if you like that sort of thing you will do well with that. It's not unusual for tech books, but it's enough that I took a star off for it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Primer
Review: This is one of the best VBScript (utilizing ADSI and WMI) primers for Network Administration I have seen. This title is for any administrator who is not a programmer/scripter but wants to leverage the intrinsic Windows management features to reduce administrative time and automate routine tasks. Written in an easy to follow and understand way, this title can take you from never having scripted anything to implementing solutions to networking and user management tasks.

The book starts of with 4 chapters of scripting introduction (what you can expect to gain from scripting) followed by a 9 chapter VBScript primer. Once the basics have been learned, or these chapters skipped if you don't need them, the author presents scripting using ADSI and WMI well presented for non-developers and geared towards network administration. Following this, the author spends time showing how to leverage the new found information in other mediums such as ASP, and to augment your toolbox with additional standard utilities and components.

Along with the numerous cut, paste and tweak examples generously supplied through the book to assist you in hands-on practical learning, the last 4 chapters are dedicated to providing you with ready to run scriptlets - all of which are also included on the CD-ROM.

Any network administrator interested in harnessing the free, intrinsic capabilities of Windows to simplify tasks will find value in this title. Used alone, or in conjunction with the Microsoft Windows 2000 Scripting Guide will result in a solid basis for network scripting and more free time.

Rating:
Summary: Not to basic for this administrator
Review: Was Joseph DeMarco (previous review) reading the same book? The book has several chapters on AD scripting, and they showed me how to create users, delete them, create OUs, and more. The book has THIRTEEN chapters on learning VBScript, which I didn't know and now I finally do. They're clearly written and they're not super-deep, so I got through them quickly. If you're a professional developer, this book isn't for you. If you're a systems administrator, I can't see how this book wouldn't be helpful.

The book has several "Putting it All Together" chapters which sum up everything that came before and show you how to design, write, and debug a complete script. I took a previous review's advice and checked out the authors Web site and there are GOBS of additional script samples, tutorials, and more. The book doesn't, for example, go into remote scripting - which I think would have blown my mind when I started - but the Web site has a good tutorial on it and several user discussions on it.

I bought the Micosoft Windows 2000 Scripting Guide and thought it was WAY too deep. Every time I started to learn something it would go off on a tangent. That book is starting to be useful to me as a reference, now, because it contains SO MUCH information, but Don Jones's book showed me how to make sense of everything.

Rating:
Summary: Even a Beer Guy Can Script!
Review: Yes, I admit it. I came from the beer industry, a Category Specialist at Coors Brewing Company to be specific. My tech background was so-so, but when I started selling software, I knew nothing about this sub-culture called Scripting. System Administrators use scripting to have the ability to control computers over a network, without having to leave their seat.

Don Jones book, "Managing Windows with VBScript and WMI", was written for the individual who knows basically nothing about scripting, and runs you through the process to understand scripting, use scripting, and execute scripting. By chapter 3, this former "beer guy" wrote his first script. Don's ability to breakdown processes so the everyday "Joe" can understand the language and acronyms was very helpful. I have tried to read other books about scripting, but they all start off, thinking you have a knowledge about what your about to read.

Not Don's book, he assumes you never heard of scripting, and therefore, walks you through the basics first. What a complete joy it was to finally read about scripting, and actually understanding it. I truly recommend this book regardless of your skill level of scripting, it has something for everyone.

From the "newbie" to the "professional", "Managing Windows with VBScript and WMI" can offer some great insight.

The book also contains a 30 Day Trial of PrimalScript 3.1, a scripting editor from SAPIEN Technologies, Inc. This was a great addition to the book, since most of the screen shots are shown using PrimalScript 3.1, so it makes it much easier to follow along. Not to mention, PrimalScript 3.1 was much easier to use than Notepad.

If your a into Windows Scripting or thinking about it, this book will be the book you refer to time and time again, and it will probably be the most used book on your desk once you own it. Thanks Don, for writing such a book, even an old "beer guy" can understand.

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