Andi

We have lots of problems with split cabling at work. Most of the network was cabled with Cat5 and split, and it does often cause problems for us. Less reliable, speed issues, other random issues that magically get fixed if the point is rewired to use all 8 wires. However, I imagine that it would be fine to do as a one off, especially at home where it's not going to take quite the battering as work networks do.

I'm trying to implement the Active Directory integration script that is on the Lanview community forums and I have a slight problem. The script runs with no problem and successfuly queries my AD, however the structure written back to Lanview isn't quite as I need it to be, due to the way my AD is organised. Currently the OUs I'm getting created in Lanview by the script are: Domain Controllers Member Servers Network Computers Network Tool Stations Staff Students These are all top level OUs, and all have sub-containers. It is specifically the Sub-OUs of 'Network Computers' that I really want to appear and be populated in LanView and the others can all be ignored by the script. Is this possible? Here is the script that is called at program startup (I'm sure that the AD scripting can be tweaked by some knowledgable soul on here): '========================================================================= ' AUTHOR: Jose Mosquera ' DATE: 16/12/2006 ' ' PURPOSE: Connect to AD Root, enumerate each OU to enumerate all computers ' in each OU, read the host name, then ' generate a report text file with all the OU's and computers and ' their properties. ' ' COMMENT: '========================================================================= Option Explicit Dim objRootDSE Dim objDomain Dim objContainer Dim objOU Dim objComputers Dim objShell Dim objReportFile ReDim arrComputers(100,1) ReDim arrOUs(100,1) Dim strPrompt Dim strCurDir Dim intRetVal Dim intCount Dim intX Dim intY Dim strDummy Dim GroupsFile strDummy = """" & "~Dummy" & """" GroupsFile = "Groups.bind" ' Connect to AD Root. Set objRootDSE = GetObject("LDAP://RootDSE") ' Get domain name. Set objDomain = GetObject("LDAP://" & objRootDSE.Get("DefaultNamingContext")) ' Call Sub that will list each OU. Call EnumOUs(objDomain.ADsPath) CreateGroupsFile ' Create text file to host found data. DisplayADObjects ' Call notepad and display text file to user. '-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ' ==================================================================================== ' TITLE: EnumOUs ' ' PURPOSE: Loop through all OU container from Active Directory Root ' and pass current found OU to EnumComputers ' ' HOW TO USE: Call EnumOUs(objOU.ADsPath) ' ' ==================================================================================== Sub EnumOUs(sADsPath) ' Connect to Active Directory First Container. Set objContainer = GetObject(sADsPath) ' Filter to only Organizational Unit. objContainer.Filter = Array("OrganizationalUnit") intX=0 intY=0 For Each objOU in objContainer If objOU.Name <> "OU=Printers" AND objOU.Name <> "OU=MyBusiness" then arrOUs(intX,0) = strDummy arrOUs(intX,1) = """" & Mid(objOU.Name, 4) & """" EnumComputers(objOU.ADsPath) ' If there are Computers in this OU, will extract them. intX = intX + 1 End If Next End Sub '-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ' ==================================================================================== ' TITLE: EnumComputers ' ' PURPOSE: Loop through all user container in each OU and create an ' array with some properties for each computer. ' ' HOW TO USE: Call EnumComputers(objOU.ADsPath) ' ' ==================================================================================== Sub EnumComputers(sADsPath) ' sADsPath contain current OU from EnumOUs. Connect to it. Set objContainer = GetObject(sADsPath) ' Filter only computer objects objContainer.Filter = Array("Computer") ' Extract Computer Name only For Each objComputers in objContainer arrComputers(intY,0) = """" & Mid(objComputers.Name, 4) & """" arrComputers(intY,1) = arrOUs(intX,1) 'Msgbox arrComputers(intY,0) & " " & arrComputers(intY,1) intY = intY + 1 Next End Sub '-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ' ==================================================================================== ' TITLE: CreateGroupsFile ' ' PURPOSE: Create a Groups.bind file hosting data from Active Directory Computers ' in any OUs ' ' HOW TO USE: Call CreateGroupsFile ' ' ==================================================================================== Sub CreateGroupsFile Dim objFSO Dim strReportFile Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") ' Get directory from where this script is executed. strReportFile = "C:\Program Files\LanView3 Server\Bindaries\" + GroupsFile Set objReportFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(strReportFile, True) End Sub '-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ' ==================================================================================== ' TITLE: DisplayADObjects ' ' PURPOSE: Write report of all computers found in Active Directory. ' ' HOW TO USE: Call DisplayADObjects ' ' ==================================================================================== Sub DisplayADObjects ' Add Default groups as seen in standard LANVIWEW SERVER. objReportFile.WriteLine (strDummy & "," & """" & "IAM Disabled" & """") objReportFile.WriteLine (strDummy & "," & """" & "IAM Ignored" & """") objReportFile.WriteLine (strDummy & "," & """" & "IAM Managers" & """") objReportFile.WriteLine (strDummy & "," & """" & "Watched Object" & """") objReportFile.WriteLine (strDummy & "," & """" & "Known PC's" & """") 'Output the OU's Name For intCount = 0 To UBound(arrOUs) If Not IsNoData(arrOUs(intCount,0)) Then objReportFile.WriteLine(arrOUs(intCount,0) & "," & arrOUs(intCount,1)) End If Next ' Add each computer found in AD. For intCount = 0 To UBound(arrComputers) 'Verify each value in arrComputers. Write only if there is data. If Not IsNoData(arrComputers(intCount,0)) Then objReportFile.WriteLine(arrComputers(intCount,0) & "," & arrComputers(intCount,1)) End If Next objReportFile.Close End Sub ' ==================================================================================== ' TITLE: IsNoData ' ' PURPOSE: Verify if passed parameter variable contain something. ' ' RETURN: True if contain something, otherwise, False. ' ' HOW TO USE: intResult = IsNoData(varSource) or ' If IsNoData(varSource) Then do something. ' ' AUTHOR: Christian Sawyer ' ==================================================================================== Function IsNoData(varVal2Check) 'Verify if varVal2Check contain something. On Error Resume Next If IsNull(varVal2Check) Or IsEmpty(varVal2Check) Then IsNoData = True Else If IsDate(varVal2Check) Then IsNoData = False ElseIf varVal2Check = "" Then IsNoData = True ElseIf Not IsObject(varVal2Check) Then IsNoData = False Else IsNoData = False End If End If End Function

Presumably they won't make it easy to remove their product from the whole network...by design. Does it have a silent uninstall that you could possibly script at startup via GPO?

We have servicedesk plus and have found it to be great so far in playtime mode. Basically we have only used it ourselves so far and haven't dished it out to the staff yet, that is something we will be doing during this summer break. However, for the last 2 years we've been using a shared Outlook task list (the administrator account which all the ICT support staff have access to from their own account) which has worked fine for keeping up-to-speed with what jobs are outstanding and where people are with them. I also toyed with Liberum which is completely free and open source which seemed to do a great job, but I was always too busy to ever implement it properly. http://www.liberum.org/

I'm trying to force a batch of users that we have setup for exams to use a fake proxy via GPO so that their internet access is disabled, but they still have access to the intranet. However, they can still get out to the outside world with no issues at all, as if the policy never took place. We currently set a default gateway via DHCP, could it be related to that?

If only I had the power to implement such a plan. As it happens, this software seemed to do a server install very easily, despite being about 2GB in size!

Wow, regmon has just confused me even more. As soon as I entered the serial number with Regmon open more keys than I could comprehend flew past my eyes. I think I'll just do a manual install on the few necessary PCs for this one, it's Monday and I don't want to get too in-depth if I can help it.

Scratch that, a quick google answered my question.

Interesting, are these downloadable tools?

I too have spent hours and hours trying to get Birchfield, Nelson Thornes and Sherston software to package and install nicely. They are an utter pain in the proverbial and unfortunately all of the teachers here just buy the stuff and then write their syllabuses round them. Only yesterday Birchfield history software appeared on my keyboard waiting to be installed, to which I sighed inside.....

Anyone out there use this software? I have the disk and the license but just cannot get it to package up using WininstallLE. It always asks the user to enter a serial number when they run it even if I have gone through those steps before running the second compare scan.

Thanks again Z

No this still hasn't been resolved despite ZH's best attempts. I've been away for 2 weeks though so that won't have helped. I've tried it with Google's 4.1 MSI that they now supply and I'm getting the same problem, which is down to the fact that I redirect my users appdata folder to a network share using GPO I believe.

Excellent. An MSI would be fantastic for this if available. Nice find Zero!

Ok, the story so far. I've deployed the msi that ZeroHour created. Set the permissions on the c:\google folder so that everyone has full control. When I run the program as a test student I get: Google Earth could not write to the current cache or myplaces file location. The values will be set as follows: My places path: "\\servername\userappdata\tt.tester\Application Data\Google\Google Earth\" Cache path: "C:\Documents and Settings\tt.tester\local settings\application data\google\google earth" I click OK and the program starts, but I want to avoid this error if possible. Could it be down to redirected appdata folders?

Ok, that's fair enough. They have full access to the default cache folder but the error still occurs. Could it be the My Places path?

Well, we have no network in the exam hall, so a standalone is necessary. We do have locked down accounts setup for any network based exams, CLAIT etc.

That's exactly what I'm in the middle of testing I'd rather get it all sorted from the original install than use a script as there's less to remember when it starts going wrong then.

Thanks Geoff. Is this the only way to do it?

We wipe the laptops, install standalone Windows XP, remove all components from add/remove Windows Components (one at a time in the accessories, otherwise Wordpad goes AWOL), create an admin and a limited user, clear the exam users start menu and just give them a link to Wordpad. Have to put the laptops back in service everytime though and is becoming a huge pain as we have to use at least 5 laptops everytime there are exams.

Thanks for the MSI ZeroHour. Is there anyway I can edit the MSi using ORca or something so that the default usercache is in a different location? Drive C is hidden from our users so the program shows an error everytime they load at the moment.

Interesting link Geoff. How does MakeMSI compare to WinInstall LE?

It comes as part of the windows resource kit, which is a large download. Luckily I kept the orca MSI last time I downloaded it. I'll add you to MSN and send it across very shortly.

I have a license and can drive to my job, but this is for my girlfriend, who hasn't learned to drive as she has no money after being made redundant, see my original post. Once finances are back on track she does want to learn to drive. Thanks for the info though guys.

Thanks Midget and Pete. I did see that post, but to be honest it'd be too far for her to get to via public transport and I think that going from 1st line support to network manager would be quite an intimidating step.