For what it's worth...

I have a KixForms tool called DEPLOY. It works in conjunction with the INSTALL tool I posted here a while ago. INSTALL takes group of arguments and basically figures out how to run an unattended install process.

DEPLOY asks for the product name (also the folder name) and any arguments. It also gets a time/date to begin the push, and a list of server names in a text file.

For every server in the list, DEPLOY gets the target IP address, figures out the subnet and identifies the nearest Software Distribution file server (we have 5 - one per main site). It then pushes out a batch file that connects to the closest SWDIST server and runs the INSTALL command. My tsControl library is used to remotely schedule the task, using an admin's account credentials. This way, the task runs with admin/network access rights. The INSTALL command determines if a reboot should occur. Results are logged to the target server for later collection, although we're considering logging to the SWDIST server the install ran from.

Anyway, I got called into the office at 1am Monday to respond to the virus attack - by 2:30, I had forced the McAfee DAT file update and the KB823980 hotfix to 43 NT and 157 2K servers, and by 3am had verified tht the vulnerability had been patched on all servers.

NTDoc - the tsControl library may be daunting, but it lends itself to larger scheduling applications like the TSadm tool (posted on KixForms) and DEPLOY. Look at the sample code included in the zip file for help in getting started. I often use that sample file as a starting point for new scripts.

With tsControl, you can read events, update task and trigger settings, update security, get event status, and delete.

Glenn

PS - I have a new Kix script called MAINT that I'm wrapping up. It runs without args from a server, connects to a SWDIST server and reads a config file to determine what to do - apply service packs, hotfix packages, install or remove applications. Even handles continuation after reboots. Using this in our build lab, I've cut the server build process from 20 pages/30 Major steps to 5 pages/8 Major steps.
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Actually I am a Rocket Scientist! \:D