I have 500-600 remote sites.

What is the best configuration for a single point of administration.

There is a Windows 2000 Server at every location that will need to schedule jobs. For the most part, all the servers are cookie cutter. So creating/managing jobs at corporate seems like a good idea.

What mode should I run the remote locations in? What mode should I run corporate in? Can one corporate machine handle 500-600 other remote machines?

I am just looking for a "best practice"...

Thanks,

Mike Niccum

Yes, one machine can handle 500-600 other remote machines. The best solution depends on what jobs you want to run on these machines.

If these machines are really like you said "cookie cutters," the task is much simplier. You can have one "master" machine and use simple job replication or you can setup one central schedulers and configure all other to run Remote Agents so again the jobs are managed in one central place.

: I have 500-600 remote sites.

: What is the best configuration for a single point of administration.

: There is a Windows 2000 Server at every location that will need to schedule
: jobs. For the most part, all the servers are cookie cutter. So
: creating/managing jobs at corporate seems like a good idea.

: What mode should I run the remote locations in? What mode should I run
: corporate in? Can one corporate machine handle 500-600 other remote
: machines?

: I am just looking for a "best practice"...

: Thanks,

: Mike Niccum

If we were to go with the one central scheduler concept:

We would need to setup every job for all the remote agents. When I create a job, I only see the ability to schedule for one remote agent. How would I accomplish this for MANY remote agents?

Thanks,

Mike Niccum

Scheduling a job for all the remote agents.

: Yes, one machine can handle 500-600 other remote machines. The best solution
: depends on what jobs you want to run on these machines.

: If these machines are really like you said "cookie cutters," the
: task is much simplier. You can have one "master" machine and use
: simple job replication or you can setup one central schedulers and
: configure all other to run Remote Agents so again the jobs are managed in
: one central place.

You have several options:

METHOD 1: This is the simplest method, but I don't recommend it in case if you don't view 500 remote job runs as a single logical job run and don't want to create any dependencies between these runs.

Perhaps you want to run a complex script type job X on 2 computers A and B.

Create X job whose definition contains all important jobs scripts properties, but the schedule. For the schedule, select [no schedule]

Create worker job Y of script type whose definition includes the actual schedule for the job X. In the job Y code

JobRemoteRun "X", "A"
JobRemoteRun "X", "B"

As you know you can but don't have to hard-code all 500 agents to extend this job run to 500 agents. In the script you can read in a loop agent names from a text file and run job X on every agent found in the file.

METHOD 1: Don't run the job from the central scheduler. Use the central scheduler only as the job definition repository. Instead of running 24x7 Remote Agents on 500 computers, run full 24x7 Schedulers in the Master mode (distributed server option). On the central scheduler create and modify jobs as needed. These jobs should be setup to run "local".

Create 1 maintenance job that you will use to replicate new and modified job definitions to other computers. That job should have [no schedule]. Run this job manually or on schedule whenever you make a change in one of the regular jobs (which will probably happen rarely after the initial system setup).

In the maintenance job script code RemoteCopyJobDatabase or RemoteCopyJobFolder to implement the replication.

OTHERS METODS can be possibly used. Please let us know what kind of jobs you are going to run. A good implementation cannot be found without a good understanding of what needs to be implemented.

: If we were to go with the one central scheduler concept: We would need to
: setup every job for all the remote agents. When I create a job, I only see
: the ability to schedule for one remote agent. How would I accomplish this
: for MANY remote agents?

: Thanks,

: Mike Niccum

: Scheduling a job for all the remote agents.

I have a vbscript that can query Active Directory for all the computers at a given location and place them in a text file. Is there any way to automate adding these computers into the Remote Agents list on the Master Server?

: You have several options: METHOD 1: This is the simplest method, but I don't
: recommend it in case if you don't view 500 remote job runs as a single
: logical job run and don't want to create any dependencies between these
: runs.

: Perhaps you want to run a complex script type job X on 2 computers A and B.

: Create X job whose definition contains all important jobs scripts properties,
: but the schedule. For the schedule, select [no schedule]

: Create worker job Y of script type whose definition includes the actual
: schedule for the job X. In the job Y code

: JobRemoteRun "X", "A"
: JobRemoteRun "X", "B"

: As you know you can but don't have to hard-code all 500 agents to extend this
: job run to 500 agents. In the script you can read in a loop agent names
: from a text file and run job X on every agent found in the file.

: METHOD 1: Don't run the job from the central scheduler. Use the central
: scheduler only as the job definition repository. Instead of running 24x7
: Remote Agents on 500 computers, run full 24x7 Schedulers in the Master
: mode (distributed server option). On the central scheduler create and
: modify jobs as needed. These jobs should be setup to run
: "local".

: Create 1 maintenance job that you will use to replicate new and modified job
: definitions to other computers. That job should have [no schedule]. Run
: this job manually or on schedule whenever you make a change in one of the
: regular jobs (which will probably happen rarely after the initial system
: setup).

: In the maintenance job script code RemoteCopyJobDatabase or
: RemoteCopyJobFolder to implement the replication.

: OTHERS METODS can be possibly used. Please let us know what kind of jobs you
: are going to run. A good implementation cannot be found without a good
: understanding of what needs to be implemented.

Yes, it is as simple as additing one key and several values to the registry (for each agent). This needs to be done only once and it can be done in the same vbscript.

Create one agent by hand and then use the registry editor to look up values under the following key under

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7 Scheduler\3.0\Agents\[your agent hame here]

: I have a vbscript that can query Active Directory for all the computers at a
: given location and place them in a text file. Is there any way to automate
: adding these computers into the Remote Agents list on the Master Server?

Great...

I believe this will be the first job I run on every server.

Thanks,

Mike Niccum

: Yes, it is as simple as additing one key and several values to the registry
: (for each agent). This needs to be done only once and it can be done in
: the same vbscript.

: Create one agent by hand and then use the registry editor to look up values
: under the following key under

: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7
: Scheduler\3.0\Agents\[your agent hame here]

Automatically updating the remote agents registry hive was a great idea. Just thought I would share the script for Windows 2000 AD that I use...

All you have to do is replace the strDomain with your actual domain...

Sub Main( )

'######################################################################
'Declarations

Dim strResult
Dim strCN
Dim strDomain
Dim objShell
Dim strLocalMachine

'######################################################################
'Define variables

strDomain = "domain"

'######################################################################
'Get the local computername
'Each remote site's OU and server have the same name.
'I use this if I need to put it in the LDAP:// path

Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
strLocalMachine = objShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%computername%")
'MsgBox strLocalMachine

'######################################################################
'Open root DSE do determine default naming context.

'This will bind to a specific server referenced strDomain defined above
Set objRootDSE = GetObject("LDAP://"; & strDomain & "/RootDSE")

'This will bind to any available DC (redundancy)
'Set objRootDSE = GetObject("LDAP://RootDSE";)

'######################################################################
'Determine default naming context of the domain

Dim strDefaultContext

strDefaultContext = objRootDSE.Get("defaultNamingContext")
'MsgBox "Default Context is " & strDefaultContext
Set objRootDSE = Nothing

'######################################################################
'Bind to the Computers container on the domain controller.

Dim strContainer

'To bind to the computer container use the following:
'strContainer = "LDAP://"; & strDomain & "/CN=computers," & strDefaultContext

'To bind to Domain Controllers container use the following:
strContainer = "LDAP://OU=Domain Controllers," & strDefaultContext

Set objContainer = GetObject(strContainer)
' objContainer.Filter = Array("user")

'######################################################################
'Scan all object names and place into registry for Master to use as Remote Agents

Dim Sh
Set Sh = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
'Sh.RegDelete ("HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7 Scheduler\3.0\Agents")

For Each obj In objContainer

strCN = obj.Name

strCN = Right(strCN, Len(strCN) - 3)

Sh.RegWrite "HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7 Scheduler\3.0\Agents\" & strCN & "."& strDomain & ".com" & "\Driver","Winsock"

Sh.RegWrite "HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7 Scheduler\3.0\Agents\" & strCN & "."& strDomain & ".com" & "\Port","1096"

Sh.RegWrite "HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7 Scheduler\3.0\Agents\" & strCN & "."& strDomain & ".com" & "\Location", strCN & "."& strDomain & ".com"

Sh.RegWrite "HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7 Scheduler\3.0\Agents\" & strCN & "."& strDomain & ".com" & "\Options",""

Sh.RegWrite "HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7 Scheduler\3.0\Agents\" & strCN & "."& strDomain & ".com" & "\TraceEnabled","N"

Sh.RegWrite "HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7 Scheduler\3.0\Agents\" & strCN & "."& strDomain & ".com" & "\Async","Y"

strResult = strResult & strCN & vbCrLf
Next

Set objContainer = Nothing

'######################################################################
'Write the strResult to d:\dc.txt

'strResult = "Domain Controllers found:" & vbCrLf & vbCrLf

'dim objFSO, objTextFile
'Const ForReading = 1, ForWriting = 2, ForAppending = 8

'Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

'Dim strDC
'strDC="d:\dc.txt"

'delete old file
'objfso.DeleteFile strDC, true

'write new file
'set objTextFile = objfso.CreateTextFile(strDC)
'objTextFile.Write strResult
'objTextFile.Close
'set objTextFile = nothing

'######################################################################

End Sub

: Yes, it is as simple as additing one key and several values to the registry
: (for each agent). This needs to be done only once and it can be done in
: the same vbscript.

: Create one agent by hand and then use the registry editor to look up values
: under the following key under

: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7
: Scheduler\3.0\Agents\[your agent hame here]

Do you mind if add your script to the script archive http://www.softtreetech.com/24x7script.htm?

: Automatically updating the remote agents registry hive was a great idea. Just
: thought I would share the script for Windows 2000 AD that I use...

: All you have to do is replace the strDomain with your actual domain...

: Sub Main( )

: '######################################################################
: 'Declarations

: Dim strResult
: Dim strCN
: Dim strDomain
: Dim objShell
: Dim strLocalMachine

: '######################################################################
: 'Define variables

: strDomain = "domain"

: '######################################################################
: 'Get the local computername
: 'Each remote site's OU and server have the same name.
: 'I use this if I need to put it in the LDAP:// path

: Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
: strLocalMachine =
: objShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%computername%")
: 'MsgBox strLocalMachine

: '######################################################################
: 'Open root DSE do determine default naming context.

: 'This will bind to a specific server referenced strDomain defined above
: Set objRootDSE = GetObject(" LDAP://"; ; & strDomain &
: "/RootDSE")

: 'This will bind to any available DC (redundancy)
: 'Set objRootDSE = GetObject(" LDAP://RootDSE"; ;)

: '######################################################################
: 'Determine default naming context of the domain

: Dim strDefaultContext

: strDefaultContext = objRootDSE.Get("defaultNamingContext")
: 'MsgBox "Default Context is " & strDefaultContext
: Set objRootDSE = Nothing

: '######################################################################
: 'Bind to the Computers container on the domain controller.

: Dim strContainer

: 'To bind to the computer container use the following: 'strContainer = "
: LDAP://"; ; & strDomain & "/CN=computers," &
: strDefaultContext

: 'To bind to Domain Controllers container use the following: strContainer =
: " LDAP://OU=Domain Controllers," & strDefaultContext

: Set objContainer = GetObject(strContainer)
: ' objContainer.Filter = Array("user")

: '######################################################################
: 'Scan all object names and place into registry for Master to use as Remote
: Agents

: Dim Sh
: Set Sh = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")
: 'Sh.RegDelete ("HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7
: Scheduler\3.0\Agents")

: For Each obj In objContainer

: strCN = obj.Name

: strCN = Right(strCN, Len(strCN) - 3)

: Sh.RegWrite "HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7
: Scheduler\3.0\Agents\" & strCN & "."& strDomain
: & ".com" & "\Driver","Winsock"

: Sh.RegWrite "HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7
: Scheduler\3.0\Agents\" & strCN & "."& strDomain
: & ".com" & "\Port","1096"

: Sh.RegWrite "HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7
: Scheduler\3.0\Agents\" & strCN & "."& strDomain
: & ".com" & "\Location", strCN &
: "."& strDomain & ".com"

: Sh.RegWrite "HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7
: Scheduler\3.0\Agents\" & strCN & "."& strDomain
: & ".com" & "\Options",""

: Sh.RegWrite "HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7
: Scheduler\3.0\Agents\" & strCN & "."& strDomain
: & ".com" & "\TraceEnabled","N"

: Sh.RegWrite "HKLM\SOFTWARE\SoftTree Technologies, Inc.\24x7
: Scheduler\3.0\Agents\" & strCN & "."& strDomain
: & ".com" & "\Async","Y"

: strResult = strResult & strCN & vbCrLf
: Next

: Set objContainer = Nothing

: '######################################################################
: 'Write the strResult to d:\dc.txt

: 'strResult = "Domain Controllers found:" & vbCrLf & vbCrLf

: 'dim objFSO, objTextFile
: 'Const ForReading = 1, ForWriting = 2, ForAppending = 8

: 'Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

: 'Dim strDC
: 'strDC="d:\dc.txt"

: 'delete old file
: 'objfso.DeleteFile strDC, true

: 'write new file
: 'set objTextFile = objfso.CreateTextFile(strDC)
: 'objTextFile.Write strResult
: 'objTextFile.Close
: 'set objTextFile = nothing

: '######################################################################

: End Sub

http://www.softtreetech.com/24x7/script.htm

I don't mind at all...

: Do you mind if add your script to the script archive
: http://www.softtreetech.com/24x7script.htm ?