If you’re relatively new to administrating
Windows Server 2000, you might not realize that you have a powerful
scripting tool at your disposal. This tool can help you automate
administrative tasks such as backups, user administration, and
more.

Windows Server 2000 includes the Windows
Scripting Host (WSH). WSH supports scripts written in VBScript,
which is very similar to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), and
Jscript, loosely modeled on the Java programming language.

But don’t make the mistake of thinking WSH’s
uses stop at relatively simple tasks. In fact, it features a broad
range of capabilities to automate processes, extract information
from the system, and even provide management functions through
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

Of course, learning to use scripts takes time
and an affinity for programming. To get an idea of WSH, here’s a
simple script to help you get your feet wet. Enter the following
into a text file, save it as Hello.vbs, and double-click the new
file to execute it.

dim user, computer, sh
set sh = WScript.CreateObject(“WScript.Network”)
user = sh.UserName
computer = sh.ComputerName
msgbox “Hello, ” & user & vbCrLf & “Logged on from ”
& computer

To learn more about WSH, check out
MSDN’s Scripting Web page.

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