Port - What server OS to use
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@dashrender said in Port - What server OS to use:
I suppose if IT is deploying machines to these 15-20 users, they could setup a general admin account on all machines and a user account, then IT would know these things to use the listed tools.
That's pretty trivial and less work than adding each to the domain, anyway.
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@scottalanmiller said in Port - What server OS to use:
That's pretty trivial and less work than adding each to the domain, anyway.
It sounds like you've done this before. How does something like deploying a printer work without group policy or permissions? (permissions to the printer or permissions to install the driver that the server supplies)
I'm also having a hard time figuring out how powershell would work when you would have to feed each computer different credentials. Do you just add a username password field to the list of computers and then rip through with the for each loop as normal?
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@mike-davis said in Port - What server OS to use:
It sounds like you've done this before. How does something like deploying a printer work without group policy or permissions? (permissions to the printer or permissions to install the driver that the server supplies)
Well, you can do it manually. For twenty machines that's often faster than taking the time to make a group policy. Or you just make a group policy, as that doesn't depend on a domain. Or you use a tool like Salt or just use PowerShell. And you have permission from the admin account.
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@mike-davis said in Port - What server OS to use:
I'm also having a hard time figuring out how powershell would work when you would have to feed each computer different credentials.
Why different credentials? I mean you sure could have different ones and that might make sense, but you can use a common account, too. Remember that with AD we are okay with shared creds, so we probably are here, too.
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PowerShell is built for tasks like this, it makes them pretty easy.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/powershell/windows/printmanagement/add-printer
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@scottalanmiller said in Port - What server OS to use:
@mike-davis said in Port - What server OS to use:
I'm also having a hard time figuring out how powershell would work when you would have to feed each computer different credentials.
Why different credentials? I mean you sure could have different ones and that might make sense, but you can use a common account, too. Remember that with AD we are okay with shared creds, so we probably are here, too.
Isn't the username without AD computername\username ? So you would have to change the computername for each one even if you set the password the same.
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@mike-davis said in Port - What server OS to use:
@scottalanmiller said in Port - What server OS to use:
@mike-davis said in Port - What server OS to use:
I'm also having a hard time figuring out how powershell would work when you would have to feed each computer different credentials.
Why different credentials? I mean you sure could have different ones and that might make sense, but you can use a common account, too. Remember that with AD we are okay with shared creds, so we probably are here, too.
Isn't the username without AD computername\username ? So you would have to change the computername for each one even if you set the password the same.
Well you have to cycle through machines either way, so you must be working from a list of some form. So whether you remote in and install the printer, or you install the printer remotely with the computer name there, you would need a list to work from, how else do you know where to install the printers?
Same as Group Policy. You might make a list that is just "all", but you are still making a list. Here you don't quite have the luxury of an "all", but the list is so small, that that's not a big deal. Twenty max is an easy list to make.
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I just did an environment without AD and there was no "computername" needed for any tasks that we did. I don't think that that would come up for adding printers, but I'd need to double check.
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@scottalanmiller said in Port - What server OS to use:
I just did an environment without AD and there was no "computername" needed for any tasks that we did. I don't think that that would come up for adding printers, but I'd need to double check.
I only have one client without a server. For their 3 system network, I have to feed the computer name with the username for the drive mappings.
I added the single printer as a local printer to the 3 machines since a central queue wasn't desirable in their case.
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What drives are being mapped? Each mapping drives from the others?
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@scottalanmiller said in Port - What server OS to use:
What drives are being mapped? Each mapping drives from the others?
They had an accounting app (Sage, only slightly better than QuickBooks) that needed a drive mapped on the client machines from the computer that hosted the database.
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Oh, makes sense.
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I think that ScreenConnect will do some of this, too. But that's not my department, so I might be imagining that.
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So, in theory, with ScreenConnect and its remote command execution options, it looks like a printer add command could be issued there to each of a series of clients and add printers without even needing to log into each one. Still not ideal, but not too bad.
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@scottalanmiller said in Port - What server OS to use:
So, in theory, with ScreenConnect and its remote command execution options, it looks like a printer add command could be issued there to each of a series of clients and add printers without even needing to log into each one. Still not ideal, but not too bad.
I'm not sure how effective Screen Connect would be. With my install commands that don't run within a few seconds time out. So I can't launch a .msi install unless it finishes in 2 seconds. I can use it to map drives for users because it runs as the system account, not as the user account that's logged in.
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@scottalanmiller said in Port - What server OS to use:
So, in theory, with ScreenConnect and its remote command execution options, it looks like a printer add command could be issued there to each of a series of clients and add printers without even needing to log into each one. Still not ideal, but not too bad.
I think the value of Screen connect would be to save you walking around the office as you connected to each machine and did it manually.
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@mike-davis said in Port - What server OS to use:
@scottalanmiller said in Port - What server OS to use:
So, in theory, with ScreenConnect and its remote command execution options, it looks like a printer add command could be issued there to each of a series of clients and add printers without even needing to log into each one. Still not ideal, but not too bad.
I think the value of Screen connect would be to save you walking around the office as you connected to each machine and did it manually.
Or even going into the office at all! But it's also that it would be fast. If you copy/pasted the command and already had the SC sessions in a group, which would be expected, it would be a matter of click... paste... run; click... paste... run...
Not perfect, but fast and easy.
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@mike-davis said in Port - What server OS to use:
@scottalanmiller said in Port - What server OS to use:
So, in theory, with ScreenConnect and its remote command execution options, it looks like a printer add command could be issued there to each of a series of clients and add printers without even needing to log into each one. Still not ideal, but not too bad.
I'm not sure how effective Screen Connect would be. With my install commands that don't run within a few seconds time out. So I can't launch a .msi install unless it finishes in 2 seconds. I can use it to map drives for users because it runs as the system account, not as the user account that's logged in.
Not sure. Mapping drives and adding printers seem reasonable. Installing MSIs, not so much.
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@scottalanmiller said in Port - What server OS to use:
@mike-davis said in Port - What server OS to use:
@scottalanmiller said in Port - What server OS to use:
So, in theory, with ScreenConnect and its remote command execution options, it looks like a printer add command could be issued there to each of a series of clients and add printers without even needing to log into each one. Still not ideal, but not too bad.
I'm not sure how effective Screen Connect would be. With my install commands that don't run within a few seconds time out. So I can't launch a .msi install unless it finishes in 2 seconds. I can use it to map drives for users because it runs as the system account, not as the user account that's logged in.
Not sure. Mapping drives and adding printers seem reasonable. Installing MSIs, not so much.
Deploying MSI is pretty easy using PDQ Deploy.
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This is one of the tasks that we hope that SodiumSuite will be addressing in the future, as well. It does not today, but we are watching these kinds of discussions with interest, because we see SS as a problem solver here.
