PsTools Part 3: PsList and PsKill

If you are familiar with the Linux command-line world, PsList and PsKill will have some similarities in function to ps and kill but not syntax. Personally I think PsList and PsKill are far more intuitive, and they are extremely helpful when managing Windows Server Core installations.PsList will list all processes on either local or remote hosts. In Linux you could ps -ax | grep [name] to find a process with a specific name, and with PsList you can simply pslist \\remotehost processname. Using the very helpful -t flag, you will list the processes and their descendants. Using...

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PsTools Part 2: PsExec

PsExec is application within the PsTools suite will allow to locally and remotely execute other applications. As always, you must have the WMI/RPC port (135) open on remote hosts.The ability to execute the same application on many computers simultaneously has it's advantages in network administration and classroom computer lab administration.Here is the usage from the Microsoft website:psexec [\\computer[,computer2[,...] | @file][-u user [-p psswd]][-n s][-l][-s|-e][-x][-i [session]][-c [-f|-v]][-w directory][-d][-][-a n,n,...] cmd [arguments]From this usage we do something...

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PsTools Part 1: Introduction

PsTools is small suite of command-line of applications within the greater Windows Systinternals suite.Any network admin of more than just a handful of Windows servers should be very familiar with PsTools. If there is any process where you must repeatedly RDP (Yes, I use it as a verb.) into a server, you could probably save yourself some serious time by automating the process in a batch file which refers to one of the utilities within the PsTools suite.There is no installation for PsTools. You only need to download the ZIP file from Microsoft, and extract the contents into...

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Salutations!

If you've reached this blog, it's most likely because you are searching for the answer to a problem. This blog is my first tech blog, and I believe it will serve me as much as it serves you. I plan to use this as an open compendium of tools, tips, and tricks for network administration in Windows, Linux, and VMware environments.I hope you find what you are looking for, and feel free to comment when you have anything to add.Thank y...

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