Just wondering if some people, particularly system administrators, do for automating rountine tasks, such as virus scans, defragmentation, backups, etc.

Since my network is growing I find myself spending more and more time doing these tasks over and over and I would like some help on how I can automate these things as much as possible.

I'm using the Scheduled Tasks in Windows a bit for the most standard things such as virus scans and backups but for other programs like Ad-Aware how would I integrate this into a schedule (including automatic update)?

Is there another program which has better features than the Scheduled Tasks? and/or any sites which have more details about this?

If your (I assume you are talking about a Windows environment) network is getting rather large I can only advice you to start using Microsoft's Software Update Services. Programs like AdAware are more of a problem, since most of these products are made for single-computer home users and are barely usable without user interaction.
When it comes to net-wide deployment of Anti Virus Software, I have made good experiences with Smyantec's AntiVirus Corporate Edition, which makes installation of the clients a breeze and allows centralized configuration and control.

dev0

Thanks Dev0

I looked into SUS and it is not really what I need. I do run the corporate version of Symantec AV and it does work well.

As you say most of these other softwares are built for SOHO enviroments not corporate but there must be some more intelligent way of managing all these tasks

Try using Unisyn's Automate. I myself have not used this, but perhaps this is what you are looking for.

http://www.unisyn.com/


edit : Added URL

I've used an earlier version of automate and it did work ok - but the program is getting quite bloated and the thing I would like to know if you can run it as a windows service.

But this may be the solution - I'll have to investigate further

Thanks

I have some limited experience with AutoIt. Might be worth a try as well.

For defragmenting tasks, I recommend Executive Software Diskeeper. It can be configured so that it starts defragmenting automatically on the background when the disk fragmentation surpasses a defined thresold.

There are Server and Workstation editions.

http://www.executive.com/diskeeper/diskeeper.asp

The AutoIt looks very interesting - like it even more that it is free

I use diskeeper - and it is good - maybe a word of warning - I had my windows 2000 computer for 1.5 years - very stable, nothing wrong in terms of OS, was getting way to over-confident in a MS product, then I scheduled a MBT defragmenton on the next boot-up, I also added a backup Hard drive onto the sytem as well on bootup - it was a lethal combination because windows choked! BSOD - NTLoader missing, startup drivers not found, very bad!
reformat - reinstall - 2 months of work to get things back to 'normal'
But i reinstalled it again - just had to make a note not to do those things together - like turn on the dyrer and stove at the same ti.. - zzztt (oh s**t)

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions

Yup. You can run it as a service.

Just a query though. Anyone tried O&O's Defrag Professional/Server Edition? Is this good?

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