Time to restock your sys admin toolbox

January turned out to be quite the month for Microsoft utility downloads, as well as third-party utility releases. For those of us who’ve wiped the New Year’s fuzziness from our eyes and survived the first month’s inevitable oddities, an update to our sys admin tool chests seems like a good idea, especially because I’ve already highlighted Microsoft’s new anti-virus and anti-spyware downloads. So I’ve looked at a bunch of new and useful utilities, most of which were released in January, and most of which are also downloadable from Microsoft.

At the top of my list, for those souls using Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0, is the newly updated IIS 6.0 Resource Kit Tools. This is a highly useful collection of utilities designed to make administering and especially securing IIS servers a task for humans rather than Cylons reeking of the misty northwest. Packaged in this bundle of joy are tools to deploy SSL certificates, manage and query IIS log files, and migrate from Apache (for the adventurous). It also includes a variety of troubleshooting tools and even a stress test utility. If you’re running an IIS server, even if it’s only behind the firewall, this is a toolkit addition you can’t miss. Check it out at https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/.

Another truly cool Redmondian-spawned utility is Log Parser 2.2, which is an absolute spine-tingler in time savings. Log Parser acts as a sort of universal front end to as many Microsoft-spawned log file sources as possible, which includes the XML and CSV formatted basics, but also all the Windows OS logs (such as event log and registry, for instance) and especially Active Directory. The really cool part is that your query results can be formatted any way you like, including text, Syslog, or even SQL. You’ve got to try it to appreciate the interface, a new definition for flexibility. You can also find this one at https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/.

Next, check out the once-again-revised Microsoft Scriptomatic, a utility designed to write WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) scripts for you. In its latest 2.0 incarnation, Scriptomatic still does all its WMI creation and education magic, but now doesn’t limit itself to VBScripts. Scriptomatic can now write scripts in languages as diverse as JScript, Perl, and Python. Scriptomatic 2.0 also handles arrays and can talk to all WMI classes on the installed machine. Data output is also beefed up, including HTML and XML. Scriptomatic 2.0 is located at Microsoft’s download site, plus there are several Scriptomatic educational documents available should you choose to search for them.

On the third-party front, I’ve bumped into several new releases during the last few weeks, both commercial and freeware. For those poor sys admins with a load of roaming notebook luggers who like to log in to whatever network port happens to be available to them, you might want to check out Mobile Net Switch, which is a semi-free utility designed to allow users to switch between multiple network configurations without the need for a PC reboot. Features include authentication, drive mappings, proxy settings, and all addressing. Windows XP can handle basic connectivity between multiple networks without too much difficulty, but when you clear basic access requirements, a tool like Mobile Net Switch can really cut down on remote help desk traffic. Get a copy at www.mobilenetswitch.com.

Last but not least is Sysinternals Process Explorer. This is definitely a power user’s tool, but for those of us wearing propeller beanies, it can be a real life saver. Process Explorer offers users a two-paned window. The top pane shows a constant list of active processes on the installed system. The bottom pane displays the handles that the selected process in the top pane has opened. You also can view all the DLLs and memory-mappings associated with the process. For tricky application errors or tracking down especially sneaky spyware, Process Explorer is the tool to beat. Look for it at www.sysinternals.com.

I’ve undoubtedly missed several gig worth of useful utility utopia, so if you’ve got an especially sexy tool that my benighted eyes have missed, feel free to alert me to its presence and I’ll make the knowledge public here in the future.