Question

Copy file to multiple machines on network

Asked by: Wookie68

I've got a relatively small isolated network of 15 Windows machines (mixture of XP and Win 2k). No DHCP / DNS for them, they all have static IP addresses that I maintain a local hosts file for on each machine.

When I add a new printer or device on the network, I'd like to be able to modify one host file and then copy it out to my other machines. If for some reason the file does not copy to one of the machines (maybe check for existence on network first?), I'd like to have that  displayed on the screen and written to a log as well. I've done some things like this with DOS batch files in the past, but would like to learn more about VBScript and/or powershell.

Thanks for the help!

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Asked On
2009-09-18 at 07:34:22ID24743361
Tags

vbscript powershell file copy

Topics

Visual Basic Programming

,

Powershell

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
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Answers

 

by: Shift-3Posted on 2009-09-18 at 11:18:38ID: 25368502

I am compelled to point out that this is not an efficient way to do things.  Even cheap consumer-grade routers can run DHCP and DNS using Linux-based firmware such as DD-WRT or Tomato.  There's no reason to do it the hard way.

If you are bent on persisting in your current setup, paste the script below into a text file with a .vbs extension.  Customize the contents of the arrComputers array on line 1 with the names or IP addresses of the target computers.  Customize the value of the strFile variable on line 2 with the location of the file to be copied.  Customize the value of the strPath variable on line 3 with the location to copy the file to, as it would appear in a UNC path.

Running the script will copy the file to each of the computers, overwriting existing files.  Errors will be echoed to the console and written to a comma-delimited text file.

arrComputers = Array("192.168.0.1","192.168.0.2","192.168.0.3")
strFile = "c:\files\HOSTS"
strPath = "\admin$\system32\drivers\etc"
strReport = "report.csv"
 
On Error Resume Next
 
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
 
For Each strComputer in arrComputers
    objFSO.CopyFile strFile, "\\" & strComputer & strPath & "\", True
    
    If Err.Number <> 0 Then
        strMessage = strComputer & "," & Chr(34) & Err.Description & Chr(34)
        strOutput = strOutput & strMessage & vbCrLf
        WScript.Echo strMessage
        Err.Clear
    End If
Next
 
If strOutput <> "" Then
    Set objReport = objFSO.CreateTextFile(strReport, True)
    objReport.Write strOutput
    objReport.Close
End If

                                              
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by: Wookie68Posted on 2009-09-18 at 12:15:11ID: 25369027

First off, thanks for the script. I hope it will just be a temporary thing.  

I'm relatively new to the group I just started with and don't want to rock the boat with them too much just yet. Can you imagine the "new guy" telling the seasoned veterans, who've always done things one way, there is a better way to do it?  I just saw an opportunity to try and make things a little easier. I like your suggestion about a small router or something similar that will do DHCP / DNS. I've seen devices that do DHCP, but didn't realize there were some that would do DNS as well. I'll start out with the script solution and then once they see it can be done differently, will slide in the suggestion for the other device.

Thanks again !

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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