Ask Slashdot: Moving From *nix To Windows Automation? 427
Zubinix writes "I have a background in doing automation in a Unix/Linux environment using scripting languages such as perl and bash shell, as well as ssh for remote scripting. My next project will be in the Windows environment so what approach and methodology is best for developing, say, the automation required for a test system? I don't want to use things like Cygwin, as I need to integrate with Windows applications such as Exchange and Sharepoint. Is there a list of should and should not dos when it comes to Windows automation?"
a VM... (Score:1, Funny)
> what approach and methodology is best for developing, say, the automation required for a test system?
Install Linux in a VM, and do all the automation from there.
Then you can eventually migrate to removing the Windows machine and running Linux directly on the hardware.
Re:Don't do it... (Score:5, Funny)
Day 1) Walk in the door, optimistic about what can be done with this "Enterprise" platform.
Day 2) Walk in the door, with a headache, hoping to find an answer for how to manage what were simple tasks under *nix.
Day 3) Walk in the door. Sit down at your desk. Plant your head firmly on the keyboard and cry.
Day 4) Walk in the door, rip your soul out of your chest, stomp on it, and throw it in the nearest recycle bin. Sit down at your desk, and wonder why in 4 days you can't find a valid answer to automation that was so simple under *nix.
Day 5) Walk in the door. Sit down at your desk, and think about how miserable you are now that you're working on a Windows-only network. Leave 2 hours early, and drink away your pain at the nearest bar.
The longer it goes on, the worse the pain gets, until you realize that you have a stash of cheap liquor and pot in your desk drawer, and you use more of both in one day than an entire fraternity use in a hard partying weekend.
I do have some answers for parts of it. Powershell is part of the answer, but far from complete, unless you like virtually every command you type returning worthless 6 line responses. Cygwin may solve some of the problems, but not all of them. ActivePerl may solve some problems. In the end, you will realize that everything is a mouse click away, and those mouse clicks are the only way to do it. Prepare to spend the rest of your life in remote desktop connections, and putting more miles on your mouse than you ever did playing first person shooters.
Re:a VM... (Score:3, Funny)
Why would you switch to Linux - an inferior, security ridden, and an OS which can't stay up longer than a month?!
It's a hobbyist OS at best and doesn't survive in a real commercial environment.
I have to promote Microsoft products... (Score:5, Funny)
Hey I'm a smiley kind of guy and I have to promote Microsoft products to undermine *nix and expand our market share, but I'm afraid I'm running out of ways to do it.
I wondered if the ever so friendly and clever Slashdot crowd can think of imaginative ways to carry out this task? Please help me. Remember; I think you're wonderful.
Re:Best practices are best practices (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Don't do it... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:WMI (Score:5, Funny)
WMI is really powerful, I only wish the documentation was better. You can do some really powerful things with VBScript and WMI.
Wait a second, something's not right here...
Linux has well-known utilities that everyone is familiar with?
Windows has powerful tools with terrible documentation?
I AM IN BIZARRO WORLD!
Re:WMI (Score:4, Funny)
WMI is great. If you liked the complexity of CORBA, COBOL, VB Script, and the syntax of SQL, you will love WMI.