OT:Remote Software Management

[sam shaffer]

> - manual updates for Windows machines(hey, I'm a UNIX 
>   admin - not a miracle worker!)
> 
>  Is there an up2date/yast/apt like tool for
>  windows anywhere?

I'm a Unix admin as well, and not terribly familiar with
more than the concept of yast, for example. But to refine
your question farther, what are you interested in "updating"?
And what Windows versions? For example, NT is likely
best managed with SMS (Systems Management Server).

Windows 2000 allows you to do a good deal of software
management with Active Directory. You can configure the
group you want to be able to use certain applications, and
group members can install it themselves. Or you can assign
certain software to be available to certain workstations,
and anyone logged onto that workstation can use that app.
It can assign updated (patched) software similarly, so it's
automatically installed as needed.

I don't know if NT has "update", but w2k, me, and other
newer versions let you visit a MS web page and let it
determine what you need to update (though this is pretty
much a "visit every machine" operation, as well).

That's a brief view, and I've only worked with Active
Directory to make software available. SMS is a big
tool with a big price, but if you have a lot of machines
to manage, it could save you a lot of headache (after the
learning curve headache, of course).

Maybe someone else will be able to give you some more
detailed or different solutions.

Good luck
sam