Episode 1 of the NetPoint PowerShell Commands

Back in March I wrote a blog about the NetPoint PowerShell Commands, which are now available in NetPoint 2.5. These commands can be used to query your network inventory from PowerShell, so you can easily automate those repetitive system and asset management tasks.

Within the upcoming week or two, I plan on posting a set of videos that will show how these cmdlets can be used to automate some typical IT scenarios.  This first episode gives a brief introduction of the NetPoint PowerShell Commands.  We also walk-through a scenario that involves getting a list of the programs installed on an arbitrary machine in just one line of script.

In the next episode, we’ll look at generating custom network inventory reports right from PowerShell, so stay tuned!

Enhancements for the XenApp Publishing Extension

I’ve been thinking about adding some new enhancements to the XenApp Publishing Extension, but before doing so I’m curious to see how useful the community thinks they are.  To answer this question, I’ve decided to post a blog where you can give feedback on each enhancement.  If these ideas get a lot of votes, you’ll probably see them come to life.

So here we go.  The first idea is to add offline app support to the XenApp Publishing Extension.  This means you would be able to right-click a .profile in Windows and publish one of its apps to your farm.

The next idea is to add PowerShell support to the XenApp Publishing Extension.  Right now the extension publishes online apps via MFCOM.  A set of PowerShell cmdlets known as the XenApp Commands have been released as a Technology Preview and can also be used to publish both online and offline apps.  Since the code for the XenApp Publishing Extension is available, adding support for this would also be a good reference for anyone that’s interested in calling the cmdlets from a .NET app.

Thanks in advance for your votes!

Cloning a XenApp server with remapped drives

A fellow Shannon Ma Virtualized fan has posted a link that talks about how you can clone a XenApp server with remapped drives.  Check out http://kb.acronis.com/content/1666 if you’re interested in this.  The article talks about a few ways you can accomplish this with and without Acronis’ imaging solution.  To be honest, I haven’t had a chance to try this out but it seems like a handy reference if you’re looking to XenAppPrep your servers with remapped drives.  Thanks Mike!