Remote Administration

N

Newbify2

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 28, 2002
Messages
380
Is there a better way to perform remote administrative tasks such as checking for software updates by ssh'ing? I have quite a few machines to work with and I was wondering if there was anything people use to do these tasks without having to ssh into each machine to do this.
I am setting up a crontab system where the machine will post any updates to a file that I can routinely parse remotely but I was wondering if there is any easier way to do this without using Apple's overpriced Remote Desktop 2.

Thanks
 
Yea I've been using softwareupdate via ssh but I was wondering if there was an easier way to see if a computer needs updates without having to ssh, softwareupdate -l on all of them.

You would think Apple would just give you the software after purchasing about 20 of their $2500-$3000 machines :rolleyes:
 
You can always install a OSX VNC and have remote control abilities, though it is not perfect, it may work.
 
The only problem I have had with OS X VNC (http://www.redstonesoftware.com/vnc.html) is creating an ssh tunnel, everything I do has to be secure. Tunneling is sometimes slow though....
I may just have to figure out the tunneling and maybe use Eggplant. Thanks for the responses, any more ideas are welcome.
 
you would think apple would have a server that would check all the machines on the network and upgrade them accordingly. Atleast i think they would.
 
With RemoteDesktop you can push packages down to each client.
If you wanted a free solution, you could create a shell script to ssh into each box (Set up keys, then you won't need password auth) and do a softwareupdate -ia or something similar
 
Today I set up a crontab that will email me if a machine needs updates. This should work for awhile.
 
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