Two questions with MS Server 2003

[gcooldude]

I am running MS Server 2003 on a laptop acting as a server and running few workstations connected to the domain running XP Pro. Two questions. Question 1, instead of having to install updates or software on individual machines, is there a program I can use that'll push these updates on the machine when users login. This would be very helpful and productive. My second question is how to setup a mail server with 2003, whether you can setup a free server or paid? Any guidance on these questions would be appreciated.

 

[DJ-CHRIS1]

I am running MS Server 2003 on a laptop acting as a server and running few workstations connected to the domain running XP Pro. Two questions. Question 1, instead of having to install updates or software on individual machines, is there a program I can use that'll push these updates on the machine when users login. This would be very helpful and productive. My second question is how to setup a mail server with 2003, whether you can setup a free server or paid? Any guidance on these questions would be appreciated.

You can push updates through a piece of software called "WSUS" which is freely available from Microsoft.

 

[gcooldude]

You can push updates through a piece of software called "WSUS" which is freely available from Microsoft.

Okay, i'll try using that. Thank you.

 

[gcooldude]

With WSUS, can I deploy updates other than Windows Updates? Such as Misc. software updates?

 

[gcooldude]

Bump

Is there any other software I can use to push through any software on my network?

 

[DJ-CHRIS1]

Bump

Is there any other software I can use to push through any software on my network?

You can set software to run and install through login scripts, this is a quite easy way to install .exe files, usually most installers will have flags to silently install, and bypass clicking next, clicking license agreements, etc.

Also, you can use active directory to install applications to workstations, and theirs a decent article about it here
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Group-Policy-Deploy-Applications.html

Third, a few applications contain their own utility to remotely install software. For example, most anti-virus software has this capability.

 

[gcooldude]

Checking out the article. I haven't written srcipt file before. How would I write a srcipt say to install iTunes on all machines in my network? And I would imagine through AD you would have to link their profile to that script file