                        Remote Cows

 If you think it is a pain to maintain the Windows NT service
 client for the distributed.net efforts on many computer
 I have the right tool for you. A remote management/monitoring
 tool for Windows NT: Remote Cows - client for NT Service Control
 Center/management console. Install, configure, start and stop
 services across the nerwork.

 The program is very easy to use but here are few pointers on
 how to use it.


Accessing remote computer.

 The program asumes you have sufficient rights to access the
 Service Control Manager on the remote computers (i.e. to install,
 remove, start and stop services) and that you can access the
 system shares (i.e. \c$, \d$).

Starting up the first time.

 When starting up for the first time you are asked to set up the
 default settings for the console:

  The default path on the remote machine
  The service executeable
  The preconfigured ini file
  Whether the service should start automaticaly after reboot
  If the service should be started after install

The Console.

 The console contains a list for the computers and there status
 plus a few buttons.

  Install Service
  Remove Service
  Start Service
  Stop Service
  Add Computer
  Remove Computer
  Configure
  Update Status
  Default Setup
  About..
  Quit

Install Service

 This button installs the service on a remote computer selected
 from the window on the left. If this is the first time you are
 installing the service on the remote computer, the remote path
 selected will be the default path from the Default Setup, but
 if you have previously installed a client service on it, it
 will use that path instead. You can also choose anoter exe/ini
 file to use and automatic/manual startup after reboot plus if
 the serivce should start right after the installation.

Remove Service

 Removes the service from the remote computer. It does not remove
 the actual binaries nor the buff-in/out files so upgrading the
 client is a breeze. If the service is running while removed it
 will continue to run until it is stopped and the it will remove
 it self.

Start Service

 Start the service on the remote selected computer.

Stop Service

 Stops the service on the remote selected computer.

Add Computer

 Adds a computer to the list on the right and checks the status
 of the computer.

Remove Computer

 Only removes the selected computer from the list but does not
 uninstall the client nor stop it on the remote machine.

Configure.

 Configures the service on the remote computer. You can realy only
 configure two things: the display name of the service in the
 Service Control Manager and the Automatic/Manual startup of the
 client.

Update Status

 Updates the status of the selected compute, or if no computer is
 selected, updates the status for all the computers.

Default setup

 This is the same dialog as when you start the program for the first
 time so you can change the defaults anytime you want. The setting
 are the same as above.

About

 Who made this wondefull program :-)

Quit

 Quits the program. There are no warnings but thats ok since all
 settings are saved right away the configuring/installing.

Ideas for next versions

  Collect logfiles to one central location
  Edit ini files from the program.
  Better error messages / better spelling :-)
  Show keyrate/current project/client version.

Known Bugs

  Service will sometime not uninstall after removeing it and stoping it.
    Just exit the program and start it again (open handle somewhere).

  Any comments/ideas/bug reports should be directed to mlm@vortex.is

