Did you know that it was possible to poll databases / datasets outside of the Automate database? All that is needed is a System DSN (OBDC Connection) on the agent you wish to query from, and you can then reference that in the following script function: On the agent, open the ODBC Data Source Administrator and go in to [...]
Have you ever been in a position where you have wanted to put together a custom script that triggers when a monitor fails, but you have no idea what variables are passed in to the script from the monitor? It's not like you can debug through this behaviour either as you can't trigger a script as monitor in debug [...]
Happy new year, everybody! Today I am sharing a cool trick that you can use inside the Automate Scripting Engine to prevent scripts from running if the current time falls between a window that you set. This example can be run on any agent. This can be useful in situations where you say don't want a piece of software [...]
If you've ever tried to search for an Automate script with a specific bit of text, or you've wanted to use a scripting function but you have not idea how it should be implemented then this blog post is for you! Finding a real-life example of how a script function is utilised You can perform these searches from literally [...]
Good evening, campers! Before I get into today's post, if you're on LinkedIn I'd love to connect with you. Please feel free to add me, I'll be posting some content on there in the future! https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavin-stone-1938146/ Ever been in a situation where you need to run an Automate script, but don't particularly want to run it against a specific [...]
Do you want to easily create Flexible Assets that look like this through the API? https://github.com/gavsto/ITGlue-Helper These are two helper functions that can be used in your IT Glue scripts to generate pretty panels in Flexible Assets. I use this in combination with the Manage API at https://github.com/christaylorcodes/ConnectWiseManageAPI to Auto document the services we have so our engineers have [...]
It is no secret that ConnectWise has had a tough time recently. When you combine sequential critical security vulnerabilities with a seemingly uncertain future for the Automate product, it's going to start worrying some people. As a Managing Partner of MSPGeek, I have what I feel is a distinct insight into the thought processes and decision making of many [...]
This is something that I am seeing more and more often (including happening to me recently too). When you open an agent in Automate this is missing: You may get an error if you are trying to access an agent using the Control button in the main dashboard. It may even tell you the integration is broken. Step 1 [...]
One of the most unnerving decisions you have to make in your journey to relative automation with your MSP and PowerShell is taking a decision on how exactly you will store the credentials that you end up using within your scripts, whether they are API keys, passwords, tokens or any other information that you need to retrieve. I think [...]
I am writing this primarily as a beginners guide but also to serve as a dump of all my own knowledge so when I inevitably forget this, I can come back and reference it! Ever since Microsoft introduced their two-factor requirements for MSPs this year, I've been struggling to come up with a comprehensive solution that worked for me [...]
Following a day recently where Shodan sold lifetime memberships for $1, and inspired by how simple their API was to use as highlighted initially by Kelvin Tegelaar (CyberDrain.com) I decided that it was a perfect opportunity to utilise my AutomateAPI to get decent, actionable information out of the Shodan API. The output of this script includes ports that have [...]
Though you can get products that replace or enhance the built-in firewall on Windows machines, there are still signficant amounts of agents that rely on the Windows Firewall as the last line of defense between the outside world and one of your workstations. Getting the state of the firewalls is not as easy as you would think as it's [...]
This is the first in hopefully what will become a series of blog posts that less focus on monitoring explicitly with ConnectWise Automate, but more on security monitoring that all MSPs can use in conjunction with their own RMM. I've been writing Powershell for monitoring for many years now, but the inspiration to present it like this came from [...]
Hello everyone! ConnectWise put out an important notice today that has the potential to affect your ability to remote control machines if not sorted. Their announcement as below: "Connectwise discovered an issue that will impact all versions prior to the latest version in the 19.0 release. Be aware that there is no minimum Automate Version or CWC Automate Plugin version [...]
I am happy to bring to you a report I have been working on for a long time. This report (heavily customisable with the included instructions) helps you take ownership of all thing Active Directory by providing information on Active Directory settings, Enabled Users, Disabled Users, Newly Created Users, Domain Admin membership and Group Membership. All that you need [...]
I get asked this a lot so figured it was worth putting in to a post! Open the Dashboard, System > Configuration > Dashboard Go to the Config tab Go to the Configuration tab Go to the Properties tab Sort the properties by name, and see if one exists called plugin_reportcenter_loglevel If it does exist, make sure its value is set to 6 If it does not [...]
Hello everyone, all though some of you may already know for those that don't I am going to be at the IT Nation Explore (Previously Automation Nation) event in Florida. I'll be getting there Wednesday evening and leaving Sunday evening. Please feel free to seek me out and I hope to meet as many people as I can (look [...]
For a good while now I have been relatively cynical of the "100% Compliant" statistic that I see on certain servers in the Patch Manager and I have been considering how best to approach finding problems with patching that were not otherwise being highlighted. I designed this report to follow an important Automate mantra; trust, but verify. This report [...]
This concept really helps when you want to get multiple, individual items outside of a Powershell script and into multiple Automate scripting variables without messing about running a script multiple times to get different outputs. Step 1 In the scripting engine add a script step that does an Execute Script > Powershell. Add the following script in Script to [...]
A bit more of a complex monitor today! This monitor allows for the checking of all the members of any local group (domain groups will also work if done on a DC) and allow you to trigger an alert if accounts are found that shouldn't be there. The biggest usage for this in my experience is detecting for users [...]
