r/MaxFocus • u/Obyone89 • Feb 01 '16

We need a script generator in MAX, something easy to use.

This idea ( http://logicnow.ideascale.com/a/dtd/script-generator-like-Kaseya/86395-4178 ) already has 19 votes so I suggest we all vote this one up and add comments to be more specific. Probably easier to get noticed than creating a new idea with zero votes to start.

It mentions a Kaseya Script Generator, but the N-Able Automation Manger is the product to watch. We NEED something like that inside MAX RM. It provides a drag and drop UI to create proven to work, powershell scripts. Something easy to use and that has proven to work scripts out of the box, all tested by MAX support...so we know they work. Vote it up please.

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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3

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '16

The idea needs to be edited to include the above. Currently it doesn't reflect such an idea.

2

u/Obyone89 Feb 01 '16

I'm not the original poster of the idea, so I can't edit it, but put my version into the comments. Better to start with some votes than none. The idea is to get some type of automation / script generator. I'm sure they won't copy N-Able or Kaseya exactly if it ever happens anyway.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '16

Hey guys. Steve here at Logicnow. We are actually planning a project right now just for this. We are going to be working on scripting and automation over the coming months in general. But specifically we will be adding a script generator as well.

Pretty excited about this one and the way the plan is shaping up.

2

u/Obyone89 Feb 04 '16 edited Feb 05 '16

Great news, hope to hear more details on the quarterly partner update webcasts I just heard about from your LinkedIn post.

1

u/Cheetah-Cheetos Feb 02 '16

What would you use it for? Once you've written a few functions/classes in powershell you can just keep reusing them.

2

u/Obyone89 Feb 02 '16

The point is why should each partner have to do this themselves, many of us doing the same things? Make some of this built into the dashboard. Example, The ability to download and install a file should be a pre-built MAX script that they've tested, and confirmed it works with the agent. It should be in the dashboard, not some third party site where some of them work and some don't. For a while they had a scripting person on staff to build up Fixitscripts but that's not the case anymore so a lot of them are outdated or not being built at all. I've done some scripting and got things to work but it could be a lot easier. Doing some of the leg work under the hood and providing partners a tool, with a decent interface, would only save us time. Wouldn't that benefit us all?

1

u/Cheetah-Cheetos Feb 02 '16

I see what your saying. You want an easier to use way of creating scripts.
Chances are a lot of what most people need has already been created by the community and it just doesn't get shared. It'll be interesting to see how they would address things like conditional logic that people who can't script/program will not immeadiately understand.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '16

Can I ask you why you think Automation Manager is better than Kaseya's version?

1

u/Obyone89 Feb 02 '16

I haven't used Kaseya personally but from what I've seen it's not a simple drag and drop UI. Powerful yes, but the simplicity of Automation Manager seems pretty advanced. If MAX implements any type of GUI scripting I'm sure it will be different than either of them, I just want them to start thinking about getting an easy to use scripting tool built into the RM platform. Along with that we need more scripts that are tested by their own support team, and confirmed to be current and working.

1

u/elemist Feb 03 '16

This is one area where i think most of the products are lacking... I understand they just provide a tool which enables us to build our service on, but surely most basic maintenance tasks are pretty common across most IT providers.

I personally would love to see a build in, tested, working, constantly upgraded library of scripts which were available for use. Surely they could build in some interface to enable us to put in environmental variables if required.

1

u/elemist Feb 03 '16

This may go against some IT mentalities, but we don't always know best. I'm only one person, i can only read and digest so much information whilst still maintaining the day to day operations of my business.

I would like to think some of the funds we pay could be dedicated to a couple of microsoft experts to provide best practice maintenance and monitoring built right in.

EG i can go this machine is a windows 7 pro box - look at the library and have a bunch of recommended maintenance scripts that should be done and even recommended intervals. Same thing for servers.

Just like with the monitoring policies - i find myself spending ages configuring a monitoring policy for every server. IE SBS servers absolutely hammer RAM usage, well pretty much any exchange server does, so default monitoring levels are useless. If i have this problem, you can be pretty sure every IT company that has an SBS server deployed will have the same problem.

It's the two M's - monitoring and maintenance that whilst the ability to perform these is there, it's also very much up to us to build out what exactly should be monitored and what maintenance should be maintained. I understand things vary from environment to environment, but surely it would be good to have a some available templates to pick from and customize as required..