What Do I Need To Install To Work With KIXTART

Everything you always wanted to know about the KIXRPC service…

1 What do I need to install to work with KIXTART?...... 2 1.1 You work with WNT4.0 Servers & WNT4.0 Workstations...... 2 1.2 You work with a mix of WNT4.0 Servers, WNT4.0 -, W95- & W98 Workstations...... 2 2 Ok, I’m convinced, how do I install the KIXRPC service?...... 3 2.1.1 Option 1. Install Service on all Domain Controllers...... 3 2.1.2 Option 2. Set an Environment Variable...... 3 2.1.3 Option 3. Add a Registry Key...... 4 2.1.4 Option 4. Create a .INI file...... 4 3 Help, I’ve updated Kixtart and now my scripts don’t work anymore!...... 5 4 Help, I’ve done everything but my scripts are executed really slow !...... 5 1 What do I need to install to work with KIXTART?

1.1 You work with WNT4.0 Servers & WNT4.0 Workstations

Ah, the ideal world. This one is easy. You just need to have KIX32.EXE and a script called something like LOGON.KIX in the netlogon-directory (C:\WINNT\System32\Repl\Import\Scripts) of all Domain Controllers. You could call your script from the Usermanager for Domains with the command ‘KIX32.EXE LOGON.KIX’ in the logon script line, and Bob’s your uncle.

Just to be on the save side though, you should use a batch file to call your script. If you ever get to deal with W95 or similar workstations you don’t have to change all the user profiles. Use a Batchfile called something like LOGON.BAT and place it on all Domain Controllers along with the other two files. This batchfile only has to have one line of code:

%0\..\KIX32.EXE %0\..\LOGON.KIX

Now you call the script from the Usermanager for Domains with the command ‘LOGON.BAT’, and you’re ready to venture on to your next project.

1.2 You work with a mix of WNT4.0 Servers, WNT4.0 -, W95- & W98 Workstations

This is a little more complicated (but not much). Because the Windows95 (and look-alikes) workstations can not provide all of the variables used in Kixtart, you need to have three Dlls available. These three Dlls (called KIX16.DLL, KIX32.DLL & KIX95.DLL) can simply be placed in the netlogon- directory along with KIX32.EXE.

The first two KIX16.DLL & KIX32.DLL are absolutely needed so Kixtart can communicate with the NETAPI.DLL. These retrieve most of the information about the workstation and the user, like username, workstation name and the global groups that the user belongs to.

The third one KIX95.DLL represents the client side of the KIXRPC service. Aha, finally the KIXRPC service! Ok, first question: Do I need the KIXRPC service? Well… if you want your logon-script to do more than just a simple batch-file. (Well that’s not completely true but you need this service for the following variables: Logon Domain (@LDOMAIN), Security Identifier (@SID), Primary Group (@PRIMARYGROUP), Home Drive (@HOMEDRIVE) and last but certainly not least LOCAL GROUPS. So if you want to issue commands based on Local Groups (like this: IF INGROUP(“Local Group”) (see the manual for more explanation)) you definetly want to have the KIXRPC service running .

2 2 Ok, I’m convinced, how do I install the KIXRPC service?

There are a couple of ways to implement the KIXRPC Service.

1. Install it on all Domain Controllers 2. Set an Environment Variable 3. Add a registry key 4. Create a .ini file

2.1.1 Option 1. Install Service on all Domain Controllers

This one is definetly the perferred method because you keep your load balancing between your Domain Controllers and it is the easiest way to be sure that the service is available to all your workstations. Again there are a couple of ways to install this service. First, you could physically go to each server, open a command prompt go to the directory that has the file KIXRPC.EXE. (preferably C:\WINNT\System32\Repl\Import\Scripts, so you keep all KIX-stuff together) and type: KIXRPC –install. This will install the service for you. Now go to the Configuration Screen -> Services and start the installed service KXRPC.

Second, you could take place behind a workstation, log on with administrator rights and execute the batch file XINST. The command line should be: XINST {name of your domain controller here}. After this you should connect to the server (with server mangager) and start the service KXRPC. Repeat these steps for every Domain Controller on your network.

Be careful! This batch file will create a directory called C:\KIXTART on your server and the executable KIXRPC.EXE is placed in this directory. This is important to know when you want to upgrade to a newer version of KIXTART.

Third, take a look on the Bulletin Board www.kixtart.org and look at some of the scripts that were made to do the complete installation for you, but you need some knowledge of Kixtart before you can play around with these.

2.1.2 Option 2. Set an Environment Variable

If you don’t want to have the KIXRPC service running on all Domain Controllers you could go for this option. In your original batch file LOGON.BAT add a line that will set the variable KIXRPC to the name of the server that runs the KIXRPC service. Your LOGON.BAT should look something like:

SET KIXRPC = \\{Name of the server with the KIXRPC service} %0\..\KIX32.EXE %0\..\LOGON.KIX

You can also give the names of more than one server by separating them with a comma:

SET KIXRPC = \\{Name of server1},\\{Name of server2}, and so on…

This should work, but for me it is purely hypothetical because I’ve never tried it.

3 2.1.3 Option 3. Add a Registry Key

This is a bit more tricky because you also have to have this registry key installed BEFORE you start KIX32.EXE. You could implement it in your GOST-image or other default installation of Windows95. Anyway, the key you want to implement is:

Location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\KiXtart Name: KXRPC Type: REG_SZ

Set the Value of KXRPC to a comma delimited list of all the servers that have the KIXRPC service installed.

Again, I haven’t had the pleasure (or pain) to see this option implemented.

2.1.4 Option 4. Create a .INI file

You need an .INI file called KIXTART.INI and place it in the netlogon directory (C:\WINNT\System32\Repl\Import\Scripts) of EACH Domain controller. In this file you declare a section called: [KIXRPCMapping]. In this section you have to declare a variable for each domain that a user can log on to. You can also define default servers with the variable ‘Default =’. The format should look like this:

[KIXRPCMapping] {Name of the first domain} = \\{Name of the server with the KIXRPC service} {Name of the second domain} = \\{Name of the server with the KIXRPC service} Default = \\{Name of the server with the KIXRPC service}

You can also use a comma delimited line to enter more than one server. Example:

[KIXRPCMapping] MyDomain = \\Server1 ,\\Server2 AnotherDomain = \\ServerOtherDomain Default = \\ServerThatValidatesAnyone

If I wanted to use just some of the Domain Controllers to run the KIXRPC service I would go for this option. It is the most managable because you only have to maintain this file in each logon directory instead of changing settings for every workstation.

4 3 Help, I’ve updated Kixtart and now my scripts don’t work anymore!

Aha! Have you really updated kixtart, or have you just replaced KIX32.EXE with the newest version? As explained above you need some Dlls for the Windows95 workstations. Did you replace these as well? And have you updated the KIXRPC service on all of your servers that have the service installed?

Ok, the Dlls are easy to update. Just replace them with the newest version also. The KIXRPC service can be updated by stopping the KIXRPC service, replace the executable KIXRPC.EXE with the newest version and restart the KIXRPC service. As I have mentioned before, it is important to keep track of this executable so that you are sure that you are replacing the right executable.

4 Help, I’ve done everything but my scripts are executed really slow !

If you have a lot of network traffic or small bandwith you could choose to copy the executables and Dlls to the workstation. Be sure that you really will have a lot of improvement in speed, because a BIG drawback of this option is that you don’t have any centralized control over the executables anymore. If they are all nice and tidy placed in the netlogon directory of your domain controllers you can update to a newer version more easily just by replacing those files and replicate them to the other Domain controllers. If you have placed the executables on the workstation you have to write a script that will replace those for you (hey, good practice for your scripting skills!)

The easiest way is to copy the files KIX32.EXE, KIX16.DLL, KIX32.DLL & KIX95.DLL to %windir%. This will place the file in C:\winnt or C:\windows depending on the operating system of the workstation.

Remember to change the LOGON.BAT also!

Change %0\..\KIX32.EXE %0\..\LOGON.KIX to %windir%\kix32.exe %0\..\LOGON.KIX