A cmd/bat file and blat always work for me. Use gmail as the smtp server 
perhaps - it's always there. Write progress to a text file too, as a log. You 
can send to cell phone via the domains the majors have set up for email to sms.

Use 2 servers to send the msg, so if you get the msg only once, one server was 
done or the config wrong. Redundancy.

You can also have a second machine get email from a pre-assigned acct set up 
just for this, and use perl or something else to parse the subject or body and 
perform different actions based on what your blat-script sent. If another 
machine could step in...

Or use nc.exe (netcat?) to send the command to a remote machine directly (if in 
a secure network only).

Run your own mail server, like MailEnable (free for limited use) if getting out 
would be a problem, and use the remote execute ideas...

There are other ideas, but knowing more about what actions are going on, what 
problems need attention, and how the human wants to be contacted would help.



James Newton wrote:
> So you have a little batch file in a win 2003 server that gets fired up on a
> regular basis by the job scheduler to do something or check something and if
> it runs into a problem, it needs to contact a human for help.
> 
> Are there any good ways to do that? Here is what I can think of or find:
> 
> - Send an email by calling a CScript .vbs file and use CDONTs to contact a
> local email server and SMTP a message to someone. This is a kludge on a hack
> and you better hope you have the email server set up.
> 
> - Install a little program like blat to send the email for you. Again, make
> sure you don't change the email server and forget about this script and its
> (now incorrect) config.
> 
> - Net send, but that seems to have been removed or doesn't work unless the
> user has a windows messaging client running.
> 
> - Copy a READMENOW.TXT file onto the administrators desktop and wait for him
> or her to log in again?
> 
> There has got to be a better way, no?
> 
> 
> James Newton: PICList webmaster/Admin
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