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G E N I E - Batch Scheduler & Processor version 2.2c (c) Jiri Severa, 1995 GENIE is a utility designed to schedule and run batch jobs and progr- ams on an unattended network workstation. The user defines an array of jobs for GENIE and the program calls them at the dates and times spec- ified. The scheduled jobs can be repetitive or single run. After each job is run, GENIE reschedules itself according to the specs given. GENIE has security features built in which protect the network from unauthorized access. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Copyright notice - GENIE and its SET program are │ │ the property of Jiri Severa of Ottawa, Canada. │ │ This release of GENIE is freeware, designed to prom- │ │ ote TSERVE, a NRC (Canada) based Time Server which │ │ uses GENIE to schedule timesync sessions. The utility │ │ is also available through the NOVUSER libraries. │ │ Users who wish to support the development of this │ │ utility are asked for a contribution of $15. │ │ A personalized version of GENIE, featuring encrypted │ │ batch files is available by subscription. Read below. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ WHAT IS NEW IN VERSION 2.x Those users familiar with GENIE will find a number of improv- ements from the previous version (1.2). Hourly jobs can be now schedules for individual days of the week. (Previously, only DAILY frequencies could be so defined.) Hourly jobs can now be started and ended at a defined time of the day. A new, and much sought-after feature allows the user to quit 'secure mode' GENIE by authenticat- ing his password, rather than by automatic logout. The logout now happens only if the user fails the security check. But by far the most useful new facility makes it possible for GENIE to run e n c r y p t e d b a t c h f i l e s (EBFs). EBFs are a way to protect the security of the network when logins with passwords are used in batch files. Most people are probably familiar with the trick of allowing the password to be piped to login on a batch file line. But the problem is that executing automatic logins in this manner gives away too much to the snoops. So you encrypt the batch file. Solves the problem. ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Shareware version 2.1 of GENIE allows user to test EBFs │ │ with supplied common keys. The regular coding/decoding kit which │ │ allows the user to create unique, for all intents and purposes │ │ unbreakable, code for EBFs can be purchased for $30US ($38Can). │ │ See USING ENCRYPTED BATCH FILES on page 7 of this guide for more │ │ details on the use of EBFs. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ GENIE GUIDE page 2 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── OPERATING GENIE SOFTWARE GENIE is a two-part program - only a part of Genie will be in memory at any one time. GENIE.EXE is the on-line scheduler/processor which organ- izes the array of pending events and then dispatches them when the time comes. SETGENIE.EXE defines the jobs GENIE handles; it adds, edits, and deletes them. You may call each of them from the DOS prompt or, under certain circumstances, from within the other program. GENIE can handle all executables (DOS executables, that is), i.e. files with the extension .BAT, .COM, or .EXE. It can process up to 64 job definitions, a limitat- ion that has been taken to minimize the size of the scheduler-processor. For this reason also the SETGENIE module is a separate EXE file. Minim- izing GENIE maximizes the jobs it can run. Operating the software is extremely easy. The user only needs to understand the difference between an 'open' and 'secure' GENIE configuration, and be able to fill (edit) a simple job definition table. OPEN AND SECURE CONFIGURATION GENIE operates in two configurations: open and secure. The open configuration makes it easy to 'play' with the program, to test ind- vidual executions while maintaining an easy access to both parts of the program. When secure configuration is specified, GENIE protects the station by disabling the Ctrl-C (Ctrl-Break) termination and forcing a new password authentication servers on Esc key. Failing that the op- rator is logged out of all servers. Also, in secure mode, no run-time job modifications via SETGENIE are allowed. To run GENIE in open configuration simply type: C:\>GENIE <Enter> For secure configuration you need to run the program with a parameter: C:\>GENIE /S <Enter> When the program starts the configuration selected will be displayed in the lower left corner of the title box : ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ GENIE - Batch Scheduler & Processor (c) Jiri Severa, 1994, 1995 │ │ │ │ SECURE CONFIGURATION version 2.2b │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ IMMEDIATE EXECUTION SWITCH Starting with version 2.2 GENIE may be run with an '/E' switch which allows defined and displayed jobs to be run immediately by pressing the Enter key while GENIE displays its jobs. The job selected by the viewer bar will execute. No changes are made to the regular schedule. The '/E' switch can be used in both the open and secure configurations, e.g.: C:\>GENIE /S /E <Enter> GENIE GUIDE page 3 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── will still require password to exit to the prompt but will allow a casual user to execute jobs inside GENIE. ORDERS FILE When you first run GENIE the program will terminate with a message and if you are in OPEN config it will automatically transfer you to the SET program to define some events. The same will happen until you have created at least one valid job description for GENIE. The specs are held in a file called JOBS.CMD. This file is created in the path which is default at the time SETGENIE runs. Normally that would be the drive and directory where GENIE resides. In order for the program to find its job descriptions you either use the same default path when starting GENIE or SETGENIE, or you may define an environmental variable for GENIE and set it to the path where you want to store JOBS.CMD. e.g. like this : SET GENIE=C:\BATCH Remember: If the program cannot find its marching orders, it is because it does not 'know' where to look for them. CREATING AND EDITING GENIE JOBS All GENIE really has to know is what you want it to run, and when, or how often, if it is a repetitive task. Its jobs are set in SETGENIE. When you run SETGENIE, or are sent there to define jobs you will see this display at the start of the program : │ Job Description ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ││ ││ ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ ││ ││ Frequency ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ Last Run : date mm/dd/yy ││ ┌──┬──┬──┬──┬──┬──┬──┐ ──────── ││ │Mo│Tu│We│Th│Fr│Sa│Su│ time hh:mm:ss ││ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ││ ├──┴──┴──┴──┴┬─┴──┴──┤ ││ │ start time │ ▒▒:▒▒ │ Next Run : date mm/dd/yy ││ │ end time │ ▒▒:▒▒ │ ──────── ││ └────────────┴───────┘ time hh:mm:ss ││ Command ││ File Path ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ││ ││ ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│ ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ On the bottom line there will be the following message: ┘= Edit command file data, ''A''=add, ''S''=save, F5=Genie [ ] ...Esc=quit GENIE GUIDE page 4 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── When no jobs have been defined yet, you do not have really that many options about what you can do. The only meaningful command will be 'A' to add new jobs. Press the letter 'A'. The cursor will appear in the Job Description field and the bottom line message will prompt you to edit a command file record. Choose a meaningful Job Description and press Enter when finished (the program will automatically skip to the next field if you run out of spaces). F r e q u e n c y : Jobs can be either 'SINGLE RUN' or defined as periodic. Valid periodic frequency descriptions are : 'HOURLY', 'DAILY','WEEKLY','MONTHLY', or specifying (Every) 'XX HOURS', or 'XX DAYS'. Digits preceeding the HOURS description can contain fractions ½ and ¼ (which you can obtain by pressin Alt-171, 172 (on the Numkey Pad. When you choose 'DAILY' or 'HOUR/S/LY' you will prompted to pick the days of the week the job is to be run. If you do not choose any day and respond by pressing Enter, the system will pick Monday to Friday by default. (The system will not accept an empty days-on table. You must pick at least one day to overwrite the default). Follow the instr- uctions at the bottom of the screen when unsure how to proceed. T o m o v e b a c k w a r d s to the previous field press Left-Shift from the first position of the current field. Starting with version 2.0, you may pick starting and ending hour and minute for jobs run on an hourly basis. N e x t R u n : specify date and time when the job is to be run next (Last Run date and time are just info fields). Time is military: 0 - 24 hours. C o m m a n d f i l e p a t h : enter the full path ( with the drive letter !!!) of the file that is to be run. Remember only execut- able files - those with the extensions of .BAT, .COM, and .EXE - can be specified. Registered users may also purchase a kit to encode their batch files into an .EBF format. Please, see page 1 for details. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ IMPORTANT : If your .COM or .EXE programs take any command line │ │ parameters then you must create a batch file for them. │ │ This version of GENIE does not parse the command line. │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ When you clear the last field you will be prompted to ACCEPT the job definition table. If you reply 'Y' the job definition is filed in ORDERS. You may now edit the table (by pressing ENTER), save the ORDERS file immediately (by pressing 'S') or simply quit by Esc. GENIE GUIDE page 5 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── To edit any of the jobs previously defined, press Enter when the menu selector appears on the bottom line. ╔════════════════════════════════╗ ║ COMMAND FILE DESCRIPTION ║ ╟────────────────────────────────╢ ║ Time Synchronization ║ ║ Unload Oracle Database ║ │ ║ Daily Palindrome BackUp ║▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ││ ║ Reload Oracle Database ║ ││ ║ Clear old e-mail notifications ║══════════════════════ ││ ║ Broadcast Don's Birthday Party ║ ││ ║ ║ Run : date mm/dd/yy ││ ║ ║ ──────── ││ ║ ║ time hh:mm:ss ││ ║ ║ ││ ╚════════════════════════════════╝ ││ └──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┴──┘ Next Run : date mm/dd/yy ││ ──────── ││ time hh:mm:ss ││ Command ││ File Path ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ ││ ││ ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│ ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ A pick list of defined jobs appears and you are prompted to select. Once you select the table is returned with the current values for the job. You may modify them moving throught the table in the same manner as when you created them. You also have a choice to DELETE the job from the roster by pressing (F9) while editing. You will be prompted to confirm the deletion. RUNNING GENIE Running GENIE itself is effortless. No operator's intervention is necessary and most of the time not even desirable. The program assembles and sorts the defined jobs and then launches them according to the schedule. After each job, GENIE reschedules the lot, discarding single- run jobs that expired. ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ S C H E D U L E D E V E N T S ║ ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ ║ d e s c r i p t i o n frequency next run ║ ╟──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ > Clear old-e mail notificati[01] DAILY 05/15/94 02:20:00 < ║ Time Synchronization 4 HOURS 05/15/94 03:00:00 ║ ║ Unload Oracle Database DAILY 05/15/94 03:20:00 ║ ║ Daily Palindrome BackUp DAILY 05/15/94 03:30:00 ║ ║ Reload Oracle Database DAILY 05/15/94 04:30:00 ║ ║ Broadcast Don's Birthday Party SINGLE RUN 05/16/94 15:00:00 ║ ╠═════════════════════════╦═j═o═b═══f═i═l═e════════════════════╣ ║ 14-May-94 23:12:18 ║ C:\NOTIFY.BAT ║ ╚═════════════════════════╩════════════════════════════════════╝ GENIE GUIDE page 6 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── All jobs are listed and the display may be scrolled to see their next scheduled run. Use up and down arrows. The next job, on top of the list is displayed with a selector bar and its file is listed in the bottom right-hand corner. You may run a set-up like this for weeks without intervention. Just make sure that the USER logged at the workstation where GENIE runs has sufficent rights for all the tasks. BTRACK MARKER UTILITY BTRACK.EXE is placed in a batch file to mark progress of a GENIE job. Starting with version 1.2 GENIE reports on the execution of individual jobs after the program resumes. The problem with reporting on .BAT file result is that no DOS errorlevel flag is passed through batch files and therefore the true result of the operation is lost. To allow the trapping of DOS errorlevels after each run within the batch BTRACK can be set to report, e.g.: (inside a batch file BTRIEVE.BAT) : BTRIEVE /P:1024 /T:C:\UTIL IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO NO_START BTRACK btrieve_executed_normally GOTO EXIT :NO_START BTRACK btrieve_did_not_execute :EXIT Depending on whether the program BTRIEVE executed normally the GEN.LOG file would report : program executed normally. Last btrack marker was : btrieve_executed_normally if succesful and : program executed normally. Last btrack marker was : btrieve_did_not execute in case of failure. The BTRACK command is : BTRACK [comment] If no comment is present the marker will not be reported. Comment is copied into the GEN.LOG exactly as entered (no quote marks are needed) and may be up to 64 characters long. UPGRADING FROM EARLIER VERSIONS OF GENIE The job file of GENIE version has been updated to take into account the hourly start and end time limits. To prevent confusion, the file has been renamed from ORDERS.CMD to JOBS.CMD. If you want to convert your GENIE v. 1.x job definitions, you may use the ORD2JOB.EXE util- ity supplied in the package. Like with GENIE, if you have not set your environmental variable, you must be in the GENIE directory to for the program to find the ORDERS file. To execute the utility, simply type ORD2JOB. GENIE GUIDE page 7 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── USING ENCRYPTED BATCH FILES (EBFs) This version of GENIE allows the user to execute encrypted batch files. EBFs make it possible to automate sensitive processes, such as logins, without exposing privileged information, e.g. passwords, or as a means of denying the user the opportunity to tamper with the script. The following simple batch attaches the user to a server automatically: rem the following line prevents double attach logout myserver rem attach to myserver and pipe the password echo valid_password|login myserver/userID Most network administrators frown on the use of scripts like this one because they compromise security. But in a day and age when a multiserver environment forces multiple session profiles, it becomes difficult to police this sort of creativity. Everyone does it sooner or later. In larger installations, encoding batch scripts protects the system also against accidental 'improvements' by eager support staff, who might not always know why certain things are done this way as opposed to another way. Finally, EBFs help to control access servers dedicated to a special purpose but which the connecting 'remote PC' software may leave open to a general type of network login. EBFs are a way of forcing the issue. GENIE, version 2.x has an EBF processor built in. It can handle scripts up to 4K. GENIE, being the companion product of TSERVE, provides a neat and relatively secure way of servicing more than the limit of 8 servers of the time-synchronizer unit (NSMF.EXE). You can set up multiple synchronization sessions by attaching to a set of servers and then running the sync module. The EBF test kit offered here consists of two files: * KEYS.DFF - is the sample, predefined coding keys file. After unzipping the pack it m u s t be placed into the root of the C drive !!! * MAKEEBF.EXE - this is the file which converts .BAT files (and other files) into .EBF format. To convert a script, do simply : MAKEEBF C:\MYPATH\MYFILE.BAT MYFILE.BAT will be translated to MYFILE.EBF (in the same path). Two things: for the conversion to take place, KEYS.DFF must be in the root of C drive. Second, the program does n o t destroy the origin- al file; it is your responsibility to dispose of it. After an EBFile has been created it may be invoked from GENIE, like any other .EXE, .COM, or .BAT file. GENIE GUIDE page 8 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ╔ THE EBF KIT OFFER═══════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ Hopefully, the importance of the security features built into ║ ║ the EBF concept need not be harped on. The full kit includes ║ ║ the following : ║ ║ ║ ║ MAKEKEY.EXE - an interactive utility which builds custom key ║ ║ definition files. ║ ║ ║ ║ READEBF.EXE - a EBF decoder which lets you display the ║ ║ contents of an EBF on the screen or capture ║ ║ them in a file. ║ ║ ║ ║ EBF.EXE - a command line utility which executes an EBFile. ║ ║ ║ ║ EBF.DOC - a user guide to the utilities. ║ ║ ║ ║ On top its use as batch file encryptor/decryptor the MAKE/ ║ ║ READ utility can do that with any text or binary file. ║ ║ An original 'bit-dispersion' algorithm and a private key ║ ║ render the code very, very close to unbreakable. The EBF.DOC ║ ║ explains how to set up multiple 'locking' of a document on ║ ║ any number of keys. ║ ║ ║ ║ To obtain the kit, please, send $30 US ($38 Can) by check or ║ ║ money order to the address below. ║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ JIRI SEVERA 101 Renfrew #3 Ottawa, ON Canada K1S 1Z6 Compuserve 70534,3475 Internet : jiri@mmcl.ott.ca, ah158@freenet.carleton.ca GENIE GUIDE page 9 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── VERSION HISTORY Version 1.2 June 16, 1994 ■ Weekdays selection for DAILY jobs defined by GENIE ■ Searching for the existence of .BAT files, reporting in log if batch file is missing ■ BTRACK facility : marks execution steps in batch files for job tracking purposes Version 2.0 Sep 10, 1994 ■ Hourly jobs can be now defined on selected weekdays, with starting and ending hours. ■ GENIE in secure mode does not automatically log user off, but verifies password ■ Handling of EBFs (encrypted batch files) Version 2.1 Oct 26, 1994 ■ EBFs handled by internal processor Version 2.1a Dec 6, 1994 ■ When idling GENIE now checks constantly Novell's broadcast message status at the workstation. It sets it to CASTOFF mode whenever it finds it was switched on. This effectively inhibits the broadcast of console messages. Version 2.1b Dec 12, 1994 ■ GENIE was fixed so it can run batch files on PCs without hard disk. Previously .BAT and .EBF files were run using a COMMAND.COM in C:\DOS directory. If there was not found there the batch would not execute (Log reported error #3). The modified procedure now follows the COMSPEC environmental var- iable (set either by SHELL statement in CONFIG.SYS or SET COMPSPEC in AUTOEXEC.BAT) when looking for the secondary processor. Version 2.2 and 2.2b Feb 10, 1995 ■ Added Immediate Execution switch which allows any of the jobs listed to be run at once by pressing Enter. ■ BMARKER utility now produces time stamp with each issue. ■ Recompiled all components as bench compiler discovered to contain corrupted sections Version 2.2c Apr 6, 1995 ■ Jobs run under 'do now' command did not at times report correctly the file name in the log. This has been fixed.