Chapter 8 Administering Client Computers 143
UNIX Shell Commands
In addition to its own tasks, Apple Remote Desktop provides a way to easily execute
UNIX commands on client computers. In order to send UNIX commands to the client
computers, the client computers must have the BSD subsystem installed. The UNIX
commands are shell command, which means you can write a script with conditionals,
loops, and other functions of the shell, and not just send a single command.
Send UNIX Command Templates
Remote Desktop has a few built-in UNIX shell command templates for use with Send
UNIX Command. In the Send UNIX Command task configuration dialog, you can select
any one of the commands from the Templates pop-up menu. Selecting a template
pastes a generic script into the UNIX command field. All you have to do is customize
the script to your situation. For example, if you want to set a manual IP address for a
client computer, you would select the Manual IP template from the Template >
Network Setup pop-up menu, replace the placeholder indicated in the pasted-in UNIX
command with the real IP address, and send the command.
You are free to make as many templates as your want from either existing templates or
from scratch. Once saved, a template can be made the task’s default, with all new
instances of the task opening with the default template settings.