puppet :: How to run bginfo via the scheduler

I won't go in to details about bginfo. There are plenty of articles on the internet about bginfo. I won't go in to details about the scheduler either for the same reason. In this blog post, I will explain how I use puppet to tell the scheduler to run bginfo.

The first thing you need to do is to install bginfo.exe somewhere and then configure bginfo to display the statistics you want. Then, create a scheduled task to run bginfo.exe at logon (for what user or maybe all users who log on). You can also tell the scheduler to execute every 5 minutes while the user is logged on. That way, while the user is logged on, the information stays fresh and if the user is not logged on, don't waste cpu cycles.

Now that you've got it running successfully on one of your servers, all you need to do is export your bginfo xml template file and your scheduled task. Place those two files on your puppet server.


In your puppet module, use this code to import the scheduled task.

 file {
    "c:\\sbin":
      ensure => directory,
  }

  file {
    "c:\\sbin\\Bginfo.exe":
      ensure  => present,
      require => File["c:\\sbin"],
      source  => "puppet:///modules/sysinternals/Bginfo.exe",
  }

  file {
    "c:\\sbin\\mycustomFile.bgi":
      ensure => present,
      require => File["c:\\sbin\\Bginfo.exe"],
      source  => "puppet:///modules/sysinternals/mycustomFile.bgi",
  }

  file {
    "c:\\sbin\\bginfo.xml":
      ensure  => present,
      require => File["c:\\sbin\\mycustomFile.bgi"],
      source  => "puppet:///modules/sysinternals/bginfo.xml",
  }

  exec {
    "schtasks_bginfo":
      command => "c:\\Windows\\System32\\schtasks.exe /Create /XML c:\\sbin\\bginfo.xml /TN bginfoFG2",
      unless  => "c:\\Windows\\System32\\schtasks.exe /Query /TN BginfoFG2",
      require => File["c:\\sbin\\bginfo.xml"],
  }