Installation manual
Chapter 8 Administering Client Computers 105
Remote Desktop keeps track of active and completed tasks. Active tasks may run
locally or be delegated to run on your task server. Active tasks are those which are
currently being processed by the client computers, and the client computers haven’t
all reported back to the administrator console. Some tasks are so short that they only
briey appear in the list of current tasks; other tasks may take a long time and remain
there long enough to return to the task and view the progress as it happens. The
Active Tasks list, which shows only locally run active tasks, is located in the left side of
the Remote Desktop window, and has a disclosure triangle to expand or hide the list.
Task Server tasks are those which have been assigned to the task server (either the
one running on the administrator’s computer, or a remote one) which haven’t yet
completed for all the task participants.
Completed tasks are those that have received a task status for all participating client
computers. Upon completion, the task entry list then moves to the History list. The
History list is located in the left side of the Remote Desktop window, and has a
disclosure triangle for expanding or hiding the list.
In addition to the task status and notication features of Remote Desktop, you can set
a task notication shell script to run when any task has completed. This script is for all
tasks, but it can be as complex as your needs require.
Enabling a Task Notication Script
When a task completes, Remote Desktop can run a script that you create. This script
is for all completed tasks, and it must be a shell script. There is a default notication
script provided, which you can customize for your needs. The script must be a shell
script, but you can use various other scripting environment like AppleScript with the
osascript command.
To enable a task notication script
1 Make sure you’re logged in as an administrator user.
2 Open Remote Desktop.
3 Choose Remote Desktop > Preferences.
4 Click the Tasks button.
5 Select “Enable task notication script.”
6 Choose the location of the script.
The default notication script is located at /Library/Application Support/Apple/Remote
Desktop/Notify.
7 Close the Preferences window.