always (Netsh Routine)

default debugger specification

always routine

The always routine is a routine on netsh. Its manual can be accessed by inputting

man always

It is used to specify defaults on the shell to reduce the length of commands that you need to type.

always using <address-of-debugger>

This command sets a default debugger address for the using keyword for all netsh routines.

Consider the following effects with the intent of using the debugger 4567 for the commands: Without default debugger address, commands that interact with device/users always need to be followed with the using keyword to specify which debugger are we running it from:

net show on 123 using 4567

scan firewalls using 4567

With default debugger address (after doing \

always using 4567

), commands may now be shorter and easier to input:

net show on 123

scan firewalls

Note that even with a default debugger set with the always using command, you can still specify a different debugger (i.e., override the default) with the

using

keyword. For example, after doing \

always using 4567

and running a net show command, you want to use the another debugger 89123 for just one command to scan devices:

net show on 123

scan devices using 89123

The first command is performed on debugger 4567 while the second is performed on debugger 89123. This may sometimes be necessary if you have debuggers on different part of the networks that cannot reach the target devices.

Additionally, the

using

keyword accepts both hardware address and network address. This means that you can also do always using @mydebug to set a default debugger with network addresses instead (if the debugger has been assigned the network address @mydebug).