Techniques for automating the administration of computer systems. In one set of embodiments, information can be received specifying one or more commands and a list of target computer systems. Upon receiving this information, the one or more commands can be automatically executed in parallel against the target computer systems. In certain embodiments, executing the one or more commands in parallel can include forking a child process for each target computer system, and executing the one or more commands against that target computer system in the context of the child process. Output and error information that is collected by each child process as a result of executing the one or more commands can be aggregated and made available to a system administrator upon completion. Further, error information that is generated as a result of the automated administration process itself can be stored and made available to the system administrator for review.