Why PowerCLI script creates duplicate records using get-vm? - powershell

I am trying to build a script that will extract list of VMs from several vsphere servers. At this point it does what I want, but unfortunately it also creates duplicate values in results .csv file.
Just for note serverlist.txt and vicredentials.xml contains the same unique servers.
Import-Module VMware.VimAutomation.Core
Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -DefaultVIServerMode Multiple -Confirm:$false
if (Test-Path 'E:\vSphereScript\vCenterVMList.csv'){Remove-Item 'E:\vSphereScript\vCenterVMList.csv'}
$serverList = Get-Content -Path "E:\vSphereScript\serverlist.txt"
foreach ($server in $serverList) {
$creds = Get-VICredentialStoreItem -file "vSphereScript\vicredentials.xml" -Host $server
Connect-VIServer -server $creds.host -user $creds.user -password $creds.password
Get-VM | Select-Object Name, Guest, VMhost, ResourcePool | Export-Csv -Path "E:\ProgramData\vCenterVMList.csv" -NoTypeInformation -Append
Disconnect-VIServer $server -Confirm:$false
}
Also does anyone have idea why this is so slow?
If I connect to vm directly from powershell and use Get-VM it's almost instantaneous

I don't see anything fundamentally wrong with your code but a couple things do come to mind:
Why are you setting DefaultVIServerMode to Multiple if you're only connecting to a single vCenter at a time?
When you say duplicates, is it the entire VM inventory from a vCenter or is it only particular VMs?
Are the duplicate VMs from a singular vCenter or multiple vCenters?
Are you using any replication based software? (example: SRM)
With regards to speed, Get-VM is fast. However, connecting and disconnecting from vCenter servers are not particularly quick actions.

Related

Get-ChildItem on Multiple Computers, Performance Issues

I'm wanting to improve on my script to be able to accomplish the following:
Scan servers based on get-adcomputer on specific OUs.
Scan each server based on whatever drive letter it has.
Scan each server for log4j.
Export all results to a CSV that identifies the folder path, name of file, and the server that the file was found on.
I have been using the following code to start with:
$Servers = Get-ADComputer -Filter * -SearchBase "OU=..." | Select -ExpandProperty Name
foreach ($server in $Servers){
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Server -ScriptBlock {
$Drives = (Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem).Root
foreach ($drive in $Drives){
Get-ChildItem -Path $drive -Force -Filter *log4j* -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | '
foreach{
$Item = $_
$Type = $_.Extension
$Path = $_.FullName
$Folder = $_.PSIsContainer
$Age = $_.CreationTime
$Path | Select-Object `
#{n="Name";e={$Item}}, `
#{n="Created";e={$Age}},`
#{n="FilePath";e={$Path}},`
#{n="Extension";e={if($Folder){"Folder"}else{$Type}}}`
} | Export-Csv C:\Results.csv -NoType
}
}
I am having the following issues and would like to address them to learn.
How would I be able to get the CSV to appear the way I want, but have it collect the information and store it on my machine instead of having it on each local server?
I have noticed extreme performance issues on the remote hosts when running this. WinRM takes 100% of the processor while it is running. I have tried -Include first, then -Filter, but to no avail. How can this be improved so that at worst, it's solely my workstation that's eating the performance hit?
What exactly do the ` marks do?
I agree with #SantiagoSquarzon - that's going to be a performance hit.
Consider using writing a function to run Get-ChildItem recursively with the -MaxDepth parameter, including a Start-Sleep command to pause occasionally. Also, you may want to note this link
You'd also want to Export-CSV to a shared network drive to collect all the machines' results.
The backticks indicate a continuation of the line, like \ in bash.
Finally, consider using a Scheduled Task or start a powershell sub-process with a lowered process priority, maybe that will help?

Get Service from remote machines in a domain

Trying to get list of all machines in a Domain with a certain service
tried via all posts in here, helped per one machine, but if i use a text file with multiple machines, it failes
$computers = Get-Content c:\script\computers.txt
$service = "*crystal*"
foreach ($computer in $computers) {
$servicestatus = Get-Service -ComputerName $computer -Name $service
}
$Data = $servicestatus | Select-Object Name,Machinename | Format-Table -AutoSize
Write($Data) | Out-File c:\script\output.txt -Append
Expected list of machines with service in table, instead got error:
This operation might require other privileges
same script, but with a direct machine name, works like a charm.
Any clue what is wrong?
Why not use:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $computers -ScriptBlock {Get-Service -Name *crystal*}
Eventually you may store the result from invoke into a variable and work with it.
The benefit of using Invoke-Command, insted of foreach is that Invoke works in parallel, while foreach is serial ...
Hope it helps!
Best regards,
Ivan

Get List of Printer Drivers from list of Computers PowerShell

I've tried a variety of iterations of this and gotten a range of errors. I'm trying to get a a list of installed drivers off from a list of computers. None of the ways I've tried in PowerShell have piped the information into a csv. Here's the current iteration of the script.
#Load Active Directory
Import-Module activedirectory
#Load list of computers
$results = #()
$Computer = Get-Content -path 'C:\ScriptResources\computers.txt'
#Check each computer in the list
foreach($ComputerName in $Computer)
{
$results += Get-ADComputer -Filter " Name -Like '*$ComputerName*' " | Get-PrinterDriver; Start-Sleep -milliseconds 500
}
#Export to CSV file
$results | export-csv 'C:\ScriptResults\InstalledPrinters.csv'
I've also used it with just the Get-Printer command and got the following error.
Get-Printer : No MSFT_Printer objects found with property 'Name' equal to 'Redacted'. Verify the value of the
property and retry.
Depending what I've fed the $Computer file I'll get different errors. I've also gotten the RPC server is unavailable and Error Spooler Service Not Running. I have domain wide privileges and I checked the print spooler service and it is running.
The reason I think this is odd is that I have .bat tool that I use that gets printer info from a singular host and I don't run into any issues. The reason I'm trying to put this in PowerShell is because 1) I want to do the whole domain and 2) PowerShell formats its outputs in a more useable fashion.
wmic /node:%ComputerIP% path win32_printer get deviceid, drivername, portname
Additionally, I've also tried the following in the $results function of the script
$results += Get-WmiObject -class Win32_printer -ComputerName name, systemName, shareName
This didn't give errors. What it did instead is that for each computer in the list of computers it checked the computer I was running the script from for its printers and output on each line which printers were installed on my computer.
I'm at a loss and any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Just so this is closed out. Vivek's answer ended up working.
$results += Get-WmiObject -class Win32_printer -ComputerName $Computer | Select name, systemName, shareName
The RPC issue I was getting was that the list of computers were all turned off for some reason (remote site + different time zone + doing the testing during second shift). Normally, everything remains on though. So that was just an anomaly.
Thanks for the help!

Why am i receiving RPC server is unavailable error when looping?

I have a Powershell script to find specific servers and their corresponding service accounts. If I modify the script to use a single server and a single service account, the results are what I expect. If I loop thru the servers and accounts, I receive the following error:
#################################################################
# Find Service Account(s) used to start Services on a Server(s) #
#################################################################
$accounts = (Get-Content C:\Users\location\Scripts\Service_Accounts.txt)
Remove-Item -path C:\Users\location\Scripts\ServiceAccountFnd.txt -force -erroraction silentlycontinue
Import-Module ActiveDirectory # Imports the Active Directory PowerShell module #
## Retrieves servers in the domain based on the search criteria ##
$servers=Get-ADComputer -Filter {Name -Like "namehere*"} -property *
## For Each Server, find the services running under the user specified in $account ##
ForEach ($server in $servers) {
Write-Host $server
ForEach ($account in $accounts) {
Write-Host $account
Get-WmiObject Win32_Service -ComputerName $server | Where-Object {$_.StartName -like "*$account*"} | Format-Table -HideTableHeaders -property #{n='ServerName';e={$_.__SERVER}}, StartName, Name -AutoSize | Out-File -FilePath C:\Users\location\Scripts\ServiceAccountFnd.txt -append -Width 150
}
}
Your $server variable does not only contain the hostname, but also all attributes of the AD computer object.
Try to change the ComputerName value to $server.name.
If that doesn't help: Can you confirm, that you used the very same computer in the loop as without the loop, as you described? I'd assume that you try to access another computer, which is not configured as expected.
Besided that, I'd recommend you to use Get-CimInstance rather than Get-WmiObject, as it doesn't use RPC, but WinRM by default. WinRM is more firewall friendly, secure and faster.

exporting Powershell Script to CSV

We are getting ready to merge our AD with another. We have about 300 computers that I'm trying to match up with who uses them so the accounts and home folders migrate correctly, and I'm trying to think of the most efficient way to get this information.
We have everyone in an inventory system (Filemaker) (and will be implementing SCCM once we migrate (thank god) ) but we had a few errors when we did our first test batch. Im looking for something I can push out through group policy (possibly?) that will give me the computer name, logged in account, and them email it to me.
So far this is what I have.
[System.Environment]::UserName
[System.Environment]::UserDomainName
[System.Environment]::MachineName
Out-File T:\TEST.txt
But the output is blank. Any idea what I'm doing wrong here? Also is there a way to have this run on multiple computers but write to the same file?
"$env:USERNAME,$env:USERDOMAIN,$env:COMPUTERNAME" | Out-File 'T:\test.txt'
will write the name and domain of the currently logged-in user as well as the hostname of the local computer to the file T:\test.txt.
Using a single file may cause conflicts due to concurrent write attempts, though. It's better to use one file per computer, like this:
"$env:USERDOMAIN\$env:USERNAME" | Out-File "T:\$env:COMPUTERNAME.txt"
Run it as a logon script (or from a logon script), e.g. like this:
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "\\%USERDNSDOMAIN\netlogon\your.ps1"
Get-ADComputer -Filter * -Property * | Select-Object Name | Out-File C:\outdir\machinelist.txt -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8
will get you all machine names, unless you have them already. Either way, use your list of machines in
$MachineList = Get-Content -Path c:\outdir\machinelist.txt;
foreach ($Machine in $MachineList){
($Machine + ": " + #(Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $Machine -Namespace root\cimv2 -Class Win32_ComputerSystem)[0].UserName) | Out-File "C:\outdir\result.txt" -Append
}
If you change the destination directory to somewhere that all computers have access to, it can run on multiple computers. It won't email it to you but you can just grab it.
You'll need to pipe those properties into the file like..
[System.Environment]::UserName, [System.Environment]::UserDomainName, [System.Environment]::MachineName | Out-File T:\Test.txt