Skip to main content

Get the Name of a Server Returned with Data Using Get-Process

Here is a question that I had about using Get-Process.  The user needed the same basic information that Get-Process normally gives you, but they also needed the name of the computer that the data came from.  Their intent was to run this one command against multiple servers at the same time, but needed to separate the data by its source.

When you use the Get-WMIObject cmdlet, you get a few extra properties added in.  The on of interest in this case is __SERVER.  This will hold the name of the client that the data came from.  I could have just told the user to execute Get-WMIObject Win32_Process –ComputerName <List of names>.  But that would return a lot more data.  Also, I am on a very long flight back from Microsoft so I needed something to keep me from being bored.  Below is the result.

Since the user wanted to use this in a script or as a stand alone, I created a function that could be either dot sourced into memory or added as a http://mctexpert.blogspot.com/2011/04/creating-powershell-module.html as well as be added directly to a script.  It also includes a help file.

Function Get-Process2
{
[CmdletBinding(Helpuri
= 'http://get-help-jason-yoder.blogspot.com/2012/10/get-process2.html')]
Param (
    [Parameter(Mandatory
=$True)]$ComputerName,
    [
Switch]$Quiet,
    [
Switch]$FullDetail
)

   
# Cycle through each computer.
    ForEach ($Computer in $ComputerName)
    {
       
Try
        {
           
# Get the process information and include the client
            # that the information was received from.
           
           
If($FullDetail)
            {
              
$Data = Get-WmiObject Win32_Process
            }
           
Else
            {
               
$Data = Get-WmiObject Win32_Process `
                
-ComputerName $Computer `
                
-ErrorAction Stop |
                
Select-Object `
                
-Property Handles, NPM, PM, WS, VM, CPU, ID, Name, @{Label="ComputerName";Expression={$_.__Server}}
            }

           
Write-Output $Data
        }
# End: Try
        Catch
        {
           
# If the client could not be contacted, notify the user.
            If (!$Quiet)
            {
               
Write-Host "$Computer is not online" -ForegroundColor Red -BackgroundColor DarkRed
            }
        }
# End: Catch


    }
# End: ForEach ($Computer in $ComputerName)

<#
.SYNOPSIS
Returns process information on local and remote clients.

.DESCRIPTION
Returns process information on local and remote clients, but includes
the computer name.

.PARAMETER ComputerName
The name or names of the computers that you want to return process
information from.

.PARAMETER Quiet
Suppresses error messages.

.PARAMETER FullDetail
Returned the entire process object.  The default will return the
same information as Get-Process.

.EXAMPLE
Get-Process2  -ComputerName "Srv01", "Svr2", "Svr3"

Returns the same information as Get-Process, but also includes the
name of the source the data came from.

.EXAMPLE
Get-Process2  -ComputerName "Srv01", "Svr2", "Svr3" -Quiet

Returns the same information as Get-Process, but also includes the
name of the source the data came from. Any errors generated while
attmpting to contact the clients will be suppressed.

.EXAMPLE
Get-Process2  -ComputerName "Srv01", "Svr2", "Svr3" -FullDetail
Returns the entire Process object for each object on each server contacted.
This will return a very large amount of data.

.NOTES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Provided as is with no warranty or support.
Jason Yoder, MCT  -  MCTExpert, Inc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#>
}
# -- End Function Get-Process2 ----------------------------------------------

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Adding a Comment to a GPO with PowerShell

As I'm writing this article, I'm also writing a customization for a PowerShell course I'm teaching next week in Phoenix.  This customization deals with Group Policy and PowerShell.  For those of you who attend my classes may already know this, but I sit their and try to ask the questions to myself that others may ask as I present the material.  I finished up my customization a few hours ago and then I realized that I did not add in how to put a comment on a GPO.  This is a feature that many Group Policy Administrators may not be aware of. This past summer I attended a presentation at TechEd on Group Policy.  One organization in the crowd had over 5,000 Group Policies.  In an environment like that, the comment section can be priceless.  I always like to write in the comment section why I created the policy so I know its purpose next week after I've completed 50 other tasks and can't remember what I did 5 minutes ago. In the Group Policy module for PowerShell V3, th

Return duplicate values from a collection with PowerShell

If you have a collection of objects and you want to remove any duplicate items, it is fairly simple. # Create a collection with duplicate values $Set1 = 1 , 1 , 2 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 1 , 2   # Remove the duplicate values. $Set1 | Select-Object -Unique 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 What if you want only the duplicate values and nothing else? # Create a collection with duplicate values $Set1 = 1 , 1 , 2 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 1 , 2   #Create a second collection with duplicate values removed. $Set2 = $Set1 | Select-Object -Unique   # Return only the duplicate values. ( Compare-Object -ReferenceObject $Set2 -DifferenceObject $Set1 ) . InputObject | Select-Object – Unique 1 2 This works with objects as well as numbers.  The first command creates a collection with 2 duplicates of both 1 and 2.   The second command creates another collection with the duplicates filtered out.  The Compare-Object cmdlet will first find items that are diffe

How to list all the AD LDS instances on a server

AD LDS allows you to provide directory services to applications that are free of the confines of Active Directory.  To list all the AD LDS instances on a server, follow this procedure: Log into the server in question Open a command prompt. Type dsdbutil and press Enter Type List Instances and press Enter . You will receive a list of the instance name, both the LDAP and SSL port numbers, the location of the database, and its status.