INVOKE

invoke-command -ComputerName (get-content C:\temp\TestComputers.txt) -ScriptBlock {get-eventlog -LogName Application -Newest 5}

invoke-command -ComputerName (get-adcomputer -filter *) -ScriptBlock {get-eventlog -LogName Application -Newest 5}

PS C:\temp> Enter-PSSession -ComputerName SGEN-TN01

[SGEN-TN01]: PS C:\Users\admin-its-tn\Documents> get-eventlog -LogName Application -Newest 5

   Index Time          EntryType   Source                 InstanceID Message                                                                                                                 

   —– —-          ———   ——                 ———- ——-                                                                                                                 

    3382 Sep 04 12:05  Information SceCli                 1073743528 Security policy in the Group policy objects has been applied successfully.                                              

    3381 Sep 04 12:05  Information gupdate                         0 The description for Event ID ‘0’ in Source ‘gupdate’ cannot be found.  The local computer may not have the necessary r…

    3380 Sep 04 10:59  Information Windows Error Rep…         1001 Fault bucket 1838438238644566740, type 5…                                                                             

    3379 Sep 04 10:35  Information gupdate                         0 The description for Event ID ‘0’ in Source ‘gupdate’ cannot be found.  The local computer may not have the necessary r…

    3378 Sep 04 10:35  0           Software Protecti…   1073742727 The Software Protection service has stopped….                                                                          

[SGEN-TN01]: PS C:\Users\admin-its-tn\Documents> Exit-PSSession

PS C:\temp> 

This uses “-expand” or “-expanproperty”

Get-ADComputer -filter -searchbase “ou=domain controllers, dc=company,dc=primary”

…this will return a list of computer OBJECTS from the domain controllers OU.

You cannot use this command as a pipeline return….

Get-Service -computerName (Get-ADComputer -filter -searchbase “ou=domain controllers, dc=company,dc=primary”)

As “-ComputerName” is expecting a string and NOT an object. To resolve this we can use the “-expand” to extract a property……

Get-ADComputer -filter -searchbase “ou=domain controllers, dc=company,dc=primary” | Select-Object -expandproperty Name

So, this would work…..

Get-Service -computerName (Get-ADComputer -filter -searchbase “ou=domain controllers, dc=company,dc=primary” | Select-Object -expandproperty Name)

Get-Process -computerName (import-csv .\computers.csv | select-object -expandproperty hostname)

Get-EventLog [-LogName] <String> [[-InstanceId] <Int64[]>] [-After <DateTime>] [-AsBaseObject] [-Before <DateTime>] [-ComputerName <String[]>] [-EntryType {Error | Information | FailureAudit | SuccessAudit | Warning}] [-Index <Int32[]>] [-Message <String>] [-Newest <Int32>] [-Source <String[]>] [-UserName <String[]>]
[<CommonParameters>]

Get-EventLog [-AsString] [-ComputerName <String[]>] [-List] [<CommonParameters>]

• There are two possible combinations of parameters you can’t mix between them, some commands may have more than 2 sets.
• Anything in square brackets is optional.
• If you omit optional parameter names then they MUST be provided in the correct order! (e.g. ‘Get-EventLog Security 10’ is shorthand for  ‘Get-EventLog -LogName Security -InstanceID 10’. ‘Get-EventLog 10 Security’ will not work as there is no Event Log called 10).

[-LogName] <String>

• The log name is not optional as its not in square brackets but actually writing the word LogName is!

[[-InstanceId] <Int64[]>]

• Instance ID is optional (the whole thing is in square brackets
• Writing ‘-InstanceID’ is optional
• InstanceID expects a 64-bit integer (-9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807) and the additional square brackets indicate it will accept and array or list of them

[-List]

• This is a switch, essentially a parameter without a value

[<CommonParameters>]

• These are a bunch of parameters available to ALL commands

Finding the alias of a command:

get-alias -Definition "Get-Service"

Finding the command of an alias

Get-alias gsv

Help gsv

Finding the alias of a parameter (getting the alias of the computername parameter for ‘Get-EventLog’):

(get-command get-eventlog | select -ExpandProperty parameters) .computername.aliases

Finding the parameter of an alias (getting the parameter of the -Cn alias for ‘Get-EventLog’):

get-eventlog -Cn

(this will error with the error displaying the full parameter name of the Alias)

Help Get-EventLog

Help Get-EventLog -full

Help Get-EventLog -showwindow

Help Get-EventLog -online

The best help command ever!!!!

Use PowerShell to Persist Environment Variables

From an elevated powershell

[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable(‘MyAwesomeTargetFolder’, ‘c:\littlebitawesome’, [System.EnvironmentVariableTarget]::Machine)

CLOSE POWERSHELL AND REOPEN IT!!!

(get-item env:MyAwesomeTargetFolder).value