Power Shell

• Windows PowerShell V1
• Windows PowerShell V2

Credentials

When running commands that require a connection to a remote machine its useful to be able to store a user/pass combination so that you aren't repeatedly prompted every time you run a command. Create a credential object, then supply that in place of a username in a command

PS H:\> $cred = Get-Credential

cmdlet Get-Credential at command pipeline position 1
Supply values for the following parameters:
Credential
PS H:\> Get-WMIObject -query "SELECT * FROM Win32_OperatingSystem" -credential $cred -computer 159.104.224.167

SystemDirectory : C:\WINDOWS\system32
Organization    : TF
BuildNumber     : 3790
RegisteredUser  : TF
SerialNumber    : 69712-640-3560061-45009
Version         : 5.2.3790

WMI

Cmdlet for using WMI via PowerShell is Get-WMIObject, which has an alias of gwmi, for example...

PS H:\> Get-WMIObject -query "Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem"

SystemDirectory : C:\WINDOWS\system32
Organization    :
BuildNumber     : 2600
RegisteredUser  : TF
SerialNumber    : 76487-OEM-0011903-00102
Version         : 5.1.2600

PS H:\> Get-WMIObject -query "SELECT * FROM Win32_UTCTime"

__GENUS          : 2
__CLASS          : Win32_UTCTime
__SUPERCLASS     : Win32_CurrentTime
__DYNASTY        : Win32_CurrentTime
__RELPATH        : Win32_UTCTime=@
__PROPERTY_COUNT : 10
__DERIVATION     : {Win32_CurrentTime}
__SERVER         : L-0STRUTTS1
__NAMESPACE      : root\cimv2
__PATH           : \\L-0STRUTTS1\root\cimv2:Win32_UTCTime=@
Day              : 27
DayOfWeek        : 4
Hour             : 10
Milliseconds     :
Minute           : 0
Month            : 8
Quarter          : 3
Second           : 1
WeekInMonth      : 5
Year             : 2009

PS H:\> Get-WMIObject -query "Select * from Win32_OperatingSystem" -credential sysmgr -computer ukpgemon2

SystemDirectory : C:\WINDOWS\system32
Organization    : Thomson Financial
BuildNumber     : 3790
RegisteredUser  : Dell Image Rev 1
SerialNumber    : 69712-640-3560061-45321
Version         : 5.2.3790

PS H:\> Get-WMIObject -query "Select * from Win32_userAccount WHERE Domain = 'OCM-WCS1' AND Name = 'pptp_ypos'" -credential administrator -computer 159.104.224.167
 
AccountType : 512
Caption     : OCM-WCS1\pptp_ypos
Domain      : OCM-WCS1
SID         : S-1-5-21-2453442427-2400495818-1845097998-1073
FullName    : Ypos-Consulting GmbH
Name        : pptp_ypos

Find Classes and Properties

In order to find the correct class use...

Get-WMIObject -list -credential $cred -computer 159.104.224.167 | Select-String -InputObject {$_.Name} Win32*

To then see all the properties of a class use (doesn't work on remote machines (access denied) - this is a known bug in Power Shell v1)...

Get-WMIObject Win32_BIOS | Format-List *

TechNet article: Windows PowerShell Best Inventory Tool Ever!

Network

Ping

PS H:\> $objPing = New-Object system.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping
PS H:\> $objPing.Send('127.0.0.1')

Status        : Success
Address       : 127.0.0.1
RoundtripTime : 0
Options       : System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingOptions
Buffer        : {97, 98, 99, 100...}

Name/Address Resolution

IP to Name

• Be aware, where no name can be found, the call throws an exception. If assigning result to a variable, then it seems to return the local hostname, which is odd.

PS H:\> [System.Net.Dns]::GetHostbyAddress("159.104.31.83")

HostName                                Aliases                                 AddressList
--------                                -------                                 -----------
L-STRUTTS1                              {}                                      {159.104.31.83}

Name to IP

PS H:\> [System.Net.Dns]::GetHostAddresses("l-strutts1")

Address           : 1394567327
AddressFamily     : InterNetwork
ScopeId           :
IsIPv6Multicast   : False
IsIPv6LinkLocal   : False
IsIPv6SiteLocal   : False
IPAddressToString : 159.104.31.83

MySQL

function ConnectMySQL([string]$user,[string]$pass,[string]$MySQLHost,[string]$database) { 

  # Load MySQL .NET Connector Objects 
  [void][system.reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("MySql.Data") 

  # Open Connection 
  $connStr = "server=" + $MySQLHost + ";port=3306;uid=" + $user + ";pwd=" + $pass + ";database="+$database+";Pooling=FALSE" 
  $conn = New-Object MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection($connStr) 
  $conn.Open() 
  $cmd = New-Object MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlCommand("USE $database", $conn) 
  return $conn 
} 

function WriteMySQLQuery($conn, [string]$query) { 
  $command = $conn.CreateCommand() 
  $command.CommandText = $query 
  $RowsInserted = $command.ExecuteNonQuery() 
  $command.Dispose() 
  if ($RowsInserted) { 
    return $RowInserted 
  } else { 
    return $false 
  } 
} 

# setup vars 
$user = 'myuser' 
$pass = 'mypass' 
$database = 'mydatabase' 
$MySQLHost = 'database.server.com' 

# Connect to MySQL Database 
$conn = ConnectMySQL $user $pass $MySQLHost $database 

# Read all the records from table 
$query = 'INSERT INTO test (id,name,age) VALUES ("1","Joe","33")' 
$Rows = WriteMySQLQuery $conn $query 
Write-Host $Rows " inserted into database"