Steve Schofield Weblog : WMI

Use Powershell, WMI to retrieve DNS search order, Use Active Directory for list of computers.

steve schofield — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 19:09:00 GMT

# ********************* Global variables *********************
$sb = new-object System.Text.StringBuilder
$sbErrors = new-object System.Text.StringBuilder

# ********************* Defining functions *********************
function GetListOfComputer
{
$strCategory = "computer"
$objDomain = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry
$objSearcher = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher

$objSearcher.SearchRoot = $objDomain
$objSearcher.Filter = ("(objectCategory=$strCategory)")

$colProplist = "name"
foreach ($i in $colPropList){$objSearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add($i)}

$colResults = $objSearcher.FindAll()

foreach ($objResult in $colResults)
{
  $objComputer = $objResult.Properties; $objComputer.name
  [string]$CN = $objComputer.name
  $ipaddress = Ping-Address $objComputer.name
  FOREACH-OBJECT {LogInfo $CN $ipaddress}
}
}

function Ping-Address ([string]$strComputerName)
{
$ipaddress = [System.Net.Dns]::GetHostbyName("$strComputerName") | select AddressList
$strGetIPAddress = $ipaddress.AddressList[0].IpAddressToString
Return $strGetIPAddress
}

function LogInfo ([string]$strServerName, [string]$strIPAddress)
{
Write-Host $strServerName + "," + $strIPAddress
$pingresult = Get-WmiObject win32_pingstatus -Filter "address='$strIPAddress'"
$error.Clear()
$ErrorActionPreference = "SilentlyContinue"

if($pingresult.statuscode -eq 0)
   {
    trap [Exception] {continue}
    $colItems = get-wmiobject -query "Select * From Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration Where IPEnabled = 1" -namespace "root\cimv2" -computername $strIPAddress
    foreach ($objItem in $colItems)
    {
         $strCaption = $objItem.Caption
         write-host $strCaption

$strDescription = $objItem.Description
write-host $strDescription

$strDNSServerSearchOrder = $objItem.DNSServerSearchOrder
write-host $strDNSServerSearchOrder

         $result = $strServerName + "," + $strIPAddress + "," + $strDNSServerSearchOrder + "," + $strCaption + "," + $strDescription + "`r"
         $sb.Append($result)
    }
   }
else
   {
    Write-Host "Cannot connect:" + $strServerName + "," + $strIPAddress
    $sbErrors.AppendLine($strServerName + "," + $strIPAddress + "`r")
    }
}

# ********************* Get list of Computers and call function to get data *********************
GetListOfComputer

# ********************* Write out data *********************
write-output $sb.ToString() >E:\Temp\ComputerList.txt
write-output $sbErrors.ToString() >E:\Temp\ComputerListNotFound.txt

Powershell Script, WMI to get DNS settings.

steve schofield — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 02:36:00 GMT

A while ago I wrote my disappointment about Powershell and trying to pick up the syntax. I've scripted for years with WSH / VBS, ASP, ASP.NET, VB.NET and some C#. I was used to Visual Studio and the rich debugging support. Coming from a web developer...(read more)

IIS7 - post #10 - Connecting to remote Longhorn server using WMI & root\WebAdministration namespace.

steve schofield — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 21:29:00 GMT

I'm using a machine running Vista RC1 to query my remote Longhorn RC1 server. The code samples listed below return information Worker Processes and helps recycle an application pool. To recycle the app pool, I use Win32_Process class to start an AppCmd.exe. One thing I found when connecting to a remote server is use the Management.AuthenticationLevel.PacketPrivacy enum. This property allows you to connect otherwise you'll get Access Denied. This property is part of the System.Management.ConnectionOptions namespace.

'Here is a code sample
Dim options As New System.Management.ConnectionOptions()
options.Username = strUID
options.Password = strPWD
options.Impersonation = Management.ImpersonationLevel.Impersonate
options.Authentication = Management.AuthenticationLevel.PacketPrivacy

I tried using \root\WebAdministration to recycle app pools via WMI but I ran into an issue. This is the error.

"Access to the root\WebAdministration namespace was denied because the namespace is marked with RequiresEncryption but the script or application attempted to connect to this namespace with an authentication level below Pkt_Privacy. Change the authentication level to Pkt_Privacy and run the script or application again."

Here is the thread http://forums.iis.net/thread/1421721.aspx, hopefully we'll have an answer. Using the Win32_Process namespace to launch AppCmd.exe was a workaround. I posted a couple other threads that are handy using WMI and the System.Management namespace to authenticate and connect to a remote server. Check out my WMI tag. Here are the code samples.

Return Worker Process information.

   Sub Main()
        Whatever3("x.x.x.x", "lh5600\Administrator", "MyPassword")
   End Sub

   Function Whatever3(ByVal ServerName As String, ByVal strUID As String, ByVal strPWD As String) As String
        Try
            'Using System.Management to retrieve WMI / IIS7 info.
            'Define the WMI connection information
            Dim options As New System.Management.ConnectionOptions()
            options.Username = strUID
            options.Password = strPWD
            options.Impersonation = Management.ImpersonationLevel.Impersonate
            options.Authentication = Management.AuthenticationLevel.PacketPrivacy

            'Define the Scope information / Note the path defined.
            Dim scope As System.Management.ManagementScope
            scope = New System.Management.ManagementScope("\\" & ServerName & "\root\WebAdministration", options)

            'Define Query and Searcher objects
            Dim WMIQuery As New System.Management.SelectQuery("SELECT * FROM WorkerProcess")
            Dim searcher As New System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher(scope, WMIQuery)

            'Connect to WMI
            Try
                scope.Connect()
            Catch ex As Exception
            End Try

'Write the list of Worker Process info
For Each queryObj As Management.ManagementObject In searcher.Get()

                Console.WriteLine("-----------------------------------")
                Console.WriteLine("WorkerProcess instance")
                Console.WriteLine("-----------------------------------")
                Console.WriteLine("ApplicationPool: {0}", queryObj("ApplicationPool"))
            Next

        Catch err As Management.ManagementException
            Console.WriteLine("An error occurred while querying for WMI data: " & err.Message)
        End Try
    End Function

Recycle DefaultAppPool using AppCMD and WMI

    Sub Main()
        Whatever4("x,x,x,x", "lh5600\Administrator", "MyPassword!")
    End Sub

    Function Whatever4(ByVal ServerName As String, ByVal strUID As String, ByVal strPWD As String) As String
        Dim options As New System.Management.ConnectionOptions
        options.Username = strUID
        options.Password = strPWD
        options.Authentication = Management.AuthenticationLevel.PacketPrivacy

Dim path As New System.Management.ManagementPath("\\" & ServerName & "\root\cimv2:Win32_Process")
Dim scope As New System.Management.ManagementScope(path, options)

scope.Connect()

Dim opt As New System.Management.ObjectGetOptions()
Dim classInstance As New System.Management.ManagementClass(scope, path, opt)

Dim inParams As System.Management.ManagementBaseObject = classInstance.GetMethodParameters("Create")
inParams("CommandLine") = "c:\windows\system32\inetsrv\appcmd recycle apppool defaultapppool"

        ' Execute the method and obtain the return values.
        Dim outParams As System.Management.ManagementBaseObject = classInstance.InvokeMethod("Create", inParams, Nothing)
        Return "ReturnValue:" & outParams("returnValue") & " Process ID: {0}" & outParams("processId")
    End Function

Happy IIS7 coding!!

Steve Schofield
Microsoft MVP - IIS

IIS7 - post #8

steve schofield — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 03:16:00 GMT

Here is sample code to return a collection of Application Pools using WMI and IIS7. This is dynamic because this could be used to retrieve from a local machine or altering the code to connect to a remote server running IIS7. Here is an article that explains what IIS7 features are on various versions of Vista. This is bound to confuse! :) http://www.iis.net/1100/SinglePageArticle.ashx

'Using System.Management to retrieve WMI / IIS7 info.
'Define the WMI connection information
Dim options As New System.Management.ConnectionOptions()
'options.Username = strUID
'options.Password = strPWD

'Define the Scope information / Note the path defined.
Dim scope As System.Management.ManagementScope
scope = New System.Management.ManagementScope(\\.\root\WebAdministration)

'Define Query and Searcher objects
Dim WMIQuery As New System.Management.SelectQuery("SELECT * FROM ApplicationPool")
Dim searcher As New System.Management.ManagementObjectSearcher(scope, WMIQuery)

'Connect to WMI
Try
scope.Connect()
Catch ex As Exception
Exit Sub
End Try

'Dim variables for information that will be returned
Dim AppPoolName As System.Management.ManagementObject
Dim col As System.Management.ManagementObjectCollection

'Return the collection
col = searcher.Get()

'Write the list of Application Pools to webpage
For Each AppPoolName In col
Response.Write(AppPoolName.GetPropertyValue("Name").ToString() & "<BR>")
Next

Here is the IIS7'ish way of using the Microsoft.Web.Administration
Dim Server As New Microsoft.Web.Administration.ServerManager
Dim col As ApplicationPoolCollection

col = Server.ApplicationPools

Dim AppPoolName As String = ""
Dim x As Integer = 0

For x = 0 To col.Count - 1
AppPoolName = col(x).Name
Next

'Return a list of Sites
Dim Server As New Microsoft.Web.Administration.ServerManager
Dim col As SiteCollection

col = Server.Sites

Dim SiteName As String = ""
Dim x As Integer = 0

For x = 0 To col.Count - 1
SiteName = col(x).Name
Next

WMI - start a process on remote machine and passing custom credentials.

steve schofield — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 04:41:00 GMT

I use System.Management in .NET 2.0 to connect, pass custom credentials to a remote machine and query with WMI frequently. This is straight forward and there are many examples showing the syntax how to do this. However, while working with remote IIS7 installs, I wanted to execute a command on a remote machine while passing custom credentials. I couldn't find an example that provided this functionality, hopefully this will save someone time searching for the syntax. This sample starts an instance of 'calc.exe' on a remote machine.

The code accepts four parameters

Command to run,
Machine to connect to,
UserName,
Password

Module Module1

    Sub Main()
        Dim retValue As String
        retValue = RunCommand("calc.exe", "MachineName", "MachineName\UserID", "Password")
        Console.WriteLine(retValue)
    End Sub

    Function RunCommand(ByVal strCommand As String, ByVal strMachineName As String, ByVal strUserName As String,
ByVal strPassword As String) As String
        Dim options As New System.Management.ConnectionOptions
        options.Username = strUserName
        options.Password = strPassword

Dim path As New System.Management.ManagementPath("\\" & strMachineName & "\root\cimv2:Win32_Process")
Dim scope As New System.Management.ManagementScope(path, options)

scope.Connect()

Dim opt As New System.Management.ObjectGetOptions()
Dim classInstance As New System.Management.ManagementClass(scope, path, opt)

Dim inParams As System.Management.ManagementBaseObject = classInstance.GetMethodParameters("Create")
inParams("CommandLine") = strCommand

        ' Execute the method and obtain the return values.
        Dim outParams As System.Management.ManagementBaseObject = classInstance.InvokeMethod("Create", inParams, Nothing)
        Return "ReturnValue:" & outParams("returnValue") & " Process ID: {0}" & outParams("processId")

End Function

End Module

Some links I found useful

Return code s
Description (these are the codes returned once a process has executed)

0 Successful completion
2 Access denied
3 Insufficient privilege
8 Unknown failure
9 Path not found
21 Invalid parameter