Happy New Year!

I am pleased to announce that I am working with Jakub Jareš as the moderator for the Active Directory forums on PowerShell.com. Please feel free to stop by and ask us your Active Directory, PowerShell related questions.
Jakub Jareš
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Jason Yoder
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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, there is a New-GPO and a Get-GPO cmdlet, but there is not a Set-GPO cmdlet. Fortunately, the Get-GPO cmdlet has some "put" capabilities to it. Below I I used Get-GPO to grab one of my GPOs and I sent it to Format-List *
Notice the Description field. I did the same thing, but this time I piped it to Get-Member.
The Description field has a "set" flag on it. Next I went ahead, grabbed the object and set the description field.
When I look at the comment field in the GPO, there it is!
Function Find-ServiceAccounts { [cmdletbinding(HelpUri = 'http://get-help-jason-yoder.blogspot.com/2012/11/fins-serviceaccounts.html')]Param ( [Switch]$AllAccounts, [Switch]$Quiet ) # Create a dynamic array to hold all the objects. $InitialData = @() # Holds a list of all services found. $AllServices = @() # Final output $Output = @() # Cycle through each server. ForEach($Server in $Input) { # Display progress data If (!$Quiet) { Write-Host "Check Server $Server : " -NoNewline } # Add the computer name to the object $Obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject $Obj | Add-Member ` -MemberType NoteProperty ` -Name "ComputerName" ` -Value $Server # Test to see if it is online. If (Test-Connection -Quiet -ComputerName $Server -Count 1) { # Add the online flag to the object. $Obj | Add-Member ` -MemberType NoteProperty ` -Name "Online" ` -Value $True # If the $ALLAccounts flag is set, get all services and their # logon accounts. If it is not set, then only retrieve services # whose logon accounts ar not "LocalSystem" or "NT AUTHORITY" If ($AllAccounts) { $Services = Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock { Get-WmiObject Win32_Service | Select-Object -Property Name, StartName, __Server} ` -ComputerName $Server } Else { $Services = Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock { Get-WmiObject Win32_Service | Where-Object {($_.StartName -notlike "*LocalSystem*") ` -and ($_.StartName -notlike "*NT AUTHORITY*")}| Select-Object -Property Name, StartName, __Server} ` -ComputerName $Server } # Add the Services names to the list of services. ForEach ($Service in $Services) { $AllServices += $Service } # End: Add the Services to the object. If (!$Quiet) { Write-Host "Online" ` -ForegroundColor Green ` -BackgroundColor DarkGreen } } # End: If (Test-Connection -Quiet -ComputerName $Server -Count 1) Else { # Add the offline flag to the object. $Obj | Add-Member ` -MemberType NoteProperty ` -Name "Online" ` -Value $False If (!$Quiet) { Write-Host "OffLine" ` -ForegroundColor Red ` -BackgroundColor DarkRed } } $InitialData += $Obj } # End: ForEach($Server in $Input) # Get a list of all the services names $ServiceNames = $AllServices | Select-Object -Property Name -Unique ForEach ($Server in $InitialData) { # Build the output objects $Obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject # Add the server name and online value. $Obj | Add-Member ` -MemberType NoteProperty ` -Name "ComputerName" ` -Value $Server.ComputerName $Obj | Add-Member ` -MemberType NoteProperty ` -Name "Online" ` -Value $Server.Online ForEach ($Service in $ServiceNames) { # Add a property for each service. $Name = $Service.Name $Obj | Add-Member ` -MemberType NoteProperty ` -Name $Name ` -Value "N/A" #Write-Host $Service.Name -ForegroundColor Red ForEach ($Item in $AllServices) { If (($Service.Name -eq $Item.name) ` -and ($Server.Computername -eq $Item.__Server)) { $Obj.$Name = $Item.StartName } Else { } } # End: ForEach ($Item in $InitialData) $Output += $Obj } # End: ForEach ($Service in $ServiceNames) $Obj }<# .SYNOPSIS Discovers all the logon accounts used on service accounts .DESCRIPTION Discovers all the services running on a list of servers piped into the cmdlet and the logon accounts for those services. The list of servers must be piped in to this cmdlet. .PARAMETER AllAccounts Returns services that have logon accounts of LocalServer or NT AUTHORITY. Without this switch, only services that do not utilize LocalService or NT AUTHORITY will be returned. .PARAMETER Quiet Suppresses the online status display on the monitor. .EXAMPLE "Indy1", "Indy2", "Indy3" | Find-ServiceAccounts Returns the online status of each server, the services running on all servers, and the service account used for the services logon account ina list format. Any service listed as N/A does not exists on that particular server. Only services with a logon account that is not a LocalSystem or NT AUTHORITY account will be listed. .EXAMPLE "Indy1", "Indy2", "Indy3" | Find-ServiceAccounts | FT Check Server LON-DC1 : Online Check Server NotOnline : OffLine Check Server LON-SVR3 : Online ComputerName Online BITS hkmsvc NcaSvc Appinfo ------------ ------ ---- ------ ------ ------- Indy1 True .\Webservice$ ADATUM\Acco... ADATUM\Acco... N/A Indy2 False N/A N/A N/A N/A Indy3 True N/A N/A N/A ADATUM\Acco... Returns the online status of each server, the services running on all servers, and the service account used for the services logon account. Any service listed as N/A does not exists on that particular server. Only services with a logon account that is not a LocalSystem or NT AUTHORITY account will be listed. .EXAMPLE "Indy1", "Indy2", "Indy3" | Find-ServiceAccounts -Quiet | FT ComputerName Online BITS hkmsvc NcaSvc Appinfo ------------ ------ ---- ------ ------ ------- Indy1 True .\Webservice$ ADATUM\Acco... ADATUM\Acco... N/A Indy2 False N/A N/A N/A N/A Indy3 True N/A N/A N/A ADATUM\Acco... Returns the online status of each server, the services running on all servers, and the service account used for the services logon account. Any service listed as N/A does not exists on that particular server. Only services with a logon account that is not a LocalSystem or NT AUTHORITY account will be listed. This example will not display its progress in contacted each server. .EXAMPLE "Indy1", "Indy2", "Indy3" | Find-ServiceAccounts -AllAccounts | FT Returns the online status of each server, the services running on all servers, and the service account used for the services logon account. Any service listed as N/A does not exists on that particular server. .EXAMPLE "Indy1", "Indy2", "Indy3" | Find-ServiceAccounts | Where-Object {$_.Online -eq $True} | Format-table Check Server LON-DC1 : Online Check Server NotOnline : OffLine Check Server LON-SVR3 : Online ComputerName Online BITS hkmsvc NcaSvc Appinfo ------------ ------ ---- ------ ------ ------- Indy1 True .\Webservice$ ADATUM\Acco... ADATUM\Acco... N/A Indy2 False N/A N/A N/A N/A Indy3 True N/A N/A N/A ADATUM\Acco... Returns the services running on all servers that are currently online and the service account used for the services logon account. Any service listed as N/A does not exists on that particular server. Only services with a logon account that is not a LocalSystem or NT AUTHORITY account will be listed. .NOTES All servers must be able to return a ping. If the Windows Firewall is turned on, you must enable inbound firewall rule: File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request - ICMPv4 -In) =============================================================================== Copyright 2012 MCTExpert, Inc. Licensed for use by participants from classes delivered by Jason Yoder. This script is provided without support, warranty, or guarantee. User assumes all liability for cmdlet results. =============================================================================== This code has been tested in a Windows Server 2012 domain.#> }
This was a bit of a different problem. How to find if a property in a custom object has a NULL value. The client had a collection of objects that they gathered from their environment with PowerShell. They needed a way to find out if any of the NoteProperties had a NULL value. I created the function below. You send it the collection of objects you are interested in probing for a NULL property value and it will return the index number of the object in the collection that has one.
Function Find-NullProperty
{
[cmdletbinding(HelpUri="http://get-help-jason-yoder.blogspot.com/2012/10/find-nullproperty.html")]
Param (
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]$Object
)
# Check to see if an object has any NULL values in
# its properties.
# Create an object to output to the calling statement.
$Output = @()
# Index number to return for to denote the instance of an object
# (should multiple instances be sent) that the Null value if found
# in.
$Index = -1
# Extract the names of the properties of the object.
$PropNames = (($Object | GM) |
Where {$_.MemberType -eq "NoteProperty"} |
Select-Object -Property Name).Name
#Cycle through each object
ForEach ($Obj in $Object)
{
# Increment the Index.
$Index++
# Set to $True is a $Null value
#is found in a property.
$NullFound = $False
ForEach ($Prop in $PropNames)
{
If ($Obj.$Prop -contains $Null)
{
$NullFound = $True
}
}
If ($NullFound)
{
# Create the object to be returned.
$Obj = New-Object -TypeName PSObject
# Add object members
$Obj | Add-Member `
-MemberType NoteProperty `
-Name "Index" `
-Value $Index
# Send the object to the output array.
$Output += $Obj
}
}
Write-Output $Output
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Indicates if an object has a property that is $NULL
.DESCRIPTION
Search through a collection of custom objects and returns the index
number of any instance that has a $NULL value in a NoteProperty
.PARAMETER Object
The Object, or collection of objects that may contain a NULL value
in a note property.
.EXAMPLE
Find-NullProperty $Object
Index
-----
1
2
Returns the index number of instance of a collection of object in which
a NoteProperty has a NULL value.
.NOTES
Provided without warranty or support.
Author: Jason Yoder.
#>
}
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 different between the two sets. By asking for the InputObject property, you will get those objects placed in the pipeline. Finally using the –Unique parameter of Select-Object, you filter any repeat objects. Without this final step, you will get
1
2
1
2