DnsClient module: #2 DnsClient & Cache
Published October 23, 2012The DnsClient module has a number of Get- cmdlets
Get-DnsClient | Format-List InterfaceAlias, ConnectionSpecificSuffix, Register*, UseSuffix*
An example of the output is
InterfaceAlias : Ethernet
ConnectionSpecificSuffix :
RegisterThisConnectionsAddress : True
UseSuffixWhenRegistering : False
Of more interest when trouble shooting is Get-DnsClientCache
PS> Get-DnsClientCache | select -f 1 | fl
Entry : 14.54.10.10.in-addr.arpa
RecordName : 14.54.10.10.in-addr.arpa.
RecordType : PTR
Status : Success
Section : Answer
TimeToLive : 86400
DataLength : 4
Data : Win7test
You get a number of ways to interrogate the cache
PS> Get-Command Get-DnsClientCache -Syntax
Get-DnsClientCache [[-Entry] <string[]>] [-Name <string[]>] [-Type <Type[]>] [-Status <Status[]>]
[-Section<Section[]>] [-TimeToLive <uint32[]>] [-DataLength <uint16[]>] [-Data <string[]>]
[-CimSession <CimSession[]>][-ThrottleLimit <int>] [-AsJob] [<CommonParameters>]
Its another CIM based cmdlet so you can use CimSessions to access remote machines. Very useful if you think the machine isn’t resolving DNS names properly
UK PowerShell Group–November 2012
Published October 20, 2012|
When: Tuesday, Nov 13, 2012 7:30 PM (BST) |
|
Where: |
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A question of scope
Published October 18, 2012I had a question left on my blog regarding scope. The following is a simplified version of the problem
function level1 { $iterations++ Write-Host '$iterations in level 1 = ' $iterations level2 } function level2 { $iterations++ Write-Host '$iterations in level 2 =' $iterations } $iterations = 0 Write-Host '$iterations at start =' $iterations level1 Write-Host '$iterations at end =' $iterations
Start with a variable $iterations. Call a function and increment the variable. Call a nested function and increment the variable and then display the result
The output is
$iterations at start = 0
$iterations in level 1 = 1
$iterations in level 2 = 2
$iterations at end = 0
Start with zero, increment in level1 and level 2 – all OK. Show the final result & its zero.
The reason is scope. Each of the functions has its own scope. Those scopes are destroyed – along with any variables & their contents when the functions finish.
If you want to keep the results then change to this
function level1 { $global:iterations++ Write-Host '$global:iterations in level 1 = ' $global:iterations level2 } function level2 { $global:iterations++ Write-Host '$global:iterations in level 2 =' $global:iterations } $global:iterations = 0 Write-Host '$global:iterations at start =' $global:iterations level1 Write-Host '$global:iterations at end =' $global:iterations
The output becomes
$global:iterations at start = 0
$global:iterations in level 1 = 1
$global:iterations in level 2 = 2
$global:iterations at end = 2
It is recommended not to use scopes in scripts if you can possibly avoid it – it can become very confusing in cases that are more complicated than this. The issue is better handled by passing parameters
function level1 { param ($l1iterations) $l1iterations++ Write-Host '$iterations in level 1 = ' $l1iterations $l1iterations = level2 $l1iterations $l1iterations } function level2 { param ($l2iterations) $l2iterations++ Write-Host '$iterations in level 2 =' $l2iterations $l2iterations } $iterations = 0 Write-Host '$iterations at start =' $iterations $iterations = level1 $iterations Write-Host '$iterations at end =' $iterations
Much more on scope can be found in chapter 22 of my latest book PowerShell in Depth coauthored with Don Jones and Jeff Hicks - http://www.manning.com/jones2/
DnsClient module: #1 Get-DnsClientServerAddress
Published October 16, 2012Started to investigate the DnsClient module. First cmdlet to catch my eye was Get-DnsClientServerAddress.
Always good to know a way to find the DNS server.
PS> Get-DnsClientServerAddress
InterfaceAlias Interface Address ServerAddresses
Index Family
-------------- --------- ------- ---------------
Bluetooth Network Connection 19 IPv4 {}
Bluetooth Network Connection 19 IPv6 {fec0:0:0:ffff::1, fec0:0:0:ffff::2, fec0:0:0:ffff::3}
WiFi 12 IPv4 {192.168.1.1}
WiFi 12 IPv6 {}
isatap.tiscali.co.uk 14 IPv4 {192.168.1.1}
isatap.tiscali.co.uk 14 IPv6 {}
Ethernet 13 IPv4 {}
Ethernet 13 IPv6 {fec0:0:0:ffff::1, fec0:0:0:ffff::2, fec0:0:0:ffff::3}
Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1 1 IPv4 {}
Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1 1 IPv6 {fec0:0:0:ffff::1, fec0:0:0:ffff::2, fec0:0:0:ffff::3}
Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-I... 15 IPv4 {}
Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-I... 15 IPv6 {}
Now thats OK but I’d like a bit more information – especially the adapter and IP version. We can get that data using Get-NetAdapter from the NetAdapter module.
Get-DnsClientServerAddress | where {$_.ServerAddresses -and $_.InterfaceAlias -notlike "Loop*" }| foreach { $nic = $_ Get-NetAdapter -IncludeHidden -InterfaceIndex $($nic.InterfaceIndex) | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name ServerAddresses -Value $($nic.ServerAddresses) -PassThru | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name AddressFamily -Value $(if ($nic.AddressFamily -eq 2){"IPv4"}else{"IPv6"} ) -PassThru| select Name, InterfaceDescription, ifIndex, Status, MacAddress, LinkSpeed, AddressFamily, ServerAddresses }
I restricted the output to those interfaces that had DNS server addresses. Used the interface to get the adapter – notice the use of –IncludeHidden – and then used Add-Member to add the addresses and Address family to the data.
These may be CDXML cmdlets but they work the same as any other cmdlet
PowerShell 3 and Word
Published October 15, 2012
This is a common scenario
$word = New-Object -ComObject "Word.application" $word.visible = $true $doc = $word.Documents.Add() $doc.Activate() $word.Selection.Font.Name = "Cambria" $word.Selection.Font.Size = "20" $word.Selection.TypeText("PowerShell") $word.Selection.TypeParagraph() $word.Selection.Font.Name = "Calibri" $word.Selection.Font.Size = "12" $word.Selection.TypeText("The best scripting language in the world!") $word.Selection.TypeParagraph() $file = "c:\scripts\office\test1.doc" $doc.SaveAs([REF]$file) $Word.Quit()
Create a new Word document – put some text into it and save it with a given file name. I’ve used it successfully to create server documentation.
Unfortunately with PowerShell v3 it fails with this message
Exception calling "SaveAs" with "1" argument(s): "This is not a valid file name.
Try one or more of the following:
* Check the path to make sure it was typed correctly.
* Select a file from the list of files and folders."
At line:17 char:1
+ $doc.SaveAs([REF]$file)
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : COMException
It appears not to like the [ref] but if you leave it out you get this
Argument: '1' should be a System.Management.Automation.PSReference. Use [ref].
At line:18 char:1
+ $doc.SaveAs($file)
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NonRefArgumentToRefParameterMsg
[ref] isn’t case sensitive.
The only way round it that I know of is to create a blank Word document to use as a template
Copy-Item -Path mydoc.doc -Destination testdoc.doc -Force $file = "C:\MyData\SkyDrive\Data\Scripts\Office-Word\testdoc.doc" $word = New-Object -ComObject "Word.application" $word.visible = $true $doc = $word.Documents.Open($file) $word.Selection.Font.Name = "Cambria" $word.Selection.Font.Size = "20" $word.Selection.TypeText("PowerShell") $word.Selection.TypeParagraph() $word.Selection.Font.Name = "Calibri" $word.Selection.Font.Size = "12" $word.Selection.TypeText("The best scripting language in the world!") $word.Selection.TypeParagraph() $doc.Save() $doc.Close() $Word.Quit()
Notice that you need to give the full path to the file. Use the Open method and add the text. You can then save, close and quit the application.
I’ve tested this using office 2010 & office 2013 on Windows 7 & 8
Unfortunately we are still left with the problem that we can’t save the Word document into different formats.
PowerShell summit
Published October 14, 2012April 22-14 2013 – Microsoft campus. PowerShell team and MVPs
Tickets going fast
CDXML modules and nouns
Published October 14, 2012CDXML modules don’t expose the verb and the noun of the cmdlets they publish. If you want to discover the set of nouns in a CDXML module you need a bit of brute force:
Get-Command -Module DhcpServer |
foreach {
($_.Name -split "-")[1]
} | sort | group -NoElement | sort count –Descending
Windows 8 update
Published October 12, 2012The first Windows 8 update became available this week. This fixes some issues that have come up during the OEM process. Fast and frequent updates sound good to me.
In addition number of apps have been updated – one I really like is the addition of conversation groupings to the mail app. That’s made it a good bit more useful for me.
A recycle bin for Skydrive also appears to be new – at least I haven’t noticed it before