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Retrieving Information from Computers Belonging to an Active Directory OU

This script queries a particular Organizational Unit (OU) in your Active Directory for a list of computers. It will then use WMI to query various properties of those computers and output it into table format. Take a look at the script Listing 3-2.

$ou = [ADSI]"LDAP://ou=test,dc=testlab,dc=local"
$computers = $ou.PSBase.Get_Children()
$arrInfo = @()
foreach($node in $computers){
$arrInfo += Get-WmiObject - query "Select `
	Name,Manufacturer,Model, `
	NumberOf Processors, `
	TotalPhysicalMemory `
	From Win32_ComputerSystem" `
	-computername &node.Name
}
$arrInfo | format-table Name,Manufacturer, `
	Model, NumberOf Processors, TotalPhysicalMemory

Listing 3-2

As you can see in Figure 3-2, this script lists the name, manufacturer, model, number of processors, and the total amount of physical memory for each computer in the given OU. For now, I'm assuming that every item in the given OU is a computer. In a real production script, I would put in a lot more error checking between commands and also create filters for the Active Directory query because OUs can contain computers and other types of objects such as users, groups, and contacts.

If you want to see how this script runs on your own system, open your text editor and type it in (or use the file for this listing on the book's Web site). You have to change the LDAP path to an existing OU within your Active Directory, then save it as complist.psl. Now run this script and watch the magic happen.

Tip: You'll see that some lines end with a backtick (`) character. This means that the next line is just a continuation of the current line and not a separate command. This is useful if you have very long commands that you want to break up into multiple lines rather than have them keep going on and on to the right.

Warning: Don't confuse the backtick (`) with the single quote ('). The backtick character is typically found to the left of the number 1 key on U.S. keyboard (usually above the tab key).

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More Windows Administration Information:
• A Day in the Life of a System Administrator
• What is Windows Aero and Mouse Gestures?
• How to Backup Mails and Address Book of Outlook Express
• Restrict Web Browsing With Internet Explorer
• Turn Off Windows 10 Snap and Shake
• DOS Tasklist and Taskkill Commands
• Recovering an Older Version of a File
• Three Important Techniques for Securing a Wireless Network
• Retrieving Information from Computers Belonging to an Active Directory OU
• Introduction to Windows PowerShell