#NeverStopLearning 10 Minutes of Code: PS Array .Add

One of the scripts I’ve been working through in my spare time is a script to identify what servers I can’t reliably use Powershell remotely on. We manage a large domain of legacy servers, and it’s been sliced into smaller segments that have some complex routing; it’s a bit of a nightmare, but I figured I could probe each computer and run some basic PS script to see if it responds.

However, we have a LOT of servers, and some of them fail even the basic ping test. Why waste resources on testing PS commands when I can’t even reach those? My solution? Run a ping test first, and build two arrays: one that contains pingable servers, and one that does not.

 Foreach ($computer in $computers)
{
#ping test first; if it fails, add it to a new array $aNoPing with the .Add method
if(-not (test-connection -ComputerName $computer.Name -COUNT 1 -Quiet))
{
    [void]$aNoPing.Add($computer)
 }
else #it pinged, add it to a new array $aComputers for the rest of the test
    {
        [void]$aComputers.Add($computer)
    }
}                       
#generate some output; these boxes need to be looked at.
Write-Output “”
Write-Output “The following servers cannot be reached by ping.”
Write-Output “————————————————“
$aNoPing

Tags: NeverStopLearningPowerShell