Because i want to do stuff on my blog that (yet) can't be done using google sites i decided to move my blog.
You can find it at : http://blog.v-apps.nl

thanks!

At my current job we're running 16 Citrix servers on 8 blades running Citrix-XenServer.
They're supposed to boot everyday so a fresh image is loaded on a daily base.
However sometimes sometimes one or two of the servers are not booted, hanging in shutting down.
This causes people not being abled to logon with an ica session.

To check wether a server has booted i created a little script to check upon the uptime.
If the number of days is not 0 (zero) a message is being sent.

cls
$computerlist = "c:\scripts\inventaris\citrix_servers.txt"
$computers = Get-Content $computerlist
$body = "Citrix Server(s) not booted this morning:"
foreach ($computer in $computers)

{

    $wmi = gwmi -ComputerName $computer -Query "SELECT LastBootUpTime FROM Win32_OperatingSystem"
    $now = Get-Date
    $boottime = $wmi.ConvertToDateTime($wmi.LastBootUpTime)
    $uptime = $now - $boottime
    $d =$uptime.days
    $h =$uptime.hours
    $m =$uptime.Minutes
    $s = $uptime.Seconds
    $Info = "$d Days $h Hours $m Min $s Sec"
    if ($d -gt "0"){
    $body = $body + "`r`n $computer        uptime: $info" 
    }

}

$emailFrom = "Citrix_Uptime@domain.local"
$emailTo = "helpdesk@domain.local"
$subject = "Server uptime Citrix)"

$smtpServer = "mail01"
$smtp = new-object Net.Mail.SmtpClient($smtpServer)
$smtp.Send($emailFrom, $emailTo, $subject, $body)

No scripting involved, but just for fun!

You need to create 2 files: ilike.xml and ilike.htm

Content ilike.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<Module>
  <ModulePrefs title="iLike"
  directory_title="iLike"
  description="iframe"
  author="Your Name" author_email="Your E-mail"
  author_link="Your Website"
  scrolling="true"
  category="Facebook">
  </ModulePrefs>
<Content type="url"  href="http://location of ilike.htm"/>
</Module>

Content ilike.htm:

<iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.somewebsite.com&amp;layout=box_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=100&amp;action=like&amp;font=tahoma&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=65" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:100px; height:65px;" allowTransparency="true"></iframe>

replace www.somewebsite.com with the URL of your own domain.

Put these files outside of your google-site but somewhere where you can reach them.

Now you can add a gadget to your page, just point to the ilike.xml file and you're ready to go!

Ever wondered what ODBC connections are defined on all servers in your farm?

This script leads you in the right direction, don't copy one on one because you could be missing something.
Also the results of this script are presented in Excel.

$computers = Get-QADComputer  | sort | where {$_.operatingSystem -match "2003" -AND $_.description -notmatch "disabled" -and $_.name -notmatch "CTX" -and $_.name -notmatch "SEQ02" -and $_.name -notmatch "IBV_S"}

#Create a new Excel object using COM
$Excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$Excel.visible = $True

$Excel = $Excel.Workbooks.Add()
$Sheet = $Excel.Worksheets.Item(1)

#Counter variable for rows
$intRow = 1
 

#Read all hosts
foreach ($computer in $computers){
$Srv = $computer.name
#Create column headers
     $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,1) = "Hostname:"
     $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,2) = $srv
     $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,1).Font.Bold = $True
     $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,2).Font.Bold = $True
     $intRow++
     
     
      $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,1) = "ODBC NAME"
      $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,2) = "Database"
      $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,3) = "Driver"
      $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,4) = "LastUser"
      $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,5) = "Server"
      #Format the column headers
     for ($col = 1; $col –le 5; $col++)
     {
          $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,$col).Font.Bold = $True
          $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,$col).Interior.ColorIndex = 48
          $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,$col).Font.ColorIndex = 34
     }
     $intRow++
     $pingresult = ping $srv
if ($pingresult -match "reply from"){


$key = "SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.ini\ODBC Data Sources"
$type = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryHive]::LocalMachine
$regKey = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey($type, $Srv)
$regKey = $regKey.OpenSubKey($key)


if ($regkey -ne $null){
Foreach($sub in $regKey.GetSubKeyNames()){$sub}

Foreach($val in $regkey.GetValueNames()){

$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,1) = $val

$odbckey = "SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.ini\$val"
$valuename1 = "Database"
$valuename2 = "Driver"
$valuename3 = "LastUser"
$valuename4 = "Server"

$odbcreg = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey('LocalMachine', $srv)
$odbcregkey = $odbcreg.opensubkey($odbckey)
$database = $odbcregkey.getvalue($valuename1)
$driver = $odbcregkey.getvalue($valuename2)
$lastuser = $odbcregkey.getvalue($valuename3)
$server = $odbcregkey.getvalue($valuename4)
$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,2) = $database
$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,3) = $driver
$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,4) = $lastuser
$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,5) = $server

$intRow++} }
}
else {$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,1) = "No ODBC connections on $srv"
$intRow++}
}
$Sheet.UsedRange.EntireColumn.AutoFit()

The following script creates an excel sheet with the following values:
DATABASE NAME    COLLATION    COMPATIBILITY LEVEL    AUTOSHRINK    RECOVERY MODEL    SIZE (MB)    SPACE AVAILABLE (MB)

Make sure you've got a text-file with servernames and put it in C:\scripts\SQL\Servers.txt:
example:
SQL01
SQL02
SQL03
etc.

Code:
CLS
#Create a new Excel object using COM
$Excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$Excel.visible = $True

$Excel = $Excel.Workbooks.Add()
$Sheet = $Excel.Worksheets.Item(1)

#Counter variable for rows
$intRow = 1

#Read thru the contents of the SQL_Servers.txt file
foreach ($instance in get-content "C:\Scripts\SQL\Servers.txt")
{

     #Create column headers
     $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,1) = "INSTANCE NAME:"
     $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,2) = $instance
     $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,1).Font.Bold = $True
     $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,2).Font.Bold = $True

     $intRow++

      $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,1) = "DATABASE NAME"
      $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,2) = "COLLATION"
      $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,3) = "COMPATIBILITY LEVEL"
      $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,4) = "AUTOSHRINK"
      $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,5) = "RECOVERY MODEL"
      $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,6) = "SIZE (MB)"
      $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,7) = "SPACE AVAILABLE (MB)"

     #Format the column headers
     for ($col = 1; $col –le 7; $col++)
     {
          $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,$col).Font.Bold = $True
          $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,$col).Interior.ColorIndex = 48
          $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow,$col).Font.ColorIndex = 34
     }

     $intRow++
      #######################################################
     #This script gets SQL Server database information using PowerShell

     [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName('Microsoft.SqlServer.SMO') | out-null

     # Create an SMO connection to the instance
     $s = New-Object ('Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Server') $instance

     $dbs = $s.Databases

 
     #Formatting using Excel

     ForEach ($db in $dbs)
     {

          #Divide the value of SpaceAvailable by 1KB
          $dbSpaceAvailable = $db.SpaceAvailable/1KB

          #Format the results to a number with three decimal places
          $dbSpaceAvailable = "{0:N3}" -f $dbSpaceAvailable

          $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 1) = $db.Name
          $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 2) = $db.Collation
          $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 3) = $db.CompatibilityLevel

           #Change the background color of the Cell depending on the AutoShrink property value
           if ($db.AutoShrink -eq "True")
          {
               $fgColor = 3
          }
          else
          {
               $fgColor = 0
          }

          $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 4) = $db.AutoShrink
          $Sheet.Cells.item($intRow, 4).Interior.ColorIndex = $fgColor

          $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 5) = $db.RecoveryModel
          $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 6) = "{0:N3}" -f $db.Size

          #Change the background color of the Cell depending on the SpaceAvailable property value
          if ($dbSpaceAvailable -lt 1.00)
          {
               $fgColor = 3
          }
           else
          {
               $fgColor = 0
          }

          $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 7) = $dbSpaceAvailable
          $Sheet.Cells.item($intRow, 7).Interior.ColorIndex = $fgColor

          $intRow ++

     }

$intRow ++

}

$Sheet.UsedRange.EntireColumn.AutoFit()
cls

I was looking for a way to get an overview of all servers in the domain regarding to Operating System and platform.
This is the first script in here using get-WMIOBJECT

Use WMI Explorer to find the properties you are looking for.

Again, if i can be of any help, just let me know.

Here's the script, it gives an idea how to use the get-wmiobject command in PS:

cls
$strPath="c:\xml\computers.xls"
$a = new-object -comobject excel.application
$a.Visible = $true
if (Test-Path $strPath)
{
# Open the document
$b = $a.WorkBooks.Open($strPath)
$c = $b.Worksheets.Item(1)
} else {
# Create It
$b = $a.Workbooks.Add()
$c = $b.Worksheets.Item(1)
#$c.Cells.Item(1,1) = "_Computername"
#$c.cells.item(1,2) = "_Operating System"
#$c.cells.item(1,3) = "_Harware model"
$d = $c.UsedRange
$d.Interior.ColorIndex = 19
$d.Font.ColorIndex = 11
$d.Font.Bold = $True
} 
$introw = $c.UsedRange.Rows.Count + 1
$computers = Get-QADComputer -OSName 'Windows*Server*'
foreach ($computer in $computers){
$name = $computer.name
$OS = $computer.operatingSystem
$uuu = $OS.Substring(0,14)
$ServerOS = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $computer.name
$Platform = Get-WmiObject Win32_ComputerSystem -ComputerName $computer.name
$SOS = $ServerOS.caption
$hw = $Platform.Model
if ($uuu -eq 'Windows Server') {
$introw = $introw  + 1
$c.cells.item($introw, 1) = $name
$c.cells.item($introw, 2) = $SOS
$c.cells.item($introw, 3) = $hw
}}
$objRange = $c.UsedRange
$objRange2 = $a.Range("A1")
[void] $objRange.Sort($objRange2)
$objRange.NumberFormat = "0#########"
$objRange.EntireColumn.AutoFit() |out-null

Because of security questions i was asked to create a list of all external users with their group-membership.
I wrote this Powershell script, it retrieves all groups a member belongs to.

I wrote a little script to extract phonenumbers out of our Active Directory and put them in an Excel document.
I reused most of the scripting i found on the internet, and just adjusted some to fit my own purposes.
The handy part of the script is in the tail where i want to give a cel-format to prevent excel from cutting the 0 (zero) in front of the phone number.
Also the outcome is sorted and the cellwidth is adjusted.

BTW: If you have any questions about scripting in Powershell, i might be of any help.

Here's the script: