Archive | January, 2012

Quick PowerShell script to run a command on every machine in an OU

I wanted to run a command on all machines in an OU. I know this documented all over the place, but this is the syntax I like:

foreach ($COMPUTER in $(Get-ADComputer -Filter * -Searchbase 'OU=SubOU,OU=TopLevelOU,DC=DOMAIN,DC=LOCAL')){
  write-host "Connecting to $($COMPUTER.Name)"
  Invoke-Command $COMPUTER.Name {ipconfig /renew}
}

Install OpenManage Server Administrator on ESXi5 via PowerCLI

Dell has changed how you install OpenManage Server Administrator on ESXi5. To do this via PowerCLI, use the following steps.

  1. Download the new vib file: OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-6.5.0-542907.VIB-ESX50i_A02.zip (most recent can be found here)
  2. Extract it and upload the folder via the vSphere client (browse datastore and upload the extracted folder)
  3. Put the ESXi5 box into maintenance mode.
  4. From PowerShell with the PowerCLI installed:
    1. Connect- VIServer -Server x.x.x.x
    2. Install-VMHostPatch -HostPath /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/OM-SrvAdmin-Dell-Web-6.5.0-542907.VIB-ESX50i_A02/metadata.zip (or where ever you uploaded it)

Note: You can no longer connect directly to that web interface on port 1311 of the ESXi5 box. Now, you now have to go to a different OpenManage Server Administrator install (log out if you are auto logged in) and select “Manage remote node”. That is a pain.

jbmurphy.com’s first year in blogging


I had a goal last year, a goal of blogging 2 times a week for the entire year. I ended up with 116 posts. A couple of those posts were a few dates late, so I did not meet my exact goal of 2 times week, but I always managed 4 posts in every two weeks. My year end results are 16,368 visits and 14,067 unique visitors. Fun stuff.  I know is it no much, but I see a upward trent in the graph below! Wonder where I will be next year?

I hope my tech ramblings are useful to the 14,067 people that visited my site.

SQL query to find the number of WordPress posts this year!

I was compiling my year end wrap up (hits, posts, twitter followers), and I realized I did not know how many posts I created this year. I ran the following query again my WordPress database to find out.

select post_date,post_title from wp_posts where post_type = ‘post’ AND post_status = ‘publish’ AND post_date like ‘%2011-%’;

My goal was 2 a week for a year. I ended up with 116.

More on this later.

PowerShell script to add Active Setup registry entries

I am interested in using Active Setup more throughout our environment. The thing I like about Active Setup is that if I screw up, it will only run once and not over and over! Kidding, but the “run one” nature of Active Setup is nice. I wanted a PowerShell function to create Active Setup registry entries, so I can script the updates on multiple machine. Here is that function:

Function JBMURPHY-AddToActiveSetup {
  Param([parameter(Mandatory = $true)]$ActiveSetupUniqueName,
	[parameter(Mandatory = $true)]$ActiveSetupStubPath,
	[parameter(Mandatory = $true)]$ActiveSetupVersion)
  $ParentKey="HKLM:Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components"
  $Key=$ParentKey + "\" + $ActiveSetupUniqueName
  # Check for key
  if (!(Test-Path $Key)){
    New-Item -type Directory $($ParentKey + "\" + $ActiveSetupUniqueName)
  }
  else {
    write-host "Key exists"
  }
  Set-ItemProperty $($Key) -name "StubPath" -value $ActiveSetupStubPath
  Set-ItemProperty $($Key) -name "Version" -value $ActiveSetupVersion
}