Alfa BBT

I’ve had the chance to play around with some PowerShell scripting again. A nice occasion to try and include some Comment Based Help I read about in TechNet Magazine a couple of months ago. However I couldn’t get it to work in combination with the standard script header template I tend to use for all of my scripts.

I experimented with commenting out each line on its own:

#header
#
#help

or using comment blocks

<#
header
help
#>

even

<#
header
#>
<#
help
#>

and a couple more variations, but no joy. After some “binging” I ended up reading about_Comment_Based_Help;

All of the lines in a comment-based Help topic must be contiguous. If a comment-based Help topic follows a comment that is not part of the Help topic, there must be at least one blank line between the last non-Help comment line and the beginning of the comment-based Help.

It still took some more trial and error to realize that an “empty line” well, needs to be really empty. It cannot contain a comment character either! Call me stupid ;-)

Here’s an example of how it should be done (Ref. line 22):

#========================================================================================================
# AUTHOR
# Koen Vermoesen
# ***.***@***.***
# 2010-05-20
#========================================================================================================
# SCRIPT
# Create custom address lists based on a CSV file
#========================================================================================================
# PREREQUISITES
# /
#========================================================================================================
# CHANGE HISTORY:
# 2010-05-10 Initial version
#========================================================================================================
# TO DO
# /
#========================================================================================================
# COMMENTS
# Parent lists need to proceed child lists in your input csv-file!
#========================================================================================================

#.SYNOPSIS
#Create custom address lists
#
#.DESCRIPTION
#Create custom address lists based on a CSV file called "CreateAddressLists.csv" with these columns
# - Name
# - Container
# - RecipientFilter
#The script will check if the "Container"-field is empty and run de cmdlet with or without "-container" option
#
#.Link
#http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996912.aspx

$Input = "CreateAddressLists.csv"
Import-CSV $Input | Foreach { If ($_.Container -eq "") {New-AddressList -Name $_.Name -RecipientFilter $_.RecipientFilter} else {New-AddressList -Name $_.Name -Container $_.Container -RecipientFilter $_.RecipientFilter}}

For those of you wondering, I have the habit of using scripts not just for bulky or repetitive actions but also as means of documentation and standardization. Additionally these scripts come in handy If you ever need to rebuild some part of the infrastructure. Hence the 35 lines of comment for only 2 lines of code.

Notepad++ supports Powershell from version v5.6 but the VMware PowerCLI cmdlets aren’t included.

So I created PowerCLI Language definition file for syntax highlighting. It contains the cmdlets available in vSphere PowerCLI 4 Update 1 and vCenter Update Manager PowerCLI 4 Update 1.

<NotepadPlus>
    <UserLang name="PowerCLI" ext="ps1">
        <Settings>
            <Global caseIgnored="yes" />
            <TreatAsSymbol comment="no" commentLine="no" />
            <Prefix words1="yes" words2="yes" words3="no" words4="no" />
        </Settings>
        <KeywordLists>
            <Keywords name="Delimiters">000000</Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Folder+"></Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Folder-"></Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Operators"></Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Comment"></Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Words1">Add-PassthroughDevice Add-VMHost Add-VmHostNtpServer Apply-DrsRecommendation Apply-VMHostProfile Connect-VIServer Copy-DatastoreItem Copy-HardDisk Copy-VMGuestFile Disconnect-VIServer Dismount-Tools Export-VApp Export-VMHostProfile Get-Annotation Get-CDDrive Get-Cluster Get-CustomAttribute Get-Datacenter Get-Datastore Get-DrsRecommendation Get-DrsRule Get-FloppyDrive Get-Folder Get-HardDisk Get-Inventory Get-IScsiHbaTarget Get-Log Get-LogType Get-NetworkAdapter Get-NicTeamingPolicy Get-OSCustomizationNicMapping Get-OSCustomizationSpec Get-PassthroughDevice Get-PowerCLIConfiguration Get-PowerCLIVersion Get-ResourcePool Get-ScsiLun Get-ScsiLunPath Get-Snapshot Get-Stat Get-StatInterval Get-StatType Get-Task Get-Template Get-UsbDevice Get-VApp Get-VICredentialStoreItem Get-VIEvent Get-View Get-VIObjectByVIView Get-VIPermission Get-VIPrivilege Get-VIRole Get-VirtualPortGroup Get-VirtualSwitch Get-VM Get-VMGuest Get-VMGuestNetworkInterface Get-VMGuestRoute Get-VMHost Get-VMHostAccount Get-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration Get-VMHostAvailableTimeZone Get-VMHostDiagnosticPartition Get-VMHostFirewallDefaultPolicy Get-VMHostFirewallException Get-VMHostFirmware Get-VMHostHba Get-VMHostModule Get-VMHostNetwork Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter Get-VMHostNtpServer Get-VMHostProfile Get-VMHostService Get-VMHostSnmp Get-VMHostStartPolicy Get-VMHostStorage Get-VMHostSysLogServer Get-VMQuestion Get-VMResourceConfiguration Get-VMStartPolicy Import-VApp Import-VMHostProfile Install-VMHostPatch Invoke-VMScript Mount-Tools Move-Cluster Move-Datacenter Move-Folder Move-Inventory Move-ResourcePool Move-Template Move-VM Move-VMHostNew-CDDrive New-ClusterNew-CustomAttribute New-CustomField New-Datacenter New-Datastore New-DrsRule New-FloppyDrive New-Folder New-HardDisk New-IScsiHbaTarget New-NetworkAdapter New-OSCustomizationNicMapping New-OSCustomizationSpec New-ResourcePool New-Snapshot New-StatInterval New-Template New-VApp New-VICredentialStoreItem New-VIPermission New-VIRole New-VirtualPortGroup New-VirtualSwitch New-VM New-VMGuestRoute New-VMHostAccount New-VMHostNetworkAdapter New-VMHostProfile Remove-CDDrive Remove-Cluster Remove-CustomAttribute Remove-CustomField Remove-Datacenter Remove-Datastore Remove-DrsRule Remove-FloppyDrive Remove-Folder Remove-HardDisk Remove-Inventory Remove-IScsiHbaTarget Remove-NetworkAdapter Remove-OSCustomizationNicMap... Remove-OSCustomizationSpec Remove-PassthroughDevice Remove-ResourcePool Remove-Snapshot Remove-StatInterval Remove-Template Remove-UsbDevice Remove-VApp Remove-VICredentialStoreItem Remove-VIPermission Remove-VIRole Remove-VirtualPortGroup Remove-VirtualSwitch Remove-VM Remove-VMGuestRoute Remove-VMHost Remove-VMHostAccount Remove-VMHostNetworkAdapter Remove-VMHostNtpServer Remove-VMHostProfile Restart-VM Restart-VMGuest Restart-VMHost Restart-VMHostService Set-Annotation Set-CDDrive Set-Cluster Set-CustomAttribute Set-CustomField Set-Datacenter Set-Datastore Set-DrsRule Set-FloppyDrive Set-Folder Set-HardDisk Set-IScsiHbaTarget Set-NetworkAdapter Set-NicTeamingPolicy Set-OSCustomizationNicMapping Set-OSCustomizationSpec Set-PowerCLIConfiguration Set-ResourcePool Set-ScsiLun Set-ScsiLunPath Set-Snapshot Set-StatInterval Set-Template Set-VApp Set-VIPermission Set-VIRole Set-VirtualPortGroup Set-VirtualSwitch Set-VM Set-VMGuestNetworkInterface Set-VMGuestRoute Set-VMHost Set-VMHostAccount Set-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration Set-VMHostDiagnosticPartition Set-VMHostFirewallDefaultPolicy Set-VMHostFirewallException Set-VMHostFirmware Set-VMHostHba Set-VMHostModule Set-VMHostNetwork Set-VMHostNetworkAdapter Set-VMHostProfile Set-VMHostService Set-VMHostSnmp Set-VMHostStartPolicy Set-VMHostStorage Set-VMHostSysLogServer Set-VMQuestion Set-VMResourceConfiguration Set-VMStartPolicy Shutdown-VMGuest Start-VApp Start-VM Start-VMHost Start-VMHostService Stop-Task Stop-VApp Stop-VM Stop-VMHost Stop-VMHostService Suspend-VM Suspend-VMGuest Suspend-VMHost Test-VMHostProfileCompliance Test-VMHostSnmp Update-Tools Wait-Task Attach-Baseline Detach-Baseline Download-Patch Get-Baseline Get-Compliance Get-Patch Get-PatchBaseline New-PatchBaseline Remediate-Inventory Remove-Baseline Scan-Inventory Set-PatchBaseline Stage-Patch</Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Words2">Answer-VMQuestion Get-ESX Get-PowerCLIDocumentation Get-VC Get-VIServer Get-VIToolkitConfiguration Get-VIToolkitVersion Set-VIToolkitConfiguration</Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Words3"></Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Words4"></Keywords>
        </KeywordLists>
        <Styles>
            <WordsStyle name="DEFAULT" styleID="11" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="FOLDEROPEN" styleID="12" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="FOLDERCLOSE" styleID="13" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="KEYWORD1" styleID="5" fgColor="0000FF" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="1" />
            <WordsStyle name="KEYWORD2" styleID="6" fgColor="8080FF" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="KEYWORD3" styleID="7" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="KEYWORD4" styleID="8" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="COMMENT" styleID="1" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="COMMENT LINE" styleID="2" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="NUMBER" styleID="4" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="OPERATOR" styleID="10" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="DELIMINER1" styleID="14" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="DELIMINER2" styleID="15" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="DELIMINER3" styleID="16" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
        </Styles>
    </UserLang>
</NotepadPlus>

To add PowerCLI as a user-defined language %APPDATA%\Notepad++\userDefineLang.xml and add the above configuration to this file.

Secondly I created a PowerCLI auto-completion file which contains the same PowerCLI cmdlets. This configuration needs to be added to C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins\APIs\PowerCLI.xml. The name of the auto-completion file needs to be the same as defined in the user-defined language definition file.

<NotepadPlus>
	<AutoComplete>
		<KeyWord name="Add-PassthroughDevice"/>
		<KeyWord name="Add-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Add-VmHostNtpServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Answer-VMQuestion"/>
		<KeyWord name="Apply-DrsRecommendation"/>
		<KeyWord name="Apply-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Attach-Baseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="Connect-VIServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Copy-DatastoreItem"/>
		<KeyWord name="Copy-HardDisk"/>
		<KeyWord name="Copy-VMGuestFile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Detach-Baseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="Disconnect-VIServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Dismount-Tools"/>
		<KeyWord name="Download-Patch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Export-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Export-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Annotation"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Baseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-CDDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Cluster"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Compliance"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-CustomAttribute"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Datacenter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Datastore"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-DrsRecommendation"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-DrsRule"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-ESX"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-FloppyDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Folder"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-HardDisk"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-IScsiHbaTarget"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Inventory"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Log"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-LogType"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-NetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-NicTeamingPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-OSCustomizationNicMapping"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-OSCustomizationSpec"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-PassthroughDevice"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Patch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-PatchBaseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-PowerCLIConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-PowerCLIDocumentation"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-PowerCLIVersion"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-ResourcePool"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-ScsiLun"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-ScsiLunPath"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Snapshot"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Stat"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-StatInterval"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-StatType"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Task"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Template"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-UsbDevice"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VC"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VICredentialStoreItem"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIEvent"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIObjectByVIView"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIPermission"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIPrivilege"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIRole"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIToolkitConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIToolkitVersion"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMGuest"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMGuestNetworkInterface"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMGuestRoute"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostAccount"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostAvailableTimeZone"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostDiagnosticPartition"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostFirewallDefaultPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostFirewallException"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostFirmware"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostHba"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostModule"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostNetwork"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostNtpServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostService"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostSnmp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostStartPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostStorage"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostSysLogServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMQuestion"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMResourceConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMStartPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-View"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VirtualPortGroup"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VirtualSwitch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Import-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Import-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Install-VMHostPatch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Invoke-VMScript"/>
		<KeyWord name="Mount-Tools"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-Cluster"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-Datacenter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-Folder"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-Inventory"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-ResourcePool"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-Template"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-CDDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-Cluster"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-CustomAttribute"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-CustomField"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-Datacenter"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-Datastore"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-DrsRule"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-FloppyDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-Folder"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-HardDisk"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-IScsiHbaTarget"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-NetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-OSCustomizationNicMapping"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-OSCustomizationSpec"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-PatchBaseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-ResourcePool"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-Snapshot"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-StatInterval"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-Template"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VICredentialStoreItem"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VIPermission"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VIRole"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VMGuestRoute"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VMHostAccount"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VMHostNetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VirtualPortGroup"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VirtualSwitch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remediate-Inventory"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Baseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-CDDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Cluster"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-CustomAttribute"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-CustomField"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Datacenter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Datastore"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-DrsRule"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-FloppyDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Folder"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-HardDisk"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-IScsiHbaTarget"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Inventory"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-NetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-OSCustomizationNicMap..."/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-OSCustomizationSpec"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-PassthroughDevice"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-ResourcePool"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Snapshot"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-StatInterval"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Template"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-UsbDevice"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VICredentialStoreItem"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VIPermission"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VIRole"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VMGuestRoute"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VMHostAccount"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VMHostNetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VMHostNtpServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VirtualPortGroup"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VirtualSwitch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Restart-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Restart-VMGuest"/>
		<KeyWord name="Restart-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Restart-VMHostService"/>
		<KeyWord name="Scan-Inventory"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Annotation"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-CDDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Cluster"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-CustomAttribute"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-CustomField"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Datacenter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Datastore"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-DrsRule"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-FloppyDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Folder"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-HardDisk"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-IScsiHbaTarget"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-NetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-NicTeamingPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-OSCustomizationNicMapping"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-OSCustomizationSpec"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-PatchBaseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-PowerCLIConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-ResourcePool"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-ScsiLun"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-ScsiLunPath"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Snapshot"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-StatInterval"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Template"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VIPermission"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VIRole"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMGuestNetworkInterface"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMGuestRoute"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostAccount"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostDiagnosticPartition"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostFirewallDefaultPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostFirewallException"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostFirmware"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostHba"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostModule"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostNetwork"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostNetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostService"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostSnmp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostStartPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostStorage"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostSysLogServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMQuestion"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMResourceConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMStartPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VirtualPortGroup"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VirtualSwitch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Shutdown-VMGuest"/>
		<KeyWord name="Stage-Patch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Start-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Start-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Start-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Start-VMHostService"/>
		<KeyWord name="Stop-Task"/>
		<KeyWord name="Stop-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Stop-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Stop-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Stop-VMHostService"/>
		<KeyWord name="Suspend-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Suspend-VMGuest"/>
		<KeyWord name="Suspend-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Test-VMHostProfileCompliance"/>
		<KeyWord name="Test-VMHostSnmp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Update-Tools"/>
		<KeyWord name="Wait-Task "/>
	</AutoComplete>
</NotepadPlus>

I needed to add a group of users to the ACL of all our printers. As we currently have about 100 printers; I looked if I could use powershell for this.
Currently on Windows server 2008 there are no built in cmdlets to administrate printers. But I did find a useful powershell script with everything I needed.

I ended up with only executing one line of code to add the group to all the printers.

Get-printer printserver | add-printerpermission -user “domain\groupname” -AceType Allow -accessmask ManagePrinters

The script can be found here, I’m posting the google translation link as my Russian isn’t that good;-)

Question: How to split a csv file in one txt file per line? The first column in the CSV provides the name for the TXT-file and the second one the contents.

SetLocal EnableDelayedExpansion
for /f %%i in (inp.csv) do set var=%%i& set name=!var:~0,6!& set phone=!var:~7,4!& echo !phone!>>!name!.txt
EndLocal

I’m very fond of the powerful AdFind command line utility from joeware.net. Here’s a little list I’m keeping for my own reference:

Find the user behind a GUID:

adfind -binenc -gc -s subtree -b dc=test,dc=com -f "objectGUID={{GUID:????????-????-????-????-????????????}}" displayName

Likewise, you can use the same tool to find the e-mail address of a certain user:

adfind -gc -b dc=???,dc=??? -nodn -nolabel -f "sAMAccountName=??????" mail

The command above is actually part of script, so I used the “-nodn” and “-nolabel” parameters to have the tool only return the e-mail address. You obviously need to replace the question marks with something meaningful in the examples above.

List all distribution groups:

adfind -csv -nodn -f "(&(objectcategory=group)(mail=*))" displayname

List all contacts:

adfind -csv -nodn -f "(&(&(& (mailnickname=*) (| (&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=contact)) ))))" displayname

List all mailbox-enabled users:

adfind -csv -nodn -f "(&(&(& (mailnickname=*) (| (&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)(|(homeMDB=*)(msExchHomeServerName=*))) ))))" displayname

Run a query against another domain:

adfind -h %servername% -u %domain%\%username% -up %password% -csv -nodn -f "displayname=John Doe" displayname

List all the members of a DL (and optionally use the resulting dn to retrieve some more readable information):

adfind -list -f "DisplayName=%displayname%" member
adfind -list -f "DisplayName=%displayname%" member | adfind -csv -nodn mailnickname displayname mail

Report on the usage of Extension Attributes:

adfind -csv -nodn -f "(|(ExtensionAttribute1=*)(ExtensionAttribute2=*)(ExtensionAttribute3=*)(ExtensionAttribute4=*)(ExtensionAttribute5=*)(ExtensionAttribute6=*)(ExtensionAttribute7=*)(ExtensionAttribute8=*)(ExtensionAttribute9=*)(ExtensionAttribute10=*)(ExtensionAttribute11=*)(ExtensionAttribute12=*)(ExtensionAttribute13=*)(ExtensionAttribute14=*)(ExtensionAttribute15=*))" displayname ExtensionAttribute1 ExtensionAttribute2 ExtensionAttribute3 ExtensionAttribute4 ExtensionAttribute5 ExtensionAttribute6 ExtensionAttribute7 ExtensionAttribute8 ExtensionAttribute9 ExtensionAttribute10 ExtensionAttribute11 ExtensionAttribute12 ExtensionAttribute13 ExtensionAttribute14 ExtensionAttribute15

Count the number of mailboxes on an exchange server:

adfind -c -f "msExchHomeServerName=/o=EMS/ou=First Administrative Group/cn=Configuration/cn=Servers/cn=%servername%"

Imagine you’re working as a consultant/contractor for a large organisation and you want to know the end date of you contract:

adfind -tdcs -f "samaccountname=%UserName%" accountExpires

The “tdcs” parameter converts the time in a human readable format.

Somebody called you on your mobile phone and you want to know who:

adfind -list -f "telephoneNumber=*%extension%" displayname

More info

• msexchange.org
• theessentialexchange.com
• petri.co.il
• petri.co.il

I gave a custom Exchange 2007 course to one of our customers yesterday. Not unsurprisingly, it also included a demo of Exchange Management Shell (EMS). These demos tend to end up in a quest for the exact command, which is quite annoying if you’re in front of an audience (even a small one). Think about:

• about_regular_expressions or about_regular_expression?
• $_. or $._?
• Why is -Confirm $False not working?

This time I decided to try and automate that demo by using the autoreplace feature (Hotstring) in AutoHotKey. The main goal is avoiding typo’s by using tried and true commands in a working order. A poor man’s Start-Demo script if you wish ;-)

The script starts of with a bunch of commands controlling the overall functionallity (the first 3 come with the default template):

#NoEnv

Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.

SendMode Input

Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.

SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%

Ensures a consistent starting directory.

#Hotstring EndChars `n

Limit the hotstring end characters to ENTER only

#Hotstring O

Don’t actually type the end character. (I want to launch the command myself after/during my explanation.)

#Hotstring R

Type replacement text in raw mode. (To prevent AHK from interpreting e.g. “{“)

The remainder of the script is actually a long list of hotstring definitions like these ones

::ems01::Get-Help
::ems02::Get-Help About
::ems03::Get-Help About_Regular_Expression
::ems04::Get-Command *mailbox
::ems05::Get-Help New-Mailbox
::ems06::Get-Help New-Mailbox -Detailed
::ems07::Get-Help New-Mailbox -Full

and so on.

Seems stupid with these simple examples, but the advantage becomes clear for more complex commands. Lets take “ems26″ for example;

::ems26::1..10 | Foreach-Object { new-mailbox -Database “Mailbox Database 2″ -Name (“User” + $_) -UserPrincipalName (“User” + $_ + “@exchange2007.lab”) -Password $Pwd }

When I type “ems26″+ENTER in EMS AutoHotKey executable automatically replaces this string with “1..10 | Foreach-Object { new-mailbox -Database “Mailbox Database 2″ -Name (“User” + $_) -UserPrincipalName (“User” + $_ + “@exchange2007.lab”) -Password $Pwd }” and waits. I do my talking and then hit ENTER again to execute the command.

It worked nicely actually. People were impressed with my typing skills ;-) I only encountered one error because I didn’t delete some manually after a test the day before. It even works with shell running inside a VM while the AutoHotKey script is running on my physical computer.

The users at a certain customer have a problem with reopening Lotus Notes if their session is not closed properly (e.g. because of a crash of a terminal server). They keep receiving the error message “Domino Server still running” until we close the open files.

I’ve been writing a script over time to automate this process which becomes quickly annoying after you’ve done it a couple of times.

More specifically, the script will:

1. Connect to a GC to get domain and display name (ADFind)
2. Connect to a DC to get home directory (ADFind)
3. Derive server name from the previous query via string manipulation (Set)
4. Kill PsExec if it’s already running (SC)
5. Find the physical disk (PsExec)
6. List open Notes files and ask if you whan to close them (PsFile)
7. Close the files if after you confirmed you wanted to do so (PsFile)
8. Quit
9. Last but not least, it will put a comment on the clipboard for easy pasting in the incident management tool ;-)

Prerequisites are both ADFind and PsTools.

Well, here it is:

   1: ::========================================================================================================

   2: :: AUTHOR

   3: ::    Koen Vermoesen

   4: ::    koen.vermoesen@nospam.com

   5: ::    2008-04-24

   6: ::========================================================================================================

   7: :: SCRIPT

   8: ::    Close open lotus notes files

   9: ::========================================================================================================

  10: :: PREREQUISITES

  11: ::    ADFind    http://www.joeware.net/freetools/tools/adfind/index.htm

  12: ::    PsTools    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896649.aspx

  13: ::========================================================================================================

  14: :: CHANGE HISTORY:

  15: ::    2008-04-24 Initial version

  16: ::    2008-04-25 Use %temp% to avoid writing to a network share all the time

  17: ::    2008-05-07 Added a todo for the script

  18: ::    2008-05-13 Call another script to verify & close psexec if it's already running

  19: ::    2008-05-13 Goto end (skip closing)  when no open files found

  20: ::    2008-05-13 Print user's diplay name as a means to cross check

  21: ::    2008-05-14 Removed last reference to temporary file

  22: ::    2008-07-31 Started using ADFind to make script work across domains

  23: ::    2008-07-31 Removed dependency on other scripts for easy sharing with colleagues

  24: ::    2008-09-16 Goto end after closing files + use variable for Title

  25: ::    2008-10-06 Provide some help when no parameters are being passed

  26: ::    2008-10-07 Used hardcoded path for DFS

  27: ::    2008-10-07 Check if very first query returns a valid resullt. Jump to help (skip remainder of script) if not

  28: ::    2008-10-07 Update Help: hardcoded DFS values + for loop example for running against a batch of users

  29: ::    2008-10-27 Use clip.exe to store some comment on the clipboard for easy pasting in the incident

  30: ::========================================================================================================

  31: :: TO DO

  32: ::    Integrate logic for working on a batch of users.

  33: ::========================================================================================================

  34:  

  35: @echo off

  36: setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

  37:  

  38: :: Setting some variables

  39: Set StrTitle=Close open Lotus Notes files

  40: Set strHomeDirAB=FileServer01

  41: Set strHardDiskAB=E:

  42:  

  43: Cls

  44: Title %StrTitle%

  45:  

  46: ::Saving the input parameter to variable

  47: Set StrUserName=%1

  48: If "[%strUserName%]"=="[]" Goto Help

  49: Set Return=return1

  50: Goto SubEcho

  51: :return1

  52:  

  53: :: Looking up Distinguished Name & Display Name

  54: For /F "tokens=1,2 delims=;" %%I in ('adfind -nodn -csv -nocsvheader -csvnoq -csvdelim ^; -gc -s subtree -b dc^=domain^,dc^=tld -f ^"sAMAccountName^=%StrUserName%^" distinguishedName displayName') Do Set StrDistingName=%%I & Set StrDisplayName=%%J

  55: If "[%StrDisplayName%]"=="[]" Echo. & Echo No valid user object found; please check the username. & Echo. & Goto Help

  56: Set StrBaseDN=%StrDistingName:~-26%

  57: Set Return=return2

  58: Goto SubEcho

  59: :return2

  60:  

  61: :: Looking up Home Directory

  62: Set StrTLD=%StrBaseDN:~22,3%

  63: Set StrRoot=%StrBaseDN:~15,3%

  64: Set StrDomain=%StrBaseDN:~3,8%

  65: For /F %%I in ('adfind -nodn -csv -nocsvheader -csvnoq -s subtree -b dc^=%StrDomain%^,dc^=%StrRoot%^,dc^=%StrTLD% -f ^"sAMAccountName^=%StrUserName%^" homeDirectory') Do Set StrHomeDirectory=%%I

  66: Set Return=return3

  67: Goto SubEcho

  68: :return3

  69:  

  70: :: Looking up Home Server

  71: IF /I "%StrDomain%"=="subdomain3" (Set StrHomeServer=%strHomeDirAB%) Else (For /F "tokens=1 delims=\" %%I in ("%StrHomeDirectory%") Do Set StrHomeServer=%%I)

  72: Set Return=return4

  73: Goto SubEcho

  74: :return4

  75:  

  76: :: Ensuring PsExec is not running on Home Server

  77: echo.

  78: For /F "Tokens=2" %%I in ('sc \\%StrHomeServer% query psexesvc ^| find "SERVICE_NAME"') Do Set StrPsexecExists=%%I

  79: If /I "%StrPsexecExists%"=="psexesvc" (echo PsExec running on the remote host; killing it. & sc \\%StrHomeServer% stop psexesvc & sc \\%StrHomeServer% delete psexesvc) else (echo PsExec is not running on the remote host.)

  80:  

  81: :: Looking up Physical Disk

  82: echo.

  83: IF /I "%StrDomain%"=="subdomain3" (Set StrHardDisk=%strHardDiskAB%) Else (For /F "tokens=2 delims=\ " %%I in ('psexec \\%StrHomeServer% net share ^| find /i "%StrUserName%"') Do Set StrHardDisk=%%I)

  84: Set Return=return5

  85: Goto SubEcho

  86: :return5

  87:  

  88: :: Listing open Lotus Notes Files

  89: IF /I "%StrDomain%"=="subdomain1" (set StrNotesPath=%StrHardDisk%\folder\%StrUserName%\windows\NotesR6)

  90: IF /I "%StrDomain%"=="subdomain2" (set StrNotesPath=%StrHardDisk%\folder\folder\%StrUserName%\notes\data)

  91: IF /I "%StrDomain%"=="subdomain3" (set StrNotesPath=%StrHardDisk%\folder\%StrUserName%\WINDOWS\NotesR6)

  92: Set StrOpenFiles=

  93: For /F "tokens=2 delims=] " %%I in ('psfile \\%StrHomeServer% %StrNotesPath% ^| find /i "] %StrNotesPath%"') Do Set StrOpenFiles=!StrOpenFiles!%%I   

  94: Set Return=return6

  95: Goto SubEcho

  96: :return6

  97: echo.

  98: IF /I "%StrOpenFiles%"=="" (Echo No open files found. & goto :end)

  99: echo Open Files:

 100: For %%I in (%StrOpenFiles%) do echo %%I

 101:  

 102: :: Closing open Lotus Notes Files

 103: echo.

 104: Set /P StrConfirmClose="Press <c> to close these files, <enter> key will SKIP this step."

 105: IF /I "%StrConfirmClose%"=="c" (psfile \\%StrHomeServer% %StrNotesPath% -c) ELSE Goto end

 106: Set Return=return7

 107: Goto SubEcho

 108: :return7

 109: echo.

 110: echo Open Lotus Notes files closed!

 111: echo Open Lotus Notes files for user %StrUserName% on server %StrHomeServer% closed. | clip

 112: Goto End

 113:  

 114: :: Procedure printing the different values determined by script

 115: :SubEcho

 116: cls

 117: Title %StrTitle%

 118: Echo User:        %StrUserName%

 119: Echo Name:        %StrDisplayName%

 120: Echo BaseDN:        %StrBaseDN%

 121: Echo TLD:        %StrTLD%

 122: Echo Root:        %StrRoot%

 123: Echo Domain:        %StrDomain%

 124: Echo HomeDir:    %StrHomeDirectory%

 125: Echo Server:        %StrHomeServer%

 126: Echo Disk:        %StrHardDisk%

 127: Echo Path:        %StrNotesPath%

 128: Goto %Return%

 129:  

 130: :Help

 131: Title %strTitle%

 132: Echo You should call this script from the command line passing the name of the user to unblock as a parameter. (e.g. "killnotes user1980"). The script will then fetch some data, list the open lotus notes files and ask you wheter or not you want to close them.

 133: Echo.

 134: Echo More specifically, the script will:

 135: Echo   1. Connect to GC to get domain and display name (ADFind)

 136: Echo   2. Connect to DC to get home directory (ADFind)

 137: Echo   3. Get servername via string manipulation (Set)

 138: Echo   4. Kill PsExec if it's already running (SC)

 139: Echo   5. Find the physical disk (PsExec)

 140: Echo   6. List open Notes files and ask if you whan to close them (PsFile)

 141: Echo   7. Close the files if you confirmed you wanted to do so (PsFile)

 142: Echo   8. Quit

 143: Echo.

 144: Echo If you want to apply this script on a number of users then I recommend saving them in a file "userlist.txt" (1 user per line). You can then use a for loop to launch the script:

 145: Echo.

 146: Echo   for /F %%i in (userlist.txt) do killnotes %%i

 147: Echo.

 148: Echo IMPORTANT: Physical Disk (%strHardDiskAB%) and Server Name (%strHomeDirAB%) for AB are HARDCODED. These values need to be adopted in the script if the design ever changes.

 149: Echo.

 150: Echo PS1: The script will print the values of the different variables to allow you to monitor the progress.

 151: Echo PS2: If the script halts for a moment it's because of number of connections being made using PsTools.

 152: Echo.

 153:  

 154: ::Deleting variables

 155: :END

 156: Echo.

 157: Echo Quitting...

 158: Endlocal

There’s still some room for improvement obviously. The hard coded DFS information, for instance, should be replaced with some decent logic (there are very few users on this infra however, so I didn’t invest to much time in that part).

http://www.robvanderwoude.com/ proved very helpful while writing this script.

I’ve been playing around with SQLite on the command line (cmd that is) a bit. I immediately started wondering if it would be possible to combine this portable SQL engine with PowerShell, but I couldn’t find any working samples on the internet.

After some more research I discovered the SQLite ADO.net 2.0 Provider but I couldn’t get it to work immediately.

It took me a couple of days to find the blog post Database Queries with Windows Powershell. (This blog seems to have moved recently as most of the hyperlinks/search results are still referring to Typepad). The post is nicely commented, so I could rather easily translate the MySQL to SQLite statements with some assistance from the included help file.

[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFrom("D:\DATA\Tools\System.Data.SQLite.dll")

$cn = New-Object -TypeName System.Data.SQLite.SQLiteConnection
$cn.ConnectionString = "Data Source=D:\DATA\Tools\koen.sqlite"
$cn.Open()

$cm = New-Object -TypeName System.Data.SQLite.SQLiteCommand
$sql = "SELECT FirstName, LastName FROM tblKoen"
$cm.Connection = $cn
$cm.CommandText = $sql
$dr = $cm.ExecuteReader()

while ($dr.Read())
{
    write-host $dr.GetString(0) " " $dr.GetString(1)
}

$cn.Close()

Some more interesting links I came across:

• Learn SQL
• SQLite ODBC driver
• SQLite Tutorial

Carter Shanklin announced the winners of the contest.

1st prize: The guest provisioning system of LucD. This application lets you provision your VMs in an easy way. You can set the options from one screen no clicking around to configure everything manually.

2nd prize: VI Power Documenter by tzamora. This script generates reports about your virtual infrastructure.

3rd prize: PowerVDI script by Dan Baskette. It let you deploy multiple VDI instances on an EMC celera using snapshots and AD integration.

I’m sure there are other contributions that are very useful.

Congrats to the winners. Nice job guys.

Dmitri over at Dmitry’s PowerBlog just posted about the integration between PowerGui and the VI client. I had already installed the PowerGUI 1.5.1 version but hadn’t noticed the plugin for the VI Client.

This makes managing your VMware environment using  Powershell even more easier. PowerGUI lets you write your own Powershell scripts and the VMware PowerPack is also compatible with the VI client plugin. The plugin uses your current connection to the VC. You don’t need to make a separate connection for every script.