System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping

Here are some Powershell ping notes from System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping.  Powershell v 2.0 provides for the  gwmi  based Win32_PingStatus  in the 'Test-Connection' cmdlet . 'Test-connection'  provides a wealth of information.  However this post simply examines how to use:

• System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping
• System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingOptions

Below is the common code needed for all three examples. This code sets up $ping and $pingoptions:

#Set up the ping options
$ping = new-object System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping
$pingoptions = new-object System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingOptions
$pingoptions.ttl=255
$pingoptions.dontfragment=$false
# Here is the overload
#  From $ping.send.overloaddefinitions  use: System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingReply Send(string hostNameOrAddress, int timeout, byte[] buffer, System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingOptions options)

#now ping a subnet with one line of code
(1..254 | % -process  {$Ping.Send("192.168.0.$_", 10, 64, $PingOptions)})
# or (stop output) or redirect to a variable:
$a=(1..254 | % -process  {$Ping.Send("192.168.0.$_", 10, 64, $PingOptions)})

This gives us something interesting like this:


PS C:\ps1> $a | where {$_.Status -eq "Success"} | ft * -auto


 Status Address       RoundtripTime Options                                   Buffer
 ------ -------       ------------- -------                                   ------
Success 192.168.0.1               2 System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingOptions {64}
Success 192.168.0.6               1 System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingOptions {64}
Success 192.168.0.11              0 System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingOptions {64}
Success 192.168.0.13              0 System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingOptions {64}

If you functionalize/filterize the output :
function pingsn {1..254 | % -process  {$Ping.Send("192.168.0.$_", 10, 64, $PingOptions)}}
filter success {if ($_.status -eq "Success") {($_.Address.IPAddressToString)+" "+($_.roundtriptime)}}
you get a similar output:
pingsn | success

192.168.0.1 1
192.168.0.6 1
192.168.0.9 0
192.168.0.11 1

We can also ping and array of names (as below) and retrieve similar information if we pipe the output to a variable. Or we can do something more CSV like:

#ping a multiple names
$DNS_array="google.com", "googel.com", "googley.com"
($DNS_array | % -process  {$Ping.Send("$_", 10, 64, $PingOptions)})

Status        : Success
Address       : 72.14.213.99
RoundtripTime : 29
Options       : System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingOptions
Buffer        : {64, 0, 0, 0...}


Status        : Success
Address       : 74.125.224.17
RoundtripTime : 38
Options       : System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingOptions
Buffer        : {64}


Status        : Success
Address       : 74.117.221.11
RoundtripTime : 96
Options       : System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingOptions
Buffer        : {64}


($DNS_array | % -process  {$Ping.Send("$_", 10, 64, $PingOptions)}) | 
% {$_.Address.IPAddressToString +","+  $_.Status +","+ $_.RoundTripTime}


72.14.213.99,Success,25
74.125.224.17,Success,38
74.117.221.11,Success,98

Something more clever to ping multiple subnets is needed. The code below isn't very fast. The use of a filter might speed it up. However, you can make it faster by specifying exactly the hosts you want in $Host_array.

#ping multiple subnets
[array]$Host_array=1..20
$Subnet_array="192.168.0","192.168.1","192.168.2"
$count=$Subnet_array.count
$i=0
do
{
$global:out = $host_array | % -process {$Ping.Send($Subnet_array[$i]+"."+$_ , 1, 64, $PingOptions)}
$out | % {if ($_.Address) {$_.Address.IPAddressToString +","+  $_.Status +","+ $_.RoundTripTime}}
$i=$i+1
}
while ($i -lt $count)

So in thinking about what I have learned doing the work below...Please see my next post...To make matters worse, the pipe command does not appear in this blog.

Pinging IP subnet ranges in Powershell. This will be more difficult than...(you know the rest)..I am attempting to duplicate the functionality of my previous post.

PS D:\> $var = '192.168.0.1','192.168.0.2'
PS D:\> $var

192.168.0.1
192.168.0.2

PS D:\> $ping = new-object System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping

PS D:\> $var foreach-object -process {$ping.Send($_)} ft -auto

Status Address RoundtripTime Options Buffer
------ ------- ------------- ------- ------
Success 192.168.0.1 1 System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingOptions {97, 98, 99, 100...}
TimedOut 0 {}

Closer yet...

PS D:\> $ping = new-object System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping
PS D:\> $3OCT='71.0.0.'
PS D:\> 1..254 [pipe command here] foreach-object -process { if($ping.Send("$3OCT$_").status -eq "Success") {"$3OCT$_"} }

71.0.0.1
71.0.0.3
71.0.0.7
71.0.0.8
71.0.0.9
71.0.0.11

Putting this together a little bit more...

PS D:\> $3OCT = '190.10.10.'
PS D:\> function Ping-Host { begin{ $ping = new-object System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping; } process{ if($ping.Send("$3OCT$_").status -eq "Success") {"$3OCT$_";} } }

PS D:\> 1..254 [pipe command here] Ping-Host
190.10.10.1
190.10.10.10
190.10.10.17

Looking Much Better this morning:

PS D:\> function Ping-Host { begin{ $ping = new-object System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping; } process{ if($ping.Send("$3OCT$_","8").status -eq "Success") {"$3OCT$_"+","+($ping.Send("$3OCT$_","8").roundtriptime)+","+(date-time);} } }
PS D:\> 1..20 Ping-Host

71.0.0.1,80,05/26/2008 07:09:31
71.0.0.3,107,05/26/2008 07:09:32
71.0.0.7,97,05/26/2008 07:09:33
71.0.0.8,118,05/26/2008 07:09:33
71.0.0.11,104,05/26/2008 07:09:34

Below this 'works', but I had all kinds of issues with it and suspect that
(a) I don't understand argument and text passing in Powershell very well
(b) such skill are more idiosyncratic than they appear.

There were all kinds of issues here....lots of idiosyncratic behaviour to think about in Powershell. Actually, a whole host of Powershell topological and semantic rules exist that are not well described anywhere....

# CheckHostClassC.ps1 5:55 PM 5/26/2008 Down, dirty attempt to ping subnet. Takes two args: first three octets and wait time. Prints out IP address date, roundtriptime. No error checking.

function date-time {get-date -displayhint datetime}

function CheckHostClassC {begin {$ping = new-object System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping; } process { if($ping.Send("$3OCT$_","$WaitTime").status -eq "Success") {"$3OCT$_"+","+($ping.Send("$3OCT$_","$WaitTime").roundtriptime)+","+(date-time);} }}

sv 3OCT $Args[0]
sv WaitTime $Args[1]

1..254 [pipe command here] CheckHostClassC

PS D:\> .\CheckHostClassC.ps1 193.172.1. 100

193.172.1.1,211,05/26/2008 18:24:37

193.172.1.3,212,05/26/2008 18:24:38

193.172.1.5,215,05/26/2008 18:24:39