Lab: Inventory a server with PowerShell with correction

What you will learn in this TP

• Discover cmdlets with Get-Command and Get-Member
• Filter, sort and export objects
• Write a parameterized script and run it remotely

Introduction #

What you will learn in this section

• Discover cmdlets with Get-Command and Get-Member
• Filter, sort and export objects
• Write a parameterized script and run it remotely

Context. Your manager asks for a server status report before a migration. Rather than clicking through each console, you write a reusable inventory script.

Prerequisites: a disposable Windows Server 2025 virtual machine (free evaluation) with an administrator account, and PowerShell open as administrator  ·  Estimated duration: 45 min

An Inventaire.ps1 script, a CSV report and an HTML page.

Setup #

Guided steps, with their solution.

1. 1. Prepare the workspace

   Why? A dedicated folder avoids mixing scripts and reports.

   Create C:\TP\Scripts and C:\TP\Rapports, check the PowerShell version and allow local scripts.
   See the correction

   New-Item -ItemType Directory C:\TP\Scripts, C:\TP\Rapports -Force
   $PSVersionTable.PSVersion
   Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope LocalMachine -Force
   Get-ExecutionPolicy -List

2. 2. Explore the system

   Why? Get-Member reveals available properties before selecting them.

   Display the server’s name, version, build, total memory and last boot.
   See the correction

   Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem | Get-Member -MemberType Property | Select-Object -First 15
   $os = Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem
   $cs = Get-CimInstance Win32_ComputerSystem
   [pscustomobject]@{
       Nom       = $env:COMPUTERNAME
       Systeme   = $os.Caption
       Build     = $os.BuildNumber
       RAM_Go    = [math]::Round($cs.TotalPhysicalMemory / 1GB, 1)
       Demarrage = $os.LastBootUpTime
   }

3. 3. Disks and services

   Why? The two most frequent incident causes: full disk and stopped service.

   List volumes with their free percentage, then automatic services that are not running.
   See the correction

   Get-Volume | Where-Object DriveLetter | Select-Object DriveLetter, FileSystemLabel,
       @{n='Taille_Go'; e={[math]::Round($_.Size/1GB,1)}},
       @{n='Libre_pct'; e={[math]::Round(100*$_.SizeRemaining/$_.Size,1)}}
   Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.StartType -eq 'Automatic' -and $_.Status -ne 'Running' } |
       Select-Object Name, DisplayName, Status

4. 4. Write the script

   Why? A parameterized script can be reused and run remotely.

   Write C:\TP\Scripts\Inventaire.ps1 returning one object per server (system, RAM, free C disk, number of stopped automatic services, latest update).
   See the correction

   @'
   [CmdletBinding()] param()
   $os  = Get-CimInstance Win32_OperatingSystem
   $c   = Get-Volume -DriveLetter C
   [pscustomobject]@{
       Serveur        = $env:COMPUTERNAME
       Systeme        = $os.Caption
       RAM_Go         = [math]::Round((Get-CimInstance Win32_ComputerSystem).TotalPhysicalMemory/1GB,1)
       C_Libre_pct    = [math]::Round(100*$c.SizeRemaining/$c.Size,1)
       ServicesArretes = (Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.StartType -eq 'Automatic' -and $_.Status -ne 'Running' }).Count
       DernierCorrectif = (Get-HotFix | Sort-Object InstalledOn -Descending | Select-Object -First 1).HotFixID
   }
   '@ | Set-Content C:\TP\Scripts\Inventaire.ps1 -Encoding UTF8
   & C:\TP\Scripts\Inventaire.ps1

5. 5. Produce the reports

   Why? CSV opens in a spreadsheet, HTML can be shared.

   Export the result as timestamped CSV and HTML in C:\TP\Rapports.
   See the correction

   $stamp = Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd_HHmm'
   $inv = & C:\TP\Scripts\Inventaire.ps1
   $inv | Export-Csv "C:\TP\Rapports\inventaire_$stamp.csv" -NoTypeInformation -Encoding UTF8
   $inv | ConvertTo-Html -Title 'Inventaire' -PreContent "<h1>Inventaire du $stamp</h1>" |
       Set-Content "C:\TP\Rapports\inventaire_$stamp.html" -Encoding UTF8
   Get-ChildItem C:\TP\Rapports

6. 6. Run remotely

   Why? Invoke-Command queries several servers in parallel.

   Run the script on the local server and a second machine (or localhost twice if you only have one), then gather the results.
   See the correction

   Enable-PSRemoting -Force
   $cibles = 'localhost', $env:COMPUTERNAME
   Invoke-Command -ComputerName $cibles -FilePath C:\TP\Scripts\Inventaire.ps1 |
       Select-Object * -ExcludeProperty RunspaceId |
       Sort-Object C_Libre_pct | Format-Table -AutoSize

Difficulty level : ●○○○○ (1/5)