Very helpful in my everyday sysadmin`s work is a knowledge about role of managed server. Sometimes when I work with nonspecific hostname I need to get a computer (or server) description without looking to documentation or loggin to server.
How to get a local computer description
To get a description very helpful is a commandlet like Get-WmiObject with class Win32_OperatingSystem
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_OperatingSystem |Select Description
How to get a description from a remote computer
Using the same method we can get description from remote machine (workstation or server). To do this, we need to add parameter -ComputerName to the commandlet Get-WmiObject
Get-WmiObject -ComputerName hostname_or_ip -Class Win32_OperatingSystem |Select Description
In addition, it is worth to remember, that you can find more properties of Get-WmiObject. To do it you should pipe results to commandlet Get-Member. You can limit the view by parameter -MemberType Properties:
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_OperatingSystem |Get-Member -MemberType Properties
TypeName: System.Management.ManagementObject#root\cimv2\Win32_OperatingSystem
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
PSComputerName AliasProperty PSComputerName = __SERVER
BootDevice Property string BootDevice {get;set;}
BuildNumber Property string BuildNumber {get;set;}
BuildType Property string BuildType {get;set;}
Caption Property string Caption {get;set;}
CodeSet Property string CodeSet {get;set;}
CountryCode Property string CountryCode {get;set;}
CreationClassName Property string CreationClassName {get;set;}
CSCreationClassName Property string CSCreationClassName {get;set;}
CSDVersion Property string CSDVersion {get;set;}
CSName Property string CSName {get;set;}
CurrentTimeZone Property int16 CurrentTimeZone {get;set;}
DataExecutionPrevention_32BitApplications Property bool DataExecutionPrevention_32BitApplications {get;set;}
DataExecutionPrevention_Available Property bool DataExecutionPrevention_Available {get;set;}
DataExecutionPrevention_Drivers Property bool DataExecutionPrevention_Drivers {get;set;}
DataExecutionPrevention_SupportPolicy Property byte DataExecutionPrevention_SupportPolicy {get;set;}
Debug Property bool Debug {get;set;}
Description Property string Description {get;set;}
Distributed Property bool Distributed {get;set;}
EncryptionLevel Property uint32 EncryptionLevel {get;set;}
ForegroundApplicationBoost Property byte ForegroundApplicationBoost {get;set;}
FreePhysicalMemory Property uint64 FreePhysicalMemory {get;set;}
FreeSpaceInPagingFiles Property uint64 FreeSpaceInPagingFiles {get;set;}
FreeVirtualMemory Property uint64 FreeVirtualMemory {get;set;}
InstallDate Property string InstallDate {get;set;}
LargeSystemCache Property uint32 LargeSystemCache {get;set;}
LastBootUpTime Property string LastBootUpTime {get;set;}
LocalDateTime Property string LocalDateTime {get;set;}
Locale Property string Locale {get;set;}
Manufacturer Property string Manufacturer {get;set;}
MaxNumberOfProcesses Property uint32 MaxNumberOfProcesses {get;set;}
MaxProcessMemorySize Property uint64 MaxProcessMemorySize {get;set;}
MUILanguages Property string[] MUILanguages {get;set;}
Name Property string Name {get;set;}
NumberOfLicensedUsers Property uint32 NumberOfLicensedUsers {get;set;}
NumberOfProcesses Property uint32 NumberOfProcesses {get;set;}
NumberOfUsers Property uint32 NumberOfUsers {get;set;}
OperatingSystemSKU Property uint32 OperatingSystemSKU {get;set;}
Organization Property string Organization {get;set;}
OSArchitecture Property string OSArchitecture {get;set;}
OSLanguage Property uint32 OSLanguage {get;set;}
OSProductSuite Property uint32 OSProductSuite {get;set;}
OSType Property uint16 OSType {get;set;}
OtherTypeDescription Property string OtherTypeDescription {get;set;}
PAEEnabled Property bool PAEEnabled {get;set;}
PlusProductID Property string PlusProductID {get;set;}
PlusVersionNumber Property string PlusVersionNumber {get;set;}
PortableOperatingSystem Property bool PortableOperatingSystem {get;set;}
Primary Property bool Primary {get;set;}
ProductType Property uint32 ProductType {get;set;}
RegisteredUser Property string RegisteredUser {get;set;}
SerialNumber Property string SerialNumber {get;set;}
ServicePackMajorVersion Property uint16 ServicePackMajorVersion {get;set;}
ServicePackMinorVersion Property uint16 ServicePackMinorVersion {get;set;}
SizeStoredInPagingFiles Property uint64 SizeStoredInPagingFiles {get;set;}
Status Property string Status {get;set;}
SuiteMask Property uint32 SuiteMask {get;set;}
SystemDevice Property string SystemDevice {get;set;}
SystemDirectory Property string SystemDirectory {get;set;}
SystemDrive Property string SystemDrive {get;set;}
TotalSwapSpaceSize Property uint64 TotalSwapSpaceSize {get;set;}
TotalVirtualMemorySize Property uint64 TotalVirtualMemorySize {get;set;}
TotalVisibleMemorySize Property uint64 TotalVisibleMemorySize {get;set;}
Version Property string Version {get;set;}
WindowsDirectory Property string WindowsDirectory {get;set;}
__CLASS Property string __CLASS {get;set;}
__DERIVATION Property string[] __DERIVATION {get;set;}
__DYNASTY Property string __DYNASTY {get;set;}
__GENUS Property int __GENUS {get;set;}
__NAMESPACE Property string __NAMESPACE {get;set;}
__PATH Property string __PATH {get;set;}
__PROPERTY_COUNT Property int __PROPERTY_COUNT {get;set;}
__RELPATH Property string __RELPATH {get;set;}
__SERVER Property string __SERVER {get;set;}
__SUPERCLASS Property string __SUPERCLASS {get;set;}If you want to add something or you have a simmilar problem please do not hesitate to leave a comment.
