BSonPosh

There has be much debate and agony on the the slowness of System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher Class. This has lead me down the path of playing with System.DirectoryServices.Protocols (aka s.ds.p.)

By far the best tool out there right now is ADFind by joe Richards. So I used this for my target (although I didnt expect to get close.)

Here is the Guide I used in my Journey:
Introduction to System.DirectoryServices.Protocols (S.DS.P)

I started by writing the script you will find below and tested in a domain with well over 700k users and one with 200K. I did the test three different times in each Domain changing the order so cache hits wouldn’t be an issue. I also use objectclass on all three so index wouldn’t be a factor. I should NOTE that my script ONLY returns the count ATM. I am going to add properties next.

As you will see by the test results below… I got pretty darn close to adfind.exe in regards to perf. I was quite impressed with S.DS.P. Now to be fair, this was just counting objects. I am sure adfind.exe will start sneaking ahead abit further when we start processing properties and such. Can’t wait to see! Understand these test were just to see what tests I should focus on. I will posting another entry on more extensive count test with just DSP Using 1.1 and Adfind.

Test 1 700K Users done Remote

DirectorySearcher : 125.9123257
ADFind : 46.3763349
DSP Using DN : 69.5628776
DSP Using 1.1 : 49.4458161

Test 2 700K Users done Remote

DirectorySearcher : 125.0230257
ADFind : 46.4486472
DSP Using DN : 68.9255288
DSP Using 1.1 : 49.0780736

Test 3 700K Users done Remote

DirectorySearcher : 125.0230257
ADFind : 47.9162918
DSP Using DN : 79.6885386
DSP Using 1.1 : 54.152966

Test 1 200K done Local

DirectorySearcher : 121.1063569
ADFind : 55.2775406
DSP Using DN : 67.897922
DSP Using 1.1 : 28.5441615

Test 2 200K done Local

DirectorySearcher : 80.0894455
ADFind : 23.558696
DSP Using DN : 54.3111576
DSP Using 1.1 : 42.3485998

Test 3 200K done Local

DirectorySearcher : 99.1125363
ADFind : 80.1497852
DSP Using DN : 64.3716824
DSP Using 1.1 : 64.1940421

Summary: adfind.exe was faster (by bout 4sec on Avg.) remotely and larger domain, but protocals was faster (by bout 8 sec on Avg.) local on smaller domain.
Remote

ADFind: 46.92
DSP Using 1.1: 50.89
DSP Using DN: 72.73
DirectorySearcher: 125.32

Local

DSP Using 1.1: 45.03
ADFind: 52.99
DSP Using DN: 62.19
DirectorySearcher: 100.10

Here the script I ran for the test and how I measured the commands. I am going to play with passing the stats control and see what the server says later.

Here is what the output of that Script looks like

Here is the System.DirectoryServices.Protocols Code

tshell :: Jun.07.2008 :: All :: No Comments »

Here is a quick demo of getting a Citrix Application and playing with its properties.

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Demo File

tshell :: May.21.2008 :: All :: 5 Comments »

I wanted to show how EASY it is to play with Citrix MFCom so here is a little video.

I also want to note how most of the properties (like Servers,Applications,Zones) all return objects that have their own properties and methods. So you could very easily have these lines in your profile and always have everything just sitting there waiting to be used.

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Demo File

tshell :: May.21.2008 :: All :: No Comments »

This is pretty simple script. It is actually just an adaption from my Get-CitrixApplication.ps1 script posted at the bottom. There is a moment in time when you start thinking in terms of objects and stop thinking in terms of text output you are looking for.

This will make a huge difference in productivity and take you from constantly writing scripts to interactively getting the information you are after, but until you make the transition I will continue to provide scripts that do both

Here is the script that I use to return an Application object.

Then from the commandline I would just do this
PS> Get-CitrixApplication.ps1 “Applications\MyApp1″ | %{$_.Servers} | %{$_.ServerName}

While this looks more complicated it is more versatile and easy to change. Lets say I want current User for this app instead.
PS> Get-CitrixApplication.ps1 “Applications\MyApp1″ | %{$_.Sessions} | %{$_.UserName}

tshell :: Apr.09.2008 :: All, Citrix, Powershell, Scripting :: No Comments »

This script just collects the Printer Information from all the Servers in the Farm. It will output them to a file or you can pipe them and filter them.

Name: Get-CitrixPrinterInfo.ps1
Purpose: Gets Print Driver Info from all the Servers in the Farm and outputs to file or console

tshell :: Apr.07.2008 :: Citrix, Powershell, Scripting :: No Comments »

I am constantly looking for content for my blog and tasks that can be automated. I believe this helps me learn and helps other with their needs.

In this search I was directed to convert/write Powershell examples for scripts located here http://community.citrix.com/display/cdn/Script+Exchange

Here is the first of those scripts.

Name: Set-CitrixPSVersion.ps1
Purpose: Sets PS Version on a Server, List of Servers, or all Servers in the Farm

tshell :: Apr.07.2008 :: All, Citrix, Powershell, Scripting :: No Comments »

I had a user point out that my code didnt work in a 4.5 farm. I did some testing and while some information was there, it was not complete. I did Test XP and 4.0 and they worked fine. I created a new one for CTX PS 4.5

Lets talk about whats going on here

First We Get the MFCom Farm Object and Initialize it.

Next we iterate throught the servers parsing out only the ServerName and Getting MFCom Application Objects and pipe it along

The Final part is where we make the changes. In 4.5 the Application object no longer has Users Property or Group Property. It also no longer uses AppName.
For AppName we use: $_.WinAppObject.BrowserName
For Users we use: Accounts2 with AccountType 2
For Groups we use: Accounts2 with AccountType 4
The User/Group Name is stored in a property called AccountName

You will also notice the LoadData. This because not all information is there be default. LoadData fills out the object with data.

tshell :: Feb.05.2008 :: Citrix, HowTo, Powershell, Scripting :: No Comments »

nicad49 asked
“Can you explain the last part of each script? Specifically the @{n=’Servers’;…}etc. I understand that we are creating some sort
of an array, but if I run it as is, I don’t get any values returned.”

This is great question. I see examples like this used all the time without explanation. Unless you had the chance to review all the
help files from all the different CMDLets there is good chance you missed some REALLY cool stuff. This is one of those things
hidden in the bowels of Help files and Books.

Before I go into my specific example, lets look at this excerp from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb978655.aspx

“You can also use Select-Object to add calculated properties to an object. To add a calculated property, use the Property
parameter and type a hash table for the parameter value. Create an Expression key in the hash table and assign to the key an
expression that calculates a value. The hash table can also have a Name key.”

Basically what we can do is add a property to an object that is calculated. This calculation could be from other properties or just a
change to the way the data is configured. Here is how you use this feature @{name=”SomeName”;expression={”Script block used
to provide value(s)”}}.

Some important things to note:
* The Name can be anything, even a valid property name.
* Expression is a scriptblock. What does this mean? It means that you can put any code you want in there… even an entire script
and what ever is returned is put in the property you created.

Now that we have some foundation lets look back at my code. Here is the first example.

Now the first problem maybe cut/paste not working correct so make sure line three is all one big long line.

Next lets zoom in on the Important line… number three

First we have the $MF.Servers. This returns an array of Citrix Server Objects with all sorts of properties. We only really care about
the Applications and the Server name so we go to the next step.

Select-Object ServerName -expand Applications. This code takes each one of the MFCom Server objects and Strips out everything
but the ServerName and the Applications. The reason for -expand is because Applications is an array of MFCom Application
Objects and we want them all.

Here is the biggy
Select-Object ServerName,AppName,DistinguishedName,@{n=’Users’;e={$_.Users | %{$_.UserName}}},@{n=’Groups’;e={$_.Groups | %{$_.GroupName}}}
This section takes the object we Created with the ServerName and the Applications and Passes on the ServerName, but extracts
information about the applications we want to know like AppName and DistinguishedName. The problem is that we want the users
and groups to. The problem with this is these properties are (like Server and Application) arrays of MFCom User or MFCom Group
objects. Enter calculated fields.

Lets look each calculated field
@{n=’Users’;e={$_.Users | %{$_.UserName}}}
This basically says create a property named Users and add the values from $_.Users, but only give me the UserName… not all the
other properties.
@{n=’Groups’;e={$_.Groups | %{$_.GroupName}}}
Same thing except for with Groups.

Perhaps multilevel Citrix Nesting isn’t the best place to get your teeth wet on calculated properties, but I hope I cleared it up a bit
for you.

tshell :: Jan.30.2008 :: Custom Objects, HowTo, Powershell :: No Comments »

I was recently in a discussion on Brian Madden Forums about listing Citrix Information and exporting to CSV. It seemed like a
perfect fit for Powershell so I converted the VBScripts to Powershell (of course taking an 85 line script to 3 lines. Convert is
hardly the correct term.)

Here is the Forum Topic
http://www.brianmadden.com/Forum/Topic/95285

Here is my Code. There were three scripts, so I made three as well.

If you notice in my three scripts they all start with the same two lines. Effectively these are one liners that could be used
interactively. I think this does a great job of showing Citrix Admins how nicely Powershell will fit in to their daily lives.
Things that use to take 100s of lines of script writing can now be done interactively at a shell.

tshell :: Jan.28.2008 :: Citrix, HowTo, Powershell, Scripting :: No Comments »

I watch the forums at BrianMadden.com because I use Powershell a lot for Citrix. This question was brought up.

Q: How could one:
- query “server load” on all servers part of the farm
- extract all server under a minimum server load
- apply an “Offline” load evaluator on the extracted servers (in order to make them unavailable on the farm)

I posted a script to do what they wanted, but then I got to thinking… while it did achieve the goal it wasn’t very Powershellish.

As I have said over and over. The glory of Powershell is the objects. So I decided to Post this entry showing what I would consider the Powershell way
Ideally you should just do this at the prompt

PS> Get-CitrixServers | where{$_.WinServerObject.Serverload -lt $load} | Set-CitrixLoadEvalutor “OffLine”

This is easy to achieve with the following scripts or even better make them functions!

Get-CitrixServers

Set-CitrixLoadEvalutor