Powershell script to ping servers

I created the following script to check some VM’s at home. This script pings all the servers from the CSV file. If a ping has failed, the script will send an e-mail with the servername and ip-address.

If you want to use this script, you have to change/create the following items:

Create a CSV file with your servers and ip-addresses
Enter your SMTP Server and e-mail address in the powershell script
Schedule the powershell script

The CSV file will contain the following information:

ServerName,IpAddress
SERVER1,10.185.1.1
SERVER2,10.185.1.2

The Powershell script:

$servers = "D:\scripts\ps\servers.csv"
$csv = Import-CSV $servers 
$smtpServer = ""

foreach($item in $csv){
    $server = $item.ServerName
    $ip = $item.IpAddress

    $ping = new-object System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping
    $rslt = $ping.send($ip)
        if ($rslt.status.tostring() –eq "Success") {
            write-host ping worked on $server with $ip -ForegroundColor Green}
        else {
            write-host ping failed on $server with $ip -ForegroundColor Red
        
            # Send E-Mail
            $msg = new-object Net.Mail.MailMessage
            $smtp = new-object Net.Mail.SmtpClient($smtpServer)
    
            $msg.From = "@"
            $msg.To.Add("@")
            $msg.Subject = "Warning: ping failed on $server"
            $msg.Body = "The server $server with ip adres $ip does not reply!"
                
            $smtp.Send($msg)
            }
}
$ping = $null

The source of the ping script: http://theessentialexchange.com/blogs/michael/archive/2007/11/13/checking-server-availability-in-powershell.aspx

Published by afokkema

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9 thoughts on “Powershell script to ping servers”

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Vig says:

July 7, 2009 at 20:34

Doesn’t work

Exception calling “Send” with “1” argument(s): “Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: hostNameOrAddress”
At C:\srvping\servers.ps1:10 char:23
+ $rslt = $ping.send( <<<< $ip)
You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.
At C:\srvping\servers.ps1:11 char:34
+ if ($rslt.status.tostring( <<<< ) -eq "Success") {

Reply
1. afokkema says:
  
  July 7, 2009 at 20:40
  
  Do you have a CSV file like this:
  
  ServerName,IpAddress
  SERVER1,10.185.1.1
2. Brian says:
  
  November 8, 2011 at 14:53
  
  I got the same error as Vig.
  Turns out it was caused by a space after the s at the end of ServerName,IpAddress in the .csv file
  delete the space and all works well.
  
  Thanks for the script.
Stuart says:

July 15, 2009 at 20:32

Is there a way to have the output written to a .txt or .csv file? I have been able to create the file, but it is blank.

Reply
xb90@poshtips.com says:

August 19, 2011 at 17:12

Here’s an alternative that can write output to a CSV file. It can also process hundreds or even thousands of network addresses in record time and do a Name Server lookup to obtain fully qualified hostname and IpAddress:

Check it out here:
http://poshtips.com/2011/03/28/bgping-a-high-performance-bulk-ping-utility/

It does not send email, but you could easily do that using a secondary step using the code above or the Send-MailMessage cmdlet.

Reply
Andrew says:

May 21, 2012 at 14:28

Hi folks, does anyone know how to change the number of echo requests sent before a success or failure result is logged (and hence emailed.) Ideally I’d like it to email only if it drops 10 icmp packets in a row.

Reply
ijaz says:

June 12, 2014 at 06:26

#ijazahmad722@gmail.com
#this script generate a list of ip addresses and then
#creates a file that contain hostnames agianst that ip addresses using the ping command

#get a list of ip addresses

$ips = 1..254 | % {“172.17.17.$_”} > iplist.txt
$data=Get-Content(“iplist.txt”)
#ip to host name
foreach ($ip in $data) {
$ipg = ping -a -n 1 $ip | Select -Index 1
$ipg.substring(8,$ipg.length-30) >> listofservers.txt
}

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