How to Multithread PowerShell Ping Script

Question

I recently finished a script to ping every computer/workstation on a list and output it in a nice format.

There are thousands of computers to ping on the next list so it would take a while to run normally. How might I be able to multithread this so the job can be completed within a reasonable time-frame?

Answer 1

You can use Test-PingAsync, works similarly to Test-Connection but multithreaded with a bit less options.

Usage is quite simple and supports pipeline input:

PS ..\PSNetScanners> $result = Test-PingAsync 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4, 1.1.1.1 -ResolveDns
PS ..\PSNetScanners> $result

Source           Destination      Address             Latency Status       DnsResult
------           -----------      -------             ------- ------       ---------
DESKTOP-1111111  8.8.8.8          8.8.8.8                8 ms Success      dns.google
DESKTOP-1111111  8.8.4.4          8.8.4.4                8 ms Success      dns.google
DESKTOP-1111111  1.1.1.1          1.1.1.1                8 ms Success      one.one.one.one

PS ..\PSNetScanners> $result[0].DnsResult

Status      : Success
HostName    : dns.google
AddressList : {8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4}
Aliases     : {}

See the documentation for more usage examples. The module can be installed from the PowerShell Gallery:

Install-Module PSNetScanners -Scope CurrentUser

Answer 2

This is a crazy fast (6 seconds) way to ping a large list in powershell 5.1 There's a weird limit to the number you can do at once (713?).

$all = cat all.txt
$up = $(test-connection $all[0..712] -count 1 -asjob; 
  test-connection $all[713..733] -count 1 -asjob) | 
  receive-job -wait -auto | ? responsetime | % address

Answer 3

workflow Ping
{
  param($computers)

    foreach -parallel ($computer in $computers)
    {
        $status = Test-Connection -ComputerName $computer -Count 1 -Quiet

        if (!$status)
            { Write-Output "Could not ping $computer" }
    }
}

$computers = @(
    "wd1600023",
    "sleipnir"
)

Ping $computers

Answer 4

I found and used this script as a baseline for a similar function Ping-IPRange.

I have modified it from the original and included it below.

You could easily adapt this to take in a list of hostnames if that is what you are using.

Ping-IPRange.ps1

function Ping-IPRange 
{
    <#
    .SYNOPSIS
        Sends ICMP echo request packets to a range of IPv4 addresses between two given addresses.

    .DESCRIPTION
        This function lets you sends ICMP echo request packets ("pings") to 
        a range of IPv4 addresses using an asynchronous method.

        Therefore this technique is very fast but comes with a warning.
        Ping sweeping a large subnet or network with many switches may result in 
        a peak of broadcast traffic.
        Use the -Interval parameter to adjust the time between each ping request.
        For example, an interval of 60 milliseconds is suitable for wireless networks.
        The RawOutput parameter switches the output to an unformatted
        [System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingReply[]].

    .INPUTS
        None
        You cannot pipe input to this function.

    .OUTPUTS
        The function only returns output from successful pings.

        Type: System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingReply

        The RawOutput parameter switches the output to an unformatted
        [System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingReply[]].

    .NOTES
        Author  : G.A.F.F. Jakobs
        Created : August 30, 2014
        Version : 6

        Revision History: Kory Gill, 2016/01/09
            formatting
            added better error handling
            close progress indicator when complete

    .EXAMPLE
        Ping-IPRange -StartAddress 192.168.1.1 -EndAddress 192.168.1.254 -Interval 20

        IPAddress                                 Bytes                     Ttl           ResponseTime
        ---------                                 -----                     ---           ------------
        192.168.1.41                                 32                      64                    371
        192.168.1.57                                 32                     128                      0
        192.168.1.64                                 32                     128                      1
        192.168.1.63                                 32                      64                     88
        192.168.1.254                                32                      64                      0

        In this example all the ip addresses between 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.254 are pinged using 
        a 20 millisecond interval between each request.
        All the addresses that reply the ping request are listed.

    .LINK
        http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Fast-asynchronous-ping-IP-d0a5cf0e

    #>
    [CmdletBinding(ConfirmImpact='Low')]
    Param(
        [parameter(Mandatory = $true, Position = 0)]
        [System.Net.IPAddress]$StartAddress,
        [parameter(Mandatory = $true, Position = 1)]
        [System.Net.IPAddress]$EndAddress,
        [int]$Interval = 30,
        [Switch]$RawOutput = $false
    )

    $timeout = 2000

    function New-Range ($start, $end) {

        [byte[]]$BySt = $start.GetAddressBytes()
        [Array]::Reverse($BySt)
        [byte[]]$ByEn = $end.GetAddressBytes()
        [Array]::Reverse($ByEn)
        $i1 = [System.BitConverter]::ToUInt32($BySt,0)
        $i2 = [System.BitConverter]::ToUInt32($ByEn,0)
        for ($x = $i1;$x -le $i2;$x++)
        {
            $ip = ([System.Net.IPAddress]$x).GetAddressBytes()
            [Array]::Reverse($ip)
            [System.Net.IPAddress]::Parse($($ip -join '.'))
        }
    }

    $ipRange = New-Range $StartAddress $EndAddress

    $IpTotal = $ipRange.Count

    Get-Event -SourceIdentifier "ID-Ping*" | Remove-Event
    Get-EventSubscriber -SourceIdentifier "ID-Ping*" | Unregister-Event

    $ipRange | ForEach-Object {

        [string]$VarName = "Ping_" + $_.Address

        New-Variable -Name $VarName -Value (New-Object System.Net.NetworkInformation.Ping)

        Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject (Get-Variable $VarName -ValueOnly) -EventName PingCompleted -SourceIdentifier "ID-$VarName"

        (Get-Variable $VarName -ValueOnly).SendAsync($_,$timeout,$VarName)

        Remove-Variable $VarName

        try
        {

            $pending = (Get-Event -SourceIdentifier "ID-Ping*").Count

        } 
        catch [System.InvalidOperationException]
        {
            $pending = 0
        }

        $index = [array]::indexof($ipRange,$_)

        Write-Progress -Activity "Sending ping to" -Id 1 -status $_.IPAddressToString -PercentComplete (($index / $IpTotal)  * 100)

        $percentComplete = ($($index - $pending), 0 | Measure-Object -Maximum).Maximum

        Write-Progress -Activity "ICMP requests pending" -Id 2 -ParentId 1 -Status ($index - $pending) -PercentComplete ($percentComplete/$IpTotal * 100)

        Start-Sleep -Milliseconds $Interval
    }

    Write-Progress -Activity "Done sending ping requests" -Id 1 -Status 'Waiting' -PercentComplete 100 

    while ($pending -lt $IpTotal) {

        Wait-Event -SourceIdentifier "ID-Ping*" | Out-Null

        Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 10

        try
        {

            $pending = (Get-Event -SourceIdentifier "ID-Ping*").Count

        }
        catch [System.InvalidOperationException]
        {
            $pending = 0
        }

        $percentComplete = ($($IpTotal - $pending), 0 | Measure-Object -Maximum).Maximum

        Write-Progress -Activity "ICMP requests pending" -Id 2 -ParentId 1 -Status ($IpTotal - $pending) -PercentComplete ($percentComplete/$IpTotal * 100)
    }

    Write-Progress -Completed -Id 2 -ParentId 1 -Activity "Completed"
    Write-Progress -Completed -Id 1 -Activity "Completed"

     $Reply = @()

    if ($RawOutput)
    {
        Get-Event -SourceIdentifier "ID-Ping*" | ForEach { 
            if ($_.SourceEventArgs.Reply.Status -eq "Success")
            {
                $Reply += $_.SourceEventArgs.Reply
            }
            Unregister-Event $_.SourceIdentifier
            Remove-Event $_.SourceIdentifier
        }
    }
    else
    {
        Get-Event -SourceIdentifier "ID-Ping*" | ForEach-Object { 
            if ($_.SourceEventArgs.Reply.Status -eq "Success")
            {
                $pinger = @{
                    IPAddress = $_.SourceEventArgs.Reply.Address
                    Bytes = $_.SourceEventArgs.Reply.Buffer.Length
                    Ttl = $_.SourceEventArgs.Reply.Options.Ttl
                    ResponseTime = $_.SourceEventArgs.Reply.RoundtripTime
                }
                $Reply += New-Object PSObject -Property $pinger
            }
            Unregister-Event $_.SourceIdentifier
            Remove-Event $_.SourceIdentifier
        }
    }

    if ($Reply.Count -eq 0)
    {
        Write-Verbose "Ping-IPRange : No IP address responded" -Verbose
    }

    return $Reply
}

Answer 5

You could spawn multiple jobs or you could use a workflow and a Foreach -parallel loop.