Set a Variable from an Imported List of Servers with Select-Object

Question

Currently I have the below script that works however I have over 30 servers and they often change so i was curious if there was a simpler way to get the $ServerList variable updated with the import data from each of my servers. The server path is the same and I could maintain a Server.txt file with all the server names. Any ideas on how to simplify this to work with a larger list of servers that I can update when needed without having to add lines to the powershell script?

$Headers = "Extension","Server IP","Comment"
$1 = Import-Csv "\\Server1\app\test\Stations.txt" -Header $Headers | Select-Object *, @{n='Server Name';e={'Server1'}}
$2 = Import-Csv "\\Server2\app\test\Stations.txt" -Header $Headers | Select-Object *, @{n='Server Name';e={'Server2'}}
$3 = Import-Csv "\\Server3\app\test\Stations.txt" -Header $Headers | Select-Object *, @{n='Server Name';e={'Server3'}}
$4 = Import-Csv "\\Server4\app\test\Stations.txt" -Header $Headers | Select-Object *, @{n='Server Name';e={'Server4'}}

$ServerList = $1,$2,$3,$4

Martin Brandl · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-19T17:08:19.650

Yes, you can use the Get-Content cmdlet to get a list of servers (you have to create the Server.txt first). Then you can use the Foreach-Object cmdlet (alias %) to iterate over it and use the current server:

$Headers = "Extension","Server IP","Comment"
$servers = Get-Content 'Your_path_to_server.txt'
$ServerList = $servers | 
    % { $server = $_; Import-Csv ("\\{0}\app\test\Stations.txt" -f $server) -Header $Headers | 
    Select-Object *, @{n='Server Name';e={$server}} }

Now you don't need to change anything on the script if you add a server. Here is the same script but maybe a little better to understand for you:

$Headers = "Extension","Server IP","Comment"
$serverNames = Get-Content 'Your_path_to_server.txt'

$ServerList = @()

foreach ($serverName in $serverNames)
{
    $ServerList += Import-Csv "\\$serverName\app\test\Stations.txt" -Header "Extension","Server IP","Comment" |
     Select-Object *, @{n='Server Name';e={$serverName}}
}

The format operator is needless in your first code snippet. You even removed it on the second. — Matt, Apr 19 '16 at 19:26

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 19 '16 at 20:52

A method I would use for something like this would be to make a Function for it. Here's some untested sample code.

Function Import-ServerListCSV($serverName){
   $Headers = "Extension","Server IP","Comment"
   Import-Csv "\\$serverName\app\test\Stations.txt" -Header $Headers | Select-Object *, @{n='Server Name';e={$serverName}}
}

$ServerList = "Server1","Server2","Server3","Server4" | % {Import-ServerListCSV $_}

Set a Variable from an Imported List of Servers with Select-Object

2 Answers2