There is a tiny .NET function called GetHostByName() that is vastly useful. It will look up a host name and return its current IP address:
[System.Net.DNS]::GetHostByName('someName')
With just a simple PowerShell wrapper, this is turned into a great little function that is extremely versatile:
function Get-IPAddress { param ( [Parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true, ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)] [String[]] $Name ) process { $Name | ForEach-Object { try { [System.Net.DNS]::GetHostByName($_) } catch { } }} }
You can now run the function as-is (to get your own IP address). You can submit one or more computer names (comma separated). You can even pipe in data from Get-ADComputer or Get-QADComputer.
Get-IPAddress Get-IPAddress -Name TobiasAir1 Get-IPAddress -Name TobiasAir1, Server12, Storage1 'TobiasAir1', 'Server12', 'Storage1' | Get-IPAddress Get-QADComputer | Get-IPAddress Get-ADComputer -Filter * | Get-IPAddress
This is possible because the function has both a pipeline binding and an argument serializer.
The -Name argument is fed to ForEach-Object, so no matter how many computer names a user specifies, they all get processed.
The -Name parameter accepts value from the pipeline both by property and as a value. So you can feed in any object that has a "Name" property, but you can also feed in any list of plain strings.
Note that the function has a very simple error handler. If you submit a computer name that cannot be resolved, nothing happens. Add code to the catch block if you want an error message instead.
