C# Ping Status

One of the networks I manage needed a quick cheap solution for monitoring if a few servers were up. Came up with a C# Windows Service application that pings the servers every 15 minutes. If the ping fails for a system it will wait another 5 seconds and try it again. If both fail it will add it to a report that is emailed to the network admins. Below is the code for the test console app.


--------C# Test Console App Code-----------
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.NetworkInformation;
using System.Net.Mail;
using System.Data;


namespace PING
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Int for Counting Failed Pings
int pingFail = 0;

//String Builder for Email Message
StringBuilder stbFail = new StringBuilder();

//Hashtable for Server Name and IP Addresses
Hashtable servers = new Hashtable();

//Server Name is Key and IP Address is Value
servers.Add("Server1", "192.168.xxx.xxx");
servers.Add("Server2", "192.168.xxx.xxx");
servers.Add("Server3", "192.168.xxx.xxx");
servers.Add("Server4", "192.168.xxx.xxx");
servers.Add("Server5", "192.168.xxx.xxx");
servers.Add("Server6", "192.168.xxx.xxx");
servers.Add("Firewall1", "192.168.xxx.xxx");
servers.Add("Firewall2", "192.168.xxx.xxx");
servers.Add("Transwall1", "192.168.xxx.xxx");


foreach (DictionaryEntry de in servers)
{
//Ping Server IP. If It Fails Ping Again Five Seconds Later
if (!PingCheck(de.Value.ToString()))
{
//Pausing for Five Seconds
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(5000);

//Second Ping Check on Failed IP
if (!PingCheck(de.Value.ToString()))
{
//Increment Verified Fail and Add Server Info to Report
pingFail++;
stbFail.AppendLine(de.Key.ToString() + " at " + de.Value.ToString() + " is down");
}

}

}

//Email Failed Pings to Network Admin(s)
if (pingFail > 0)
{
//Create Mail Message and Send
MailAddress maFrom = new MailAddress("notifyingsystem@mydomain.edu");
MailAddress maTo = new MailAddress("guycomingintooffice@mydomain.edu");
MailMessage message = new MailMessage(maFrom, maTo);
message.Subject = "Failed Ping Report";
message.IsBodyHtml = false;
message.Body = stbFail.ToString();
SmtpClient mail = new SmtpClient();
mail.Host = "smtp.mydomain.edu";
mail.Send(message);
}
}

static bool PingCheck(string strAddr)
{
bool pingStatus = false;
Ping pingSender = new Ping();
PingOptions options = new PingOptions();
options.DontFragment = true;
string data = "bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb";
byte[] buffer = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(data);
int timeout = 120;
PingReply replyPing = pingSender.Send(strAddr, timeout, buffer, options);

if (replyPing.Status == IPStatus.Success)
{
pingStatus = true;
}

return pingStatus;
}

}
}

DHCP Reservations via PowerShell and Exported .CSV Leases File

Ran into an issue with having to transfer DHCP reservations from one stand alone Windows 2008 server to a Windows 2008 R2 server. When I tried the export and import netsh commands they failed. Not wanting to manually create the whole class C worth of reservations again I came up with this more efficient method.

Basically, here are the steps: log onto the old DHCP server and export the current leases to a .csv file. Copy that file over to the new DHCP server. Place the PowerShell script (code listed below) into the same directory as the .csv file. Then run the script and watch the happiness.

Found the idea for the Add-Content part via another site. PowerShell is such a interesting creature.


#-------------Code from dhcpRes.ps1-----------------------------------------------------------

# IP Address of the Current DHCP Server Running the Script
$server = "192.168.2.1"

# The Scope IP Address
$scope = "192.168.2.0"

# Netsh Commands File
$commands = "dhcp.txt"

# Exported .CSV File of DHCP Leases from Other DHCP Server
$leases = import-csv "dhcp.csv"

$leases | % {
add-content -path $commands -value "dhcp server $server scope $scope add reservedip $($_.'Client IP Address') $($_.'Unique ID') `"$($_.'Unique ID')`""
}

netsh exec $commands

#End of Code