Explore performance counters with Get-Counter

Get-Counter is the cmdlet you use both to discover the counter sets available on a machine, and to obtain performance samples from a local or remote server. In this recipe, you use a Windows Server 2016 server, SRV1, to examine performance counter sets and counters on local and remote computers.

Getting ready

This recipe uses several remote machines: DC1, CA, SRV1, FS1, FS2, and PSRV. Adjust the recipe to reflect the computers in your testing or production environment.

This recipe uses several servers to simulate a normal organization. Consider using fewer servers.

How to do it...

1. You start by using Get-Counter to discover performance counter sets on the local machine:

$CounterSets = Get-Counter -ListSet *  "There are {0} counter sets on [{1}]" `
                                   -f $CounterSets.count, (hostname)

2. Discover performance counter sets on remote systems:

$Machines = 'DC1', 'CAa', 'SRV1', 'FS1', 'FS2', 'PSRV' foreach ($Machine in $Machines...