Get-Counter

Get-Counter [[-Counter] <String[]>] [-ComputerName <String[]>] [-Continuous] [-MaxSamples <Int64>][-SampleInterval <Int32>] [<CommonParameters>]

Get-Counter [-ListSet*] <String[]> [-ComputerName <String[]>] [<CommonParameters>]

The Get-Counter cmdlet gets live, real-time performance counter data directly from the performance monitoring instrumentation in Windows. You can use it to get performance data from the local or remote computers at the sample interval that you specify.

Without parameters, a "Get-Counter" command gets counter data for a set of system counters.

You can use the parameters of Get-Counter to specify one or more computers, to list the performance counter sets and the counters that they contain, and to set the sample size and interval.

Parameters

-ComputerName <String[]>

Default value is Local computer
Accepts pipeline input ByValue

Gets data from the specified computers. Type the NetBIOS name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, or the fully qualified domain names of the computers. The default value is the local computer.

Note: Get-Counter does not rely on Windows PowerShell remoting. You can use the ComputerName parameter of Get-Counter even if your computer is not configured for remoting in Windows PowerShell.

-Continuous [<SwitchParameter>]

Default value is False

Gets samples continuously until you press CTRL+C. By default, Get-Counter gets only one counter sample. You can use the SampleInterval parameter to set the interval for continuous sampling.

-Counter <String[]>

Accepts pipeline input ByValue
Accepts wildcard characters

Gets data from the specified performance counters. Enter one or more counter paths. Wildcards are permitted only in the Instance value. You can also pipe counter path strings to Get-Counter.

Each counter path has the following format:

"[\\<ComputerName>]\<CounterSet>(<Instance>)\<CounterName>"

For example:

"\\Server01\Processor(2)\% User Time"

The <ComputerName> element is optional. If you omit it, Get-Counter uses the value of the ComputerName parameter.

Note: To get correctly formatted counter paths, use the ListSet parameter to get a performance counter set. The Paths and PathsWithInstances properties of each performance counter set contain the individual counter paths formatted as a string. You can save the counter path strings in a variable or pipe the string directly to another Get-Counter command. For a demonstration, see the examples.

-ListSet <String[]>

This value is required
Accepts pipeline input ByValue
Accepts wildcard characters

Gets the specified performance counter sets on the computers. Enter the names of the counter sets. Wildcards are permitted. You can also pipe counter set names to Get-Counter.

-MaxSamples <Int64>

Default value is 1
Accepts pipeline input ByValue

Specifies the number of samples to get from each counter. The default is 1 sample. To get samples continuously (no maximum sample size), use the Continuous parameter.

To collect a very large data set, consider running a Get-Counter command as a Windows PowerShell background job.

-SampleInterval <Int32>

Default value is 1
Accepts pipeline input ByValue

Specifies the time between samples in seconds. The minimum value and the default value are 1 second.

<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,OutBuffer, PipelineVariable, and OutVariable.

Inputs

System.String[]

You can pipe counter paths and counter set (ListSet) names to Get-Counter.

Outputs

Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetCounter.CounterSet,

Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetCounter.PerformanceCounterSampleSet, Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetCounter.PerformanceCounterSample The ListSet parameter gets Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetCounter.CounterSet objects. The Counter parameter gets Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetCounter.PerformanceCounterSampleSet objects. Each counter value is a Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetCounter.PerformanceCounterSample object.

Examples

This command gets all of the counter sets on the local computer:
```
PS C:\> Get-Counter -ListSet *
```
Because many of the counter sets are protected by access control lists (ACLs), to see all counter sets, open Windows PowerShell with the "Run as administrator" option before using the Get-Counter command.
This command gets the current "% Processor Time" combined values for all processors on the local computer:
```
PS C:\> Get-Counter -Counter "\Processor(_Total)\% Processor Time" -SampleInterval 2 -MaxSamples 3
```
It collects data every two seconds until it has three values.
This command gets an alphabetically sorted list of the names of all of the counter sets on the local computer:
```
PS C:\> Get-Counter -ListSet * | Sort-Object CounterSetName | Format-Table CounterSetName
```

The first command gets the path names of the performance counters in the Memory counter set on the local computer:

PS C:\> (Get-Counter -ListSet Memory).Paths

   \Memory\Page Faults/sec
   \Memory\Available Bytes
   \Memory\Committed Bytes
   \Memory\Commit Limit
   \Memory\Write Copies/sec
   \Memory\Transition Faults/sec
   \Memory\Cache Faults/sec
   \Memory\Demand Zero Faults/sec
   \Memory\Pages/sec
   \Memory\Pages Input/sec
   ...

The second command gets the path names that include "cache":

PS C:\> (Get-Counter -ListSet Memory).Paths | Where {$_ -like "*Cache*"}

   \Memory\Cache Faults/sec
   \Memory\Cache Bytes
   \Memory\Cache Bytes Peak
   \Memory\System Cache Resident Bytes
   \Memory\Standby Cache Reserve Bytes
   \Memory\Standby Cache Normal Priority Bytes
   \Memory\Standby Cache Core Bytes

These commands use the Path property of a counter set to find the correctly formatted path names for the performance counters. You can use a command like this one to get the correct counter path names.

The first command saves the Disk Reads/sec counter path in the $DiskReads variable:
1. ```
PS C:\> $DiskReads = "\LogicalDisk(C:)\Disk Reads/sec"
```
2. The second command uses a pipeline operator (|) to send the counter path in the $DiskReads variable to the Get-Counter cmdlet:
```
PS C:\> $DiskReads | Get-Counter -Computer Server01, Server02 -MaxSamples 10
```
  The command uses the MaxSamples parameter to limit the output to 10 samples.These commands get the Disk Reads/sec counter data from the Server01 and Server02 computers.
This command gets the correctly formatted path names for the PhysicalDisk performance counters, including the instance names:
```
PS C:\> (Get-Counter -List PhysicalDisk).PathsWithInstances
```
The first command uses the Get-Content cmdlet to get the list of enterprise servers from the Servers.txt file:
1. It uses the Get-Random cmdlet to select 50 server names randomly from the Servers.txt file contents:
```
PS C:\> $Servers = Get-Random (Get-Content Servers.txt) -Count 50
```
  The results are saved in the $Servers variable.
2. The second command saves the path to the "% DPC Time" counter in the $Counter variable:
```
PS C:\> $Counter = "\Processor(*)\% DPC Time"
```
  The counter path includes a wildcard character in the instance name to get the data on all of the processors on each of the computers.
3. The third command uses the Get-Counter cmdlet to get the counter values:
```
PS C:\> Get-Counter -Counter $Counter -ComputerName $Servers
```
  It uses the Counter parameter to specify the counters and the ComputerName parameter to specify the computers saved in the $servers variable.These commands get the value of the "% DPC Time" performance counter on 50 randomly select computers in the enterprise.
The first command uses the Get-Counter cmdlet to get the counter paths:
1. It saves them in the $MemCounters variable.:
```
PS C:\> $MemCounters = (Get-Counter -List Memory).Paths
```
  It saves them in the $MemCounters variable.
2. The second command uses the Get-Counter cmdlet to get the counter data for each counter:
```
PS C:\> Get-Counter -Counter $MemCounters
```
  It uses the Counter parameter to specify the counters in the $MemCounters variable.These commands get a single value for all of the performance counters in the Memory counter set on the local computer.

The first command saves a counter path in the $Counter variable:

PS C:\> $Counter = "\\SERVER01\Process(Idle)\% Processor Time"

The second command uses the Get-Counter cmdlet to get one sample of the counter values:
```
PS C:\> $Data = Get-Counter $Counter
```
It saves the results in the $Data variable.

The third command uses the Format-List cmdlet to display all the properties of the CounterSamples property of the sample set object as a list:

PS C:\> $Data.CounterSamples | Format-List -Property *

   Path             : \\SERVER01\process(idle)\% processor time
   InstanceName     : idle
   CookedValue      : 198.467899571389
   RawValue         : 14329160321003
   SecondValue      : 128606459528326201
   MultipleCount    : 1
   CounterType      : Timer100Ns
   Timestamp        : 7/15/2008 6:39:12 PM
   Timestamp100NSec : 128606207528320000
   Status           : 0
   DefaultScale     : 0
   TimeBase         : 10000000

This example shows the property values in the PerformanceCounterSample object that represents each data sample. You can use the properties of the CounterSamples object to examine, select, sort, and group the data.

The command runs a Get-Counter command as background job:

PS C:\> Start-Job -ScriptBlock {Get-Counter -Counter "\LogicalDisk(_Total)\% Free Space" -MaxSamples 1000}

PS C:\>


PS C:\>

For more information, see Start-Job.

This command uses the Get-Counter and Get-Random cmdlets to find the percentage of free disk space on 50 computers selected randomly from the Servers.txt file:
```
PS C:\> Get-Counter -ComputerName (Get-Random Servers.txt -Count 50) -Counter "\LogicalDisk(*)\% Free Space"
```

The first command uses the Get-Counter cmdlet to get the "LogicalDisk\% Free Space" counter value from two remote computers, S1 and S2:

It saves the result in the $DiskSpace variable.:

PS C:\> $DiskSpace = Get-Counter "\LogicalDisk(_Total)\% Free Space" -ComputerName s1, s2

It saves the result in the $DiskSpace variable.

The second command displays the results that were saved in the $DiskSpace variable:

PS C:\> $DiskSpace

   Timestamp                 CounterSamples
   ---------                 --------------
   7/29/2009 3:04:33 PM      \\s1\\logicaldisk(_total)\% free space :
   45.6992854507028
   \\s2\\logicaldisk(_total)\% free space :
   3.73238142733405

All of the data is stored in the object, but it is not easy to see it in this form.

The third command displays in a table the value of the CounterSamples property of the PerformanceCounterSampleSet object that Get-Counter returns:

PS C:\> $DiskSpace.CounterSamples | Format-Table -AutoSize

   Path                                     InstanceName CookedValue
   ----                                     ------------ -----------
   \\s1\\logicaldisk(_total)\% free space   _total       45.6992854507028
   \\s2\\logicaldisk(_total)\% free space   _total       3.73238142733405
   The CounterSamples property contains a PerformanceCounterSample object with its own properties and methods. The 
   fourth command uses array notation to get the first counter sample and a pipeline operator to send the counter 
   sample object to the Format-List cmdlet, which displays all of its properties and property value in a list. This 
   display shows the richness of the data in each counter sample object.

PS C:\> $DiskSpace.countersamples[0] | Format-Table -Property *

   Path             : \\localhost\\logicaldisk(_total)\% free space
   InstanceName     : _total
   CookedValue      : 45.6992854507028
   RawValue         : 108980
   SecondValue      : 238472
   MultipleCount    : 1
   CounterType      : RawFraction
   Timestamp        : 7/29/2009 3:04:33 PM
   Timestamp100NSec : 128933534734680000
   Status           : 0
   DefaultScale     : 0
   TimeBase         : 14318180

(To see all of the properties and methods of the object, pipe it to the Get-Member cmdlet.)

The fifth command shows how to select data from the counter samples:

PS C:\> $DiskSpace.CounterSamples | Where-Object {$_.CookedValue -lt 15}

   Path                                InstanceName    CookedValue
   ----                                ------------    -----------
   \\s2\\logicaldisk(_total)\% free... _total          3.73238142733405

It uses the Where-Object cmdlet to get only the counter samples with a CookedValue of less than 15.This example shows how to associate counter data with the computer on which it originated, and how to manipulate the data.

The first command uses the Get-Counter cmdlet to get the "Process\% Processor Time" counter for all the processes on the computer:

The command saves the results in the $p variable.:
```
PS C:\> $p = Get-counter '\Process(*)\% Processor Time'
```
The command saves the results in the $p variable.

The second command gets the CounterSamples property of the sample set object in $p:

PS C:\> $p.CounterSamples | Sort-Object -Property CookedValue -Descending | Format-Table -Auto

   Path                                              InstanceName      CookedValue
   ----                                              ------------      -----------
   \\server01\process(_total)\% processor time        _total        200.00641042078
   \\server01\process(idle)\% processor time          idle          200.00641042078
   \\server01\process(explorer#1)\% processor time    explorer                    0
   \\server01\process(dwm#1)\% processor time         dwm                         0
   \\server01\process(taskeng#1)\% processor time     taskeng                     0
   \\server01\process(taskhost#1)\% processor time    taskhost                    0
   \\server01\process(winlogon)\% processor time      winlogon                    0
   \\server01\process(csrss)\% processor time         csrss                       0

It uses the Sort-Object cmdlet to sort the samples in descending order based on the cooked value of the sample. Then, the command uses Format-Table cmdlet to display the data in a table and its AutoSize parameter to optimize the display.This example shows how to sort the performance counter data that you retrieve. The example finds the processes on the computer that are using the most processor time during the sampling.

The first command gets one sample of the "Process\Working Set - Private" counter for each process:
1. The command saves the counter data in the $ws variable.:
```
PS C:\> $ws = Get-Counter "\Process(*)\Working Set - Private"
```
  The command saves the counter data in the $ws variable.
2. The second command uses a pipeline operator (|) to send the data in the CounterSamples property of the $ws variable to the Sort-Object cmdlet, where the process data is sorted in descending order by the value of the CookedValue property:
```
PS C:\> $ws.CounterSamples | Sort-Object -Property CookedValue -Descending | Format-Table -Property InstanceName, CookedValue -AutoSize

   InstanceName  CookedValue
   ------------  -----------
   _total          162983936
   svchost          40370176
   powershell       15110144
   explorer         14135296
   svchost          10928128
   svchost           9027584
   ...
```
  Another pipeline sends the sorted data to the Format-Table cmdlet, where the data is formatted as a table with InstanceName and CookedValue columns.These commands find the processes on the computer with the largest working sets. They list the processes in descending order based on their working set size.
This command gets a series of samples of the Processor\% Processor Time counter at the default one second interval:
```
PS C:\> Get-Counter -Counter "\Processor(_Total)\% Processor Time" -Continuous
```
To stop the command, press CTRL + C.

Additional Notes

 Performance counters are often protected by access control lists (ACLs). To get all available performance 
 counters, open Windows PowerShell with the "Run as administrator" option.

 By default, Get-Counter gets one sample during a one-second sample interval. To change this behavior, use the 
 MaxSamples and Continuous parameters.

 The MaxSamples and SampleInterval values that you set apply to all the counters on all the computers in the 
 command. To set different values for different counters, enter separate Get-Counter commands for each counter.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. It is attributed to Microsoft Corporation and can be found here.

PowerShell Commands