VS Code with PowerShell extension - Mini Project: Build & Apply

VS Code with PowerShell extension

📖 Scenario: You are learning how to use Visual Studio Code (VS Code) with the PowerShell extension to write and run PowerShell scripts easily. This project will guide you through creating a simple PowerShell script, configuring a variable, writing a loop to process data, and displaying the output in the VS Code terminal.

🎯 Goal: Build a PowerShell script that stores a list of server names, sets a threshold number, filters servers based on the threshold, and prints the filtered list in the VS Code terminal.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a list of server names with their CPU usage percentages

Add a threshold variable to filter servers by CPU usage

Use a loop or comprehension to select servers exceeding the threshold

Print the filtered server names and their CPU usage

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

System administrators often monitor server performance using scripts. This project shows how to filter and display server CPU usage data using PowerShell in VS Code.

💼 Career

Knowing how to write and run PowerShell scripts in VS Code is essential for IT professionals managing Windows servers and automating tasks.

1

Create the initial server data

Create a variable called servers that holds a dictionary with these exact entries: 'ServerA' = 45, 'ServerB' = 70, 'ServerC' = 30, 'ServerD' = 85

PowerShell

# Create the servers dictionary with CPU usage percentages
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use @{} to create a dictionary in PowerShell. Separate entries with semicolons.

2

Add a CPU usage threshold

Create a variable called threshold and set it to 50

PowerShell

$servers = @{ 'ServerA' = 45; 'ServerB' = 70; 'ServerC' = 30; 'ServerD' = 85 }
# Create the threshold variable and set it to 50
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Just assign the number 50 to a variable named threshold.

3

Filter servers exceeding the threshold

Create a variable called highUsageServers that contains only the servers from $servers where the CPU usage is greater than $threshold. Use a foreach loop with if condition to add matching servers to highUsageServers.

PowerShell

$servers = @{ 'ServerA' = 45; 'ServerB' = 70; 'ServerC' = 30; 'ServerD' = 85 }
$threshold = 50
# Create an empty dictionary called highUsageServers
# Use foreach to add servers with usage > threshold
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Start with an empty dictionary @{}. Loop over $servers.Keys. Use if to check if usage is greater than $threshold. Add matching servers to $highUsageServers.

4

Display the filtered servers

Use a foreach loop to print each server name and its CPU usage from $highUsageServers in the format: ServerB: 70%

PowerShell

$servers = @{ 'ServerA' = 45; 'ServerB' = 70; 'ServerC' = 30; 'ServerD' = 85 }
$threshold = 50
$highUsageServers = @{}
foreach ($server in $servers.Keys) {
    if ($servers[$server] -gt $threshold) {
        $highUsageServers[$server] = $servers[$server]
    }
}
# Print each server and its CPU usage from highUsageServers
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Loop over $highUsageServers.Keys. Use Write-Output with an f-string style to print the server name and usage with a percent sign.