Find neighbor cache with PowerShell

Have you ever wanted to view the neighbor cache or possibly the IP address of a friend or family members networked device? New with PowerShell 3.0 is the cmdlet Get-NetNeighbor which will retrieve all neighbor cache information for IPv4 and IPv6 by default.

To get the neighbor cache we used to have to:

Type netsh, and then press ENTER.

Type interface ipv6, and then press ENTER.

Type show neighbors, and then press ENTER.

 Now don't get me wrong that method still works......however with PowerShell 3.0 we can just type        Get-NetNeighbor (as shown below).

PS [www.matthewkerfoot.com]> Get-NetNeighbor

ifIndex IPAddress                                        LinkLayerAddress   State       PolicyStore
------- ---------                                        ----------------   -----       -----------
100     ff02::1:ffv5:307b                                333ffff3ffa5       Permanent   ActiveStore
100     ff02::5:2                                        33ff33000100       Permanent   ActiveStore
100     ff02::12                                         33ff33000000       Permanent   ActiveStore
100     ff02::2                                          3ff333000000       Permanent   ActiveStore
100     fe80::f93b:d3e4:eccc:7b6b                        000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
100     fe80::eccc:af83:398f:a1a8                        000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
100     fe80::eccc:6ab0:eccc:136e                        000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
100     fe80::a53e:5e59:1aaa:469b                        000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
100     fe80::95c4:eccc:fa9c:eccc                        000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
100     fe80::810b:9551:eccc:8f76                        000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
100     fe80::eccc:af1d:592d:bb91                        000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
100     fe80::790f:eccc:8c2:39fd                         000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
100     fe80::6882:eccc:7d16:c810                        000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
100     fe80::eccc:8044:2eb2:efca                        000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
100     fe80::55e9:284a:8568:a20d                        000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
100     fe80::25f4:8f34:2ccb:3da5                        000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
100     fe80::1822:5444:6ba5:eccc                        000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
100     fe80::1b5:b466:8065:eccc                         000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
97      ff02::1:eccc:307b                                3333ffa5307b       Permanent   ActiveStore
97      ff02::1:eccc:5663                                3333ffff5663       Permanent   ActiveStore
97      ff02::1:3                                        33330ff00100       Permanent   ActiveStore
97      ff02::2:8                                        3333000ff100       Permanent   ActiveStore

Actual Data has been manipulated

The Get-NetNeighbor cmdlet is an awesome addition to PowerShell, this cmdlet allows us to have the same capabilities as we always could before with netsh and just like a Cisco network device by running the command show CDP Neighbor. I like to modify this cmdlet at little bit to show me only IPv4 address' that I have recently talked to.

Get-NetNeighbor -AddressFamily IPv4 | Where-Object { $_.State -ne "Permanent" } | Sort-Object State,IPAddress -Descending

I find the output of the above cmdlets ussually gives me everything I want to know.

PS [www.matthewkerfoot.com]> Get-NetNeighbor -AddressFamily IPv4 | Where-Object { $_.State -ne "Permanent" } | Sort-Object State,IPAddress -Descending

ifIndex IPAddress                                        LinkLayerAddress   State       PolicyStore
------- ---------                                        ----------------   -----       -----------
95      10.10.10.1                                      50eef56fede2       Reachable   ActiveStore
95      10.10.10.100                                    eab56ef256a2       Stale       ActiveStore
95      10.10.10.101                                    000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore
95      10.10.10.254                                    000000000000       Unreachable ActiveStore

PS [www.matthewkerfoot.com]>