I have an SSH task in an Azure devops pipeline which connects to another target server to perform a deployment.
The target server does not have any of my pipeline's variables, nor do I have any means of passing them through the standard SSH Task. i.e., if I run pwd, none of my variables display.
Some of the variables are passwords.
What is the easiest way to pass these to my remote server?
Use PowerShell on Target Machine task with the PS script that set variable can help you to achieve this.
This task can help you connect the remote server then finish the powershell script.
For set variable script, you can check with this format Write-Verbose -verbose:
Param(
[string]$psw
)
Write-Verbose "##vso[task.setvariable variable=NewPSWVariable]$psw" -verbose
I wrote the script in .ps1 file, then choose file path, call and pass the value to the parameter in PowerShell on Target Machine task.
What I used here is Write-Verbose. This can help to print out the variable into console which can help to debug the log.
Related
I have a PowerShell script ex1.ps1 which takes user inputs and ex1.ps1 has commands to open a new PowerShell to execute an exe file:
Start-Process -FilePath "$PSHOME\powershell.exe" -ArgumentList "-command C:\APPLICATION1.exe`
I want to execute ex1.ps1 on a remote host. I am trying to call ex1.ps1 using Ansible-playbook as:
# ansible-playbook script
- name: Run basic PowerShell script
win_powershell:
script: |
powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -File C:/Users/ex1.ps1
It is executing fine but in remote host there is no PowerShell prompt open to get the inputs.
You shouldn't be expecting manual input when deploying with a tool like Ansible. I don't know the actual program you are trying to run but the best solution here is to figure out the required parameters for the program to install/start/run without user interaction.
If you are able to provide the name of the program (and it's not something internal to your organization) a more complete answer may be able to be provided.
Unrelated to your question, unless you've over-generalized your code for this question there isn't a reason to call powershell.exe from within PowerShell just to run an executable. You can either use Start-Process or the call operator & directly with the exe path in question.
I have an answer here that goes over Start-Process and the usage of & in a bit more detail.
Steps:
1. I have created a file known as: "test.vbs" under temp folder in machine B and in that script i have msgbox "hi"
2. From machine A - my goal is execute to test.vbs in machine B
3. In machine A. i did the following steps but i didnt get remote script executed. Can anyone please help me.
ps c:/> $s=new -pssession -computername machineB
ps c:/> Invoke-Command -Session $s-ScriptBlock{$filecount=(Get-ChildItem c:\temp\test.vbs -Recurse)}
ps c:/> Invoke-Command -Session $s-ScriptBlock{$filecount}
i received directory c:\temp and a file name as test.vbs
Now i want to execute test.vbs
ps c:/> Invoke-Command -ComputerName MachineB{& "C:\Temp\test.vbs"}
After executing the above command i dont see the test.vbs not executing remotely.
my expectation is to get hi messagebox.
I am not understanding if it got executed or not.
can anyone please help me to execute remote script locally using power shell.
thanks inadvance.
If my understanding to your question is correct, you want to execute test.vbs against machine B from machine A, I don't think it's possible in PowerShell.
I faced the same issue some time ago. Neither Enter-PsSession nor Invoke-Command can do it for you probably just because they are not designed for this purpose. They are working totally fine if you run any PowerShell cmdlets remotely e.g. Get-Item you can easily get items on machine B. But once if you try to do something beyond the PowerShell remote session, like run a vbs script which will start a new CScript.exe process, it just won't work. It's due to some reason in underlying implementation of this PowerShell remoting.
If you do need to do that, I got two workarounds
PsExec can be the best solution. It was designed to do this kind of work originally and it can easily accomplish what you want with a bunch of advanced features.
Create a scheduled task on machine B by using New-ScheduledTask and let it trigger itself on machine B locally.
If you have SCCM installed, it also provides this kind of functionality, check out this blog.
I have windows 2012 server with LSI Megaraid controller. I am able to get raid status using below command in powershell and redirect output to a file.
C:\> MegaCli64.exe -LDInfo -Lall -aALL | Out-File raid.txt
However I tried to run same command using task scheduler and it is not working. I want to send the output of raid command or send raid.txt to a mail using task scheduler.
Some piece of advise for sceduled jobs :
1) Always set the working directory if you work with local files.
2) Always use the full path (not the relative one) for the programs you call and the files you manipulate. Do not expect the exe you call being in the paths pointed by $env:path.
3) Put your commands into a script file and make sure that a log (any type), with a time stamp, is composed each time your script is called.
4) Here is one way, but it exits multiples ways, to register your script in the scheduler :
# First set a Trigger
$SixInTheMorning = New-JobTrigger -Daily -At "06:00 AM"
# Second set your script
$scriptPath1 = 'C:\Batchs\WS_PowerShell\Myscript.PS1'
# Third register you job
Register-ScheduledJob -Name "AJobName" -FilePath $scriptPath1 -Trigger $scriptPath1
I've been playing around with powershell remoting and I've come across a problem that I am unable to resolve. I have a script that creates a remote session and after setting up some variables does the following:
Invoke-Command -Session $remote_session -ScriptBlock $block -ArgumentList $args
Within the block everything works fine except when it comes to a specific line, at which point the script hangs. The pertinent line is:
& '.\external_command.exe' $argument_list
When I log into the computer that is hosting the remote powershell session I can see external_command.exe in the process list but it's not doing anything. Does anyone have any ideas on how to resolve the issue?
I had similar problems with remote execution of installers. As a workaround I now first create a cmd batch file through powershell and then run this batch file. Something like this:
"c:\external_command.exe argument1" > c:\run.cmd
&"c:\Run.cmd" |Out-Null
I would like to have a Windows 2003 server fire a script to fire another script in a separate Windows Server 2008 computer.
I have been told that Powershell can do that, and that's fine, but I need more specific details.
Does anyone have any tips for this?
Thanks!
psexec from SysInternals
Look into the syntax for the AT command. You can use it to schedule a process to run on a remote machine.
The AT command schedules commands and programs to run on a computer at
a specified time and date. The Schedule service must be running to use
the AT command.
AT [\\computername] [ [id] [/DELETE] | /DELETE [/YES]]
AT [\\computername] time [/INTERACTIVE]
[ /EVERY:date[,...] | /NEXT:date[,...]] "command"
\\computername Specifies a remote computer. Commands are scheduled on the
local computer if this parameter is omitted.
id Is an identification number assigned to a scheduled
command.
/delete Cancels a scheduled command. If id is omitted, all the
scheduled commands on the computer are canceled.
/yes Used with cancel all jobs command when no further
confirmation is desired.
time Specifies the time when command is to run.
/interactive Allows the job to interact with the desktop of the user
who is logged on at the time the job runs.
/every:date[,...] Runs the command on each specified day(s) of the week or
month. If date is omitted, the current day of the month
is assumed.
/next:date[,...] Runs the specified command on the next occurrence of the
day (for example, next Thursday). If date is omitted, the
current day of the month is assumed.
"command" Is the Windows NT command, or batch program to be run.
easiest way that is use will be in two steps
a. installing cygwin to remote pc
b. run ssh hudson#mcs '/cygdrive/c/path_to_script.bat'
Speaking about PsExec, I would strongly suggest to use Cygwin/OpenSSH instead.
SSH has multiple advantages (over tools like PsExec or even custom-made services).
For example, try to use with PsExec and implement what these bash / ssh command lines do:
ssh user#remotehost "find . -name something" 2> all.errors.txt
ssh user#remotehost "grep -r something ."
if [ "$?" == "0" ]
then
echo "FOUND"
else
echo "NOT FOUND"
fi
Good Luck!
SSH transfers (!) remote stdout / stderr / exit status to local shell for inspection
(killer feature and common requirement to integrate remote execution into logic of local scripts)
Cygwin/OpenSSH provides standard POSIX shell environment
(efficient time investment, fundamental tools, cross-platform ready, compatible habits, etc.)
You can still/always run all native Windows application
(including automatic execution of *.bat files by cmd processor)
You can configure password-less auth using public keys
(think about unattended automated tasks)
Tip
There was one requirement I had problems with initially:
background sshd service had to execute apps in user's graphical session
(to make application window appear in desktop environment).
The acceptable solution for me was running sshd service directly in user's GUI session
(start automatically when user logs in, follow the link to see configuration file changes):
/usr/sbin/sshd -f /home/user/sshd_config
The accepted solution from http://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Microsoft_Operating_Systems/Q_22959948.html is:
What I provide was a script that takes
parameters... In this case it takes 4.
1) Server: if you pass -server it will
only do that one server 2) List: You
can provide a list file of servers.
3) Service: Name of the service you
want to modify 4) Verbose: is not
used here.
I did have some mistakes that I
changed in the following code. To use
cut/paste the code into a file called
Set-RemoteService.ps1. Make sure to
set your executionpolicy to run
scripts... it will not by default. You
do that by using the
set-executionpolicy cmdlet. PS>
Set-Executionpolicy "RemoteSigned" to
run the script you do PS>
C:\PathToScript\Set-RemoteService.ps1
-list c:\ServerList.txt -service "DHCP"
######################### Param($server,$list,$service,[switch]$verbose)
if($Verbose){$VerbosePreference =
"Continue"} if($list) {
foreach($srv in (get-content $list))
{
$query = "Select * from Win32_Service where Name='$service'"
$myService = get-WmiObject -query $query -computer $srv
$myService.ChangeStartMode("Automatic")
$myService.Start()
} } if($server) {
$query = "Select * from Win32_Service where Name='$service'"
$myService = get-WmiObject -query $query -computer $server
$myService.ChangeStartMode("Automatic")
$myService.Start() }