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
Related
So there are several factors in play with this question, so here they are:
SailPoint 8.2 and IQService 8.2
Windows Server 2016
A service Account(Domain Admin)
An interactive User account (Domain admin)
Powershell 5.1 build 14393 revision 4583
So what we have is SailPoint is executing a rule on its end, sending over some information to IQService, and IQService is executing the PowerShell scripts as the service account. In one of the PowerShell scripts, we have the following command:
LogToFile("calling start job")
$j = Start-Job -ScriptBlock { C:/SailPoint/Scripts/PowershellContainerAfterCreateRetry.ps1 -sAMAccountName $args[0] -company $args[1] } -ArgumentList $sAMAccountName, $company -Name 'PowershellContainerAfterCreateRetry'
LogToFile($j | Select-Object -Property *)
LogToFile("finished start-job")
and this is where things get interesting because this command, as you can note, we can log to file to see what its output is, which is as follows:
calling start job
#{
State=Running; HasMoreData=True;
StatusMessage=;
Location=localhost;
Command= C:/SailPoint/Scripts/PowershellContainerAfterCreateRetry.ps1 -sAMAccountName $args[0] -company $args[1] ;
JobStateInfo=Running;
Finished=System.Threading.ManualResetEvent;
InstanceId=aa889c06-7a8a-402e-807a-880d02465bdd; Id=1;
Name=PowershellContainerAfterCreateRetry;
ChildJobs=System.Collections.Generic.List`1[System.Management.Automation.Job];
PSBeginTime=10/15/2021 21:14:22; PSEndTime=;
PSJobTypeName=BackgroundJob;
Output=System.Management.Automation.PSDataCollection`1[System.Management.Automation.PSObject];
Error=System.Management.Automation.PSDataCollection`1[System.Management.Automation.ErrorRecord];
Progress=System.Management.Automation.PSDataCollection`1[System.Management.Automation.ProgressRecord];
Verbose=System.Management.Automation.PSDataCollection`1[System.Management.Automation.VerboseRecord];
Debug=System.Management.Automation.PSDataCollection`1[System.Management.Automation.DebugRecord];
Warning=System.Management.Automation.PSDataCollection`1[System.Management.Automation.WarningRecord];
Information=System.Management.Automation.PSDataCollection`1[System.Management.Automation.InformationRecord]}
finished start-job
When I execute this command either by itself OR within this script using Windows PowerShell ISE, it completes with no issue and calls the script in question, and everything works perfectly! (whether I am using my interactive account OR the service account)
When this script executes using the IQService, something "else" is happening - I say something "else" because I don't have any log files or errors; it just seems to disappear into the ether. (I have a log write out five lines into the PowerShell script, so one would think I would at least get SOMETHING!?!? I am out of ideas...thoughts?
As a minor note, I ran an experiment that showed me that there is something strange about the setup which should have succeeded without issue - like the above it appears to execute (because I can see the same information above, that shows that the job has started). Still, just like the above, it never actually "appears" to complete or error out. The only thing I can think of is that somehow the primary script closing out is causing this to close out as well - but I would think it would be able to get a couple of log files written to if that was the case? Anyway...thanks for reading!
$doit = {
"test" | Out-File -filepath ("c:\test.txt") -append
}
Start-job -ScriptBlock $doit
i think Start-Job is the problem here, as iqservice will launch a powershell script process and that may not support the background job aspect you are trying to use.
if you need to have something retry or wait and loop, you'll need to use another identityiq/iqservice mechanism (a workflow in iiq perhaps that calls down to AD when conditions are, timer is hit, etc.) beyond start-job inside of an iqservice powershell script.
I am currently experiencing a batch script problem using the Invoke-Command command on a remote machine. The script in question allows me to launch a web page and retrieve information. Everything was working since the chrome update.
By running PowerShell, I can see that the chromedriver.exe process is running but nothing is happening.
I did the test locally and the same result.
Here is the PowerShell script:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName 'remoteserver' -ScriptBlock {cmd /c 'D:\...\..\ScrapingScript.bat param1 param2'}
Logically, by executing it, I have the browser which opens and then closes when it has finished. While now nothing.
Do you have an idea?
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.
Current PS script:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName RemoteServer007.FQDN.com -ScriptBlock {
Set-Variable -Name WOWCONFIG -value "d:\ABCs\WOWzers" `
| Start-Process "d:\da-folder\Do-It-NOW-Pleez.cmd"
}
If I log on locally to the server(RemoteServer007.FQDN.com) and execute the cmd file, it runs through all of the lines(commands) within the cmd file.
When I execute it remotely, it gets about 30% of the way through the commands within the cmd file, the PS execution ends without error, but not all of the lines/commands in the cmd file had been executed.
This was discovered by simply configuring each line of the cmd file to output to txt files.
I even tried re-ranging the commands in the cmd file, thinking that perhaps there was a specific command that was causing it to exit, but that is not the case.
I'm wondering if there is some timeout or response that PowerShell is not getting? and just quitting almost immediately after starting?
Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.
There are a couple of things you can do here:
You may have a memory issue. Increasing the value of MaxMemoryPerShellMB might help
set-item WSMan:\$target\Shell\MaxMemoryPerShellMB -Value 0 -Force
You'd need to run this once on the remote machine before you execute your commands again.
You can also see possible error logs in the windows event viewer. There are categories for powershell and for Windows Remote Management which you should look at.
Finally, you can just run this process asynchronously, using the task scheduler for instance. I had a similar problem with windows in the past, and running the process from the task scheduler, outside the powershell session, fixed it. There's an example of how we did this in Cloudify here:
https://github.com/CloudifySource/cloudify/blob/master/esc/src/main/resources/clouds/ec2-win/upload/bootstrap-management.ps1#L220
I use the following command to run setup_server.exe on remote Windows box:
powershell -command "$encpass=convertto-securestring -asplaintext RPASSWORD -force;$cred = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList RUSER,$encpass; invoke-command -computername RCOMPUTERNAME -scriptblock {setup_server.exe} -credential $cred;"
setup_server.exe's task is to create some configuration files and start my_server.exe (some daemon process), then it finishes. And I want my_server.exe to keep running after setup_server.exe is finished.
So when I do it via CMD on local box (i.e. just run setup_server.exe from CMD) it works, but when I do it via powershell on remote host it doesn't work. Namely the my_server.exe gets started, but right after setup_server.exe is closed the server also gets closed(killed).
So the question is following:
Which powershell flags/cmdlets should I use to make the described scenario to work as in local mode?
NOTE: I want synchronously get output of setup_server.exe, so running remote command with -AsJob flag, probably wouldn't work for me, though I even don't know if it will keep the server alive after setup_server.exe's end.
The way to keep the remote PowerShell session running after the command has finished is to use a PSSession e.g.:
$s = new-PSSession computername
Invoke-Command -session $s { ..script.. }
... do other stuff, remote powershell.exe continues to run
Remove-PSSession $s # when you're done with the remote session
Generally though exes should run independently from the app that launched them.
Why are you using Invoke-Command. If you want a persistent Session, use Enter-PSSession.
$s = New-PSSession -Computername "Computername";
Enter-PSSession -Session $s;
setup_server.exe
# Once you are finnished
Exit-PSSession
With 'Enter-PSSession' you are not just Invoking some Command on the Server, you are directly logged-in like you probably know from SSH.
If you want your powershell session to keep running because you are running an exe, try using the -InDisconnectedSession switch. From what I understand, it will run the executable on the remote machine in a session that isn't actually connected to your computer. In essence, your computer will not destroy the session, when it disconnects, allowing the exe to continue to run.
invoke-command -computername RCOMPUTERNAME -scriptblock {start-process setup_server.exe} -InDisconnectedSession
If you need to do this on multiple computers. Setup an array of all the computer names.
Note: I don't believe this works with sessions that are already created.
In order to keep a powershell code running on the session exit it should be a process. And the windows way to keep the process is running a .exe or a windows service.
To keep a Powershell shell open after executing a command, I use the -NoExit switch, e.g. this script starts a remote interactive PS session on servername with user administrator
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -NoExit
-Command "Enter-PSSession -ComputerName servername -Credential administrator"
http://powershell-guru.com/powershell-tip-13-prevent-powershell-from-exiting-once-script-finished/