How to pipe different output when using "Restart-Computer" powershell - powershell

Question

I have a csv file
SERVERS|SEQUENCE|INDEX
ServerA| 1 | 1.1
ServerB| 1 | 2.1
ServerC| 2 | 3.1
And here is my Code
#importing csv into ps$
$csv = Import-Csv "sequencing.csv"
#Grouping & Sort data from csv
$objdata = $csv | Select SERVERS,SEQUENCE | Group SEQUENCE | Select #{n="SEQUENCE";e={$_.Name}},#{n="SERVERS";e={$_.Group | ForEach{$_.SERVERS}}} | Sort SEQUENCE
foreach ($d in $objdata)
{
$order = $d.SEQUENCE
$cNames = $d.SERVERS
if (Restart-Computer -ComputerName $cNames -Force -Wait -For Wmi -Delay 1 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
{
write-host "$cNames is rebooting" -ForegroundColor Green
}
else
{
Write-Host "Unable to reboot $cNames remotely, Please do it manually" -ForegroundColor Red
}
}
I am trying to reboot multiple servers in sequence and piping the output through 2 different results.
From my code, all the servers will reboot but will output through the else statement.
Can anyone point me to the right direction?
Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

As Lee_Daily already pointed out, the Restart-Computer does not return anything. That means you will have to use a try/catch block.
To make sure that in the event of an error you actually enter the catch block, you need to set the ErrorAction parameter to Stop.
In your code, you show a csv to import that has the piping symbol | as delimiter, so you need to specify that on the Import-Csv cmdlet.
From your latest comment, I gather that you want to loop one computer at a time, instead of restarting multiple computers at once, so you will know which computer errors out.
Try:
# importing csv into ps$
$csv = Import-Csv "D:\sequencing.csv" -Delimiter '|'
# Grouping & Sort data from csv
$objdata = $csv | Select-Object SERVERS,SEQUENCE |
Group-Object SEQUENCE |
Select-Object #{Name = "SEQUENCE"; Expression = {$_.Name}},
#{Name = "SERVERS"; Expression = {$_.Group.SERVERS}} |
Sort-Object SEQUENCE
$objdata | ForEach-Object {
foreach ($server in $_.SERVERS) {
try {
Restart-Computer -ComputerName $server -Force -Wait -For Wmi -Delay 1 -ErrorAction Stop
Write-Host "Server $server is rebooting" -ForegroundColor Green
}
catch {
Write-Host "Unable to reboot $server remotely, Please do it manually" -ForegroundColor Red
}
}
}
Seeing your latest comment, I understand that you only want to reboot servers where the SEQUENCE value in the CSV is set to '1'. Correct?
Also, you want to restart the servers at the same time, but also want to be able to see what server did not restart. Maybe you can do that with running Restart-Computer -AsJob, but I believe that only works in PowerShell 5.1
Below code filters out all servers with SEQUENCE set to 1 and restarts them one at a time (as requested in your original question "I am trying to reboot multiple servers in sequence"):
# import csv data
$csv = Import-Csv "D:\sequencing.csv" -Delimiter '|' # change this to the delimiter actually used in the CSV !
# get the list of servers where SEQUENCE is set to '1'
$servers = $csv | Select-Object SERVERS,SEQUENCE |
Where-Object { $_.SEQUENCE.Trim() -eq '1' } |
ForEach-Object { $_.SERVERS.Trim() }
foreach ($server in $servers) {
try {
Restart-Computer -ComputerName $server -Force -Wait -For Wmi -Delay 1 -ErrorAction Stop
Write-Host "Server $server is rebooting" -ForegroundColor Green
}
catch {
Write-Host "Unable to reboot $server remotely, Please do it manually" -ForegroundColor Red
}
}