Try, catch in powershell invoke-command - powershell

Question

It is not going to "catch" block as part of invoke-command for the incorrect host using powershell
$server= #("correcthost","Incorrecthost")
foreach($server in $server)
{
Try{
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $server -ArgumentList $server -ScriptBlock {
$serverk=$args[0]
write-host $serverk
}
}
Catch
{
write-host "error connecting to $serverk"
}
}
I expect the catchblock getting executed as i am trying to incorrect host
but the actual output is not printing catch block

Answer 1

There are two issues. First, the variable $serverk is out of scope in the catch block. It's being used only on the remote computer, so it doesn't exist - or have value - on the local system.
Debugging any Powershell script should always start with turning on the strict mode, so warnings about uninitialized variables are generated. Like so,
Set-StrictMode -Version 'latest'
...<code>
The variable '$serverk' cannot be retrieved because it has not been set.
At line:12 char:41
+ write-host "error connecting to $serverk"
+ ~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (serverk:String) [], RuntimeException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : VariableIsUndefined
The fix is easy, just refer to $server that's the variable used in iterating $servers.
The second issue is caused by ErrorAction, or to be specific, not declaring one. Add -ErrorAction Stop to Invoke-Command and process the exception in catch block like so,
catch{
write-host "error connecting to $server`: $_"
}
error connecting to doesnotexist: [doesnotexist] Connecting to remote server doesnotexist failed...