How to set timeout to a PowerShell function? - powershell

Question

I have a script which is fetching the disk space information of many machines in a call center. However, sometimes this function takes too long. I need to create a time out for that function and have been unable to. I tried using start-job but to be honest, I don't fully understand it and so I am not getting the desired results.
try {
$timeoutSeconds = 30
$code = {
param($currentPCname, $activeDriveTypes)
// Function which takes computer name as input and outputs the ComputerName,DeviceID, Size, Freespace and DriveType (3 = local)
function get-FDS {
[cmdLetBinding()]
Param([string]$hostName)
Get-WmiObject Win32_LogicalDisk -ComputerName $hostName |
Where-object {$_.DriveType -in $activeDriveTypes} |
select-Object #{Name="ComputerName";Expression={$hostName}}, #{Name="Date";Expression={Get-Date}}, DeviceID, Size, Freespace, DriveType
}
get-FDS($currentPCname) -errorAction stop
}
$processTime = measure-command {
$j = Start-Job -ScriptBlock $code -Arg $currentPCname, $activeDriveTypes
if (Wait-Job $j -Timeout $timeoutSeconds) { $tempData = Receive-Job $j }
$jobState = $j.state
Remove-Job -force $j
}
if ($jobState -ne 'Completed') {
$pcTurnedOn = $false
$errorMessage = "ERROR talking to $currentPCname : Query timed-out"
$query = "CALL sp_fds_insert_log(" + $currentRunID + ", '" + $errorMessage + "', '" + $scriptName + "');"
$cmd = new-object mysql.data.mysqlclient.mysqlcommand($query, $conn)
$cmd.executenonquery()
}
} catch {
$pcTurnedOn = $false
$errorMessage = "ERROR talking to $currentPCname : $_"
$query = "CALL sp_fds_insert_log(" + $currentRunID + ", '" + $errorMessage + "', '" + $scriptName + "');"
$cmd = new-object mysql.data.mysqlclient.mysqlcommand($query, $conn)
$cmd.executenonquery()
}
The main point of the code above is that if the line below which is calling the $code segment
$processTime = measure-command {
$j = Start-Job -ScriptBlock $code -Arg $currentPCname, $activeDriveTypes
if (Wait-Job $j -Timeout $timeoutSeconds) { $tempData = Receive-Job $j }
$jobState = $j.state
Remove-Job -force $j
}
takes more than 30 seconds which is the $timeoutSeconds, the last IF statement would be called, if the line above does not work for some reason, the catch statement would be called and if it works in less than 30 seconds, nothing would be called.

Answer 1

If the job finished before the timeout is reached, Wait-Job will return the job itself - if the timeout is exceeded it won't return anything:
$timeout = 2
$job = Start-Job { Start-Sleep -Seconds 3 }
$done = $job |Wait-Job -TimeOut $timeout
if($done){
# It returned within the timeout
}
else {
# Nothing was returned, job timed out
}