Please help , really very much worried
How to transform the below script using start-job , I have 6 Modules to compare , but sequentially it's taking too much time I am trying to adopt start-job option so that I can run this compare parallelly or in background
Tried this -
Start-Job -Name "Comparecontrol" -filepath $ExecuteSbtWithDcmDm -ArgumentList $CompareControl,"",$false,$false | Out-Null
echolog $THISSCRIPT $DCM_UPDATE_LOG_FILE $LLINFO "Finished Control Master Comparison
Main Script
The general flow would be something like this:
$jobs = #()
$jobs += Start-Job -scriptblock {...}
...
$jobs += Start-Job -scriptblock {...}
Wait-Job $jobs
$results = Receive-Job $jobs
You can use a job name as an alternative to storing the job instance returned by Start-Job e.g.:
$jobName = 'CompareControl'
foreach ($script in $scripts)
{
Start-Job -Name $jobName-scriptblock {&$script} -ArgumentList ...
}
Wait-Job -Name $jobName
$results = Receive-Job -Name $jobName
Related
I'm attempting to develop a script with PowerShell to remotely install/update flash player for multiple machines. No matter what I do, I can't get the install to work properly at all. I'm very limited with my tools so I have to use PowerShell, and the MSI install of Flashplayer. I'll post my script below, any help at all would be greatly appreciated.
$Computers = Get-Content C:\Users\name\Desktop\flash.txt
(tried these 3 methods to install none work)
$install = #("/a","/i", "\\$Computer\c$\temp\flash\install_flash_player_32_plugin.msi", "/qn","/norestart")
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Computer -ScriptBlock {Start-Process "Msiexec" -arg "$using:install" -Wait -PassThru} -Filepath msiexec.exe
#This returns with "invoke-command: parameter set cannot be resolved using the specified named parameters"
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $computer -ScriptBlock {Start-Process -Filepath msiexec.exe "$using:install" -Wait -PassThru} -Filepath msiexec.exe
#this returns the same error.
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Computer -ScriptBlock {start-process msiexec -argumentlist #('/a','/i','"\\$Computer\c$\temp\flash\install_flash_player_32_plugin.msi"','/qn')}
#this seemingly skips the install entirely.
I've used similar scripts for other programs and had no problems installing them, but none of the methods I use or have researched are working properly.
This should do the trick, I'll explain why it wasn't working bellow:
$Computers = Get-Content C:\Users\name\Desktop\flash.txt
$params = '/i <path to AcroPro.msi> LANG_LIST=en_US TRANSFORMS="1033.mst" /qb'
$Computers | % {
Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock {
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=0)]
[String]$arguments
)
return Start-Process msiexec.exe -ArgumentList $arguments -Wait -PassThru
} -ComputerName $_ -ArgumentList $params
}
So, it wasn't working because the ScriptBlock on Invoke-Command cant see variables that you've declared on your powershell session, think of it like you are walking to that remote computer and inputting that code by hand, you wont have the value (metaphor).
I did a few more changes:
I moved all params into 1 single string, no need to have them in array.
Added $Computers | to iterate through computer names.
Removed FilePath as this is meant to be used differently, documentation(Example #1).
Set $MinutesToWait to whatever amount of minutes you want.
No need to try to pass msiexec, as it comes with windows the default path is "C:\WINDOWS\system32\msiexec.exe"
Added a return even though its never necessary, but to make it more readable and to show you intent to return the output of the msiexec process.
Replaced \\$Computer\c$ with C:\ as there's no need to use a network connection if you are pointing to the host you are running the command in/
Hope it helps, good luck.
EDIT:
So, as you mentioned the pipeline execution gets stuck, I had this issue in the past when creating the computer preparation script for my department, what I did was use jobs to create parallel executions of the installation so if there's a computer that for some reason is slower or is just flat out stuck and never ends you can identify it, try the following as is to see how it works and then do the replaces:
#region ######## SetUp #######
$bannerInProgress = #"
#######################
#Jobs are still running
#######################
"#
$bannerDone = #"
##################################################
#DONE see results of finished installations bellow
##################################################
"#
#VARS TO SET
$MinutesToWait = 1
$computers = 1..10 | % {"qwerty"*$_} #REPLACE THIS WITH YOUR COMPUTER VALUES (Get-Content C:\Users\name\Desktop\flash.txt)
#endregion
#region ######## Main #######
#Start Jobs (REPLACE SCRIPTBLOCK OF JOB WITH YOUR INVOKE-COMMAND)
$jobs = [System.Collections.ArrayList]::new()
foreach($computer in $computers){
$jobs.Add(
(Start-Job -Name $computer -ScriptBlock {
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true, Position=0)]
[String]$computer
)
Sleep -s (Get-Random -Minimum 5 -Maximum 200)
$computer
} -ArgumentList $computer)
) | Out-Null
}
$timer = [System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch]::new()
$timer.Start()
$acceptedWait = $MinutesToWait * 60 * 1000 # mins -> sec -> millis
$running = $true
do {
cls
$jobsRunning = $jobs | Where-Object State -EQ 'Running'
if ($jobsRunning) {
Write-Host $bannerInProgress
foreach ($job in $jobsRunning) {
Write-Host "The job `"$($job.Name)`" is still running. It started at $($job.PSBeginTime)"
}
Sleep -s 3
} else {
$running = $false
}
if($timer.ElapsedMilliseconds -ge $acceptedWait){
$timer.Stop()
Write-Host "Accepted time was reached, stopping all jobs still pending." -BackgroundColor Red
$failed = #()
foreach($job in $jobsRunning){
$output = $job | Receive-Job
$failed += [PsCustomObject]#{
"ComputerName" = $job.Name;
"Output" = $output;
}
$job | Remove-Job -Force
$jobs.Remove($job)
}
$failed | Export-Csv .\pendingInstallations.csv -NoTypeInformation -Force
$running = $false
}
}while($running)
Write-host $bannerDone
$results = #()
foreach($job in $jobs){
$output = $job | Receive-Job
$results += [PsCustomObject]#{
"ComputerName" = $job.Name;
"Output" = $output;
}
}
$results | Export-Csv .\install.csv -NoTypeInformation -Force
#endregion
This script will trigger 10 jobs that only wait and return its names, then the jobs that got completed in the time that you set are consider correct and the ones that didn't are consider as pending, both groups get exported to a CSVfor review. You will need to replace the following to work as you intended:
Add $params = '/i <path to AcroPro.msi> LANG_LIST=en_US TRANSFORMS="1033.mst" /qb' in the SetUp region
Replace the declaration of $computers with $computers = Get-Content C:\Users\name\Desktop\flash.txt
Replace the body of Start-Job scriptblock with Invoke-command from thew first snippet of code in this answer.
you should end-up with something like:
.
.code
.
$params = '/i <path to AcroPro.msi> LANG_LIST=en_US TRANSFORMS="1033.mst" /qb'
#VARS TO SET
$MinutesToWait = 1
$computers = Get-Content C:\Users\name\Desktop\flash.txt
#endregion
#region ######## Main #######
#Start Jobs
$jobs = [System.Collections.ArrayList]::new()
foreach($computer in $computers){
$jobs.Add(
(Start-Job -Name $computer -ScriptBlock {
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true, Position=0)]
[String]$computer
)
Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock {
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=0)]
[String]$arguments
)
return Start-Process msiexec.exe -ArgumentList $arguments -Wait -PassThru
} -ComputerName $computer -ArgumentList $params
} -ArgumentList $computer)
) | Out-Null
}
.
. code
.
I know it looks like a complete mess, but it works.
Hope it helps.
I am running some code that is read from an encrypted file and converted into a ScriptBlock. The code will be a full complex script, but for simplicity let's assume it is the following:
"$(date) Agent started." | Out-File -FilePath 'C:\TMP\test_agent.log' -Append
while($true) {
'$(date) Will check back in 30 seconds...' | Out-File -FilePath 'C:\TMP\test_agent.log' -Append
Start-Sleep -Seconds 30
}
Below is the simple code that launches it, and it works just fine (the $sStr variable contains the above script as a string):
$job = Start-Job -ScriptBlock {
$sb = $executioncontext.invokecommand.NewScriptBlock($args[0])
Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock $sb
} -ArgumentList $sStr | Wait-Job -Timeout 1 | Receive-Job
Again, this works fine. However, I need this to run as a new PowerShell process. But when I try the below the ScriptBlock is not parsed properly and I get errors. Here is the modified launcher:
$job = Start-Job -ScriptBlock {
$sb = $executioncontext.invokecommand.NewScriptBlock($args[0])
powershell "Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock $sb"
} -ArgumentList $sStr | Wait-Job -Timeout 1 | Receive-Job
How to start a new powershell process (and kill the parent) so that the ScriptBlock is correctly parsed and executed?
Thanks!
Maybe you could solve your problem with a PowerShell background job, which can be created via Start-Job. Start-Job also has a -ScriptBlock parameter.
Example 7 of Get-Job shows you how to check if the job is already completed, and how you can retrieve the results of the job.
Hope that helps.
I have written a ScriptBlock that POSTs file uploads to a custom http server and saves the response to disk. It is intended to be used for testing said server and in addition to checking the correct response I'd like to run it in parallel to load the server.
The code in the ScriptBlock was built as separate ps1 script and works. I have then transplanted it into a framework-script using Start-Job for managing the jobs and eventually presenting overall results.
Unfortunately it does not work after that transplantation.
The symptom is that using Start-Job the job never finishes. For testing I have switched to Invoke-Command. A simple Invoke-Command works, InvokeCommand -AsJob does not.
Works:
Invoke-Command -Scriptblock $ScriptBlock -ArgumentList $Name,"C:\Projects\DCA\CCIT\ServiceBroker4\Java\eclipse-workspace\XFAWorker\testdata","P7-T"
Do not work:
Invoke-Command -AsJob -Computer localhost -Scriptblock $ScriptBlock -ArgumentList $Name,"C:\Projects\DCA\CCIT\ServiceBroker4\Java\eclipse-workspace\XFAWorker\testdata","P7-T"
Start-Job -Name $Name -ScriptBlock $Scriptblock -ArgumentList $Name,"C:\Projects\DCA\CCIT\ServiceBroker4\Java\eclipse-workspace\XFAWorker\testdata","P7-T"
The ScriptBlock being used is rather longish. It starts off by declaring Parameters:
$Scriptblock = {
Param (
[string]$JobName,
[string]$path,
[string]$BASEJOBNAME
)
And further down uses HttpWebRequest and a few other .NET classes:
$url = "http://localhost:8081/fillandflatten"
[System.Net.HttpWebRequest] $req = [System.Net.WebRequest]::create($url)
...
$xfabuffer = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes("$path\$BASEJOBNAME.xml")
...
$header = "--$boundary`r`nContent-Disposition: form-data; name=`"xfa`"; filename=`"xfa`"`r`nContent-Type: text/xml`r`n`r`n"
$buffer = [Text.Encoding]::ascii.getbytes($header)
...
[System.Net.httpWebResponse] $res = $req.getResponse()
As described when using Start-Job or Invoke-Command -AsJob the child job started simply remains in Running state forever.
What can cause this behaviour? What can be used to debug it? If there is some error can I force the child-job to terminate and tell me what it does not like?
I am using PowerShell 2.0 on Windows XP.
In the framework I came up with I do the Start-Job (currently just one of them, but I plan to ramp up that number for stress-testing). Then I have a loop waiting for them all to terminate:
do {
$Jobs = #(Get-Job | Where { $_.State -eq "Running" -and $_.Name.StartsWith($BASEJOBNAME) });
$n = $Jobs.Count
if ($n -gt 0)
{
Log -message "Waiting for $n jobs to finish..."
Get-Job | Where { $_.Name.StartsWith($BASEJOBNAME) } | Format-Table -AutoSize -Property Id,Name,State,HasMoreData,Location
start-Sleep -Seconds 3
}
} until ($n -eq 0)
This produces output of the form:
2014-08-01 18:58:52 - Waiting for 1 jobs to finish...
Id Name State HasMoreData Location
-- ---- ----- ----------- --------
2 XFA001 Running True localhost
Forever.
A full minimal test-case is:
# Code for the Jobs:
$Scriptblock = {
[System.Net.HttpWebRequest] $req = [System.Net.WebRequest]::create("http://locahost/index.html")
return "done"
}
# Start a job. Three variants, The Job-based ones hang.
# Invoke-Command -Scriptblock $ScriptBlock
#Invoke-Command -AsJob -Computer localhost -Scriptblock $ScriptBlock
$Job = Start-Job -Name $Name -ScriptBlock $Scriptblock
## The rest of the code is only applicable for the Start-Job-Variant
# Wait for all Jobs to finish
do {
$Jobs = #(Get-Job | Where { $_.State -eq "Running" });
$n = $Jobs.Count
if ($n -gt 0)
{
Write-Host "Waiting for $n jobs to finish..."
Get-Job | Format-Table -AutoSize -Property Id,Name,State,HasMoreData
Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
}
} until ($n -eq 0)
# Get output from all jobs
$Data = ForEach ($Job in (#(Get-Job | Where { $_.Name.StartsWith($BASEJOBNAME) } ))) {
Receive-Job $Job
}
# Clean out all jobs
ForEach ($Job in (#(Get-Job | Where { $_.Name.StartsWith($BASEJOBNAME) } ))) {
Remove-Job $Job
}
# Dump output
Write-Host "Output data:"
$Data | Format-Table
Write-Host ""
This hangs for me. If I comment out the line creating the WebRequest object it works.
Thank you.
When you run Get-Job , does the job's "HasMoreData" properties is "True" ?
If yes, check the output of the job :
Receive-Job <JobName or JobID> -Keep
I have a powershell script that will automatically print all .pdf files in a folder with Foxit. I have it set to wait until Foxit has exited until the script continues. Every once in a while, the script will pause and wait even though Foxit has already exited. Is there a way to make it time out after a certain amount of time?
Here is the code I have:
Start-Process $foxit -ArgumentList $argument -Wait
Move-Item $filePath $printed[$location]
Add-Content "$printLogDir\$logFileName" $logEntry
I've tried the recommendations here and they don't seem to work. For example if I do:
$proc = Start-Process $foxit -ArgumentList $argument
$proc.WaitForExit()
Move-Item $filePath $printed[$location]
Add-Content "$printLogDir\$logFileName" $logEntry
I get:
You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I think I figured it out. If I start it with Invoke-WmiMethod I can get the process ID and wait for it, then ask it to time out.
$proc = Invoke-WmiMethod -Class win32_process -Name create -ArgumentList "$foxit $argument"
Wait-Process -Id $proc.ProcessId -Timeout 120
Move-Item $filePath $printed[$location]
Add-Content "$printLogDir\$logFileName" $logEntry
This seems to work pretty consistantly.
One way to implement a timeout is to use a background job:
$Job = start-job -ScriptBlock { write-output 'start';Start-Sleep -Seconds 15 }
$timeout = New-TimeSpan -Seconds 10
$timer = [diagnostics.stopwatch]::StartNew()
While ($timer.Elapsed -le $timeout)
{
if ($Job.State -eq 'Completed' )
{
Receive-Job $Job
Remove-Job $Job
Return
}
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
}
write-warning 'Job timed out. Stopping job'
Stop-Job $Job
Receive-Job $Job
Remove-Job $Job
I ran into this same problem and found a slightly simpler solution that also captures the output of the child process. The -PassThru argument is key as it returns a process object for each process that the cmdlet starts.
$proc = Start-Process $foxit -ArgumentList $argument -PassThru
Wait-Process -Id $proc.Id -Timeout 120
Move-Item $filePath $printed[$location]
Add-Content "$printLogDir\$logFileName" $logEntry
I prefer this style to have better control what to do during the runtime of the external process:
$waitTime = 60
$dism = Start-Process "$env:windir\system32\dism.exe" -ArgumentList "/Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth" -PassThru -WindowStyle Hidden
while (!$dism.HasExited -or $waitTime -gt 0) {sleep -Seconds 1; $waitTime--}
"done."
By cheking the HasExited-attribute I can continue with my code with any other tasks in parallel.
My Powershell code doesn't evaluate the $agent variable:
foreach ($agent in $agentcomputers) {
Write-Output 'Starting agent on '$agent
# psexc to start the agent
Start-Job -ScriptBlock {& psexec $agent c:\grinder\examples\startAgent.cmd}
}
This link is similar to my problem, except I'm not calling an external Powershell script.
I tried adding that in, using $args[0] for $agent, and adding the -ArgumentList parameters, but that didn't work.
Edits/Replies
$agentcomputers is just a list of computer names - each on its own line:
$agentcomputers = Get-Content c:\grinder-dist\agent-computers.txt
I have also tried this - and $args[0] doesn't evaluate:
Start-Job -ScriptBlock {& psexec $args[0] c:\grinder\examples\startAgent.cmd} -ArgumentList #($agent)
Here are 3 different ways I would do it.
First, all aligned and pretty.
$agents = Get-Content c:\grinder-dist\agent-computers.txt
$jobs = {
Param($agent)
write-host "Starting agent on" $agent
& psexec \\$agent c:\grinder\examples\startAgent.cmd
}
foreach($agent in $agents) {
Start-Job -ScriptBlock $jobs -argumentlist $agent | Out-Null
}
Get-Job | Wait-Job | Receive-Job
Or you could just put it all on one line without creating any variables.
(Get-Content c:\grinder-dist\agent-computers.txt) | %{ Start-Job -ScriptBlock { param($_) write-host "Starting agent on" $_; & psexec \\$_ c:\grinder\examples\startAgent.cmd } -argumentlist $_ | Out-Null }
Get-Job | Wait-Job | Receive-Job
And in this final example, you could manage how many threads are run concurrently by doing it this way.
$MaxThreads = 5
$agents = Get-Content c:\grinder-dist\agent-computers.txt
$jobs = {
Param($agent)
write-host "Starting agent on" $agent
& psexec \\$agent c:\grinder\examples\startAgent.cmd
}
foreach($agent in $agents) {
Start-Job -ScriptBlock $jobs -argumentlist $agent | Out-Null
While($(Get-Job -State 'Running').Count -ge $MaxThreads) {
sleep 10
}
Get-Job | Wait-Job | Receive-Job
}
Here is the solution. As Andy said, I needed to use $args array with the -ArgumentList parameter. This other thread was helpful: Powershell: passing parameters to a job
foreach($agent in $agentcomputers){
$agentslash = "\\"+$agent
$args = ($agentslash,"c:\grinder\examples\startAgent.cmd")
Write-Output 'Starting agent on '$agent
#psexc to start the agent
$ScriptBlock = {& 'psexec' #args }
Start-Job -ScriptBlock $ScriptBlock -ArgumentList $args
}