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T_rey_S's avatar
T_rey_S
Copper Contributor
May 30, 2023

Invoke-Command does not return IIS Provider data

Taking it to the Community...

I want to retrieve IIS AppPool information from remote computers, and eventually update them.

 

As seen in the code snippet below, if the GCI for, the File System Provider, "C:\Temp", is enabled, the expected data are returned.  However, The scriptBlock using the IIS: provider returns no data.  It does generate an empty/null PSCusomObject.

 

The same GCI statement, "Get-ChildItem -Path 'IIS:AppPools' " returns expected data when run locally on a target computer.

 

What am I missing?

 

#Module does not load automatically in remote call.
$sbCmdL = { Import-Module WebAdministration
            $colPoolsL = Get-ChildItem -Path 'IIS:AppPools'
          }#End sb

#$sbCmdL = { Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Temp' }

$colPoolsL = Invoke-command -ComputerName $Server     `
                            -ScriptBlock  $sbCmdL     `
                            -Credential   $Credential `
                            -ErrorAction  'Stop'

 

Windows PowerShell
  • LainRobertson's avatar
    LainRobertson
    Silver Contributor
    May 31, 2023

    T_rey_S 

     

    Mechanically, there's nothing wrong with what you're doing, as shown in my own basic replication of it:

     

    $wap = Invoke-Command -UseSSL -ComputerName rpiis01.robertsonpayne.com -ScriptBlock {
    Import-Module -Name WebAdministration;
    Get-ChildItem -Path "IIS:\AppPools";
 }

     

     

    You might want to add an ErrorAction on the inner call to Get-ChildItem, as I get the feeling the remote script is failing for some reason while possibly under an ErrorAction mode of "SilentlyContinue".

     

    Note: The outer ErrorAction you've specified has no bearing on the remote session.

     

    So, try something like this and see if it's failing remotely:

     

    $wap = Invoke-Command -UseSSL -ComputerName rpiis01.robertsonpayne.com -ScriptBlock {
    Import-Module -Name WebAdministration;
    Get-ChildItem -Path "IIS:\AppPools" -ErrorAction:Stop;
 }

     

    Cheers,

    Lain

    • T_rey_S's avatar
      T_rey_S
      Copper Contributor
      May 31, 2023

      LainRobertson
      Thank you for your analysis.
      Per your suggestion, I added EA Stop within the scriptBlock.

      The scriptBlock seems to run without incident, but not return AppPool(s).
      I added a simple file creation to the scriptBlock, and it executes as expected, indicating the connection, authentication, permissions, etc. are correct.

      Initially I was running Invoke-Command with an alternate credential. I moved the script to another computer where it runs with the same account required on the target server, and removed the -Credential argument from Invoke-Command. No difference.

      If I run the GCI command locally on the target server it returns object(s) of type,
      Microsoft.IIs.PowerShell.Framework.Configurationelement

      When running remotely, with Invoke-Command, it returns a single empty/null object of type,
      System.Management.Automation.PSCustomObject

      The EventViewer logs, App, System and PowerShell show no errors on source or target computers. The GCI command seems to run happily and produce nothing.

      I noticed a slight difference in syntax between your sample command and mine, in the -Path component. Yours includes a backslash, "IIS:\AppPool". I had used "IIS:AppPool". Testing showed both yield the same result.

      This has turned into a battle of wills. I've spent more time troubleshooting this than it will eventually save, versus running locally on each server. But I am stubborn...

      $sbCmdL = { $strTimeL = ( Get-Date ).ToString()
            $strTimeL | Out-File -FilePath 'C:\Temp\TimeStamp.txt'
            Import-Module WebAdministration
            $colPoolsL = Get-ChildItem  -Path "IIS:AppPools" `
                                        -ErrorAction 'Stop'
          }#End sb

$colPoolsL = Invoke-command -ComputerName $Server `
                            -ScriptBlock  $sbCmdL `
                            -ErrorAction  'Stop'

       

      I wasn't absolutely sure of syntax within the scriptBlock, so I added semicolon statement terminators, but they had no effect.

      $sbCmdL = { $strTimeL = ( Get-Date ).ToString();
            $strTimeL | Out-File -FilePath 'C:\Temp\TimeStamp.txt';
            Import-Module WebAdministration;
            $colPoolsL = Get-ChildItem  -Path "IIS:\AppPools"   `
                                        -ErrorAction 'Stop';

       

       

      • LainRobertson's avatar
        LainRobertson
        Silver Contributor
        May 31, 2023

        T_rey_S 

         

        Yeah, the semicolon is just my personal preference since it's prevalent in other languages I use, though it's quite handy when I choose to be lazy and put multiple short commands on a single line.

         

        Looking at your last script block, there seems to be a missing closing "}". If I assume it was meant to be at the very end - let's say as line 6, then the issue you have is that on line 5, you've assigned the output to a variable but have not then re-stated that variable to send the contents of that variable onto the remote pipeline. This would be why you're only getting $null back.

         

        Based on my assumption about the closing "}", it should looks like this:

         

        $sbCmdL = {
    $strTimeL = ( Get-Date ).ToString();
    $strTimeL | Out-File -FilePath 'C:\Temp\TimeStamp.txt';
    Import-Module WebAdministration;
    $colPoolsL = Get-ChildItem  -Path "IIS:\AppPools"   `
                                -ErrorAction 'Stop';
    $colPoolsL;     # This is what send content to the remote pipeline.
}

         

        Cheers,

        Lain

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