Running a powercli from powershell

[AliSarreshteh]

The first script reads through a list of files and starts jobs using the second script...
the first echo works great and write the VM name to a file but I don't get any of the other echoes and it stops processing ...
I can run the second script by itself if I just pass a parameter to it and I will get all the echoes and the CSV file...
Any advice?
I start the first script (or the second one if I run it by itslef) this way:
C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0>powershell.exe D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\test2.ps1

Two scripts: the calling script:
#Multithreads Jobs
"Killing existing jobs . . ."
Get-Job | Remove-Job -Force
"Done."

$vms = Get-Content D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\ImportVMs.txt
foreach ($vm in $vms){
   while ((Get-Job -State Running).length -ge 10)
   {
   Start-Sleep -seconds 3
   }
   Start-Job -ScriptBlock {& D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\WriteVMs.ps1 $using:vm } -Name $VM
   Start-Sleep -s 10
}

The called script - D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\WriteVMs.ps1
param(
   [string]$VM
   )

echo $vm >> "D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\args.txt"

#Load PowerCLI module in PowerShell
Add-PSSnapin VMware.VimAutomation.Core
Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -InvalidCertificateAction ignore -Confirm:$False

echo snapinloaded >> "D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\args.txt"

#Initialize
$vCenterHost = "server.test.com"
$user = "ID-Here"
$password = "PW-Here"

echo initialized >> "D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\args.txt"

#Connect to VCenter server
Connect-Viserver $vCenterHost -user $user -password $password

echo connected >> "D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\args.txt"

Get-VM -Name $VM | Export-Csv -NoTypeInformation -UseCulture -append -Path "D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\exported.csv"

echo gotVM >> "D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\args.txt"

[LucD]

Isn't the $Using scope intended for workflows and inline scripts ?

Did you try calling the script without the $Using scope on the parameter ?

[AliSarreshteh]

I did a lot of research on this and found the $using parameter (since PowerShell 3.0) to be better suited than using the ArgumentList…Please note that $using parameter is working since the echo in the called script correctly echoes the VM name into the output file:

"D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\args.txt"

To answer your question, yes I did try the script without the $using and nothing past the echo works.

Your help is much appreciated.

[LucD]

Did you try it like this

"Killing existing jobs . . ."
Get-Job | Remove-Job -Force
 "Done."

$vms = Get-Content D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\ImportVMs.txt
foreach ($vm in $vms){
    while ((Get-Job -State Running).length -ge 10)
    {
        Start-Sleep -seconds 3
    }
    Start-Job -ScriptBlock {& D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\WriteVMs.ps1} -ArgumentList $vm.Name -Name $VM
    Start-Sleep -s 10
}

That seems to work for me.

[AliSarreshteh]

args.txt file (from the called script) was empty -(no VM names) and the jobs did not produce any results (CSV file was not created).

[AliSarreshteh]

The followings work the same way: arg.txt is updates with the VM name but the jobs do not run:

  Start-Job -ScriptBlock {& D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\WriteVMs.ps1 $using:vm } -Name $VM
  Start-Job -FilePath       D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\WriteVMs.ps1  -ArgumentList $vm -Name $VM

[AliSarreshteh]

The first PowerShell is launched by using powershell.exe xxxx.ps1

It passes the name it reads from a file to the second PowerShell script – as evidenced by echo in the second script.

But as soon as the second (called) script runs ADD-PSSnapin…it fails:

#Load PowerCLI module in PowerShell

Add-PSSnapin VMware.VimAutomation.Core

[AliSarreshteh]

One more "helpful" note...I can use powershell commands in the calles scripts and they work, such as:

write-output hello >> "D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\args.txt"

but can't run Add-PSSnapin

[AliSarreshteh]

For the benefit of others, I have documented how I made this process work...

To utilize multi-threading in PowerShell:

Script one creates/starts jobs to run script two.

If script one (the calling script) is started using:

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0>powershell.exe\Script1.ps1

then PowerCLI/PowerShell commands will not work in script two.  For example if you have the following in script two, it will fail:

Add-PSSnapin VMware.VimAutomation.Core

However if you start the first script from a PowerCLI console then all will be well…

Here is the shortcut for PowerCLI console:

C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe -psc "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\vSphere PowerCLI\vim.psc1" -noe -c ". \"C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\vSphere PowerCLI\Scripts\Initialize-PowerCLIEnvironment.ps1\""

And from this console enter:

& "D:\Powercli\Scripts\Storage\ Script1.ps1"