PowerShell script to check if process is running on multiple remote computers and copy a file if process is NOT running, keep list of those which succeeded etc

Question

Hi, I would like some advice/help on improving the script below which was written with help on another forum.

I will explain the requirements first so you can see what I am doing.

• To copy a file to lots of computers on domain network, but file can only be copied if specific process (app) is not running

So the steps I need to do:-

1) Check if computer is online or accessible - I used Test-Connection for this as seemed to work okay - but had to add -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue if not got error "Test-Connection : Testing connection to computer 'Tfdffdd' failed: No such host is known" for computers which didn't exist in DNS etc. Store failure computer namesin a variable to try later, if pass then continue - NOTE: Perhaps I should use -Quiet here to just get back a boolean result?

2) I then need to check I can actually access the computer using PS Remoting as had some cases where get error below due to firewall config or because they are on a public network - these are things I can easily fix when I know which computers are affected - but no point in trying to copy a file if can't even connect etc - so handy to store failure computer names in another variable which I can sort later, and if connect okay to continue

[Lxxxx] Connecting to remote server Lxxxx failed with the following error message : WinRM cannot process the request. The following error with errorcode 0x80090322 occurred while using Kerberos authentication: An unknown security error occurred. Possible causes are: -The user name or password specified are invalid. -Kerberos is used when no authentication method and no user name are specified. -Kerberos accepts domain user names, but not local user names. -The Service Principal Name (SPN) for the remote computer name and port does not exist. -The client and remote computers are in different domains and there is no trust between the two domains. After checking for the above issues, try the following: -Check the Event Viewer for events related to authentication. -Change the authentication method; add the destination computer to the WinRM TrustedHosts configuration setting or use HTTPS transport. Note that computers in the TrustedHosts list might not be authenticated. -For more information about WinRM configuration, run the following command: winrm help config. For more information, see the about_Remote_Troubleshooting Help topic. + CategoryInfo : OpenError: (Lxxxx:String) [], PSRemotingTransportException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : -2144108387,PSSessionStateBroken

For this I had tried Test-WSMan but that comes back as all okay even though I can't connect to them, so instead I used Invoke-Command which worked fine

3) I then check to see if a specifc process is running - using Get-Process which works fine - if process is running then store computer name in variable to try again later, if process is not running then continue

4) Copy file to computer - for this Copy-Item worked fine - BUT on the odd computer (down to a current DNS issue) I get an error below which I need to handle somehow as with current script it thinks it is a success wrongly

Copy-Item : The network path was not found
At C:\Tmp\PCA_TESTING_ONLY\file_copy.ps1:11 char:37

• ... =$computer; Copy-Item -Path "\lb-nordc\SoftwareInstalls\CCH_ProAudit ...
• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Copy-Item], IOException
• FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.IOException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand

5) show results based on which of the four stages it got to - e.g. offiline, remoting failed, process running, file copied okay

Below are two version of the scripts I have been using.

I am still learning so would like any comments / advice on

a) how the scripts can be made better - any other methods I could use e.g. try..catch to make it better / more bulletproof?

b) any poor scripting practices etc

c) how to combine the two checks e.g. Test-Connection first and then check can access remotely second before continuing (point 1 and 2 above) - or is the second bit an area for try..catch perhaps?

d) how to handle file copy-item error in point 4 above

Anything I have missed please ask.

Much appreciated in advance for any feedback / help given :)

Script 1 - just checking if online using Test-Connection

$computers = @("PC1", "PC3")
$RNote = @()
$NNote = @()
$off = @()

Foreach ($computer in $computers) {
    $TestC = Test-Connection -ComputerName $computer -Count 1 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue 
    If (!($TestC)) { $off += $computer } Else {

        $Procs = Invoke-Command -ComputerName $computer { Get-Process Notepad -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
        If (!$Procs) { $NNote += $computer; Copy-Item -Path "\\lserver\myfile.txt" -Destination "\\$computer\c$\folder\" -Force }
        elseif ($Procs) { $RNote += $computer }
    }
}

$leng = [array]$RNote.count, $NNote.Count, $off.count
[int]$max = ($leng | Measure-Object -Maximum).Maximum
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $max; $i++) {
    [pscustomobject]@{
        "Notepad On"  = $(if ($RNote[$i]) { $RNote[$i] })
        "Notepad Off" = $(if ($NNote[$i]) { $NNote[$i] })
        "Offline "    = $(if ($off[$i]) { $off[$i] })
    }
}  

Script 2 - checking if can access using ps remoting

$computers = @("NOa-IT")
$RNote = @()
$NNote = @()
$off = @()

Foreach ($computer in $computers) {
    $TestRemote = Invoke-Command -ComputerName $computer { 1 } -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
    If (($TestRemote -ne 1)) { $off += $computer } Else {

        $Procs = Invoke-Command -ComputerName $computer { Get-Process Proaudit -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
        If (!$Procs) { $NNote += $computer; Copy-Item -Path "\\server\myfile.txt" -Destination "\\$computer\c$\folder\" -Force }
        elseif ($Procs) { $RNote += $computer }
    }
}

$leng = [array]$RNote.count, $NNote.Count, $off.count
[int]$max = ($leng | Measure-Object -Maximum).Maximum
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $max; $i++) {
    [pscustomobject]@{
        "File NOT Copied" = $(if ($RNote[$i]) { $RNote[$i] })
        "File Copied"     = $(if ($NNote[$i]) { $NNote[$i] })
        "Offline "        = $(if ($off[$i]) { $off[$i] })
    }
}  

Answer 1

Ignoring, for the moment, the "best" way to test for connectivity, or WinRM (or both) connectivity, if you have a lot of machine that are going to be the subject of that script, you can speed thing up by running things in parallel with Invoke-Command.

Try this on a small set of computers and see if it works in the same way as your "Script 1":

$computers = @("PC1", "PC3")
$Results = @()
# get online machines
$TestC = Test-Connection -Computer $computers -Count 2 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -WarningAction SilentlyContinue |
            Select-Object -ExpandProperty Address
# get offline machines
$Computers |
    ForEach-Object{
        if ($TestC -notcontains $_){
            $Results += [PSCustomObject]@{
                Computer = $_
                "Notepad On" = "N/A"
                "Notepad Off" = "N/A"
                "Offline" = $true
            }
            $_
        }
    }
# see if notepad is running on online machines
$Procs = Invoke-Command -ComputerName $TestC { Get-Process Notepad -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
$Procs |
    ForEach-Object{
        $Results += [PSCustomObject]@{
                        Computer = $_.PSComputerName
                        "NotePad On" = $true
                        "Notepad Off" = $false
                        "OffLine" = $false
                    }
    }
# copy file to machine if not running notepad
$xProcs = $Procs | Select-Object -ExpandProperty PSComputerName
$TestC |
    ForEach-Object{
        if ($xProcs -notcontains $_){
            $Results += [PSCustomObject]@{
                Computer = $_
                "NotePad On" = $false
                "Notepad Off" = $true
                "OffLine" = $false
            }
            Copy-Item -Path "\\lserver\myfile.txt" -Destination "\\$_\c$\folder\" -Force
        }
    }
$Results

Answer 2

This should "parallelize" the copying. Test it first!

$computers = @("PC1", "PC3")
$Results = @()
# get online machines
$TestC = Test-Connection -Computer $computers -Count 2 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -WarningAction SilentlyContinue |
            Select-Object -ExpandProperty Address -Unique
# get offline machines
$Computers |
    ForEach-Object{
        if ($TestC -notcontains $_){
            $Results += [PSCustomObject]@{
                Computer = $_
                "Notepad On" = "N/A"
                "Notepad Off" = "N/A"
                "Offline" = $true
                Copied = "N/A"
            }
            $_
        }
    }
# see if notepad is running on online machines
$Procs = Invoke-Command -ComputerName $TestC { Get-Process Notepad -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue }
$Procs |
    ForEach-Object{
        $Results += [PSCustomObject]@{
                        Computer = $_.PSComputerName
                        "NotePad On" = $true
                        "Notepad Off" = $false
                        "OffLine" = $false
                        Copied = "N/A"
                    }
    }
# copy file to machine if not running notepad
$xProcs = $Procs | Select-Object -ExpandProperty PSComputerName
$TestC |
    ForEach-Object{
        if ($xProcs -notcontains $_){
            [array]$RunOn += $_
        }
$RunOn |
    ForEach-Object{
        $Jobs += Start-Job -Name "CopyTo-$_" -ScriptBlock{
                    param (
                        [String]$Machine
                    )
                    Try{
                        Copy-Item -Path "\\lserver\myfile.txt" -Destination "\\$Machine\c$\folder\" -Force -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null
                        $true
                    }
                    Catch{
                        $false
                    }
                } -ArgumentList $_
        $Jobs | 
            Wait-Job |
                Receive-Job |
                    ForEach-Object{
                        $Results += [PSCustomObject]@{
                            Computer = $_
                            "NotePad On" = $false
                            "Notepad Off" = $true
                            "OffLine" = $false
                            Copied = $_
                        }
                    }
        $Jobs | 
            Remove-Job | 
                Out-Null
    }
$Results

Answer 3

Here's a script that checks for "ping" status, WinRM status, and then offloads the check for a running process and file transfer to the remote machine. The results are sent to a CSV.

It looks larger than it really is. A lot of the code is checking/recording success/failure.

$computers = @("WS05", "WS06", "WONKY")
$Results = @{} # a hash of hashes, key = machine name

# test all machines for online status
# may not be entirely necessary but may help with troubleshooting
Test-Connection -Computer $computers -Count 2 2>&1 |
    ForEach-Object{
        $State = [ordered]@{
            Machine = ""
            Pingable = ""
            PingError = ""
            WinRM = "N/A"
            WinRMError = ""
            AppRunning = "N/A"
            FileCopied = "N/A"
            ExecError = ""
        }
        If ($_ -is [System.Management.Automation.ErrorRecord]){
            # only record failure if there have been no other successes
            # ICMP is an unreliable protocol and success and failures may
            # be intermingled. A failure followed by a success means the
            # machine is reachable and responding. After a success don't
            # record any failure
            if (-not $results.ContainsKey($_.TargetObject)){
                $State.Machine = $_.TargetObject
                $State.Pingable = $false
                $State.PingError = $_.Exception
                $Results.($_.TargetObject) = $State
            }
        }
        elseif($_.pstypenames -contains 'System.Management.ManagementObject#root\cimv2\Win32_PingStatus'){
            $State.Machine = $_.Address
            $State.Pingable = $true
            $State.PingError = ""
            $Results.($_.Address) = $State
        }
        else{
            "Uh-Oh" # shouldn't happen -- maybe throw exception to see why??
        }
    }

# Check each machine for WinRM, process running, and copy-item
# Do this for ALL machines regardless of ping failures becasue
# a failure to ping doesn't mean WinRM will fail too
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $computers -ScriptBlock{
    $x = [PSCustomObject]@{
            AppRunning = $false
            FileCopied = $false
            ExecError = ""
        }
    Try{
        if (Get-Process Notepad -ErrorAction Stop){
            $x.AppRunning = $true
        }
    }
    Catch{
        if (-not $_.Exception -like "Cannot find a process with the name*"){
            $x.ExecError = $_.ToString()
        }
    }
    if ( (-not $x.AppRunning) -and $x.ExecError.Length -eq 0 ){
        Try{
            Copy-Item -Path "\\lserver\myfile.txt" -Destination "c:\folder\" -Force -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null
            $x.FileCopied = $true
        }
        Catch{
            $x.ExecError = $_.ToString()
        }
    }
    $x
} 2>&1 |
    ForEach-Object{
        If ($_ -is [System.Management.Automation.ErrorRecord]){
            $Results.($_.TargetObject).WinRM = $false
            $Results.($_.TargetObject).WinRMError = $_.Exception
        }
        elseif($_ -is [PSCustomObject]){
            $Results.($_.PSComputerName).WinRM = $true
            $Results.($_.PSComputerName).ExecError = $_.ExecError
            $Results.($_.PSComputerName).AppRunning = $_.AppRunning
            $Results.($_.PSComputerName).FileCopied = $_.FileCopied
        }
    }
$Results.GetEnumerator()|
    ForEach-Object{
        [PSCustomObject]$_.Value
    } | Export-CSV c:\junk\Whatever.csv -NoTypeInformation