Powershell Scriptblock parameters

PowerShell Help
1

I would like to use a PowerCli command “Start-VM -vm Server1 …” in one of my scripts.

I have not yet figured out why it doesn’t work.

I have made a .PS1 file and when I pass a parameter it works fine. But when I use a Scriptblock, my parameters are not being passed.

Could anyone give me an example how to do it?

Thank you very much

2

Hi, welcome to the forum :wave:

Please post your code and any errors that you’re receiving and maybe we can help you resolve this.

When posting code, data, and errors, please use the preformatted text </> button. It really helps us with readability, and copying and pasting your code (we don’t have to faff about replacing curly quote marks to get things working).

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3 
#Stop-VMGuest.ps1
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
[string]
$VM_to_Shutdown
)

write-host "VM: $VM_to_Shutdown"
$test  = Stop-VMGuest -vm "$VM_to_Shutdown" -Confirm:$false
return $test

The above is the Script-file I will use below.

Start-job -Scriptblock {c:\users\adm-user\Stop-VMGuest.ps1 -VM_to_Shutdown $args[0] } -Argumentlist 'PRESAOUHB1004v'

I have tried a lot of other ways / methods but I cannot get it working.
When I use the script-file alone with a parameter the server shuts down. I can see that in the vCenter.

When I use “Start-job …” nothing happens.

4

Looks OK when you omit the Stop-VMGuest command (I don’t have VMware to test against).

Do you get anything back with Receive-Job? Might also be worth specifying -Verbose on the Stop-VMGuest.

5

I hadn’t tried the Receive-job.
It seems that I have no connection to the vCenter. When I move my “Connection-code” to the script, things seems to be working.
Something about the variable scope or what it is called.

Normally I connect to the vCenter after logging in and am passing the credentials to the vCenter.
It seems that when I use the “Scriptblock” I am in another scope. ???

I don’t quite understand but thanks for the tip.

6

Glad it’s sorted.

When you run Start-Job it creates a new PowerShell session and your existing connection is not inherited.

Think of it this way:
You open a PowerShell window (session 1) and connect to vSphere.
You then open a second PowerShell window (session 2) and try to run Stop-VMGuest. It won’t work because session 2 is not aware of the connection you made in session 1.

While it’s not exactly the same, think of Start-Job as opening a second PowerShell window.

7

Thanks for your help. I made a few adjustments and have got the things working. Have a nice day