Script does not contain the expected parameters or is improperly formatted

Hello,

I create PowerShell script to monitor last hotfix install date, the script is running well when execution mode set to local like below pic we can see the result on kb and dt variables.

When set execution mode to 'remote host' i got error 'not defined'

and if i assign to the host, i got error 'PowerShell script error. Scripting Error: Script does not contain the expected parameters or is improperly formatted. 'kb', 'dt' missing.'

Anyone know how to fix this?

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yaquaholic

Hi hs08,

There's a great section in the manual about PowerShell monitoring and tips on correctly setting up WinRM to allow it. If you haven't seen it, its a great place to start, and it'll take you through the steps to make sure that:

WinRM is enabled and properly configured on the SolarWinds Platform server and target servers.
The credential has rights to log in to the SolarWinds Platform server.
The credential has sufficient rights on the target server to perform tasks in the script.

Saying that, remotely running scripts can be a bit fiddley sometimes, but as you're using PowerShell there's usually more than one way to achieve what you want.

One way is to run the script locally and use the PowerShell remote options, along with some handy script variables:

get-hotfix -ComputerName '${IP}' -Credential '${CREDENTIAL}'

SteveK

So whenever I write out my remote host executions, I always use this as an initial test:

$SysName = $Env:ComputerName

Write-Host "Message: $($SysName)"
Write-Host "Statistic: 0"

This basically will return back the name of the system that is executing the script. Its also a simple test to verify remote powershell execution is working properly, since $ENV:Computername has been a powershell staple for years. If that fails, then you have a bigger issue on your hands.

Reviewing the script you have there. You may run into issues if that statistic value you are returning is not a full numeric value. Looking at the message utilizing the same values its a KB number and a date. So you may want to set your statistic value to be a 1 or 0, utilizing one as a positive result and the other as a negative. Not sure how that would incorporate for the KB, but for the date result you could do something like positive value if its within a month or 2 months, pending your patch cycle.

The other piece I would highly recommend using is a Try/Catch block. This would help you when it comes to identifying problems.

So you would probably want to replace your initial data capture with something like:

Try {
$output=Get-HotFix -ErrorAction Stop| Sort-Object InstalledOn -Descending | Select-Object -First 1
} Catch {
  Write-Host "Message.KB:  $($Error[0].Exception)"
  Write-Host "Message.DT:  $($Error[0].Exception)"
  Exit 1
}


#Rest of your Write-Hosts here
Exit 0

This way if the Get-HotFix fails for whatever reason, you would receive the error message from the script execution.