Powershell Invoke-Command query

Question

I'm scripting a task to remotely restart some server application pools periodically. I'm using Invoke-Command as follows:

Invoke-Command -ComputerName $server {Restart-WebItem "IIS:\AppPools\DefaultAppPool"}

and this works just fine; however, if I parameterize the app pool as follows

$appPool = "IIS:\AppPools\DefaultAppPool"
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $server {Restart-WebItem $appPool}

it fails with

Unexpected object type.
Parameter name: pspath

I assume this is just a syntax issue, but I can't work out what.

Loïc MICHEL · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-19 13:02:31Z

1

on the remote host $appPool will not exist. If you're using PS V3 you can prefix your variable with using: keyword ->

$appPool = "IIS:\AppPools\DefaultAppPool"
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $server {Restart-WebItem $using:appPool}

prior to version 3, you had to use the -argumentList parameter

answered Sep 19, 2014 at 13:02

Loïc MICHEL

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4 Comments

Kevin Roche Over a year ago

Excellent the $using syntax worked. Strangely I was under the impression that the local variable was resolved prior to the command being remotely executed. I was getting the same error message using -ArgumentList.

Loïc MICHEL Over a year ago

@KevinRoche nope, this is why -argumentlist is made for : "Supplies the values of local variables in the command. The variables in the command are replaced by these values before the command is run on the remote computer."

Kevin Roche Over a year ago

Just tried a few tests with -ArgumentList but I'm missing something. The -PSPath parameter for this function is a string array so I tried {Restart-WebItem} -ArgumentList (,$appPool) and also {Restart-WebItem} -ArgumentList $appPool - same error as original. What's the correct syntax?

Loïc MICHEL Over a year ago

staight from the doc: To use local variables in a command, use the following command format: {param($<name1>[, $<name2>]...) <command-with-local-variables>} -ArgumentList <value> -or- <local-variable>

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