I was recently asked to build a Powershell script to fully automate building up a server, including detailed configuration and installation of roles and other software.
Some of these actions required a reboot. After a reboot, the Powershell script had to restart itself. When running a script remotely, Workflows can be used, but when running the script locally I could not get this to work properly. Thus, I built a self-restarting script template that will run each phase as you configure it.
This self-resuming Powershell script writes its own run configuration to a Scheduled task that will run at boot time without user interaction, under the SYSTEM account. It will run all the commands you specify, reboot and resume when necessary, and unregister itself when it has completed.
This is awesome for, for example, building up Terminal Servers or Web Servers in a highly virtualized environment. Of course there are many orchestration tools available, and they may be better suited for this task, but those were not available when I was asked to code this.
Download it here: AutoBuilder_v0.3
Or check out the source code:
########
#AutoBuilder V0.3
#Copyright: Free to use, please leave this header intact
#Author: Jos Lieben (OGD)
#Company: OGD (http://www.ogd.nl)
#Script help: http://www.liebensraum.nl
#Purpose: This script can run a series of commands and continue after a reboot without any manual interaction.
########
#Requirements:
########
#Run with admin privileges
#IMPORTANT: do not run this from a location where SYSTEM cannot access it, like the desktop of your admin account. Use a folder like c:\temp
#Otherwise, you will get error 0xFFFD0000 in your task scheduler result or an infinite reboot
########
#Changes:
########
#V0.1 27-10-2015: Initial Version
#V0.2 03-11-2015: Removed stage file in favor of saving the current stage to the task as an argument
#V0.3 12-11-2015: Allow alternative credentials for the scheduled task
########
#Example:.\test.ps1 -ExampleVariable TEST
#Do not use -taskStage in your commandline, this is set automatically
[cmdletbinding()]
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[string]$ExampleVariable = $( Read-Host "Enter a value for ExampleVariable" ), #This is an example input parameter for the script
#ADD ADDITIONAL ARGUMENTS HERE IF NEEDED
[Parameter(Mandatory=$False)]
[Int]$taskStage = -1 #THIS ALWAYS HAS TO BE THE LAST ARGUMENT FOR THIS SCRIPT!
)
#######Config######
$logToFile = $True
$logToScreen = $True
$logFile = "c:\temp\log.txt"
$logVerbose = $True
$version = 0.3
$scriptName = "AutoBuilder"
#function to log information to screen, file or both
function log(){
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[Int][ValidateSet(0,1,2,3)]$logLevel, #0 = verbose message, #1 = warning, #2 = error, #3 = critical error
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[string]$logMessage,
[bool]$logToFile=$logToFile,
[bool]$logToScreen=$logToScreen,
[string]$logFile=$logFile,
[bool]$logVerbose=$logVerbose,
[bool]$logLastError=$False
)
switch($logLevel){
0 {
if($logVerbose){
if($logToFile){ac $logFile "$(Get-Date) |VERBOSE| $($logMessage)"}
if($logToScreen){Write-Host "$(Get-Date) |VERBOSE| $($logMessage)" -ForegroundColor Cyan}
}
}
1 {
if($logVerbose){
if($logToFile){ac $logFile "$(Get-Date) |WARNING| $($logMessage)"}
if($logToScreen){Write-Host "$(Get-Date) |WARNING| $($logMessage)" -ForegroundColor Yellow}
}
}
2 {
if($logToFile){ac $logFile "$(Get-Date) |ERROR| $($logMessage)"}
if($logToScreen){Write-Host "$(Get-Date) |ERROR| $($logMessage)" -ForegroundColor Red}
}
3 {
if($logToFile){ac $logFile "$(Get-Date) |CRITICAL ERROR| $($logMessage)"}
if($logToScreen){Write-Host "$(Get-Date) |CRITICAL ERROR| $($logMessage)" -ForegroundColor Red}
}
}
if($logLastError){
if($logToFile){ac $logFile "$(Get-Date) |ERROR DETAILS| $($Error[0].Exception)"}
if($logToScreen){Write-Host "$(Get-Date) |ERROR DETAILS| $($Error[0].Exception)" -ForegroundColor Red}
if($logToFile){ac $logFile "$(Get-Date) |ERROR DETAILS| $($Error[0].ErrorDetails)"}
if($logToScreen){Write-Host "$(Get-Date) |ERROR DETAILS| $($Error[0].ErrorDetails)" -ForegroundColor Red}
if($logToFile -and $logVerbose){ac $logFile "$(Get-Date) |ERROR DETAILS| $($Error[0].ScriptStackTrace)"}
if($logToScreen -and $logVerbose){Write-Host "$(Get-Date) |ERROR DETAILS| $($Error[0].ScriptStackTrace)" -ForegroundColor Red}
}
}
function abort{
try{
UnRegister-ScheduledTask -taskname $scriptName -Confirm:$False -ErrorAction Stop
}catch{
log -logLevel 2 -logMessage -logMessage "failed to unregister script from the Task Scheduler" -logLastError $True
}
log -logLevel 0 -logMessage -logMessage "-----END $scriptName $version running on $($env:COMPUTERNAME) as $($env:USERNAME)-----"
Exit
}
#Function to modify the stage parameter as saved in the Windows Scheduled Task, if the task doesn't exist it will be created
function setStage(){
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[string]$newStage, #new stage for the script to execute when running next boot
[string]$credentialLogin = $Null, #Login to run the task as, if not specified task will run as SYSTEM
[string]$credentialPassword = $Null #password for above login, if omitted the task will run as SYSTEM
)
#check if a task already exists for this script
try{Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName $scriptName -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null}catch{$registerTask = $True}
$args = $taskArguments
if($args -notlike "*-taskStage*") {
$args = += " -taskStage 0"
}
#register a new task if it doesn't exist
if($registerTask){
try{
$trigger = New-JobTrigger -AtStartup -RandomDelay 00:00:05
$PS = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute $taskCmdLine -Argument $args
if($credentialLogin -and $credentialPassword){
Register-ScheduledTask -Description $scriptName -TaskName $scriptName -Trigger $trigger -User $credentialLogin -Password $credentialPassword -Action $PS -ErrorAction Stop
log -logLevel 0 -logMessage "Registered scheduled task to run as $credentialLogin"
}else{
Register-ScheduledTask -Description $scriptName -TaskName $scriptName -Trigger $trigger -User "NT Authority\SYSTEM" -Action $PS -ErrorAction Stop
log -logLevel 0 -logMessage "Registered scheduled task to run as NT Authority\SYSTEM"
}
}catch{
log -logLevel 3 -logMessage "unabled to register a scheduled task" -logLastError $True
abort
}
}
#update the new or existing task's stage and credentials
$newTaskArguments = "$($args.SubString(0,$args.IndexOf("taskStage")+10))$newStage"
$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute $taskCmdLine -Argument $newTaskArguments
try{
if($credentialLogin -and $credentialPassword){
Set-ScheduledTask -TaskName $scriptName -Action $action -User $credentialLogin -Password $credentialPassword -ErrorAction Stop
log -logLevel 0 -logMessage "Scheduled task updated to stage $newStage, will run as $credentialLogin"
}else{
Set-ScheduledTask -TaskName $scriptName -Action $action -User "NT Authority\SYSTEM" -ErrorAction Stop
log -logLevel 0 -logMessage "Scheduled task updated to stage $newStage, will run as NT Authority\SYSTEM"
}
return 1
}catch{
log -logLevel 3 -logMessage "Scheduled task failed to update to stage $newStage" -logLastError $True
return 0
}
}
#save script arguments so it can automatically rerun the script with the arguments passed or answered at the first run
$definedArgs = ""
foreach ($key in $MyInvocation.BoundParameters.keys)
{
$value = (get-variable $key).Value
$definedArgs += " -$($key) $($value)"
}
$taskCmdLine = "powershell.exe"
$taskArguments = "-File `"$($myinvocation.mycommand.definition)`"$definedArgs"
#Check if the script is elevated, abort if not. You can remove these lines if you do not require elevated permissions
If (-NOT ([Security.Principal.WindowsPrincipal][Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity]::GetCurrent()).IsInRole([Security.Principal.WindowsBuiltInRole] "Administrator")){
log -logLevel 3 -logMessage "Not running under Admin privileges"
abort
}
##Set the stage to stage 0 if no stage parameter was passed to the script
if($taskStage -eq -1){
setStage -newStage 0
$taskStage = 0
}
#PICK STAGE, SCRIPT STARTS HERE, ADD CODE PER STAGE.
#Below example shows how the stage is set before the machine is rebooted. If you need additional stages, don't forget to use setStage before doing a reboot command
switch($taskStage){
#Stage 0, the initial stage
0 {
#Write initial logfile header
log -logLevel 0 -logMessage "----- BEGIN $scriptName $version running on $($env:COMPUTERNAME) as $($env:USERNAME)-----"
log -logLevel 0 -logMessage "Command line: $taskCmdLine $taskArguments"
log -logLevel 1 -logMessage "Test message 1"
#Set stage to 1
setStage -newStage 1
log -logLevel 0 -logMessage "Rebooting the machine to finish stage 0...."
Restart-Computer -Force
}
#Stage 1, add additional stages as needed
1 {
log -logLevel 1 -logMessage "Test message 2"
#Set stage to 2
setStage -newStage 2
log -logLevel 0 -logMessage "Rebooting the machine to finish stage 1...."
Restart-Computer -Force
}
#Stage 2, add additional stages as needed
2 {
log -logLevel 1 -logMessage "Test message 3"
#and finish the script
abort
}
}