How do I report an error from the new-vm cmdlet, when try/catch doesn't catch it?

[MCioe]

I am using PowerCLI 5.0.1 and am trying to add some error processing on creation of a new VM.  My try/catch block does not seem to be jumping to the catch code.

try {

   new-vm -Name badvm -vmhost "10.10.1.1" -datastore bad

   echo "inside try"

}

catch {

   $msg = $_.Exception.Message

   echo "inside catch"

   echo $msg

}

When I run this, I get the appropriate error "...Could not find StorageResource with name 'bad'...." displayed at the screen and the text "inside try".  I was expecting it to fall into the Catch code.

The host is valid and connected; so it seems like the new-vm cmdlet gets to the host - successfully- and then the host returns the error, but skips the Catch code.  Could the successful connection be confusing the Catch?

I was thinking of calling get-vm with the name and checking if it got created, but I would like to report the cause of the failure.

Thanks for any help,

Maureen

[LucD · Accepted solution]

You could add -ErrorAction Stop to that cmdlet.

Or investigate the $error[0] content after  you called the cmdlet

[MCioe]

I did not know about $error[0]. I did notice that it doesn't get cleared out on successful cmdlet calls.

Is it good practice to set it to null before calling the cmdlet or is there a better approach?  $error[0] = ""

I suppose I could search for the current cmdlet and vmname in the string, but that's tedious.

For example:

     new-vm -name badname -datastore bad ...

     error[0] = ...new-vm... bad datastore...

     get-vm -name goodvm

     error[0] = new-vm ... bad datastore...

     get-vm -name badname

     error[0] = get-vm ...bad name...

[LucD]

You could compare the Count of the $error array before and after the cmdlet is called.

There are some other options listed in An Introduction to Error Handling in PowerShell