asdk-installer fails with "Invoke-EceAction : The expression after '&' in a pipeline element produced an object that was not valid."

Question

Hi,

I have created the environment and passed checking it with asdk-prechecker outside and inside of CloudBuilder.vhd.

After that, running asdk-installer fails:

STARTING: Step PhysicalMachineAndInitialConfiguration.10 - (DEP) Generate base images for hosts and virtual machines.

VERBOSE: Step: Running step PhysicalMachineAndInitialConfiguration.10 - (DEP) Generate base images for hosts and virtual machines. - 10/19/2017 2:33:44

 PM

VERBOSE: Task: Running interface 'Build' of role 'Cloud'. Attempt #1. totalRetries = 2 - 10/19/2017 2:33:44 PM

STARTING: Task Cloud - Build

VERBOSE: Interface: Path to module: C:\CloudDeployment\Classes\Cloud\Cloud.psm1 - 10/19/2017 2:33:44 PM

VERBOSE: Interface: Running interface Build (Classes\Cloud\Cloud.psm1, Cloud:Build) - 10/19/2017 2:33:44 PM

Invoke-EceAction : The expression after '&' in a pipeline element produced an object that was not valid. It must result in a command name, a script

block, or a CommandInfo object. - 10/19/2017 2:33:47 PM

At C:\CloudDeployment\Setup\DeploySingleNode.ps1:661 char:5

+     Invoke-EceAction -RolePath $masterRole -ActionType $actionPlan @d ...

+     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Invoke-EceAction], Exception

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : BadExpression,CloudEngine.Cmdlets.InvokeCmdlet

After 2 unsuccessful retries it gives up: "Invoke-EceAction : Action: Invocation of step PhysicalMachineAndInitialConfiguration failed. Stopping invocation of action plan."

This is the latest version available I assume. The AzureStackDevelopmentKit download was made on 9th October.

Restarting asdk-installer exits with the same error.

Answer 1

Hello,

The deployment is failing very early during the validation stage and the error message you posted is truncated and we are not able to specifically where is failing.

 

At C:\CloudDeployment\Setup\DeploySingleNode.ps1:661 char:5 Invoke-EceAction -RolePath $masterRole -ActionType $actionPlan @d ...

It’d be helpful if you could post the rest of the error message where it is truncated  actionPlan @d ...

 

We require some logs to continue troubleshooting. 

   

If you could, please zip up all files and folders in C:\CloudDeployment\Logs and email them to [e-mail].

   

Make sure to and include the thread URL in the subject contacting [e-mail]

  

We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your time and interest in Azure Stack.

Please feel free to contact us if you continue to experience issues with the current ASDK release.

  

 Thanks,

---

Gary Gallanes

Answer 2

Hi Gary,

I have sent these.

Regards,
Marton

Answer 3

Hello Marton,

We've not seen this type of error during an ASDK deployment, especially so early.  Was the deployment script or configuration xml edited in anyway? Is it running on a bareMetal server? 

Can you try to rerun the deployment and if it fails again run 'GetAzureStackLogs.ps1' so we can troubleshoot this further?

I've sent you a link via email to a workspace to upload the logs. 

 Thanks,

Gary

---

Gary Gallanes

Answer 4

Dear Gary,

unluckily I am unable to find your workspace invitation, not even in spam folder.
We have not modified anything in the script or XML.
The server is a dedicated HP ProLiant BL460c Gen9 blade with an up-to-date Windows Server 2012R2 installed, now booted into c:\CloudBuilder.vhdx.
Please advise how to rerun deployment as running D:\AzureStack_Installer> .\asdk-installer.ps1 does not have the option to re-run just to gather logs.
I did the log gathering and will send it to your email address.

Regards,
Marton

Answer 5

Thanks Marton

We are reviewing your logs now and will get back to when our analysis is complete. 

 Thanks,

Gary

---

Gary Gallanes

Answer 6

Now I was able to reproduce something similar error in a repeatable way.
First I import modules manually:

PS C:\CloudDeployment> Import-Module C:\CloudDeployment\CloudDeployment.psd1 -Force
PS C:\CloudDeployment> Import-Module C:\CloudDeployment\ECEngine\EnterpriseCloudEngine.psd1 -Force

After that I run the following command:

PS C:\CloudDeployment>  Invoke-EceAction -RolePath Cloud -ActionType Deployment-Phase0-DeployBareMetal -Verbose

You may find the output below. For me it seems that the error is raised inside Invoke-EceAction which I cannot further debug.

VERBOSE: Loading cloud definition.
VERBOSE: Progress file: 'Progress.Deployment-Phase0-DeployBareMetal.xml'
VERBOSE: Checking if running in test mode...
VERBOSE: Not running in test mode.
VERBOSE: Log file: 'C:\CloudDeployment\Logs\Deployment-Phase0-DeployBareMetal.2017-10-24.14-33-36.0.log'
VERBOSE: Invoking action: 'Deployment-Phase0-DeployBareMetal'
STARTING: Action 'Deployment-Phase0-DeployBareMetal'
VERBOSE: Action: Running action plan 'Deployment-Phase0-DeployBareMetal'. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Total time until the end of the plan for step '10' is 1100. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Total time until the end of the plan for step '11' is 1000. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Total time until the end of the plan for step '12' is 900. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Total time until the end of the plan for step '13' is 800. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Total time until the end of the plan for step '14' is 700. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Total time until the end of the plan for step '15' is 600. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Total time until the end of the plan for step '16' is 500. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Total time until the end of the plan for step '17' is 400. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Total time until the end of the plan for step 'ConfigurePhysicalMachines' is 300. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Total time until the end of the plan for step '18' is 200. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Total time until the end of the plan for step '20' is 100. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: The following steps are currently ready: 10. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Processing step: 10. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Executing step: 10. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Checking if any of the in progress steps are complete. The following steps are currently in progress: '10'. -
10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: The following steps are currently ready: . - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: No steps are ready for execution. Waiting for any of the currently-running steps to complete. The following
steps are currently in progress: '10'. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
STARTING: Step 10 - (DEP) Generate base images for hosts and virtual machines.
VERBOSE: Step: Running step 10 - (DEP) Generate base images for hosts and virtual machines. - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Task: Running interface 'Build' of role 'Cloud'. Attempt #1. totalRetries = 0 - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
STARTING: Task Cloud - Build
VERBOSE: Interface: Path to module: C:\CloudDeployment\Classes\Cloud\Cloud.psm1 - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
VERBOSE: Interface: Running interface Build (Classes\Cloud\Cloud.psm1, Cloud:Build) - 10/24/2017 2:33:36 PM
Invoke-EceAction : The expression after '&' in a pipeline element produced an object that was not valid. It must
result in a command name, a script block, or a CommandInfo object. - 10/24/2017 2:33:39 PM
At line:1 char:2
+  Invoke-EceAction -RolePath Cloud -ActionType Deployment-Phase0-Deplo ...
+  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (:) [Invoke-EceAction], Exception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : BadExpression,CloudEngine.Cmdlets.InvokeCmdlet

WARNING: Task: Invocation of interface 'Build' of role 'Cloud' failed:

Type 'Build' of Role 'Cloud' raised an exception:

The expression after '&' in a pipeline element produced an object that was not valid. It must result in a command name,

Best regards,
Marton

Answer 7

Marton,

I'm glad 1)extracting and 2)booting into a fresh CloudBuilder.vhdx, then 3)redeploying from scratch got your deployment to complete successfully.

 

We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your time and interest in Azure Stack.

Please feel free to contact us if you continue to experience issues with the current ASDK release.

  

 Thanks,

---

Gary Gallanes

Answer 8

Gary, thanks for your support. I think it remains a secret what was behind this error, but after restarting the deployment it has not occured again.

Regards,
Marton