Powershell command timeout

Question

I am trying to execute a function or a scriptblock in powershell and set a timeout for the execution.

Basically I have the following (translated into pseudocode):

<

Answer 1

Today, I ran across a similar question, and noticed that there wasn't an actual answer to this question. I created a simple PowerShell class, called TimedScript. This class provides the following functionality:

• Method: Start() method to kick off the job, when you're ready
• Method:GetResult() method, to retrieve the output of the script
• Constructor: A constructor that takes two parameters:
  • ScriptBlock to execute
  • [int] timeout period, in milliseconds

It currently lacks:

• Passing in arguments to the PowerShell ScriptBlock
• Other useful features you think up

Class: TimedScript

class TimedScript {
  [System.Timers.Timer] $Timer = [System.Timers.Timer]::new()
  [powershell] $PowerShell
  [runspace] $Runspace = [runspacefactory]::CreateRunspace()
  [System.IAsyncResult] $IAsyncResult

  TimedScript([ScriptBlock] $ScriptBlock, [int] $Timeout) {    
    $this.PowerShell = [powershell]::Create()
    $this.PowerShell.AddScript($ScriptBlock)
    $this.PowerShell.Runspace = $this.Runspace

    $this.Timer.Interval = $Timeout

    Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $this.Timer -EventName Elapsed -MessageData $this -Action ({
      $Job = $event.MessageData
      $Job.PowerShell.Stop()
      $Job.Runspace.Close()
      $Job.Timer.Enabled = $False
    })
  }

  ### Method: Call this when you want to start the job.
  [void] Start() {
    $this.Runspace.Open()
    $this.Timer.Start()
    $this.IAsyncResult = $this.PowerShell.BeginInvoke()
  }

  ### Method: Once the job has finished, call this to get the results
  [object[]] GetResult() {
    return $this.PowerShell.EndInvoke($this.IAsyncResult)
  }
}

Example Usage of TimedScript Class

# EXAMPLE: The timeout period is set longer than the execution time of the script, so this will succeed
$Job1 = [TimedScript]::new({ Start-Sleep -Seconds 2 }, 4000)

# EXAMPLE: This script will fail. Even though Get-Process returns quickly, the Start-Sleep call will cause it to be terminated by its Timer.
$Job2 = [TimedScript]::new({ Get-Process -Name s*; Start-Sleep -Seconds 3 }, 2000)

# EXAMPLE: This job will fail, because the timeout is less than the script execution time.
$Job3 = [TimedScript]::new({ Start-Sleep -Seconds 3 }, 1000)

$Job1.Start()
$Job2.Start()
$Job3.Start()

Code is also hosted on GitHub Gist.

Answer 2

I think you might want to investigate using Powershell runspaces:

http://learn-powershell.net/2012/05/13/using-background-runspaces-instead-of-psjobs-for-better-performance/