Extraneous data returned from Invoke-Command - json

Question

I'm working with PowerShell to gather data from a list of remote servers which I then turn into a JSON object. Everything is working fine, but I get some really weird output that I can't seem to exclude.
I've tried piping the Invoke-Command results and excluding properties. I've also tried removing the items manually from the returned hash file, but I can't seem to make them go away.
What am I missing?
EDIT:
For the sake of figuring out what's wrong here is a simplified, but still broken, script:
$returnedServer = #{}
$pass = cat "C:\...\securestring.txt" | convertto-securestring
$mycred = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -argumentlist "UserName",$pass
$s = #("xx.xxx.xxx.xxx","xx.xxx.xxx.xxx")
foreach($server in $s)
{
$returnedServer.$server += ,(Invoke-Command -ComputerName $server -ScriptBlock
{
1
}-credential $mycred | select -ExcludeProperty PSComputerName,RunSpaceID,PSShowComputerName)
$returnedServer| ConvertTo-Json
Which outputs:
{
"xx.xxx.xxx.xxx": [
{
"value": 1,
"PSComputerName": "xx.xxx.xxx.xxx",
"RunspaceId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
"PSShowComputerName": xxxx
}
],
"xx.xxx.xxx.xxx": [
{
"value": 1,
"PSComputerName": "xx.xxx.xxx.xxx",
"RunspaceId": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"",
"PSShowComputerName": xxxx
}
]
}

Answer 1

This post is really old, but I was unable to find an acceptable answer 6 years later, so I wrote my own.
$invokeCommandResults | ForEach-Object {
$_.PSObject.Properties.Remove('PSComputerName')
$_.PSObject.Properties.Remove('RunspaceId')
$_.PSObject.Properties.Remove('PSShowComputerName')
}

Answer 2

You need to use Select-Object to limit the result to just the properties you want to show up in the JSON output:
$returnedServers.$server += ,(Invoke-Command -ComputerName $server -ScriptBlock
{
...$serverHash = various look ups and calculations...
$serverHash
} | select PropertyA, PropertyB, ...)
For a more thorough answer you need to go into far more detail about your "various look ups and calculations" as well as the actual conversion to JSON.

Answer 3

After some testing, it seems the problem is the object type. I was able to get your test script to work by explicitly casting the returned result.
$returnedServer = #{}
$pass = cat "C:\...\securestring.txt" | convertto-securestring
$mycred = new-object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -argumentlist "UserName",$pass
$s = #("xx.xxx.xxx.xxx","xx.xxx.xxx.xxx")
foreach($server in $s)
{
$returnedServer.$server += ,[int](Invoke-Command -ComputerName $server -ScriptBlock {1} -credential $mycred)
}
$returnedServer| ConvertTo-Json

Answer 4

You could try this... instead of attempting to exclude extraneous property values, just be specific and "call" or "grab" the one(s) you want.
Quick Code Shortcut Tip! BTW, the Invoke-Command -Computer $server -Scriptbock {command} can be greatly simplified using: icm $server {command}
Now, getting back on track...
Using your original post/example, it appears that you are attempting to utilize one "value" by excluding all other values, i.e. -ExcludeProperty (which it is ultra-frustrating).
Let's start by removing and replacing the only exclusion section:
select -ExcludeProperty PSComputerName,RunSpaceID,PSShowComputerName
And instead, attempt to use one of the following:
1st Method: using the modified original command...
$returnedServer.$server += ,(Invoke-Command -ComputerName $server -ScriptBlock {1}-credential $mycred).value
2nd Method: using the "icm" version...
$returnedServer.$server += ,(icm $server {1} -credential $mycred).value
Essentially, you are "picking out" the value(s) you need (vs. excluding property values, which is, again, pretty frustrating when it does NOT work).
Related Example(s) follows:
Here is a typical system Powershell/WMIC command call:
icm ServerNameGoesHere {Get-CimInstance -ClassName win32_operatingsystem}
But what if I only want the "version" from the object glob:
(icm ServerNameGoesHere {Get-CimInstance -ClassName win32_operatingsystem}).version
But, hold on, now I only want the "lastbootuptime" from the object glob:
(icm ServerNameGoesHere {Get-CimInstance -ClassName win32_operatingsystem}).lastbootuptime
Indecisively, I want to be more flexible:
$a=icm ServerNameGoesHere {Get-CimInstance -ClassName win32_operatingsystem}
$a.version
$a.lastbootuptime
$a.csname
(Makes sense?)
Good luck,
~PhilC