Remove RDS server

Simple task, simple solution. One of our Remote Desktop Services Hosts was no longer needed. It was running Windows 2012R2 and the team finally decided to move to 2016. Anyway - the time for decomission has come.

I’ve decided to use this as an introduction lesson to Pester for our junior admin. I just using Pester in infra checks This is an overkill for such a simple task, but remember - intro lesson.

Checklist

Let’s create a simple checklist for tasks to be done:

remove collection from Connection Broker
remove server from RDS Deployment
remove RDS role from Server
proceed with decomissioning server from domain (not current task)

Now let’s prepare a simple Pester checklist BEFORE we do anything (in pseudo-code)

Describe "Verify current state of RDS server" {
    IT "Collection name {$RDSCollectionName} on connectionBroker {$RDSConnectionBroker} exists" {
         Get-Current-State-of-Collection | 
            Should -BeTrue -Because "We need to make sure collection exists"
    }
    IT "Server {$RDSServer} in connectionBroker {$RDSConnectionBroker} has RDS Role" {
        Get-Current-State-of-RDS-Server |
            Should -BeTrue -Because "Server should be in RDS Deployment"
    }
    IT "Server {$RDSServer} should have RDS roles installed" {
        Get-Current-State-of-RDS-Server-Role | 
            Should -BeTrue -Because "Server should have all roles installed"
    }
}

I didn’t use Context block by purpose here not to overcomplicate it. As you can see there is no ‘actual’ code in here - just knowledge WHAT is needed. Now, let’s go on a hunt HOW to Get-Current-State-of...

Discovery

This won’t be hard as RDS module have all necessary cmdlets. How do I know it? by running Get-Command -Module RemoteDesktop. There are 79 total cmdlets. Because I need to Get- some information, let’s narrow it down:

PS C:\AdminTools> Get-Command -Module RemoteDesktop -Name Get-*

CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source
-----------     ----                                               -------    ------
Function        Get-RDAvailableApp                                 2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDCertificate                                  2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDConnectionBrokerHighAvailability             2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDDeploymentGatewayConfiguration               2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDFileTypeAssociation                          2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDLicenseConfiguration                         2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDPersonalSessionDesktopAssignment             2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDPersonalVirtualDesktopAssignment             2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDPersonalVirtualDesktopPatchSchedule          2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDRemoteApp                                    2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDRemoteDesktop                                2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDServer                                       2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDSessionCollection                            2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDSessionCollectionConfiguration               2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDSessionHost                                  2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDUserSession                                  2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDVirtualDesktop                               2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDVirtualDesktopCollection                     2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDVirtualDesktopCollectionConfiguration        2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDVirtualDesktopCollectionJobStatus            2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDVirtualDesktopConcurrency                    2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDVirtualDesktopIdleCount                      2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDVirtualDesktopTemplateExportPath             2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop
Function        Get-RDWorkspace                                    2.0.0.0    RemoteDesktop

Ok, Seems I will need:

Get-RDSessionCollection
Get-RDServer
and to get Windows Features - Get-WindowsFeature

Let’s code a bit:

$RDSCollectionName = 'CollectionName'
$RDSConnectionBroker = 'ConnectionBroker.contoso.com'
$RDSServer = 'RDSServer'
$RDServerRole = 'RDS-RD-SERVER'

Describe "Verify current state of RDS server" {
    IT "Collection name {$RDSCollectionName} on connectionBroker {$RDSConnectionBroker} exists" {
        Get-RDSessionCollection -ConnectionBroker $RDSConnectionBroker | Where-Object {$PSItem.CollectionName -eq $RDSCollectionName} | 
            Should -BeTrue -Because "We need to make sure collection exists"
    }
    IT "Server {$RDSServer} in connectionBroker {$RDSConnectionBroker} has RDS Role" {
        Get-RDServer -ConnectionBroker $RDSConnectionBroker -Role $RDServerRole |
           Should -BeTrue -Because "Server should be in RDS Deployment"
    }
    IT "Server {$RDSServer} should have RDS roles installed" {
        Get-WindowsFeature -ComputerName $RDSServer | Where-Object {$PSItem.Name -eq $RDServerRole} | Where-Object {$PSItem.Installed -eq $True} | 
            Should -BeTrue -Because "Server should have all roles installed"
    }
}

Which will generate following output:

Describing Verify current state of RDS server
  [+] Collection name {CollectionName} on connectionBroker {ConnectionBroker.contoso.com} exists 5.8s
  [+] Server {RDSServer} in connectionBroker {ConnectionBroker.contoso.com} has RDS Role 3.96s
  [+] Server {RDSServer} should have RDS roles installed 936ms

Hey, this can be my checklist IF server is properly configured, right?

Ok, let’s get back to our task - removing server:

Remove-RDSessionCollection -CollectionName $RDSCollectionName -ConnectionBroker $RDSConnectionBroker
Remove-RDServer -ConnectionBroker $RDSConnectionBroker -Server $RDSServer -Role $RDServerRole
$status = Invoke-Command -ComputerName $RDSServer -ScriptBlock {
    $status = Get-WindowsFeature -ComputerName $RDSServer | Where-Object {$PSItem.Name -eq $USING:RDServerRole} 
    if ($status.Installed) {
        $status | Remove-WindowsFeature    
    }
    Get-WindowsFeature | Where-Object {$PSItem.Name -eq $USING:RDServerRole} 
}
if($status.ExitCode -eq 'SuccessRestartRequired') {
    Restart-Computer -ComputerName $RDSServer -Protocol WSMan -Wait -Force 
}

This will perform all three steps we require.

Let’s ~~assume~~ test if everything is ok now, that we have pester base:

Describe "Verify current state of RDS server" {
    IT "Collection name {$RDSCollectionName} on connectionBroker {$RDSConnectionBroker} is removed" {
        Get-RDSessionCollection -ConnectionBroker $RDSConnectionBroker | Where-Object {$PSItem.CollectionName -eq $RDSCollectionName} | 
            Should -BeNullOrEmpty -Because "Collection should be removed before removing server role"
    }
    IT "Server {$RDSServer} removed from connectionBroker {$RDSConnectionBroker}" {
        Get-RDServer -ConnectionBroker $RDSConnectionBroker -Role $RDServerRole | Where-Object {$PSitem.Server -eq $RDSServer} |
            Should -BeNullOrEmpty -Because "Server should be removed from connection broker"
    }
    IT "Server {$RDSServer} should have RDS roles uninstalled" {
        Get-WindowsFeature -ComputerName $RDSServer | Where-Object {$PSItem.Name -eq $RDServerRole} | Where-Object {$PSItem.Installed -ne $False} | 
            Should -BeNullOrEmpty -Because "Server should be removed from connection broker"
    }
}

Describing Verify current state of RDS server
  [+] Collection name {CollectionName} on connectionBroker {ConnectionBroker.contoso.com} is removed 2.61s
  [+] Server {RDSServer} removed from connectionBroker {ConnectionBroker.contoso.com} 3.59s
  [+] Server {RDSServer} should have RDS roles uninstalled 170ms

Remove RDS server

Checklist

Discovery

> It wasn’t hard, wasn’t it?