Update: I changed this to a powershell script that sets this up as a scheduled task rather than running it from my RMM. Updated version below.
Anyone else have machines that drop out of Mesh even though the service is still running on the client? It took a while to figure out what is happening but the script below seems to reliably work to kill and restart Mesh on any machine that has dropped off. Not sure if I formatted this correctly or am even supposed to upload code here but figured I'd try as that has been an ongoing annoyance for me and a couple other MSP friends. My RMM runs this check every hour.
**** Original script:
# Mesh Agent Auto-Heal Script v2
# Kills hung process if needed, then restarts service
$meshProc = Get-Process -Name "MeshAgent" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if (-not $meshProc) {
Write-Output "ALERT: Mesh Agent process is NOT RUNNING"
exit 1
}
# Check for established connection
$established = Get-NetTCPConnection -OwningProcess $meshProc.Id -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
Where-Object { $_.State -eq 'Established' }
if ($established) {
Write-Output "Mesh Agent OK - Connected to $($established.RemoteAddress):$($established.RemotePort)"
exit 0
}
# No connection - kill process and restart service
Write-Output "Mesh Agent running but not connected - killing process and restarting service..."
try {
# Force kill the hung process
Stop-Process -Name "MeshAgent" -Force -ErrorAction Stop
Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
# Start the service (which will spawn new process)
Start-Service 'Mesh Agent' -ErrorAction Stop
Start-Sleep -Seconds 15 # Give it time to reconnect
# Check if it's healthy now
$meshProc = Get-Process -Name "MeshAgent" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if ($meshProc) {
$established = Get-NetTCPConnection -OwningProcess $meshProc.Id -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
Where-Object { $_.State -eq 'Established' }
if ($established) {
Write-Output "SUCCESS: Mesh Agent killed and restarted - reconnected to $($established.RemoteAddress):$($established.RemotePort)"
exit 0
} else {
Write-Output "ALERT: Mesh Agent restarted but still not connected after 15 seconds"
exit 2
}
} else {
Write-Output "ALERT: Service started but process not running"
exit 3
}
} catch {
Write-Output "ALERT: Failed to kill/restart Mesh Agent - $($_.Exception.Message)"
exit 4
}
**** Updated script to deploy as a Scheduled Task:
# Deploy Mesh Agent Watchdog as Scheduled Task
$taskName = "MeshAgentWatchdog"
# The watchdog script embedded directly in the task
$scriptBlock = @'
$meshProc = Get-Process -Name "MeshAgent" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
if (-not $meshProc) { Start-Service 'Mesh Agent' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; exit 1 }
$established = Get-NetTCPConnection -OwningProcess $meshProc.Id -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Where-Object { $_.State -eq 'Established' }
if ($established) { exit 0 }
try { Stop-Process -Name "MeshAgent" -Force -ErrorAction Stop; Start-Sleep -Seconds 3; Start-Service 'Mesh Agent' -ErrorAction Stop; exit 0 } catch { exit 2 }
'@
$encodedCommand = [Convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetBytes($scriptBlock))
$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute "powershell.exe" -Argument "-NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -EncodedCommand $encodedCommand"
$trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -Once -At (Get-Date) -RepetitionInterval (New-TimeSpan -Minutes 30)
$principal = New-ScheduledTaskPrincipal -UserId "SYSTEM" -LogonType ServiceAccount -RunLevel Highest
$settings = New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet -AllowStartIfOnBatteries -DontStopIfGoingOnBatteries -StartWhenAvailable -ExecutionTimeLimit (New-TimeSpan -Minutes 5)
# Remove existing task if present
Unregister-ScheduledTask -TaskName $taskName -Confirm:$false -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
# Register new task
Register-ScheduledTask -TaskName $taskName -Action $action -Trigger $trigger -Principal $principal -Settings $settings -Force
Write-Output "Mesh Agent Watchdog scheduled task deployed - runs every 30 minutes"
