Using Echo Command in PowerShell Script for Configuration Item

Question

Hello All,
Before you tell me to post my PowerShell question to the PowerShell Forum, please know that the PowerShell portion of my task works just fine. It is the SCCM portion of my task that keeps failing, so that is why I am here. To give some background...
There are two servers in our SCCM test environment. Both the SCCM server and SQL DB server are 2012, patched and updated.
Test servers in my Device Collection being used for running Baselines and Reports against are 2008R2 and 2012, patched and updated.
I have created a Configuration Item that checks to see if the FTP Server Role Feature has been installed on a 2008 or 2012 server. To do the check, I am using the following PowerShell script:
(get-windowsfeature -Name Web-Ftp-Server).Installed
When I log into my 2008R2 and 2012 test servers, and run this command directly on the server, it will return a "True" if the FTP Server Role Feature is installed on either server, and a "False" if it is not installed. Basically,
it works as advertised.
When I setup my Configuration Item and then deploy my Baseline, or run a report against my device collection of test servers, SCCM will return a correct response (True or False) for the 2012 test server, but throws the following error for the 2008R2
server:
0x87df00329 application requirement evaluation or detection failed
Google searches for this have not been very helpful.
Now, when I created the Configuration Item and referenced PowerShell, the configuration screen has the following note:
"Specify the script to find and return the value to be assessed for compliance on client devices. Use the echo command to return the script value to Configuration Manager."
Since I did not include an echo command in my PowerShell script above, I figured that was my problem, so I did the following:
Logging onto both of my test servers (2008R2 & 2012) I was able to successfully run the following PowerShell commands and get the expected responses of True or False:
(get-windowsfeature -Name Web-Ftp-Server).Installed | echo
(get-windowsfeature -Name Web-Ftp-Server).Installed | write-output (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh849921.aspx)
(get-windowsfeature -Name Web-Ftp-Server).Installed | write-host (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee177031.aspx)
However, when I use any of these PowerShell commands in my Configuration Item, NEITHER of my test servers returns a response to the SCCM server.
When I check the report, both servers show as "Unknown" and when I click on the number 2 (as in 2 servers unknown), the following report page (List of unknown assets for a configuration baseline) has absolutely no data/information at all.
So...I am at a loss.
SCCM tells me to use an echo command to return a script value to Configuration Manager. The PowerShell scripts above, with the various echo related commands, work just fine on the servers themselves, but they return no information when run via SCCM.
What am I missing?
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your time.

Answer 1

Sorry for my ignorance, but I don't understand. (I forgot to mention that I am new at both PowerShell and SCCM.)
After I change the PowerShell script to add the echo/write-output/write-host cmdlet, I open the ConFig Item and "Clear" the PowerShell script and then re-add it. When I do that, it correctly shows the change in the ConFig Item.
Next I open the Baseline, then open the ConFig Item within the Baseline to make sure the change is reflected there as well, which it is.
I then deploy the Baseline to my Device Collection. After that, I run a report against the Baseline and Device Collection and it returns the "Unknown" result.
If I open the PowerShell script and remove the echo/write-output/write-host cmdlet, then go through the rest of the process of updating and reporting, the result it returns changes, showing one server in compliance and the other server out of compliance,
which leads me to think that all changes have taken correctly.
Does that sound right? If I manually deploy the Baseline, is that the same as the client retrieving policies from the management point?
Sorry to be so thick but I'm learning as I go.
Thanks again for your help.