Introduction to PowerShell Remoting, Part 1

Matt Johnson, GSEC, MCSEmatt@michiganpowershell.com

What we are going to cover?

• An simple intro to remoting

• Remoting Prerequisites

• Basic Remoting using –ComputerName

• Setting up Remoting

A SIMPLE INTRO TO REMOTING

In Version 1.0

• In version 1.0, the only command available with –ComputerName was Get-WMIObject

• This made managing a remote PC complicated.

New in V2!

• Some cmdlets were updated with the –ComputerName parameter.– Get-Process– Get-Service– GetWinEvent– GetEventLog– Restart-Computer– Stop-Computer– Test-Connection

New in V2! Cont….

• Remote console via PS Sessions.– Kinda like SSH but much cooler (since it is

PowerShell)– You can run ANY command on the remote PC.– Can run interactively or via jobs

REMOTING PREREQUISITES

What you need

• Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 has the necessary bits

• Windows Vista, XP, Server 2003 and Server 2008 you will need the Windows Management Framework– Windows PowerShell 2.0, Windows Remote

Management (WinRM) 2.0, and Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 4.0

What version am I using?

• To check your PowerShell version, use the variable $PSVersionTable

Things to remember beforehand

• You MUST be in the Administrators group on the remote PC.

• Both the remote and local computers must be configured to use remoting.

• You must have PowerShell and the related bits installed on all machines

Things to remember Cont…

• On current versions of windows. The network type must be work or home. Public will not work.

• Any policies, ie group policies, on the remote pc are in effect in remote PowerShell sessions. Keep that in mind if something isn’t working as expected.

BASIC REMOTING USING –COMPUTERNAME

Commands with -ComputerName

Get-ProcessGet-ServiceGetWinEventGetEventLogRestart-ComputerStop-ComputerTest-Connection

Demo Time!

• Get-EventLog

• Get-Process

SETTING UP REMOTING

Enabling PowerShell Remoting

• Remember to be an Administrator!• Open a PowerShell Prompt on the machine

and type Enable-PSRemoting.

What is it doing?• Runs the Set-WSManQuickConfig cmdlet, which performs the following

tasks: – Starts the WinRM service. – Sets the startup type on the WinRM service to Automatic. – Creates a listener to accept requests on any IP address. – Enables a firewall exception for WS-Management communications.

• Enables all registered Windows PowerShell session configurations to receive instructions from a remote computer. – Registers the "Microsoft.PowerShell" session configuration, if it is not already

registered. – Registers the "Microsoft.PowerShell32" session configuration on 64-bit

computers, if it is not already registered. – Removes the "Deny Everyone" setting from the security descriptor for all the

registered session configurations. – Restarts the WinRM service to make the preceding changes effective.

Running x64?

• On x64 hardware, a 32-bit listener is installed.

Firewall Exception

Remoting is now enabled!

• What do you do next?– Configure PSRemoting– Run Scripts / Commands Remotely

In Two Months!

• Running Interactively with PS Remoting• Running Jobs with PS Remoting• WS-MAN Configuration

QUESTIONS?

Contact Info

• Matt Johnson• Phone: +1 (734) 931-0323• Web: http://www.mwjcomputing.com/• Blog: http://www.mwjcomputing.com/blog/• Twitter: http://twitter.com/mwjcomputing• Email: matt@michiganpowershell.com

THANKS!