Windows PowerShell Cookbook, 3rd Edition

Chapter 29. Remoting

Introduction

PowerShell’s support for local and interactive computer automation makes it an incredibly attractive platform for computer management and administration. Its rich, object-flavored perspective takes even the simplest of management tasks to the next level.

While PowerShell supports interaction with traditional remoting technologies (SSH, FTP, Telnet, PsExec, and more), that support is fairly equivalent to that offered by any other shell. Where PowerShell’s remote management really takes off is, unsurprisingly, through its unique object-based approach.

Of course, any feature that provides remote access to your systems should be viewed with a cautious eye. Security is a natural concern with any technology that supports network connections, and is something that the PowerShell Remoting feature takes very seriously. In addition, ubiquitous support for remote headless management across your entire enterprise is a core value that any sane server platform offers. How does Windows Server ensure that both hold true? As of PowerShell version 3, PowerShell Remoting is enabled by default for most common remote management scenarios:

• On desktop machines (i.e., Windows 8 client), PowerShell does not listen to network connections by default and must be explicitly activated.

• On untrusted networks (i.e., a server that accepts connections from the Internet), PowerShell listens only to network connections that originate from that same subnet. Machines on the same subnet are ...