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Remotely managing web access servers

PowerShell Web Access

Article from ADMIN 23/2014

By Thomas Joos

The Windows PowerShell web-based console lets you run PowerShell commands and scripts in your browser.

Windows PowerShell Web Access provides a web-based Windows PowerShell console. The web-based console lets you run PowerShell commands and scripts in a web browser. You can even use PowerShell Web Access to access the PowerShell of your servers remotely on a smartphone or tablet. Additionally, you can use all commandlets (cmdlets) that are available on the server.

PowerShell Web Access requires you to have at least the web server (IIS), .NET Framework 4.5, and PowerShell 3.0 installed on the server on which you run the gateway.

You can install PowerShell Web Access with Server Manager or PowerShell; the necessary roles and features are added automatically. Just expand the Features item on the Select Features page of the Add Roles and Features Wizard and select Windows PowerShell Web Access . Alternatively, you can use the following PowerShell cmdlet for the install:

Install-WindowsFeature -Name WindowsPowerShellWebAccess-ComputerName Name of the Server-IncludeManagementTools-Restart

After installing PowerShell Web Access, the next step is to set up the gateway for PowerShell Web Access. The Install-PswaWebApplication cmdlet provides a quick approach to configuring PowerShell Web Access.

You can install a self-signed SSL certificate with the option -UseTestCertificate. Using the IIS Manager console, replace the test certificate with a signed certificate. Running this cmdlet installs the PowerShell Web Access web application in the default web site container of IIS. You can access the website by following the link to https://[Servername]/pswa . However, you can only log on after granting users access to the site by adding authorization rules.

After you've installed PowerShell Web Access and set up the gateway with the website and the certificate, you still need to allow users to access PowerShell via Web Access. To do this in a PowerShell session launched with

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