about_Remote
Short description
Describes how to run remote commands in PowerShell.
Long description
You can run remote commands on a single or multiple remote computers using a temporary or persistent connection. You can also start an interactive session with a single remote computer.
Note
To use PowerShell remoting, you must configure the local and remote computers for remoting. For more information, see about_Remote_Requirements.
How to start an interactive session
The easiest way to run remote commands is to start an interactive session with a remote computer.
When the session starts, the commands that you type run on the remote computer, as though you typed them directly on the remote computer. You can connect to only one computer in each interactive session.
To start an interactive session, use the Enter-PSSession
cmdlet. The
following command starts an interactive session with the Server01 computer:
Enter-PSSession Server01
PowerShell changes the command prompt to include the name of the remote computer.
Server01\PS>
Now, you can type commands on the Server01 computer.
To end the interactive session, type:
Exit-PSSession
For more information, see Enter-PSSession.
How to use cmdlets that have a ComputerName parameter
Several cmdlets have a ComputerName parameter that lets you get objects from remote computers.
Because these cmdlets don't use WS-Management-based PowerShell remoting, you can use the ComputerName parameter of these cmdlets on any computer that's running PowerShell. The computers don't have to be configured for PowerShell remoting, and the computers don't have to meet the system requirements for remoting.
The following cmdlets have a ComputerName parameter:
Clear-EventLog Limit-EventLog
Get-Counter New-EventLog
Get-EventLog Remove-EventLog
Get-HotFix Restart-Computer
Get-Process Show-EventLog
Get-Service Stop-Computer
Get-WinEvent Test-Connection
Get-WmiObject Write-EventLog
For example, the following command gets the services on the Server01 remote computer:
Get-Service -ComputerName Server01
Typically, cmdlets that support remoting without special configuration have a ComputerName parameter and don't have a Session parameter. To find these cmdlets in your session, type:
Get-Command | Where-Object {
$_.Parameters.Keys -contains 'ComputerName' -and
$_.Parameters.Keys -notcontains 'Session'
}
How to run a remote command
To run other commands on remote computers, use the Invoke-Command
cmdlet.
To run a single command or a few unrelated commands, use the ComputerName
parameter of Invoke-Command
to specify the remote computers. Use the
ScriptBlock parameter to specify the command.
For example, the following command runs a Get-Culture
command on the Server01
computer.
Invoke-Command -ComputerName Server01 -ScriptBlock {Get-Culture}
How to create a persistent connection
When you use the ComputerName parameter of the Invoke-Command
cmdlet,
PowerShell establishes a temporary connection to the remote computer. It closes
the connection when the command is complete. Any variables or functions defined
in this temporary session are lost.
To create a persistent connection to a remote computer, use the New-PSSession
cmdlet. For example, the following command creates PSSessions on the Server01
and Server02 computers and then saves the PSSessions in the $s
variable.
$s = New-PSSession -ComputerName Server01, Server02
How to run commands in a PSSession
With a PSSession, you can run a series of remote commands that share data, like
functions, aliases, and the values of variables. To run commands in a
PSSession, use the Session parameter of the Invoke-Command
cmdlet.
For example, the following command uses the Invoke-Command
cmdlet to run a
Get-Process
command in the PSSessions on the Server01 and Server02 computers.
The command saves the processes in a $p
variable in each PSSession.
Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {$p = Get-Process}
Because the PSSession uses a persistent connection, you can run another command
in the same PSSession that uses the $p
variable. The following command counts
the number of processes saved in $p
.
Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {$p.count}
How to run a remote command on multiple computers
To run a remote command on multiple computers, type all the computer names in
the value of the ComputerName parameter of Invoke-Command
. Separate the
names with commas.
For example, the following command runs a Get-Culture
command on three
computers:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName S1, S2, S3 -ScriptBlock {Get-Culture}
You can also run a command in multiple PSSessions. The following commands
create PSSessions on the Server01, Server02, and Server03 computers and then
run a Get-Culture
command in each of the PSSessions.
$s = New-PSSession -ComputerName S1, S2, S3
Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {Get-Culture}
To include the local computer list of computers, type the name of the local
computer, type a dot (.
), or type localhost
.
Invoke-Command -ComputerName S1, S2, S3, localhost -ScriptBlock {Get-Culture}
How to run a script on remote computers
To run a local script on remote computers, use the FilePath parameter of
Invoke-Command
. You don't need to copy any files. For example, the following
command runs the Sample.ps1
script on the S1 and S2 computers:
Invoke-Command -ComputerName S1, S2 -FilePath C:\Test\Sample.ps1
PowerShell returns the results of the script to the local computer.
How to stop a remote command
To interrupt a command, press Ctrl+c. PowerShell passes the interrupt request to the remote computer where it terminates the remote command.
For more information
For information about the system requirements for remoting, see about_Remote_Requirements.
For help in formatting remote output, see about_Remote_Output.
For information about how remoting works, how to manage remote data, special configurations, security issues, and other frequently asked questions, see PowerShell Remoting FAQ.
For help with resolving remoting errors, see about_Remote_Troubleshooting.
For information about PSSessions and persistent connections, see about_PSSessions.
For information about PowerShell background jobs, see about_Jobs.
See also
PowerShell