Configuring Windows Powershell Web Access

Windows PowerShell Web Access, first introduced in Windows Server® 2012, acts as a Windows PowerShell gateway, providing a web-based Windows PowerShell console that is targeted at a remote computer. To configure this feature we need to install WindowsPowershellWebAccess component and create PSWA application with security rule for it.

My demo: Server 2012 Datacenter named as Server1 and Windows 8 for remote connection

From client OS I create new remote powershell session to Server1:

New-PsSession Server1

Enter to created PS session:

Enter-PsSession 2

And install PWA feature:

Install-WindowsFeature WindowsPowerShellWebAccess -IncludeManagementTools -Verbose

pwa_1

Then we need to create app for PSWA:

Install-PswaWebApplication -UseTestCertificate -Verbose

pwa_2

More details: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj592894.aspx

By default, there are no rules for user authorization , so we have to create one:

Add-PswaAuthorizationRule -ComputerGroupName * -configurationName * -UserGroupName * -Verbose

*” allows all users access to all endpoints on all computers. This essentially turns off authorization rules (just for test)

More details: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj592890.aspx

Open your browser and type https://servernamewherepswaisinstalled/pswa . In my case, https://server1/pswa

pwa_3

Enter your credentials, computer name and sign in

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There are no many options in PWA. The most interesting is ability to SAVE your session.

For example, let’s create alias $upd = Get-Service wua* in the current session

pwa_4

Then click on SAVE button to sign out without losing our alias $upd

pwa_5

Sign in again to PWA and notice that PWA saved our session as PSWA1 .

We can create new session or continue to work in previously created session (try to use $upd. it works)

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TIP: TAB works in PWA too. Use it as usual.

More details about configuring PWA: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/hh831611.aspx

Linux Integration Services Version 3.5 for #Hyper-V

Microsoft has recently released new version of Linux Integration Service (LIS) to provide compatibility for Linux guest OS under Hyper-V.

This version of LIS supports the following guest operating systems:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.5-5.8, 6.0-6.3 x86/x64

CentOS 5.5-5.8, 6.0-6.3 x86 and x64

Note that in comparison to LIS 3.4, LIS 3.5 expands the list of supported distributions to include RHEL/CentOS 5.5-5.6.

LIS 3.5 is available for downloading using this link
TIP: Download and review Linux Integration Services v35.pdf too