Sitecore PowerShell Extensions (SPE) Remoting Baby Steps

Just took some baby steps towards SPE remoting today. Here are the steps I followed:

1. Started simple by installing a physical Sitecore 10.1 Instance using Sitecore Complete Install Assistant (SCIA), parked Docker for later!

The best part about SCIA is, it pre-installs SPE 6.2 installs for you. So, we are covered there.

Once installation is done, you can check the module installed here -

2. Next, the most important part! Since we want to execute SPE remoting commands, let's install the SPE remoting module like this through PowerShell window -

Install-Module -Name SPE

3. Based on this page, you should be able to use the following commands as part of SPE 6.2:

4. Its time to test one of those and Invoke-RemoteScript is one of the relevant ones. So, let's try executing the following command in PowerShell Window:

 Invoke-RemoteScript -Session $session -ScriptBlock { Get-User -id admin }

I get the following error:

Invoke-RemoteScript : Cannot validate argument on parameter 'Session'. The argument is null. Provide a valid value for

the argument, and then try running the command again.

At line:1 char:31

+  Invoke-RemoteScript -Session $session -ScriptBlock { Get-User -id ad ...

+                               ~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (:) [Invoke-RemoteScript], ParameterBindingValidationException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationError,Invoke-RemoteScript

The good thing about the above error is that the command is recognised but there is no session to execute.

5. So, I created a session as the first step:

$session = New-ScriptSession -Username admin -Password b -ConnectionUri https://sc101spenewsc.dev.local/

6. If you execute $session, you should see the session details now:

7. So, we seem good to execute the original command now. So, let's try the same:

Invoke-RemoteScript -Session $session -ScriptBlock { Get-User -id admin }

Then, I received this error:

Invoke-RemoteScript : Server response: The request could not be completed because the remoting service is disabled.

At line:1 char:1

+ Invoke-RemoteScript -Session $session -ScriptBlock { Get-User -id adm ...

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : ConnectionError: (https://sc101spenewsc.dev.local/:) [Write-Error], Forbidden

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Net.Http.HttpRequestException,Invoke-RemoteScript

8. I executed the following command 

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

and, retried the same cmdlet but received the same error.

9. Then, based on the SPE documentation, I checked my spe.config (in my case, under C:\inetpub\wwwroot\sc101spenewsc.dev.local\App_Config\Include\Spe\spe.config) and realized remoting was disabled and enabled the same. Ideally, this should be patched but since I was just testing, I made the change to spe.config itself -

10. Re-executed the Invoke-RemoteScript one more time to find a different error this time:

Invoke-RemoteScript : Server response: The specified user sitecore\admin is not authorized for the remoting service.

At line:1 char:1

+ Invoke-RemoteScript -Session $session -ScriptBlock { Get-User -id adm ...

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : ConnectionError: (https://sc101spenewsc.dev.local/:) [Write-Error], Unauthorized

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.Net.Http.HttpRequestException,Invoke-RemoteScript

11. I reopened the spe.config to investigate more and found that the admin user is denied permission to remoting by default and so, added the same:

12. Back in the PS window and executed  Invoke-RemoteScript  to see it successfully executed this time:

Somehow, reminded of this Paw Patrol catch line!