Powershell Script: SSH into Server

Question

I would like to know if its possible to write an powershell script that connects to an Server via ssh and then do something on that server.

Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

I was about to suggest that you use PuTTY. in fact, you should be using plink

If you look at SSH (the command for Linux), you can execute remote commands in this fashion:

Single command:

ssh $HOST ls

Several commands:

ssh $HOST ls; pwd; cat /path/to/remote/file

If you want to do this on a windows machine, you either need to use plink.exe or a similar tool.

Apparently there is also some library for powershell to execute remote commands via ssh, but this is the result of me spending 30 seconds to google remote command ssh powershell so I do not know if it will work for you, or if it requires powershell on the remote (you can get it for linux)

Answer 2

There are many articles all over the web on this topic, and since PowerShell Core is now Open Source and can be installed on Windows / Linux / OSX the SSH for PowerShell has been an thing for a while now.

Example(s):

Using SSH to Access Linux Servers in PowerShell

Using SSH with PowerShell

Managing Windows Powershell from Linux terminal

There a several module on the MS PowerShellGallery specifically for this use case.

Find-Module -Name '*ssh*'

Version              Name                                Repository           Description                                                                                  
-------              ----                                ----------           -----------                                                                                  
2.0.2                Posh-SSH                            PSGallery            Provide SSH and SCP functionality for executing commands against remote hosts.               
2.1.3                SSHSessions                         PSGallery            Svendsen Tech's SSH-Sessions module provides SSH session creation, management and interact...
0.0.2.0              OpenSSHUtils                        PSGallery            Utilities and functions for configuring OpenSSH on Windows.                                  
1.0.0                SSH                                 PSGallery            Provides a PowerShell-based SSH client based on SSH.net  http://sshnet.codeplex.com/         
1.1.3                PowerSSH                            PSGallery            This module detects the first use of an SSH command, automatically runs the SSH agent, kee...
0.9.4                WinSSH                              PSGallery            Install OpenSSH-Win64, optionally install ssh-agent and sshd Services. Also includes funct...
0.0.30               PSSharedGoods                       PSGallery            Module covering functions that are shared within multiple projects                           
1.0.1                ssh-wrapper                         PSGallery            Exposes ssh from WSL by wrapping: bash -c "ssh $args". Requires Windows Subsystem for Linu...
1.0.4                PSShortcut                          PSGallery            This module eases working with Windows shortcuts (LNK and URL) files.                        
1.0                  cEPRSSharepoint                     PSGallery            DSCModule helps in installing & configuring the sharepoint site, Farm etc.,                  
2.0.1.8              SkypeForBusinessHybridHealth        PSGallery            Uses on-premises modules such as Skype For Business and SkypeOnlineConnector to validate b...
0.3.1                posh-sshell                         PSGallery            Provides integration with ssh-agent and pageant from within Powershell                       
1.1.4                PowerSSH-Legacy                     PSGallery            This module detects the first use of an SSH command, automatically runs the SSH agent, kee...

SSH From Windows Server to Linux Server - Invoke-SSHCommand

Invoke-SSHCommand $IndexID.SessionID -command "curl -v telnet://WindowsServerA:4750& sleep 2; kill $!"

# Results

Host       : LinuxServerA
Output     : {}
ExitStatus : 0



Invoke-SSHCommand $IndexID.SessionID -command "curl -v telnet://LinuxServerB:4750& sleep 2; kill $!"

# Results
Host       : LinuxServerA
Output     : {}
ExitStatus : 0



Invoke-SSHCommand $IndexID.SessionID -command "curl -v telnet://WindowsServerA:4750 2>&1 & sleep 2; kill $!"

# Results
Host       : LinuxServerA
Output     : {* About to connect() to WindowsServerA port 4750, *   Trying 10.10.10.10... connected, * Connected to
             WindowsServerA (10.10.10.10) port 4750}
ExitStatus : 0



Invoke-SSHCommand $IndexID.SessionID -command "curl -v telnet://LinuxServerB:4750 2>&1 & sleep 2; kill $!"

# Results
Host       : LinuxServerA
Output     : {* About to connect() to LinuxServerB port 4750, *   Trying 10.10.10.11... connected, * Connected to
             LinuxServerB (10.10.10.11) port 4750}
ExitStatus : 0