Introduction

Both Windows PowerShell Remoting (PSsession) and CIM (Common Information Model) sessions are used in PowerShell to manage and interact with remote computers. However, they serve different purposes and have some differences in their capabilities and implementation.

Windows PowerShell Remoting (PSsession):

PowerShell Remoting allows you to run PowerShell commands and scripts on remote computers over a network connection. PSsession uses the WSMan (Windows Remote Management) protocol to establish a secure and authenticated connection between the local and remote machines.

Key points about PSsession:

  • Interactive Session: PSsession provides an interactive session where you can run multiple commands on the remote computer just as if you were running them locally.

  • Full PowerShell Support: PSsession gives you access to the full PowerShell environment on the remote computer, including cmdlets, functions, modules, and scripts.

  • Stateful Connection: PSsession maintains a stateful connection, which means variables and session-specific data persist across multiple commands executed within the same session.

  • Powerful Remoting Features: PSsession supports features like background jobs, interactive prompts and secure data transmission.

  • Usage Example:

# Create a PSsession to connect another computer.
$session = New-PSSession -ComputerName "RemoteComputer"

# Run commands on the remote computer
Invoke-Command -Session $session -ScriptBlock { Get-Process }

# Close the PSsession
Remove-PSSession $session

CIM (Common Information Model) Session:

CIM is an industry standard for describing system and application management information, and PowerShell provides a CIM session to interact with CIM-based resources on remote computers. CIM sessions use the WSMan protocol similar to PSsession but are optimized for management tasks involving WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) classes.

Keypoints about CIM sessions:

  • Stateless Connection: CIM sessions are stateless, meaning that each command executed within a session starts a new instance, and variables or session data do not persist between commands.

  • CIM Cmdlets: PowerShell provides specific cmdlets like Get-CimInstance, Invoke-CimMethod, and Register-CimIndicationEvent for working with **CIM sessions **and WMI classes.

  • WMI-Based Interaction: CIM sessions are particularly useful when working with WMI-based management tasks, such as retrieving system information, modifying settings, or executing methods.

Usage Example:

# Create a CIM session
$session = New-CimSession -ComputerName "RemoteComputer"

# Get information from the remote computer using WMI class
Get-CimInstance -CimSession $session -ClassName Win32_Processor

# Close the CIM session
Remove-CimSession $session

Conclusion

In summary, PowerShell Remoting (PSsession) is more suitable for interactive management and running PowerShell scripts on remote computers, while, CIM sessions are designed for querying and managing WMI-based resources on remote machines. The choice between PSsession and CIM session depends on the specific tasks you want to accomplish on the remote computer.