WinRM - what it is and how to use it?

Question

During installing updates I noticed 'PowerShell 2.0 and WinRM' update. Upon reading some Microsoft & Wikipedia pages I read that it is remote management system that runs on SOAP and that it is useful for remote technical support.

I become interested as I provide remote "Home Technical Support".

Therefore:

1. What is WinRM? Is it slightly similar to SSH or not?
2. For what exactly may I use it?
3. Are there any Linux clients? I read something that Novell is preparing one but information may be out of date.
4. What is Windows 7 client?

Solution

WinRM is equivalent to the RPC calls used for remote administration and process execution, but it's based on the Web Services for Management (WS-Management) standards

You can use it to retrieve information about a remote computer, or execute processes remotely.

NO idea about Linux clients, but Windows 7 has a client, meaning an application that can access a WinRM server running on a computer.

You'll find more information in this blog article: What is WinRM?

Comments

[JasonMArcher]

Two separate things here. For PowerShell Remoting (over WinRM), there is no Linux client and mostly likely won't be. WinRM is based on standards, so there should be interoperability, at least eventually.