PowerShell 2.0: One Cmdlet at a Time #57 Import-PSSession

Continuing the series looking at new cmdlets available in PowerShell 2.0. This time we look at the Import-PSSession cmdlet.

What can I do with it?

Import commands from a Remote PowerShell session into the current session, for instance from a remote session on another computer.

Example:

Establish a remote session with Test01 using New-PSSession. Use Invoke-Command to initiate the use of the BITSTransfer module. Use Import-PSSession to make the contents of the BITSTransfer module available in the local session even though the BITSTransfer module has not been imported on the local computer.

Note: Technically I could just have imported the BITSTransfer module on the local machine, however this example is to demonstrate that potentially any module could be brought across to the local session.

$session1 = New-PSSession -ComputerName Test01
Invoke-Command -Session $session1 -ScriptBlock {Import-Module BITSTransfer}
Import-PSSession -Session $session1 -Module BITSTransfer

Confirm the contents of the BITSTransfer module is now available in the local session.

Get-Command *Bits* -CommandType Function

Extras:

Ravikanth Chaganti has an excellent post covering this cmdlet in more detail here.

How could I have done this in PowerShell 1.0?

Remoting did not exist in PowerShell 1.0, you would have needed to use Remote Desktop to run an interactive session on a remote server.

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