Can I access IIS on a Windows Server 2016 remotely? - windows

Question

I have to start and stop the sites after they are automatically updated. For now this requires me to Remote Desktop Connection to the server and start and stop them manually. I would like to be able to connect to the server through the command prompt and start and stop specific sites. I believe AppCmd can start and stop sites easily, but how should I connect to the server?

Answer 1

According to your description, I suggest you could use powershell WinRM to achieve your requirement.
You could use WinRM to remote access the server, the you could run the powershell command to manage the IIS application.
You should firstly enable the WinRM to allow remote management in the server side by using below powershell command:
#Get the winrm service status
Get-Service WinRM
#Allow remote access
Enable-PSRemoting –Force
#Quick config the winrm
winrm quickconfig
#Add all clients to trustedhosts
Set-Item wsman:\localhost\client\trustedhosts *
Restart-Service WinRM
In the client server, you could run below command:
#Connect to remote server
Enter-PSSession -ComputerName {yourremoteserver ip address or computer name} -Credential {accont name}
If you succeess, you will see the powershell window as below:
Then you could use below command to stop or start the application pool:
import-module WebAdministration
Stop-WebAppPool -Name 'DefaultAppPool'
or
import-module WebAdministration
Start-WebAppPool -Name 'DefaultAppPool'