Hosting in IIS

PowerShell Universal supports being hosted in IIS (Internet Information Services (IIS) for Windows® Server). Please note that a series of host prerequisites and specific configuration steps are required to facilitate running PowerShell universal on IIS. Please review each section carefully as IIS requires many specific configuration settings applied to work with modern .NET Core applications such as PowerShell Universal.

Step 1 : Preparing the IIS Host

The following components are required in order to host PowerShell Universal on IIS.

• ​Internet Information Services (IIS) Version 10.0​

  • Including: WebSocket Protocol

• ​ASP.NET Core Hosting Bundle 3.1.

The following Windows Server IIS features are also required to be enabled on the IIS Host:

First make sure to enable the IIS feature on Windows Server and then install the ASP.NET Core hosting bundle.

NOTE: IIS often requires a host reboot after installing the .NET Core Hosting bundle! It is strongly recommended that you REBOOT the IIS host after installing the .NET Core Hosting bundle.

Once these prerequisites are met, you are ready to begin configuration of PowerShell Universal on IIS.

Step 2 : Download PowerShell Universal

Download the Latest copy of PowerShell Universal. You will need to download the ZIP Archive version of PowerShell Universal. This archive is specifically built for those wishing to configure PowerShell Universal for IIS or other third party web servers. Extract the contents of the Zip to the intended web host folder location on your IIS Host.

You must ensure that the PowerShell Universal application files are unblocked after extracting them. You can unblock them with the Unblock-File cmdlet.

Get-ChildItem C:\inetpub\wwwroot -Recurse | Unblock-File

Step 3 : IIS Application Pool Configuration

Now that our Host is ready and we have downloaded PowerShell Universal, we can begin configuring IIS.

The First step in the IIS configuration process is to create a new Application Pool in IIS. Before we begin the configuration we should ensure that we select a valid identity for the IIS Application Pool.

3.1 : Choosing an App Pool Identity

The Application Pool Identity is crucial for PowerShell Universal as this will be the "default user" that jobs and dashboards will run as. It will also be the user that will perform read/write operations to the Universal Automation database and will be used by IIS to read the web content directory and execute the application.

It is suggested to use "LocalSystem" or a Service Account of your choosing.

Due to limitations in IIS, the Application Pool Identity settings have MAJOR consequences on the behavior for "Run As" options when using Universal Automation.

Service Account Identity Requirements

• Full Read/Write access the PowerShell Universal Application Folder we extracted in Step 2

• Full Read/Write access to the PowerShell Universal Database : Default: C:\ProgramData\Universal Automation

• Log on as a batch job rights (e.g. from secpol.msc > Local Policies > User Rights Assignment

Once we have selected a valid identity we are ready to create the Application Pool in IIS.

3.2 : Creating the New IIS Application Pool

Now that we have chosen an App Pool identity that has read/write access to the PowerShell Universal Application and Database folders we can create the Application Pool in IIS.

• In IIs Manager, Choose the option to Add Application Pool...

  • Name: Use any Name you would like for the Application Pool

  • .NET CLR Version: No managed code

  • ​​

  • Click OK create the Application Pool.

3.3 : Configure the "Advanced Settings" of the IIS Application Pool

Now that the Application Pool has been created, we will need to configure the Advanced Settings

• Open the "Advanced Settings" for the Application Pool and apply the following Configurations:

  • General / Enable 32-Bit Applications: False

  • Process Model / Identity: Use the Identity we selected for our Application Pool in the "Choosing an App Pool Identity" section above.

  • Process Model / Load User Profile: True

Once the Advanced Settings have been applied, our Application Pool is ready, our next step will be to configure the IIS Web Site that will utilize this Application Pool.

Step 4 : IIS Web Site Configuration

4.1 : Prepping the web.config for our Website

Now that we have a valid Application Pool we need to create an IIS website to expose the application. Before we do this we will want to review the PowerShell Universal web.config file for our website. Within the extracted PowerShell Universal Application folder, we will find a web.config file. This configuration file has been specifically designed for IIS and has a number of configurations we need to review prior to creating the IIS Website.

Most Importantly we will need to update "processPath" argument value of this configuration file. This value will provide IIS with the exact path of the application binary so that it can properly launch the application.

• Open the web.config file in the PowerShell Universal Application Folder

  • Locate the <aspNetCore processPath section of the configuration file

  • Update the arguments="PATH" value to be the exact location of the Universal.Server.exe path.

  • Save the file to apply the configuration

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <handlers>
      <add name="aspNetCore" path="*" verb="*" modules="AspNetCoreModuleV2" resourceType="Unspecified" />
    </handlers>
    <aspNetCore processPath="C:\Program Files (x86)\Universal\Universal.Server.exe" arguments="" forwardWindowsAuthToken="false" stdoutLogEnabled="true" stdoutLogFile=".\logs\log" hostingModel="InProcess"/>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

4.2 : Creating the IIS Website for IIS

Now that an Application Pool has been created for PowerShell Universal with a valid Identity and we have configured the web.config file, we are finally ready to create the IIS Website. The Website component of IIS loads the application artifacts and exposes the application on the configured web endpoint.

1. In the IIS Manager: Click "Add Website.."

2. Configure the new website options :

   • Site Name: Use any name you would like, ex: PowerShell Universal.

   • Application Pool: DO NOT use the DefaultAppPool - Select the Application Pool we created in our previous step.

   • Physical Path: This must be the physical path to the PowerShell Universal Content we extracted from our download .zip file. NOTE: The AppPool identity must have access to the location.

   • Binding Settings: Note, for initial configuration is suggested to use the base defaults, we'll update these later in our advanced configuration

     • Type http - For Initial Configuration

     • IP Address: All Unassigned

     • Port: 80

     • Host Name: Name of the Host

Step 5 : Starting Website

At this point, all the required configurations should be in place, and the IIS website hosting PowerShell Universal should be up and running. With a web browser - browse to the configured website location to validate that PowerShell Universal has started. From here you can follow the "Getting Started" guide to validate base functionality. Once you are sure that the Application is working properly with a Basic IIS configuration you can proceed to the "Advanced Configuration" to secure and finalize your desired IIS Configuration.

Configuration for Jobs

If you are going to be running scheduled jobs within your PowerShell Universal instance hosted in IIS, you must make sure to configure IIS appropriately. There are several settings to validate when configuring your application pool.

Idle Timeout

IIS will terminate your PSU process after a default of 20 minutes of idle time. This will cause jobs to fail to run since the process is not running. You can set the idle timeout to 0 to disable timeouts.

Start Mode

When the IIS server is restarted, the application pool will not start until the website is requested. You can avoid this by changing the start mode to Always Running for your application pool in Advanced Settings.

Authentication

PowerShell Universal can use anonymous authentication and Windows Authentication in IIS.

Windows Authentication

To enable Windows Authentication, you will first need to enable it for your Web Server and then for your website. You can find the authentication settings under the Authentication section in IIS Manager.

For the website, set the same settings.

Once authentication is enabled in IIS, you will have to ensure that Windows Authentication is enabled for PowerShell Universal.

First, adjust the web.config file to forward the Windows authentication token.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <handlers>
      <add name="aspNetCore" path="*" verb="*" modules="AspNetCoreModuleV2" resourceType="Unspecified" />
    </handlers>
    <aspNetCore processPath=".\Universal.Server.exe" arguments="" forwardWindowsAuthToken="true" stdoutLogEnabled="true" stdoutLogFile=".\logs\log" hostingModel="OutOfProcess" />
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>
<!--ProjectGuid: 588ACF2E-9AE5-4DF1-BC42-BCE16A4C4EDE-->

Next, enable Windows Authentication in the appsettings.json file for PowerShell Universal.

  "Authentication" : {
    "Windows": {
      "Enabled": "true"
    },
  }

Restart your Application Pool and now you should be able to login with Windows credentials.

Anonymous Authentication

Anonymous Authentication can be enabled to allow for app tokens and other requests to be transmitted through the IIS proxy. You will need to enable Anonymous Authentication on both the Server and Web site levels. There is no additional configuration to do within PowerShell Universal.

​

Additional web.config configurations

The settings within the Universal web.config can be adjusted as you see fit. Below you will find a description of each setting.

ForwardWindowsAuthToken

This setting is used for Windows Authentication. If you wish to use Windows Authentication with IIS, ensure that you disable Anonymous Authentication and enable Windows Authentication within your IIS site and then set this setting to true.

StdoutLogEnabled and StdoutLogFile

This setting is used for debugging start up issues with your Universal setup. It's recommended to enable this when first configuring IIS integration. You can disable it once everything is configured. You need to ensure that your AppPool identity has write access to the StdOutLogFile location.

HostingModel

The hosting model sets how the Universal server will run. When set to InProcess, the Universal Server will run from within the IIS agent. This provides better performance than using OutOfProcess hosting. InProcess hosting does not work with StdOutLogEnabled. It's recommended to use OutOfProcess hosting only while configuring Universal and, InProcess when your configuration steps have been completed.