Update the IIS bindings on all Servers in a SharePoint Farm using PowerShell Remoting

I blogged the other day about using PowerShell Remoting to add a SQL alias to multiple servers in a SharePoint Farm. Adding a SQL Alias to all the Servers in a SharePoint Farm using PowerShell and Remoting.

This post follows that one in theme. The migration project I'm working on at the moment required a change to the IIS bindings for one of the web applications. We needed to a add a default binding that would catch all requests other-wise not resolved, on port 443.

The binding in IIS looks like this: *:443:

I used the PowerShell Remoting technique described in the blog above to run a PowerShell script block on all of the 15 SharePoint servers in the farm. This is fast, and ensures the settings get applied consistently!

The key to this task, is to ensure you load the IIS PowerShell module in each script block. Each "remote session" is like openning a new PowerShell console; you must remember to load any additional modules or add-ins that are need by your script.

To the code.

Tasks:
1. Stop the default website (if it's running)
2. Add the default (catch-all) binding for SSL (port 443). In the example, we're adding that binding to the Yarletto IIS web application (not to be confused a SharePoint web application).
3. Remove the existing bindings on the IIS web application.


The first part of the script takes care of credentials, stopping the default website (if it's started) and adding the new binding.

# Add the SharePoint Snap-in            
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell            
            
# Create a credential object - this is needed to authenticate to the             
# remote server of each PowerShell Remote session.            
$account = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter the farm account";            
$password =  Read-Host -Prompt "Enter the farm account password" -AsSecureString
$credentials = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PsCredential($account,$password);
            
# Get a list of servers in the SharePoint farm. Then filter the list to servers
# that actually have the SharePoint binaries installed (omit DB and email servers)
$farm = Get-SPFarm            
$servers = $farm.Servers | ?{$_.Role -eq "Application"} | Select Name,Role            
            
# Send the list of servers to a for-each cmdlet - the alias is "%".             
$servers | %{             
 # For each loop, create a new PowerShell Remote Session            
 # Pass in the credential object to authenticate the remote session            
    $rs = New-PSSession -ComputerName $_.Name -Credential $credentials;            
    Write-Host "Updating bindings on"$_.Name -f green;            
             
 # Invoke a PowerShell Script block in the remote session,             
 # using the Invoke-Command cmdlet.            
 # Invoke-Command will run the script block in the session passed             
 # into the Session parameter.            
 # At the end of the script block, notice that parameters have been             
 # passed into the script block            
 # using the -ArgumentList paramater.            
    Invoke-Command -Session $rs -Script {             
        param($hostname = "", $iisWebAppname = "")            
        Write-Host "Working on"$env:COMPUTERNAME;             
        Write-Host "Hostname:"$hostname                    
        Write-Host "IIS APP name"$iisWebAppname;            
        # Load the IIS Web Administration module, to get access to             
        # the IIS PowerShell cmdlet's            
        Import-Module "WebAdministration"             
        # Get the default IIS web site            
        $ws =  Get-Website "Default Web Site"            
        # If the website is running, stop it.            
        if($ws.state -eq "Started"){            
            Write-Host "Stopping default website." -f DarkMagenta            
            $ws.Stop();            
            Sleep 1;            
        }            
         # Use the Get-WebBinding cmdlet to search for an existing             
         # instance of the web binding we want to add            
        $b = $null            
        $b = Get-WebBinding | ?{$_.bindingInformation -eq "*:443:"}            
        # If the web binding doesn't already exist, then create it!            
        if($b -eq $null)            
        {            
            Write-host "Adding binding" -f DarkYellow            
            New-WebBinding -Name $iisWebAppname -Protocol https -Port 443 -IPAddress "*" -HostHeader $hostname                    
        }                    
    } -ArgumentList "","Yarletto"              
    # Finally, make sure you close the Remote session.            
    Remove-PSSession -Session $rs;                
}

The second part of the script removes the old bindings. This could be scripted more efficiently (as a function), but sometimes you just need to create a script in the shortest possible amount of time!

# Send the list of servers to a for-each cmdlet - the alias is "%".             
$servers  | %{            
    # For each loop, create a new PowerShell Remote Session            
    # Pass in the credential object to authenticate the remote session                
    $rs = New-PSSession -ComputerName $_.Name -Credential $credentials;            
    Write-Host "Updating bindings on"$_.Name -f green;            
            
    # Invoke a script block using the remote session (as above)            
    Invoke-Command -Session $rs -Script {             
        param($hostname = "", $iisWebAppname = "")            
        Write-Host "Working on"$env:COMPUTERNAME;             
        Write-Host "Hostname:"$hostname                    
        Write-Host "IIS APP name"$iisWebAppname;            
        # Remember to load the IIS Web Administration module            
        Import-Module "WebAdministration"            
        # Check the IIS Binding exists            
        $b = $null            
        $b = Get-WebBinding -HostHeader $hostname -Port 443            
        # If the binding exists, delete it!            
        if($b -ne $null)            
        {            
            Write-host "Removing binding" -f DarkYellow            
            Remove-WebBinding -BindingInformation $b.bindingInformation                    
        }                    
    } -ArgumentList "yarletto.com.au","Yarletto"              
    # Finally, remember to close the session once you're finished with it!            
    Remove-PSSession -Session $rs;                
}