Use WMI to Run Commands on Remote Machine

It is very common that you need to run some commands on a remote server. For example, you may want to config your source control server to start a build process on a dedicated build machine once it receives any checkins. To achieve this, you can leverage the WMI scripting APIs.

The steps are:

Use SWbemLocator to create Locator object
Use the Locator object to connect to the remote server and get back a Service object
Use the Service object to get a Win32 process object
Finally, use the Process object to issue your command

WMI WbemScripting script sample:

    Function RemoteExecute(strServer, strUser, strPassword, CmdLine)
        Const Impersonate = 3

        RemoteExecute = -1
        
        Set Locator = CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemLocator")
        Set Service = Locator.ConnectServer(strServer, "root\cimv2", strUser, strPassword)
      
        Service.Security_.ImpersonationLevel = Impersonate 
        Set Process = Service.Get("Win32_Process")
        
        result = Process.Create(CmdLine, , , ProcessId)

        If (result <> 0) Then
            WScript.Echo "Creating Remote Process Failed: " & result
            Wscript.Quit
        End If

        RemoteExecute = ProcessId
    End Function

NAnt is very popular in the .Net development community. You may want to write a C# extension for NAnt scripts to achieve some build automations on remote servers. You can achieve that easily too. I am posting a WMI C# sample below for your reference too.

WMI C# sample:

    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Text;
    using System.Management;

    namespace WMISample
    {
        class Program
        {
            static void Main(string[] args)
            {
                string remoteMachine = "localhost";

                ConnectionOptions connOptions = new ConnectionOptions();
                connOptions.Impersonation = ImpersonationLevel.Impersonate;
                connOptions.EnablePrivileges = true;

                ManagementScope manScope = new ManagementScope(String.Format(@"\\{0}\ROOT\CIMV2", remoteMachine), connOptions);
                manScope.Connect();

                ObjectGetOptions objectGetOptions = new ObjectGetOptions();
                ManagementPath managementPath = new ManagementPath("Win32_Process");
                ManagementClass processClass = new ManagementClass(manScope, managementPath, objectGetOptions);

                ManagementBaseObject inParams = processClass.GetMethodParameters("Create");

                inParams["CommandLine"] = @"notepad.exe";
                ManagementBaseObject outParams = processClass.InvokeMethod("Create", inParams, null);

                Console.WriteLine("Creation of the process returned: " + outParams["returnValue"]);
                Console.WriteLine("Process ID: " + outParams["processId"]);
                Console.ReadLine();
            }
        }
    }

Use WMI to Run Commands on Remote Machine

See also