PSSession management in PowerShell - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What is the output of this PowerShell command?

You create a new PSSession to a remote computer and then list all active sessions. What will this command output?

PowerShell

New-PSSession -ComputerName Server01
Get-PSSession | Select-Object -Property ComputerName, State

A @{ComputerName=Server01; State=Opened}

B @{ComputerName=Server01; State=Disconnected}

C No output, because Get-PSSession requires a session ID

D Error: New-PSSession requires credentials

💡 Hint

Think about what state a newly created PSSession has before you disconnect it.

When you create a new PSSession, it is in the 'Opened' state until you disconnect or remove it.

📝 Syntax

intermediate

Which command correctly closes and removes all PSSessions?

You want to close all active PSSessions and remove them from your session list. Which command does this correctly?

A Get-PSSession | Close-PSSession

B Get-PSSession | Remove-PSSession

C Close-PSSession -All

D Remove-PSSession -All

💡 Hint

Remember the cmdlet used to remove sessions is Remove-PSSession.

Remove-PSSession removes sessions. Get-PSSession pipes all sessions to Remove-PSSession to close and remove them.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this script fail to reconnect to a disconnected PSSession?

You run this script but get an error when trying to reconnect: $session = New-PSSession -ComputerName Server01 Disconnect-PSSession -Session $session Connect-PSSession -Session $session

PowerShell

$session = New-PSSession -ComputerName Server01
Disconnect-PSSession -Session $session
Connect-PSSession -Session $session

A Connect-PSSession cmdlet does not exist; use Connect-PSSession only in PowerShell 7+

B Connect-PSSession requires the session to be in Disconnected state, but the session was never disconnected properly

C Connect-PSSession is not a valid cmdlet; use Connect-PSSession only with disconnected sessions

D The cmdlet name is incorrect; it should be 'Connect-PSSession' replaced with 'Connect-PSSession -Id <id>'

💡 Hint

Check if Connect-PSSession is a valid cmdlet in PowerShell.

The Connect-PSSession cmdlet does not exist in Windows PowerShell 5.1 and earlier. It is available in PowerShell 7 and later.

🚀 Application

advanced

How many PSSessions remain after running this script?

You run this script: $s1 = New-PSSession -ComputerName Server01 $s2 = New-PSSession -ComputerName Server02 Remove-PSSession -Session $s1 Get-PSSession | Measure-Object | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Count What is the output number?

PowerShell

$s1 = New-PSSession -ComputerName Server01
$s2 = New-PSSession -ComputerName Server02
Remove-PSSession -Session $s1
Get-PSSession | Measure-Object | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Count

A Error: Remove-PSSession requires session ID

B 2

C 0

D 1

💡 Hint

Think about how many sessions you created and how many you removed.

You created two sessions and removed one. So one session remains.

🧠 Conceptual

expert

What is the main benefit of using PSSession over Invoke-Command for multiple commands?

You want to run several commands on a remote computer efficiently. Why choose PSSession instead of multiple Invoke-Command calls?

A PSSession automatically retries commands on failure, Invoke-Command does not

B Invoke-Command cannot run multiple commands on the same remote computer

C PSSession keeps a persistent connection, reducing overhead for multiple commands

D Invoke-Command requires credentials every time, PSSession does not

💡 Hint

Think about connection setup and reuse.

PSSession creates a persistent connection to the remote computer, so multiple commands run faster without reconnecting each time.