10 PowerShell Commands Always On VPN Administrators Should Know

Managing a secure and reliable VPN infrastructure is critical for supporting today’s highly mobile workforce. For Always On VPN administrators, PowerShell is an indispensable tool for achieving this goal. Not only can PowerShell be used to automate the installation and configuration of Windows Server Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) server, but it can also be used to audit configuration and monitor system health and user activity as well. In addition, it is highly recommended that the RRAS role be installed on Server Core for optimum security and performance. Administrators must be familiar with these PowerShell commands and more to support RRAS on Windows Server Core in their environment.

RemoteAccess Module

The RemoteAccess PowerShell module should be installed when the RRAS server is configured. There are 122 commands in this module, but only a subset of those pertain to the VPN server role. Here are ten popular commands for monitoring and managing an Always On VPN RRAS server.

Configuration Review

The following PowerShell commands are useful for reviewing the current RRAS server configuration.

Get-RemoteAccess – Displays the current configuration of the VPN server. Details include installation status, TLS certificate configuration, VPN client IP address assignment method, IPv4 and IPv6 addressing information (if using the static address assignment method), authentication type, and configured RADIUS servers.

Get-VpnAuthProtocol – Displays authentication configuration details such as accepted authentication types for both user and device connections, root certification authority (CA) certificate restrictions (if enabled), and certificate advertisement and EKU restrictions if enabled.

Get-VpnServerConfiguration – Displays additional VPN server configuration information, such as the IPsec configuration for IKEv2, the number of VPN ports configured, and more.

System Health

Get-RemoteAccessHealth – Displays the current health status of various VPN server services. The command’s default output is a little noisy. I recommend filtering it as follows:

Get-RemoteAccessHealth | Where-Object HealthState -NotMatch Disabled | Format-Table -AutoSize

User Activity

The following PowerShell commands can be used to view current and historical user activity details.

Get-RemoteAccessConnectionStatistics – Displays all active VPN connections on the server.

Get-RemoteAccessConnectionStatisticsSummary – Displays cumulative information about VPN connections on the server since the last service restart or reboot, such as the total number of connections, the number of unique users, the maximum number of concurrent connections, and the amount of data transferred.

Get-RemoteAccessUserActivity – Displays all active VPN connections for a specific user or device.

Management

The following PowerShell commands are helpful for reviewing authentication and logging settings.

Get-RemoteAccessRadius – Allows the administrator to view the currently configured RADIUS servers on the VPN server.

Get-RemoteAccessAccounting – Allows the administrator to view the current accounting repository (RADIUS or inbox) on the VPN server.

Clear-RemoteAccessInboxAccountingStore – Allows the administrator to remove log data from the Inbox Accounting database. Removing log data from the database can be helpful when transitioning a test server to production or to free up disk space by reducing the size of the logging database.

Additional Modules

In addition to the PowerShell commands above, Always On VPN administrators can leverage my custom PowerShell modules for advanced server and client configuration. These modules are published in the PowerShell Gallery.

AovpnTools – PowerShell module to configure and optimize Windows RRAS servers to support Always On VPN.

Install-Module -Name AovpnTools

InboxAccountingDatabaseManagement – PowerShell module to configure and manage the Inbox Accounting database for logging system information and user activity on the VPN server.

Install-Module -Name InboxAccountingDatabaseManagement

Additional Information

Always On VPN and RRAS on Windows Server Core

Inbox Accounting Database Management

AovpnTools PowerShell Module on GitHub

Inbox Accounting Database Module on GitHub

Always On VPN and RRAS on Windows Server Core

Windows Server Core is a refactored version of the full Windows Server operating system. Server Core does not include a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and must be managed via the command line or with PowerShell. The Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) is a supported workload on all supported versions of Windows Server including Windows Server 2022. Always On VPN administrators should consider installing and configuring RRAS on Windows Server Core to ensure their VPN infrastructure’s best security and performance.

Server Core Benefits

Windows Server Core is a minimal installation option of the Windows Server operating system that provides numerous benefits, particularly for environments where security, resource efficiency, and reduced maintenance overhead are essential. Here are some of the key benefits of using Windows Server Core.

Minimized Attack Surface – Windows Server Core has a smaller footprint compared to the full GUI version, which means fewer components and services are installed by default. This reduces the potential attack surface and minimizes security vulnerabilities.

Enhanced Security – With fewer components and a reduced attack surface, there are fewer potential vectors for malware or unauthorized access. This makes Windows Server Core a more secure choice for critical server roles like RRAS.

Reduced Maintenance – Since there are fewer components to update, patching and maintaining a Windows Server Core system is quicker and requires less effort. This is especially beneficial in large-scale server deployments.

Improved Stability – By removing the graphical user interface (GUI), Windows Server Core has fewer processes running in the background, leading to a more stable and predictable server environment.

Simplified Management – Windows Server Core is designed for remote administration. It allows the administrator to manage it using command-line tools, PowerShell, or remote management tools like the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) and Windows Admin Center. This makes it easier to manage multiple servers from a single location.

Faster Reboots – Windows Servers require periodic reboots. With Windows Server Core, reboot times are considerably faster, resulting in less downtime during maintenance periods.

RSAT

The Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) can be installed on Windows clients and servers to enable remote administration using the familiar Routing and Remote Access Management console (rrasmgmt.msc) and Remote Access Management console (ramgmtui.exe) GUI tools.

Windows Client

To install the Remote Access Management tools on Windows client operating systems, navigate to Settings > Apps > Optional Features. Click Add a feature, select RSAT: Remote Access Management Tools, then click Install.

Optionally the Remote Access Management tools can be installed by running the following PowerShell command.

Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name Rsat.RemoteAccess.Management.Tools~~~~0.0.1.0

Windows Server

To install the Remote Access Management tools on Windows Server run the following PowerShell command.

Install-WindowsFeature -Name RSAT-RemoteAccess

Windows Admin Center

The Windows Admin Center is a free remote management tool from Microsoft for managing Windows Server (core and GUI) remotely. It is especially helpful for Server Core management as it provides a GUI for many common administrative tasks.

You can download Windows Admin Center here.

Additional Information

Windows Server Core Installation Option

Windows Server Core vs. Desktop

PowerShell Remote Server Administration

Windows Admin Center

DirectAccess on Windows Server 2016 Core

DirectAccess on Windows Server 2016 CoreDeploying DirectAccess on Windows Server 2016 core is recommended to ensure the highest level of security and availability for the remote access solution. Server core is a stripped-down, command-line only version of Windows that removes many features unnecessary to support common server workloads. It’s reduced attack surface improves security, and this leaner version of the Windows OS requires less maintenance (patching), resulting in fewer reboots which increases overall availability. It has a smaller disk and memory footprint too which results in quicker system restarts, when required.

Removing the GUI

Historically I’ve recommended that DirectAccess administrators deploy Windows server with the full GUI first, then remove it later after validation testing is complete. Prior to placing it in production, the GUI can be removed by running the following PowerShell command.

Uninstall-WindowsFeature Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra -Restart

This works flawlessly in Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2. However, when running this command on a Windows Server 2016 server you will receive the following error message.

Uninstall-WindowsFeature : ArgumentNotValid: The role, role service, or feature name is not valid:
‘Server-Gui-Mgmt-Infra’. The name was not found.

DirectAccess on Windows Server 2016 Core

Changes in Windows Server 2016

This happens because Microsoft quietly removed the option to switch back and forth between the full GUI version and the core version of Windows beginning with Windows Server 2016.

DirectAccess on Windows Server 2016 Core

Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/getting-started-with-server-core

It is still recommended that DirectAccess be deployed on server core to provide the most secure and reliable experience. However, since it is no longer possible to switch from GUI to core, it must be deployed in serve core configuration upon initial installation.

Additional Information

DirectAccess and Windows Server 2012 R2 Core

Configure Windows Server Core to use PowerShell by Default

Planning and Implementing DirectAccess with Windows Server 2016 Video Training Course

Managing and Supporting DirectAccess with Windows Server 2016 Video Training Course

Implementing DirectAccess with Windows Server 2016 Book