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Compare these PowerShell front-end GUI tools
These offerings provide portals to avoid security issues and other stumbling blocks that hamper organizations from providing more wide-ranging use of PowerShell.
For help desk personnel or quick IT tasks, a PowerShell front-end tool can speed up productivity and provide several other benefits.
PowerShell has long been Microsoft's preferred tool for Windows administration. It works well for everything from one-off tasks to scripted operations, such as onboarding new users into an organization. Despite its many benefits, PowerShell use can be a challenge. Some common hurdles include working with the command-line environment and trying not to assign excessive permissions just to run a script.
One way to address these and other PowerShell scripting challenges is to use a portal tool. Although these offerings vary in scope, they generally serve a similar purpose: apply a PowerShell front end to scripts to make them available to users who are not PowerShell experts. Such tools also commonly handle all the required permissions. WebJEA is an attractive offering because of its features and the fact that it is free, but there are several other PowerShell automation tools organizations can investigate to see if one is a better choice.
PowerShell Universal
PowerShell Universal is more than a tool to build a GUI for PowerShell scripts. PowerShell Universal has rich features and offers advanced capabilities, such as rate limiters and token-based authentication.
PowerShell Universal takes its front-end capabilities a step further by integrating with standard HTTP requests and supporting custom responses. Additionally, PowerShell Universal can convert PowerShell scripts into desktop applications that run on a local machine.
System Frontier
System Frontier dynamically generates a web front end for PowerShell scripts. The tool provides granular control over permissions and maintains a detailed activity log that helps with audits and compliance tasks.
A feature unique to System Frontier is it works with a variety of scripting languages, not just PowerShell. This enables an IT team to bring PowerShell, Python and other scripts together in a single repository and generate web front ends for all of them.
ScriptRunner
ScriptRunner brings PowerShell scripts, policies, logs and reports together in a single repository.
ScriptRunner has a monitoring feature to track script use throughout an organization. ScriptRunner lets authorized users launch a task with a single click.
ScriptRunner offers several ways to execute scripts, including PowerShell remoting and PowerShell implicit remoting.
Au2mator
Au2mator is an automation tool for PowerShell, Azure and System Center. Au2mator takes a PowerShell script and turns it into a self-service portal.
Using Au2mator involves entering questions that serve as the PowerShell script's input and then adding parameters to regulate data entry. This method prevents a user from breaking a script by providing invalid input.
Au2mator is available on Windows Server 2019 or higher. For software, Au2mator requires SQL Server 2014 or higher, Microsoft IIS and version 3.5 of the .NET Framework. For hardware, Au2mator requires a CPU with at least two cores, 8 GB of RAM and a 64 GB solid-state drive (SSD).
Rundeck
Rundeck is primarily marketed as a runbook automation tool, but it also works with PowerShell scripts through a plugin.
Runbooks are essentially a collection of automated steps that can be initiated by an event or by an authorized user. For example, an organization might set up a runbook to automate adding a new user to Active Directory or to restart a Windows service. Rundeck uses Windows Remote Management to run scripts on remote machines.
Rundeck is available for Windows and several popular Linux builds. It requires two CPUs, 4 GB of RAM and 20 GB of hard disk space. The system also needs Java 8 or 11 installed. The Rundeck log store can be placed on a file system or on Amazon Simple Storage Service. Finally, it needs a database running MySQL, MariaDB, Postgres or Oracle.
WebJEA
WebJEA is a free tool that creates web forms for PowerShell scripts. It can give users the rights to run specific scripts. WebJEA enables adjustment of the settings so users only see the scripts they have permission to run.
WebJEA requires a domain-joined server running Windows Server 2016 or higher and PowerShell 5.1. The server needs sufficient memory and CPU resources to process PowerShell scripts, but the amount of hardware resources required varies widely based on the workload.
| Product | Availability | Minimum system requirements |
| PowerShell Universal |
A free community edition is available. The server edition costs $499. An enterprise edition is also available. |
PowerShell Universal is available on Windows, Linux or macOS. Windows deployments require .NET Framework 4.7.2 (only for Windows PowerShell). |
| System Frontier |
A free community edition manages up to 1,000 nodes for free. The pro version is $2,900, and the enterprise version is $4,900. |
System Frontier requires Windows Server 2016 and .NET Framework 4.8 or greater. |
| ScriptRunner |
The free community edition is limited to 10 action executions per day. Pricing for the commercial version is available upon request. |
ScriptRunner VM runs on Hyper-V, VMware or Azure platforms with two CPU cores, 8 GB of RAM and 64 GB of drive space. ScriptRunner Server requires Windows Server 2016 or higher, .NET Framework 4.7 and Windows PowerShell 5.1. |
| Au2mator |
A free community edition supports a limited number of services. The paid edition is licensed based on user count. The price ranges from 2,000 euros for up to 999 users to 10,000 euros for unlimited users. |
Au2mator requires Windows Server 2019 or higher, SQL Server 2014 or higher, a CPU with at least two cores, 8 GB of RAM and a 64 GB SSD. The portal also requires Microsoft IIS and .NET Framework 3.5. |
| Rundeck |
Rundeck is open source, but the enterprise edition is sold as commercial software. Pricing is available upon request. |
Rundeck operates on supported Windows desktop and server systems, macOS X 10.4 and later, and most recent Linux distributions. Hardware requirements are two CPUs, 4 GB of RAM and 20 GB of hard disk space. Other requirements include the following:
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| WebJEA |
WebJEA is free on GitHub. |
WebJEA requires a domain-joined machine running Windows Server 2016 and Windows PowerShell 5.1. |
