Simple protocol for remote process startup/shutdown

I'm looking for a simple protocol to control remote processes from one managing application. The remote processes will run on Windows and Linux (x86).

Is there a simple protocol for managing remote processes, for which I could find daemons that run on both Windows and Linux?

From stackoverflow

• I consider ssh to be the "Swiss-army knife" of remote administration. A custom script communicating over ssh can then do the process management. On Windows, I install ssh as part of Cygwin.

• On windows you can use shutdown.exe \\remote_name [/y] [/c]

  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/317371

• Thanks Nathan.

  Windows users can also use the following package instead of Cygwin: http://sshwindows.sourceforge.net/