Operations Manager 2007 and PowerShell recording

I did a presentation on Operations Manager 2007 and PowerShell, aka Command Shell for the System Center Virtual User Group's inaugural meeting announced HERE.

Here's is the roughly 50 minutes session that I did HERE (75MB/49 minutes 36 seconds).

Now, I've split up the recording into smaller sections for individual downloading:
1. Introducing myself (0.7MB/30 seconds).
2. General introduction to Windows PowerShell (14MB/8 minutes).
3. My upcoming TechNet article on Operations Manager and PowerShell (2MB/ 1 minute 35 seconds).
4. Operations Manager Command Shell (34MB/18 minutes).
5. A brief discussion of objects in .NET (12MB/7 minutes 22 seconds)
6. Customizing Operations Manager alerts (13MB/5 minutes 42 seconds).
7. Creating Command Shell scripts (2.5MB/1 minute 13 seconds).
8. Creating custom Command Shell reports (2.7MB/2 minutes).
9. Getting Command Shell help (1.5MB/1 minute 12 seconds).

Please don't hesitate to leave comments. I really appreciate them!

Quest PowerPack Challenge '08

(Post copied from HERE.)

"Quest is holding a PowerGUI scripting contest starting tomorrow July 1. If you are not familar with PowerGUI, it is a PowerShell scripting and execution GUI. If you aren't already a PowerGUI user, here is a great opportunity to kick the tires. If you are already a PowerGUI user, here is an opportunity to turn that skill into prizes (winners recieve $250 and $500 gift certificates to Amazon.com)."

For more information, check Dmitry's blog HERE.

Full disclosure: I am also one of the judges.

WinRM 2.0 CTP2 installs on Server 2008 Core

I reported HERE in May that the original WinRM 2.0 CTP would not install on Server Core.

As I mentioned last week HERE , there is a new 2.0 CTP2 build that was just released.

I'm glad to report that installs perfectly on Server Core 2008, and that on top of the built-in WinRM 1.1 that comes with Server 2008.

PowerGadgets MVP program update

Last year PowerGadgets came out with a "PowerGadgets MVP" program where community leaders/influencers could get a free NFR license of their PowerGadgets product.

I found out this week, that this has been renamed as the "PowerGadgets ISV Program". Community leaders/influencers can still qualify for a free NFR license by filling out the form HERE.

Poll (please vote!): How do you prefer to have audio over the 'net?

I've added a new poll on the site:

"If you'd join/listen to a virtual meeting over the Internet, you'd prefer:
*Getting audio over PC speakers
*Getting audio over the telephone
*Would prefer to have both methods"

Please scroll down and enter your vote in the poll on the right-hand side.

WinRM 2.0 CTP2 test on Server 2008

WinRM 2.0 CTP2 was recently released and I mentioned it HERE.

I just tried a WinRM 2.0 CTP -> CTP2 upgade where I simply run the installer on a Server 2008 systems, and all went well (after a reboot).

I successfully ran a start-psjob before and after the uprade as a simple test of the PowerShell v2 CTP2 connection to WinRM 2.0 CTP2.

PowerShell Usability Study

PowerShell Usability Study, July 22 to July 29, 2008 at Redmond, WA

Microsoft Usability is conducting a study focusing on the remoting feature of PowerShell version 2 from July 22 to July 29, 2008. This is a great opportunity for IT Administrators who have experience working with PowerShell to provide feedback and help improve the user experience of PowerShell version 2.

The study will be conducted in a lab setting on Microsoft’s main campus in Redmond, Washington. It is important for you to know that you do not need to prepare anything for this. We want to learn from you, the experts, to determine what needs to be improved in our software.

If you are interested or know someone who could be interested in participating, please email us at itusable@microsoft.com with PowerShell in subject line. For information on other studies and to learn more about Microsoft's User Research program email us.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group--UPDATE

*We had about 35 attendees last night.
*Things went mostly well.
*I'll have some information posted tomorrow, and the recordings edited probably for Tuesday next week.

Master post - WPVUG

This is a master post for information specific to my PowerShell virtual user group.

Meeting #10 (May 2009):
*Speakers/topics:
Glenn Sizemore: NetApp administration using PowerShell (http://www.get-admin.com).
Sergei Anotonov (Microsoft): IIS PowerShell Snap-in functionality (http://blogs.iis.net/sergeia/).
Bart De Smet (Microsoft): Using LINQ from PowerShell (http://bartdesmet.net/blogs/bart/).
*Live Meeting Recording

Meeting #9 (February 2009):
*Speakers/topics:
Doug Finke: Data visualization in PowerShell.
Chad Miller: SQL Server PowerShell Extensions.
James Brundage (Microsoft): Using WPF from PowerShell.
**Unfortunately, the video for this meeting is not available.**

Meeting #8 (January 2009):
*Speakers/topcis:
June Blender (Microsoft): "Exciting new help features in PowerShell v2".
Compellent (vendor): Data Center management: System Center Command Set for Windows PowerShell.
James O'Neill (Microsoft): His PowerShell library for managing Hyper-V.
*Live Meeting recording

Meeting #7 (December 2008):
*Speakers/topcis:
Nathan Winters (MVP): "Exchange 2007 from PowerShell"
Joel (Jaykul) Bennett: "PowerShell tools for the Huddled Masses"
Idera (vendor): "PowerShellPlus graphical script editor"
*Live Meeting recordings

Meeting #6 (June 2008):
*Speakers/topics:
Bruce Payette (Microsoft): "PowerShell v2 modules"
Wassim Fayed (Microsoft): "PowerShell v2 remoting"
Hal Rottenberg: "Managing VMware Infrastructure using PowerShell"
*Live Meeting recordings
*Bruce Payette PowerPoint: v2 modules
*Hal Rottenberg PowerPoint: VMware and PowerShell

Meeting #5 (April 2008):
*Speakers/topics:
Bart De Smet (Microsoft): "Focus on extensibility (cmdlets and providers) and discuss v2 features: script cmdlets and internationalization"
Steven Nelson (Microsoft): "MSDN/SDK PowerShell documentation"
*Live Meeting recordings

Meeting #4 (February 2008):
Speakers/topics:
Darren Mar-Elia (MVP): "Managing Group Policy with PowerShell"
Richard Siddaway (MVP): "Windows Server 2008 and WMI"
*Live Meeting recordings

Meeting #3 (January 2008):
*Speakers/topics:
Lee Holmes (Microsoft): "PowerShell: Pragmatic Programming, and Everyday Automation"
Karl Prosser (MVP): "Embrace the Admin Development model with agility by using tools and workflow that produce efficient, consistent results"
Brandon Shell (MVP): "Custom Objects in PowerShell"
*Live Meeting recordings

Meeting #2 (December 2007):
*Speakers/topics:
Don Jones (MVP): "New PowerShell Community site, Sapien's 2nd edition of PowerShell: TFM, and Sapien's PowerShell training"
Oisin Grehan (MVP): "PowerShell Community Extensions and project on Codeplex called PSEventing"
Jeffrey Snover (Microsoft): "The new PowerShell 2.0 Community Technology Preview (CTP)"
*Live Meeting recordings

Meeting #1 (October 2007):
*Speakers/topics:
Keith Hill (MVP): "PowerShell Community Extensions"
PowerGadgets (vendor): "PowerGadgets snap-in"
Marc van Orsouw (MVP): "PowerTab"
*Live Meeting recordings

New WinRM 2.0 CTP2 build - June 20th

I've recently blogged about issues with the original WinRM 2.0 CTP build from May. I just noticed a new CTP build is available HERE.

I don't have confirmation that the issues with Server Core have been fixed. I also noticed the download doesn't have a seperate .CHM help file, so I'm unsure if the (hopefully, new) .CHM is packaged in the installer or not available yet.

PowerShell virtual user group--TONIGHT!

Reminder... PowerShell virtual user group meeting tonight. See details HERE.

You can't miss it: Bruce Payette! Wassim Fayed! Hal Rottenberg!

System Center Virtual User Group presentation

I'll be presenting on Thursday, June 26th, at the new System Center Virtual User Group announced HERE.

I'll be doing a presentation on the Operations Manager Command Shell, which is basically PowerShell with a few customizations specific to Operatations Manager (a snap-in is loaded, a .ps1 is also loaded at launch for additional customizations).

I'm going to be doing a quick PowerShell intro, then present some tips and tricks when using the Command Shell.

MSDN LAB: Test v2 features (without installing)!

Thanks for /\/\o\/\/ for this information!

There's a new "MSDN Virtual Lab Express" out on PowerShell v2 features HERE.

Want to "test drive" v2 or need some guidance on what's new, and how to use it? There's a 20 page PDF that also comes when you sign up for the lab (even if you don't actually run or complete it, you can still download it).

PowerShell and Office 2007

Until just recently, one of the only ways to use PowerShell to work with the Office 2007 Suite (Word and Excel [1] primarily) was via COM. Unfortunately, COM access can be relatively slow some times.

A new CodePlex project has just started up and is blogged on the PowerShell Team blog HERE.

Definitely looks promising.

1. Yes, one can use Excel to save a particular file as a CSV, then use the *-csv cmdlets to work with the data.

BgShell – Background Shell

I think Lee Holmes started off something called "BgShell" HERE.

Since then, it has been added as a CodePlex project HERE.

Quote from the site:
"BGShell is a lightweight PowerShell 2.0 host written using Windows Forms."

Features:
* Tab expansion
* Syntax highlighting
* Visual Studio debugger-like tooltips
* Tabbed interface

The last 2 features listed above likely only work on Vista though.

WinRM 2.0 CTP on Server Core

I recently blogged HERE that the WinRM 2.0 May CTP would not install on Server Core 2008. I had posted an issue on the Connect web site HERE.

The feedback item was updated by Microsoft as being fixed. I expected this was going to be fixed soon. As I recently HERE, a new 2.0 CTP build is due soon.

PowerShell workshop in Fredericton, NB

I'm working with UNB and the Fredericton .NET user group to possibly put on a one-day PowerShell workshop in early October.

It could possibly be a 4 to 6 hour workshop during business hours. If people aren't able to attend the day session, I maybe put on another 1 hour talk at the .NET user group that evening.

New System Center Virtual User Group

A new System Center Virtual User Group has started up HERE recently.

The first meeting is tentatively planned for June 26th at noon CST.

I will be doing a 20-30 minute presentation on using PowerShell within System Center Operations Manager 2007 (aka Command Shell).

I'm planning to do a quick overview of PowerShell within OpsMgr, then talk about creating reports from the Command Shell.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #6

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #6

Time: June 24, 2008 at 8PM EST (New York time)

Place: Online via Live Meeting 2007

-----------------------------------------------------------
To sign up:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Registration site: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=129406
Event Code: 129406
-----------------------------------------------------------

This is our sixth virtual event. Invited speakers that will talk about various PowerShell-related topics: Bruce Payette (Microsoft), Wassim Fayed (Microsoft), Hal Rottenberg.

To join for audio:
Toll free: +1 (866) 553-8146
Participant code: 5592528585

To join for video:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join?id=5H2F88&role=attend&pw=8%5E-%5CzqX
Unable to join the meeting? Follow these steps:
1.Copy this address and paste into your web browser:
https://www119.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join
2.Copy and paste the required information:
Meeting ID: 5H2F88
Entry Code: 8^-\zqX

Agenda:
8:00PM-8:10PM: Introduction
8:10PM-8:40PM: Bruce Payette (Microsoft)
8:40PM-9:10PM: Wassim Fayed (Microsoft)
9:10PM-9:40PM: Hal Rottenberg
9.40PM-9:50PM: Closing

Speaker topics:
*Bruce Payette (Microsoft): PowerShell v2 modules.
*Wassim Fayed (Microsoft): PowerShell v2 remoting.
*Hal Rottenberg: Managing VMware Infrastructure using PowerShell.

Notes:
All details related to this event will be posted on http://www.powershellcommunity.org.
(NOTE: This is delivered via Live Meeting 2007. It is possible that you may have to download and install the Live Meeting 2007 client which can take possibly up to 10 minutes typically.)

Sponsors/partners:
PowerGadgets, Shell Tools

User group meeting updates

1. Richard Siddaway's UK user group: Meeting on June 17th.
http://richardsiddaway.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!43CFA46A74CF3E96!1391.entry

Dmitry Sotnikov from Quest will be talking about PowerGUI and their AD cmdlets. Dmitry's talk is supposed to be available via Live Meeting, but the connection details haven't been posted yet.

2. My own virtual PowerShell user group: Meeting on June 24th starting at 8PM EST.
I'm going to be posting the details soon. At this point, the speakers are:
*Hal Rottenberg on VMWare
*Bruce Payette (Microsoft) on v2 modules
*Wassim Fayed (Microsoft) on v2 remoting

PowerShell v2 CTP/CTP2 error: "Error loading the extended type data file"

Over the last few months since the v2 CTP was released last November, from time to time, I've come across users getting this error when starting the v2 CTP/CTP2:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Error loading the extended type data file:
Microsoft.PowerShell.Core,
C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\types.ps1xml(257) :
Error in type "System.DirectoyServices.DirectoryEntry":
Exception: Cannot convert "Microsoft.PowerShell.AdapterCodeMethods" to "System.Type".
Microsoft.PowerShell.Core,
C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\types.ps1xml(264) :
Error in type "System.DirectoyServices.DirectoryEntry":
Exception: Cannot convert "Microsoft.PowerShell.AdapterCodeMethods" to "System.Type".
Microsoft.PowerShell.Core,
C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\types.ps1xml(275) :
Error in type "System.IO.DirectoryInfo":
Exception: Getter method should be public, non void, static, and have one parameter of type
PSObject.
Microsoft.PowerShell.Core,
C:\WINDOWS\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\types.ps1xml(306) :
Error in type "System.IO.FileInfo":
Exception: Getter method should be public, non void, static, and have one parameter of type
PSObject.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

What seems to have happened in most cases is that an attempt was made to uninstall PowerShell v1 manually.

I'm going to find some time hopefully before the end of the month to test this, but I believe the root cause is that when v1 is removed manually, DLLs in the .NET GAC (C:\Windows\Assembly) are left there.

It appears that the v2 CTP installer isn't set to overwrite these DLLs, so they remain as the older counterpart, and cause issues with v2 being able to load properly without any errors.

PowerShell Virtual User Group update

Seems everyone has been busy. I've been trying to line up at least 2 speakers for my next PowerShell virtual user group, but have been unable to find a particular date/time that's good for everyone.

I also have a couple of subjects I'd like to present, but I haven't been able to find the time to put them together.

I'm going to try for one more before the end of June, then I'll take a break until mid-September.

WinRM 2.0 CTP: CTP2 due soon

I got word yesterday that we should be seeing a second CTP of the new WinRM 2.0 very soon.

There should be some documentation updates. In particular, I provided some feedback on the lack of details around hosting WinRM within IIS.

So, I'm hoping for these documentation updates, and I also understand that this should resolve the installation issue on Server 2008 Core.