get-powershellblog

Microsoft–it’s about community, it’s about you

2011-10-03T16:57:00.001-07:00

Microsoft sends out surveys to select IT Pros twice a year called “The Global Relationship Study”. If you get it, fill it out! Say what you think is good, say what you think isn’t.

I think Microsoft has made great strides in customer satisfaction and continued innovation. Windows Server “8”… System Center 2012… Oh… PowerShell v3! All stuff I’m excited about. I’m almost upset that there’s too much! Too much to learn!

Here’s a run down of some things Microsoft does for its customers.

1) Help and Support from Microsoft

It seems one of the first places I look for help is community-based forums. For non-critical things, there’s no better place to go for help from various experts.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it should provide some good insight.

Help and Resources

· Microsoft Product Solution Center – Get product support information for the majority of Microsoft products.

· Microsoft Answers – Ask questions and get answers from real people, or search for answers others have received.

· Microsoft Fix it Solution Center – Find automated solutions for your issues.

· @MicrosoftHelps – Follow Microsoft Customer Service and Support on Twitter. Experienced customer service agents respond to your questions in real-time tweets.

2) Security – How to Help Keep Your PC Protected

Security should be in everyone’s mind, and at the forefront of just about everything on the Internet. You can even call Microsoft's Security and Virus FREE support line at1-866-727-2338.

Security Resources

· Microsoft Security Essentials – Free Anti-Malware software from Microsoft, great for Small Businesses and Home PCs alike.

· Security Bulletins by the Regular IT Guy – A monthly podcast to help simplify details about the monthly Security patch releases.

· Security TechCenter – Find top tasks, get the latest news, find a wiki article or download a featured tool.

· Windows Update Services – Businesses of all sizes can help manage and control the rollout of updates in their organizations.

3) Licensing Simplified – at Home and at Work

We all cringe when someone mentions the word “licensing”, but there are definitely some resources out there to help.

Licensing Resources

· Licensing FAQs:Frequently Asked Questions About Product Licensing

· The SMB How to Buy Portal: receive clear purchasing and licensing information that is easy to understand in order to help facilitate quick decision making.

· Microsoft License Advisor (MLA):Use MLA to research Microsoft Volume Licensing products, programs and pricing.

· Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) –Already have a volume License? Use the VLSC to get you easy access to all your licensing information in one location.

4) Free Online Training and Resources from Microsoft

You can never go wrong with free stuff!

Check out The Microsoft Virtual Academy which contains some fantastic FREE online training on hot topics for IT Professionals. There’s also the Microsoft Eval Center to download copies of their server products to try out in a lab environment.

Virtual session on sysprep and PowerShell

2011-04-23T07:40:00.001-07:00

I did a presentation for the virtual PowerShell chapter of SQLPASS (link HERE) last week.

I talked about using sysprep for creating quick OS images and also talked about the new sysprep support now in SQL Server 2008 R2.

My lab environment uses Hyper-V, so I try to practice using PowerShell as much as possible. One thing I demo’d was a very basic/simple PowerShell script to:

Create a new VM
Change the default RAM
Copy a sysprep’d image to a new name
Attach a hard disk
Add a DVD drive
Attach an ISO to the DVD drive
Start the VM

Here’s the script:

import-module hyperv
new-vm -name foo
get-vm foo|set-vmmemory -memory 1024
copy-item "C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual hard disks\Server_sysprep_gold.vhd" `
"C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual hard disks\Server_foo.vhd"
get-vm foo|add-vmdisk -controller 0 -lun 0 -path "C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual hard disks\Server_foo.vhd"
get-vm foo|add-vmdrive -dvd -controllerid 1 -lun 0
get-vm foo|add-vmdisk -dvd -controller 1 -lun 0 -path "C:\Users\Administrator\ISOs\sql_server_2008_r2.iso"
get-vm foo|start-vm

(Yes, I could have condensed some stuff, but that’s not the point I was trying to communicate. I don’t see the point in condensing 10 lines of code to 5-6 at the expense of readability, and prefer to ease the PowerShell learning curve for newcomers.)

A few resources from the session:

PowerShell Hyper-V module: http://pshyperv.codeplex.com/
My Microsoft connect item (SQL R2 sysprep doesn’t support SQL tools): https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/658584/sysprep-in-sql-2008-r2

Enjoy! I’m not sure when the recording will be put online, but I’ll put a link to it… I don’t talk a whole lot about PowerShell though. Maybe just 10-15 minutes at the end.

PowerShell: State of the Union

2011-04-10T14:50:00.001-07:00

I’m not going to go that far back in history to rehash where PowerShell has come from, but I want to talk about where I think it is going.

I think it took the fact that the PowerShell icon now appears by default in Windows Server 2008 R2 for more people to start taking it more seriously. PowerShell seemed to be talked about a way lot more last year than before. More and more are starting to embrace it, and now that there are more Microsoft products that have been released since CEC 2009 (FYI HERE), there’s PowerShell almost everywhere in all the Microsoft (server-based) products.

I will highlight one (or two) disappointment(s) of late: System Center Configuration Manger 2012 (currently at Beta 2). I can sympathize with some product teams though, especially when they already have an interface to automate just about everything already. They want to concentrate on the next version of their products, versus PowerShell-izing everything. I don’t expect to see any Microsoft-provided PowerShell cmdlets in SCCM 2012, but they seem to be working hard on their WMI interface, so at least the community can come to the rescue here (and already have with some PowerShell projects based on SCCM 2007 like Greg Ramsey).

Now, that being said, the other System Center 2012 product in public beta is Virtual Machine Manager 2012 (currently at Beta 1), and its PowerShell support continues where VMM 2008 was: the GUI is written on top of PowerShell. That means, there’s a cmdlet for *every* task, just like Exchange 2010 continues the tradition started with Exchange 2007. I’ve seen public slides from recent events that have highlighted increased PowerShell support in System Center Service Manager 2012 and System Center Data Protection Manager 2012 also (neither being in public beta yet).

I might expect SQL Server to also never have full PowerShell functionality or take a few major releases before that happens. I think we will see SQL Server Denali in the next 12 months, and it, to my knowledge, still won’t have a Add-Table cmdlet, for example. Again, the community to the rescue, and there’s a *huge* community project led by the likes of Chad Miller who have brought PowerShell extensions for SQL.

Nonetheless, the “Father of PowerShell”, Jeffrey Snover, is now a major influencer (after a big promotion) in the Windows Server division. I’m not basing this statement on any secret facts that I’m privied to, but I’m expecting Windows Server v.Next to *explode* in the number of features that have direct PowerShell administration functionality, and I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised once the information starts to become public. I’m not talking about having to wrap PowerShell around cmd.exe, Win32 API or P/Invoke, but having native cmdlets that provide all of the base OS tasks…

Virtual Machine Manager: Changes from 2008 R2 to 2012 Beta 1 (LONG)

2011-03-26T14:42:00.001-07:00

Using a script Shay Levy wrote HERE, I have the following list of cmdlet changes that have occurred between Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 and the very recently released 2012 Beta 1 (see HERE).

So below is a listing of the parameter changes to each of the cmdlets. There are several changes in the new Beta... There are a few cmdlets that have parameters that have changed, but along with the new features announced in 2012 Beta 1, there’s a load of new cmdlets covering the features planned for VMM 2012 (due apparently by the end of the 2011 calendar year).

Cmdlets with an “!” have changed, and have a “+” or “-“, depending on whether the parameter was added or removed. For the new cmdlets, they are just have a “+” and their parameters aren’t listed, while cmdlets removed have a “-“.

The list does have a small surprise: the SCVMM team has renamed some of their cmdlets to have “SC” in the noun. So, you’ll see “Add-SCVMHost” being added, and “Add-VMHost” being removed, if you look closely.

Add-VMHostCluster (!)
    Certificate (+)
    NonTrustedDomainHost (+)
    SecureMode (+)
    TCPPort (+)
    VirtualizationManager (+)
    XenServerHost (+)

Discover-Cluster (!)
    NonTrustedDomainHost (+)
    TCPPort (+)
    XenServerHost (+)

Get-VMPerformance (!)
VMMServer (+)RunAsynchronously (-) JobVariable (-) PROTipID (-)

Get-VMwareResourcePool (!)
ID (+)

Move-VM (!)
HighlyAvailable (+)

New-GuestOSProfile (!)
    AdminPasswordIsServiceSetting (+)
    AdminPasswordRunAsProfile (+)
    JoinDomainPasswordIsServiceSetting (+)
    JoinDomainRunAsProfile (+)
    UserRole (+)

New-HardwareProfile (!)
    CapabilityProfile (+)
    DynamicMemoryBufferPercentage (+)
    DynamicMemoryEnabled (+)
    DynamicMemoryMaximumMB (+)
    MemoryWeight (+)
    MonitorMaximumCount (+)
    MonitorResolutionMaximum (+)
    UserRole (+)
    VirtualVideoAdapterEnabled (+)

New-VirtualDiskDrive (!)
    HostDisk (-)
    StorageClassification (+)
    StorageDisk (+)
    VolumeType (+)

New-VirtualSCSIAdapter (!)
SCSIControllerType (+)
Synthetic (+)

Remove-VirtualDVDDrive (!)
SourceBus (+)
SourceLun (+)

Set-GuestOSProfile (!)
    AdminPasswordIsServiceSetting (+)
    AdminPasswordRunAsProfile (+)
    JoinDomainPasswordIsServiceSetting (+)
    JoinDomainRunAsProfile (+)
    UserRole (+)

Set-HardwareProfile (!)
    CapabilityProfile (+)
    DynamicMemoryBufferPercentage (+)
    DynamicMemoryEnabled (+)
    DynamicMemoryMaximumMB (+)
    MemoryWeight (+)
    MonitorMaximumCount (+)
    MonitorResolutionMaximum (+)
    RemoveCapabilityProfile (+)
    UserRole (+)
    VirtualVideoAdapterEnabled (+)

Set-VirtualDiskDrive (!)
StorageClassification (+)
VolumeType (+)

Set-VirtualDVDDrive (!)
SourceBus (+)
SourceLun (+)

Set-VirtualSCSIAdapter (!)
SCSIControllerType (+)

Set-VMHostCluster (!)
    InheritPROSettings (-)
    PROAutomationLevel (-)
    PROMonitoringLevel (-)
    SetQuorumDisk (+)
    SetQuorumNodeMajority (+)

Shutdown-VM (!)
ComputerTier (+)
UpgradeDomain (+)

Start-VM (!)
ComputerTier (+)
UpgradeDomain (+)

Stop-VM (!)
ComputerTier (+)
UpgradeDomain (+)

Add-SCApplicationDeployment (+)

Add-SCApplicationHost (+)

Add-SCApplicationHostTemplate (+)

Add-SCComputerTierTemplate (+)

Add-SCCustomPlacementRule (+)

Add-SCDataDisk (+)

Add-SCLibraryServer (+)

Add-SCLibraryShare (+)

Add-SCLoadBalancer (+)

Add-SCOperatingSystem (+)

Add-SCPatch (+)

Add-SCPowerOptimizationRange (+)

Add-SCPXEServer (+)

Add-SCScriptCommand (+)

Add-SCServerFeature (+)

Add-SCServicingWindowSubscription (+)

Add-SCSQLDeployment (+)

Add-SCSQLScriptCommand (+)

Add-SCStorageProvider (+)

Add-SCUpdateServer (+)

Add-SCVirtualizationManager (+)

Add-SCVMHost (+)

Add-SCVMHostNetworkAdapter (+)

Backup-SCVMMServer (+)

Clear-SCPowerOptimizationSchedule (+)

Clear-SCPROTip (+)

Copy-SCStorageVolume (+)

Copy-SCVirtualHardDisk (+)

Disable-SCLoadBalancerVIPMember (+)

Disable-SCRunAsAccount (+)

Disable-SCVMHost (+)

DiscardSavedState-SCService (+)

Enable-SCLoadBalancerVIPMember (+)

Enable-SCRunAsAccount (+)

Enable-SCVMHost (+)

Export-SCTemplate (+)

Find-SCComputer (+)

Find-SCLibraryShare (+)

Get-SCApplication (+)

Get-SCApplicationDeployment (+)

Get-SCApplicationHost (+)

Get-SCApplicationHostTemplate (+)

Get-SCApplicationPackage (+)

Get-SCApplicationProfile (+)

Get-SCApplicationSetting (+)

Get-SCBaseline (+)

Get-SCCapabilityProfile (+)

Get-SCCloud (+)

Get-SCCloudCapacity (+)

Get-SCCloudUsage (+)

Get-SCClusterVirtualNetwork (+)

Get-SCComplianceStatus (+)

Get-SCComputerConfiguration (+)

Get-SCComputerTier (+)

Get-SCComputerTierConfiguration (+)

Get-SCComputerTierTemplate (+)

Get-SCConfigurationProvider (+)

Get-SCCustomPlacementRule (+)

Get-SCCustomProperty (+)

Get-SCCustomPropertyValue (+)

Get-SCCustomResource (+)

Get-SCDependentLibraryResource (+)

Get-SCDriverPackage (+)

Get-SCDynamicOptimizationConfiguration (+)

Get-SCGlobalSetting (+)

Get-SCHardwareProfile (+)

Get-SCHostReserve (+)

Get-SCIPAddress (+)

Get-SCISO (+)

Get-SCISOConfiguration (+)

Get-SCJob (+)

Get-SCLibraryRating (+)

Get-SCLibraryServer (+)

Get-SCLibraryShare (+)

Get-SCLoadBalancer (+)

Get-SCLoadBalancerConfiguration (+)

Get-SCLoadBalancerTemplate (+)

Get-SCLoadBalancerVIP (+)

Get-SCLoadBalancerVIPMember (+)

Get-SCLoadBalancerVIPTemplate (+)

Get-SCLogicalNetwork (+)

Get-SCLogicalNetworkDefinition (+)

Get-SCMACAddress (+)

Get-SCMACAddressPool (+)

Get-SCOperatingSystem (+)

Get-SCOpsMgrConnection (+)

Get-SCPendingGlobalSetting (+)

Get-SCPerformanceData (+)

Get-SCPlacementConfiguration (+)

Get-SCPowerOptimizationRange (+)

Get-SCPROMonitor (+)

Get-SCPROMonitorConfiguration (+)

Get-SCPROMonitorState (+)

Get-SCPROTip (+)

Get-SCPXEServer (+)

Get-SCRunAsAccount (+)

Get-SCRunAsAccountConsumer (+)

Get-SCRunAsProfile (+)

Get-SCRunAsProfileAssociation (+)

Get-SCRunAsProfileConsumer (+)

Get-SCScript (+)

Get-SCScriptCommand (+)

Get-SCScriptCommandSetting (+)

Get-SCServerFeature (+)

Get-SCService (+)

Get-SCServiceConfiguration (+)

Get-SCServiceTemplate (+)

Get-SCServicingScript (+)

Get-SCServicingWindow (+)

Get-SCServicingWindowSubscription (+)

Get-SCSharedResource (+)

Get-SCSQLASConnection (+)

Get-SCSQLDeployment (+)

Get-SCSQLProfile (+)

Get-SCSQLScriptCommand (+)

Get-SCStaticIPAddressPool (+)

Get-SCStep (+)

Get-SCStorageArray (+)

Get-SCStorageClassification (+)

Get-SCStorageDisk (+)

Get-SCStorageLogicalUnit (+)

Get-SCStoragePool (+)

Get-SCStorageProvider (+)

Get-SCStorageVolume (+)

Get-SCTags (+)

Get-SCTemplate (+)

Get-SCTemplatePackage (+)

Get-SCUpdate (+)

Get-SCUpdateServer (+)

Get-SCUserRole (+)

Get-SCUserRoleMembership (+)

Get-SCUserRoleQuota (+)

Get-SCVirtualFloppyDisk (+)

Get-SCVirtualHardDisk (+)

Get-SCVirtualHardDiskConfiguration (+)

Get-SCVirtualizationManager (+)

Get-SCVirtualMachine (+)

Get-SCVirtualNetwork (+)

Get-SCVirtualNetworkAdapter (+)

Get-SCVirtualNetworkAdapterConfiguration (+)

Get-SCVMConfiguration (+)

Get-SCVMHost (+)

Get-SCVMHostGroup (+)

Get-SCVMHostNetworkAdapter (+)

Get-SCVMHostProfile (+)

Get-SCVMHostRating (+)

Get-SCVMMAccessLicense (+)

Get-SCVMMManagedComputer (+)

Get-SCVMMServer (+)

Get-SCVMXComputerConfiguration (+)

Grant-SCIPAddress (+)

Grant-SCMACAddress (+)

Grant-SCResource (+)

Import-SCTemplate (+)

Install-SCApplication (+)

Install-SCServerFeature (+)

Install-SCSQLServerInstance (+)

Install-SCVMHostCluster (+)

Invoke-SCPROTip (+)

Invoke-SCScriptCommand (+)

Mount-SCDataDisk (+)

Mount-SCStorageDisk (+)

Move-SCVirtualHardDisk (+)

Move-SCVMHost (+)

Move-SCVMHostGroup (+)

New-SCApplicationProfile (+)

New-SCBaseline (+)

New-SCCapabilityProfile (+)

New-SCCloud (+)

New-SCComputerConfiguration (+)

New-SCCustomProperty (+)

New-SCDefaultGateway (+)

New-SCLoadBalancerConnectionPersistence (+)

New-SCLoadBalancerHealthMonitor (+)

New-SCLoadBalancerProtocol (+)

New-SCLoadBalancerTemplate (+)

New-SCLoadBalancerVIP (+)

New-SCLoadBalancerVIPMember (+)

New-SCLoadBalancerVIPTemplate (+)

New-SCLoadBalancingMethod (+)

New-SCLogicalNetwork (+)

New-SCLogicalNetworkDefinition (+)

New-SCMACAddressPool (+)

New-SCOpsMgrConnection (+)

New-SCP2V (+)

New-SCPackageMapping (+)

New-SCResourceGroup (+)

New-SCRunAsAccount (+)

New-SCRunAsProfile (+)

New-SCRunAsProfileAssociation (+)

New-SCScriptCommandSetting (+)

New-SCService (+)

New-SCServiceCheckpoint (+)

New-SCServiceConfiguration (+)

New-SCServiceTemplate (+)

New-SCServicingWindow (+)

New-SCSQLASConnection (+)

New-SCSQLProfile (+)

New-SCStaticIPAddressPool (+)

New-SCStorageClassification (+)

New-SCStorageLogicalUnit (+)

New-SCSubnetVLan (+)

New-SCTemplate (+)

New-SCUserRole (+)

New-SCV2V (+)

New-SCVirtualMachine (+)

New-SCVirtualNetwork (+)

New-SCVirtualNetworkAdapter (+)

New-SCVMConfiguration (+)

New-SCVMHost (+)

New-SCVMHostGroup (+)

New-SCVMHostProfile (+)

New-SCVMXComputerConfiguration (+)

Publish-SCWindowsPE (+)

Read-SCGuestInfo (+)

Read-SCLibraryShare (+)

Read-SCLoadBalancer (+)

Read-SCLoadBalancerVIP (+)

Read-SCService (+)

Read-SCStorageProvider (+)

Read-SCVMHost (+)

Refresh-SCVirtualizationManager (+)

Remove-SCApplicationDeployment (+)

Remove-SCApplicationHost (+)

Remove-SCApplicationHostTemplate (+)

Remove-SCApplicationPackage (+)

Remove-SCApplicationProfile (+)

Remove-SCBaseline (+)

Remove-SCCapabilityProfile (+)

Remove-SCCloud (+)

Remove-SCComputerConfiguration (+)

Remove-SCComputerTierTemplate (+)

Remove-SCCustomPlacementRule (+)

Remove-SCCustomProperty (+)

Remove-SCCustomPropertyValue (+)

Remove-SCCustomResource (+)

Remove-SCDataDisk (+)

Remove-SCDriverPackage (+)

Remove-SCISO (+)

Remove-SCLibraryServer (+)

Remove-SCLibraryShare (+)

Remove-SCLoadBalancer (+)

Remove-SCLoadBalancerTemplate (+)

Remove-SCLoadBalancerVIP (+)

Remove-SCLoadBalancerVIPMember (+)

Remove-SCLoadBalancerVIPTemplate (+)

Remove-SCLogicalNetwork (+)

Remove-SCLogicalNetworkDefinition (+)

Remove-SCMACAddressPool (+)

Remove-SCOperatingSystem (+)

Remove-SCOpsMgrConnection (+)

Remove-SCPXEServer (+)

Remove-SCResourceGroup (+)

Remove-SCRunAsAccount (+)

Remove-SCRunAsProfile (+)

Remove-SCRunAsProfileAssociation (+)

Remove-SCScript (+)

Remove-SCScriptCommand (+)

Remove-SCServerFeature (+)

Remove-SCService (+)

Remove-SCServiceConfiguration (+)

Remove-SCServiceTemplate (+)

Remove-SCServicingWindow (+)

Remove-SCServicingWindowSubscription (+)

Remove-SCSQLASConnection (+)

Remove-SCSQLDeployment (+)

Remove-SCSQLProfile (+)

Remove-SCSQLScriptCommand (+)

Remove-SCStaticIPAddressPool (+)

Remove-SCStorageClassification (+)

Remove-SCStorageLogicalUnit (+)

Remove-SCStorageProvider (+)

Remove-SCTemplate (+)

Remove-SCUpdateServer (+)

Remove-SCUserRole (+)

Remove-SCVirtualFloppyDisk (+)

Remove-SCVirtualHardDisk (+)

Remove-SCVirtualizationManager (+)

Remove-SCVirtualMachine (+)

Remove-SCVirtualNetwork (+)

Remove-SCVirtualNetworkAdapter (+)

Remove-SCVMConfiguration (+)

Remove-SCVMHost (+)

Remove-SCVMHostGroup (+)

Remove-SCVMHostNetworkAdapter (+)

Remove-SCVMHostProfile (+)

Remove-SCVMXComputerConfiguration (+)

Repair-SCVMHost (+)

Reset-SCPROMonitorState (+)

Resolve-SCServiceTemplate (+)

Restart-SCJob (+)

Restart-SCVMHost (+)

Restore-SCApplicationState (+)

Resume-SCService (+)

Revoke-SCIPAddress (+)

Revoke-SCMACAddress (+)

Revoke-SCResource (+)

Save-SCApplicationState (+)

SaveState-SCService (+)

Set-SCApplication (+)

Set-SCApplicationDeployment (+)

Set-SCApplicationHostTemplate (+)

Set-SCApplicationPackage (+)

Set-SCApplicationProfile (+)

Set-SCApplicationSetting (+)

Set-SCBaseline (+)

Set-SCCapabilityProfile (+)

Set-SCCloud (+)

Set-SCCloudCapacity (+)

Set-SCComplianceStatus (+)

Set-SCComputerTier (+)

Set-SCComputerTierConfiguration (+)

Set-SCComputerTierTemplate (+)

Set-SCCustomPlacementRule (+)

Set-SCCustomProperty (+)

Set-SCCustomPropertyValue (+)

Set-SCCustomResource (+)

Set-SCDriverPackage (+)

Set-SCDynamicOptimizationConfiguration (+)

Set-SCGlobalSetting (+)

Set-SCGuestInfo (+)

Set-SCHostReserve (+)

Set-SCIPAddress (+)

Set-SCISO (+)

Set-SCISOConfiguration (+)

Set-SCLibraryServer (+)

Set-SCLibraryShare (+)

Set-SCLoadBalancer (+)

Set-SCLoadBalancerConfiguration (+)

Set-SCLoadBalancerTemplate (+)

Set-SCLoadBalancerVIPTemplate (+)

Set-SCLogicalNetwork (+)

Set-SCLogicalNetworkDefinition (+)

Set-SCMACAddressPool (+)

Set-SCOpsMgrConnection (+)

Set-SCPackageMapping (+)

Set-SCPlacementConfiguration (+)

Set-SCPROMonitorConfiguration (+)

Set-SCPROTip (+)

Set-SCResourceGroup (+)

Set-SCRunAsAccount (+)

Set-SCRunAsProfile (+)

Set-SCScript (+)

Set-SCScriptCommand (+)

Set-SCScriptCommandSetting (+)

Set-SCService (+)

Set-SCServiceConfiguration (+)

Set-SCServiceTemplate (+)

Set-SCServicingWindow (+)

Set-SCSQLDeployment (+)

Set-SCSQLProfile (+)

Set-SCSQLScriptCommand (+)

Set-SCStaticIPAddressPool (+)

Set-SCStorageArray (+)

Set-SCStorageClassification (+)

Set-SCStorageLogicalUnit (+)

Set-SCStoragePool (+)

Set-SCStorageProvider (+)

Set-SCStorageVolume (+)

Set-SCTemplate (+)

Set-SCUpdate (+)

Set-SCUpdateServer (+)

Set-SCUserRole (+)

Set-SCUserRoleQuota (+)

Set-SCVirtualFloppyDisk (+)

Set-SCVirtualHardDisk (+)

Set-SCVirtualHardDiskConfiguration (+)

Set-SCVirtualizationManager (+)

Set-SCVirtualMachine (+)

Set-SCVirtualNetwork (+)

Set-SCVirtualNetworkAdapter (+)

Set-SCVirtualNetworkAdapterConfiguration (+)

Set-SCVMConfiguration (+)

Set-SCVMHost (+)

Set-SCVMHostGroup (+)

Set-SCVMHostNetworkAdapter (+)

Set-SCVMHostProfile (+)

Set-SCVMMServer (+)

Shutdown-SCService (+)

Start-SCComplianceScan (+)

Start-SCDynamicOptimization (+)

Start-SCService (+)

Start-SCServicingMode (+)

Start-SCUpdateRemediation (+)

Start-SCUpdateServerSynchronization (+)

Start-SCVMHost (+)

Stop-SCJob (+)

Stop-SCService (+)

Stop-SCServicingMode (+)

Stop-SCVMHost (+)

Suspend-SCService (+)

Test-SCLoadBalancer (+)

Test-SCPROTip (+)

Test-SCServiceTemplate (+)

Test-SCVMHostCluster (+)

Uninstall-SCApplication (+)

Uninstall-SCServerFeature (+)

Uninstall-SCVMHostCluster (+)

Unregister-SCStorageLogicalUnit (+)

Update-SCApplication (+)

Update-SCService (+)

Update-SCServiceConfiguration (+)

Update-SCVirtualHardDisk (+)

Update-SCVMConfiguration (+)

Update-SCVMMManagedComputer (+)

Validate-SCCapabilityProfile (+)

Write-SCOpsMgrConnection (+)

Add-LibraryServer (-)

Add-LibraryShare (-)

Add-Patch (-)

Add-VirtualizationManager (-)

Add-VMHost (-)

Add-VMHostNetworkAdapter (-)

Associate-VMHost (-)

Backup-VMMServer (-)

Copy-HardDisk (-)

Copy-VMDK (-)

Disable-VMHost (-)

Discover-Computer (-)

Discover-LibraryShare (-)

Dismiss-PROTip (-)

Enable-VMHost (-)

Get-DependentLibraryObject (-)

Get-HardwareProfile (-)

Get-ISO (-)

Get-Job (-)

Get-LibraryRating (-)

Get-LibraryServer (-)

Get-LibraryShare (-)

Get-MachineConfig (-)

Get-OperatingSystem (-)

Get-PROTip (-)

Get-Script (-)

Get-SshPublicKey (-)

Get-Step (-)

Get-Template (-)

Get-VirtualFloppyDisk (-)

Get-VirtualHardDisk (-)

Get-VirtualizationManager (-)

Get-VirtualNetwork (-)

Get-VirtualNetworkAdapter (-)

Get-VM (-)

Get-VMHost (-)

Get-VMHostDisk (-)

Get-VMHostGroup (-)

Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter (-)

Get-VMHostRating (-)

Get-VMHostVolume (-)

Get-VMMManagedComputer (-)

Get-VMMServer (-)

Get-VMMUserRole (-)

Get-VMXMachineConfig (-)

Invoke-PROTip (-)

Move-VirtualHardDisk (-)

Move-VMHost (-)

Move-VMHostGroup (-)

New-MachineConfig (-)

New-P2V (-)

New-Template (-)

New-V2V (-)

New-VirtualNetwork (-)

New-VirtualNetworkAdapter (-)

New-VM (-)

New-VMHostGroup (-)

New-VMMUserRole (-)

New-VMRCCertificateRequest (-)

New-VMXMachineConfig (-)

Reassociate-VMMManagedComputer (-)

Refresh-LibraryShare (-)

Refresh-VirtualizationManager (-)

Refresh-VMHost (-)

Remove-ISO (-)

Remove-LibraryServer (-)

Remove-LibraryShare (-)

Remove-MachineConfig (-)

Remove-Script (-)

Remove-Template (-)

Remove-VirtualFloppyDisk (-)

Remove-VirtualHardDisk (-)

Remove-VirtualizationManager (-)

Remove-VirtualNetwork (-)

Remove-VirtualNetworkAdapter (-)

Remove-VM (-)

Remove-VMHost (-)

Remove-VMHostGroup (-)

Remove-VMHostNetworkAdapter (-)

Remove-VMMUserRole (-)

Remove-VMXMachineConfig (-)

Restart-Job (-)

Set-ISO (-)

Set-LibraryServer (-)

Set-LibraryShare (-)

Set-PROTip (-)

Set-Script (-)

Set-Template (-)

Set-VirtualFloppyDisk (-)

Set-VirtualHardDisk (-)

Set-VirtualizationManager (-)

Set-VirtualNetwork (-)

Set-VirtualNetworkAdapter (-)

Set-VM (-)

Set-VMHost (-)

Set-VMHostGroup (-)

Set-VMHostNetworkAdapter (-)

Set-VMHostVolume (-)

Set-VMMServer (-)

Set-VMMUserRole (-)

Stop-Job (-)

Update-VMHost (-)

Update-VMMManagedComputer (-)

VMM 2008 R2: Changes from RTM to SP1

2011-03-26T14:29:00.001-07:00

Using a script Shay Levy wrote HERE, I have the following list of cmdlet changes that have occurred between Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 and SP1.

So below is a listing of the parameter changes to each of the cmdlets. There aren’t actually any cmdlet changes (like a new or removed cmdlet). In this case, all of the changes are actually just new parameters that have been added.

All of the changes are around the new SP1 features like Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX (see HERE).

New-HardwareProfile (!)
    DynamicMemoryBufferPercentage (+)
    DynamicMemoryEnabled (+)
    DynamicMemoryMaximumMB (+)
    MemoryWeight (+)
    MonitorMaximumCount (+)
    MonitorResolutionMaximum (+)
    VirtualVideoAdapterEnabled (+)

New-Template (!)
    DynamicMemoryBufferPercentage (+)
    DynamicMemoryEnabled (+)
    DynamicMemoryMaximumMB (+)
    MemoryWeight (+)
    MonitorMaximumCount (+)
    MonitorResolutionMaximum (+)
    VirtualVideoAdapterEnabled (+)

New-VM (!)
    DynamicMemoryBufferPercentage (+)
    DynamicMemoryEnabled (+)
    DynamicMemoryMaximumMB (+)
    MemoryWeight (+)
    MonitorMaximumCount (+)
    MonitorResolutionMaximum (+)
    VirtualVideoAdapterEnabled (+)

Set-HardwareProfile (!)
    DynamicMemoryBufferPercentage (+)
    DynamicMemoryEnabled (+)
    DynamicMemoryMaximumMB (+)
    MemoryWeight (+)
    MonitorMaximumCount (+)
    MonitorResolutionMaximum (+)
    VirtualVideoAdapterEnabled (+)

Set-Template (!)
    DynamicMemoryBufferPercentage (+)
    DynamicMemoryEnabled (+)
    DynamicMemoryMaximumMB (+)
    MemoryWeight (+)
    MonitorMaximumCount (+)
    MonitorResolutionMaximum (+)
    VirtualVideoAdapterEnabled (+)

Set-VM (!)
    DynamicMemoryBufferPercentage (+)
    DynamicMemoryEnabled (+)
    DynamicMemoryMaximumMB (+)
    MemoryWeight (+)
    MonitorMaximumCount (+)
    MonitorResolutionMaximum (+)
    VirtualVideoAdapterEnabled (+)

Cerebrata.com: A community success story

2011-03-26T14:17:00.001-07:00

(I’m several months behind in putting this out!)

A few months ago, Cerebrata had a public beta of their new released Azure cmdlets. I came across the announcement on Twitter and fired it off to others who checked it out.

I had exchanged a few emails with their support when I discovered that something seemed to be odd/wrong when I tried to install their cmdlets on my 64-bit system. They were very helpful in trying to determine the problem, and it was on my end.

But that was the thing that least impressed me actually… They were very receptive of suggestions from Microsoft MVPs around their naming conventions. There were a few unapproved verbs and also some pluralisms in their naming. They were very quick to make changes to their code, or provide arguments why they felt their original approach was correct.

Thanks Guarav (from Cerebrata)! By working together, we can try to make the PowerShell experience an awesome (and consistent) one for everyone.

/n software releases NetCmdlets v3 beta

2010-12-14T22:06:00.001-08:00

I was surprised to discover that /n software has released a beta of v3 of their NetCmdlets. One of the major improvements is that it now appears it is module-based. There are some other additions as well.

I have it downloaded and am looking forward to finding time to check it out in action.

Using Write-EventLog…

2010-10-24T16:43:00.001-07:00

I was trying to use the Write-EventLog cmdlet and was noticing additional annoying text being added to the messages. For example:

PS> write-eventlog -logname "Windows PowerShell" -source PowerShell –event 999 -message "Hello"

Looking at the resulting event, I would see this added:

"The description for Event ID 999 from source PowerShell cannot be
found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on
your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install
or repair the component on the local computer...."

I didn’t want this extra text, and couldn’t seem to figure out the problem, then came across something that Stefan Stranger did HERE:

…

if(![System.Diagnostics.EventLog]::SourceExists($source))
{
[System.Diagnostics.EventLog]::CreateEventSource($source,'Application')
}

…

The trick to getting rid of this extra text was to make my own custom source for my events. Now, the extra text is gone. I just made up “PowerShell_script”, and used that in my script.

Microsoft MVP for another year…

2010-10-01T08:48:00.001-07:00

Today is my re-award date, and I just received a pleasant surprise.

I have been awarded a Microsoft MVP award (PowerShell of course!) for another year.

Looking back, I’ve eased up on blogging (and haven’t been able to tweet all that much), but I’ve been pretty active in other areas, and am looking to continue that for the foreseeable future.

Microsoft: Thanks for the recognition.

Using SSH to invoke PowerShell remotely (PDF)

2010-09-25T16:52:00.001-07:00

Here’s something I wrote last Spring that provides a step-by-step on how to call PowerShell remotely using password-less SSH from a Linux-based server to a Microsoft Windows 2003 Server.

It’s a PDF you can get HERE.

Cool application: Sapien’s PrimalMerge 2009

2010-07-21T20:39:00.001-07:00

Although I’m quite busy, I try to find time to try out new products when I can. I’m especially excited when I can try out one of these new programs to help resolve a problem I’m having.

I don’t have any kind of personal script versioning setup, so finding what has changed from one version of one of my scripts to the next can depend on whether I’ve added change comments in my scripts. In this particular case, I didn’t have any comments. What to do?

Fortunately, I have access to Sapien’s PrimalMerge product, and could very quickly and easily see what the changes were between my 2 scripts.

It saved me big time in this case!

TechEd 2010 in New Orleans – a brief report

2010-06-11T09:10:00.001-07:00

I’m on my way back from my first ever TechEd. What a great experience. I was mostly working the PowerShell booth and trying to talk with vendors and attendees, but I did get to attend 2 PowerShell sessions.

It’s difficult to scan a big audience, but those 2 sessions had likely between 300-500 attendees each!

The impression I got from TechEd last year was attendees were mostly asking if they had to learn PowerShell… This year, things have really turned around! Most people I talked to were using it or actively wanting to learn it.

It’s no longer “do I have to learn PowerShell?”, but instead it’s “how do I learn PowerShell?”.

For lucky attendees, we even gave out (for free!) a few 100 copies of William Stanek’s “Windows PowerShell™ 2.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant”. The book is available HERE.

Using Windows PowerShell with the Amazon Web Services (AWS) SDK for .NET

2010-06-11T09:02:00.001-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to write an article for Amazon on how to use their .NET-based AWS SDK with PowerShell.

You can find the article HERE.

It’s a pretty basic PowerShell article geared more for AWS users. It shows how to load the SDK then use some of its features to get a listing of objects stored on the S3 service, and also shows how to upload local files (for backup purposes basically) to the service.

If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to post them here or by commenting on the article itself.

TechDays 2010: My speaker bio is up

2010-05-16T12:58:00.001-07:00

If you’re from Canada, you must have heard that TechDays is coming back for another year! TechDays is coming back to Halifax again this November 2 and 3.

I’m excited to have another chance to get up in front of a local crowd and spread my knowledge and make contacts, but also learn from what others are going to present.

My bio is up HERE. The content is still being worked on so I don’t what I’ll present exactly, but I’ll be looking to submit a session for their new community track (“Local Flavours”) tentatively titled: “Windows PowerShell: Automating Clients, Servers, Clouds and Everything in Between”.

Microsoft Official Course – PowerShell v2

2010-04-19T16:30:00.001-07:00

Don Jones has just made it official HERE: Microsoft will be offering an official course on PowerShell v2.

I have had the honour on working on some of the labs for the course, and I think it is going to be a great course packed full of information for beginner and even intermediate PowerShell users.

I definitely agree with Don on his statement about how beneficial having a experienced instructor deliver such a course.

Books can be a struggle, but with a in-person course, you get to ask all those questions that may be lingering in your mind or they may be able to approach a concept from a different angle to help you understand all the important topics/concepts.

Microsoft is coming to Moncton: EnergizeIT

2010-03-15T08:17:00.001-07:00

Details:
April 20, 2010 6:30 PM - April 20, 2010 9:00 PM Atlantic Time (Canada)
Welcome Time: 6:00 PM

Mapleton Rotary Pavilion
600 Mapleton Rd.
Moncton New Brunswick Canada

Language(s):     English.
Product(s):     Microsoft Hyper-V Server, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office "14", Microsoft Silverlight, Microsoft SQL Server,
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, Microsoft technologies, Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Windows, Windows 7 and Windows Azure.
Audience(s):     Architect, IT Decision Maker, IT Generalist and Pro Dev/Programmer.

Event Overview

Energize IT: Anything is Possible.

Energize IT: Community Connection Series is an evening event series hosted by your local Community User Group. Throughout the evening event, you will hear us, Microsoft advisors, talk about Windows Azure, Office System 2010, Visual Studio 2010, Windows Mobile. It’s evident the Microsoft-based platform presents a bevy of opportunities for all of us. Whether you are a Developer or an IT Pro, knowing how these will impact you is critical, especially in the new economic reality.

This evening Energize IT: Community Connection event will help you understand Microsoft’s Software+Services vision. You will find out about the possibilities that these technologies help realize and the value that they can bring to your organization and yourself.

We will explore the Microsoft-based platform through a scenario that will demonstrate different points of view - from developer to IT Pro, from consumer to the information worker. From the client to the cloud, this fun-filled demo-intensive exploration will excite you about the possibilities of the Microsoft-based platform. You’ll see how to build next generation applications with technology like Silverlight, .NET 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010. You will find out how to consume those applications on a variety of devices, like mobile devices running Windows Mobile, netbooks and PCs running Windows 7, as well as the web. You will learn about how the Microsoft-based platform allows you to connect with your colleagues no matter where you are –office, coffee shops, or your own living room. You’ll also see how you and your colleagues can be even more productive with Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010.

For cities that have a full day Energize IT: From the Client to the Cloud full day event, please note, the community evening event is an encore presentation of the first part of Energize 2010 daytime event.

EnergizeIT: Community Connection series is your opportunity to learn how to harness the power and flexibility of the Microsoft-based platform from the client to the cloud. Visit www.microsoft.ca/energizeIT to learn about the Energize IT: From the Client to the Cloud Tour; EnergizeIT: Install Fests (in select cities) and Energize IT Podcasts lined up for this spring 2010 program.

If you have any questions about this event, have food allergies or require special needs, please reference your city and email us at energizeIT@microsoft.com.

Registration Options

Event ID:
1032441793

PowerShell in Practice – 40% OFF

2010-02-13T04:15:00.001-08:00

Last week HERE, I mentioned the upcoming PowerShell books for 2010.

Well, if you’re interested in one of these: PowerShell in Practice, I have some good news for you: YOU CAN GET 40% OFF NOW.

Just go to the Manning site, drop the printed or ebook edition into your shopping cart and use the code “marcoshell40” when you’re ready to check out and the discount will be applied.

You’ll get the book when it is fresh off of the press in about 2-3 months from now likely.

**I don’t stand to make any profit from you using the discount code. It’s just a gift from Manning to you.**

PowerShell books for 2010

2010-02-03T08:59:00.001-08:00

I wanted to post a list of the PowerShell books I’m looking forward to being out in 2010. There may be others in the works that I’m not aware of.

December 2009 (I’m including this in 2010):
Windows PowerShell 2.0 Best Practices – Ed Wilson/Microsoft Press

January 2010:
Windows PowerShell 2.0: TFM – Don Jones and Jeffery Hicks/Sapien Press

April 2010:
PowerShell in Practice – Richard Siddaway/Manning Press

June 2010:
PowerShell in Action, 2nd edition – Bruce Payette/Manning Press

There’s something in that list for everyone, from the beginner to the more advanced user. I’m going to be posting a review of Ed’s book soon.

Now, Lee Holmes seems to be super-secretive about his authoring projects, but I’d expect to see something out this year with his name on it.

Running PowerShell in the Cloud (with Azure)

2009-12-23T03:34:00.001-08:00

There's a PowerShell Azure sample application HERE.

Briefly, in Azure terminology, the sample provides:

The code to create a ASP.NET web role, which acts as the Internet-accessible web page that provides a simple interface to type in PowerShell code.
The sample also provides the code to create a PowerShell worker role, which is basically C# code creating a PowerShell runspace which takes the input from the ASP.NET interface.
So once a PowerShell command is passed via the web interface, it is passed to the PowerShell runspace. Once the PowerShell runspace finishes the command passed, it returns the results back to the ASP.NET page to display.

I built the project yesterday using Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2. Here’s the resulting Azure application: http://marcoposh.cloudapp.net/. (This link may be removed early in 2010 once Azure becomes a paid service.)

Give the above link a try. For example, try “get-service cl*”.

Assuming this is PowerShell version 2.0, it is a very restricted runspace, and some commands just won’t return any results…

Adding sounds to PowerGadgets

2009-12-01T08:15:00.001-08:00

PowerGadgets is my favorite PowerShell add-on. I think it is time to think up more usage examples now that PowerShell v2 is “mainstream”.

I was checking out the PowerGadgets support forums last week and came across a question HERE about whether sound could be added to a gadget when the data changes.

Well, you can do just about anything with PowerShell and PowerGadgets, and adding sound is a piece of cake. Here’s my guest blog post on how to do this HERE.

I also have a guest blog post there on creating a stock ticker and a flashing display…

TechDays in Halifax… Still a few spots left

2009-10-17T15:07:00.001-07:00

TechDays is near! Halifax will be on November 2nd and 3rd.

I’ve been accepted to do two presentations:

Operations Manager 2007 R2 for monitoring UNIX/Linux servers.
Server management improvements in Windows Server 2008 R2.

There’s some PowerShell goodies, but I’m also in talks to put on a pure PowerShell deep-dive there.

Yes, the site says Halifax is SOLD OUT, but as of yesterday, I have some inside information that there have been a few more seats freed up.

Leave me a comment here if you want a spot! Leave your email address and I’ll contact you directly. Once I get your comment, I’ll delete it so your email address will never be shown. I have it currently set that I have to moderate all comments before they will show.

PowerShell V2 Virtual Launch Party

2009-10-17T15:02:00.001-07:00

Join Jeffry Snover, Hal Rottenberg and Jonathan Walz (hosts of the PowerScripting Podcast) in a PowerShell V2 Virtual Launch Party this Thursday, Oct 22nd, 9:30 PM EDT (GMT-4).

For more details and info on how to join go HERE.

Microsoft MVP – for another year!

2009-10-07T16:32:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone… I’m proud to announce that I was re-awarded as a Microsoft MVP for the 3rd consecutive year.

I’m very excited to be recognized by Microsoft for my contributions to the PowerShell community!

Are you ready for Windows 7? Moncton Community Event

2009-10-07T16:31:00.001-07:00

Are you ready for Windows 7? Moncton Community Event

November 4, 2009 6:00 PM - November 4, 2009 8:00 PM Atlantic Time (Canada)
Welcome Time: 5:30 PM

Moncton Public Library
Room: AB
644 Main Street
Moncton New Brunswick E1C 1E2
Canada

Event Overview:
Are you ready for Windows 7? It is a common question now that Windows
7 is released to manufacturing. This 2 hour 4 part session will cover
all the key aspects, guidance, tools and resources to help prepare you
and company for Windows 7. For anyone looking how to Discover,
Explore, Pilot, Deploy or Manage Windows 7, this is the seminar for
you.

This session will answer questions like "Why and how to move to
Windows 7 from Windows XP?", "What are the differences between the
versions of Windows 7?" and focus on the three key pillars of Windows
7 - deployment, security, and networking. From new deployment
techniques, application compatibility, to improved security and remote
access options this session will get you ready to answer questions
about Windows 7.

Please note: there is no cost to attend this event.

READY: Should you care about Windows PowerShell?

2009-09-07T09:24:00.001-07:00

I’m going to start blogging on the System Center Central web site. The site is dedicated to Microsoft’s System Center product line, which covers a wide-range of products.

I’m starting a series of blogs posts there to talk about using PowerShell while focusing on its use with System Center products. I’m going to title the series: “READY”, “SET”, “GO”. “Ready” is already posted HERE where I talk about why you should learn PowerShell.

The “Set” post will probably cover some PowerShell terminology you should really know, and may want to refer back to at any time, and finally the “Go” posts will be a potentially indefinite number of posts where I’m actually going to use PowerShell to try to do something productive to show you how you can use PowerShell.

The integration these System Center products have with PowerShell also greatly varies, and I plan to discuss this in future posts in the series. I would expect them to have better integration in the future though.

Please feel free to leave comments at any time if you want me to cover anything in particular. My next post in that series should appear in the next 2 weeks...

PowerShell Terminology: Tightly integrated products

2009-09-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a couple of blog posts this year on PowerShell terminology. In this post, I will discuss what I like to call “tightly integrated products”. Briefly, I use this term when I talk about how different Microsoft server products implement their support for PowerShell.

In the case of tightly integrated products, these products provide full PowerShell support. With tightly integrated products, every task that can be accomplished via the product’s administration user interface can be accomplished with the use of a cmdlet developed by the product team itself. In fact, it happens that the user interface actually runs these cmdlets under the covers.

As a matter of fact, from what I understand, PowerShell is now the only public API to managing Exchange 2007 and later. You could use WMI with Exchange 2003, but that interface is now gone. Apparently, you can still use MAPI to automate Exchange 2007 though. I don't know if the difference is that MAPI isn't offiicially supported by Microsoft anymore. Any readers know anything about this? Please leave a comment if you do.

These are example of Microsoft products that I consider to be tighly integrated:

Exchange 2007 (and later).

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (and later).

In the case of Exchange 2007, there was a complete rewrite of the administration interface from Exchange 2003. Now, every command that can be undertaken in the user interface is available as a cmdlet. As mentioned above, the user interface actually runs these cmdlets in the background.

What is cool about this type of integration is that, when undertaking any kind of task in the user interface using the built-in wizards, at the end of the wizard, a screen actually display the actual PowerShell commands that will be run. This makes it easy to copy and paste the commands to use this in other automation scenarios or simply to help with learning how to use PowerShell.

As a matter of fact, Exchange was the first product to fully integrate PowerShell to this level. Exchange 2007 was developed using PowerShell v1. Now, even more exciting news... Exchange 2010 was developed using PowerShell v2! Exchange 2010 fully utilizes some of the new v2 features like PowerShell remoting. Imagine... You can use v2 on a client, and as long as you have the proper permissions on the Exchange 2010, you can remote into the Exchange 2010 and use the Exchange Management Shell... You don't have to copy the admin tools to every client like with Exchange 2007.

Not all of this was good news to everyone though. Some have expressed concern that you can actually do more with the cmdlets as some tasks aren't available through the Exchange 2007 management console. That being said, that improved with SP1 (I'm not sure about SP2 which is now out). Exchange 2010 has expanded the number of cmdlets dramatically. I can't remember the exact numbers though.

I'm not going to specifically discuss SCVMM here, unless someone leaves a comment wishing that I discuss the PowerShell integration in more detail.

So the path to manage these applications is:

PowerShell->Application.

TechNet Webcast: Using Windows PowerShell with Hyper-V and Virtual Machine Manager (Level 300)

2009-09-06T05:56:00.000-07:00

Date/time: Thursday, September 10, 2009 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)

You can sign up for the webcast HERE.

Event Overview
Windows PowerShell is likely to become the automation tool of choice. In this webcast, we provide examples of Windows PowerShell being used to perform common administration tasks in Hyper-V and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager. We compare the two automation methods in detail, and we discuss some online community-focused PowerShell resources such as http://powershellcommunity.org.

Presenters: Marco Shaw, Microsoft MVP, Independent; Darin Pendergraft, PowerGUI Product Manager, Quest Software; and Peter Zerger, Consulting Partner, AKOS Technology Services, Inc.

Call to Action: Please read if you want to influence PowerShell documentation

2009-09-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

I'm a co-director of the PowerShellCommunity.org web site. I've been recently approached by June Blender from the Microsoft PowerShell documentation team to setup a process where people from the PowerShell community would participate in the review of PowerShell documentation while it is in a draft state.

I'm still working out the kinks in the process, but currently, I'm looking for at least 4 people from the community to volunteer to help review some outstanding documentation. Specifically, I'm looking for 2 beginner-level users and 2 intermediate/advanced users.

The review could be of new documentation or updates to existing documentation.

If you're interested in participating in the review and being able to provide your comments and influence how PowerShell help features are written, send a message to doc_reviews@powershellcommunity.org. Please indicate your current level of familiarity with PowerShell. Once assigned something to review, you will be expected to review what is assigned to you within 7 days.

You will need to be a member of the http://www.powershellcommunity.org
(http://www.poshcomm.org) web site to participate because the site will be used in the review process.

Once you are accepted as a reviewer, more details will be sent to you via email.

If you do not receive any kind of acceptance message/email, your name maybe archived for future use. Unfortunately, I don't know whether I will be able to respond to every email from all volunteers.

BOOK REVIEW: Chained Exploits

2009-08-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

I recently read Chained Exploits - Advanced Hacking Attacks from Start to Finish, which is available on amazon.com HERE.

I really liked the approach taken by the authors to keep the reader interested. Reading about security can be boring for some, but I found the book very interesting in the format the authors chose: Write a series of stories by using a fictional character.

I think any Internet user could read this book, and even any executives interested in trying to understand why security in an organization is so important, would benefit from reading this book.

It helps bring to light, with one of the stories, how web 2.0 technologies (like MySpace and Facebook) can be compromised.

It does use quite a bit of social engineering tricks, and I think that's very important, because people can be a weak link in any organization. Security awareness within any organization is becoming more and more important.

I also learned about new hacking tools. The examples used existing tools that can be downloaded from the Internet.

Book rating: 5/5.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group #10--VIDEO

2009-08-05T08:42:00.001-07:00

Here's the video from my virtual user group meeting held in May:

The timing goes like this (format is MM:SS or HH:MM:SS):
-Intro (Marco) 0:00-3:45
-Glenn 3:55-37:05
-Sergei 37:15-1:17:40
-Bart 1:18:05-1:51:45
-Closing (Marco) 1:51:50-1:54:00

For the details on each speaker's topic, see HERE.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group #10--UPDATE ON VIDEO

2009-07-24T09:32:00.001-07:00

Well, I have the raw video from meeting #10, I just haven't had the chance to write down the timing for each presenter.

I will have it done next week though.

I've been pretty quiet of late, but I'm still planning on having other virtual user group meetings starting likely in September 2009.

PowerShell v2 RTMs!

2009-07-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell/archive/2009/07/23/windows-powershell-2-0-rtm.aspx

This means that we are very close to getting our hands on Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2.

There's also an update on when we will see v2 for XP, Vista and Server 2008. Missing from that list is Server 2003 though. I'm not sure if that was just an error/omission or there's a problem with v2 support for Server 2003.

BOOK REVIEW: Microsoft PowerShell, VBScript and JScript Bible

2009-06-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

Time for another book review. This time I will be reviewing Microsoft PowerShell, VBScript and JScript Bible available on amazon.com HERE.

I like the format of this book. Several sections provide code listings in VBScript and JScript to show how to complete various tasks.

All, if not most, of the content was written by James O'Neill. James has a very good blog (http://blogs.technet.com/jamesone/), and wrote an extensive PowerShell library for Hyper-V (http://www.codeplex.com/PSHyperv), so he definitely has some good practical experience with PowerShell.

In the end, I would recommend this book to anyone doing any kind of scripting. I think this is a good book for beginners as it is task-based, and if someone wants to gain experience with any of the scripting languages in this book, this is a good one-stop-shop reference guide.

My challenge for the authors would be to have all the code listing in all 3 scripting languages side-by-side, and, for example, have another section on what PowerShell can do, that the others can't like direct access to managed code.

BOOK REVIEW: Microsoft Windows PowerShell 2.0 Programming for the Absolute Beginner

2009-06-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

I reviewed the first edition and gave it 5 stars on amazon.com. I still like the style used for the 2nd edition. The 2nd edition covers PowerShell 2.0, which is due to be released along with Windows 7 around October 2009.

The 2nd edition has about 40 pages more content.

I would only give 4 stars for this second edition. This book is based on the CTP2 release. A few major things that changed from CTP2 to CTP3 is that the *-Runspace cmdlets are now renamed to *-PsSession, and *-PsJob cmdlets have also been renamed to *-Job.

Some of the prerequisites for PowerShell v2 are also a bit unclear. If one is planning to use the new PowerShell remoting or the new PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE), the book doesn't cover the prerequisites in enough detail.

Even with the above comments, I would still strongly recommend this book to a PowerShell beginner.

NOTE: Amazon.com has changed its review policy. I can only submit a review if I purchased the book from *them*. I typically buy my books from stores or chapters.ca.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #10--NEW DATE

2009-05-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

**Last week's meeting had to be cancelled at the last minute. I'm going to retry this for this coming Thursday. Sorry for any inconvenience.**

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #10
Time: May 14th, 2009 at 8PM EST (New York time)
Place: Online via Live Meeting 2007

-----------------------------------------------------------
To sign up:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Registration site: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=138442
Event Code: 138442
-----------------------------------------------------------

This is our tenth virtual event. Invited speakers that will talk about various
PowerShell-related topics: Bart De Smet (Microsoft), Sergei Anotonov (Microsoft), Glenn Sizemore.

Agenda (EST/New York time):
8:00PM-8:10PM: Introduction (Marco)
8:10PM-8:40PM: Glenn Sizemore
8:40PM-9:10PM: Sergei Antonov (Microsoft)
9:10PM-9:40PM: Bart De Smet (Microsoft)
9:40PM-9:50PM: Closing (Marco)

Speaker 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/).

To join:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join?id=8GBZCB&role=attend&pw=8%5E-%5CzqX

Video:
Video will be delivered via the Microsoft Live Meeting client
Audio:
For attendees, audio will be delivered via the Internet using your computer's speakers. There
will not be a call-in number for this meeting.

Unable to join the meeting? Follow these steps:
1.Copy this address and paste into your web browser:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join
2.Copy and paste the required information:
Meeting ID: 8GBZCB
Entry Code: 8^-\zqX

PowerShell Terminology: Loosely integrated products

2009-04-27T06:41:00.001-07:00

I recently started a small series of posts on PowerShell terminology. In this post, I will discuss what I like to call “loosely integrated products”. Briefly, I use this term when I talk about how different Microsoft server products implement their support for PowerShell.

In the case of loosely integrated products, these products don’t provide full PowerShell support. Unlike some server products, with a loosely integrated product, not every task that can be accomplished via the product’s administration user interface can be accomplished with the use of a cmdlet developed by the product team itself.

These are example of Microsoft products that I consider to be loosely integrated:

System Center Operations Manager 2007.
Internet Information Services 7.0.
SQL Server 2008.

In the above examples, the product team ships the product with a PowerShell snapin (except the IIS7 must be downloaded separately).

In the case of Operations Manager 2007, for example, the product provides a customized PowerShell console named “Command Shell” (renamed to “Operations Manager Shell” as of Operations Manager 2007 R2). What the product team has done is used the Operations Manager SDK managed assembly and created a limited number of cmdlets. So the cmdlets are officially supported, but you cannot accomplish everything from within PowerShell that can be done from the UI. Furthermore, because of the incomplete cmdlet coverage, the UI wizards don’t provide similar functionality to the Exchange 2007 UI whereas when a task is done, the underlying PowerShell code used is not presented.

Hopefully the next version of Operations Manager (maybe in 2012) will provide more complete PowerShell support, which can mean a major rewriting of the user interface.

I’m not going to go into detail about IIS7 and SQL Server 2008, unless a comment is left asking me to discuss them in detail.

So the path to manage these applications is:

PowerShell->.NET assembly or SDK->Application.

I will cover tightly integrated products soon.

Managing OpsMgr using a mobile phone: RoveIT Mobile Admin

2009-04-24T07:29:00.001-07:00

RoveIT has a product called Mobile Admin that you can read about HERE.

They are putting on a free webcast this coming April 29th at 11AM EDT. You can register for the webcast HERE.

I’m looking forward to inviting RoveIT to my PowerShell user group possibly in June to talk about how they are using PowerShell in their products.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #10--UPDATED

2009-04-23T06:04:00.001-07:00

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #10
Time: May 7th, 2009 at 8PM EST (New York time)
Place: Online via Live Meeting 2007

-----------------------------------------------------------
To sign up:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Registration site: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=137921
Event Code: 137921
-----------------------------------------------------------

This is our tenth virtual event. Invited speakers that will talk about various
PowerShell-related topics: Bart De Smet (Microsoft), Sergei Anotonov (Microsoft), Glenn Sizemore.

Agenda (EST/New York time):
8:00PM-8:10PM: Introduction (Marco)
8:10PM-8:40PM: Glenn Sizemore
8:40PM-9:10PM: Sergei Antonov (Microsoft)
9:10PM-9:40PM: Bart De Smet (Microsoft)
9:40PM-9:50PM: Closing (Marco)

Speaker 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/).

To join:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join?id=4FB8CN&role=attend&pw=8%5E-%5CzqX

Video:
Video will be delivered via the Microsoft Live Meeting client
Audio:
For attendees, audio will be delivered via the Internet using your computer's speakers. There
will not be a call-in number for this meeting.

Unable to join the meeting? Follow these steps:
1.Copy this address and paste into your web browser:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join
2.Copy and paste the required information:
Meeting ID: 4FB8CN
Entry Code: 8^-\zqX

New Book: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Administration with Windows PowerShell

2009-04-23T05:52:00.001-07:00

Wrox has a book on SQL Server 2008 and PowerShell HERE. The book is due June 2009.

I just noticed that they have recently made the scripts from the book available for download.

The zip file contains: 76 .ps1 scripts, 26 .sql scripts, 2 .xml files, 1 .bat file, and 3 .txt files. I’ve not looked through the scripts, but to include over 100 PowerShell and SQL scripts is super cool.

I can’t wait to get my hands on the book and review it…

[Edit: I originally reported 107 .ps1 scripts, but I was wrong.]

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group #10—NEW DATE

2009-04-23T05:05:00.001-07:00

I recently announced my tenth meeting of my virtual PowerShell user group HERE. The original date was April 30th. I’m changing this to May 7th.

I apologize for any inconveniences.

I will post the updated information today.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #10

2009-04-20T09:15:00.001-07:00

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #10
Time: April 30th, 2009 at 8PM EST (New York time)
Place: Online via Live Meeting 2007

This is our tenth virtual event. Invited speakers that will talk about various
PowerShell-related topics: Bart De Smet (Microsoft), Sergei Anotonov (Microsoft), Glenn Sizemore.

To join:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join?id=4FB8CN&role=attend&pw=8%5E-%5CzqX

PowerShell Terminology: Common Engineering Criteria

2009-04-17T07:26:00.001-07:00

I recently started a series on PowerShell terminology HERE. One thing I mentioned was Microsoft’s Common Engineering Criteria (CEC).

You can read through Microsoft’s official web site HERE.

From my understanding, CEC is a set of best practices that are to be implemented in all server-based products. Now, this may be some kind of internal document, and I’ve never seen it, so this is my unofficial interpretation of things…

Microsoft added PowerShell as of their CEC 2009 standards. Apparently, if a server product doesn’t meet all of the CEC guidelines, the particular product team must justify each and every deviance from this to some internal Microsoft group who likely oversees the compliance to the standards.

Based on the products that have recently come out from Microsoft, I don’t believe the standard outlines exactly how PowerShell should be implemented in products. This is my conclusion based on seeing the differences with how newer products have varying levels of PowerShell support.

I introduced some new terms HERE: “PowerShell-enablers”, “loosely integrated products”, and “tightly integrated products”. I’ll likely cover these last 2 terms next week.

PowerShell Terminology: PowerShell-enablers

2009-04-08T05:53:00.001-07:00

I’m going to blog about a few terms I like to use when I talk about how PowerShell is supported in different Microsoft server applications.

The terms I will introduce in are:

PowerShell-enablers.
Loosely integrated products.
Tightly integrated products.

This is the first post in this small series, so I’m going to briefly discuss “PowerShell-enablers”:

Since Microsoft announced that PowerShell was now part of their Common Engineering Criteria since 2009, there are some products that officially released around the time of the announcement and also after.

There are examples of Microsoft products that don’t provide any PowerShell support per se:

Hyper-V.
System Center Configuration Manager 2007.
Office Suite and Internet Explorer (just client applications, but still).

Now, that being said, these products do support “PowerShell-enablers”. To me, these are technologies like COM (Component Object Model) and WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation).

Via COM, I can automate Office and IE, and I can access COM from PowerShell. Via WMI, I can automate Hyper-V and ConfigMgr, and there is excellent support for WMI from PowerShell.

So the path to manage these applications is:

PowerShell->WMI or COM->Application

In the next post, I’ll talk about loosely integrated products.

Book: System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed – 2nd edition

2009-04-07T13:31:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to mention a book that I am writing for: System Center Operations Manager 2007 by Kerrie Meyler, Cameron Fuller, John Joyner and Andy Dominey.

(The link and image are for the 1st edition.)

A publication date has not been set yet, to my knowledge.

I’ve contributed a chapter on using PoweShell where I cover the basics of what a OpsMgr user should know, show some basic examples of general Windows tasks in PowerShell, then show some practical examples of how to use PowerShell in OpsMgr to script and automate tasks.

(Image copied from Amazon link.)

Book: SQL Server 2008

2009-04-06T05:58:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to mention a book that I contributed to last year: SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration by Ross Mistry.

It was published this past January 2009.

I contributed a chapter on using PoweShell with SQL Server 2008 where I cover the new features provided in this release. I also cover some of the basics a DBA should have a grasp of before using PowerShell.

I also briefly cover using SMO (SQL Server Management Objects).

If you visit my blog and have the book, please don’t hesitate to leave any comments!

(Image copied from Amazon link.)

User Group Connection (Moncton) Update

2009-04-06T05:49:00.001-07:00

The user group meeting I’m helping to organize originally mentioned HERE is coming along very well.

The room size allows a maximum of 60 attendees. As of about 2 weeks ago, the registration was at 53.

I’m looking forward to meeting IT people from the area. I’ll also be trying to get in a few minutes to talk about starting up a IT Pro user group in the Moncton area.

TechDays DAC Update

2009-04-06T05:46:00.001-07:00

The previous post HERE mentions a free online Microsoft event where I did a 60 minute session on PowerShell-related developer topics.

There is a link HERE to the Live Meeting recording of the event (the link should work).

Hopefully developers new to PowerShell will find the discussion interesting.

Free event: TechDays Defy All Challenges

2009-03-10T04:46:00.000-07:00

On April 1st, 2009, Microsoft is putting on a free 24-hour virtual event called TechDays Defy All Challenges. This is a developer-focused event.

I'm proud to be presenting "Scripting the .NET Framework using Windows PowerShell". I'm going to be doing a 60 minute presentation on Windows PowerShell that will show how to access the .NET Framework. I'll also spend a small percentage talking about PowerShell v2.

Overview:
Now that PowerShell is part of the Microsoft Common Engineering Criteria. Expect to see more and more PowerShell in Microsoft's server products. This session will look at how PowerShell can be used to directly access the .NET Framework. Some simple examples will be demonstrated, but also more advanced examples of using WPF (.NET 3.0), and LINQ (.NET 3.5) will be discussed.

User Group Connection: The Future of the Microsoft Windows-based Platform - (Moncton)

2009-03-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

User Group Connection: The Future of the Microsoft Windows-based Platform - (Moncton)

Date:
April 21, 2009 6:30 PM - April 21, 2009 8:30 PM Atlantic Time (Canada)

Welcome Time: 6:00 PM

Location:
Mapleton Rotary Pavilion
600 Mapleton Road
Moncton New Brunswick Canada

Register (seating is limited to 60):
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032406296&Culture=en-CA

Details:
User Group Connection: The Future of the Microsoft Windows-based Platform
Innovation solves problems and fosters new ideas; it is the lifeblood of our industry. However, with every innovation, a question is asked by those with the opportunity to leverage it: “How is this going to make my life easier?”
In this complimentary session we will help answer this question as we discuss Windows 7, Windows Server® 2008 R2, and show you how they can be integrated into your current environment and help solve some of today’s challenges around application compatibility, remote access and branch offices. You’ll learn how you can help reduce bandwidth costs between your head office and the branch, how to leverage new virtualization technologies to solve application compatibility issues and discover how you can finally eliminate the VPN.
Join your local user group and Microsoft for an evening of exploration and demonstration of the future of the Windows-based platform and understand how to make use of the Springboard resources (http://www.microsoft.ca/springboard). Take the opportunity to share your feedback, get your questions answered, and connect with your peers at User Group Connection: The Future of the Windows-based Platform.

Register now! Seating is limited.

Edmonton Microsoft User Group presentation

2009-02-27T11:33:00.000-08:00

The Edmonton Microsoft User Group is meeting March 11th at 6.30PM MST (8.30PM EST). I will be doing a 90 minute PowerShell presentation remotely via Live Meeting.

The user group has given me the permission to make this public, so anyone can listen in.

I plan to provide an introduction to Windows PowerShell, which I would still consider about a level 200.

I'll cover:
-General introduction to Windows PowerShell.
-Discuss how some popular server applications like Exchange 2007, IIS 7 and SharePoint can be automated via PowerShell.
-Cover some of the things coming in PowerShell v2.

There isn't a registration link required for this event. Just use the attendee URL to join in and listen on March 11th.

Attendee URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join?id=HSC5NN&role=attend&pw=8%5E-%5CzqX

URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup
Meeting ID: HSC5NN
Attendee Entry Code: 8^-\zqX

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group #9--UPDATE

2009-02-20T10:12:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately, the video recording of my 9th PowerShell user group meeting held recently has been lost.

My sincere apologies to everyone. Chad Miller has agreed to redo his presentation on his SQL Server PowerShell extensions, so I'll be working with him some time next week to redo his part.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #9

2009-02-15T18:49:00.000-08:00

**Update 1: The date is Wednesday, February 18th. I had incorrectly put Thursday, February 19th originally.**
**Update 2: It is Chad Miller (and not Chris Miller).**
**Update 3: The date is 2009, and not 2008.**

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #9

Time: February 18th, 2009 at 8PM EST (New York time)
Place: Online via Live Meeting 2007

-----------------------------------------------------------
To sign up:
-----------------------------------------------------------

Registration site: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=135834
Event Code: 135834
-----------------------------------------------------------

This is our ninth virtual event. Invited speakers that will talk about various

PowerShell-related topics: Doug Finke, Chad Miller and James Brundage (Microsoft).

To join:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join?id=J5DPR3&role=attend&pw=8%5E-%5CzqX

Video:
Video will be delivered via the Microsoft Live Meeting client

Audio:
For attendees, audio will be delivered via the Internet using your computer's speakers. There

will not be a call-in number for this meeting.

Unable to join the meeting? Follow these steps:
1.Copy this address and paste into your web browser:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join
2.Copy and paste the required information:
Meeting ID: J5DPR3
Entry Code: 8^-\zqX

Agenda (EST/New York time):
8:00PM-8:10PM: Introduction (Marco)
8:10PM-8:40PM: Doug Finke
8:40PM-9:10PM: Chad Miller
9:10PM-9:40PM: James Brundage (Microsoft)
9:40PM-9:50PM: Closing (Marco)

Speaker topics:
*Doug Finke: Data visualization in PowerShell (http://www.dougfinke.com/blog).
*Chad Miller: SQL Server PowerShell Extensions (http://www.codeplex.com/SQLPSX).
*James Brundage: Using WPF from PowerShell (http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell).

PowerShell In Action--2nd Edition!

2009-02-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

Check HERE!

Bruce is working on an update to his most excellent book on Windows PowerShell. It appears the book is due September 2009.

The first edition is definitely seen as the most definite/technical guide currently available.

I'm sure the 2nd edition promises to be even better and will definitely cover PowerShell v2 features.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group #8--VIDEOS

2009-01-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

NOTE: I apologize as it seems my microphone was a bit too close to my mouth and you can basically hear me breathe in the recording when I'm not muted.

Here's the "time layout" (format is MM:SS or HH:MM:SS):
-Intro (Marco) 5:25-11:40
-June 11:40-35:00
-Compellent 36:35-57:50
-James 58:00-1:32:18
-Closing (Marco) 1:32:18-1:34:55

For the details on each speaker's topic, see HERE.

WMV format: For use with most players

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #8--UPDATE

2009-01-26T17:35:00.000-08:00

I first announced my 8th meeting coming this Thursday HERE.

Update:
James O'Neill has been added to the list of speakers. He's going to be talking about his PowerShell library for managing Hyper-V.

Microsoft Scripting Games 2009 ANNOUNCED

2009-01-25T07:10:00.000-08:00

I had asked around at Microsoft whether there would be a 4th annual Microsoft Scripting Games against this year.

It appears the Scripting Guys have recently announced that it will be a Summer Scripting Games for this year (versus being in February every year).

There is no other information currently available on their home page HERE.

If you want to have some cool challenges, and match yourself up against some of the best, this is your chance.

Doing the Scripting Games in my Speedos will be so much more cool than being fully dressed for bone chilling cold weather. My keystrokes will be so much more controlled and efficient.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #8

2009-01-22T05:36:00.000-08:00

See also: http://www.systemcenterusergroup.org/blogs/wpvug/archive/2009/01/22/windows-powershell-virtual-user-group-meeting-8.aspx

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #8

Time: January 29th, 2008 at 12PM EST (noon; New York time)
Place: Online via Live Meeting 2007

-----------------------------------------------------------
To sign up:
-----------------------------------------------------------

Registration site: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=135049
Event Code: 135049
-----------------------------------------------------------

This is our eight virtual event. Invited speakers that will talk about various PowerShell-related topics: June Blender (Microsoft) and Compellent (vendor)

To join:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join?id=J5NWMK&role=attend&pw=8%5E-%5CzqX

Video:
Video will be delivered via the Microsoft Live Meeting client

Audio:
For attendees, audio will be delivered via the Internet using your computer's speakers. There will not be a call-in number for this meeting (as was the case in the past).

Unable to join the meeting? Follow these steps:
1.Copy this address and paste into your web browser:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join
2.Copy and paste the required information:
Meeting ID: J5NWMK
Entry Code: 8^-\zqX

Agenda:
12:00PM-12:10PM: Introduction (Marco)
12:10PM-12:40PM: June Blender (Microsoft)
12:40PM-1:10PM: Compellent (vendor)
1:10PM-1:20PM: Closing (Marco)

Speaker topics:
*June Blender (Microsoft): "Exciting new help features in PowerShell v2".
*Compellent (vendor): Data Center management: System Center Command Set for Windows PowerShell

Windows Administration in Realtime (online eJournal)

2009-01-12T17:46:00.000-08:00

What could be better than a free online eJournal with industry experts like Don Jones and Greg Shields (both from www.concentratedtech.com)? Well nothing!

Check out the Windows Administration in Realtime eJournal.

You need to sign up for this! Another regular is Sapien's own Jeffery Hicks.

I was just published in the January 2009. My article is on /n software's NetCmdlets.

It just happens that version 2 of NetCmdlets was officially released last week. I'm hoping to do an online presentation (or 2) on these great networking cmdlets some time soon.

PowerShell needs some BLING!

2009-01-10T17:42:00.000-08:00

Check out BLING.ps1 HERE. This link provides a preview of the next release of the project that will apparently all be based on PowerShell.

The project is called "Performance Analysis of Logs" (PAL).

Project description:
"Ever have a performance problem, but don't know what performance counters to collect or how to analyze them? The PAL (Performance Analysis of Logs) tool is a new and powerful tool that reads in a performance monitor counter log (any known format) and analyzes it using complex, but known thresholds (provided). The tool generates an HTML based report which graphically charts important performance counters and throws alerts when thresholds are exceeded. The thresholds are originally based on thresholds defined by the Microsoft product teams and members of Microsoft support, but continue to be expanded by this ongoing project. This tool is not a replacement of traditional performance analysis, but it automates the analysis of performance counter logs enough to save you time. This is a VBScript and requires Microsoft LogParser (free download)."

I got an error when trying to run it with v2 CTP3 (XP SP2). I reported the issue on the site.

PowerShell Challenge 2009

2009-01-09T17:17:00.000-08:00

Over on the System Center Forum site HERE, I posted a challenge late in 2008 HERE.

Basically, I'm challenging anyone to come up with some kind of automation scenario for Operations Manager 2007 that they think I can't automate. Of course there are some things that might just not be possible, but I'm leaving that to everyone out there to find something I can't solve!

I'm offering at least $100US to the person who provides the best challenge, and will likely offer at least $50US to 2nd and 3rd place.

It didn't take Tim McFadden to come up with a good one for me (check the comments HERE). I do have a solution for his challenge, and just need to write it up in a blog post.

Fredericton .NET User Group presentation

2009-01-09T17:04:00.000-08:00

I put on a PowerShell presentation this past Wednesday night for the Fredericton .NET User Group.

It was a blast! Using Live Meeting is a very cool way for me to extend the reach of giving out PowerShell presentations.

I would be willing to give such a presentation to any user group. Just send out a feeler email to your members if there's any interested, and let me know via a comment here (leave an email address) or email me at marcoDOTshaw_AT_gmailDOTcom.

I do all of my PowerShell virtual user group meetings via Live Meeting.

v2 CTP3: Running PowerShell silently

2008-12-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

Well, if you haven't heard, v2 CTP3 is out. Check it HERE.

This new release provides a feature where powershell.exe can be run with a hidden window/screen. This is definitely an FAQ candidate: I've seen this asked many times in various forums.

PS>powershell.exe /?
...
-WindowStyle
Sets the window style to Normal, Minimized, Maximized or Hidden.
...

(The CTP3 release notes have a typo: This parameter is covered as "-WindowsStyle".)

So if you run something simple like:
PS>powershell.exe -windowstyle hidden # from PowerShell

Be prepared... Not only will your current PowerShell console vanish, but you'll also have another PowerShell host running.

What do I mean, if you try the above, then open another PowerShell console, you could see:
PS> gps powershell

Handles NPM(K) PM(K) WS(K) VM(M) CPU(s) Id ProcessName
------- ------ ----- ----- ----- ------ -- -----------
331 6 21396 7640 127 0.94 904 powershell
168 6 24384 33332 127 0.61 4752 powershell
210 6 25816 33936 129 0.53 5324 powershell

So, running with "hidden" hides the current process you just invoked, but also hides the console from which it was called/invoked in the first place.

This new hidden features is definitely useful for stuff like scheduled tasks where the solution before was to either wrap the PowerShell in VBScript or even use the Win32 APIs to do something more complicated.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group #8--IN THE WORKS

2008-12-17T06:11:00.000-08:00

Plans are underway for meeting #8. Looks like it will be January 29th at noon EST (New York time).

Tentative speakers/topics:
Jeffrey Snover (Microsoft): PowerShell v2 news.
June Blender (Microsoft): New PowerShell help features.

I may do a small presentation also... Not sure yet. If there's anything you'd like to see demo'd, leave a comment!

I may invite Compellent (www.compellent.com/powershell) to do a live demo of their new PowerShell cmdlets.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group #7--VIDEOS

2008-12-17T05:41:00.001-08:00

So, I'm going with a different format this time. I'm going to post the raw videos, and simply post the timing for each section. This keeps the file sizes 10x smaller! It also saves me extra work.

Here's the "time layout" (format is MM:SS or HH:MM:SS):
-Intro (Marco) 8:55-16:00
-Nathan 16:00-44:55
-Joel 45:25-1:12:55
-Idera 1:13:10-1:33:55
-Closing (Marco) 1:35:00-1:38:45

For the details on each speaker's topic, see HERE.

WMV format: For use with most players

HFP format: This can be viewed through a web browser (the file needs to be unzipped)

Your feedback is welcome!

PowerShell Podcast - this Thursday evening

2008-12-16T12:14:00.000-08:00

Jonathan and Hal continue to put on an excellent live PowerShell podcast every Thursday HERE.

This Thursday two members of the Microsoft PowerShell team will be on the podcast: Jeffrey Snover and Bruce Payette.

Jeffrey Snover keeps us informed on http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell and Bruce Payette is the author of PowerShell In Action.

I'm planning to listen in live for this one... It would be my first...

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group #7--UPDATE

2008-12-16T12:10:00.000-08:00

I blogged it HERE: I don't have the #7 recordings ready for download yet. I'm sorry...

I promise to have something in the next 24 hours.

OpsMgr Shell: Another advanced example of PowerShell and the SDK

2008-12-14T17:38:00.000-08:00

Here's another post on advanced usage of the OpsMgr SDK and PowerShell. As I get into more complicated things, it seems I keep running into .NET Generics and collections more and more.

I had quite the time when I came across a read-only collection, and needed to edit it. Fortunately, Jaykul, Oisin and Bruce Payette all came to my rescue.

The result is HERE, where I show:
1. How I am handed a read-only collection by the OpsMgr SDK.
2. I recreate a new generic list with just the elements I want from that read-only collection.
3. Then recreate that read-only collection using my new list.

Wow!

Windows PowerShell Unleased 2nd Edition--AVAILABLE

2008-12-13T17:04:00.000-08:00

I first blogged about the book HERE. Well, it is now "In Stock" on Amazon.com HERE.

Please feel free to leave comments on my blog or on Amazon. I welcome any/all feedback, and will use that feedback for a probably 3rd edition.

I enjoyed working with Tyson and Pete, and can appreciate now how much hard work it is to put your thoughts onto paper in a clear and concise way.

I hope that anyone that reads the book will find it a valuable reference.

OpsMgr Shell: Advanced example using PowerShell and the SDK

2008-12-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

I've got a new post up HERE on the System Center Forum site.

The title is "Advanced example using PowerShell and the OpsMgr SDK: Creating and Updating Groups". I basically translate a post from Jakub Olesky HERE.

I'm going to do a few more related blog posts where I split the above code into two functions/scripts.

OpsMgr Shell: OpsMgr Automation Introduction--Part 2

2008-11-27T11:45:00.001-08:00

I first blogged HERE about starting a short series on OpsMgr Automation.

I covered the simple get-alert cmdlet in the series introduction post, and now have the second part up on the System Center Forum site HERE.

In the second part, I demonstrate PowerShell’s native .NET functionality by using the OpsMgr SDK .NET assemblies directly from a PowerShell console.

Go to the above link for the full article.

PowerShell in OpsMgr 2007 R2 (beta 1)--Operations Manager Shell

2008-11-27T08:16:00.000-08:00

Recently, Microsoft released System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2. This is *not* a SP release, but a new product. I won't go into the licensing details of this as others have covered it, and a search should get you answers.

I haven't seen anyone actually mention PowerShell at all when discussing the new release.

I'm going to try to spend some time this week and next looking for any PowerShell-related changes.

One thing to note at this point is that the "Command Shell" (see note 1 below) appears to have been renamed to "Operations Manager Shell". The decision was likely to follow along with Exchange, where they have their PowerShell extension named "Exchange Management Shell" or "EMS".

As a result, I'm now going to start using the tag "OpsMgr Shell" when referring to the OpsMgr R2 release, and likely any future releases of OpsMgr down the road likely in 2010 or so (that's nothing official or unofficial... I'm just throwing that date out there).

Note 1: The OpsMgr custom PowerShell console pre-loaded with the OpsMgr PowerShell extensions.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #7

2008-11-26T10:35:00.000-08:00

(2nd attempt to have this meeting after it was cancelled due to server problems on November 13th.)

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #7

The full details are HERE.

Briefly:

Time: December 4th, 2008 at 12PM EST (noon; New York time)
Place: Online via Live Meeting 2007

-----------------------------------------------------------
To sign up:
-----------------------------------------------------------

Registration site: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=133768
Event Code: 133768
-----------------------------------------------------------

This is our seventh virtual event. Invited speakers that will talk about various PowerShell-related topics: Nathan Winters (Exchange MVP), Joel (Jaykul) Bennett, Idera (vendor)

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group--NEW HOME

2008-11-26T05:07:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the System Center Virtual User Group for providing a new home for the Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group HERE.

Previously, everything was this personal blog site, and posted on www.powershellcommunity.org, but this new site provides me with some new opportunities do market my group, and help others.

I will still post updates here, but will be referring to blog posts on the new site mostly.

I will be announcing the new date for meeting #7 in the next few hours (cancelled due to Live Meeting server problems).

Command Shell: Tip when using criteria with Get-MonitoringObject

2008-11-19T17:16:00.000-08:00

Another guest blog on the System Center Forum site HERE.

I discuss an odd scenario where some OpsMgr Command Shell commands produce an object with a NoteProperty property type. I briefly talk about what a NoteProperty is in PowerShell, then I I show how to reproduce the particular problem, and how to workaround it using the OpsMgr SDK.

Pete Zerger, founder of the System Center Forum site, also uses some of the things I discuss HERE to create a Dell Server Inventory Report from OpsMgr using the Command Shell.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #7--UPDATE

2008-11-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

As I blogged yesterday, I had to cancel my PowerShell virtual meeting yesterday because of Live Meeting server problems.

I still don't have confirmations from 2 of 3 planned speakers as to whether they are available for Thursday, November 20th.

At this point, I will likely try for Thursday, November 27th, instead of only giving a few days notice.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #7--POSTPONED

2008-11-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

I was to have my latest PowerShell virtual user group meeting earlier today, which was announced HERE.

Microsoft is currently having Live Meeting server problems. So the event will be rescheduled to a later date.

I may try to have it at the same time on Thursday, November 20th. That will depend on speaker availability.

I will try to decide in the next 24 hours whether next Thursday will be possible.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

November Meeting of System Center Virtual User Group

2008-11-11T18:02:00.000-08:00

November Meeting of System Center Virtual User Group is announced HERE.

The System Center Virtual User Group meets this Thursday at 1pm (CST), which is just after my upcoming PowerShell meeting.

This month's topics:
* Deep dive on AD integration in OpsMgr, Raphael Burri (30 min)
* Integrating Forefront Client Security with SCCM, Kevin Colby - SecureVantage (30 min)
* System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 Features and Fixes, Baelson Duque - Microsoft (60 min)

Go to the above link to register.

Command Shell: OpsMgr Automation Introduction

2008-11-04T02:44:00.000-08:00

[Update: November 18th, 2008: Updated System Center URL.]

I've started doing some guest blogging on the great System Center Forum site. My first post is HERE.

I'm doing a series on OpsMgr automation using a simple example like the Command Shell's get-agent cmdlet.

I'm going to attempt to show at least 5 ways that one can duplicate the get-alert cmdlet:

1. The simplest way to list the alerts is via the OpsMgr Command Shell by simply using the get-alert cmdlet.
2. Still using the Command Shell, I could use PowerShell’s .NET functionality to use the OpsMgr SDK .NET assemblies directly from within the console.
3. Using the OpsMgr SDK .NET assemblies, a C# console application could be created to duplicate the same functionality.
4. Similar to what was done for SQL Server 2008, a PowerShell “clone”, also known as a “minishell”, can be created that can also work as a console application.
5. A custom PowerShell runspace can be used, which is the method the Exchange 2007 Management Shell (which is PowerShell with some add-ons for Exchange management/administration) must be integrated into C# applications because of the absence of any other public API.

Check it out!

PowerShell scripting using Visio

2008-11-04T02:30:00.000-08:00

[Update: It seems the zip file requires a password, but I can't find one documented anywhere. I'm trying to reach the site owners and another contact I have to see what the password might be.]

I first blogged HERE about an Asian project that had developed a PowerShell Visio plugin.

Basically, you could create simple PowerShell scritps by creating diagrams in Visio.

It's out now. Get it HERE.

Virtual user group update

2008-11-02T09:55:00.000-08:00

I just announced my seventh meeting of my PowerShell virtual user group HERE. I'll be trying to spread the word this week that the event is coming up.

In July, I had announced HERE that the user group was alive and strong.

It has been about one year since my first online meeting. Live attendance has been steadily decreasing. I haven't found the extra time to figure out a mechanism to log downloads of my recorded sessions to determine whether these are actually useful/in use.

A few months ago, I was considering moving on to other things. Responses to my requests for presenters was about a 20% "yes, I'll do it" rate, which just isn't high enough for me.

I need to come up with a better marketing strategy, and get a few other things together to determine if this is something that brings a real value to a large enough number of people.

I will definitely try to have one more user group meeting around mid-December before I finally decide what things might look like in 2009.

Thanks for reading.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #7

2008-10-31T10:24:00.000-07:00

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group Meeting #7

Time: November 13th, 2008 at 12PM EST (noon; New York time)
Place: Online via Live Meeting 2007

-----------------------------------------------------------
To sign up:
-----------------------------------------------------------
Registration site: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=133189
Event Code: 133189
-----------------------------------------------------------

This is our seventh virtual event. Invited speakers that will talk about various PowerShell-related topics: Nathan Winters (Exchange MVP), Joel (Jaykul) Bennett, Idera (vendor)

To join:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join?id=4RS44G&role=attend&pw=8%5E-%5CzqX

Video:
Video will be delivered via the Microsoft Live Meeting client

Audio:
For attendees, audio will be delivered via the Internet using your computer's speakers. There will not be a call-in number for this meeting (as was the case in the past).

Unable to join the meeting? Follow these steps:
1.Copy this address and paste into your web browser:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join
2.Copy and paste the required information:
Meeting ID: 4RS44G
Entry Code: 8^-\zqX

Agenda:
12:00PM-12:10PM: Introduction
12:10PM-12:35PM: Nathan Winters (MVP)
12:40PM-1:00PM: Joel Bennett
1:05PM-1:30PM: Idera
1:30PM-1:35PM: Closing

Speaker topics:
*Nathan Winters (MVP): "Exchange 2007 from PowerShell". Nathan will show how PowerShell can be used with Exchange 2007.
*Joel (Jaykul) Bennett: "PoSh Tools for the Huddled Masses". Joel, a prominent PowerShell developer, is always full of surprises. This should be a "must attend" for everyone.
*Idera (vendor): Idera will demo their PowerShellPlus product. PowerShellPlus is a editor with strong PowerShell support.

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.)

Command Shell: Set-MaintenanceWindow with an end time of now

2008-10-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

Reported on MS Connect HERE.

I view this more as an issue. Please vote if you come across this problem by following the link above. There is a bit more information if you follow the link also.

Summary:
----------------------
When a maintenance window has been created, if "Set-MaintenanceWindow -endtime $(get-date)" is used, it will output an error:
-------------------------------
Set-MaintenanceWindow : Cannot set scheduled end time to a time in the past
-------------------------------

There seems to be a small delay in processing the command, simply doing this works:
Set-MaintenanceWindow -endtime $(get-date).addseconds(1)

The cmdlet should gracefully accept a end time of "now".
----------------------

Command Shell: Get-MaintenanceWindow reports datetime in UTC

2008-10-27T17:31:00.000-07:00

Reported on Microsoft Connect HERE.

See the summary below. Go to the above link to view the full details. I added this more as feedback versus adding it as an issue (it isn't an actual "trouble").

Please use the above link to vote on the issue if you think this should be resolved by the OpsMgr team.

Summary:
----------------------
Get-MaintenanceWindow reports StartTime and ScheduledEndTime property as the UTC time (ignoring the local timezone).

Example below, the current time is approximately:
Monday, October 27, 2008 7:15:14 PM

When the New-MaintenanceWindow cmdlet is used to create a maintenance window starting immediately, using Get-MaintenanceWindow immediately after, the StartTime shows as:
(Monday, October 27, 2008 7:15:14 PM)+6 (Timezone value)-1 (not DST)=10/28/2008 12:14:58 AM

So it appears, the StartTime property follows the above formula to display the value to the console via the Command Shell.

Get-MaintenanceWindow should report Date/time properties while accounting for the local timezone settings.
----------------------

DPM: Getting the installed DPM version

2008-10-18T18:19:00.000-07:00

I found an interesting post in the microsoft.public.dataprotectionmanager newsgroup where it was asked if there was a way to tell what version of DPM was installed on a remote server.

Unfortunately, DPM doesn't provide a built-in cmdlet to accomplish this apparently, but a VBScript solution was provided using WMI. Of course, I had to provide a simple PowerShell solution:

PS>get-wmiobject -computername some_computer win32_product -filter "Name = 'Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007'"|select version

(I don't have a DPM environment to test, so maybe someone else can help to confirm that this works?)

So even though DPM doesn't provide this directly, we can obtain the info using the get-wmiobject cmdlet to do a WMI query.

Command Shell: Microsoft introduction video

2008-10-18T18:07:00.000-07:00

This has been available online for several months, but I wanted to add a link to it on my blog.

Roger Sprague from the OpsMgr team did this great into video on the Command Shell HERE.

Definitely worth watching for people new to the OpsMgr Command Shell.

TechDays: Canada's answer to TechEd

2008-10-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

[Update October 24th, 2008: Unfortunately, the Halifax event has been removed from the list of cities where the event will be held.]

TechDays is something new for Microsoft Canada. A quote from the event's home page:

"With up to forty 200+ level sessions, Tech•Days is the learning conference on current and emerging technologies such as Virtualization, Group Policy in Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 Resource Governor… and much more."

The closest event to my home town is Halifax, on December 17th, 2008.

**Early bird pricing (50% off!) ends October 15th, 2008.**

I'm honored to have been accepted as a speaker for a session on PowerShell and WMI. The official title is:

"Automating the Management of Windows Servers using PowerShell and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)"

For more information, check out some of the posts on this HERE.

I'm really looking forward to this event, and hope to meet and talk with others interested in PowerShell.

Fortunately, HERE is a letter to help convince your boss that you should attend this event.

Re-awarded: Microsoft MVP 2009

2008-10-10T18:34:00.001-07:00

October 1st this year was a pretty big day for me: I find out if I've been re-awarded as a MVP. Well, I got re-awarded this year.

I'd like to thank Microsoft for having such a program for recognizing community contributions, and thank my MVP lead, Sasha Krsmanovic, for always being there to help.

Upcoming book: Microsoft SQL Server 2008

2008-10-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

I recently wrapped up another authoring opportunity: I've contributed a chapter on the new PowerShell features in SQL Server 2008 for an upcoming book from SAMs: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration.

It's cool to start seeing PowerShell showing up just about everywhere in new Microsoft related books coming out from all the various publishers.

Current release date is set for November 10th, 2008.

Sapien PowerShell poll

2008-09-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

Check it out HERE. Very interesting comments.

I do agree with the resistance with putting .NET on production systems. That has stopped me from trying to roll out a few PowerShell scripts for various automation requests.

OpsMgr Command Shell tip: where-object vs criteria

2008-09-13T07:16:00.001-07:00

I've seen a few OpsMgr Command Shell users posting scripts that use the get-alert cmdlet.

I've seen a few references, where people are using the format:
get-alert|where-object{some_criteria}

When this format is used, get-alert retrieves *all* the alerts from the OpsMgr database, and leaves PowerShell to do all the work of handling all the objects that come in, and then where-object also causes more PowerShell processing time to handle all of the objects passed from get-alert.

Although this may work fine, and a larger environment, this approach will take longer to finish this particular pipeline.

Compare the above format to:
get-alert -criteria 'some_criteria'

I had recently mentioned this in a TechNet Magazine article I wrote. Now if you don't believe me... I'll quote a recent microsoft.public.opsmgr.powershell post by Boris Yanushpolsky a Program Manager on the Microsoft OpsMgr team:

"Using the criteria is significantly more efficient as the query is handled by SQL and only the instances/alerts which meet the criteria are returned to PS. Here is a link to an MSDN article which explains the syntax:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb437603.aspx"

The syntax and case used for the query can be a bit harder to master, but it is worth the effort to learn it in larger environment.

Book review: Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 Administrator's Companion, Second Edition

2008-09-12T16:33:00.000-07:00

[Also posted on Amazon.com and Chapters.ca]

I just finished reviewing this book. I looked at it from the perspective of its Windows PowerShell content as I'm a Microsoft MVP who specializes in PowerShell scripting.

PowerShell is becoming more and more important. Under the covers, PowerShell is the basis of all administrative tasks done in the Exchange 2007 Management Console.

PowerShell is new and can be intimidating. However, for anyone who wants to automate tasks and become more productive, they should start investing some time in learning PowerShell. The time will soon come where PowerShell will be the common scripting language used by all Microsoft server products.

What I like about this book is that it isn't too heavy on the PowerShell content, which is good for people new to the scripting language. Concepts are clearly presented, and then there's a small section on how to do the task in PowerShell with an example provided.

Apart from its PowerShell content, the book is very well laid out, and covers every aspect of Exchange that an administrator should know about.

Overall: Five stars.

PowerShell user group update

2008-09-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

I announced my user group plans for the next six months HERE.

I'm going to be a little bit behind on that schedule.

Unfortunately, the "Codeplex spotlight" session I wanted to have isn't going to happen as planned, but I might reschedule it for later...

Upcoming book: Windows PowerShell 2.0 Unleashed

2008-09-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

[Update September 12th, 2008: I mention "Windows PowerShell 2.0" as the title, but that title is tentative...]

Source: Amazon.com

Quote:
"Windows PowerShell 2.0 Unleashed (Paperback)
by Tyson Kopczynski (Author), Pete Handley (Author), Marco Shaw (Author)"

I'm pleased to finally see my name on the cover of a book, after having written a chapter in at least 2 books for far.

The image hasn't been updated, but I'm OK with that.

Release date is currently December 12th, 2008.

PowerShell workshop @ UNB in early October

2008-08-26T18:31:00.000-07:00

[Update: September 12th, 2008: This has been cancelled. I may reconsider putting this on in 2009.]

If you or anyone you know is interested feel free to contact me to
register: marco DOT shaw AT gmail DOT com or leave a comment here.

Please feel free to pass this around.

Who should attend: Administrators/Developers/Architects/Engineers/Analysts

When: October 2, 2008.
Where: UNB Fredericton
Time: 9AM-4PM (1 hour for lunch, bring your own)
Cost: Free

Why attend: Windows PowerShell (http://www.microsoft.com/powershell)
is Microsoft's next-generation automation scripting language. All
admin tasks within Exchange 2007 are all based on Windows PowerShell
functionality. PowerShell is part of Microsoft's Common Engineering
Criteria 2009, which basically means all server products should now be
shipped with PowerShell functionality.

What the session will provide (tentative):
-9AM-10AM: PowerShell introduction (theory/lecture)
-10AM-10.30AM: PowerShell 3rd party products (theory/lecture) -- & short break
-10.30AM-11.30AM: PowerShell scripting (theory/lecture)
-11.30AM-noon: PowerShell hands-on scripting/labs
-noon-1PM: lunch break
-1PM-2PM: PowerShell development with C# (theory/lecture)
-2PM-3PM: PowerShell hands-on development/labs -- & short break

The above leaves room to change some things or spend more time on
particular topics. Going until 3PM is highly likely, and going to 4PM
could happen.

Bio:
Marco is currently an IT system analyst for one of Canada's leading
telecommunications companies. He has been working in the IT industry
for over 10 years. He recently received a Microsoft Most Valuable
Professional award for his contributions to the Windows PowerShell
community. His personal blog is at http://marcoshaw.blogspot.com,
where he covers all kinds of PowerShell related topics. He is also a
contributor and moderator of the new PowerShell Community site at
http://www.powershellcommunity.org.

PDF creation from PowerShell!?

2008-08-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

Quote from HERE:
"PDFsharp is the Open Source library that easily creates PDF documents from any .NET language.
The same drawing routines can be used to create PDF documents, draw on the screen, or send output to any printer."

Can't wait to try this out with PowerShell!

An apology to the UK PowerShell user group

2008-08-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

Announced HERE, I was planning to do a presention on /n software NetCmdlets.

It was rescheduled to mid-August, and I don't think I'll be able to make that date either, so it may be mid-September or so.

To everyone and Richard: I'm sorry.

INETA to support virtual user groups

2008-08-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

Apparently INETA will start to support virtual user groups soon. INETA is basically a volunteer based organization that supports Microsoft .NET user groups world-wide.

I had tried to register my virtual user group with INETA, but was denied because I wasn't having actual face-to-face meetings.

This may help introduce my user group to a more world-wide audience.

Some of my meetings had about a 15% participation level from continents outside of North America.

NetCmdlets--new v2 beta build

2008-07-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

There's a new NetCmdlets v2 build out HERE. See the page for details.

NOTE: The built-in help with this build doesn't work with the PowerShell v2 CTP (only tested this on XP). You'll have to use the provided .CHM help file or use PowerShell v1.

I will be doing a presentation on this snapin next week at the UK PowerShell UG announced HERE.

UK PowerShell User Group (NetCmdlets)--UPDATE

2008-07-23T11:55:00.000-07:00

I have had to change the date for my presentation for the UK user group that I recently announced HERE.

Furthermore, I had posted the Live Meeting details for presenters, while anyone joining should be using the attendee address.

The updated information:
Date: July 31st, 2008
Time: 2PM EST (New York time)

Connection details:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=JQ5754&role=attend&pw=6M%2B7p%26KhN

If the link above isn't working, follow these steps:
1. Copy this address and paste it into your web browser:
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join
2. Copy and paste the required information:
Meeting ID: JQ5754
Entry Code: 6M+7p&KhN
Location: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups

This will be done via the Internet (so the audio will be streaming over the Internet also). There won't be telephone dial-in access.

Windows PowerShell Virtual User Group: Future plans

2008-07-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

Just letting you know what my future plans are for my PowerShell virtual user group.

These are tentative dates and topics:
2008
-Mid-September: Codeplex spotlight. I'm planning presentations by the people responsible for the most popular PowerShell projects on www.codeplex.com.
-Mid-October: Spotlight on Microsoft applications that support PowerShell. Presentations will be by Microsoft MVPs and/or employees.
-Mid-November: Currently open. Topic(s) unknown.
-Early-December: PowerShell applications #2 (similar to mid-October, but different applications).

2009
-Late-January: Currently open. Topic(s) unknown.
-Late-February: PowerShell applications #3 (similar to mid-October 2008, but different applications).