SCOM: Installing the Command Shell elsewhere

I've been learning a lot about System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) 2007 lately. I had wondered if one could easily make the Command Shell available on other systems.

I came across this great post HERE on doing just this.

It is very detailed. I haven't tried it out yet, but it definitely looks like it covers everything.

MS Press author: Windows Server® 2008 Administrator's Companion

Now that the book is officially released, I can publically announce that I contributed about 80 pages to the newly released Windows Server® 2008 Administrator's Companion.

I wrote a complete chapter on PowerShell aimed mostly as a quick overview/introduction for administrators that are new to PowerShell.

Key topics are reviewed, and then some examples are provided using the concepts discussed.

Many thanks for Charlie Russel for the opportunity! He also helped out a lot with the editing process, writing the introduction section, and valuable input throughout the chapter.

My virtual user groups

I run a virtual PowerShell user group and have meetings roughly every 2 months. I recently had meeting #5.

My question to all my readers: Are you watching the recordings of my sessions? The live audience is dropping from each meeting to the next (and I know I'm not putting much of a marketing push on the upcoming meetings).

Do you have any kind of feedback on the user group? Positive and negative comments welcome and appreciated.

I'm doing this as much for PowerShell users out there as I am for my own personal education.

Tell me what you think!

CTP2: get-random -maximum

Just something to note, when using the -maximum flag to the new get-random cmdlet, you're actually defining a value that is considered exclusive. In other words, you might think the following will give you numbers between 1 and 10 (10 being inclusive):

get-random -minimum 1 -maximum 10

In actuality, the above gives you numbers starting at 1 to 9 inclusively:

CTP2>1..100|foreach-object{get-random -min 1 -max 10}|
>> group-object|sort-object name|
>> format-table -a name,@{label="Count";exp={"#"*$_.count}}
>>

Name Count
---- -----
1 ###################
2 #######
3 ##########
4 ###########
5 #####
6 ######
7 ##############
8 ###############
9 #############

CTP2>

The above is just a quick way to show the results visually. Each "#" represents the number of times that particular number showed up after 100 tries.

Windows PowerShell User Group #5--VIDEOS

Finally, I'm posting the videos and slides from my fifth user group meeting announced HERE.

I'm limited to 20-25MB/file for my SkyDrive account. I have problems uploading files if they are bigger than that. Sorry!

*Marco Shaw introduction.


*Bart De Smet (Microsoft): Focus on extensibility (cmdlets and providers) and discuss v2 features: script cmdlets and internationalization.





-PowerPoint presentation (PowerPoint 2007 required, PPT 2007 viewer available online)


*Steven Nelson (Microsoft): MSDN/SDK PowerShell documentation.


*Marco Shaw closing.

New book coming: Windows PowerShell Pocket Reference

Lee Holmes is at it again: Windows PowerShell Pocket Reference. This should be handy to carry around, and a good update to his earlier quick reference PDF.

PowerGadgets: Changes underway

PowerGadgets are one of my favorite 3rd party snapins for PowerShell. Things have been quiet on their site lately, but they are starting to make a few announcements.

One thing is a new pricing structure, which should bring the product within reach of any IT budget.