Thomas Lee – PowerShell MVP and Independent
PowerShell Guru
PowerShell is Microsoft’s task automation platform. PowerShell
now ships as a fully installed component of Windows (including
Windows 7 and Server 2009 R2). Versions for Windows XP, Windows
Vista, Server 2003, 2003 R2 and 2008 are available for download
from Windows update.
PowerShell includes a powerful scripting engine that is built on
top of the .NET Framework. It includes cmdlets (small commands that
do useful things) that can be combined via a Unix-like pipeline and
a Unix line pipeline to link the output of one cmdlet as intpu to
the next. This means shorter and simpler scripts than possible with
earlier products. PowerShell also includes the ability to access
older COM and WMI objects and to work across these three stacks
seamlessly.
Another key feature of Version 2 is remoting, which makes
running scripts on remote machines trivial – for example in one
line of code, you could look at every server in your organisation,
check for the existence of a hotfix and install it if needed.
Windows server provides several hundred task focused cmdlets that
provide management capability over all aspects of Windows – these
can be enhanced with a variety of community developed exensions.
All key Microsoft servers (Exchange 2010) SQL 2008, SharePoint 2010
as well as the System Center suite) provide PowerShell management
tools.
As an IT Pro, if you don’t know PowerShell, you will shortly
find yourself looking for a new career. So jumpstart your use of
PowerShell in your organisation today – enroll on a basic
PowerShell class to push through the learning curve, or bring your
deeper problems along to the unique PowerShell Master Class (© PS
Partnership 2010).