Articles

PowerShell articles, tutorials, and guides from community experts.

John Mello

PhillyPoSH 10/03/2013 meeting summary and presentation materials

John Mello gave a presentation on creating HTML reports in PowerShell, a copy of his presentation and scripts can be found here TJ Turner gave a presentation on Community Defined Best Practices, a copy of his presentation can be found here We had user error audio issues with Lync throughout the meeting so a recording will not be posted to our YouTube channel, We celebrated our 1st anniversary!

Don Jones
Training

Help me Design the Advanced PowerShell Class!

I’ve been asked to work on an “advanced” PowerShell class. Now, I don’t like the “advanced” word very much, because it means something different to everyone, depending on their experience. So I’m trying to make the class focus on “powerful, practical things you can do with PowerShell that definitely drift into programming and scripting.” You can tell me what you think by taking an online survey about the proposed outline, which will be online through October 18th, 2013.

Don Jones
PowerShell Summit

LEAK: PowerShell Summit NA 2014 Speakers

I got a glance at the “short list” of speakers for the PowerShell Summit North America 2014. While none of these names are guaranteed - these guys haven’t even been contacted to confirm - they’ll definitely receive an invite in the next few days. First up, Mike Pfeiffer. This excites me because Mike’s a former MVP, and now a Premier Field Engineer (PFE) with Microsoft. He _literally _wrote the book on managing Exchange Server with PowerShell, and should be a great addition to our new Domain-Specific track.

Steven Murawski
PowerShell for Admins

Building a Desired State Configuration Configuration

Now that’s a title!  We’ve worked through my reasoning as to why I want Desired State Configuration (DSC) and how to build a pull server.  Today and in the next post we are going to look at how to create configurations which describe how our target systems are supposed to work. The High Points Overview Configuring the Pull Server (REST version) Creating Configurations (one of two - this post, two of two) Configuring Clients Building Custom Resources Packaging Custom Resources Advanced Client Targeting Building Configurations Configurations are the driving force for DSC.

Steven Murawski
PowerShell for Admins

Building a Desired State Configuration Pull Server

Quick recap, I’m working through a series of posts about the Desired State Configuration infrastructure that I’m building at Stack Exchange, including some how-to’s. The High Points Overview Configuring the Pull Server (REST version) (this post) Creating Configurations (one of two, two of two) Configuring Clients Building Custom Resources Packaging Custom Resources Advanced Client Targeting I started with an overview of what and why.  Today, I’m going to start the how.

Steven Murawski
Tutorials

Building a Desired State Configuration Infrastructure

This is a the kickoff in a series of posts about building a Desired State Configuration (DSC) infrastructure. I’ll be leveraging concepts I’ve been working on as I’ve been building out our DSC deployment at Stack Exchange. The High Points Overview (this post) Configuring the Pull Server (REST version) Creating Configurations (one of two, two of two) Configuring Clients Building Custom Resources Packaging Custom Resources Advanced Client Targeting I’m starting today with the general overview of what I’m trying to accomplish and why I’m trying to accomplish this.

Don Jones
Announcements

Seeking Coaches and Judges for the Winter Scripting Games

We’re now seeking volunteer Coaches and Judges for the Winter Scripting Games! The Games are tentatively scheduled to run for 4-6 weeks starting January 6th, 2014. There will be 4-6 events, each lasting one week. Coaches Coaches have access to all teams’ entries and private discussion threads for the week while entries are being developed and accepted. Coaches are meant to log in throughout that one-week period, evaluate what teams have submitted so far, and offer comments and advice in the in-Game discussion thread.

Don Jones
PowerShell for Admins

More Congrats!

Another kudos to Jon Walz, host of the long running PowerScripting Podcast, for his first and well-deserved MVP Award!

Don Jones
PowerShell for Admins

Congrats!

Congrats to our CFO, Jason Helmick, on receiving his first MVP Award!

Don Jones
Scripting Games

Winter Scripting Games Tentatively Scheduled

We’re tentatively scheduling the 2014 Winter Scripting Games for 4-6 weeks beginning January 6, 2014. Right now, we’re running functional tests on the platform (which will be all-new and much-improved), and soliciting scenarios from MVPs and PowerShell celebrities. As previously announced, players will work in teams of 2-6 in this edition of the Games, and it’s never too early to start finding friends to form a team with you. Because you’ll be working in teams, and because you’ll have a full week to complete each scenario, expect more complex scenarios!