I need YOUR PowerShell Stories

We all love PowerShell and we all probably have some very entertaining stories about a situation where it really saved our butts (or caused problems). Either way, we can all tell some kind of interesting story around a memorable moment you had with PowerShell or automation in general.  I’d love to hear about them.

I’m looking for a short story anywhere from a few paragraphs to an entire article if you want.  The more detail the better. What kind of situation were you in? Were you under a deadline and PowerShell saved the day?  Did automation backfire in your face and you blew up your whole datacenter?  I want to know about it!

Our NaNoWriMo Challenge: Write a PowerShell Article

In honor of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I wanted to offer a smaller, and more unique, challenge.
Send me a PowerShell article.
Seriously. My name is Don Jones, and this is PowerShell.org, so you can probably figure out how to contact me. Send me an article between 800 and 3,000 words (including code) in Microsoft Word format. Don’t attach any scripts. Please keep the formatting super-simple: paste code from the PowerShell ISE, and use Word’s default styles otherwise. If you must include screen shots, please embed them in the doc, but also include them as a a separate PNG in your e-mail.
You can write about anything, provided it’s PowerShell-related._ _What’s best? Some challenge that stumped you - and that you eventually solved (and please, tell us how). Something that you think folks could benefit from, or could learn to do better. Even an article that lays out both sides of a particular question, and outlines the pros and cons of each argument. Doesn’t matter. What matters is that you write. _
I will personally commit to reading every single one, and providing you with feedback on your article. When suitable, I’ll make some specific suggestions for improving the article. If you then fix it up accordingly, I’ll run it by a professional editor - and I’ll have it published. _In some cases, we’ll publish it right here on PowerShell.org. In other cases, I’ll submit it to my friends at 1105 Media for their consideration in one of their IT magazines, like Redmond Magazine or MCPMag.com. Still others will go into the PowerShell.org TechLetter, which would be a huge help to our editors, who are always hungry for content.
Being able to communicate well is important in all walks of life, but being willing to share is even more important. Think you’ve got nothing to share? _Wrong. _You have unique experiences that everyone can learn from. You do not need to be an expert in order to have something valuable to share. We would all benefit a lot more if more people shared their experiences and successes - so now it’s your turn.
The deadline is November 30th, of course, and I’ll work my way through them all as quickly as possible. You’re not going to be judged on your grammar or spelling (although do use Word’s tools to help those as much as it can). Don’t try to write fancy, or overly formal. In fact, just write like you’d talk. Read your piece back to yourself _aloud, _and if it sounds weird, fix it so it doesn’t. If it sounds good, it’ll read well.
C’mon. Take up the challenge. And tweet folks over to this article, too. Let’s make it a thing. My goal is to help at least a few folks because regular bloggers, either here or elsewhere, and my dream is to find maybe a couple of folks who can pick up a full-time column with a magazine or other publication. That’d be awesome. I know you’re out there - let’s get the party started.

Need Desired State Configuration Modules?

You’ve probably been hearing about Desired State Configuration from a number of sources (Runas Radio, the PowerScripting Podcast, or the Channel 9 TechEd video for example).  If you haven’t go check out those previously mentioned resources, I’ll wait…
Ok, now that you have a basic understanding of what Desired State Configuration (DSC) is, I have an announcement.

PowerShell.Org is building a repository of DSC modules for the community to use and contribute to.

As I’ve started working with Desired State Configuration, I began building up a repository of modules I would use in configuring my systems.  I started to round them out with some basic documentation and decent logging messages and began pushing them to GitHub.
I’ve also seen several others starting to post some DSC modules on Github and elsewhere.  Since we are very early in the Desired State Configuration lifecycle (it’s still not RTM yet), I would like our community to come together on a central location for our community contributions.  I reached out to Don and the PowerShell.Org team and they graciously offered to host the contributions on the PowerShell.Org GitHub repository.  What that means is that this effort is no longer under the control of one person (me), but owned by the community, by PowerShell.Org.
There’s not much in the repository yet, so if you’ve been experimenting with DSC and would like to share your efforts with the community, feel free to send a pull request (if you’re into the whole GitHub thing) or file an issue on the GitHub site and we’ll figure something out.
There is some basic “Getting Started With Developing DSC Modules” information at the GitHub repository as well.

Would you contribute enterprise software reviews? [OFFTOPIC]

I’ve been working with a couple of folks lately who’ve been trying to review and pilot Active Directory auditing solutions. Both bemoaned the fact that, unlike consumer products of nearly any kind, IT products (specifically, enterprise software in this instance), don’t really get reviews from the admins who use those products.
So, I’m curious. If you could (a) anonymously, and (b) without giving your organization’s name, would you (c) leave reviews of enterprise software for other admins? You’d need to leave some obvious details, like the approximate size of your organization (number of users), what you expected the software to do, what it really did, what you liked, what you didn’t like, and so on.
Such a site would be a lot better (I think) than magazine or “professional” reviews, since you’d be reading the experiences of people who actually use the stuff every day. Yeah, as with any publicly-contributed content, review quality will vary - but you already know how to read between the lines, right? 😉
Drop a comment, or even send a tweet to @concentrateddon with “Reviews: YES!” or “Reviews: NO!” comment. Or if you prefer Facebook, leave that comment on my FB page. It sure seems like we IT professionals could use something like this - it’d be a good place to start researching solutions to particular problems, and a good place to share some real-world intel on how different solutions really work. Even if you don’t like writing reviews, would you use such a site as part of your research process?

"Super Secret" Snover Session at TechEd

So what’s with the “super secret” PowerShell session being given by Jeffrey Snover at TechEd 2013?
First, if you’ll be in New Orleans, plan to attend this. The deal is pretty simple: Microsoft has got a lot of information pertaining to v.Next under embargo, which means people can’t talk about it yet, or even tell you the title of the session. But trust me, if you’re interested in the world of DevOps (and if you use PowerShell, you are), you’ll want to be at this session. PowerShell MVPs were given a sneak peek at what Snover will be discussing, and it’ll frankly blow your mind. It will, over the long haul, put PowerShell in a completely new place - and you’ll want to get in on the ground floor.
Like most sessions at TechEd, it appears as if they’ll be recording this, so even if you can’t attend in person be sure to check back once the recording is live. That usually takes a day or two after the talk itself.
And spread the word a bit. There’s a bit of a worry that, because even the title of the session won’t be announced until TechEd formally commences, folks won’t have much time to realize the session exists and it’ll go empty. We don’t want that to happen - as with any new developments in PowerShell, it’s crucial to get folks thinking about it early, to get their feedback early, and to start planning for it early.

The new PowerShell Class is Coming to a CPLS Near You!

Looking for a great getting-started PowerShell class? Or perhaps you’d like to send a colleague or peer to some PowerShell “zero to hero” training?
We’ve just finished the official beta-teach of Microsoft’s 10961, Automating Administration with Windows PowerShell, and it went _great. _The sequencing of the class was spot-on, and we had an absolutely incredible group of students. Many were n00bs, which was perfect; a couple had “some” shell experience but wanted to learn “the right way.” And they did.
Through a series of 12 modules, you’re led through the basics all the way up to writing your own script. The grand semi-finale has you creating a script that provisions a brand-new, freshly-installed Server Core instance - all without logging on to that instance at all. The high moment for me was when one student, after struggling a bit to get started on the provisioning lab, concluded with a “well, that did it.” Everything came together for him: command discovery, help, scripting, variables, remoting, all of it. He did the task, from scratch, with practically no help. He’s _there. _
10961 replaces MS course 10325, and it will soon be supplemented by a Microsoft Courseware Marketplace title that goes further into scripting, error handling, debugging, and more… what I’ve taken to calling _toolmaking. _We’ll hopefully continue to refresh both courses as PowerShell evolves.
So call your local Microsoft Certified Partner - Learning Systems (“training center”) and see when they’re offering 10961. A bit of caution: this is a class where, unfortunately, an inexperienced MCT will be really challenged. While the course book is a full, almost-500-page book (you’re welcome), it’s tightly timed and you’ll definitely want to check the credentials and experience of whatever trainer is running the class. You can’t just “read the slides” to stay a module ahead of the students on this one.
This class is strongly based upon _Learn Windows PowerShell 3.0 in a Month of Lunches, _in terms of how the material is presented, although the sequence and narrative was altered a bit to better accommodate Microsoft requirements and classroom logistics. I’m really proud of how the course turned out - so if you’ve got folks who need some PowerShell training, tell ’em to look it up. Many CPLS centers offer remote training, too, meaning you can attend from the comfort of your own home or office.
If you take the class, I’d love to hear what you think.

Verify Your PowerShell Skills

A long time ago… about a year, in fact… Jason Helmick and I started talking about a community-owned PowerShell “certification.” It went nowhere. Well, not very far.
Some background on exams: Microsoft, in my opinion, will never do a PowerShell cert. I say this having been part owner of a company that did outsourced exam development for the company. The deal is that Microsoft tries to certify _job tasks, _not _tools. _Nobody (well, maybe me) wakes up thinking, “gonna do me some PowerShell today.” No, PowerShell is the means to an end: “gonna automate me some user creation today” is more likely. And Microsoft tries to certify that end. PowerShell’s an important tool, and it already shows up on certification exams here and there.
For the most part, I agree with Microsoft’s reasoning, there. The argument can be summarized as saying “bosses don’t hire IT pros based on their ability to operate a low-level tool, they hire them to perform job tasks, which encompasses the tool.” Except that, in the case of PowerShell, I think it’d be tremendously useful for an employer to use PowerShell expertise as a discriminating factor in hiring. I mean, “someone who can automate stuff” is more valuable than “someone who can only do stuff manually,” in any situation.
So “PowerShell Verified” was intended to be a way for someone to prove - at least to themselves - that they’ve taken their PowerShell skills _to the minimum level necessary to be an effective automator. _Not a guru. Not an expert. Not Poshoholic. _Minimally effective, _who could then grow from there with experience.
So that’s what I’m going to put together.
I want to explain why I’m not using the word “Certification,” though. In my mind, certifications come from, mainly, first-parties like Microsoft. Microsoft has to jump through a lot of hoops to make sure their exam content is accurate, legally defensible, blah blah blah. They worry about security, brain dumps, and other stuff that diminishes the value of the certification. I don’t have that kind of bandwidth or their resources, so in many ways my little program will be less effective than a “real” certification. Plus, few bosses will give a rat’s patooty what that Don Jones guy said about your skillz (I can’t even convince bosses to buy you guys 12-core 64GB workstations for your desk). So my “Verified” program is going to be _low stakes, _meaning you take it to prove something to _ yourself _.
Here’s how this is going to go.