In celebration of Friday the 13th and to help ward off any triskaidekaphobia I thought I’d offer up 13 PowerShell scriptblocks. These are scriptblocks that might solve a legitimate business need like finding how long a server has been running to the more mercurial such as how many hours before I can go home. A…
Category: Windows Server
Windows Update Module
I don’t have a large environment to manage, but I do have a number of test boxes I try to keep up date using Windows Software Update Server (WSUS). Occasionally I’ve needed to manage things client-side. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of good tools, and nothing PowerShell-related that I’ve found so I wrote my own….
NetPoint Pro Review
My first work for Windows IT Pro has been released. In the August 2010 issue I wrote a review on Netpoint Pro. In short, I think many small to midsized companies should take a look, but I hope you’ll take a moment to read the full review. It will only take a few minutes.
Get Your TCP Ports Here!
Once again, the PowerShell forum at ScriptingAnswers.com has undone me. I was answering a question about running Netstat in a PowerShell session on a remote computer which got me thinking about a PowerShell function to turn NETSTAT.EXE output into objects. Once you have an object then you can do all sorts of things. Needless to…
WBADMIN Demo
Earlier this year I wrote an article for REDMOND Magazine about the new backup features in Windows Server 2008 R2. I’m not going to re-hash the article here except to say it includes some sample scripts on using the WBADMIN command line tool. One of the scripts is an old-school batch file. The batch file…
New Book Project – Reviewers Needed
While at Microsoft TechEd, I signed the paperwork to write a second edition of Managing Active Directory with Windows PowerShell: TFM for SAPIEN Press. It’s hard to believe so much has happened since that book hit the shelves in less than 2 years. The 2nd edition will continue to include coverage of Quest Software’s PowerShell…
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit PowerShell Wizard
During the last TechMentor conference in Orlando, deployment MVP and guru (I want to call her a deployment diva but I don’t want people to get the wrong idea. Think “diva” in the star sense without the ego and entourage,) Rhonda Layfield asked me to look at some PowerShell code. She was trying to make…
PowerShell Quick Start on Server Core R2
The great thing about the Server Core flavor that ships with Windows Server 2008 R2 is that it finally supports Windows PowerShell. I’ve talked about this before. However, I think I neglected some of the finer points in getting started. You can (and should) run PowerShell on your R2 Core servers. More than likely you…
New File Shortcut
I’ve been looking at the File Server Resource Manager (FSRM) feature in Windows Server 2008 R2 a lot lately. One very nice part of FSRM is the ability to schedule typical file management tasks. One of the examples from the Microsoft storage team is to create a custom task to move old files to another…
TechMentor Orlando 2010 Decks and Demos
I had a great time in Orlando at the TechMentor conference. The crowd was enthusiastic and asked good questions. As promised, here are my slide decks and demos. My sessions tend to be heavy on demonstration so I can’t promise you’ll get a ton of value from the decks alone. You’ll simply have to attend…
PowerShell in the Enterprise
A new whitepaper I wrote for Quest Software has finally made it’s public appearance: PowerShell in the Enterprise: Best Practices and Recommendations. The paper discusses some best practices for using PowerShell in an enterprise environment. Essentially, getting the most from your PowerShell “investment”, especially when you might have multiple PowerShell-based administrators. Although certainly the suggestions…
TechMentor Orlando 2010
I’m busy polishing my presentations and demos for next week’s Techmentor conference in sunny Orlando, Fl. I’ve been presenting at Techmentor for a number of years now and it is a great show for administrators searching for answers to the problems and challenges they face today. You get intimate sessions with industry experts like Don…
Power Up your R2 Server Core Shell
I’ve recently started using the Server Core option for my test servers, especially for things like domain controllers. I can get by with smaller disk and memory requirements. Once you get the server configured, there’s very little you have to do that actually requires logging on to the server. Which is good because all you…
Get Expert AD and Identity Management Information
Some of my readers may have realized I don’t blog much about Active Directory here, despite having written a book on the subject. That’s because I also blog and help moderate The Experts Community. This site, although run by Quest Software, is not a commercial site. It is intended as a community drive site centered…
Promoting PowerShell
This question comes up quite often: “How can I encourage adoption of Windows PowerShell in my organization?” I periodically poll people about their adoption plans and what sort of things are standing in the way. Most of the obstacles in my opinion can be cleared with experience, exposure and education. On Twitter today, @ChuckBoyceJr was…