Last week I was working on a problem in a PowerShell forum. The admin was having problems getting Add-Computer to work. After a bit of “try this/try that” something became clear, and it’s something that is easy to overlook. Especially when we get lulled into thinking PowerShell is omnipotent.
Category: PowerShell v2.0
PowerCLI VM Peek
Now that I believe I’ve resolved my hardware issues with my VMware server, I’m expecting to use it much more. I’m also continuing my exploration of the PowerCLI tool set which allows me to manage my virtual infrastructure from a Windows PowerShell session. One task that I frequently need is to identify which virtual machines…
Friday the 13 Script Blocks
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…
Module Mania
More and more, you’re seeing members of the Windows PowerShell community package their contributions into modules, myself included. Although you’ll probably still see a lot of individual functions because it is often easier to demonstrate or educate. I received a comment on my Weather module that I thought merited a complete post, since I expect…
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….
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…
Get Your Free Scripting Toolkit
If you were at this year's TechEd event in New Orleans, I hoped you dropped by the SAPIEN Technologies booth and picked up your free Scripting Toolkit. What's that you say? Check it out on the SAPIEN blog and then download your free copy.
Export-Function
I love that you can do so much with PowerShell on the fly. For example, I don’t need to launch a script editor to create a PowerShell function. I can do it right from the command prompt. PS C:\> function tm {(get-date).ToLongTimeString()} PS C:\> tm 12:41:27 PM As long as my PowerShell session is open,…
Running Veeam Jobs
I’m still fighting hardware issues with my ESX box (among other things) but I wanted to jot down some more notes on my experiences with PowerCLI and the Veeam backup cmdlets. Last week I wrote about how I created multiple backup jobs with a one line PowerShell expression. After the jobs were created I needed…
VMware Backup with PowerCLI and Veeam
My primary backup drive for my virtual machine backup toasted on me so I had to recreate all of my backup jobs. I’ve been using Veeam’s backup product for VMware and it couldn’t be easier to use. I’ve known that it included a set of PowerShell cmdlets but I had never really looked at them…
Out-Clip
I’ve started working on the 2nd edition of Managing Active Directory with Windows PowerShell: TFM. As with almost all of my writing projects it will be full of PowerShell code examples. In the past I’ve always relied on a manual copy and paste to add content to the manuscript. The PowerShell Community Extensions made this…
MVP #4
I’m happy to report that I am yet again a Microsoft MVP for Windows PowerShell, now for my 4th year in a row. Dear Jeffrey Hicks, Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2010 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real…
Objects are the answer
As I usually do, I was helping out in the forums at ScriptingAnswers.com. A member had several variables that he wanted to show as a group. As is almost always the case, the answer in PowerShell is object. I talk about this all the time in classes, conferences and online chitchat. Let me offer up…
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…
TechEd 2010 VBScript to PowerShell
Last week I posted my demo slides as well as my demo videos. As promised, I’ve gone through and expanded a bit on my original slide deck. TechEdNA-2010-Hicks-ParadigmShift is a 3MB PDF of my expanded PowerPoint slide deck. If you have any questions about the content or what it takes to get your head from…