Preface

Windows PowerShell, a booming scripting language, is growing exponentially day-by-day. The enhancements introduced in the latest version make this technology stronger with inexorable growth. It is a must to catch up with the latest version of Windows PowerShell.

Instant Windows PowerShell Guide is a quick reference guide to enable you with Windows PowerShell Versions 3.0 and 4.0 techniques. In this book, you will find new enhancements present in the latest version of PowerShell with an ample number of examples. This book is a cookbook covering quick recipes of new CMDLETs, modules, syntax enhancements, the preference variable introduced, and so on. This book builds a bridge to quickly move from older versions of PowerShell to Versions 3.0 and 4.0.

What this book covers

Windows PowerShell – prerequisites elaborates the need to learn Windows PowerShell as a scripting language with relevant requirements.

Live with help (Simple) describes enhancements done with the latest help system and discovery techniques. Moreover, it suggests ways to update and save help files.

Calculate with the console (Simple) covers new methods and properties introduced in v3.0 with various default objects such as string and integer. It focuses on calculating functionality of the PowerShell console especially with byte units.

Dealing with PSDrive (Simple) describes extensive support of PSDrive with v3.0. It also covers JSON-formatted objects and PSCustomObject types, introduced in v3.0

Administer the system (Intermediate) focuses on a few CMDLETs and parameters which are useful for system administration.

How to import modules to the console (Simple) lets you know how to import modules in the console. It covers module autoloading and logging as key features of v3.0.

Typing enhancements (Intermediate) elaborates typing enhancements with respect to the Where and ForEach objects.

Working with various parameters of Get-Command (Intermediate) elaborates about the parameters of Get-Command in different versions of PowerShell.

Setting default parameter values (Intermediate) describes how to set the default parameter values.

Alias the aliases (Simple) covers various parameters introduced for the Get-Acl and Get-ChildItem CMDLETs.

Operate the data (Intermediate) describes the In and NotIn operators. It also talks about various parameter with the Get-Content and Tee-Object CMDLETs.

Working with the Out-GridView CMDLET (Intermediate) gives details on the different parameters of the Out-GridView CMDLET.

Session scheme (Intermediate) elaborates new CMDLETs and parameters to efficiently deal with Windows PowerShell sessions.

Working remotely (Advanced) covers remoting enhancements with respect to the Invoke-Command CMDLET.

WorkFlow sessions (Advanced) deals with creating an execution sequence by using various command statements.

Script it (Advanced) describes the use of snippets to write scripts quickly and the rebooting feasibility of servers in the middle of a script execution.

WMI versus CIM (Advanced) introduces the CIM CMDLET as the CimCmdlets module. This recipe also shows how it works compared to WMI, used in previous versions.

Job scheduling (Intermediate) elaborates on a dedicated module introduced for PowerShell Job Scheduling named PSScheduledJob.

Understanding Desired State Configuration (Advanced) elaborates about a set of extensions and providers that enable declarative, repeatable deployment and configuration of data center resources. DSC enables us to define the configuration of target nodes (computers or devices) and prevent configuration inconsistencies.

Executing Desired State Configuration (Advanced) describes what needs to be done rather than covering imperative syntax and specifies how a task can be performed.

Exploring various Configuration Providers (Advanced) talks about gathering the information about various DSC resources.

What you need for this book

This book is written by assuming Windows PowerShell Version 3.0 server environments. It needs PowerShell v3.0 that can be availed either with Windows Server 2012 or Windows 8. In few scenarios, it needs PowerShell 4.0 that can be availed with Windows Server 2012 R2. If you deal with older versions of operating systems such as Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 that have PowerShell v2.0 by default. The upgrade path is given in Windows PowerShell – prerequisites. Keep in mind that the module functionality and outputs vary depending on the environment it has been used in.

Who this book is for

The book is intended for IT professionals who have some knowledge of the previous version of Windows PowerShell. Experience in Microsoft server environment is a plus point.

This is a very useful guide to PowerShell learners who need to quickly update themselves with Windows PowerShell v3.0.

Conventions

In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.

Code words in text are shown as follows: "You can use the Get-Help CMDLET immediately after the Update-Help CMDLET to access the updated filesystem."

A block of code is set as follows:

Archive MyArchive
{  Ensure      ="Present" # You can also set Ensure to "Absent"
   Path        ="C:\PS\MyScripts.zip"
   Destination ="C:\PS\MyScripts" }

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

Service MyService
{  Name       ="MyService"
   StartupType="Automatic" }

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

PS C :\> 1024MB/1GB
1
PS C :\> 1000MB/1GB
0.9765625

New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "If you use the Copy button to copy code to the clipboard, it appears as follows:"

Note

Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.

Tip

Tips and tricks appear like this.

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