Windows PowerShell is Powerful Automation!

The PowerShell team at Microsoft has been working extremely hard and has provided increadible resources for online training.  The latest PoSh info on their Channel9 site proves that.

http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/WindowsServer2008R2/PowerShell/

From above:

Windows PowerShell is a Windows command-line shell designed for ease-of-use not only by system administrators but also for application and system developers. The shell includes an interactive prompt and a scripting environment that can be used independently or in combination. PowerShell V2 is available by default with both R2 and Windows 7 and, via an optional update, previous versions of Windows.


For Developers specifically, Windows PowerShell in combination with the Windows Management Infrastructure (WinRM, WS-Management, WMI) provides a great way to automate server hosted solutions. For example, if you implement all your administration logic via PowerShell, then layer the MMC GUI over the top (i.e. MMC calls PowerShell to get the work done) - you will have given your Enterprise customers the absolute best of all worlds; GUIs, scripting, and delegated, remote automation.

Version 2 of Windows Powershell introduces an array of new features including remote sessions, an integrated script environment, debugging tools, and much more.

Windows Management Framework is officially released!!

ITS FINALLY HERE!
WMF is specifically targeted and designed to allow a single interface to manage every Microsoft OS from Windows XP and up.  It includes PowerShell 2.0, WinRM 2.0, and BITS 4.0.  Each of these has huge improvements from previous versions, in both functionality and ease of use.  Check it out for yourself:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968929

Tools

One of the BEST things anyone can do to get started with anything is to build your tools.  There is a vast array of tools you can use for PoSh, and here are some of my favorites:

PowerGUI
http://www.powergui.org/
"...a graphical user interface and script editor for Microsoft Windows PowerShell!"
PowerGUI has been my best friend, and best tool for my code creation.  It's a free product with a full PoSh console, that will autofill, color,  and organize code, and shows all objects and their information.  That's just the tip of the iceberg.  This is by far my #1 tool.


ActiveRoles Management Shell for Active Directory
http://www.quest.com/powershell/activeroles-server.aspx
"..a set of predefined commands for Windows PowerShell ... designed to help administrators automate common, repetitive and bulk management tasks such as creating, removing or updating objects in Active Directory."
From the makers of PowerGUI, Quest Software has put together a great set of CmdLets for Active Directory integration and automation.  Extremely helpfull for anyone in IT from Small Business to Enterprise.


WMIExplorer
http://thepowershellguy.com/blogs/posh/archive/2007/03/22/powershell-wmi-explorer-part-1.aspx
"...a PowerShell GUI WMI Explorer, to explore WMI from PowerShell in a graphical interface"
This is a very usefull tool for searching the WMI space for bits of information, and to bring that back into PoSh code.  Kudos to /\/\o\/\/...once again!




This is far from all of the tools I use, but stay tuned.  I plan on going through them 1x1 in more detail, and adding to this list!