If you liked what you saw and want to learn more, there are many resources available for learning PowerShell. I have a list of free PowerShell eBooks which is a good place to start. I also have a list of paid PowerShell books. For someone completely new to PowerShell or someone that prefers a very structured learning approach, I suggest Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches by Don Jones. Be sure to check out the additional resources at the book’s website, and take advantage of the companion videos Don has made available on YouTube. Someone with a scripting or programming background that’s looking for a solid reference book would do well with Bruce Payette’s book PowerShell in Action. This is a very detailed look at how PowerShell works and why certain decisions were made when designing the language.

Many PowerShell videos are available at Channel 9, including the PowerShell sessions from TechEd events. Don Jones has a four hour sample of a training class uploaded to Youtube, and Jeff Hicks has a series of videos from TrainSignal.

Have a long commute and need something to listen to? Try downloading some podcasts from the PowerScripting Podcast. Last week Michiel Wories, the Principal Architect and Lead Developer of SQL Server, was talking about SQL Server 2012.

Most of these resources focus on PowerShell in general and don’t get specific on SQL Server. For some examples on how PowerShell is used by SQL Server experts, I suggest reading the blogs from Allen White, Aaron Nelson, Chad Miller, and Max Trinidad.

For some more ideas on how PowerShell can be useful for a Database Administrtor, check out the SQL Server PowerShell Extensions. SQLPSX is an open source project for working with ADO.NET, SMO, Agent, RMO, SSIS, SQL script files, PBM, Oracle and MySQL and using Powershell ISE as a SQL and Oracle query tool.

There is a massive amount of information available, but hopefully this is enough to get you started. The PowerShell community is very active and close-knit in the way the SQL community is. Send someone an email, ask a question in a forum, or throw the twitter tag #PowerShell on your tweets, and you’re very likely to get pointed in the right direction.

In a more recent situation, I was handed a spreadsheet of computers with printer shares that needed to be removed for security reasons. After getting the list of computer names from the spreadsheet into PowerShell, I had to figure out how to remove the printer shares. I very often turn to Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) in situations like this because I’m familiar with what it can do from my vbscript days where WMI was very often the only way to get anything done. PowerShell makes working with WMI much easier than it ever was with vbscript.

Get-WmiObject -ComputerName Computer01 -Class Win32_Printer | foreach {$_.Shared = $False; $_.Put()}

The documentation for the Win32_Printer class says the shared property is Read/write, so it can be modified. The put method is used to update the printer object. So in this example, all the printers on Computer01 are retrieved, the Shared property on each printer is set to false, and the put method is called to save the change.

Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Computers -ScriptBlock {Get-WmiObject Win32_Printer | foreach {$_.Shared = $False; $_.Put()}}

This can be done very quickly with PowerShell remoting enabled, in which case the Invoke-Command cmdlet is used. The difference here is that instead of specifying a single computer name, the $Computers variable contains a list of computer names. This allows the scriptblock to be sent to all the computers in parallel.

Get-WmiObject Win32_Printer -ComputerName Computer01 | Set-WmiInstance -Arguments @{Shared=$False}

Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Computers -ScriptBlock {Get-WmiObject Win32_Printer | Set-WmiInstance -Arguments @{Shared=$False}}

Another method is to use the Set-WmiInstance cmdlet to set properties on the printer objects.

Introduction to PowerShell Remoting

Slide deck for Introduction to PowerShell Remoting

Layman’s Guide to PowerShell 2.0 Remoting
Ravikanth Chaganti

Administrator’s Guide to Windows PowerShell Remoting
Dr. Tobias Weltner
Aleksandar Nikolic
Richard Giles

Windows PowerShell in Action, Second Edition
Bruce Payette

$Computers = "Computer01","Computer02","Computer03"
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $Computers

The simplest way is to manually type names of computers to generate an array of text strings in a variable. That variable can then be passed to cmdlets that accept an array of strings for the input of a ComputerName variable.

$Computers | Out-File computers.txt

If this same list of names might be useful in the future, one way to save the list permanently is to save it to a text file.

$Computers = Get-Content computers.txt

When the list is needed again, the contents of the file can be read and stored to a variable.

# Load the Microsoft Active Directory Module
Import-Module ActiveDirectory

# Get a list of computers that have WIN7 in their name
$Computers = Get-ADComputer -Filter "Name -like '*WIN7*'" | ForEach-Object {$_.Name}

# Get a list of all computer names
$Computers = Get-ADComputer -Filter * | ForEach-Object {$_.Name}

# Get a list of fully qualified host names
$Computers = Get-ADComputer -Filter * | ForEach-Object {$_.DNSHostName}

When there’s more than a few computers to deal with, it’s much easier to get those names from the computer accounts in Active Directory. In a correctly configured domain environment, the Microsoft Active Directory cmdlets can be used to generate lists of computers.

# Load the Quest Active Directory cmdlets
Add-PSSnapin Quest.ActiveRoles.ADManagement

# Get a list of computers running the Windows Server 2008 operating system
$Computers = Get-QADComputer -OSName "Windows Server 2008*" | ForEach-Object {$_.Name}

# Get a list of computers that are members of the Database Servers group
$Computers = Get-QADComputer -MemberOf 'Database Servers' | ForEach-Object {$_.Name}

# Get a list of computers that are located in the Domain Controllers OU
$Computers = Get-QADComputer -SearchRoot "testlab.local/Domain Controllers" | ForEach-Object {$_.Name}

Not everyone has the infrastructure in place to use the Microsoft cmdlets. Fortunately, Quest has freely available cmdlets for interacting with Active Directory.

Get-ADComputer -Filter * | Export-Csv computerList.csv -NoTypeInformation
Get-QADComputer | Export-Csv computerList.csv -NoTypeInformation

Sometimes it’s difficult to filter a list of names using these cmdlets. Another option is to export all the computer account properties to a Comma Separated Values file, and then use Excel to filter the list.

$Computers = Import-Csv -Path computerList.csv | ForEach-Object {$_.Name}

When the spreadsheet has been narrowed down to the required names, it can then be imported back into PowerShell to get the array of computer names.

The capability of PowerShell to import Csv files is also useful when a list of computers is provided in an Excel spreadsheet from another IT department. It’s common for reporting software to generate spreadsheets of computer names along with all kinds of other data. By saving these Excel spreadsheets as Csv files, they can easily be imported directly into PowerShell.

$Computers = Import-Csv -Path Computers.csv | Foreach-Object {$_.NetBIOSName.Trim()}

Sometimes spreadsheets generated by reporting software will include spaces around the cell data. If computer names have spaces around them, cmdlets like Invoke-Command will not accept those names as input. One way to clean up the computer names is to use string methods like Trim.

$Computers = 1..254 | ForEach-Object {"192.168.1.$_"}

In certain situations, IP addresses can be used instead of computer names. This is helpful when actions need to be run on all computers on a subnet, regardless of their names.

Just like anything in PowerShell, there are lots of different ways to accomplish a task. These are just a few ways to generate a list of computers, which can then be used with any number of scripts and functions.

Windows Management Framework 3.0 – Beta

Building Windows 8 Blog Post

Windows 8 Consumer Preview

Direct Link to ISO Images

Developer Tools

Download Windows Server “8″ Beta

Quest PowerShell Cmdlet Cheat Sheet

My top recommendation is Windows PowerShell in Action by Bruce Payette. This book goes into great depth on the inner workings of PowerShell and why certain decisions were made during development. Bruce is a founding member of the Windows PowerShell team at Microsoft, and the principal author of the language implementation. It’s hard to find a more authoritative source than this.

Someone with no scripting or programming experience would have an easier time with Don Jones’ Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches. Don’s book is written like a textbook with each chapter building on the previous lessons. There are also excellent supplementary resources available including a classroom kit for trainers and video lessons.

The remaining books are listed by publication date, and how useful they are depends on the situation. Someone that likes to learn from examples might prefer the Windows PowerShell Cookbook, while a SharePoint or VMware administrator would find the books focusing on those specific topics immediately valuable.

Windows PowerShell in Action, Second Edition

Bruce Payette
Paperback: 1016 pages
Publisher: Manning Publications (May 18, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1935182137
ISBN-13: 978-1935182139
Amazon | Publisher

Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches

Don Jones
Paperback: 425 pages
Publisher: Manning Publications (May 14, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1617290211
ISBN-13: 978-1617290213
Amazon | Publisher | Bonus Materials

PowerShell in Depth

Don Jones, Richard Siddaway, Jeffery Hicks
Publisher: Manning Publications (Fall 2012)
ISBN-13: 978-1617290558
Publisher

Windows PowerShell 3.0 Step By Step

Ed Wilson
Paperback: 560 pages
Publisher: Microsoft Press (August 22, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0735663394
ISBN-13: 978-0735663398
Amazon | Publisher

Windows PowerShell for Developers

Douglas Finke
Paperback: 125 pages
Publisher: O’Reilly Media (June 22, 2012)
ISBN-10: 1449322700
ISBN-13: 978-1449322700
Amazon | Publisher

PowerShell and WMI

Richard Siddaway
Paperback: 450 pages
Publisher: Manning Publications (May 28, 2012)
ISBN-10: 1617290114
ISBN-13: 978-1617290114
Amazon | Publisher

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Windows PowerShell 2.0: Expert Cookbook

Yaroslav Pentsarskyy
Paperback: 310 pages
Publisher: Packt Publishing (November 11, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1849684103
ISBN-13: 978-1849684101
Amazon | Publisher

Windows Powershell Scripting And Toolmaking

Don Jones
Paperback: 122 pages
Publisher: lulu.com (October 14, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1105082830
ISBN-13: 978-1105082832
Amazon | Publisher

Windows PowerShell 2.0 Bible

Thomas Lee, Karl Mitschke, Mark E. Schill, Tome Tanasovski
Paperback: 696 pages
Publisher: Wiley (October 11, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1118021983
ISBN-13: 978-1118021989
Amazon | Publisher

Microsoft Exchange 2010 PowerShell Cookbook

Mike Pfeiffer
Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Packt Publishing (July 25, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1849682461
ISBN-13: 978-1849682466
Amazon | Publisher

PowerShell for SharePoint 2010 How-To

Steven Mann
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Sams (July 2, 2011)
ISBN-10: 067233559X
ISBN-13: 978-0672335594
Amazon | Publisher

Automating Active Directory Administration with Windows PowerShell 2.0

Ken St. Cyr, Laura E. Hunter
Paperback: 504 pages
Publisher: Sybex (June 28, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1118027310
ISBN-13: 978-1118027318
Amazon | Publisher

Automating SharePoint 2010 with Windows PowerShell 2.0

Gary Lapointe, Shannon Bray
Paperback: 768 pages
Publisher: Sybex (June 21, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0470939206
ISBN-13: 978-0470939208
Amazon | Publisher

Automating Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 with Windows PowerShell 2.0

Matthew Hester, Sarah Dutkiewicz
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Sybex (May 31, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1118013867
ISBN-13: 978-1118013861
Amazon | Publisher

VMware vSphere PowerCLI Reference: Automating vSphere Administration

Luc Dekens, Alan Renouf, Glenn Sizemore, Arnim van Lieshout, Jonathan Medd
Paperback: 768 pages
Publisher: Sybex (April 12, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0470890797
ISBN-13: 978-0470890790
Amazon | Publisher

Managing Active Directory with Windows PowerShell: TFM, 2nd Edition

Jeffery Hicks
Paperback: 402 pages
Publisher: SAPIEN Technologies (April 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0982131445
ISBN-13: 978-0982131442
Amazon | Publisher

Windows PowerShell 2.0 Best Practices

Ed Wilson
Paperback: 752 pages
Publisher: Microsoft Press (December 14, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0735626464
ISBN-13: 978-0735626461
Amazon | Publisher

PowerShell for Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Administrators

Niklas Goude, Mattias Karlsson
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media (October 7, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0071747974
ISBN-13: 978-0071747974
Amazon | Publisher

Windows PowerShell Cookbook, Second Edition

Lee Holmes
Paperback: 888 page
Publisher: O’Reilly Media (August 26, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0596801505
ISBN-13: 978-0596801502
Amazon | Publisher

PowerShell in Practice

Richard Siddaway
Paperback: 500 pages
Publisher: Manning Publications (June 28, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1935182005
ISBN-13: 978-1935182009
Amazon | Publisher

Windows PowerShell 2.0 TFM

Don Jones, Jeffery Hicks
Paperback: 714 pages
Publisher: SAPIEN Technologies (January 1, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0982131429
ISBN-13: 978-0982131428
Amazon | Publisher

Windows PowerShell 2 For Dummies

Steve Seguis
Paperback: 412 pages
Publisher: For Dummies (August 10, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0470371986
ISBN-13: 978-0470371985
Amazon | Publisher

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Administration with Windows PowerShell

Ananthakumar Muthusamy, Yan Pan
Paperback: 576 pages
Publisher: Wrox (June 9, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0470477288
ISBN-13: 978-0470477281
Amazon | Publisher

Windows PowerShell 2.0 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant

William R. Stanek
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Microsoft Press (May 27, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0735625956
ISBN-13: 978-0735625952
Amazon | Publisher

Managing VMware Infrastructure with Windows PowerShell TFM

Hal Rottenberg
Paperback: 388 pages
Publisher: SAPIEN Technologies (March 31, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0982131402
ISBN-13: 978-0982131404
Amazon | Publisher

Microsoft Windows PowerShell 2.0 Programming for the Absolute Beginner, 2nd Edition

Jerry Lee Ford Jr.
Paperback: 423 pages
Publisher: Course Technology PTR (December 18, 2008)
ISBN-10: 1598638998
ISBN-13: 978-1598638998
Amazon | Publisher

Windows PowerShell Unleashed (2nd Edition)

Tyson Kopczynski, Pete Handley, Marco Shaw
Paperback: 528 pages
Publisher: Sams (December 14, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0672329883
ISBN-13: 978-0672329883
Amazon | Publisher

Introduction to PowerShell Remoting

Slide deck for Introduction to PowerShell Remoting

Layman’s Guide to PowerShell 2.0 Remoting
Ravikanth Chaganti

Administrator’s Guide to Windows PowerShell Remoting
Dr. Tobias Weltner
Aleksandar Nikolic
Richard Giles

Windows PowerShell in Action, Second Edition
Bruce Payette

I come from a different background than many heavy PowerShell users because I’ve spent the majority of my IT career on the client side of things. I’ve assisted end users in person and over the phone, I’ve performed several desktop deployments, and I’m working on virtual desktop infrastructure. Even though I’m not responsible for managing Active Directory or SQL Servers, PowerShell has become a daily tool for me, and I thought I would throw out some reasons why someone that rarely touches a server should make PowerShell a priority.

PowerShell is Faster at Certain Tasks

Remote desktop and similar technologies are extremely helpful for supporting distant users, but there are some simple tasks that can be accomplished must faster with a PowerShell command or script. Copying a new version of a configuration file, restarting a service, or unlocking an account can all be done much faster from the command line.

Invoke-Command -ComputerName Computer01 -ScriptBlock {Regsvr32.exe /s c:\Windows\SysWOW64\capicom.dll}

It would take minutes to make a remote desktop connection, authenticate and register a dll on a remote workstation. It takes seconds to use PowerShell remoting to perform that same task, and it doesn’t even disrupt the end user.

PowerShell Will Save Time

“I don’t have time to learn something else” is one of the most common excuses I hear for not learning PowerShell. While it does initially take more time to learn how to perform a task without pointing and clicking, the first time that task needs to be performed on multiple computers, that time investment will be repaid tenfold. Any time the same task needs to be performed on more than one computer, it’s a candidate for automation. I automate network printer installations by using the PrintBrm utility to export printerExport files, and import them on other computers.

Get-EventLog -ComputerName Computer01 -LogName Security -Newest 10

If you’ve ever used Event Viewer to look through the logs on a remote system, you know it can involve some waiting. Knowing how to collect information from workstations can save a massive amount of time, whether you’re checking for a certain event or generating a report of free disk space.

PowerShell Provides Automation Capabilities

Many organizations utilize some sort of enterprise solution for deploying software, making changes to client systems and other automated tasks. One of the problems I still run into today is that while we have all these tools, I don’t have access to utilize them. Something as simple as creating a desktop shortcut for your local users gets put on the backburner by enterprise staff. Since most local IT admins have administrative access to the workstations they’re responsible for, something like creating shortcuts is an easy task for PowerShell.

# CreateShortcut.ps1
$Shell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
$Shortcut = $Shell.CreateShortcut("$Env:Public\Desktop\hofferle.com.lnk")
$Shortcut.TargetPath = "http://www.hofferle.com"
$Shortcut.IconLocation = "shell32.dll,43"
$Shortcut.Save()

Invoke-Command -ComputerName Computer01,Computer02,Computer03 -FilePath C:\CreateShortcut.ps1

Many companies still brute force some IT tasks, where it’s easier to have desktop support touch desktops that develop an enterprise fix. PowerShell allows front-line support to develop automated fixes to save themselves time without relying on an enterprise solution.

PowerShell Makes it Easy to Share Resources

Not everyone needs to be a PowerShell expert because modules are an easy way to distribute more complex scripts written by advanced PowerShell users. In my vbscript days, it could be an ordeal to write out documentation on how to use a certain script or write in-line help for it. With comment based help and script modules in PowerShell v2, it’s incredibly easy to share automated fixes with others. I maintain a module for my organization that packages some complex tasks into easy-to-use functions with built-in help. This allows beginners just getting started to become immediately effective, but those beginners still need to understand the essentials. If you become proficient enough with PowerShell to build these tools for others, you get credit for saving everyone’s time in addition to your own.

PowerShell Will Help Your IT Career

This is probably the most important reason to develop PowerShell skills, and it’s a valid reason for everyone interested in career advancement. It’s a rare IT shop that doesn’t use Microsoft products, and Microsoft products are managed with PowerShell. With the consistency of PowerShell, it’s very easy to apply the basic concepts and patterns to anything. Learn PowerShell now, and when you get a position as a Directory Administrator or Exchange Admin, the PowerShell skills learned now will be immediately useful.