PhillyPoSH 11/01/2012 meeting summary and presentation materials

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 13:49:49 +0000

TJ Turner gave a demonstration of how to bringServer 2012 Core:

 To [Minimal Server](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh846317(v=vs.85).aspx)
-
To Full GUI
-
Back down to [Core](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh846323(v=vs.85).aspx) again.
-
A copy of his slide deck is available [here](https://powershell.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/2012_11_01-PhillyPoSH.zip)

Lido Paglia gave a demonstration on how to bring a fresh Server 2012 Core install to a functional domain member server using PowerShell commands. A copy of his command outline is availablehere

Script Club :

[John Mello](http://mellositmusings.com/) presented his script that generates an email listing all ActiveSync devices that haven't synced in a specified period. A copy of his script is available [here](https://powershell.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/2012_11_01-PhillyPoSH.zip)

Various other information worth mentioning.
```
Only the Hype-V MMC was updated in Server 2012, No other MMCs were upgraded and no new ones will created going forward.
```
- Core Configurator for Server 2008 and 2008R2 has been replaced by theMinimal Server Interfacein 2012. Though it is unconfirmed if Core Configurator for 2008 and 2008 R2 won’t work for 2012
- Sconfig is also recommended in place of Core Configurator
- The following resources and link were recommended during the meeting
```
[PowerShell Cheat Sheets/Quick Ref Cards:](http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30002)
[Additional cheat sheet links:](http://www.jonoble.com/blog/2011/12/12/powershell-quick-reference-guides-and-cheat-sheets.html)
```
  - PowerShell Plus from Idera is now FREE:
  - Two WMI cheat sheets from WMI team:
  - Free Creating HTML reports in Windows PowerShell by Don Jones
```
On the same page is the book [Learn PowerShell 3 in a Month of Lunches](http://bit.ly/PSHv3Lunch), which is highly recommended.
```

]]>

Hands-on Workshop at the 2013 PowerShell Summit

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 21:43:45 +0000

In my last post I hinted about more news coming soon for the 2013 PowerShell Summit. In addition to the fantastic list of sessions that attendees will be able to attend, we also have a special event lined up for the last day of the event. On Wednesday, April 24th, for the entire afternoon attendees will be able to attend a half-day Windows PowerShell scenario walkthrough, presented by the PowerShell Team.

The event will take place on April 24 from 1pm – 5pm. During this time the PowerShell Team will work with attendees to collectively solve a problem from the ground up using many of the new features in Windows PowerShell 3.0 and Windows Server 2012.

Starting from base Windows Server 2012 images, you will walk through:

Writing a PowerShell script workflow to perform Server deployments
Creating a constrained endpoint that hosts only the deployment workflow
Delegate a set of credentials for the workflow to use
Exposing the workflow and it’s results through a RESTful web service
Using Windows PowerShell Web Access to manage the workflow

This is a BYOD event, so please don’t forget to bring your own laptop to follow along!

The facilities we have for the conference can only accommodate 50 people at this event. To give everyone a fair chance to sign up, on December 1st we will send an email from EventBrite to everyone who has already purchased their conference ticket so that they can then sign-up for this free event. If you want to have a chance to attend this workshop, you will have a much better chance if youbuy your ticket before that date!

There will also be other activities that afternoon for those who cannot attend this event due to their travel plans, or if all of the workshop tickets are all gone. If you are able to stick around though and if you can attend this workshop, this should be a fantastic way to end the conference!

Kirk out.

Technorati Tags:PowerShell,PoSh,Poshoholic,PowerShell Summit

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PowerShell Summit Community Sessions List [Updated]

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:19:22 +0000

[Update: April 19, 2013]Important Note: Due to some last minute schedule changes for some of our speakers, several of the sessions below were replaced with other sessions. To see the final list of sessions offered at the 2013 PowerShell Summit, please visit this page: https://powershell.org/2013/04/19/powershell-summit-2013-conference-schedule/{.vt-p}

After almost 100 people voted for the sessions they would like to see the most at the2013 PowerShell Summit{.vt-p}, the results are in! These votes are for the sessions chosen by the community, and additional sessions from the PowerShell Team will be announced at a later date (as soon as I have them).

Below you will find the not-quite-finalized list of community sessions that will be included in the 2013 PowerShell Summit, sorted alphabetically by speaker. It is not quite finalized because I am still awaiting final confirmation from a handful of speakers (those marked with an asterisk). I will update this post as the final confirmations come in.

Thank you to everyone who submitted a session proposal for this conference. There were a lot of great proposals this year, and I personally think no matter which sessions were voted for, the conference would have been fantastic. Also thank you to anyone who took the time to vote for their favorite sessions. Your votes really helped us a lot here, both for the upcoming 2013 conference and for conferences we"™ll be planning in the future too!

If you would like to attend this conference so that you can learn from these great sessions and others that are not yet announced, and so that you can participate in the fantastic conversations that happen at such an event, you can purchase your ticket here:https://powershell.org/summit/{.vt-p}.

Here is the list of sessions that made the final cut:

 Speaker
Title
Description
June Blender
Help for Help: A Help Authoring Deep Dive
A comprehensive 400-level talk for module authors about authoring techniques for all types of Windows PowerShell Help, including About help and help for all command types, including cmdlets (and the MAML schema), scripts, functions, CIM commands, workflows (script and XAML), providers (including custom cmdlet help), and snippets. What you can and cannot do, and what's worth doing when time and resources are short. We'll cover online help, Updatable Help, and all the gotchas (HelpInfo XML, HelpInfoUri, HelpUri, CHMs), and I'll share the scripts that I use to generate help files and verify the accuracy of parameters, parameter values, parameter attributes, GUIDs, and URIs.
James Brundage*
The Powers of PowerShell Pipeworks
Ever wanted to make PowerShell easy for others? Or realize that a simple script you have would be a great backbone of a business (if only you could charge for it)? PowerShell Pipeworks is a web platform built in PowerShell that makes is simple to build compelling web applications and software services in a snap. In this session, you will see: – How to use Pipeworks to store your data to the cloud – How to create a monitoring dashboard with Pipeworks – How to build a Facebook application with PowerShell Pipeworks – How to put a price tag on a cmdlet
Ian Davis
Metaprogramming PowerShell
PowerShell can be a fun and crazy language to use, but we can take it a step further with metaprogramming. By taking advantage of PowerShell's flexible language features including dynamic scoping, modules, deferred evaluation, and ScriptBlocks, we can create simple and powerful applications applications leveraging metaprogramming idioms.
Ian Davis
Automated Builds With PowerShell
Automated builds are a critical part of application lifecycle management. PowerShell is very well suited for making this process easier. We have gone full circle with scripting builds and by leveraging PowerShell on the command line and building DSLs, our builds can be more robust and intuitive than ever.
Adam Driscoll
Inside PowerShell: Abstract Syntax Tree Manipulation
In this session we will take apart PowerShell. This session will highlight the new abstract syntax tree and node visitor API that is exposed in v3. An instrumentation profiler will be used as an example of how to traverse and manipulate PowerShell scripts from within the engine.
Adam Driscoll
.NET Reverse Engineering with PowerShell
In this session we will look at how to utilize ILSpy to decompile .NET assemblies and quickly access internal aspects of them using PowerShell. We will see how to easily expose private members for access and manipulation within scripts. Adam Driscoll
Jeffery Hicks
Adding a GUI to PowerShell without WinForms
Graphical PowerShell scripts seem all the rage these days. But most often that means using Windows Forms which can be very tedious to work with. But that is not the only game in town. Depending on your requirements there are a number of techniques you can use to add graphical elements to your PowerShell scripts. This session will explore how to create message boxes, input forms and more, all without a single Windows Form. If you are just getting started with writing PowerShell scripts, you'll find these techniques simple to use, plus there will be plenty of sample code for all!
Don Jones
Workflow Walkthrough
It seems like everyone's interested in v3′s new Workflow feature, so let's do a quick walkthrough of building one from scratch. We'll skip the usual "provisioning" example and go for something a bit more constrained, and perhaps real-world, where workflow's unique features can really be put to solid use. This'll also be an opportunity to discuss what workflow can and can't do, and discuss some of the options and permutations of using it.
Don Jones
Remoting Configuration Deep Dive
What do you do when Enable-PSRemoting isn't enough? Dig deeper. We'll run through all of the major configuration scenarios, including how to use (and not abuse) TrustedHosts, how to set up an HTTPS listener (and use it), how to do non-domain authentication, how to enable CredSSP and configure it to be less than a major security hole, and more. Pretty much every possible Remoting config, we'll cover. With detailed, step-by-step instructions!
Kirk Munro
Creating Add-on Tools for PowerShell ISE
PowerShell 3 includes a ton of improvements to the integrated scripting editor, PowerShell ISE. As great as PowerShell ISE is in this version, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Fortunately, Microsoft anticipated that they wouldn't be able to do everything, so they extended their support for creating Add-on Tools for PowerShell ISE.In this session, the worlds first self-proclaimed Poshoholic and PowerShell MVP Kirk Munro will provide a soup to nuts demonstration of PowerShell ISE Add-on Tools, showing how you can create everything from simple menu extensions to feature rich windows that respond to ISE events and that are docked right inside of the ISE.
Technologies covered in this session include the PowerShell ISE object model, C#, WPF, eventing, Visual Studio 2012, and of course several core PowerShell features.
Kirk Munro
Authoring PowerShell like a Poshoholic
I've been using PowerShell for over 6 years. Blogging about it for over 5 years. Creating and managing products based on PowerShell for about that long as well, and writing a whole lot of scripts during the process. During this time I've come up with a trick or three to make that work easier. Some of these tricks are simple time savers, while others are ground breaking opportunities that just might change the way you write PowerShell.Come and join me in this session to get a bird's eye view at some of the work I've been doing with PowerShell, as I talk about tips, tricks, and best practices while demonstrating some of the extensions I've written specifically to make authoring with PowerShell easier to do.
Topics discussed include proxy functions, WMI/CIM, Microsoft Office, DSVs, WiX, merge modules, type accelerators, and more.
Aleksandar Nikolic
How to Delegate Administration and Customize PowerShell Session Configuration
In this session you will learn how to customize PowerShell session configuration, and then use it to assign specific administrative tasks to the appropriate users and groups without changing the membership of local Administrators group. By using new Windows PowerShell and Windows Remote Management 3.0 capabilities we will enable dynamic creation of customized automation environments that users can access through the Windows PowerShell Web Access.
Aleksandar Nikolic
Configuring Your Windows PowerShell Workflow Environment
In this session you will learn how to set up your environment to run Windows PowerShell workflows. We will discuss different workflow configurations, how to prepare computers to run workflows, what is workflow session configuration and how to customize it. At the end, you will learn how to properly run your Windows PowerShell workflows.
Aleksandar Nikolic
Build Your Demo Environment or a Test Lab with Windows PowerShell
With Windows PowerShell 3.0 and the new Client Hyper-V available in Windows 8, it is so easy, and fun, to automate creation of your demo environment or a test lab infrastructure. You can easily convert ISO files to VHDs, deploy your VMs and configure networking and storage. Join us for this demo-heavy session to see all the steps.
Alan Renouf
Creating a complex and reusable HTML reporting structure
In this session I will show you the shortcuts and tricks picked up when creating a complex reporting structure with PowerShell, how a simple HTML output script grew to be a reporting structure which can adapt to give detailed, nicely formatted reports on any application or system that has a PowerShell interface, and even some that don't!
Alan Renouf
Practical PowerShell Integration from Bare Metal to the Cloud
See how PowerShell can be used as the glue of the datacenter, take information from VMware, Cisco and Microsoft, Glue them all together and go from bare metal up to the cloud and beyond. Learn how PowerShell is now expanding to be the language of choice and how Microsoft and third party products can be tied together to create fantastic solutions.
Andy Schneider
PowerShell and Source Control for the IT Pro
Are you ever concerned about updating a script, having it break, and can't remember what you changed. This is source control by an IT Pro for IT Pros. Come check out some best practices and lessons learned on how to incorporate source control as part of writing scripts. Learn how to have your code available via the web and easily accessed on multiple machines. We'll take a look at using GIT to ensure your code is always up to date and you can always get back to where you were if you break something.
Andy Schneider
PowerShell and Active Directory
This session will provide a quick overview of different options to manage AD using PowerShell. It will quickly jump into some of the shortcomings of the MSFT provided Active Directory module and how to work around them, and even "fix" them using proxy functions and the new Default Parameter Set feature in V3.
Richard Siddaway
CIM sessions
The introduction of the CIM cmdlets and "cmdlets over objects" in PowerShell v3 provide new ways to work with WMI. In addition, they bring a new way to access remote systems ? CIM sessions. Analogous to PowerShell remoting sessions they provide a new flexibility when working with WMI and remote machines. This session will demonstrate:

How to use CIM sessions against systems running PowerShell v3
How to work with legacy installations of PowerShell v2
How to use the available CIM session options to configure the session to meet your requirements
Compare and contrast working with WMI, CIM and WSMAN cmdlets against remote machines to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of each
How to mix and match CIM sessions using WSMAN and DCOM.The key takeaways from this session will be:
The CIM cmdlets provide a new way to access WMI
WSMAN is required knowledge
WSMAN and DCOM can both be used with the CIM cmdlets
CIM sessions are easy to use and very powerful

No more DCOM problems

 Richard Siddaway
PowerShell Web Access
PowerShell Web Access is a new feature in Windows Server 2012 that provides a web based PowerShell console. You don't need PowerShell on your client to administer remote machines as long as you have PWA. This session will demonstrate how to configure PWA, its strengths and weaknesses – you might even see PowerShell being accessed from a non-Windows machine! The security implications of PWA will be discussed. PWA will be compared to other ways to access remote machines through PowerShell including PS Remoting and CIM sessions.
Richard Siddaway
PowerShell events
The PowerShell event engine enables you to work with .NET; WMI and PowerShell engine events. What are these and how do they work? What can I do with them? Want to stop a process that shouldn't be running? Want to start a process that's stopped? That's what this session will show you with PowerShell events.
Ed Wilson
Write modules, not scripts
Learn how to get the most from Windows PowerShell by learning a simple five-step method to transform your Windows PowerShell code into a highly reusable module. This presentation is a live demo that begins with a single line of Windows PowerShell code, transforms the code into a function, adds comment based help to the function, and converts it into a module. Next, the installation and discovery of Windows PowerShell modules is covered, as is updating the module and creating a Windows PowerShell module manifest. Ed Wilson
Ed Wilson
What I learned by grading 2000 PowerShell Scripts in the 2012 Scripting Games
The 2012 Scripting Games attracted both experienced and novice scripters from more than 100 countries around the world. In grading the 2000 submitted scripts, I noticed a common theme emerged. Some of the things that were consistently confused by both beginners and advanced scripters include the following: failure to return objects from functions, not creating reusable functions, spending too much duplicating capabilities of native PowerShell, using meaningless comments, omission of error handling, and an overreliance on Write-Host. In this session, I will address each of these areas of concern and show both good and bad examples from the games. A thorough discussion of each of these topics rounds out the presentation. This presentation uses live demos to illustrate the techniques that are discussed. Ed Wilson
Ed Wilson
PoshMon: PowerShell does performance counters
One of the cool features on Windows PowerShell 3.0 is easy consumption of WMI performance counters into Windows PowerShell. In the past, leveraging these performance counters meant writing long lines of cryptic code, calling refresher objects, and dealing with weird timestamp issues. But no more! Using a simple cmdlet, Windows PowerShell throws open the door to the treasure trove of performance counter information. But where does the oversubscribed IT pro begin? A question on my Windows NT 3.51 MCSE exam stated there are four areas for performance monitoring: disk, memory, network, and CPU. These four resources have not changed much, regardless of the application these basic areas of investigation still ring true. In this session, I talk about discovering performance counters, using performance counters, and storing information gathered from performance counters. The talk will be strengthened by live demos at each stage of the presentation.
Matt Wrock*
Unit Testing PowerShell
This talk will provide a walk through of Unit Testing PowerShell scripts. The OSS project Pester ([https://github.com/pester/Pester](https://github.com/pester/Pester)) will be used to illustrate popular unit testing patterns such as ArrangeActAssert and Mocking to provide testability to PowerShell. There will be discussion on why and when to use unit testing in PowerShell as well.
Keep an eye on my blog for additional news about this conference, because more exciting news is on the way!
Thanks,
Kirk out.
Technorati Tags: [PowerShell](http://technorati.com/tags/PowerShell),[PoSh](http://technorati.com/tags/PoSh),[Poshoholic](http://technorati.com/tags/Poshoholic),[PowerShell Summit](http://technorati.com/tags/PowerShell+Summit)
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Final Ticket Inventory for PowerShell Summit NA 2013 Released!

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:24:26 +0000

As we’ve been finalizing our speaker and session collection, we’ve been able to release a small block of Summit tickets into the general admission pool. Also, the end of October saw the expiration of a set-aside block for PowerShell MVPs, releasing that block’s unsold tickets back into the general admission pool as well.
As it stands, the G.A. pool now has 57 tickets, of which we’ve sold 24. That leaves 33 tickets left for the April 22-24 event at Microsoft’s corporate headquarters in Redmond, WA.
We currently have a total of 57 attendees, including speakers. That doesn’t include Microsoft team members who will be delivering sessions, nor does it include a small batch of tickets reserved for Microsoft staff who will be participating in the sessions for all three days.
If you’re thinking of coming to the Summit, **now is the time to register. **We’ll be releasing our session and speaker lineup within the next few days, and that usually triggers a big rush in registration as people get even more exciting about the upcoming event. If you do happen to miss one of these final 33 tickets, you’ll have the opportunity to go on a waitlist, where you’ll be notified if anyone cancels.
Don’t miss your chance to be a part of this first-ever community-owned and -operated event!

Articles from November 2012 on PowerShell.org - Welcome Automaters!

What To Do If You Don't Score a PowerShell Summit Ticket

Cry a Little

Help Beta-Test a New Free eBook on PowerShell Reporting

Charts in PowerShell-Generated Reports

Verify Your PowerShell Skills

How You Can Help