Articles from February 2014 on PowerShell.org - Welcome Automaters!

Up Next: Nick Howell from NetApp talking about software defined datacenter

Tue, 25 Feb 2014 16:22:28 +0000

This Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 join us with guest, Nick Howell, (@that1guynick) from NetApp as the discussion will be software defined datacenter. See you at 9:30PM EST

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Julie's Comments: The Scripting Games – Winter 2014

Wed, 19 Feb 2014 22:00:00 +0000

This post comes to us from Julie Andreacola, one of the members of team Kitton Mittons, who won The Scripting Games - Winter 2014. You’re welcome to submit your thoughts about the Games as well!__
The 2014 Scripting Games are over and once again, it was a terrific experience. This was my third scripting games and I was blown away with all that I learned.
The team approach was very appealing to me as I have been the PowerShell expert at my workplace so I was hoping to find a team where someone knew more than I did as I’m only intermediate in PowerShell skills. I struggled to put a team together from our local PowerShell user group for the practice event, but it just didn’t work out due to the timing and workload of potential team members. I took to Twitter to find a team that had an open spot and found the Kitton_Mittons.
The team was just what I needed. We had no expectations to win and we acknowledged that some weeks, people would not be able to participate. All of the team, but myself was located in Northern Virginia, so we arranged for a Google Hangout each evening around 7 p.m. We also had a shared repository on GitHub. Both of these tools were new for us, but were invaluable for our team collaboration. I think we only had one night with everyone in attendance. The sessions varied from discussion of elements of the script, screen sharing (nice Google Hangout feature), and general geek conversation. Two of the team traveled to Charlotte NC to join me in PowerShell Saturday 007 where we met and gained another team member for the final few events.
The learning benefits happened immediately. The first week I learned more about parameters and using them to validate inputs. I immediately began implementing them in my scripts at work, making them more robust and easier to hand off to others as I was transitioning to a new job. A couple days later, our team made our first module. I knew it was easy, but had never done it and now my script at work had a module. One of our team members made an install script that put the files and modules in the correct places. I realized the advantage of this especially when turning scripts over to users unfamiliar with PowerShell. I was able to take the same installer script and quickly customize for use in my workplace. The following weeks included getting more experience with efficiencies of script blocks and better error checking. Although many of my evenings were being taken up with PowerShell, I found the nightly sessions invaluable as our team leader, Jason Morgan, took the time to teach and explain the more complex aspects of the scripts.
The 2014 Scripting Games exceeded my expectations and truly advanced my skills. I also have a new network of System Center IT Pros. I’m starting a new job this week and I know what I learned and gained over the last 4 weeks will help me to excel in this new position. A big thank you to my team mates, coaches, judges, and the PowerShell community. Learning can be fun!

Free eBook from Microsoft's Scripting Guy: Windows PowerShell Networking Guide

Wed, 19 Feb 2014 14:55:00 +0000

Ed Wilson, Microsoft’s Scripting Guy, has created a free ebook, _Windows PowerShell Networking Guide. _It’s designed to provide a super-quick PowerShell crash course, and then show you how to manage various networking scenarios by using the shell.
And it’s free! Just click the link to get your copy - and please, tell a friend!
PoshNetworking.pdf

Closing the Games

Mon, 17 Feb 2014 22:10:30 +0000

The judging is complete for the fourth and final event in the 2014 Winter Scripting Games.
This Games was something very different in that we presented 4 we complex scenarios that were designed to be as close as possible to the type of tasks you may have to perform at work. The solutions required multi-file answers - there’s no way you could solve these with a one liner!
All of the teams that submitted entries rose to meet the hardest challenge I’ve seen in a Scripting Games - and I’ve taken part of judged all but the first Games.
All entries were scored by 2 judges with the judges being rotated to ensure that all judges scored each team in at least one event.
I’d like to thank the judges for their hard work and also thank the coaching team put together by Mike Robbins - most of all I’d like to thank all of the teams that entered for taking part.
In any Games we have winners and the winning teams from these Games are:
1.Kitton Mittons with 19.375 points (8 of 8 scores received)
2.TecHaH with 18.75 points (8 of 8 scores received)
3.Schnipersons with 18.5 points (8 of 8 scores received)
Congratulations to Kitton Mittons for winning the 2014 Winter Scripting Games - if a representative from the winning team could please contact Don Jones or myself we’ll see about getting your prizes to you .
The Games are closed. .
Until the next time.

What Should The Scripting Games Look Like Next Time?

Mon, 17 Feb 2014 18:17:14 +0000

If you’ve been following along with The Scripting Games over the past couple of iterations, you know that we’ve been trying some different, new things. This Winter Games, we did a team-based series of events that threw some really complex scenarios at you. However, we know some folks would like to see the next Summer Games include a less-complex track that perhaps includes a focus on one-liners.
(Not that one-liners are an essential part of a work environment, but they’re fun and a good competitive thing - this is games, after all.)
So we’re looking for your ideas. Drop a comment, and tell us how you think the next Games should be structured.
**However, before you comment, **understand that judging by official, expert judges gets extremely difficult. Multiple 10 events across 250 entries and you’ve got a _metric butt _tonne of work for our volunteers to do. Quite frankly, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to provide a score-per-entry with that kind of volume. The folks who do judging just can’t take that much time off work. Seriously, even if a judge only had to look at an entry for 2 minutes, that can easily be more than 80 hours of work to look at every entry. It just isn’t do-able.
So, in your comment, include some thoughts on what you’d like to see for the judging/scoring side as well, keeping in mind the desire of judges to also have family lives and jobs. What’s your real goal in participating in the Games? To get community feedback (comments) on what you’ve done? We can arrange that. Is it perhaps educational to have judges pick out “noteworthy” (both good and bad) entries and comment on them, as a learning guide? Or are you solely after having a “known” expert offer commentary on your entry - which isn’t something we can guarantee if there are a large number of entries?
Help us understand what you’re in it for, and give us some ideas for creating a Summer event that’s _fun, _as well as educational.

PowerShell Saturday 007 in review

Thu, 13 Feb 2014 16:55:44 +0000

PowerShell Saturday was a huge success. Thank you to all of the speakers, event organizers, and most of all attendees for making it a great day. A new Iron Scripter was crowned and received this awesome trophy.

Congrats to Stephen Owen aka @SRed13!

There were many great sessions for both beginners and advanced scripters. Some of the speakers even posted slides, videos, and scripts of their presentations. Check out Brian Wilhite’s, @bwhilhite1979, ‘CIM’nariosdownloads from the event. Ashley McGlone, @GoateePFE, posted his beginner sessions including slides, video, and the coveted scriptshere.

If you attended and haven’t requested your free ebook from O’Reilly (the flyer was in the goody bag), you might be surprised by the list that is available.

Until next time, Happy Scripting!

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Testing for the Presence of a Registry Key and Value

Mon, 10 Feb 2014 17:41:19 +0000

There are a number of different ways to test for the presence of a registry key and value in PowerShell. Here’s how I like to go about it. We’ll use an example key HKLM:\SOFTWARE\TestSoftware with a single value Version:
Click here to be redirected to the original post of this article on the author’s blog site where you can read the remainder of the article.

PhillyPoSH 02/06/2014 meeting summary and presentation materials

Mon, 10 Feb 2014 01:26:38 +0000

Art Beane gave a presentation using PowerShell to automate applications using COM . A copy of his presentation materials are available on our GitHub Repository. Due to recording issues, we do not We do have a recording of this meeting on our YouTube channel.

Problems with Windows Live Logins

Sun, 09 Feb 2014 20:39:47 +0000

I know we’re currently seeing folks having a problem logging into the site by means of Windows Live accounts. Unfortunately, the problem is on Microsoft’s end - we’ve submitted a ticket.
In the meantime, I want to point out a neat feature that can help: You can log in using a different social account, and if it or you provides the same e-mail address that you use with your Live account, our site will link the two. From then on you can log into the same profile on our site using either social account. Makes a nice backup.
For this linking to work, you (a) need to know the e-mail address that you use to log into Windows Live. You then need to (b1) log in using a social account that has the same e-mail address for you, or (b2) log in using a social account that doesn’t provide an e-mail to us. In the case of (b2), we’ll then prompt you for an e-mail address, and you provide the same one you use to log into Windows Live. That’s how we link your profile to the new social account.
Social accounts that fall into the (b2) category include BlogSpot.com, Twitter, and LiveJournal.
We very much want to get Windows Live working again. We’re working on it, and you can contact our admin@ email alias if you think you have any clues for helping.

Using PowerShell Parameter Validation to Make Your Day Easier

Wed, 05 Feb 2014 03:59:24 +0000

A number of entries in the Winter Scripting Games use parameter validation, but some that I have seen may not be using it correctly or to its full potential.
Writing functions or scripts require a variety of parameters which have different requirements based on a number of items. It could require a collection, objects of a certain type or even a certain range of items that it should only accept.
The idea of parameter validation is that you can specify specific checks on a parameter that is being used on a function or script. If the value or collection that is passed to the parameter doesn’t meet the specified requirements, a terminating error is thrown and the execution of the code halts and gives you an error stating (usually readable) the reason for the halt. This is very powerful and allows you to have much tighter control over the input that is going into the function. You don’t want to have your script go crazy halfway into the code execution because the values sent to the parameter were completely off of the wall.
Click here to be redirected to the original post of this article on the author’s blog site where you can read the remainder of the article.

MY 2014 Public POWERCLASS is Now Open for Registration

Mon, 03 Feb 2014 18:44:02 +0000

I’m going to be running a 3-day POWERCLASS April 2, 3, and 4 near Raleigh-Durham, NC! You can get full details on my company’s website, including pricing and class descriptions.
Don’t leave near Raleigh-Durham? Well, it’s a fun place, and not that expensive to visit. More importantly, I’m not going to be doing a huge road-show and visiting a bunch of cities. Right now, my schedule is almost full through _September, _so this may well be the only public class I do in 2014. It might therefore be worth your while to take a short trip!
The class will be VERY limited in size - just 16 students, max, and I’ll be happy with a bunch fewer. This is a hardcore class. We’re going to assume you’ve conquered the basics of Windows PowerShell and that you’re looking to implement best practices, start using PowerShell for real production tasks, and learn more about PowerShell performance and troubleshooting. It’s a “bring your own laptop” hands-on class, too, so you’ll get tons of hands-on time with an instructor who really cares about what you learn.
This is all-new material, and you won’t find it anyplace else. It’s applicable to v2 through v4, although some things - we WILL be covering DSC, for example - only apply to specific versions (and you’ll learn which is which as we go).
It’s the best PowerShell class I could come up with - I hope you’ll join me.

Scripting Games event 1 close

Mon, 03 Feb 2014 11:57:25 +0000

Event 1 is over and the judging is complete.
First off congratulations to every team that posted an entry - the events in these games are different and we’ve tried to up the challenge level to account for it being a team based.
The high scorers for event 1 are:
1.Troll Bait with 22 points
2.Kitton Mittons with 22 points
3.Aliens with 20 points
4.PhillyPosh with 20 points
5.Thanks4TheInvite with 17 points
6.TecHaH with 17 points
7.Bengals with 17 points
8.TPUG THUGS with 16 points
9.DuPSOGD2 with 16 points
10.Hogans Heroes with 16 points
Congratulations to them.
Good luck to everyone with the remaining events