ICYMI: PowerShell Week of 5-October-2018
Topics include the Az module, PowerShell module design, PowerShell & Puppet, Hacktoberfest, SQL Server backups, and a PowerShell session from Ignite.
Special thanks to Mark Roloff, Robin Dadswell, and Brett Bunker for contributions this week.
Announcing New Module ‘Az’
by Mark Cowlishaw on Friday, September 28th
The Az module is intended as a replacmeent for AzureRM and will become the new standard Azure PowerShell commands. The final feature update to AzureRM will be in December 2018.
Learning about the PowerShell Abstract Syntax Tree (AST)
by Mike Robbins on Friday, September 28th
Mike is on a journey to piece together many separate script files into a single PSM1 file. Rather than rely on potentially complicated regex or string parsing to do the job, he opts for exploring how with PowerShell’s far more interesting Abstract Syntax Tree.
Executing Puppet Tasks with PowerShell via the Puppet Orchestrator API
by Joey Piccola on Sunday, September 30th
Interested in using PowerShell to manage Puppet? Learn how with a quick tutorial on using the Puppet Orchestrator API with Invoke-WebRequest.
I Need You! #Hacktoberfest
by Josh King on Monday, October 1st
Hacktoberfest is officially in full swing and there are tons of open-source projects out there looking for some love. Josh King, creator of the BurntToast module, has a project board set up with tasks to complete for the module’s next release. If you’re looking for a chance to contribute more openly to the PowerShell community or would just like a project for the month’s event, stop in and take a look.
Does it Loop? Foreach Experiences with an Emtpy Variable
by Patrick Wahlmüller on October 3rd
Patrick shares an important lesson to consider when using the foreach scripting construct: initialize your variables!
MS SQL DB Backup and Restore with PowerShell
by Pauolo Frigo on October 4th
Find out how easy it is to automate your SQL Server backup jobs using the SQLServer PowerShell module. Hint: It’s a lot easier than point-and-clicking your way through SQL Server Management Studio!
Reddit /r/PowerShell - Most Popular Weekly Post
For those of you deploying Windows 10 1809, watch out for a change in behavior when calling cmd.exe within a scriptblock using start-job.
Tweet of the Week
Major increase in coverage for PowerShell Core running on Windows 10 1809 compared to 1803!
Youtube: PowerShell Cross-Platform Scripting and AI-Infused Automation
By Jeffrey Snover on September 30th
Demo-rich show that looks at the evolution of PowerShell as the de facto automation scripting tool across Windows and Linux platforms as presented by the father of PowerShell, Jeffrey Snover. Check out the ability for Visual Studio Code to run PowerShell inside of CloudShell.
Related Articles
PowerShell Escape Room
PowerShell Escape Room by Michiel Hamers
by Michiel Hamers
https://about.me/michielhamers/
Why on earth you want to create an Escape Room with PowerShell as backend?
I’ve always been a fan of escape rooms, so I decided to create my own for my kids. I wanted to make it something that would be challenging and fun for them, but also educational. I decided to use PowerShell as the backend for the escape room, as I’m a PowerShell developer and I thought it would be a great way to learn more about the language.
The first step was to design the rooms. I wanted to make sure that there were a variety of puzzles and challenges that my kids would have to solve. I also wanted to make sure that the rooms were visually appealing and engaging. Once I had the rooms designed, I started building them.
I used a variety of materials to build the rooms, including wood, cardboard, and fabric. I also used a few electronic components, such as a USB extension cable with a switch and a 3-button keyboard. The USB extension cable with a switch was used to create a physical button that my kids could press to solve one of the puzzles. The 3-button keyboard was used to enter the code that my kids had to find to solve another puzzle.
I also used a few websites to create rebus puzzles that my kids had to solve. I printed out the rebus puzzles and placed them around the rooms. Once my kids had solved all of the puzzles, they were able to enter the code on a single screen to escape the room.
In this blog post, we’ll delve into the process of creating an engaging PowerShell escape room for the global PowerShell community. We’ll emphasize the significance of storytelling and provide a detailed breakdown of the PowerShell structure used for the escape room.
Microsoft Graph PowerShell Module: Getting Started Guide
Microsoft Graph PowerShell Module: Getting Started Guide
by Jeff Brown
Microsoft is retiring the Azure AD Graph API sometime after June 30, 2023 (announcement). This retirement includes the Azure AD PowerShell module. In its place, Microsoft has released the Microsoft Graph PowerShell module. The Microsoft Graph PowerShell module is the next-generation way of managing Microsoft cloud services using PowerShell. If you have used MSOnline or Azure AD PowerShell in the past, you’ll need to read on to learn about this new module.
ICYMI: PowerShell Week of 08-October-2021
Topics include VMWare, Windows 11, Web Reports and more…
Special thanks to Robin Dadswell, Prasoon Karunan V, Kiran Patnayakuni and Kevin Laux
How to gather your vCenter inventory data with this VMware PowerShell script
by Scott Matteson on 7th October
Inventory reports are a common request when administering a VMware vCenter environment. Learn how this VMware PowerShell script can make such requests quick and easy
Building a Web Report in PowerShell, use the -Force Luke
by Chris Noring on 8th October