PowerShell
Windows Server 8: The Microsoft Server Fork
Windows Server 8 is categorically different than its predecessor versions. There’s an argument to say that it’s not actually Windows. It's pre-beta, and it's an enormous statement covering many positions on the chess board. Windows 8 Server editions are preferred to be run, according to Microsoft spokesperson last week, in Server Core format, although Windows GUI will be available if desired. Headless operation can also be used. Read more
Cisco releases dozens of free PowerShell scripts to manage its UCS servers
On June 1, 2011, Cisco released the beta version of the Unified Computing System Manager PowerShell Toolkit with dozens of cmdlets to help automate management tasks on Cisco's UCS bladeserver. Interesting! I contacted one of the project’s leaders, John McDonough, custom application engineer, and asked him to tell me more about it. What follows is a guest blog written by John, but before we get to that, I had a few questions for him. Read more
Using PowerShell to Turn HyperV Guest Sessions On/Off/Save
These PowerShell Scripts help you turn on, turn off, and save guest sessions right from a script. This is extremely helpful when you are trying to turn on a series of guest sessions (possibly on a demo system, or if you have a DR site where you want to fire up a bunch of guest sessions all at once), or if you want to power down a bunch of sessions (or save a bunch of sessions) without having to go to each one of them and manually "shutdown" or save the sessions. Read more
Are you using Powershell to its fullest?
I'm the lead DBA in a large IT shop and I manage hundreds of servers every day. And one of the main tenets I've propagated throughout my group is that we should be using powershell for as much as possible. There's just so much that can be done with it and so much time and effort it can save you it's ridiculous to not use it to its fullest. And when I teach powershell sessions at conferences I always ask how people are using it and they're almost always using it for a very small subset of things they could be. They use it to mostly do simple things on individual serve Read more
An easy way to check SQL Server backups
For the past several weeks I've been doing nothing but complaining about vendors so I thought I'd take a break and write something about SQL Server for a change. So to that end today I'm gonna talk about a couple different ways to get info on which DBs were backed up and when. Read more
My thoughts on Microsoft’s System Center Opalis product
What is Opalis? Well for those that have been in a closet, Opalis was an automation platform that was snapped up by Microsoft late last year. Rebranded System Center Opalis, this platform is targeted to provide a vehicle that IT pros can use to automate tasks across various systems via a workflow without “necessarily” writing code. Based on Microsoft’s marketing materials the key selling points for Opalis are: Read more
RDC RemoteApp: How do users change their password?
***UPDATE***
Here is the source: http://poshcode.org/1910
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I recently ran into a very interesting scenario with RDC RemoteApp. Basically, we had a client that was using RDC RemoteApp to deploy a medical related application. For their deployment scenario they wanted to create and distribute RDP files to remote users who were not on the organization’s internal network. After semi-going live with their deployment they turned to us and asked, “What about password changes?” Read more
Searching an entire Active Directory forest for certain objects…
Good evening everyone! After several weeks of dodging postings of an applied nature I figured that it might be time to do a PowerShell focused posting. I like PowerShell… Read more
How does one audit NTFS permissions without rights?
A really good question recently came up on the SANS GIAC advisory board. Basically, someone needed to audit the NTFS permissions on a set of files and directories (I will refer to them as objects). Easy, right? Oh, I forgot to mention that “Administrators” had no rights to these objects, and modifying (like taking ownership) the permissions for these objects was out of the question. Read more
An easier way to find Microsoft-written scripts
Submitted by Microsoft Subnet on Thu, 06/11/09 - 7:07pm. Why write a script from scratch when you can search and possibly find a perfectly good one written by credible source? The gentleman that writes Microsoft's daily "Hey, Scripting Guy" column has created a special Bing search site for just this reason. Read more
PowerShell Summer Scripting Games 2009 (Announced)
Submitted by tyson.kopczynski on Wed, 05/20/09 - 1:20pm.I'm not sure if everyone saw this announcement on the PowerShell blog, but sharing and sharing again is always a good practice. Basically, the PowerShell Summer Scripting Games of 2009 have been officially announced. But... what is really great about this announcement is the fact that the games is being held in collaboration with PowerShellCommunity.org and PoshCode.org. Read more
Tripped up on some PowerShell try, catch, functions, and cascading error handling oddness!
Submitted by tyson.kopczynski on Sun, 03/22/09 - 2:58am.
Try to say that title five times in a row...
Maybe this posting can be classified as a stupid PowerShell trick. Or, it's just me blabbing on about how I wish error handling in PowerShell worked a certain way (it's always been a sore subject). Anyhow, I was writing a script and given that CTP3 now supports the good old try and catch error handling methodology. My error handling logic, of course, was using it. The problem was... errors were not popping up where I thought they should. Read more
**Updated** Sending an HTML Formatted Email Using PowerShell
Submitted by tyson.kopczynski on Sun, 03/15/09 - 10:16am.
So, I have been working on building a PowerShell based notification engine for a favorite MSFT product of mine called Certificate Lifecycle Manager (kidding!). Anyhow, I wanted to make the emails pretty (after all, everyone loves pretty emails). To do this, I figured the best method was send out HTML formatted emails. However, I did not want to have the email layout necessarily embedded within my PowerShell code. Read more
SSH PowerShell for the Masses.
Submitted by tyson.kopczynski on Tue, 02/24/09 - 8:35am.
Ah... Gmail is down, was down... errr! what is it now. You'd think it was the end of the world according to people on Twitter.
Anyhow, considering that I had a few moments without the warm glow of Google Gmail goodness, I figured it would be a good time to talk about a recent post from Joel (huddledmasses.org). Granted, I had hoped that time was on my side, and I could expand upon his post. But, these past couple weeks have been a bit crazy (you know... beating up certain features of a certain pending OS). :>) Read more
Here is a good question: Is scripting programming or just systems administration?
Submitted by tyson.kopczynski on Wed, 02/11/09 - 9:15am.
For some reason, I'm often asked this question: is scripting programming or just systems administration? Oddly enough, we briefly addressed this within the firstPowerShell Unleashed book. But, because I'm still quizzed about this question from time to time, plus the fact that I myself also still randomly reflect upon it, I thought discussing this topic might be a good post. Read more
Why I think PowerShell modules may lead to chaos!
Submitted by tyson.kopczynski on Thu, 01/22/09 - 9:13am.
So in my last post, I kinda hinted that I wanted to delve deeper into the quirk I noticed with the new 2.0 modules feature. But, to tell you the truth, the quirk is not what I really want to talk. I'm pretty sure the PSH product team will address the issue before RTM. After all... this is only CTP3!
No... no... the thing that I really want to talk about is the impending chaos that modules might bring to the now growing PSH driven automation ecosystem. Read more
PowerShell boy and the case of the missing cmdlets!
Submitted by tyson.kopczynski on Sun, 01/18/09 - 12:24am.
First things first, modules in PowerShell v2.0 rule! Next to remoting, this is my second most favorite feature in the v2.0 lineup. And, with the CTP3 release, modules are even better, faster, stronger... After all, we can rebuild him. We have the technology... oh wait wrong topic!
Anyhow, I fully plan on diving very deep in to a number of the new features just like I did with events. But, first I wanted to share an interesting little module quirk that I experience the other day. Read more
Global Knowledge training, and Microsoft library giveaway winners
Submitted by Microsoft Subnet on Tue, 01/13/09 - 6:45pm.
Microsoft Subnet is happy to announce our next round of winners for our monthly giveaways. Manisha Palsana, a sales CRM/BI administrator for Recall Corp. won the grand prize of a free Microsoft training course of her choosing, worth up to $2,995 from Global Knowledge. Read more
Windows 7 news roundup -- skim this and be in the know
Submitted by Microsoft Subnet on Fri, 01/09/09 - 4:38pm.Updated 01-26-09:
Google News lists tens of thousands of Windows 7 stories published in the past couple of weeks. What more is there to say about the beta operating system? And how much do you have to read before you know what you need to know? Truth is, not much. So at Microsoft Subnet we offer you what you really need ... a roundup of the news important to the enterprise. Here goes ... Read more
Why Windows 7 will crush Linux
Submitted by Ron Barrett on Fri, 01/09/09 - 3:04pm.Okay it is no secret that Linux has not been able to crack the desktop, either at the home or at the workplace. Not to ignored either is that Windows lost some desktops last year (a little over 3%),but let’s not panic just yet, Windows still owns over 88% of all the desktops according to leading research. Read more
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