Earlier this week I showed you how to use PowerShell transcripts. I realized it might be nice to have a log file with a timestamp in the name. You may decide, or be required for auditing purposes, to have a transcript of every PowerShell session saved to a logfile with a timestamp as part of the filename.
Category: Windows PowerShell
Don Jones’ new PowerShell column is online!
As posted previously, Don Jones is now exclusive to Microsoft TechNet Magazine, and the first of his new Windows PowerShell columns is now online and in print. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/, scroll down to the “Columns” section, and look for Don’s name. New columns will be available each month.
Don’t forget that SAPIEN’s Jeffery Hicks is also in print: He now …
VBScript and PowerShell Webcasts
Don Jones will be hosting a new series of monthly TechNet Webcasts, beginning December 19th. These Webcasts are free, although they do require advance registration in order to attend. Learn more about the first one, an “Overview of Windows PowerShell,” and register now.
Don’t forget that Don’s past VBScript-oriented Webcasts are still available for free as on-demand downloads …
Windows PowerShell: TFM – Book Update
We’re pleased to announce several great pieces of news for Windows PowerShell: TFM, the first book on Windows PowerShell and the first print publication from SAPIEN Press:
Finally, the manuscript is complete! Once the last bits of graphic design for the cover are finished, we’ll be off to the presses.
The first official sample chapters (not “preview” chapters) …
PowerShell Transcripts
PowerShell has an interesting cmdlet that lets you save a transcript of a PowerShell session. Every command you run and the resulting output can be recorded to a text file. This file can be used as a training aid, an audit trail, or as the source for rapid PowerShell script development.
SAPIEN Knowledge Base – PowerShell content!
The SAPIEN Knowledge Base (http://www.sapien.com/support.asp) now includes content for Windows PowerShell. Over time, we’ll be adding references and tutorials for various cmdlets, along with other useful content. To access the Knowledge Base, go to the link above and click the Knowledge Base item. Then, select the Windows PowerShell category, or search for cmdlet tutorials by cmdlet name.
Now where did I put that user?
Working with Active Directory in PowerShell will require a bit of a paradigm shift for scripters used to working with ADSI in VBScript. But it’s not necessarily a bad thing. For example, in PowerShell it is very easy to find objects in Active Directory with a searcher object. Once you have the object reference, you can connect to it and work with its properties pretty much as you did in VBScript. Let me show you a PowerShell script that finds a user in Active Directory given its sAMAccountname and then lists the available properties.
PowerShell’s Object Orientedness
Understanding PowerShell?s object-orientation can be difficult because there?s no real way to see the objects in action. The first step in understanding, however, is to realize that when you?re using PowerShell, you?re not really using PowerShell.
PowerShell’s WMI
I know there’s a lot of confusion, with some folks, around WMI in PowerShell.
For example, this is the first type of WMI usage in PoSH that most folks saw:
$wmi = Get-WMIObject Win32_OperatingSystem
$wmi.ServicePackMajorVersion
Cool enough. Of course, in this example, you’re only ever going to get one instance of a WMI class back; with other classes, you might …
PoSH and Logon Scripts
I’d been under the impression – and said so at some recent conferences – that PowerShell can’t be used for logon scripts. Not so, it turns out, although I still don’t think it’s well-suited for the task.
Let me be clear in that I don’t think logon scripts themselves are well-suited to a task. The primary purpose of logon scripts …
