Expert recommendations, pragmatically applied.

Automate system administration using Windows PowerShell best practices—and optimize your operational efficiency. With this practical guide, Windows PowerShell expert and instructor Ed Wilson delivers field-tested tips, real-world examples, and candid advice culled from administrators across a range of business and technical scenarios. If you’re an IT professional with Windows PowerShell experience, this book is ideal.

Discover how to:

• Use Windows PowerShell to automate Active Directory tasks
• Explore available WMI classes and methods with CIM cmdlets
• Identify and track scripting opportunities to avoid duplication
• Use functions to encapsulate business logic and reuse code
• Design your script’s best input method and output destination
• Test scripts by checking their syntax and performance
• Choose the most suitable method for running remote commands
• Manage software services with Desired State Configuration

Ed Wilson, MCSE, CISSP, is a well-known scripting expert and author of "Hey Scripting Guy!", one of the most popular blogs on Microsoft TechNet. Ed has written six books on Microsoft Windows scripting for Microsoft Press, including three Windows PowerShell titles: Windows PowerShell 2.0 Best Practices, Windows PowerShell Scripting Guide, and Microsoft Windows PowerShell Step by Step. He has delivered a popular Windows PowerShell workshop to Microsoft Premier customers worldwide, and has spoken at the Microsoft TechEd and TechReady conferences. Before coming to work for Microsoft, Ed was a senior consultant for a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner where he specialized in Active Directory design and Exchange Server implementation.

• Foreword
• Introduction
• Understanding the basics of Windows PowerShell
  • Chapter 1: Survey of Windows PowerShell capabilities
  • Chapter 2: Using the CIM cmdlets
• Planning for scripting
  • Chapter 3: Using the Active Directory module
  • Chapter 4: Identifying scripting opportunities
  • Chapter 5: Configuring the script environment
  • Chapter 6: Avoiding scripting pitfalls
  • Chapter 7: Tracking scripting opportunities
• Designing the script
  • Chapter 8: Designing the script
  • Chapter 9: Designing help for scripts
  • Chapter 10: Designing modules
  • Chapter 11: Handling input and output
  • Chapter 12: Handling errors
  • Chapter 13: Testing scripts
  • Chapter 14: Documenting scripts
• Deploying the script
  • Chapter 15: Managing the execution policy
  • Chapter 16: Running scripts
  • Chapter 17: Versioning scripts
  • Chapter 18: Logging results
  • Chapter 19: Troubleshooting scripts
  • Chapter 20: Using the Windows PowerShell ISE
  • Chapter 21: Using Windows PowerShell remoting and jobs
  • Chapter 22: Using Windows PowerShell Workflow
  • Chapter 23: Using the Windows PowerShell DSC
• About the author