Speaker 1: Welcome to the deep dive. Looks like we're diving into
Speaker 1: the world of PowerShell today. Yeah, you want to learn
Speaker 1: how to use it to automate all those tedious tasks
Speaker 1: you have to do in Windows. And we've got some
Speaker 1: great resources to guide us.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, We've got excerpts from PowerShell for Sissedminds by Adam
Speaker 1: Bertram and some intriguing info from the No Starch Press catalog.
Speaker 2: Nice.
Speaker 1: So, are you ready to unlock the power of PowerShell
Speaker 1: and boost your efficiency?
Speaker 2: Absolutely, let's dive in. PowerShell is really a game changer. Okay.
Speaker 2: Imagine controlling your systems with code, automating all those boring,
Speaker 2: repetitive tasks, and even managing renote computers. Oh wow, all
Speaker 2: from one central place.
Speaker 1: That sounds amazing, especially for someone like me, always looking
Speaker 1: for ways to be more efficient and to save a
Speaker 1: little bit of time. Of course, now, one thing that
Speaker 1: really caught my eye in the book was that PowerShell
Speaker 1: was designed to be user friendly, absolutely, even for people
Speaker 1: who aren't you know, hardcore programmers.
Speaker 2: It was built for sissigments from the ground up.
Speaker 1: And is that because of features like tab completion. I
Speaker 1: saw that mention in there, tab.
Speaker 2: Completion is a life saver.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Instead of memorizing every single command in every parameter, you
Speaker 2: can just type part of it, okay, and powershow will
Speaker 2: try to predict what you need. Oh nice, especially when
Speaker 2: you're working with longer commands or more complex scripts later on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's going to come in handy definitely. Okay. So
Speaker 1: tab completion, Yeah, definitely makes it less intimidating. Sure, so
Speaker 1: that's great. Now. Another thing I kept seeing was that
Speaker 1: in PowerShell everything is an object.
Speaker 2: Everything's an object?
Speaker 1: What does that even mean?
Speaker 2: It's a little bit of a mind shift, but once
Speaker 2: you grasp that concept, it really unlocks the logic of PowerShell. Okay,
Speaker 2: think of it this way. Even a simple string of text, Yeah,
Speaker 2: like the word blue, that's not just text in Power Show.
Speaker 2: It's a string object.
Speaker 1: So it's more than just the letters b lue exactly.
Speaker 2: It has properties like its length, which tells you how
Speaker 2: many characters are in the string, and it also has methods,
Speaker 2: which are basically actions that you can perform on that strength.
Speaker 1: So, for example, could I use a method to change
Speaker 1: that string to all upper case?
Speaker 2: You absolutely could? Okay, there's a method called two upper Okay, Specifically,
Speaker 2: for that.
Speaker 1: That makes sense. Yeah, but how would I know what
Speaker 1: properties and methods?
Speaker 2: That's where your new best friend comes in. Okay, get
Speaker 2: member member. You can use this command on any object
Speaker 2: to see all of its properties in methods.
Speaker 1: Get members like it's like an X ray for a
Speaker 1: PowerShell object. I like that. Get member goes in the
Speaker 1: toolbox absolutely. Now. The book also talks about A rays. Yes,
Speaker 1: and A ray lists are those related to this whole
Speaker 1: object's concept.
Speaker 2: They are? Okay, so once you start working with more
Speaker 2: than one object, you need a way to organize them, okay, right.
Speaker 2: A rays are basically containers. They can hold a fixed
Speaker 2: number of objects.
Speaker 1: So if I have like a list of usernames, put
Speaker 1: those in an array exactly.
Speaker 2: Now. If you're dealing with much larger sets of data,
Speaker 2: array lists are even better. They can grow dynamically, so
Speaker 2: you don't have to preset the size.
Speaker 1: Got it. So arrays for smaller fixed sets of data,
Speaker 1: arraylists for larger dynamic data sets.
Speaker 2: It's all about choosing the right tool for the job.
Speaker 1: It is, right, Yeah, okay, cool, So far everything seems
Speaker 1: pretty straightforward. But I know we're just scratching the surface here.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, what's next?
Speaker 2: On the agenda, let's talk about scripting. Okay, this is
Speaker 2: where you can really start automating more complex tasks. But
Speaker 2: before we get into that, yeah, we need to talk
Speaker 2: about something called execution policies.
Speaker 1: Execution policies, Yes, what are those all about?
Speaker 2: They're all about security.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: So execution policies control what kind of PowerShell scripts can
Speaker 2: actually be run on your system. There are different levels
Speaker 2: of restriction, so some policies might prevent you from running
Speaker 2: scripts downloaded from the internet.
Speaker 1: Right for security reasons exactly.
Speaker 2: There's a policy called restricted which does exactly that, and
Speaker 2: that's actually the default on many systems, just to prevent
Speaker 2: you know, yeah, accidentally running something that could be harmful.
Speaker 1: Makes sense.
Speaker 2: Now there are other policies.
Speaker 1: Too, Okay, what are those.
Speaker 2: All Signed only allows you to run scripts if they've
Speaker 2: been digitally signed by a trusted source, got it and
Speaker 2: remote signed, unless you run your own scripts and any
Speaker 2: sigence scripts you download.
Speaker 1: Okay, So that's kind of a balance between security and
Speaker 1: flexibility exactly. So it sounds like I need to understand
Speaker 1: these execution policies you do to make sure I can
Speaker 1: run the scripts that I want to run, exactly. Okay,
Speaker 1: and then to actually help me write and manage those scripts. Yes,
Speaker 1: book introduces the PowerShell.
Speaker 2: I yes, the PowerShell is.
Speaker 1: What does I stand for?
Speaker 2: It stands for Integrated Scripting Environment, basically a code editor
Speaker 2: designed specifically for PowerShell. It has features like syntax highlighting
Speaker 2: okay to help you write error free code, and debugging
Speaker 2: tools to help you troubleshoot your scripts when things.
Speaker 1: Go wrong, which they inevitably will of course, So this
Speaker 1: sounds like this will be really helpful.
Speaker 2: It'll help you a lot.
Speaker 1: Once I start getting into more complex scripting.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Okay. So we've covered the console, I've talked about objects,
Speaker 1: We've even touched on security a bit, a little bit.
Speaker 1: Now I'm ready to dive into the scripting thing.
Speaker 2: Scripting is where the real magic happens. And the best
Speaker 2: part is PowerShell was built on this principle of don't
Speaker 2: repeat yourself. Okay, So it's all about automation.
Speaker 1: I love that. I love that principle. So what are
Speaker 1: some of the key concepts I need to know to
Speaker 1: start writing these effective PowerShell scripts?
Speaker 2: Control flow statements, control flow states. These are your building blocks, Okay.
Speaker 2: They allow you to create scripts that make decisions okay,
Speaker 2: and adapt to different situations.
Speaker 1: So it's like a choose your own adventure.
Speaker 2: It's like to choose your own adventures for your computer.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm intrigued. Yeah, tell me more about these control
Speaker 1: flow statements. What does they look like?
Speaker 2: Well, you have flightful statements okay, which lets you perform
Speaker 2: different actions based on certain conditions. So, for example, imagine
Speaker 2: you want to write a script that checks the free
Speaker 2: space on your hard drive. Okay, you could use an
Speaker 2: if statement to check if the free space is below
Speaker 2: a certain threshold, right, and then send you an alert
Speaker 2: if it is.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's useful. Yeah, I can already see how that
Speaker 1: would be.
Speaker 2: Helpful practical example. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What other kinds of control flow statements are there?
Speaker 2: They're also switch statements, okay, which can be more efficient
Speaker 2: than a bunch of IF statements if you're checking against
Speaker 2: multiple possible values.
Speaker 1: So if statements for simple conditions, which statements for multiple conditions?
Speaker 2: Exactly?
Speaker 3: Got it?
Speaker 1: What about repeating actions, like if I wanted to perform
Speaker 1: the same task but on multiple files.
Speaker 2: That's where loops come in.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: PowerShell has several types of loops, like for each wile.
Speaker 2: Each loop has its own unique way of repeating actions
Speaker 2: based on certain conditions.
Speaker 1: So with loops, I could write a script that would
Speaker 1: go through every file and a folder and perform some action.
Speaker 2: On each one exactly. You could rename them, move them.
Speaker 1: Or whatever I want, compress them, got.
Speaker 2: It, whatever you can imagine.
Speaker 1: This is starting to feel powerful, it is. Okay, So
Speaker 1: we've got these conditional statements like if and switch, we've
Speaker 1: got loops for repeating actions. Absolutely anything else I need
Speaker 1: to know about control flow.
Speaker 2: One more crucial thing, okay, error handling.
Speaker 1: Error handling.
Speaker 2: What happens when something unexpected happens in your script?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course things are going to go wrong.
Speaker 2: PowerShell has ways to handle those situations gracefully. Okay, so
Speaker 2: your script doesn't just crash and burn.
Speaker 1: Okay, good error handling. I can see why that.
Speaker 2: Would be important, especially if your scripts are running critical tasks.
Speaker 2: You don't want them to just fall apart. So PowerShell
Speaker 2: uses these things called exceptions and errors to deal with
Speaker 2: these unexpected situations, and learning how to anticipate and manage
Speaker 2: those errors is really key. Got it to writing robust
Speaker 2: and reliable scripts.
Speaker 1: So control flow statements, loops, and error handling error handling.
Speaker 1: Those are the foundation.
Speaker 2: Those are your foundations for scripting.
Speaker 3: Got it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Once I understand those, I'm well on my way.
Speaker 2: You're well on your way to.
Speaker 1: Writing some seriously powerful scripts.
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to start putting this all into practice.
Speaker 1: Is there anything else we should cover before we move on?
Speaker 1: One more thing to some real world examples.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about functions and modules.
Speaker 1: Functions and modules.
Speaker 2: This is a building blocks for organizing and reusing your
Speaker 2: PowerShell code. Okay, think of them like pre build components
Speaker 2: that you can assemble to create more complex scripts.
Speaker 1: Sounds intriguing. Tell me more about functions and modules.
Speaker 2: So functions are like mini programs okay, within your script.
Speaker 2: They let you group together reusable blocks of code, which
Speaker 2: makes your scripts more organized, more readable, and easier to test.
Speaker 2: Got it, and to keep things clear? Yeah. The book
Speaker 2: really emphasizes giving your functions descriptive names, using what's called
Speaker 2: the verb noun convention.
Speaker 1: Verb noun convention. Yes, what is that?
Speaker 2: It's a simple way to name your functions so that
Speaker 2: they clearly describe what they do. Sample. Instead of naming
Speaker 2: a function like processed data, you might have a function
Speaker 2: called get user data or set file permissions.
Speaker 1: Okay, so the verb comes first.
Speaker 2: Verb first, and then the noun and then the noun.
Speaker 1: That makes perfect sense.
Speaker 2: It makes it much easier to understand what the function
Speaker 2: does exactly just by looking at its name.
Speaker 1: Yeah, descriptive names are always good, absolutely. So what about module?
Speaker 2: Modules are basically containers for your functions. They let you
Speaker 2: bundle a bunch of related functions together so you can
Speaker 2: share them and reuse them easily. Imagine you have a
Speaker 2: set of functions for managing user accounts. You can put
Speaker 2: all those functions together in a module called user Management.
Speaker 1: So it's like a library.
Speaker 2: It's like a library, a reusable PowerShell code.
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, that's a brilliant way to organize things. It is,
Speaker 1: and not have to reinvent the wheel every time you
Speaker 1: need to do a common task.
Speaker 2: Don't repeat yourself, right exactly. And you can even share
Speaker 2: your modules with others. Oh wow, download modules and other
Speaker 2: people have.
Speaker 1: Created so it's like having access, yeah to this vast collection.
Speaker 2: It's like a giant tool box.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of pre built, pre built powershow tools, powersholl tool
Speaker 1: This is getting better and better. It is now. I'm
Speaker 1: really excited to see how all of this comes together
Speaker 1: in a real world scenario. All right, where do we
Speaker 1: go from here?
Speaker 2: Since you're interested in managing computers remotely, okay, let's talk
Speaker 2: about powershow remoting power Shell remoting. It's like having a
Speaker 2: virtual control panel that lets you manage computers anywhere on
Speaker 2: your network.
Speaker 1: PowerShell remoting. Yeah, that sounds incredibly powerful.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 1: Tell me more about how it works.
Speaker 2: Imagine you need to install software, okay on one hundred computers.
Speaker 2: Instead of manually logging into each one, Yeah, no, thanks,
Speaker 2: you could use PowerShell remoting okay to send commands to
Speaker 2: all of them simultaneously.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, that would be a huge time saver.
Speaker 2: It would be.
Speaker 1: Ok what are some of the key things I need
Speaker 1: to know?
Speaker 2: So the book mentions this command, Yeah, called invoke command.
Speaker 2: Invoke command, and that's your go to tool for running
Speaker 2: commands on remote computers. It's great for quick tasks, but
Speaker 2: for more complex scenarios, you might want to use something
Speaker 2: called sessions.
Speaker 1: Sessions, Yes, what are those?
Speaker 2: So? A session is basically a persistent connection to a
Speaker 2: remote computer. It lets you maintain that connection and execute
Speaker 2: multiple commands without having to constantly re establish that communication.
Speaker 1: Got it? Yeah, So invoke command for quick tasks, sessions
Speaker 1: for more involved involve man management. Yeah, okay, Now I'm
Speaker 1: really curious to see how this PowerShell remoting works in practice.
Speaker 1: Do we have any real world examples to look at?
Speaker 2: The book has this really cool example of creating a inventory.
Speaker 1: Script server inventory script. What would that do?
Speaker 2: So imagine you need to gather information about all the
Speaker 2: servers on your network, things like their operating system versions,
Speaker 2: their hardware specs, what software is installed on them. A
Speaker 2: server inventory script can automate that whole process for you.
Speaker 1: That sounds incredibly useful. It is, especially if you're managing
Speaker 1: a large network.
Speaker 2: If you have a lot of servers.
Speaker 1: So how does PowerShell actually gather all that information?
Speaker 2: The book focuses on using two main techniques okay, querying
Speaker 2: active directory okay, and using these things called CIMWM I
Speaker 2: cmdalitz Okay.
Speaker 1: Active directory, I'm familiar with it.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: That's basically a directory of all the users.
Speaker 2: It's like a phone book and computer, yeah, for your
Speaker 2: network and the network right, Okay, it's a gold mine
Speaker 2: of information okay for CIS edmins.
Speaker 1: So we can query active directory to find out everything
Speaker 1: we need to know about our server.
Speaker 2: You can't their names, their I P addresses, they're operating systems,
Speaker 2: domain memberships, and much more.
Speaker 1: Active directory makes sense. But these cimw MI cmdalits.
Speaker 2: Those sound a little bit more mysterious.
Speaker 1: They're a little bit more low level, okay, but incredibly powerful.
Speaker 1: Think of cimwm I as a way to talk directly
Speaker 1: to the hardware and software components of your Windows systems.
Speaker 1: They give you access to a ton of information that
Speaker 1: you can't get through active directory.
Speaker 2: The active directory is kind of like the high level
Speaker 2: overview of the network.
Speaker 1: The big picture.
Speaker 2: And then CIWMI. Yeah, lets us drill down, drill down
Speaker 2: into the nitty gritty detail exact of each server.
Speaker 1: By combining those two techniques, you can gather a truly
Speaker 1: comprehensive inventory of your server environment.
Speaker 2: And the book even mentions, yes, generating reports from this data.
Speaker 1: Reports are essential.
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, I can see how that would be helpful
Speaker 2: to visualize and analyze all that information.
Speaker 1: It makes the data actionable, right Yeah, Okay, So this
Speaker 1: server inventory script sounds like a great example. It is
Speaker 1: how PowerShell can automate. It shows you this complex, real
Speaker 1: world task.
Speaker 2: It's a great practical example.
Speaker 1: Cool, and there's even more real world projects. Oh, Yeah,
Speaker 1: covered in this book.
Speaker 2: The book is packed with them.
Speaker 1: You also learn about automating user account creation, yes, deploying
Speaker 1: web servers, working with cloud platforms like Azure and Aws.
Speaker 2: All those things.
Speaker 1: Wow, it sounds like we have a lot of exciting
Speaker 1: material to make.
Speaker 2: We have a lot to talk about.
Speaker 1: This deep dive is really opening my eyes to the possibilities.
Speaker 2: A powerful tool.
Speaker 1: Yes, of PowerShell. What should we explore.
Speaker 2: Next before we move on to more advanced projects?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: I think it would be helpful to get you comfortable
Speaker 2: with the PowerShell console itself. Okay, so why don't we
Speaker 2: try out a few basic commands?
Speaker 1: All right, let's do it and.
Speaker 2: See how it all works in practice.
Speaker 1: I'm ready to get my hands dirty.
Speaker 2: Okay, great, let's start with a cam dill it okay,
Speaker 2: called get command.
Speaker 1: Get command.
Speaker 2: This is a great way to see all the available
Speaker 2: commands and power show. So go ahead and type get
Speaker 2: command in the console and press enter.
Speaker 1: Okay, I see a long list of commands scrolling by.
Speaker 2: There are a lot.
Speaker 1: Wow, it looks like PowerShell has commands for just about everything.
Speaker 2: It's a very versatile tool, it is. Yeah. Okay, now
Speaker 2: let's try command. You might be familiar with from the
Speaker 2: doss days. Type deer and press enter.
Speaker 1: Okay, I see a listing of the files and folders
Speaker 1: in my current directory. It looks just like the output
Speaker 1: from the old deer command is Is that just a coincidence?
Speaker 2: Not at all?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: So PowerShell has this feature called aliases okay, which are
Speaker 2: basically nicknames for common commands. So deer is actually an
Speaker 2: alias for the get child items CM dillit okay, which
Speaker 2: is the PowerShell way to list files and folders.
Speaker 1: So they kept some of the familiar man. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: try to make it from other command line environments easy
Speaker 1: to learn, to make it easier.
Speaker 2: To people coming from different backgrounds, right, exactly. Now let's
Speaker 2: try something a little more PowerShell specific.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Remember the get member CM in tullet.
Speaker 1: Get member we talked about earlier, the one that lets.
Speaker 2: Us see the properties and.
Speaker 1: Methods all the properties and methods of an object of
Speaker 1: an object exactly?
Speaker 2: Yes, I remember that one.
Speaker 1: Okay. So let's create a simple string object like the
Speaker 1: one we discussed before. Type this color equals blue color
Speaker 1: equals blue, Press enter okay. Done.
Speaker 2: Now let's use get member to see what's inside this
Speaker 2: color object. Okay, type of color okay, pipe, okay, get member,
Speaker 2: get member and press enter. Okay, now you should see.
Speaker 1: Wow, this is amazing. Yeah, I see a whole list
Speaker 1: of properties and methods. All those properties and methods, there's
Speaker 1: the length property we talked aboutre it is and methods
Speaker 1: like to upper and to a lower He got it.
Speaker 1: So if I wanted to convert that string to all uppercase, yes,
Speaker 1: I could just type your copyer two up exactly.
Speaker 2: And if you want to converted to lowercase color to
Speaker 2: lower Okay.
Speaker 1: This object oriented approach is really starting to click for me.
Speaker 2: It's a powerful concept.
Speaker 1: It is. It's like each object has its own set
Speaker 1: of tools and capability.
Speaker 2: And that's one of the key things that makes PowerShell
Speaker 2: so powerful, flexible.
Speaker 1: This is really exciting, it is I'm starting to see
Speaker 1: the potential of PowerShell.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we've only just scratched the surface.
Speaker 1: I know, right, Yeah, and we've only just scratched the surface.
Speaker 2: We have a lot more to explore. Okay, but for now,
Speaker 2: let's take a short break and when we come back,
Speaker 2: we'll dive into more advanced PowerShell techniques and real world examples.
Speaker 2: Sounds good, Welcome back, You're ready to keep exploring the
Speaker 2: world of PowerShell.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I'm excited to see what else we can do
Speaker 1: with it.
Speaker 2: All right, so you also send some info about security.
Speaker 1: Yes, I was thinking, you know, if I'm going to
Speaker 1: be using this in a work setting, I can't imagine
Speaker 1: just embedding passwords in plain texts within a script.
Speaker 2: No, No, never do that, but especially.
Speaker 1: If they're going to be used on production systems.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you got to keep security in mind, especially with PowerShell.
Speaker 1: So how do we actually secure those sensitive bits of information?
Speaker 2: Well, the book talks about using encryption to protect that
Speaker 2: kind of data.
Speaker 1: So are there built in tools for that? In PowerShell?
Speaker 2: There are PowerShell has sem dalits specifically designed for encryption.
Speaker 1: All right, what are they?
Speaker 2: So there's the sem dealt called get Credential Credential, which
Speaker 2: lets you store a username and password securely in something
Speaker 2: called a PCEX credential object.
Speaker 1: A piece credential object.
Speaker 2: And then you can encrypt that and save it to
Speaker 2: a file.
Speaker 1: So it's like having a secure.
Speaker 2: Vault exactly, much better than plain.
Speaker 1: Text, right, way better? Okay, So encryption is important, always
Speaker 1: a good idea, especially when we're dealing with these automated scripts.
Speaker 2: Especially in work environment.
Speaker 1: Right. Yeah, Now I'm curious to see how we can
Speaker 1: apply all this knowledge to some real world tasks.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: The book talks about a server inventory script.
Speaker 2: Yeah, those are incredibly useful.
Speaker 1: Okay, So what would that do.
Speaker 2: Imagine you've got dozens or even hundreds of servers, okay,
Speaker 2: and you need to know what operating systems they're running,
Speaker 2: what hardware they have, what software is installed. A server
Speaker 2: inventory script can automate all of that.
Speaker 1: That sounds amazing, it really is. But how does PowerShell
Speaker 1: actually gather all that information?
Speaker 2: So the book uses two main techniques, okay, querying active
Speaker 2: directory and using those cimwmcmdalits.
Speaker 1: Yeah, IMWMRO we talked about earlier.
Speaker 2: So active directory. Yeah, it's basically like a phone book
Speaker 2: for the network.
Speaker 1: That's a good way to think about it.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: It's a central directory of all the users and computers
Speaker 1: on the network.
Speaker 2: So active directory is like the high level view. It
Speaker 2: gives you the big picture, okay, and then the CIMWM
Speaker 2: I cmdal it's.
Speaker 1: Those let you drill down, okay, into the specifics of
Speaker 1: each machine.
Speaker 2: So it's like active directory tells us you know the
Speaker 2: server's name, it's IP address. Right, but then CIWM I
Speaker 2: can tell us you know how much.
Speaker 1: Ram it has, exactly what kind of hard drive, all
Speaker 1: the details, got it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So by combining these two techniques, yeah, you can get
Speaker 1: a really comprehensive inventory.
Speaker 2: And the book even mentions generating reports from this data.
Speaker 1: Reports are essential for making that data useful. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: otherwise it's just it's just a jumble of information. Right,
Speaker 1: exact report can summarize it, present it in a way
Speaker 1: that's easy to understand.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you can spot trends, identify issues, so on.
Speaker 1: So this server inventory script is a great example of
Speaker 1: how PowerShell.
Speaker 2: Can automate it is it's a really practical example.
Speaker 1: Yeah, these complex real world tasks they had a lot
Speaker 1: of sisiments have to do on a regular basis. So
Speaker 1: what other real world projects?
Speaker 2: Wowbow, does the book go into automating user account creation?
Speaker 1: Oh, tell me about it. Yeah, creating user accounts one
Speaker 1: by one. It's tedious, setting passwords, assigning group memberships.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a real time sink.
Speaker 1: I can see how automating that would be a huge win.
Speaker 2: It would free up so much of your time. So
Speaker 2: the book actually has a script that does just that.
Speaker 2: It can generate user names based on first and last names,
Speaker 2: set random passwords NIC and force password change so that
Speaker 2: that's good at first, logan.
Speaker 1: Right for security reasons exactly, okay.
Speaker 2: And even assign those departmental attributes and employee numbers.
Speaker 1: So it's like having a personal assistant.
Speaker 2: It's like having a little helper that takes care of
Speaker 2: all that tedious work.
Speaker 1: And the best part is what's that we can customize it.
Speaker 1: You can absolutely customize it to fit our organization's specific.
Speaker 2: Requirements and fit your exact needs.
Speaker 1: Okay, So user account creation another task automated, another one.
Speaker 2: Off the list. What else, have a deploying web servers
Speaker 2: with ice?
Speaker 1: Deploying web servers with ICE?
Speaker 2: PowerShell can automate that whole process too.
Speaker 1: Wow, So it's not just for managing Windows systems.
Speaker 2: No, PowerShell can do a lot more than that. It
Speaker 2: can even handle web server stuff.
Speaker 1: So what kind of tasks can we automate with PowerShell?
Speaker 1: In that context?
Speaker 2: You can create websites, configure bindings bindings, set up app
Speaker 2: pools at pools, and even configure SSL certificates.
Speaker 1: Hold on bindings at pools, SSL certificates.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a whole new world can.
Speaker 1: You break those down for me. I'm not super familiar
Speaker 1: with all the web server jargon.
Speaker 2: So bindings basically determine how clients connect to your website.
Speaker 2: They specify the IP address right, the port, and the
Speaker 2: host name at Pools are like containers that isolate different
Speaker 2: websites and applications running on your server.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: And SSL certificates, yeah, provide encryption and security for your
Speaker 2: website's traffic.
Speaker 1: Okay. So basically PowerShell gives us granular control.
Speaker 2: It gives you complete control over all.
Speaker 1: Those aspects of a web server. That's just starting to
Speaker 1: feel like we're building a whole it infrastructure with code.
Speaker 2: It's like you're an architect, but instead of bricks and mortar,
Speaker 2: you're using PowerShell commands.
Speaker 1: What else can PowerShell do in terms of managing servers
Speaker 1: and applications.
Speaker 2: Well, we can't forget about the cloud.
Speaker 1: The cloud, oh right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: The book actually dedicates a whole section to working with
Speaker 2: cloud platforms like Azure and AWS.
Speaker 1: So PowerShell is not just limited to on premises stuff.
Speaker 2: It can reach out to the cloud as well.
Speaker 1: Okay, what are some of the things we can do?
Speaker 3: You can create virtual machines with PowerShell in the cloud
Speaker 3: in Azure or AWS, manage storage accounts, deploy applications, okay,
Speaker 3: even orchestrate complex cloud workflows.
Speaker 2: Wow, power show.
Speaker 1: It sounds like PowerShell's becoming like the universal language. It's
Speaker 1: becoming very popular of it automation, especially as more and
Speaker 1: more organizations move to the cloud. Right, yeah, okay, cloud
Speaker 1: automation check. Check what other superpowers?
Speaker 2: How about building your own PowerShell modules?
Speaker 1: Does PowerShell have in store for us? That's right, building
Speaker 1: our own modules.
Speaker 2: So once you're comfortable with PowerShell, you can start packaging
Speaker 2: your own scripts okay and functions into reusable modules.
Speaker 1: So we could create our own custom.
Speaker 2: Yeah, your own custom tools, PowerShell tools tailored to your
Speaker 2: specific needs.
Speaker 1: That's really cool.
Speaker 2: It's a great way to level up your PowerShell skills
Speaker 2: right right.
Speaker 1: This deep dive is taking us on quite a.
Speaker 3: Journey, it is.
Speaker 2: We've covered a lot of ground.
Speaker 1: We've gone from basic commands to cloud automation.
Speaker 2: And now module development and module development.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what's next?
Speaker 2: Last time we talked about this project called power lab.
Speaker 1: Power Lab remember that, Yes.
Speaker 2: For building a whole lab environment from scratch, from scratch
Speaker 2: using PowerShell.
Speaker 1: I'm dying to know more about that.
Speaker 2: That's a really fun project.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to our deep dive into PowerShell. Last time
Speaker 1: we were talking about this power lab project.
Speaker 2: Yeah, power lab that lets us.
Speaker 1: Build a whole lab environment from scratch using code. It's
Speaker 1: a pretty amazing project, it is, and I'm really curious
Speaker 1: to hear more about it.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, power Lab is a great example of how
Speaker 2: powerful PowerShell can be.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Imagine you can set up an entire virtual network, okay,
Speaker 2: with servers, active directory and everything you need for testing
Speaker 2: and development.
Speaker 1: So it's like, all with code, our own little IT playground.
Speaker 2: Exactly, your own personal IT playground. I like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, but where would you even begin with something
Speaker 1: like that?
Speaker 2: It can seem daunting. Yeah, but that's the beauty of
Speaker 2: power Lab Okay. It's designed to be approachable okay and
Speaker 2: modular Okay.
Speaker 1: So it breaks down this complex task exactly into smaller,
Speaker 1: more manageable steps.
Speaker 2: Right. The book starts by mentioning something called the power
Speaker 2: Lab installer.
Speaker 1: The power Lab installer.
Speaker 2: What do you think that this?
Speaker 1: Well, if power Lab is like building a house, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm guessing the installer is kind of like laying the foundation.
Speaker 2: You got it? Okay, It preps your system.
Speaker 1: So it gets everything ready.
Speaker 2: It takes care of all the prerequisites okay, like enabling PowerShell,
Speaker 2: remoting ok configuring firewall rules, setting up user accounts, even
Speaker 2: installing any necessary Windows features.
Speaker 1: So it handles all that tedious setup stuff.
Speaker 2: It automates all of that for you. I like it,
Speaker 2: so you can just dive right.
Speaker 1: In, right into the fun part to.
Speaker 2: Building your lab environment. Now, once the power lab installer
Speaker 2: has done its thing, Yeah, what do you think happens next?
Speaker 1: Well, now we've got to actually build the lab environment
Speaker 1: right right, So that's where we start defining all the
Speaker 1: functions exactly do all the work.
Speaker 2: So, for example, you might have a function called new
Speaker 2: power lab vm okay.
Speaker 1: For creating a virtual machine.
Speaker 2: Right, or a new power Lab VHD okay.
Speaker 1: For creating a virtual hard disk.
Speaker 2: Exactly, or install powerly operating.
Speaker 1: Systems, install the operating steam.
Speaker 2: Yeah you're getting it.
Speaker 1: So we're basically creating this toolbox. It's like a toolbox
Speaker 1: of a reusable component, so.
Speaker 2: Of specialized tools, right that we can then use to
Speaker 2: build whatever lab environment, to.
Speaker 1: Build whatever we need you need. And this is where
Speaker 1: that verb noun naming convention comes in handy right, absolutely,
Speaker 1: to keep everything organized.
Speaker 2: Especially in a big project like.
Speaker 1: This, right with so many different functions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you want your code to be readable and easy
Speaker 2: to understand.
Speaker 1: Okay, So we've got the foundation laid, We've got our
Speaker 1: toolbox ready.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: What are some of the key steps.
Speaker 2: So one of the first things you'll want to do.
Speaker 1: In actually building the lab environment is set up active
Speaker 1: directory directory.
Speaker 2: Right, that's the heart of any Windows network, right.
Speaker 1: For managing users and permissions and all that exactly. So
Speaker 1: do we have to manually set that up?
Speaker 2: No? No, No, PowerShell can automate that too, okay. Yeah. Power
Speaker 2: lab has functions all right, for creating a new forest okay,
Speaker 2: defining organizational units, creating user accounts, even assigning group memberships,
Speaker 2: all through code, all through PowerShell scripts.
Speaker 1: It's like we're building an IT empire with code.
Speaker 2: I like that an IT empire.
Speaker 1: What about the other parts of the lab, like what
Speaker 1: like the SQL server and the web server. Do those
Speaker 1: get the same automated treatment?
Speaker 2: Of course they do. Okay. Remember all those cmd lets,
Speaker 2: Yeah we talked about for configuring websites and bindings and
Speaker 2: SSL certificates.
Speaker 1: It's all coming back to me now.
Speaker 2: Our lab uses all of that deploying configure.
Speaker 1: So we're taking all these individual building blocks and assembling
Speaker 1: them into.
Speaker 2: A complete system, into a.
Speaker 1: Functional lab environment exactly. So by the end of this project,
Speaker 1: we essentially have a fully functional lab.
Speaker 2: You'll have a fully automated lab environment that we can
Speaker 2: use for whatever we want, that you can use for testing, development,
Speaker 2: whatever you can dream up.
Speaker 1: That's incredible.
Speaker 2: It is pretty cool.
Speaker 1: And the book doesn't stop there, right.
Speaker 2: Nope, it goes even further.
Speaker 1: It talks about refactoring the code.
Speaker 2: Yes, refactory, can you explain what that is? Sure? Think
Speaker 2: of refactoring, okay, as kind of tidying up your code,
Speaker 2: making it more efficient, more readable, easier to.
Speaker 1: Maintain, without actually changing what it does.
Speaker 2: Without changing its functionality.
Speaker 1: So it's like cleaning up your workshop.
Speaker 2: It's like organizing your tools.
Speaker 1: After a big project exactly.
Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah, So the book shows you how to identify
Speaker 2: common patterns in the code and extract them into more
Speaker 2: generic functions.
Speaker 1: So we're creating even more reusable building blocks.
Speaker 2: You got it. We can save you even more time
Speaker 2: in the future.
Speaker 1: This whole deep dive, it's it's been an incredible journey
Speaker 1: we've covered with that We've gone from basic commands basic
Speaker 1: commands to cloud automation, coltivation, to module developed, module development, refactory, factory,
Speaker 1: the whole nine yards.
Speaker 2: It's amazing what you can do, it is with just
Speaker 2: a few lines of code.
Speaker 1: PowerShell is a powerful tool.
Speaker 2: It is, and this is just the beginning.
Speaker 1: This is just the beginning of your PowerShell adventure.
Speaker 2: There's always more to learn.
Speaker 1: There's always something new to explore, exactly, so keep learning,
Speaker 1: keep experimenting, and never stop automating.
Speaker 2: Well said, this has been a truly inspiring deep dive.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you enjoyed.
Speaker 2: It into the world of PowerShell.
Speaker 1: It's a fascinating world it is.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining me on this journey.
Speaker 1: It was my pleasure. And to you listening, Keep exploring,
Speaker 1: keep scripting, and who knows what amazing things you'll create
Speaker 1: with PowerShell.