An Administrator's Guide: Powershell in Depth

by Don Jones Et Al

About the Book: Powershell In Depth: An Administrators Guide PowerShell in Depth is the kind of book youll want open on your desk most of the time. With 40 short chapters, each focused on a specific area of PowerShell, youll be able to find the answers you need quickly. Each chapter is concise and to-the-point, so you can spend less time reading and more time getting down to the business at hand. It was written by three seasoned PowerShell experts, and every technique has been thoroughly tested. With this book in hand, youll be able to consistently and quickly produce production quality, maintainable scripts that will save you countless hours of time and effort. Organized into 40 concise chapters, PowerShell in Depth is the go-to reference for administrators working with Windows PowerShell. Every major shell technique, technology, and tactic is explained and demonstrated, providing a comprehensive reference to almost everything an admin would do in the shell. Written by three experienced authors and PowerShell MVPs, this is the PowerShell book youll keep next to your monitor-not on your bookshelf! This book requires basic familiarity with PowerShell. Whats Inside? Covers PowerShell 3.0 Automating time-consuming tasks Managing HTML and XML data Background jobs and scheduling PowerShell security Packaging and deploying scripts Standard scripting conventions Using the .NET Framework in PowerShell scripts Much more Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Author: Don Jones, Richard Siddaway, Jeffery Hicks Don Jones, Jeffery Hicks, and Richard Siddaway are Microsoft MVPs who have collectively authored nearly three dozen books on PowerShell and Windows administration.

Genres: Programming, Computers, Nonfiction, Reference, Coding

632 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2012

Reviews

[Sebastian Gebski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while, I admit (even though they were chapters I've skimmed through quickly).
First important point about this book: it's really **in depth**.
Well, author is not decompiling Powershell on his own :), but he covers some topics I've never seen covered in any other PowerShell book.

For instance:
* details of remoting
* good description of how credentials work in PS
* CIM (it's not that different from WMI, but it's still good to learn the diffs)
* DSC (brief description, but unlike to some other books - it covers & emphasizes some very valid points)
* Workflows (ok, I think they are useless ;P but now I have a better basis to claim that)

Neither time, nor money wasted.
Why 4 & not 5 stars then?
Some code samples were very easy-going, debugging chapter has disappointed me a lot, chapters like GUI/DB one doesn't make much sense TBH (it's about using .NET classes, so why bother?).
Anyway - if you want to refresh your Powershell-fu, this book is quite a good choice.

[Jorgon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes one has to get into the mind of an enemy, and this one helps an unlucky admin accomplish that. More seriously, if you have to work with PowerShell (and there can be worse fates), this will help you slog through weird variable definitions, cryptic error messages and garbled syntax--and you will even have some fun along the way. Plus, you can occupy yourself reading this while your PowerShell scripts execute with all the alacrity of a lethargic snail.

[Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive guide to writing efficient, robust Power Shell scripts, and more.

Anybody facing admin tasks, automation, remote access, configuration or even extracting data for reports will benefit from this book.

Note: I read the sequel that is currently a MEAP: 3rd edition of the book that also covers PowerShell 4.0.

[Niels · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insights on PowerShell. Good examples.