What is PowerShell and how can you use it?

PowerShell is a command-line shell that gives you access to a framework to automate and configure processes on Windows.

First released in 2006, it is mainly used on Windows due to the technical architecture that was used in the earlier versions of PowerShell. It recently became available for other platforms, such as Linux and macOS, but most of the modules available do not support these operating systems.

Instructions on PowerShell are done through the use of cmdlets, where each cmdlet is responsible for the execution of a specific operation. Cmdlets can be combined into PowerShell scripts to automate scenarios, as we will see in this chapter.

A PowerShell script works like a programming language and you can create variables, conditions, or loops depending on the scenarios you want to automate. Scripts have the ps1 file extension and can be written with any text editor.

Note

This chapter assumes that the reader has a basic...