Search icon CANCEL
Arrow left icon
Explore Products
Best Sellers
New Releases
Books
Videos
Audiobooks
Learning Hub
Conferences
Free Learning
Arrow right icon
Enterprise PowerShell Scripting Bootcamp
Enterprise PowerShell Scripting Bootcamp

Enterprise PowerShell Scripting Bootcamp: The fastest way to learn PowerShell scripting

eBook
£20.98 £29.99
Paperback
£36.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at £16.99p/m

What do you get with Print?

Product feature icon Instant access to your digital eBook copy whilst your Print order is Shipped
Product feature icon Paperback book shipped to your preferred address
Product feature icon Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats
Product feature icon Access this title in our online reader with advanced features
Product feature icon DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want
Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Enterprise PowerShell Scripting Bootcamp

Chapter 1. Getting Started with Enterprise PowerShell Scripting

The PowerShell language was developed to provide engineers with a method to quickly automate the provisioning and management of environments. In the last decade, PowerShell's use has greatly expanded, to encompass the setup and configuration of a myriad of hardware and software systems. Since third-party manufacturers are creating PowerShell modules to control their systems, PowerShell is becoming the automation language of choice. It is being used to configure multiple systems from multiple manufacturers, with a single set of PowerShell code.

Creating scripts for enterprise environments requires a robust scripting framework. A scripting framework consists of reusable code that you can leverage for a large majority of your scripts. This framework needs to be efficient, reliable, and secure. It must also provide logging capabilities, leverage answer files, and be flexible for execution on a wide variety of systems.

As you are exploring this book, you will learn a large number of tested and industry-proven scripting techniques. The examples you create will be applied at the end of the book in a Windows server scanning script. This will enable you to quickly integrate new sections of code into your own scripts, and will provide a trusted platform you can confidently deploy in your environment.

In this chapter, you will:

  • Learn about the Windows server scanning script created throughout this book
  • Explore performance optimizations implemented throughout each chapter
  • Review different components you should include in all of your PowerShell scripts

Windows server scanning script

There can be times in large enterprises where you need to determine the functionality of systems. If you don't have large asset management software, you will need the ability to perform a discovery. This book was designed to provide a significant jumpstart for the creation of a Windows server scanning script. The script takes into consideration the limitations of Windows components and provides extremely detailed information about systems.

Some of the items that you will be scanning for include:

  • Disk configuration: You will be able to query the disk layout for a particular system and determine device type, drive letters, free space, and total disk size.
  • Scheduled task scanning: You will discover the scheduled tasks that are not running as built-in accounts, providing visibility into non-standard configurations.
  • Windows processes: You will identify the Windows processes on the system to determine what processes are running with alternate user credentials. This will help identify systems that have service accounts for process execution.
  • Windows services: You will review the Windows services on the system to discover what services are not running as built-in accounts. This will further identify service account usage in your enterprise.
  • Installed software: You will learn how to safely scan a system for software to identify software titles installed on a system.
  • User profiles: You will evaluate all of the user profiles created on a system to determine the last login usernames and times. This will help identify teams that own the management of the servers.
  • Windows features: You will determine the installed Windows features and roles on a system to help identify what role the server has in your enterprise.
  • Scanning files: You will scan individual files on a system for strings. This provides the ability to identify items such as user credentials and configured server names.

This script is designed to provide a robust platform to scan your enterprise. Variations of this script have been used in multiple Fortune 500 companies and executed on well over 10,000 systems. The chapters in this book have been designed to enable you to quickly learn the core components to integrate this PowerShell tool into your personal repository.

Performance considerations

This book dives into important performance considerations for your scripts. Since PowerShell is an extremely flexible language, you can complete the same activity in multiple ways. While both sets of code get the script to create the same results, there are ways to optimize your code to make it much more efficient. This becomes increasingly important as you evaluate large amounts of data.

Execution time for file scanning, for example, exponentially grows with the quantity of files and the file sizes. 100 files with 100 lines of code can quickly create 10,000 evaluations. Now, if you scale that to 6 million files in a storage volume times 100 lines of code, you are performing 600 million evaluations. Small code performance improvements can significantly optimize your scanning of scripts at scale.

Some of the performance considerations include:

  • Measuring commands: You will evaluate a technique to measure the execution time for commands.
  • Cmdlet considerations: You will learn which cmdlets are more efficient than others and how to avoid common cmdlet mistakes.
  • Regular expressions over arrays: Regular expressions can be difficult to learn, but they provide significant performance improvements to your scripts. You will learn how to properly implement dynamic regular expressions in your scripts.
  • Switch statements: You will evaluate how to perform data sorting with switches and why switch statements are significantly faster.

PowerShell scripting templates

As you develop different scripts for your enterprise environment, you will have a core set of functions that you tend to use in all of your scripts. Some enterprise scripters create their own functions, while others leverage scripts from the vast community of PowerShell developers. With either method, you will need a solid foundation to build your scripts on.

Some of the most common items this book provides for scripting templates include:

  • Encryption and decryption technologies: Probably the most common requirement in enterprise environments is security. It's no secret that you should not have clear text administrative-level credentials in scripts. Providing an encryption and decryption function in your scripts is essential to maintaining a secure enterprise.
  • Logging mechanisms: The second most common requirement in enterprise environments is logging script actions. Since scripts are typically executed on a large number of systems at the same time, you will need the ability to track exactly what is being performed on these systems. Creating a logging function will provide the ability to log script actions to both the event log and a log file.
  • Answer file logic: One of the more advanced methods for PowerShell scripting is leveraging an answer file for script variables. The core to the answer file is that you can add, remove, and modify the values in the answer file without having to modify your script. This provides the ability to have flexibility in your scripts without needing to touch any lines of code.
  • Standardized comment blocks: When you are creating scripts, it's essential to give yourself and others reminders of what the script's function is. Comment blocks enable the ability to provide details about the script, revision history, and execution parameters of the script.

Whether you are new to PowerShell scripting or you have been scripting for a long time, this book provides thought-inspiring methods to improve your scripting abilities. As you work through this book, it's strongly encouraged to incorporate these examples in your own scripts. This applied learning methodology will significantly help in your retention of the content, and provide a very robust enterprise scripting platform.

Summary

In this chapter, you explored the different components that will be implemented in the Windows server scanning script. You continued to learn about the different performance optimizations that you will be implementing in the book. Finally, you reviewed the individual components that should be included in most of your PowerShell Scripts.

In the next chapter, you will begin your journey by learning script structure, comment blocks, and script logging techniques.

Left arrow icon Right arrow icon
Download code icon Download Code

Key benefits

  • Introduces industry-proven techniques that improve script efficiency and reliability
  • Example-rich guide based on real-world scenarios
  • Facilitates building a script that can fully scan a Windows server and identify components

Description

Enterprise PowerShell Scripting Bootcamp explains how to create your own repeatable PowerShell scripting framework. This framework contains script logging methodologies, answer file interactions, and string encryption and decryption strategies. This book focuses on evaluating individual components to identify the system’s function, role, and unique characteristics. To do this, you will leverage built-in CMDlets and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to explore Windows services, Windows processes, Windows features, scheduled tasks, and disk statistics. You will also create custom functions to perform a deep search for specific strings in files and evaluate installed software through executable properties. We will then discuss different scripting techniques to improve the efficiency of scripts. By leveraging several small changes to your code, you can increase the execution performance by over 130%. By the end of this book, you will be able to tie all of the concepts together in a PowerShell-based Windows server scanning script. This discovery script will be able to scan a Windows server to identify a multitude of components.

Who is this book for?

This book is for IT professionals and Windows administrators who would like to gain intensive, hands-on knowledge and skills on PowerShell without spending hours and hours in learning. If you have been struggling to find the time to gain proficiency and confidence with PowerShell and everyday scripting tasks

What you will learn

  • Create an advanced PowerShell scripting template that provides repeatable code to jumpstart all of your scripting projects
  • Learn how to securely encrypt and store usernames, passwords, and other sensitive data in PowerShell scripts and answer files
  • Understand how to optimize the performance of scripts to help process large datasets quickly and avoid time-consuming mistakes
  • Develop a script to scan for non-standard Windows Server configurations and identify
  • service accounts used on Windows Servers
  • Gather a large list of data from a Windows server without locally or remotely logging in
  • interactively
Estimated delivery fee Deliver to United Kingdom

Standard delivery 1 - 4 business days

£4.95

Premium delivery 1 - 4 business days

£7.95
(Includes tracking information)

Product Details

Country selected
Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : May 18, 2017
Length: 238 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781787288287
Vendor :
Microsoft
Languages :
Tools :

What do you get with Print?

Product feature icon Instant access to your digital eBook copy whilst your Print order is Shipped
Product feature icon Paperback book shipped to your preferred address
Product feature icon Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats
Product feature icon Access this title in our online reader with advanced features
Product feature icon DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want
Estimated delivery fee Deliver to United Kingdom

Standard delivery 1 - 4 business days

£4.95

Premium delivery 1 - 4 business days

£7.95
(Includes tracking information)

Product Details

Publication date : May 18, 2017
Length: 238 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781787288287
Vendor :
Microsoft
Languages :
Tools :

Packt Subscriptions

See our plans and pricing
Modal Close icon
£16.99 billed monthly
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Simple pricing, no contract
£169.99 billed annually
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just £5 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts
£234.99 billed in 18 months
Feature tick icon Unlimited access to Packt's library of 7,000+ practical books and videos
Feature tick icon Constantly refreshed with 50+ new titles a month
Feature tick icon Exclusive Early access to books as they're written
Feature tick icon Solve problems while you work with advanced search and reference features
Feature tick icon Offline reading on the mobile app
Feature tick icon Choose a DRM-free eBook or Video every month to keep
Feature tick icon PLUS own as many other DRM-free eBooks or Videos as you like for just £5 each
Feature tick icon Exclusive print discounts

Frequently bought together


Stars icon
Total £ 123.97
Mastering Windows PowerShell Scripting (Second Edition)
£36.99
Windows Server 2016 Automation with PowerShell Cookbook
£49.99
Enterprise PowerShell Scripting Bootcamp
£36.99
Total £ 123.97 Stars icon

Table of Contents

14 Chapters
1. Getting Started with Enterprise PowerShell Scripting Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Script Structure, Comment Blocks, and Script Logging Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Working with Answer Files Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. String Encryption and Decryption Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Interacting with Services, Processes, Profiles, and Logged on Users Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Evaluating Scheduled Tasks Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Determining Disk Statistics Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Windows Features and Installed Software Detection Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. File Scanning Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
10. Optimizing Script Execution Speed Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
11. Improving Performance by Using Regular Expressions Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
12. Overall Script Workflow, Termination Files, and Merging Data Results Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
13. Creating the Windows Server Scanning Script and Post-Execution Cleanup Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.3
(3 Ratings)
5 star 33.3%
4 star 33.3%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 33.3%
Amazon Customer Jun 13, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
The author is interesting and insightful. Makes PowerShell as easy as peanut butter!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Gulmiguel Jul 27, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
I'm a big fan of several of the authors over at Packtpub. Plus this book and it's format allowed me to truly excel in my PowerShell scripting.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
MQ Jul 23, 2018
Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1
First time purchasing a hardcopy book from Packt - Bought it from Amazon like many other tech books in the past. This publisher has made downloading the example code difficult unless you buy direct from them. The book says they will send you the example code if you register on their site and then send an email requesting it. Created an account on Packtpub and found the book that I bought but no way to download the code and no instructions or support email to request it. Too time consuming and too hard. Next time, it will be easier to do an Amazon one-button-click on a different publisher.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Get free access to Packt library with over 7500+ books and video courses for 7 days!
Start Free Trial

FAQs

What is the delivery time and cost of print book? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Shipping Details

USA:

'

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the US within 10-15 business days

Premium: Trackable Delivery to most addresses in the US within 3-8 business days

UK:

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 7-9 business days.
Shipments are not trackable

Premium: Trackable delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 3-4 business days!
Add one extra business day for deliveries to Northern Ireland and Scottish Highlands and islands

EU:

Premium: Trackable delivery to most EU destinations within 4-9 business days.

Australia:

Economy: Can deliver to P. O. Boxes and private residences.
Trackable service with delivery to addresses in Australia only.
Delivery time ranges from 7-9 business days for VIC and 8-10 business days for Interstate metro
Delivery time is up to 15 business days for remote areas of WA, NT & QLD.

Premium: Delivery to addresses in Australia only
Trackable delivery to most P. O. Boxes and private residences in Australia within 4-5 days based on the distance to a destination following dispatch.

India:

Premium: Delivery to most Indian addresses within 5-6 business days

Rest of the World:

Premium: Countries in the American continent: Trackable delivery to most countries within 4-7 business days

Asia:

Premium: Delivery to most Asian addresses within 5-9 business days

Disclaimer:
All orders received before 5 PM U.K time would start printing from the next business day. So the estimated delivery times start from the next day as well. Orders received after 5 PM U.K time (in our internal systems) on a business day or anytime on the weekend will begin printing the second to next business day. For example, an order placed at 11 AM today will begin printing tomorrow, whereas an order placed at 9 PM tonight will begin printing the day after tomorrow.


Unfortunately, due to several restrictions, we are unable to ship to the following countries:

  1. Afghanistan
  2. American Samoa
  3. Belarus
  4. Brunei Darussalam
  5. Central African Republic
  6. The Democratic Republic of Congo
  7. Eritrea
  8. Guinea-bissau
  9. Iran
  10. Lebanon
  11. Libiya Arab Jamahriya
  12. Somalia
  13. Sudan
  14. Russian Federation
  15. Syrian Arab Republic
  16. Ukraine
  17. Venezuela
What is custom duty/charge? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customs duty are charges levied on goods when they cross international borders. It is a tax that is imposed on imported goods. These duties are charged by special authorities and bodies created by local governments and are meant to protect local industries, economies, and businesses.

Do I have to pay customs charges for the print book order? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

The orders shipped to the countries that are listed under EU27 will not bear custom charges. They are paid by Packt as part of the order.

List of EU27 countries: www.gov.uk/eu-eea:

A custom duty or localized taxes may be applicable on the shipment and would be charged by the recipient country outside of the EU27 which should be paid by the customer and these duties are not included in the shipping charges been charged on the order.

How do I know my custom duty charges? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

The amount of duty payable varies greatly depending on the imported goods, the country of origin and several other factors like the total invoice amount or dimensions like weight, and other such criteria applicable in your country.

For example:

  • If you live in Mexico, and the declared value of your ordered items is over $ 50, for you to receive a package, you will have to pay additional import tax of 19% which will be $ 9.50 to the courier service.
  • Whereas if you live in Turkey, and the declared value of your ordered items is over € 22, for you to receive a package, you will have to pay additional import tax of 18% which will be € 3.96 to the courier service.
How can I cancel my order? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Cancellation Policy for Published Printed Books:

You can cancel any order within 1 hour of placing the order. Simply contact customercare@packt.com with your order details or payment transaction id. If your order has already started the shipment process, we will do our best to stop it. However, if it is already on the way to you then when you receive it, you can contact us at customercare@packt.com using the returns and refund process.

Please understand that Packt Publishing cannot provide refunds or cancel any order except for the cases described in our Return Policy (i.e. Packt Publishing agrees to replace your printed book because it arrives damaged or material defect in book), Packt Publishing will not accept returns.

What is your returns and refunds policy? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Return Policy:

We want you to be happy with your purchase from Packtpub.com. We will not hassle you with returning print books to us. If the print book you receive from us is incorrect, damaged, doesn't work or is unacceptably late, please contact Customer Relations Team on customercare@packt.com with the order number and issue details as explained below:

  1. If you ordered (eBook, Video or Print Book) incorrectly or accidentally, please contact Customer Relations Team on customercare@packt.com within one hour of placing the order and we will replace/refund you the item cost.
  2. Sadly, if your eBook or Video file is faulty or a fault occurs during the eBook or Video being made available to you, i.e. during download then you should contact Customer Relations Team within 14 days of purchase on customercare@packt.com who will be able to resolve this issue for you.
  3. You will have a choice of replacement or refund of the problem items.(damaged, defective or incorrect)
  4. Once Customer Care Team confirms that you will be refunded, you should receive the refund within 10 to 12 working days.
  5. If you are only requesting a refund of one book from a multiple order, then we will refund you the appropriate single item.
  6. Where the items were shipped under a free shipping offer, there will be no shipping costs to refund.

On the off chance your printed book arrives damaged, with book material defect, contact our Customer Relation Team on customercare@packt.com within 14 days of receipt of the book with appropriate evidence of damage and we will work with you to secure a replacement copy, if necessary. Please note that each printed book you order from us is individually made by Packt's professional book-printing partner which is on a print-on-demand basis.

What tax is charged? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Currently, no tax is charged on the purchase of any print book (subject to change based on the laws and regulations). A localized VAT fee is charged only to our European and UK customers on eBooks, Video and subscriptions that they buy. GST is charged to Indian customers for eBooks and video purchases.

What payment methods can I use? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

You can pay with the following card types:

  1. Visa Debit
  2. Visa Credit
  3. MasterCard
  4. PayPal
What is the delivery time and cost of print books? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Shipping Details

USA:

'

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the US within 10-15 business days

Premium: Trackable Delivery to most addresses in the US within 3-8 business days

UK:

Economy: Delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 7-9 business days.
Shipments are not trackable

Premium: Trackable delivery to most addresses in the U.K. within 3-4 business days!
Add one extra business day for deliveries to Northern Ireland and Scottish Highlands and islands

EU:

Premium: Trackable delivery to most EU destinations within 4-9 business days.

Australia:

Economy: Can deliver to P. O. Boxes and private residences.
Trackable service with delivery to addresses in Australia only.
Delivery time ranges from 7-9 business days for VIC and 8-10 business days for Interstate metro
Delivery time is up to 15 business days for remote areas of WA, NT & QLD.

Premium: Delivery to addresses in Australia only
Trackable delivery to most P. O. Boxes and private residences in Australia within 4-5 days based on the distance to a destination following dispatch.

India:

Premium: Delivery to most Indian addresses within 5-6 business days

Rest of the World:

Premium: Countries in the American continent: Trackable delivery to most countries within 4-7 business days

Asia:

Premium: Delivery to most Asian addresses within 5-9 business days

Disclaimer:
All orders received before 5 PM U.K time would start printing from the next business day. So the estimated delivery times start from the next day as well. Orders received after 5 PM U.K time (in our internal systems) on a business day or anytime on the weekend will begin printing the second to next business day. For example, an order placed at 11 AM today will begin printing tomorrow, whereas an order placed at 9 PM tonight will begin printing the day after tomorrow.


Unfortunately, due to several restrictions, we are unable to ship to the following countries:

  1. Afghanistan
  2. American Samoa
  3. Belarus
  4. Brunei Darussalam
  5. Central African Republic
  6. The Democratic Republic of Congo
  7. Eritrea
  8. Guinea-bissau
  9. Iran
  10. Lebanon
  11. Libiya Arab Jamahriya
  12. Somalia
  13. Sudan
  14. Russian Federation
  15. Syrian Arab Republic
  16. Ukraine
  17. Venezuela