Introduction

This chapter covers the basics related to scripting with PowerShell. PowerShell was released in 2006 and is installed by default starting with Windows 7 and Server 2008R2. PowerShell is also available as a download for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Server 2003. One of the main differences between PowerShell and VBScript/JScript, the other primary scripting languages for Windows, is that PowerShell provides an interactive runtime. This runtime allows a user to execute commands in real time, and then save these commands as scripts, functions, or modules to be used later.

Since its introduction, support for PowerShell has increased dramatically. In addition to managing Windows environments, Microsoft quickly created snap-ins for additional applications such as Exchange Server, the System Center suite, and clustering. Additional vendors have also created snap-ins for PowerShell, with some of the most popular being VMware and NetApp.

Many of the recipes presented here are the building blocks commonly used in PowerShell such as signing scripts, using parameters, and sorting/filtering data.