SHiPS

SHiPS is one of those very useful modules that you didn't know you were missing, but which you cannot stop using once you've tried it. The module is available from the PowerShell Gallery, and is actively developed on GitHub. SHiPS can be used to create a custom PSProvider.

To get started with SHiPS, review our section on classes in Chapter 6, Working with Data. SHiPS uses classes and inheritance to build out your hierarchy in PowerShell.

In any PSDrive, there are either containers or leaves. A container would, for example, be a certificate store or a folder, whereas a leaf would be a certificate or a file. Where your data comes from doesn't matter, as long as it can be accessed from within PowerShell.

As an example, we will build access to our private cloud, running on HyperV with SHiPS. The cloud environment contains a tenant as a container, which in our example will simply be localhost. The tenant contains multiple resource types organized in further containers, such as disks, network...