Windows PowerShell & Windows Automation
Don’t be the administrator who has to click a lousy checkbox or button to do every little administrative task in Windows. You must automate! Whether you’re looking to avoid mindless repetition, improve consistency, reduce errors, increase your personal “bandwidth,” or just be able to go home sooner each day, administrative automation is your answer. Join gurus Don Jones and Jeffery Hicks, co-authors of Advanced VBScript for Windows Administrators and Windows PowerShell™: TFM™ for a knock-down, drag-out fight against manual administration.
The tools of the trade are Windows PowerShell, VBScript, command-line tools, batch files and more. That’s right, the “right tool for the right job,” whatever the job may be. Can’t make the entire track? No problem. Most of the sessions stand alone, so you can choose the tasks you need to complete.
Want to become the ultimate scripting guru in your organization, gain the respect of your boss and coworkers, and put something substantial on your resume? Then join us for the entire track, and you’ll be automating nearly everything in less than a week. Note that these sessions are not intended as hands-on unless specifically noted in the session description. There will not be power outlets available in the session room at any time. Please bring notepaper, or a spare battery if you intend to use your laptop to take notes. Flash photography is not permitted. Please keep hands, arms and legs inside the session room at all times.
MONDAY, March 31
TP1
Managing with Windows PowerShell: Present and Future
Bruce Payette10:15 a.m.
PowerShell provides a wide range of capabilities from administration to simple systems programming. Learn how to take advantage of PowerShell capabilities to improve your data center automation. The next version of PowerShell provides even more dynamic possibilities, including universal remoting. In this session we’ll cover what’s available in V1, how to use it and then move on to the new features, currently available as a Community Technical Preview (CTP).
TP6
Creating Killer Management Reports in Windows PowerShell
Don Jones11:45 a.m.
Learn to control PowerShell's formatting subsystem in this "under the hood" session, with a goal of creating great-looking management reports using PowerShell's automation capabilities. You'll also learn about PowerShell's output mechanisms, including the ability to automatically create great-looking, HTML-based reports. You'll also see third-party tools for graphing and charting, giving you a complete arsenal for producing management reports faster and more easily.
TP11
Building a GUI in Windows PowerShell
Marco Shaw3:00 p.m.
In this session, MVP Marco Shaw will guide you through using Windows Forms from the .NET Framework to build lightweight, fully functional graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that run within Windows PowerShell scripts. You will be guided through the Windows Forms hierarchy and be shown practical and effective examples for creating, fine-tuning and using your using your own customized GUIs directly from within Windows PowerShell. This is an intermediate session: You should have a basic understanding of PowerShell scripting in order to take full advantage of this session.
TP16
Managing Remote Systems the Windows PowerShell V2 Way
Marco Shaw4:30 p.m.
In this session, MVP Marco Shaw will discuss the new remoting features that will be available in the next version of Windows PowerShell currently being offered as a Community Technology Preview (CTP). This session will focus on the usage of: the new functionality that comes with the Invoke-Expression cmdlet and the usage of the new *-PSJob and *-Runspace cmdlets. The concepts of "fan-in", "fan-out" and interactive remoting will also be discussed. This is an intermediate session: You should have a basic understanding of PowerShell scripting in order to take full advantage of this session.
TUESDAY, April 1
TP21
Automating VMWare Administration with Windows PowerShell
Brandon Shell10:15 a.m.
In this session you'll learn how to use Powershell to manage a VMWare environment including Virtual Machines, ESX Host, and Virtual Center. You'll learn about the VMWare roadmap, and where it is headed with Powershell - and how you can leverage the power of Powershell in your environment today. You will see how to perform everyday administrative tasks using Windows PowerShell, and learn how Powershell can make these easier. This is a demo-heavy session that focuses on real-world management tasks made faster and easier
TP26
Automating Remote Systems Management with PowerShell v1 and WMI
Jeff Hicks11:45 a.m
Although PowerShell is an incredibly valuable administrative tool, a major feature is its support for Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). In this session led by PowerShell MVP and automation guru Jeffery Hicks, you'll learn how to access remote system information, build management reports, monitor WMI events and more all with PowerShell. This will be a demo-rich session with many real-world and practical examples you can take home and use immediately.
TP31
Automating Citrix Server Administration with Windows PowerShell
Brandon Shell3:00 p.m.
In this session you'll learn how to use Powershell to make Citrix server management easier. We’ll also walk through the Citrix road map and how Powershell fits in. We will cover several different common administrative tasks and show how Powershell can make these tasks faster and easier to perform, including publishing applications, unpublishing applications, getting application information, and getting servers online. We'll look at using the PowerShell pipeline, and see how to make your scripts output information that can be piped to other scripts. Finally, you’ll learn how to use MFCOM, get information from it, and look at some of the gotchas you'll need to be aware of when dealing with it.
TP36
Automated Server Core: Going Cold Turkey on the GUI
Mark Minasi4:30 p.m.
For years you’ve known it: you’ve just GOT to get more familiar with the command line. You get things done faster, you can create simple batch files for automating many tasks, and, best of all, when you’re working from the GUI, then your boss starts to think, “hey, what IS that thing he/she’s using? We need to pay techie employees like them more money!” Well, Windows 2008’s command-line-only Server Core’s arrived, so here’s your opportunity. Building on his popular “Command Windows from C: Level” talk, Mark Minasi walks you through the process of building a Server Core server from setup to initial configuration to full-blown DNS, Active Directory and more.
WEDNESDAY, April 2
TP41
Automating Administrative Tasks: Mr. Roboto’s
Resource Kit
Jeff Hicks9:00 a.m.
Redmond magazine's Mr. Roboto, Jeffery Hicks, will open up his bag of tricks and tools for managing Windows servers and desktops. From mass password changes to event log management to security, Mr. Roboto will show how to keep on top of your environment with free or low-cost alternatives. You'll leave with plenty of tools you can begin using immediately to make your job easier and maybe even a little fun.
TP46
Advanced String Parsing and Regular Expressions in Windows PowerShell
Don Jones10:30 a.m.
Sure, PowerShell is object-based — does that mean it's no good for parsing log files and manipulating other text data? Heck, no! PowerShell expert Don Jones shows you the shell's incredible string-parsing capabilities, and gives you a succinct course in regular expressions, one of the ubiquitous technologies that helps PowerShell make short work of whatever text data you care to throw at it.
TP51
Automate Your Vista Installations
Rhonda Layfield12:00 p.m.
It’s time — to roll out Vista! Don’t get stuck with manual installations over and over again. In this session Rhonda Layfield (Deployment MVP) will show you how to automate your Vista Installations using the new Microsoft Deployment tool (the new BDD). Leaving this session you will be fully equipped with the knowledge and step-by-step instructions for automating your vista installations. When you get back to the office you will be ready to start using the new tools immediately. Let Rhonda show you some tips and tricks to make your automation of Vista installations rollout smoothly and efficiently.
TP56
Automating Exchange Server 2007 Management
Jeff Hicks3:00 p.m.
Come see how easy it is to manage your Exchange 2007 servers from the PowerShell console. PowerShell MVP Jeffery Hicks will be your guide through common Exchange management tasks including managing mailboxes, users, contacts, databases and more. You may know how to accomplish these tasks in Exchange 2003 or from the Exchange 2007 management GUI, but the real power is at the console. If you are evaluating Exchange 2007, you'll be very excited and eager to deploy it when we're finished. This will be a demo-heavy session with many real-world and practical examples you can take home and use immediately.
TP61
Automating Performance Management and Collection
Greg Shields4:30 p.m.
Are you monitoring the performance of your servers? If not, then how do you know when “the server is slow today” message is really true? PerfMon has been around forever and it is still one of the best tools for finding out when Windows works well and when it doesn’t. In this session, we’ll talk about how to best use PerfMon in your network, including the best ways to automate it, script it, and otherwise alert you when things go wrong. We’ll discuss how to use performance indicators as a measurement for solving problems. You come away from this session knowing how to watch your performance logs for signs of trouble.
