Master PowerShell Tricks Volume 1
Master PowerShell Tricks Volume 1
About the Book
There are many cool things about Windows PowerShell. For me three of the most awesome things are the following:
1. If you don’t like the way Windows PowerShell does things, you can change it.
2. If Windows PowerShell can’t do something you need, you can add it.
3. The Windows PowerShell community is super dedicated, and will help you do both one and two.
Now, to be honest at times, it is necessary to write hundreds and hundreds of lines of arcane code, to dive into the deepest and darkest mysteries of programing, and even to learn about things like API’s, Constructors, Events, threading, ACL’s, DACL’s, CACL’s and maybe even Tetradactylies. Then again, most of the time it is not. In fact, it has been years and years since I wrote a hundreds and hundreds of lines of arcane code.
It is almost as if the Windows PowerShell team deliberately tried to make Windows PowerShell easy to use and easy to learn. Hmm … I wonder if that approach would ever catch on? Anyway, there used to be an old saw: “Ease of use is directly opposed to program capability.” Or, in other words, if it is easy to use, it probably is not all that powerful. Well, PowerShell changes that … dramatically.
And yet, Windows PowerShell is also deceptively easy to use. One can go from Get-Service and Get-Process or even Get-Date to some pretty complicated stuff in like one line of code.
This is why item number three is so important. The authors of this book: Dave, Sean, Thomas and Allan are all Windows PowerShell experts, and have even been recognized by Microsoft as community leaders. So, this means not only do they know their stuff, but they are also great at sharing that knowledge with the community. Sean Kearney is even an Honorary Scripting Guy – a very elite group indeed!
One of the great way that MVP’s share their knowledge and experience is via MVP Days a traveling road show that was started by Dave and Cristal Kawula. This is a very well run event, and I have had the opportunity to speak at two of the events … it is cool, and it is fun.
So grab this book, get it autographed, and learn how to master some awesome PowerShell tricks. It is cool.
Ed Wilson
Microsoft Scripting Guy
@ScriptingGuys
Bundles that include this book
Table of Contents
Foreword Ed Wilson “The Scripting Guy” iii
Acknowledgements v
From Dave v
About the Authors vi
Dave Kawula - MVP vi
Sean Kearney - MVP vii
Thomas Rayner - MVP vii
Allan Rafuse – MVP vii
Ed Wilson – The Scripting Guy viii
Technical Editors ix
Cristal Kawula – MVP ix
Emile Cabot - MVP ix
Contents xi
Introduction 1
North American MVPDays Community Roadshow 1
Structure of the Book 1
Sample Files 2
Additional Resources 3
Chapter 1 5
Simulating a Ransomware Attack with PowerShell 5
But how does one test for Ransomware detection? 5
The Code 6
Chapter 2 8
Retrieving the Distribution Lists a User is a Member Of 8
The Code 9
Chapter 3 10
Identifying Large Exchange Mailbox Folders via PowerShell 10
The Code 11
Chapter 4 14
Deploying a Domain Joined Nano Server via PowerShell 14
PowerShell Cmdlets for the Network Stack 15
Chapter 5 19
Enabling Auto Notification of Specific File Changes 19
The Code 19
Chapter 6 21
Copying the Output of the last PowerShell command to the clipboard 21
The Code 21
Chapter 7 23
Validate the Length of An Integer 23
The Code 23
Chapter 8 24
Allow a Null Value for An Object That Doesn’t Normally Allow it 24
Chapter 9 25
Getting Started with Pester 25
Chapter 10 29
Find missing Subnets in AD Sites and Services 29
Cloud Environments 29
Solution 29
Things to thing about 30
The Code 30
Chapter 11 32
Copy Directories/Files to a list of Remote Computers 32
Here-Strings to the Rescue 33
Chapter 12 36
Making the Configuration Manager PowerShell Module Discoverable 36
The Code 37
Chapter 13 39
Resolving issues with slow Outbound mail in Office 365 in a Hybrid connection using a SmartHost or Internal Appliance 39
Chapter 14 43
Use PowerShell to Work with Data from OMS 43
Parsing MS OMS data with PowerShell 43
Importing the CSV file using PowerShell 44
Chapter 15 50
Use PowerShell to Explore Office 365 Installation 50
Chapter 16 53
PowerShell 5 Classes: Constructor Overloading 53
What’s an overload anyway? 53
Creating overloaded constructors 55
Chapter 17 58
Filtering Event Logs with PowerShell 58
Seven parameter sets 58
Chapter 18 64
Use the PowerShell 5 Convert-String Cmdlet 64
Convert-String 64
The old flipty dipty 64
Expanding the string idea 65
Chapter 19 67
Use PowerShell to Detect if a Location is a Directory or a Symlink 67
Chapter 20 68
Bypassing PowerShell Execution Policy 68
Chapter 20 70
Starting up and Shutting down a list of VM’s in a specific order 70
Chapter 21 72
Join us at MVPDays and meet great MVP’s like this in person 72
Live Presentations 72
Video Training 72
Live Instructor-led Classes 72
Consulting Services 73
Twitter 74
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