Jeffery Hicks - PowerShell Deep Dives

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ISBN 9781617291319

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To the memory and indomitable spirit of Will Steele @pen_test

Chris Belle

Bartosz Bielawski

Robert C. Cain

Jim Christopher

Adam Driscoll

Josh Gavant

Jason Helmick

Jeffery Hicks

Don Jones

Ashley McGlone

Jonathan Medd

Ben Miller

James ONeill

Arnaud Petitjean

Vadims Podans

Karl Prosser

Boe Prox

Matthew Reynolds

Mike F. Robbins

Donabel Santos

Richard Siddaway

Will Steele

Trevor Sullivan

Jeff Wouters

While I was finishing another book project for Manning, a discussion developed about a PowerShell Deep Dives book. In the past Manning published two volumes of a SQL Server Deep Dives book written by a number of SQL Server MVPs and members of the SQL community. The chapters were intended as in-depth content on specific aspects of SQL Server. At the time, many of us involved in this book were also part of the developing PowerShell Deep Dives conference.

That event brought Microsoft MVPs and community members together for a few days of intense PowerShell togetherness. Think of it as a geeky Woodstock festival for PowerShell. The intent was to share PowerShell experiences and ideas on specificor even nichetopics that would be hard to cover in a larger conference like Microsoft TechEd. The PowerShell Deep Dives conference eventually became the PowerShell Summit that we enjoy today.

The idea behind this book was to take that conference concept and put it into book format. The chapters would be short explorations of specific PowerShell ideasthings that might be presented at the PowerShell Summit. Some of the content in this book has actually been presented at these conferences.

I was volunteered to serve as lead editor and began my new career as cat wrangler. A call went out and many people offered to contribute chapters to the book as well as act as section editors. Eventually, we had a tentative table of contents and our volunteer authors started writing.

Volunteer is the key word here as nobody associated with this project is receiving any royalties or advances. Instead, all royalties will be donated to charity, which was also a part of the SQL Server Deep Dives project. In purchasing this book in any format, you are supporting the outstanding work of Save the Children.

On behalf of the authors and my coeditors, we are grateful for your support and interest in our collective work. Are you ready to dive in deeply and uncover some PowerShell treasures?

J EFFERY H ICKS

First, I must thank all of the contributors to this book, including their families and employers. Writing a book is a major undertaking, regardless of whether you are writing 30 chapters or one. For many of my coauthors this book is their first publication, so not only do I want to thank them, I also want to congratulate them. This book would never have happened without the contributions of these members of the PowerShell community.

Next, I couldnt have shepherded this book to completion without the assistance and advice of section editors Oisn Grehan, Richard Siddaway, and Aleksandar Nikoli. I think the project was more involved than they anticipated and I appreciate their willingness to stick it out with meespecially Richard who volunteered for section editor duty in addition to contributing three chapters of his own!

All of us would like to thank the terrific people at Manning: Cynthia Kane, Michael Stephens, Mary Piergies, Barbara Mirecki, Kevin Sullivan, Melody Dolab, Lianna Wlasiuk, Tiffany Taylor, Gwen Burda, and Maureen Spencer. These few are just the tip of a fantastic iceberg of enthusiastic people who kept us on track, supported this project, and, in the end, made it all possible.

Special thanks to our peer reviewers, who read the chapters during development and provided invaluable feedback: Adam Rodgers, Allan Miller, Dave Pawson, Don Westerfield, Douglas Duncan, James Berkenbile, Jeff Dykstra, Klaus Schulte, Mike Shepard, Subhasis Ghosh, and Thomas Lee.

Finally, a sincere thank-you to the PowerShell community. It is no overstatement to say that this community is extremely active, supportive, and welcoming. Im amazed not only at how members of the community absorb and welcome contributions like this book, but also at how they give and share so much of what theyve learned with others. This is an incredible group of people. Without their interest and support, this project would not have come to fruition. Your enthusiasm enriches us all, and especially the lives touched by Save the Children.

This book is for anyone with an interest in PowerShell. Perhaps you want to learn what you can accomplish or perhaps youre trying to solve a problem and you see a chapter that will help. While the majority of the chapters in the book are written for IT pros, there is plenty of content for developers and others whose PowerShell experience may be more peripheral.

Were assuming you have some fundamental PowerShell knowledge. If youre an absolute beginner, much of the content will be lost on you. This book isnt intended as a tutorial for learning PowerShell, but it should teach you how to accomplish certain tasks or take advantage of a PowerShell feature that goes beyond the core documentation.

In any event, this is PowerShell content you likely wont find any place else, written by PowerShell experts and MVPs.