Shepard - Getting Started with PowerShell

Michael Shepard has been working with computers since the early 1980s, starting with an Apple II at school and a Commodore 64 at home. He first worked in IT in 1989 and has been a full-time professional in this field since 1997. He has been working at Jack Henry and Associates since 2000. Mike's focus has changed over the years from being a database application developer to a DBA (an application administrator), and he is now a solutions architect. In his years as a DBA, he found PowerShell to be a critical component in creating the automation required to keep up with a growing set of servers and applications. He is active in the PowerShell community on StackOverflow and in the projects on CodePlex. He has been blogging about PowerShell since 2009 at https://powershellstation.com and is the author of PowerShell Troubleshooting Guide by Packt Publishing.

I'd like to thank my employer, Jack Henry and Associates, for allowing me the freedom to both learn and teach PowerShell over the last several years. My beautiful wife, Stephanie, and my children, Simeon and Gwen, continue to be a joy in my life, and the time when I'm not working on PowerShell is spent with them. Finally, I need to recognize the wonderfully supportive PowerShell community, which has encouraged me to learn and share PowerShell since its inception.

Richard Gibson lives in London and has worked as a .NET developer for 8 years. His work has brought him into the world of DevOps, and PowerShell has become a necessary skill for the automation of everyday tasks.

He is currently working for Asos.com (http://www.asos.com/) as a senior developer, spending most of his time with PowerShell to automate TeamCity to provide continuous deployment for the business. Richard blogs on various issues related to .NET and PowerShell at http://richiban.uk/.

David Green is an IT professional from the south of England with a wealth of experience in both the public and private sectors. Currently working for a leading food manufacturing company, he is always looking to provide robust and scalable solutions that contribute to business objectives.

Also, he writes a blog about his projects and the solutions he finds to the problems he encounters. He helps where he can and generally tries to learn something useful everyday. Contributing to this book has been another fortunate opportunity for David.

More information about him can be found on his website at http://www.tookitaway.co.uk.

I'd like to thank my family, friends, and colleagues, who are always there for me whenever I need them and who have managed to make me the person that I am today. You should work, learn, play, and have fun. It's your intention, attitude, and what you do with your opportunities that sets you apart.

Keith Lindsay graduated from Sacred Heart University with honors and spent nearly a decade as a software engineer. After deciding to explore a new path, he moved to product management for Citrix ShareFile, where he uses his technical skills to help improve and promote APIs and SDKs. He is a big proponent of PowerShell and has helped his company develop a PowerShell SDK for file sharing. You can read more about using PowerShell for file sharing on his blog at http://blogs.citrix.com/author/keithl1/.

Mayur Arvind Makwana is a software professional with more than 5 years of experience in the field of IT. He has a degree in computer engineering. He is a huge believer in certifications, with his current certification acronyms including Microsoft, Citrix, and VMware technologies. His other certifications include:

Mayur has reviewed many technical books and written technical blogs. He has attended several courses and conducted training sessions on the following technologies:

Some other books Mayur has worked on include:

I would like to thank my mom, Beena Makwana, who has always encouraged me to utilize my potential and to share my expertise and knowledge with people. Thanks to the PACKT Publishing team for giving me this opportunity.

Ashley Poole is a highly motivated software support analyst with over 6 years of professional experience in the field of IT. Normally, he can be found exploring topics such as Microsoft SQL Server, C#, PowerShell, and DevOps.

Recently, he has been exploring software development technologies and practices as he has begun a journey into the world of software development.

Ashley can be found blogging on various IT and software topics on his website at www.ashleypoole.co.uk, tweeting at @AshleyPooleUK, or sharing open source projects and scripts for the community at https://github.com/AshleyPoole.