Windows PowerShell Fundamentals Training

Windows PowerShell Fundamentals Training - Course Outline

Lesson 1 - Getting Started with Windows PowerShell Fundamentals

This lesson introduces the course and outlines what the instructor’s lab looks like.

• What to Expect
• Topics for Further Study
• Prerequisite Knowledge
• Lab Requirements
• Lab Setup

Lesson 2 - Introduction to Windows PowerShell

This introductory lesson takes a look at basic PowerShell concepts. You will get an idea of what PowerShell is, its tremendous capabilities and why it matters to Windows administrators.

• What is Windows PowerShell?
• Requirements
• Interactive Shell vs Scripting
• Cmdlets and Aliases
• The Integrated Scripting Editor (ISE)
• Windows PowerShell Profile Scripts
• Using the Windows PowerShell Help System
• Using Get-Command
• What We Covered

Lesson 3 - Using PowerShell Providers

Providers enable access to data that would not otherwise be easily accessible at the command line in the form of a drive. This lesson introduces providers and how to create and use those drives.

• What is a Provider?
• Creating a PSDrive
• Navigating a PSDrive
• Removing a PSDrive

Lesson 4 - Using Snapins and Modules

PowerShell is not limited to what ships from Microsoft. It is designed to be extended by incorporating functionality from other Microsoft products as well as third-party vendors and the PowerShell community. This lesson will demonstrate how to do this using Snapins and Modules.

• What is a PSSnapin?
• Using a PSSnapin
• What is a Module?
• Using Modules
• The difference between Snapins and Modules

Lesson 5 - Understanding the PowerShell Pipeline

You can use pipelines to send the objects that are output by one command to be used as input to another command. This lesson will establish what the pipeline is, how it works and how to get the most out of it.

• Pipeline Concepts
• Pipeline Example
• Using Variables
• Using Script Blocks
• The Out Cmdlets
• PowerShell Formatting

Lesson 6 - Working with Objects

Windows PowerShell is an object-based shell so understanding what an object is and how to leverage them is critical in learning PowerShell. This lesson will explain what an object is, how the type of an object is important and how to create your own objects.

• What is an Object?
• Using Get-Member
• Creating Objects
• Working with Object Properties
• Working with Object Methods
• Using Object Operators
• Difference Between Write-Host and Write-Output

Lesson 7 - The PowerShell Language: Operators

Windows PowerShell is a language as well as a management shell. As such, you must learn its syntax through operators. These operators form the basis of many PowerShell expressions. This lesson will demonstrate commonly used operators for comparison, arithmetic, logic and more.

• Comparison Operators
• Arithmetic Operators
• Logical Operators
• Assignment Operators
• Type Operators
• Other Operators

Lesson 8 - The PowerShell Language: Constructs

The Windows PowerShell scripting language is not complicated and includes common logic and looping constructs. This lesson will demonstrate how to use these constructs to add flow control to your interactive sessions or scripts.

• Using If..Else Statements
• Using the Switch Statement
• Using Do and While Loops
• Using a For Loop
• Using a ForEach and ForEach-Object Enumeration

Lesson 9 - Arrays and Hash Tables

Windows PowerShell rarely deals with a single item. More often you are managing a collection of services or a group of files. In PowerShell these are stored in arrays. This lesson will explain what arrays are and how to use them.

• What is an Array?
• Creating and Enumerating an Array
• Adding and Removing Array Items
• Arrays in Action
• What is a Hash Table?
• Creating and Enumerating a Hash Table
• Adding and Removing Hash Table Items
• Hash Tables in Action

Lesson 10 - Key Cmdlets for Administrators

This lesson will discuss a number of core PowerShell commands. These are commands you will use repeatedly so understanding how to use them is critical.

• Where-Object
• Select-Object
• Sort-Object
• Group-Object
• Measure-Object
• Get-Content
• Export-CSV and Import-CSV
• Export-Clixml and Import-Clixml
• Out-File
• ConvertTo-HTML
• Send-MailMessage

Lesson 11 - Working with Regular Expressions

Windows PowerShell has full support for regular expressions. This lesson will discuss how to accomplish simple pattern matching and regular expression comparisons.

• What is a Regular Expression?
• Regular Expression Patterns
• Regular Expression Operators
• Simple Matches
• Using Select-String
• Regex Matching
• Simple Pattern Replacements
• Regex Replacements

Lesson 12 - Windows PowerShell and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)

WMI is a crucial management technology in Microsoft Windows that, in the past, has always been complicated to use. Windows PowerShell makes it much easier to retrieve WMI information from the local host as well as remote computers. This lesson will provide a brief overview of what WMI is and how to work with it using Windows PowerShell.

• WMI Basic Concepts
• Using Get-WmiObject
• WMI Security
• Retrieving WMI Information
• Invoking WMI Methods
• WMI Tips and Tricks

Lesson 13 - Windows PowerShell Remoting

Windows PowerShell 2.0 introduced an exciting feature that allows an administrator to execute a PowerShell command on one or more remote computers. This lesson will discuss how this feature works, how to enable it, how to configure it and how to use it.

• Remoting Requirements
• Enabling and Configuring Remoting
• Using TrustedHosts
• Establishing a Remote Session
• Security and Credentials
• Ending a Remote Session
• Using Invoke-Command

Lesson 14 - Window PowerShell Background Jobs

In Windows PowerShell when you run an interactive command you can’t run another command until the last one completes. The solution is to create a background job. This lesson will demonstrate how to use PowerShell’s jobs feature to run PowerShell commands in the background, how to retrieve results and manage the job queue.

• What is a Background Job?
• Background Job Requirements
• Creating a Background Job
• Getting Job Results
• Managing Jobs
• Running Jobs on Remote Computers
• Troubleshooting Failed Jobs

Lesson 15 - Windows PowerShell Scripting

PowerShell scripts are the practical alternative to complicated or repetitive tasks. This lesson will provide an introduction to PowerShell scripting to get you started creating your own scripts.

• PowerShell Scripting and Security
• Writing and Running PowerShell Scripts
• Demo: Script Execution and Security
• Understanding Scope
• Demo: Understanding Scope
• Writing PowerShell Functions
• Demo: Writing and Using PowerShell Functions
• Exceptions and Errors
• Demo: Exceptions and Errors
• Error Handling with Try/Catch
• Demo: Try/Catch
• 6
• Recommended Scripting Best Practices
• Next Steps
• Favorite Supporting Resources