Richard Siddaway's Blog : Books, PowerShell V2

PowerShell and WMI

RichardSiddaway — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:18:50 GMT

My latest book – PowerShell and WMI – has gone to the printers. Expect it soon at a book shop near you.

www.manning.com/powershellandwmi

for more details

PowerShell books–March 2012

RichardSiddaway — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 14:38:06 GMT

Back in January last year I posted about my preferred set of PowerShell books. http://msmvps.com/blogs/richardsiddaway/archive/2011/01/09/powershell-books.aspx

Its time to update that list

I’ll start by removing the first edition of books where the second edition is now available. As with the previous post these are books that I’ve read or been involved with in one way or another.

NOTE: This is my own highly subjective list. There are other books available. Some I have looked at and won’t recommend; others I have not yet looked at. I am also restricting my list to English language books. I will not recommend a book I haven’t read

Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN
Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches	Don Jones	Manning	978161790213
PowerShell v3 in Depth. An administrator’s guide.	Don Jones Richard Siddaway Jeffery Hicks	Manning	9781617290558
Windows PowerShell Scripting Guide	Ed Wilson	Microsoft Press	9780735622791
Windows PowerShell Cookbook Second Edition	Lee Holmes	O’Reilly	9780596801502
Windows PowerShell 2.0 Best Practices	Ed Wilson	Microsoft Press	9780735626461
PowerShell in Practice	Richard Siddaway	Manning	9781935182009
PowerShell and WMI	Richard Siddaway	Manning	9781617290114
Managing Active Directory with Windows PowerShell Second edition	Jeffery Hicks	Sapien Press	9780982131442
Managing VMware Infrastructure with Windows PowerShell	Hal Rottenberg	Sapien Press	0982131402
VMware vSphere Power CLI Reference	Luc Dekens, Alan Renouf, Glenn Sizemore, Arnim van Lieshout and Jonathan Medd	Sybex	9780470890790
PowerShell in Action Second Edition	Bruce Payette	Manning	9781935182139

Comments:

Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches by Don Jones. It is a beginners guide to PowerShell. If you haven’t used PowerShell before this is the place to start. It will take you through the basics of using PowerShell from scratch. At the end of this book you will know what you are doing with PowerShell and have a good idea of how to learn more.

PowerShell v3 in Depth. An administrator’s guide by Don Jones, Jeffery Hicks and myself, is currently being written, and builds on Don’s Lunches book. It is designed to parallel and underpin the domain specific books such as PowerShell and WMI or Managing AD with Windows PowerShell. The book covers PowerShell v2 and v3 (including all new features). Its premise is showing the administrator how to get the most out of PowerShell and how to work with it so the domain specific pieces for AD, Exchange or WMI are easy to slot into the PowerShell structure they know and understand. Expect it sometime after PowerShell v3 is available.

Windows PowerShell Scripting Guide by Ed Wilson. This takes over where Don’s book stops. It supplies a good introduction to automating basic windows admin tasks with PowerShell

Windows PowerShell Cookbook by Lee Holmes. Now in its second edition it supplies a lot of scripts for using PowerShell. This book is PowerShell orientated and doesn’t cover using Exchange, AD etc. The techniques are useful for using with some of the more advanced or technology specific books. Read this if you want to know how to do something with PowerShell – in terms of using the language for example removing members from an array

Windows PowerShell 2.0 Best Practices by Ed Wilson. Builds on his Scripting Guide and contains good information on designing and testing scripts. Even if you don’t agree with all of the ideas they are worth reading to make you think about how you want to perform these tasks in your organisation. I find my self dipping into this for Ed’s ideas. It is well worth having on your book shelf.

PowerShell in Practice I wrote as a “PowerShell for Administrators” book. Contains lots of examples for working with AD, WMI, DNS, IIS, Exchange, SQL Server and Hyper-V. I wrote it but I still refer to it for syntax & ideas. Predominantly based on PowerShell v2 it is still very applicable today.

PowerShell and WMI will be available soon. WMI is a really powerful technology but the lack of documentation and the difficulty of using it in the past has meant admins have been reluctant to use it. This book is designed to shine a light on to WMI, make it accessible and provide many ready to use scripts. It also covers the new WMI based functionality in PowerShell v3 – the CIM cmdlets and how to turn WMI classes into PowerShell cmdlets. Very relevant as much of the new PowerShell functionality in Windows Server 8 is based on that model.

Managing AD with Windows PowerShell by Jeffery Hicks. Now in its second edition. Mainly based around the Microsoft and AD cmdlets, this overlaps with PowerShell in Practice to some extent but if you just want to automate AD then start here.

Managing VMware Infrastructure with Windows PowerShell by Hal Rottenberg. If you are using VMware you need this. Admin becomes a lot easier.

VMware vSphere PowerCLI Reference by Luc Dekens et al. takes a slightly different view to Hal’s book. It is more a book about managing the whole VMware infrastructure from installation onwards. Personally I use both.

PowerShell in Action by Bruce Payette. This is the book for the in depth details on the PowerShell language. If you want to know how and why PowerShell works the way it does this is the book for you. Be aware that it is an advanced text and is NOT recommended for PowerShell newcomers.

This is my view of the PowerShell book world. No doubt other people will have different views. If you think I’ve missed a book that should be on this list please let me know but I will only recommend books I have read.

Deal of the Day–PowerShell

RichardSiddaway — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 09:04:17 GMT

PowerShell and WMI is Manning’s deal of the day – 50% off print or e-book.

The deal also extends to PowerShell in Practice and PowerShell in Action 2E

See www.manning.com for details

Half price PowerShell books

RichardSiddaway — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 07:24:00 GMT

Check www.manning .com for a half price deal on PoweShell books:

PowerShell in Practice
PowerShell and WMI
PowerShell in Action
Learn PowerShell in a month of lunches

Hurry. Today only!

Scripting Guy Blog- PowerShell and WMI

RichardSiddaway — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:10:36 GMT

The Scripting Guy is running a series of posts this week featuring articles taken from PowerShell books published by Manning (www.manning.com). Yesterday was Don Jones’ PowerShell Lunches, today is my PowerShell and WMI

Read the articles and get the code for a substantial reduction in the price of the books

See http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2011/06/14/use-powershell-to-simplify-access-to-wmi-data.aspx

for the article.

Manning Deal of the Day–29 May

RichardSiddaway — Sun, 29 May 2011 08:57:00 GMT

Today, for one day only, get 50% off PowerShell and WMI MEAP or MEAP+ebook.

The code is dotd0529cc when you order from www.manning.com

The same code can be used for PowerShell in Action – second edition and PowerShell in Practice

PowerShell in Action

RichardSiddaway — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:21:49 GMT

The second edition of Bruce Payette’s PowerShell in Action is available. It can be ordered from http://www.manning.com/payette2/. The electronic version includes a free electronic version of the first edition.

This is “THE” book on the PowerShell language – why it works the way it does and how some of the design decisions were reached. I’ll post a full review later.

BE WARNED – This is NOT a book for beginners to PowerShell.

Book review: Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches

RichardSiddaway — Tue, 03 May 2011 20:52:13 GMT

Author: Don Jones

Publisher: Manning

ISBN: 978-1617290213

Don Jones is a well-known PowerShell MVP, trainer, author and blogger. This is his latest book on PowerShell. It sets out to teach a complete new comer to PowerShell how to use the language and commands to get stuff done. That is an important point – the book is about learning PowerShell so that you can use it to automate your administrative tasks.

The book is not an abstract look at PowerShell as a language but treats it as a tool you want to learn. It assumes you will be reading the chapters in order (which I would strongly recommend) and that you will be performing the exercises and running the code examples. Please make sure you do as it’s the only way you will get the maximum benefit from the book.

As I have stated in other reviews I have three main criteria for judging a book:

· Is it technically accurate?

· Does deliver the material it claims to deliver?

· Is worth the cost of purchase and the time I spend reading it?

The first one is easy to deal with. Yes it is technically accurate. Don is an expert on the subject of PowerShell and more importantly for a book of this sort he is an expert on how to teach it. The book has been reviewed by a number of PowerShell experts and I performed the final technical review. It’s as accurate as it can be!

The book has the following chapters:

1. Before you begin

2. Running commands

3. Using the help system

4. The pipeline: connecting commands

5. Adding commands

6. Objects: just data by another name

7. The pipeline, deeper

8. Formatting—and why it’s done on the right

9. Filtering and comparisons

10. Remote control: one to one, and one to many

11. Tackling Windows Management Instrumentation

12. Multitasking with background jobs

13. Working with bunches of objects, one at a time

14. Security alert!

15. Variables: a place to store your stuff

16. Input and output

17. You call this scripting?

18. Sessions: remote control, with less work

19. From command to script to function

20. Adding logic and loops

21. Creating your own “cmdlets” and modules

22. Trapping and handling errors

23. Debugging techniques

24. Additional random tips, tricks, and techniques

25. Final exam: tackling an administrative task from scratch

26. Beyond the operating system: taking PowerShell further

27. Never the end

28. PowerShell cheat sheet

Each chapter is designed to be read, and the exercises performed, in an approximately one hour lunch break. They are short, concise and very much to the point. Don has a very easy writing style that stops the topics being dry. The humour comes through in places to liven things up.

This is a book about doing. If we look at chapter 17 for instance – this is where scripting is introduced as the previous chapters show what you can do with PowerShell just from the command line. The chapter has 7 solid examples plus a lab. There are two callouts urging you to try the code and a list of ideas to try at the end of the chapter. All of this in 12 pages!

As well as the basics of the PowerShell language the book covers what might be considered more advanced topics such as remoting and PowerShell jobs.

In a nutshell this book teaches you how to use PowerShell. If you work through the chapters and labs you can’t fail to learn how to use PowerShell. Will it make you an overnight expert? No it won’t but it will provide a very solid foundation for you to progress and discover more about PowerShell yourself.

Don is a teacher and that comes through the way the book is written and constructed. In terms of my last two questions:

· Does it deliver the material it claims – YES. There were a couple of points in the book that made me think about me assumptions about PowerShell.

· Is it worth the money to buy and the time to read – YES.

On the back cover there’s a quote of mine “The book I wish I’d had when I started PowerShell”. That sums it up for me. It’s an excellent introduction to PowerShell itself and achieves exactly what it states it will do.

If you are new to PowerShell, or want to get started with it I can’t recommend this book strongly enough. Buy it. Read it. Use it.

PowerShell and VMware book

RichardSiddaway — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 18:38:06 GMT

My good friends Jonathan Medd and Alan Renouf (together with a number of co-authors) have just had their book “VMware vSphere PowerCLI Reference: Automating vSphere Administration” published. More details on the book contents and for a chance to win a copy visit

http://www.jonathanmedd.net/2011/03/powercli-book-raffle.html

I’ll doing a full review of the book when I can get my hands on a copy

PowerShell and WMI–Chapters 6 & 7 in MEAP

RichardSiddaway — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 19:20:04 GMT

Chapters 6 and 7 have been released for PowerShell and WMI. It is available through the Manning Early Access Program (MEAP) at http://www.manning.com/siddaway2/
The available chapters cover:

Solving Administrative Challenges
Using PowerShell
WMI in Depth
Best Practices
System Documentation
Disk System
Registry

Chapters 8 to 10 covering the File system; Services and Processes; and Printers respectively are in the pipeline. I’m currently working on chapter 11 on Networking. The code to accompany the MEAP chapters is also available for download from the URL above.

PowerShell Books

RichardSiddaway — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 13:39:00 GMT

There are a lot of PowerShell books on the market. Whether you are just starting with PowerShell, want to dig further into the subject or need some help with using PowerShell with a particular product it is often helpful to find a book on the subject instead of learning from scratch.

NOTE: This is my own personal view of the books. There are other books available. Some I have looked at and won’t recommend others I have not yet looked at. I am also restricting my list to English language books

These are the books I would recommend. I use many of these on a regular basis.

Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN
Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches	Don Jones	Manning	978161790213
Windows PowerShell Scripting Guide	Ed Wilson	Microsoft Press	9780735622791
Windows PowerShell Cookbook First Edition Second Edition	Lee Holmes	O’Reilly	9780596528492 9780596801502
Windows PowerShell 2.0 Best Practices	Ed Wilson	Microsoft Press	9780735626461
PowerShell in Practice	Richard Siddaway	Manning	9781935182009
PowerShell and WMI	Richard Siddaway	Manning	9781617290114
Managing Active Directory with Windows PowerShell	Jeffery Hicks	Sapien Press	0977659798
Managing VMware Infrastructure with Windows PowerShell	Hal Rottenberg	Sapien Press	0982131402
PowerShell in Action First Edition Second Edition	Bruce Payette	Manning	1932394-90-7 9781935182139

Comments:

Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches by Don Jones. This is still being written at the time of posting. It is a beginners guide to PowerShell. If you haven’t used PowerShell before this is the place to start.

Windows PowerShell Scripting Guide by Ed Wilson. This takes over where Don’s book stops. It supplies a good introduction to automating basic windows admin tasks with PowerShell

PowerShell and WMI is still being written. WMI is a really powerful technology but the lack of documentation and the difficulty of using it in the past has meant admins have been reluctant to use it. This book is designed to shine a light on to WMI, make it accessible and provide many ready to use scripts

Managing AD with Windows PowerShell by Jeffery Hicks. A second edition is in preparation. This overlaps with PowerShell in Practice to some extent but if you just want to automate AD then start here.

Managing VMware Infrastructure with Windows PowerShell by Hal Rottenberg. If you are using VMware you need this. Admin becomes a lot easier.

This is my view of the PowerShell book world. No doubt other people will have different views. If you think I’ve missed a book that should be one this list please let me know but I will only recommend books I have read.

Manning book offer

RichardSiddaway — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:59:34 GMT

My publisher, Manning, have a 35-50% off offer running on ebooks between now and 1 December – check out www.manning.com

PowerShell in Practice for Christmas makes a great idea

PowerShell and WMI book

RichardSiddaway — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 11:15:15 GMT

A few months ago I started work on a follow up to PowerShell in Practice – http://www.manning.com/siddaway/ .

This book will also be published by Manning. It covers PowerShell and WMI. These two powerful technologies work well together to give a superb environment for managing your systems. WMI has had a bit of a bad reputation over the years but PowerShell really does make it easy to work with.

The first three chapters are available no through the Manning Early Access Program [MEAP] from http://www.manning.com/siddaway2/

Chapters 4 and 5 are in the pipeline and I’m currently working on chapter 6.

Please leave any comments on the author forum or here

Enjoy.

PowerShell in Practice goes mobile

RichardSiddaway — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 19:45:42 GMT

PowerShell in Practice is now available in mobi and epub formats for use on Kindle, iPhone, Sony Reader etc etc

If you have a copy of the book you should be getting emailed about the availability of these new formats. Otherwise check out http://www.manning.com/catalog/mobile/

PowerShell in Practice deal of the day

RichardSiddaway — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:08:28 GMT

PowerShell in Practice is Manning’s deal of the day. Highly recommended

Jump over to http://www.manning.com for 50% off.

offer is for today only

PowerShell in Practice Review

RichardSiddaway — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 19:02:48 GMT

Jonathan has written a review of my PowerShell in Practice book at http://www.jonathanmedd.net/2010/10/powershell-in-practice-review-and-39-discount-code.html

There is also a 39% discount code if you are quick.

PowerShell in Practice offer

RichardSiddaway — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:39:05 GMT

Today Manning are offering 50% their best selling books including PowerShell in Practice.

See www.manning.com to order

Manning Offers 1st August

RichardSiddaway — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 09:43:16 GMT

Check today’s offers from www.manning.com – including 50% off print version of PowerShell in Practice

PowerShell in Practice Offer today

RichardSiddaway — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:07:47 GMT

Manning are offering the print book for $25 today. See www.manning.com and use code dotd0715cc

Listing all of the OUs in a domain

RichardSiddaway — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:43:14 GMT

In this post - http://msmvps.com/blogs/richardsiddaway/archive/2010/06/13/powershell-and-visio-documenting-ad-2.aspx – I showed how to start creating a diagram of the OU structure in your AD domain. In case you are wondering how to get a text file like the one I used check out PowerShell in Practice - http://www.manning.com/siddaway/ – especially Technique 103 on page 300