About This Book

Overview

The launching of Microsoft Windows PowerShell marks a significant event in the world of Windows scripting. No longer must network administrators contend with the legacy of arcane commands “simply because they were in Visual Basic”; rather, they can leverage the power of the Microsoft .NET Framework in a clean and organized fashion.

As the author of three books on Windows scripting and as a consultant for Microsoft, I am in constant contact with people who have been using VBScript to manage their environments. I am often asked, “Is there an easier way to do this?” Until now, the answer has been, “Unfortunately, no.” That has all changed!

With the release of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, there is a new scripting language on the market-Windows PowerShell. This book seeks to unravel the mysteries of and misconceptions about this powerful and elegant scripting language.

Windows PowerShell is being released with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. It is also a release to the Web product and can be downloaded and installed on Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows XP SP2, and Windows Vista. Many Microsoft customers currently running those versions of the operating system will consider installing Windows PowerShell because of its ease of use.

The Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 administrator tools are built on Windows PowerShell, so Exchange administrators will be among the first to explore and use PowerShell, but other network administrators can certainly also benefit from PowerShell.

Accessing Security objects, working with the registry, and leveraging the power of the .NET Framework all have been either difficult or impossible to do from a VBScript. Windows PowerShell makes these tasks much simpler.