Put your Day on Auto Pilot with PowerShell Scripting…

Ok I wish it were that simple, but, it is possible to save substantial time and effort by automating many repetitive and common Windows IT tasks by creating scripts with PowerShell. There are lots of websites and books that have pre-written scripts for you. So, not only can you automate a good chunk of your IT tasks, you can copy and paste your way to automation. With that in mind, here are a few resources I’ve found helpful.

Microsoft Technet
The premier place for basic and advanced topics related to PowerShell. I’ve spent hours on this site and it has everything from training and free scripts to a download center with lots of goodies. Here are some MUST visit sections:


Library – More reading than I could possibly do this year. It’s the place to start with good example code to walk you through the learning process.

Download Center – Get PowerShell and the scriptomatic2 software to make scripts using a graphical user interface.


Scripts – Over 650 scripts on items from managing an IIS server to system backups and restores. Once you know how to use PowerShell, jump start your library here.


PowerShell.com
A great website with tips, tools, a forum, free scripts and lots more on PowerShell.

CBT Nuggets
CBT Nuggets provides an excellent online training program that covers PowerShell. Their sample tutorial is a pretty good primer on several basic commands and the PowerShell pipeline concept (like a workflow).

Quick Reference Card/Cheat sheet
DZone makes a nice set of free cheat sheet reference guides. These are handy to have printed and around when making/editing scripts.

Twitter
For Twitter users, you may want to follow these users:
http://twitter.com/powertip - Tip of the day tweets
http://twitter.com/ScriptingGuys - Tips and ideas straight from Microsoft
http://twitter.com/shitmydadsays - Because it’s funny