Jeffery Hicks is a Microsoft MVP in Windows PowerShell, Microsoft Certified Trainer and an IT veteran with over 20 years of experience, much of it spent as an IT consultant specializing in Microsoft server technologies with an emphasis in automation and efficiency. He works today as an independent author, trainer and consultant. Jeff writes the popular Prof. PowerShell column for MPCMag.com, is a regular contributor to the Petri IT Knowledgebase and 4SysOps, and frequent speaker at technology conferences and user groups. If he isn't writing, Jeff is most likely recording training videos for companies like TrainSignal or hanging out in the forums at PowerShell.org.
Jeff's latest books are Learn PowerShell 3 in a Month of Lunches, Learn PowerShell Toolmaking in a Month of Lunches and PowerShell in Depth: An Administrators Guide.
You can keep up with Jeff at his blog http://jdhitsolutions.com/blog , on Twitter at twitter.com/jeffhicks and on Google Plus (http:/gplus.to/JeffHicks)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
By J. Hofferle
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is my third PowerShell 2.0 book, and my favorite. This is what I recommend to my coworkers that want to start learning PowerShell.
The authors emphasize teaching how to find more information. This book doesn't fill the pages with tables of command explanations or other information that is readily available online or within PowerShell's built-in help. This book doesn't waste space giving readers information they can get elsewhere more quickly. The tables that are included are actually useful, like the .NET types that would commonly be used in PowerShell.
The real-world examples are very practical. After something is explained, an example of how the concept could be used in a real scenario is demonstrated. I found the chapter on Regular Expression quite useful, giving examples for matching email addresses, domain credentials, telephone numbers and other strings I commonly search for.
If there are several ways to accomplish something, the book explains the methods and then gives practical advice on when to use one method over another. I always struggled with error handling in PowerShell 1.0, and this book tells you flat-out: Just use Try...Catch and don't worry about the others in v2. There is a chapter on best practices, but these sprinkles of advice are found throughout the book.
The scope of the book is also excellent. Not much time is spent on the very VERY basic stuff, and that's fine because there are a million and a half PowerShell introductions on the web. It goes from simple and useful to Windows forms and advanced functions.
Both authors are top notch, and Don Jones designed the upcoming Microsoft Official Curriculum for PowerShell v2: Course 10325A.
The authors emphasize teaching how to find more information. This book doesn't fill the pages with tables of command explanations or other information that is readily available online or within PowerShell's built-in help. This book doesn't waste space giving readers information they can get elsewhere more quickly. The tables that are included are actually useful, like the .NET types that would commonly be used in PowerShell.
The real-world examples are very practical. After something is explained, an example of how the concept could be used in a real scenario is demonstrated. I found the chapter on Regular Expression quite useful, giving examples for matching email addresses, domain credentials, telephone numbers and other strings I commonly search for.
If there are several ways to accomplish something, the book explains the methods and then gives practical advice on when to use one method over another. I always struggled with error handling in PowerShell 1.0, and this book tells you flat-out: Just use Try...Catch and don't worry about the others in v2. There is a chapter on best practices, but these sprinkles of advice are found throughout the book.
The scope of the book is also excellent. Not much time is spent on the very VERY basic stuff, and that's fine because there are a million and a half PowerShell introductions on the web. It goes from simple and useful to Windows forms and advanced functions.
Both authors are top notch, and Don Jones designed the upcoming Microsoft Official Curriculum for PowerShell v2: Course 10325A.
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The good news is that, at long last, Microsoft has provided a robust, richly endowed command line shell for its Windows operating system: PowerShell.
The bad news for tech support people who have developed extensive skill and code libraries in VBScript and JScript utilizing the WSH (Windows Scripting Host) is that Microsoft has frozen further enhancements to WSH. The WSH never leveraged the .NET framework and now it never will. PowerShell does leverage the .NET framework.
Ergo, PowerShell is the present and future of scripted management of the Windows environment.
The challenge facing VBS code writers is that there is no easy way to convert VBS scripts to Powershell scripts; the code writer has to convert himself to using Powershell instead of VBScript.
I was in the market for a book that would enable me to port my knowledge of programming and Windows to Powershell asap. I didn't want, I didn't need to take beginner's steps in learning how to use PowerShell. Well, maybe I needed a few tips to get into the groove of PowerShell's *nix syntax and piping m.o. After that, I wanted to hit the floor running. I wanted specific instructions and examples of how PowerShell could provide the same functionality to manage Windows operating systems as I daily utilize with VBS and JS scripts. Particularly enumerating services, processes, files and file attributes, reading and writing to the registry and querying WMI and ADSI providers -- the resources that are central to managing Windows systems and networks.
I have found Windows Powershell 2.0: TFM to be an excellent resource for re-tooling my skillset. After the initial necessary instructions about system requirements and installation, the book (on page 27) gives an example of how to connect to and read the registry. In a fraction of the code it takes to perform the equivalent feat with VBS. Cool. And then enumerates the list of running services, with the output formatted. Again, in one line of code. Really cool.
This is the approach the book takes: introducing fundamentals illustrated with practical examples relevant to system administration. By Chapter 13, readers are given a flyby of the .NET framework. In Chapter 14 they are plunged into the WMI, the Windows Management Instrumentation; in the next chapter, ADSI, the Active Directory Services Interfaces.
And there are 500 pages to go. Including more extensive discussion of utilizing WMI, .NET and ADSI. And chapters on managing the registry (of course), managing files and folders, systems, services, permissions, interacting with databases (Access and SqlServer), sending e-mail, working with XML documents -- all the tricks of the scripting trade that are doable with WSH.
There is even a chapter devoted to comparing VBS syntax and methods to those of Powershell. And a chapter about how to utilize COM objects in the Powershell as they are used in VBS. That was an important issue for yours truly because as versatile as Powershell is, there are some tasks it cannot directly do that are mission critical to my work. For example, it can't directly access extended file properties for inventorying music and video files. Or automate Microsoft Word and Excel documents.
But, thanks to the chapter on working with COM objects, brief as it was, I figured out how to invoke the relevant COM objects in Powershell that I use in my VBS scripts. (The authors warn you that the implemntation of COM support in Powershell is not completely trouble free. True, indeed. But at least it's there.)
If abbreviations like WSH, WMI, .NET and ADSI are just so much alphabet soup to you, this may not be the best book for you to wade into PowerShell. But if those abbreviations are the argot of your technical work life, if you're in the market for a book to facilitating the porting of your WSH scripting chops to the PowerShell environment, then this maybe the book you're looking for.
The book includes appendices on automatic variables, .Net data types, regular expression syntax, and dissecting Powershell's command line help. Read the appendix on the command line help sooner rather than later because the help cmdlet is helpful and you're going to be keystroking 'get-help...' early and often.
The bad news for tech support people who have developed extensive skill and code libraries in VBScript and JScript utilizing the WSH (Windows Scripting Host) is that Microsoft has frozen further enhancements to WSH. The WSH never leveraged the .NET framework and now it never will. PowerShell does leverage the .NET framework.
Ergo, PowerShell is the present and future of scripted management of the Windows environment.
The challenge facing VBS code writers is that there is no easy way to convert VBS scripts to Powershell scripts; the code writer has to convert himself to using Powershell instead of VBScript.
I was in the market for a book that would enable me to port my knowledge of programming and Windows to Powershell asap. I didn't want, I didn't need to take beginner's steps in learning how to use PowerShell. Well, maybe I needed a few tips to get into the groove of PowerShell's *nix syntax and piping m.o. After that, I wanted to hit the floor running. I wanted specific instructions and examples of how PowerShell could provide the same functionality to manage Windows operating systems as I daily utilize with VBS and JS scripts. Particularly enumerating services, processes, files and file attributes, reading and writing to the registry and querying WMI and ADSI providers -- the resources that are central to managing Windows systems and networks.
I have found Windows Powershell 2.0: TFM to be an excellent resource for re-tooling my skillset. After the initial necessary instructions about system requirements and installation, the book (on page 27) gives an example of how to connect to and read the registry. In a fraction of the code it takes to perform the equivalent feat with VBS. Cool. And then enumerates the list of running services, with the output formatted. Again, in one line of code. Really cool.
This is the approach the book takes: introducing fundamentals illustrated with practical examples relevant to system administration. By Chapter 13, readers are given a flyby of the .NET framework. In Chapter 14 they are plunged into the WMI, the Windows Management Instrumentation; in the next chapter, ADSI, the Active Directory Services Interfaces.
And there are 500 pages to go. Including more extensive discussion of utilizing WMI, .NET and ADSI. And chapters on managing the registry (of course), managing files and folders, systems, services, permissions, interacting with databases (Access and SqlServer), sending e-mail, working with XML documents -- all the tricks of the scripting trade that are doable with WSH.
There is even a chapter devoted to comparing VBS syntax and methods to those of Powershell. And a chapter about how to utilize COM objects in the Powershell as they are used in VBS. That was an important issue for yours truly because as versatile as Powershell is, there are some tasks it cannot directly do that are mission critical to my work. For example, it can't directly access extended file properties for inventorying music and video files. Or automate Microsoft Word and Excel documents.
But, thanks to the chapter on working with COM objects, brief as it was, I figured out how to invoke the relevant COM objects in Powershell that I use in my VBS scripts. (The authors warn you that the implemntation of COM support in Powershell is not completely trouble free. True, indeed. But at least it's there.)
If abbreviations like WSH, WMI, .NET and ADSI are just so much alphabet soup to you, this may not be the best book for you to wade into PowerShell. But if those abbreviations are the argot of your technical work life, if you're in the market for a book to facilitating the porting of your WSH scripting chops to the PowerShell environment, then this maybe the book you're looking for.
The book includes appendices on automatic variables, .Net data types, regular expression syntax, and dissecting Powershell's command line help. Read the appendix on the command line help sooner rather than later because the help cmdlet is helpful and you're going to be keystroking 'get-help...' early and often.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By shiv
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
i have three or four PowerShell books but none is as complete as this book PowerShell 2.0 TFM. i read the PowerShell TFM with books online thru my company and wanted an updated version they did not have. PS v2 has support for remote administration so while the first book is GOOD, this one is loads better.
I NEEDED to know the whys and the hows to get from A-Z and this book does a good job of telling you HOW to get the information, not just saying put this here and that there. personally i need to know the reasons behind what you do. i was able before to do one line PS cmdlets piping this into that, but this book has me building functions, getting a query's result and piping it into an array i can use with a ForEach loop. stuff like that.
personally if you must have ONE book for PS version 2, i would recommend this one be the one to get. there are others that are good but none are as great as this one. plus the Sapien WMI Explorer is truly awesome in trying to figure out HOW to use WMI to leverage that into accessing Active Directory information.
I NEEDED to know the whys and the hows to get from A-Z and this book does a good job of telling you HOW to get the information, not just saying put this here and that there. personally i need to know the reasons behind what you do. i was able before to do one line PS cmdlets piping this into that, but this book has me building functions, getting a query's result and piping it into an array i can use with a ForEach loop. stuff like that.
personally if you must have ONE book for PS version 2, i would recommend this one be the one to get. there are others that are good but none are as great as this one. plus the Sapien WMI Explorer is truly awesome in trying to figure out HOW to use WMI to leverage that into accessing Active Directory information.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent reference book
This book is a must for people who use PS scripting. It has been an invaluable reference for the few weeks it has been in my possession.
Published 6 months ago by DJM III
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book
This has been the most useful Powershell book I have read so far. I recommend this to anyone getting started.
Published 8 months ago by pseudosymbiotic
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly excellent PowerShell book
This book really is an outstanding technical work. It gets a lot right, including:
- Explaining concepts about how and why PowerShell syntax works, which is content you... Read more
- Explaining concepts about how and why PowerShell syntax works, which is content you... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Merrill Aldrich
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing book!
Prior to reading this book I had little to no experience with any type of scripting or programming. At the time I was in a pinch to learn powershell for AD object manipulation and... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Tristan S
5.0 out of 5 stars
Recommended by Hal Rottenberg
This book was recommended for the beginner by the aforementioned while watching a training video on PowerCLI (VMware extension to Powershell). I haven't finished it yet. Read more
Published on March 31, 2011 by RJ&Rod
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