Customer Reviews

Windows PowerShell Cookbook: The Complete Guide to Scripting Microsoft's New Command Shell

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I've been using PowerShell for a little over a year now, and I've acquired quite a hefty collection of PSH-related books. Among those books, the 1st edition of Lee Holmes' "Windows PowerShell Cookbook" is one the most heavily read and dog-eared. The new 2nd edition adds chapters and sample scripts around PowerShell 2.0's new features, like Event Handling and Advanced Functions, but most importantly, it retains - and even expands upon - the obvious passion that Holmes has for PowerShell, and for helping people understand it.

Whether you're just getting into PowerShell now, or you're a seasoned expert who has been using PowerShell since it was codenamed "Monad", Lee Holmes' "Windows PowerShell Cookbook" should have a prominent position on your bookshelf, or in your e-book reader!

** Full disclosure: I work for Microsoft, but my job has nothing to do with PowerShell. This review is my own personal opinion. **

I have read many powershell books out there, and many of them are good, many are not so good. This book claims to be a cookbook, which typically I use as a reference to take ideas from. There is usually a short explanation of the concepts and uses of the technology. But I found I gained a good deal of practical application of the concepts in these short reviews. So in short this should not be your 1st Powershell book, but it should definitely be your second if you are an IT administrator.

The scripts are comprehensive, and useful. Lee has done a great job. I found immediate use that saved me a couple days in consulting time. So a $40 book and a couple of hours of my time against that cost, was quite a good return and I end up being the IT hero again.

I have read several of the chapters and used parts here and there in the book and I do have java programming experience so i am not a total newbie.
As other readers have noted: This should not be your first scripting or PS book.

The books description does not make it out to be more than it is. A cookbook. It also provides a lot of PS basics but it also leaves a lot out. I was scratching my head on Arrays, lists and other collections. The book does not allow for clear distinctions between them but my experience told me there was a difference. Structuring the script was also passed over too quickly. I had to do some digging on the Internet for opinions and answers.

There are many scripts in the book but they are written or purposed in a way that do not expose the weaknesses/complexities of powershell like:
-"how do I know my Get-function is going to return an collection? sometimes it returns an object and if it does this script will fail"
-"how do I make my [array] of a static size?"

So I am going to keep this book around and read more of it BUT I am also going to look for another to partner it with.

This review applies to the Kindle version, which is currently flawed and requires an update. Please O'Reilly fix it!

The general content of the book is great, and worthy of the other rave reviews on the site. I needn't really repeat them here. The problem is being able to find it.

The contents for the Kindle version lists each 'recipe' along with the sub items of 'problem', 'solution', 'discussion' and 'see also' beneath them. This means, what should be a quick-reference sheet, becomes very busy and difficult to parse. It's even hard to follow what chapter you are looking through. You can compare the Kindle versus Print in the 'Look Inside' to see what I mean - the print version contents spans 10 pages, neatly laid out, while in the Kindle version you must click through at least 50 pages of useless links.

Kindle search can't really help you out, because it can't search with context, and a simple keyword search will yield lots of useless results.

In the end I typically give up and search Google instead, making this book a waste of money for me.

I highly recommend you get this book.
First of all, this title is published by O'Reilly. This publisher has always been at the top level of weighty technical reference books. And this is just the case in this book. Second, the word "cookbook" is quite appropriate. You can search the index for a task and get right to it without digging through the whole book. If you are just starting out in Powershell (PS) and you're thinking of having a book around that you can grow into as you advance then this would be an excellent choice.
PS can handle objects and the common features of a programming language. The book has a thorough section on fundamentals and then has several specific, "common tasks" sections. A good sysadmin will need to be familiar with PS. If you buy & download an electronic version, you can copy/paste snippets into PS. Author Lee Holmes also provides the example code at the title's home page. You can start running the examples right away.
This is a book that you will keep referring to time & time again. It's that good.
AzSailor

At one time, there were command line scripts - .cmd files that were nothing more than commands available in the command shell to automate common tasks. Then came Java Script, VBScript, ports of shell tools and other languages to the Windows platform, such as Perl, and others.
Then, Microsoft Corporation made a huge investment into something code-named Monad. Monad was to be the answer to the shortcomings and the obvious security problems with the previous native tools in Windows. VBScript has some very big shortcomings, not as a language, because it was and is still pretty powerful. Security was not a baked in feature for VBScript and security is not something that any right-thinking person can afford to ignore any longer.

Then came Monad, and eventually the final name, Windows PowerShell. PowerShell provided for some unique solutions to some hard problems. The language is, first and foremost, designed to be as secure as possible. Specific policies are assigned to define what scope of script can run, based on its origin. If a script is not signed by certificate, it can't run by default. If the script comes from a remote source, or a user attempts to run a script against a remote machine and the local policy of where the script will run does not allow it - the script cannot run.

But, we're not here to talk about the in's and out's of PowerShell. We're here to discuss the overall value of a given book - the "Windows PowerShell Cookbook, 2nd Ed." Written by Lee Holmes and published by O'Reilly.

Before getting into the book itself, I've personally read and reviewed literally dozens of O'Reilly books over the years. And, there is one thing that is an absolute - if you are looking for the best books on the market for a given technology, and O'Reilly publishes it - buy it. From the perspective of accuracy, attention to the minutest detail, and the presentation of the subject matter, no one does a better job than O'Reilly. Obviously, there are professionals in every meaning of the word in all phases of the book process at O'Reilly. I can't say enough about the people at this publishing house. So, I'll stop, otherwise I'm going to start coming off like an O'Reilly tool. And, no one wants that.

Back to the "Windows PowerShell Cookbook". The "Cookbook" series is one that, if not invented at O'Reilly, they have certainly perfected. More about the cookbooks in general in just a moment. We need to introduce and know our author. And, that's important because the guidance that you get in this book is like having a member of the PowerShell development team guiding you into the solutions that will make you a PowerShell guru. Lee Holmes is that guy. He joined the team early on, and has been a constant and consistent advocate for community and users alike. Lee spends a lot of time on external (to Microsoft) forums and message boards dedicated to PowerShell users and developers. Lee isn't just visible - he's omnipresent. The same goes for his presence inside Microsoft. Frankly, with all of the time that Lee spends educating and helping internal Microsoft and external customers on how to use and extend PowerShell, it's a wonder that he gets anything done internally.
OK, again - back to the book... (Wow - so many awesome things to be said about Lee and O'Reilly....)

The book is in a format that is solutions oriented. In essence, and this is the same for all of the O'Reilly cookbooks, what is a common situation or problem and how do we solve it? That's the cookbook. A series of recipes on how to do a lot of things that might be common or uncommon - but still strive towards providing that simple and innovative solution. This is an 850 page book filled with all manner of solutions to nearly any topic you can imagine.

The book start out with Fundamentals, meaning nearly any level of user - novice to expert - can pick it up and start becoming more effective with PowerShell. It then moves into Common Tasks - those things that you do all of the time in PowerShell, for example, "How do I make my scripts user-interactive?" After the common tasks, Lee takes to into the Administrative Tasks. In the end, PowerShell is a scripting language that is designed to automate what the administrator or user does on their computer, servers, enterprise, and beyond.

After the work on the Administrator Tasks, Lee leaves you with a wealth of reference, ranging from the PowerShell language and the environment, to Regular Expressions, XPath, .Net Strings, .Net DateTime formatting, .Net Classes and their use, WMI reference, COM Objects and their use in PowerShell, Events, and finally (Whew!) the Standard PowerShell verbs.
And, the book goes so far to be sure that if you are on PowerShell 10 or 2.0 - you know what will work with each version of the language.

Ultimately, this book combines one of the most intelligent and outgoing individuals and lets you inside Lee's head for some of the coolest "How do you do this?" question and answer sessions possible. There are so many tidbits and cool little tips and tricks here that if you don't find at least 50 of them applicable or inspiring in your own work - you aren't looking hard enough or you're being way to critical about what you think you know.

This book, in conjunction with Lee's colleague Bruce Payette's book (published by Manning, but don't hold that against Bruce), "PowerShell in Action", in my honest opinion gives you the best in theory and in application.

Very detailed, easy to follow Powershell Guide. Extremely happy that I chose the Correct guide. Recommend for all wishing to learn Powershell!!!

I am in the process of sharpening my PowerShell skills so I am always on the lookout for "learning materials". I am a Microsoft Certified Trainer and find this information invaluable in helping me present the PowerShell concepts. This is a great all around resource for learning and implementing PowerShell scripting into your environment. Definitely recommended.

The examples are well chosen and the descriptions are helpful in adapting examples to my needs. I use this book a lot.

I have two favorite books for Powershell - Bruce Payettes Windows Powershell in Action and this book.
The two books are different in their approach, and they cover the technology in different ways.
For the IT-Pro who would love to see practical examples of how to use Powershell in day-to-day use, and learn all the concepts by doing - this is the book to get!
What I find really cool about this book is that I can enjoy it also when I have just five minutes.
Highly recommended.