I’ve been using PS for a while now and I don’t hate it anymore :) In fact, I think it’s very usable for lots of tasks and automation. Easy to learn too, a bit like “python-lite” for sysadmins perhaps.

Here’s some Useful commands

discover/help:

• Get-Command *help* or Get-Command-Module PackageManagement
• Get-Member to view properties e.g. Get-Disk | Get-Member
• Get-Alias

access:

• Get-ExecutionPolicy -List
• Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
• Run as admin: powershell.exe -Command "Start-Process cmd -Verb RunAs"

support for csv, xml and json is included:

• Import-CSV Export-CSV
• ConvertTo-XML
• ConvertFrom-Json ConvertTo-Json

And stuff like:

• piping to select, sort and where (grep)
• Invoke-WebRequest $url (curl)
• Logging sessions: Start-Transcript Stop-Transcript
• Viewing Certificates: cd Cert:\ (now you can ‘dir’ etc)
• PS Linting: https://github.com/PowerShell/PSScriptAnalyzer and Testing: https://pester.dev

Remote usage is also possible over WinRM (or OpenSSH):

• Enter-PSSession -ComputerName <host>

Then there’s Loops, Params, Arrays and Hash Tables e.g. foreach, Param([string]$arg), @() and @{}…

Besides for Windows and Azure, PS (Core) can also be used on Linux/MacOS and then there’s PowerCLI for VMware. Not bad, not bad at all.

More info:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/it-ops-talk/how-to-install-powershell-7
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/install/installing-windows-powershell?view=powershell-6
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/dsc/overview/overview
• https://github.com/powershell/powershell
• https://github.com/PowerShell/openssh-portable