Although most every user knows about Windows PowerShell, many do not know or fully appreciate how much power it actually brings to the management of a Windows Server 2008 system. PowerShell features a vast array of commands and syntax that can make everyday chores a lot easier. What's more, PowerShell proves to be an excellent aid for solving technical problems, quickly and easily. With that in mind, it becomes obvious why a user would want to master PowerShell, especially the commands that can help to solve problems quickly. Here are a few examples of commands that can be executed via PowerShell:
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_ComputerSystem
Determine the make and model of a computer
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_BIOS ComputerName
Discover information about the BIOS
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_ComputerSystem -Property UserName ComputerName
Determine the username of who is logged on
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration -Filter
IPEnabled=TRUE -ComputerName . | Format-Table -Property IPAddress
Get IP addresses assigned to the current computer
(Get-WMIObject -ComputerName TARGETMACHINE -List | Where-Object
-FilterScript {$_.Name -eq
"Win32_Product"}).Install(\MACHINEWHEREMSIRESIDESpathpackage.msi)
Install an MSI package on a remote computer
(Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product -Filter "Name='product_to_remove'"
-ComputerName . ).Uninstall()
Remove an MSI package from the current computer
Start-Sleep 60; Restart-Computer Force ComputerName TARGETMACHINE
Remotely shut down another machine after one minute
enter-pssession TARGETMACHINE
Enter into a remote PowerShell session (you must have remote
management enabled)
(Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product -ComputerName . Filter
"Name='name_of_app'").
Upgrade(\MACHINEWHEREMSIRESIDESpathupgrade_package.msi)
Upgrade an installed application with an MSI-based application
upgrade package
Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration -Filter
IPEnabled=TRUE -ComputerName . | Select-Object -Property [a-z]*
-ExcludeProperty IPX*,WINS*
Get a more detailed IP configuration report for the current machine
Of course, the above is only a sampling of what can be done with PowerShell. However, it is those commands that illustrate how powerful PowerShell can be for managing both Local and Remote servers. What's more, many of the commands can be run on remote client PCs as well, further easing administration and troubleshooting.
