Author: Mike F Robbins

Mike F Robbins is a Microsoft MVP on Windows PowerShell and a SAPIEN Technologies MVP. He is a co-author of Windows PowerShell TFM 4th Edition and is a contributing author of a chapter in the PowerShell Deep Dives book. Mike has written guest blog articles for the Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog, PowerShell Magazine, and PowerShell.org. He is the winner of the advanced category in the 2013 PowerShell Scripting Games. Mike is also the leader and co-founder of the Mississippi PowerShell User Group. He blogs at mikefrobbins.com and can be found on twitter @mikefrobbins.

Use PowerShell to Install a DHCP Server on a Windows Server 2019 (Server Core) Active Directory Domain Controller

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You need to have an Active Directory domain in place. I'm picking up where I left off in my previous blog article "Use PowerShell to Create a New Active Directory Forest on Windows 2019 Server Core Installation (no-GUI)". The procedure shown in this blog article is for demonstration purposes only. Install the DHCP server feature. Add the DHCP scope to the server. Options can either be set at the scope level. Or Read more [...]
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Use PowerShell to Create a New Active Directory Forest on Windows 2019 Server Core Installation (no-GUI)

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You have a fresh installation of Windows Server 2019 that was installed using the default installation type of server core installation (no-GUI). This server will be the first domain controller in a brand new Active Directory forest. You've completed the following configuration prior to attempting to turn this server into a domain controller: Install all the available Windows Updates Set the time zone Set the computer name Set a static IP address Log into the server and launch PowerShell Read more [...]
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What’s the Recommended Editor for PowerShell Scripts?

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You've probably heard, as I have, that Visual Studio Code (VSCode) is the latest whiz-bang editor that you should be using for PowerShell (and I am for development of PowerShell code on my primary workstation). One word of caution though is to make sure to put things into perspective and not be so quick to shun people away from using the PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE), depending on how they're using it. I recently received a comment about my choice of editors for a particular Read more [...]
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Managing the Hyper-V Default Switch in Windows 10 version 1709 and higher with PowerShell

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Windows 10 version 1709 introduced a default Hyper-V virtual switch which is installed when the Hyper-V role is added. As you can see in the following example, by default on Windows 10, the default virtual switch does not exist because the Hyper-V role hasn't been added. Now that the Hyper-V role has been added, you can see that a new network adapter named "vEthernet (Default Switch)" exists. While you wouldn't think this Read more [...]
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PowerShell Script Module Design: Building Tools to Automate the Process

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As I previously mentioned a little over a month ago in my blog article "PowerShell Script Module Design Philosophy", I'm transitioning my module build process to a non-monolithic design in development and a monolithic design for production to take advantage of the best of both worlds. Be sure to read the previously referenced blog article for more details on the subject. My goal is to write a reusable tool to retrieve the necessary information from a non-monolithic script module that's necessary Read more [...]
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Learn about the PowerShell Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) – Part 3

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This blog article is the third in a series of learning about the PowerShell Abstract Syntax Tree (AST). Be sure to read the other two if you haven't already. Learning about the PowerShell Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) Learn about the PowerShell Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) – Part 2 Learn about the PowerShell Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) – Part 3 In this blog article, I'll be specifically focusing on finding the AST recursively. I'll start off by storing the path to one of my functions Read more [...]
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Learn about the PowerShell Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) – Part 2

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In my previous blog article a few weeks ago on "Learning about the PowerShell Abstract Syntax Tree (AST)", I mentioned there was an easier way to retrieve the AST so that you didn't have to cast everything to a script block. There are two .NET static methods, ParseFile and ParseInput, that are part of the Parser class in the System.Management.Automation.Language namespace which can be used to retrieve the AST. First, I’ll store the content of one of my functions in a variable. The Read more [...]
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Use PowerShell to Monitor IIS Websites and Application Pools

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I recently received a request to write a script for monitoring IIS websites and their application pools on a specific Windows 2012 R2 server and start them if they were stopped. This is something I created fairly quickly and thought I would share. I always try to centralize any scripts I write and have them run on a job server instead of the actual server they're querying. That way I don't have multiple versions of the same script floating around on different servers. I can easily use this same Read more [...]
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Deploy an Enterprise Grade Network in the Home for Less than $500

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Last month I decided to embark on a networking project to rid my home of poor connectivity. I tweeted out asking about the benefits of Cat 6 cable since I already owned enough Cat 5e to complete the entire project. The primary benefit of Cat 6 cable for a home environment seems to be future proofing since Cat 5e is perfectly capable of Gigabit. Ultimately, the free Cat 5e cable won out because it left more money in the budget for new networking equipment. If I had to pay someone to install Read more [...]
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Use PowerShell to Install the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) on Windows 10 version 1809

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My computer recently updated to Windows 10 version 1809 and as with all previous major updates of Windows 10, this wipes out the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT). However, unlike previous versions, Microsoft has now made RSAT available via Features on Demand and while you're supposed to be able to install them from the GUI, they never showed up as being an option for me. That's not really a problem though since they can now be installed via PowerShell. Who needs a GUI anyway? The Read more [...]
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Learning about the PowerShell Abstract Syntax Tree (AST)

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This week, I'll continue where I left off in my previous blog article "PowerShell Script Module Design Philosophy". Moving forward, the development versions of my PowerShell script modules will use a non-monolithic design where each function is dot-sourced from the PSM1 file. When I move them to production, I'll convert them to using a monolithic design where all functions reside in the PSM1 file. In development, each PS1 file uses a Requires statement which specifies the requirements from a PowerShell Read more [...]
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PowerShell Script Module Design Philosophy

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Years ago, when I first learned how to create PowerShell script modules, I built them with all the functions in one huge monolithic PSM1 file. I like the monolithic script module design from a performance and security standpoint along with the ease of signing fewer files if you’re taking advantage of code signing to digitally sign your scripts and modules (there are fewer files to sign). What I don’t like is that collaborating with others using one huge file is a merge conflict waiting for a Read more [...]
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PowerShell Script Module Design: Don’t Use Asterisks (*) in your Module Manifest

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Using asterisks (*) in your module manifest is a bad idea no matter how you look at it. First, your module will be slower because it will have to figure out what to export. More importantly, if you use a "#Requires -Modules" statement in your functions and they're in separate PS1 files, all of the specified module's commands will show as being part of your module. I'll pick up where I left off in one of my previous blog articles "PowerShell Script Module Design: Plaster Template for Creating Modules". Read more [...]
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Indentation and Formatting Style for PowerShell Code

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My preferred indentation style when writing PowerShell code is Stroustrup style because I don't like my code to cuddle (there's no cuddled else in Stroustrup style). I occasionally hear from others that they don't like this style because it doesn't work from the PowerShell console. While it doesn't work by default, there's a trick to making that style work from the PowerShell console. Simply press Shift+Enter instead of just Enter at the end of the line before Read more [...]
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PowerShell Script Module Design: Plaster Template for Creating Modules

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I recently began updating my PowerShell script module build process. Updating my Plaster template was one of the first things I needed to do. If you haven't already read my blog article about "Using Plaster to create a PowerShell Script Module template", I'd recommend beginning there as this blog article assumes you already have a basic understanding of how to use Plaster. All of the information from my previous Plaster template is still there with the exception of the required PowerShell version Read more [...]
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The PowerShell Conference Book – It’s a Wrap!

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First, I'd recommend reading my blog article "Announcing the PowerShell Conference Book" if you haven't. In early May of this year (2018), I came up with the idea of what would become "The PowerShell Conference Book". On the evening of May 6th, I sent an email to Don Jones and Jeff Hicks asking what they thought and if they'd be interested in writing a chapter in the book. The next morning, I'd received positive responses from both of them, confirming that they would be interested in participating. Leanpub Read more [...]
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