Windows Server Admin using PowerShell

 

Auditing NTFS
http://jfrmilner.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/audit-ntfs-permissions-powershell-script/

Old References

http://powershell.com/cs/forums/t/5016.aspx

Replacement Commands

Netdom http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2012/02/29/use-powershell-to-replace-netdom-commands-to-join-the-domain.aspx

UPDATE - PowerShell 3.0 now includes a last switch for get-content
get-content <file> -last 5
To watch a log file ...
get-content <file> -wait
but not exactly the same functionality. So a better way is to get the command from Microsoft.

Tail is included in the 2003 Resource Kit and works well in Server 2008 environment.
Download tail here:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17657

Ed Wilson

 

Favorite Past Events

http://blogs.technet.com/b/blainbar/archive/2012/03/24/powershell-with-ed-wilson-5-part-webcast-series-check-out-the-best.aspx

http://ewblog.edwilson.com/ewblog/post/2012/03/06/Windows-PowerShell-for-the-busy-admin.aspx

Ed and Teresa Wilson will be in the house! Meeting Date: Tuesday, October 2, 2012 - 18:30 - 20:00 Location Improving Enterprises  4449 Easton Way, Suite 100  Columbus, OH43219 See map: Google Maps Read more http://powershellgroup.org/content/powershell-saturday

Tips and Tricks in 3.0

Latest

From Scripting Guy 5 new tips and tricks

http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2012/08/20/my-five-favorite-powershell-3-0-tips-and-tricks.aspx

Create PowerShell profiles

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb613488(v=vs.85).aspx

help *  (man for linux)

New window popup
help get-service -showwindow  (v2 help get-process -online )

Auto build you commands
show-command get-wmiobject

Help can get updates
update-help (save-help)

Find the verbs
Get-verb

Find the verbs and count
Measure-object

If you have a conflict
microsoft.powershell.management\get-process

One Line is Magic
get-process | kill -whatif
get-process | kill -confirm

get-process [a-r]*[g-w] | kill -whatif

does it work well in a pipeline?
get-help get-service -full

PowerShell 3.0

Crash Course on V3 (awesome)
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2012/WSV321

Check out whats new in powershell 3.0
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh857339.aspx

Guides from Technet Library
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb978525.aspx

Manage SharePoint Users with PowerShell

Great Reference to PowerShell in SharePoint 2010
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff678226.aspx

Examples
Adding users and claims to a site from PowerShell
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/brporter/archive/2010/12/02/adding-users-and-claims-to-a-site-from-powershell.aspx

Changing the Item-Level Permissions Settings for a Document Library requires PowerShell http://www.hersheytech.com/Blog/SharePoint/tabid/197/entryid/28/Default.aspx

PowerShell script to capture and report on all SharePoint permissions through a site collection http://localgovernmentsharepoint.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/powershell-script-to-capture-and-report-on-all-sharepoint-permissions-through-a-site-collection/

The PowerShell script I (Todd) use to create Active Directory users http://www.toddklindt.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=362

Using Powershell to change powerpoint themes

 
Getting ready to give a presentation and noticed that all 14 modules are using the wrong theme.  Started in changing the theme on the seeming endless list of files and I thought, how about powershell.  Well after a quick search found this great article from Ed Wilson, thank you again ED!  http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2010/05/11/hey-scripting-guy-may-11-2010.aspx
I did simplify his code by just using one folder that contains both the theme an PowerPoint slides. Just change $themepath  to the name and location or your theme and $path to the folder location of your powerpoint slides are you are set.

Add-type -AssemblyName office
$Application = New-Object -ComObject powerpoint.application
$application.visible = [Microsoft.Office.Core.MsoTriState]::msoTrue
$themePath = "c:\presentations\moc.thmx"
$path = "C:\Presentations"
Get-ChildItem -Path $path -Include "*.ppt", "*.pptx" -Recurse |
ForEach-Object {
 $presentation = $application.Presentations.open($_.fullname)
 $presentation.ApplyTemplate($themePath)
 $presentation.Save()
 $presentation.Close()
 "Modifying $_.FullName"
} 

$application.quit()
$application = $null
[gc]::collect()
[gc]::WaitForPendingFinalizers()

Games

Very Cool - Space Invaders in powershell
http://ps1.soapyfrog.com/2007/01/02/space-invaders/

Script Explorer

Great tool from Microsoft in pre release to aid you search for powershell
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29101

User Demo

Well I need to test the view limits of the new Active Directory Administrative Center I needed a quick 10000 users.  So I started by clicking … Ok thats not going to happen.  I need a script and needed to work with the AD module introduced back in Windows Server 2008 R2.
First problem is to count through several users.  After a little research the best cmdlet for this is the For Loop and here is the syntax.  I started my testing only using 25 students.
For (variable=starting number ; variable less than or equal to last number ; increment)
for ($u = 0; $u -le 25; $u++) {
     $user = "Student"+$("{0:D2}" -f $u)
    Write-Host "Creating User for $user from $u"
}
NOTE that "+$("{0:D2}" cleans up the display to 2 characters

for ($u = 0; $u -le 25; $u++) {      $user = "Student"+$("{0:D2}" -f $u)     Write-Host "Creating User for $user from $u" }

Now that I am counting I am ready to add user but running out of time today more to come later.

Active Directory

On Windows Server 2003 2008 you need to install ADWS and use RSAT from Windows 7
ADWS (Active Directory Management Gateway Service)
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=2852
RSAT(Remote Server Administration Tools) for Windows 7
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=7887

Good Article from Scripting Guy on How to use Windows 7 to Manage 2008 AD
http://blogs.technet.com/b/heyscriptingguy/archive/2011/08/30/install-active-directory-management-service-for-easy-powershell-access.aspx

What's New in AD DS: Active Directory Web Services
 (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd391908(WS.10).aspx).

Old links:d How To Article
http://www.simple-talk.com/sysadmin/exchange/active-directory-management-with-powershell-in-windows-server-2008-r2/
Third Party use Quest Software module for AD
http://www.quest.com/powershell/activeroles-server.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee914610.aspx
http://www.windowsitpro.com/blogs/PowerShellwithaPurpose/tabid/2248/entryid/12855/Default.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=008940c6-0296-4597-be3e-1d24c1cf0dda
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd378937%28WS.10%29.aspx

Replacement for Unix tail command in Windows

Wow - surprised to find that there is no direct tail command in powershell.  In the unix environment you can tail a logfile, very helpful tool.

In powershell you can look at the last lines of a file by piping content to select so ...
get-content <file> | select-object -last 5

UPDATE - powershell 3.0 now includes a last switch for get-content
get-content <file> -last 5
To watch a log file ...
get-content <file> -wait
but not exactly the same functionality.  So a better way is to get the command from Microsoft.

Tail is included in the 2003 Resource Kit and works well in Server 2008 environment.
Download tail here:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17657

Special Characters

Need to type a really long command just use a ` or "back tick" or "grave accent".  You get >> and then continue typing.  Note that you will need to hit enter an extra time since a blank line is required start execution.

get-help about_special_characters
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh847835.aspx

get-help about_Escape_Characters

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh847755.aspx

References
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd347662.aspx

http://www.neolisk.com/techblog/powershell-specialcharactersandtokens

http://blogs.lessthandot.com/index.php/datamgmt/dbprogramming/a-cheat-sheet-for-all/

Internet Explorer with Tabs

Here is some neat code to open IE using tabs

$ie = New-Object -ComObject InternetExplorer.Application
$ie.Navigate2("www.microsoft.com")
$ie.Navigate2("technet.microsoft.com",0x1000)
$ie.Navigate2("sharepoint.microsoft.com",0x1000)
$ie.Navigate2("office.microsoft.com",0x1000)
$ie.Navigate2("randelhall.blogspot.com",0x1000)
$ie.Visible = $true

Using History to Create Scripts

Great link to use get-history to create your ps1 scripts.  Check it out!
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff730961.aspx