Haven’t had much time to work on our group policy module lately, I’ve been pretty busy getting my co-worker’s collective feet wet in PowerShell. In the process I’ve been trying to find as many quality resources as I can for them to help them help themselves. Since I don’t have much to share on the csb.grouppolicy module front, here are the resources that I can remember (haha) and use all the time:
Free
- http://powershell.com/cs/blogs/ebook/default.aspx
Free eBook by Dr. Tobias Weltner, who you may recognize as the creator of PowerShell Plus. 500+ pages of PowerShell goodness. My guys love it.
- http://www.powershellcommunity.org/Default.aspx?base
Good launching point for learning PowerShell and exploring the PowerShell community. The community Blogs page in particular is a favorite of mine.
- http://powershell.com/cs/
Another good launch point for learning and exploring.
- http://poshcode.org/
Looking for a function or script? Look here, it may exist already. Have a script or function to share, post away. Love it.
- http://www.powershellanalyzer.com/
A great PowerShell host. We’ve found that it really helps when inspecting all the different objects that you end up working with in PowerShell. And the chart output options are just plain cool.
- http://www.powergui.org/, http://www.powergui.org/kbcategory.jspa?categoryID=21
Another great PowerShell host that extends the functionality of PowerShell above and beyond. Makes PowerShell a pointy-clicky affair that’s so easy, even your boss can use it! Also comes with a very competent script editor. The second link is to all the ‘PowerPacks’ that have been created. I love the Exchange 2003 one.
- http://www.codeplex.com/Pscx
Essential PowerShell snapin/module. I don’t think I could function without the ping-host and resolve-host functions. Don’t think about it, just download it and set it up in your profile.
- http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/PowerShellPack
A good module for PowerShell (v2 only I believe). I found the WPK module (WPF functions/scripts) is a bit difficult to wrap my brain around without a form designer for layout, but the TaskScheduler module is great, as is the IsePack.
- http://www.primaltools.com/downloads/communitytools/signup.asp?tool=pforms
The free community edition of Sapien’s PrimalForms product. Makes writing admin GUIs much easier. Requires Name/e-mail submission, but is well worth the few seconds. Unfortunately it doesn’t save the script logic you put into the form, so if you start to get ambitious you’ll probably want to upgrade to the paid version. I sure did, $150 well spent imho.
Not Quite As Free
- http://www.idera.com/Products/PowerShell/PowerShell-Plus/
Undeniably my #1 PowerShell tool. With the new community script searching functions in 3.1, competent code editor, debugger, variable inspector, and learning center, I can unreservedly recommend this to anyone with $145 to spend. If you can only buy one PowerShell utility, buy this one.
- http://www.softwarefx.com/sfxSqlProducts/powergadgets/
Way too cool. Used it to build a ‘live’ help-desk statistics gadget for our department. Impressed the boss so much he licensed it for everyone in a heartbeat.
- http://www.manning.com/payette2/
As far as I’m concerned, the book to buy. I read once “If you want to learn Debian, install Debian. If you want to learn Fedora, install Fedora. If you want to learn Linux, install Slackware.”. This book is kinda like that. There’s a lot of books on how to use PowerShell in a particular scenario, and they’re great books, but they don’t necessarily teach you PowerShell. My copy of this for v1 is tattered, dog-eared and well worn for good reason. If you want to learn PowerShell, pre-order this book and start reading.
- http://www.primaltools.com/products/info.asp?p=PrimalForms
The pay for version of the PrimalForms product from Sapien. The form designer portion is great. My only real gripe with the program is that it seems like the script editing & execution portion should be tied into PrimalScript (assuming you have it installed) much tighter than ‘export and open’. Without the debugger, bookmarking, etc. functions that I’m used to using in PrimalScript…it’s a little painful to use to do much code logic in. But, like I said above, everything considered it’s $150 well spent.
Hope you can find something new and useful in that list! If we end up doing some in-house training on how to use some of these tools, perhaps I can post tutorials or something as a result….hmmm. If you have any favorite tools that I don’t have listed, please post them in the comments section; I love new toys!