PowerShell PowerCamp–October 18-19th 2014

What is A PowerShell PowerCamp?
PowerCamp is a fast paced weekend training event that covers all the basic aspects of Windows PowerShell v5 - from the command line to writing production-oriented scripts and leveraging work flow and desired state configuration. We start with the basics including configuration, formatting and providers and remoting and jobs. Then, on day 2, we look at scripting, work flows, managing script libraries using modules, WMI/CIM,  using objects, and PowerShell in Windows. The event concludes with a look at the new Desired State Configuration feature in PowerShell 4 and 5.
The PowerCamp event is a combination of lecture, demonstrations plus Q&A, with the opportunity to type along with the tutor. There are no formal labs. But I do provide the key demos, all the slides, plus a wealth of other add on material on a memory stick you get at the start of day 1. So bring along your laptop, and type away.
What is the Agenda?
The event happens over the Weekend of October 18th and 19th. We start each day promptly at 9:00 and finish no later than 17:00.
Day 1 – The Basics

• PowerShell Fundamentals – starting with the key elements of PowerShell (Cmdlets, Objects and the Pipeline) plus installation, setup, and profiles
• What’s new in v5 – this looks at the things specifically added into PowerShell v5.
• Formatting – how to format output nicely – both by default and using hash tables and display XML
• Providers – getting into underlying OS data stores (certificate store, AD, registry, etc.) via providers
• Remoting– working with remote systems using PowerShell’s remoting capabilities

Day 2 – Diving Deeper

• Scripting Concepts – automating everyday tasks including PowerShell’s language constructs, error handling and debugging and workflows
• Modules – managing PowerShell script libraries in the enterprise
• Using .Net, COM, WMI and CIM objects – working with various kinds of objects
• PowerShell in Windows – a look at what’s there and how you can leverage the huge number of cmdlets
• PowerShell Desired State Configuration – this final module looks at PowerShell’s Desired State Configuration tool and what you can do with it.

What does it cost?
The cost is £200 (+VAT at the prevailing rate) for the weekend. Meals and accommodation are not covered.
Where is the event going to take place?
The PowerShell PowerCamp is being held at Microsoft Cardinal Place, 100 Victoria Street in Victoria. We will hold it on the weekend of October 18/19 2014. Each day starts promptly at 09:00 and finishes up by 16:45. We’ll also take short break throughout the day, including a 1-hour lunch break
PowerDrinks? After Saturday’s session, attendees are invited to a small nearby public house for some lovely English ale and networking with each other!
Who is the tutor?
The PowerShell Weekend PowerCamp is delivered by Thomas Lee. Thomas has been involved in the PowerShell community since the very beginning. He provides training and consultancy around a range of Microsoft products, with a recent focus on PowerShell and Lync Server. Thomas runs PowerShell training courses around the world, and has been a speaker at conferences across the world for the past decade. In his spare time, he lives with his wife, daughter, wine cellar, and Grateful Dead live recordings archive in a small cottage in the English countryside. His Twitter handle is @DoctorDNS and he maintains two blogs (Under the Stairs at http://tfl09.blogspot.com and PowerShell Scripts Blog at http://pshscripts.blogspot.com).
What do I need to bring?
You need to bring a laptop with PowerShell v5 loaded. That can be either native or in a virtual machine. I suggest you have at least two VMs pre-configured – one a server 2012 R2 installation the other a Windows 8 ,1installation. The virtualisation software is not of concern – but you need 64-bit guest OS support for Server 2012! Thus you can use Hyper-V, VMware Workstation or Oracle’s Virtual Box. Heck, run it in a VM on a Mac or Linux PC if you want. Just bring along PowerShell v3/4/5 (preferably V5!).
How do I book?
Contact DoctorDNS@Gmail.com to book a place and to arrange for the invoice to be paid. Payment must be in cash, cheque or bank transfer – I don’t take credit cards.
More Details
Watch this blog for any hot breaking news on the event.

PowerShell Geek Week here we come

I’m off next week to Stockholm to deliver our sprig PowerShell Geek Week at LabCenter, Sweden’s top IT training firm. The idea of Geekweek is to both have fun and to learn more about PowerShell. Geekweek starts with a brief review of PowerShell – making sure you are fully up to speed with the fundamentals. Then we dive deep into the product showing you how you can leverage the power of PowerShell inside your organisations.

For more information about Geek Week – see the Lab Center page at https://www.labcenter.se/Labs#lab=Windows_PowerShell_V4_Geekweek. And if you are going and you want any more information or want to ensure something is going to be covered, please feel free to ping me.

del.icio.us Tags: PowerShell,GeekWeek

PowerShell Master Class Returns to Stockholm–March 8-10 2011

I’ve just had confirmation from Lab Center that I’ll be running another Introduction to PowerShell master class event in Stockholm on March 8-10.

Lab Center is one of the best training centres that I’ve had the privilege to work with – and given the great folks I hang out with these days, that’s saying something. The centre is in downtown Stockholm just 10 minutes walk from the central train statin and 2 minutes stroll from the nearest T-Banna station

The agenda for the lab is as follows:

Day 1 – The Basics

• PowerShell Fundamentals – the key elements of PowerShell plus installation, setup, and profiles
• Discovery – finding your way and learning how to discover more
• Formatting – how to format output nicely
• Remoting – working with remote systems
• Providers – getting into OS data stores

Day 2 – Diving Deep in to Scripting

• Scripting Concepts – automating everyday tasks including language constructs, error handling and debugging
• Modules – managing PowerShell in the enterprise
• .NET/WMI/COM Objects – working with objects

Day 3 – Practical PowerShell

• PowerShell and Windows Client/Server – how you can use built in PowerShell cmdlets
• PowerShell in Key Microsoft Servers - a look at PowerShell today in SQL, SCVMM plus a look forward to the future with SharePoint 2010
• Taking it to the Next Level – the stuff we can’t cover in these three days.

 

We’ve got a nearly full class – but there’s always room for on e more. So if you fancy Stockholm in the early spring along with as much PowerShell as your head can handle – book today. I hope to see you there…

Technorati Tags: PowerShell,PowerShell Master Class,PowerShell training,training,Stockholm

First PowerShell PowerCamp A Fantastic Success

Last Saturday (Dec 4th) a group of 29 hearty souls sat down at an absurdly early hour and began to experience the first ever weekend PowerShell PowerCamp. After a short intro from super-star technology writer and consultant Jon Honeyball, I took the floor and spent the rest of the guiding the attendees through PowerShell. I projected slides, did tons of demos, while the attendees typed along on their own laptops. We did take a few minutes out for coffee and lunch, but worked on into the darkness before gathering our senses and meeting for a lovely meal in a local pub. Sunday saw more of the same, with a most excellent presentation of the Managing Hyper-V with PowerShell by superstar ex-Microsoft superstar James O'Neil.

The attendees were from a variety of companies and backgrounds but all shared a desire to learn PowerShell. Unlike some of the folks I see in my general Windows courses, the PowerCamp attendees all see the value in PowerShell and also see the value, to their CVs and careers, of learning PowerShell. It’s clear that for some weekends like this are just the ticket!

Moving forward, I will be running two more PowerShell PowerCamp weekends. The next one is March 26-27 and will be held in York, England. Price and full details will be announced shortly. Watch this space!

Technorati Tags: PowerShell,PowerCamp,weekend,training

PowerShell Training

I’ve been doing quite a lot of PowerShell training of late for organisations big and small. The biggest organisation was Microsoft’s Hotmail team where I ran a week long class over the summer – organisations with that many servers to manage could not function as well with out PowerShell. But despite it having been around for few years, many (most?) IT Pros don’t really know PowerShell – well not yet anyway. Microsoft’s broad adoption of PowerShell has meant a lot of my customers moving over to doing things with PowerShell. This is a good thing – but there’s a lot of resistance that needs to be overcome.

As see it, organisations must acknowledge that PowerShell is here, is part of Microsoft’s Common Engineering Criteria (what every team in MS must do). PowerShell will only become more pervasive. In short, it matters. So it’s time to start learning it and adopting it as an enterprise tool.

While I can talk about PowerShell being a strategic task automation platform, IT Pros need to work with Powershell itself and the product specific cmdlet set(s). And they need to understand how to write scripts – detecting the errors that will happen, dealing with credentials, working with .NET/WMI/COM, etc. There is a bit of a learning curve here, and that’s something Microsoft can work on as they develop PowerShell Version 3 (which would be expected to ship inside the next version of windows in a couple of years).

So how do you learn PowerShell. Well – for those who are motivated there is a plethora of on-line material, ranging from blog posts, twitter references, web tutorials, free e-books, etc, etc, etc. Use your favourite search engine to mine a vast amount of content – most of it pretty good. For those who are self motivated, the internet is a good source of learning material.

If you prefer the structure of a formal class, as I know I do, then you have a number of options. Microsoft has issued two PowerShell official training courses:

• Automating Windows Server 2008 Administration with Windows PowerShell: course 6434. This is a three day introduction to PowerShell V1. It covers the key aspects of Powershell V1 and how to use it to administer Server 2008. This is a good course, but as I wrote parts of it, I am probably a bit biased.
• Automating Administration with Windows PowerShell 2.0, course 10325. This is a 5-day introduction to PowerShell class. I was Technical Reviewer on this – and feel it’s a very good course (provided the instructor really knows PowerShell!). Like 6434, this covers the basics of PowerShell V2 and how to write basic scripts. I am teaching this class in a couple of weeks for Global Knowledge in London – and if you want to attend, contact them – or contact me and I’ll gladly organise you a place!

Microsoft CPLSs also offer another 5-day class, PowerShell for Administrators. This is a 3 day class covering PowerShell V1.

As an alternative: I offer two 3 and 4 -day PowerShell classes: an Introduction to PowerShell class and an Advanced PowerShell Class. I find that, with PowerShell, this is enough time to get someone started. Armed with the knowledge and practice gained during those sessions, delegates begin their journey, and come back in a few months for more advanced topics like XML, database access, error handling, etc.

How you learn PowerShell is really up to you – you have options! So go on – you know it makes sense!

Technorati Tags: PowerShell training,PowerShell MasterClass

Microsoft Launches Course 10325–Automating Administration with Windows PowerShell 2.0

Over a year after Microsoft launched Windows PowerShell V2.0, Microsoft Learning has now launched a formal course with the above title.  This is long over due but very welcome.

From Microsoft’s announcement, this “five-day, instructor-led course offers you the knowledge and helps you develop the skills you need to automate administrative tasks using Windows PowerShell® version 2. The course describes core features and capabilities of Windows PowerShell version 2, using Windows Server® 2008 R2 as the example software environment.”

Well that’s the good news. The bad news, again from Microsoft’s formal announcement  “However, this course is not intended to provide comprehensive coverage of either Windows PowerShell version 2 features or Windows Server 2008 R2 features.

This is a good course (I was Technical Reviewer on it), and I will enjoy teaching it. Not only that, but it leaves room in the market for my own PowerShell Master Classes!

As an MCT, I am ready, able and willing to teach this class anywhere in the world. Have passport (and laptop), will travel.

43 Things Tags: Training,PowerShell,PowerShell V2.0

PowerShell Master Classes

I’ve been teaching my PowerShell Master Classes both in Europe and in the US over the past 6 months. After two classes in Stockholm, I taught in the US (teaching Microsoft’s Hotmail Engineering team), and in Copenhagen – plus a one-day session for a client in the City of London. 

There are now two classes – both three days. The PowerShell Basics class covers the basics of PowerShell both from the command line and as a scripting tool. The PowerShell Advanced class looks at more advanced features of PowerShell, particularly its use in the OS, as well as key applications including SQL Server, Exchange 2010, SQL and IIS.

The next runs of the PowerShell Master Classes are:

• September 21 2010 – PowerShell Basics - Stockholm.
• November 17 2010  - PowerShell Basics – New York (details due shortly)
• November 24 – PowerShell Advanced – Stockholm.

I’ll post more details on the agenda for these classes shortly. I am also working on a Weekend 2-day Script Camp – watch this space for more details once we have them finalised.

Technorati Tags: Lab Center,PowerShell,training,PowerShell Master Class

PowerShell Master Class – More Sessions

I’ve had a gratifying response to my first PowerShell Master Class event. Like all first time runs, you learn some things by running the event.  One of which is that three days is not long enough. So future events are not four days. Not that I neede dto learn it, but the last run shows that, given how vast V2 is,  there is stuff that even with four days, we still can’t cover. So I am planning an advanced seminar for later in the year – watch this space.

In the mean time, we have two more sessions currently planned:

• May 24-27 2010 – Stockholm (book now on http://www.powershellmasterclass.com)
• June 22-24 – Oslo (bookings open soon).

I’m also discussing a further session in Stockholm in September along with a more advanced workshop also in September in Stockholm.

Master Class outline

The class outline is as follows:

Day 1 – The Basics of PowerShell

• PowerShell Fundaments – the key elements of PowerShell including installation, setup, profiles
• Discovery – finding your way and learning how to discover more
• Formatting – how to format output nicely

Day 2 – From the command line to the script

• Remoting – working with remote systems and PowerShell’s remoting feature.
• Providers – getting into OS data stores
• Scripting Concepts – automating everyday tasks including language constructs, error handling and debugging

Day 3 – Practical PowerShell

• Modules – managing PowerShell in the enterprise
• .NET/WMI/COM Objects – working with objects of all kinds, including WMI, COM, .NET and your own custom objectw
• PowerShell and Windows Client/Server – how you can use built in PowerShell cmdlets and providers included with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Day 4 – Applying PowerShell 

• PowerShell in Key Microsoft Servers - a look at PowerShell today in SQL, Exchange, SharePoint 2010, SCVMM/HyperV and CS 2010.
• Taking it to the Next Level – stuff to do later!

Technorati Tags: PowerShell Master Class,PowerShell,training

PowerShell Master Class in Stockholm – A Great Success (and now a repeat!)

The PowerShell Master Class in Stockholm last week was three long days of PowerShell Fun. The course went very well and the delegates great.

The training centre, LabCenter.SE is an amazing place to teach. The rooms are well kitted out (killer sound systems), good lighting, great chairs, and very good computers. It’s a very happy environment – lots of nice refreshments, and the people are all wonderful. I think it’s one of the nicest centres I’ve taught at in a long while.

The delegates enjoyed the course they asked more more! So sometime late summer, early Autumn, I’ll go back for 4 more days of PowerShell Applied – lots more in depth labs etc. And given the market, the centre want me to come back to Stockholm to teach another run of the PowerShell Master Class in May (May 25-28) – although the web site is currently showing the wrong dates and length! We are making this a four day class – so even more fun and all the more PowerShell! 

To register for this course, you shoudl go to http://www.labcenter.se/shoppingcart.aspx?t=1 (although I note the price and duration is not yet correct so you might hold off booking for a wee while till I get the site updated).

Technorati Tags: Powershell Master Class,PowerShell,Lab Center,Stockholm

PowerShell Master Class in Stockholm – Filling Up Quickly!

In a recent blog post, I mentioned the PowerShell Master Class I am running in Stockholm on March 9-11 2010 (see Http://Www.PowerShellMasterClass.Com for more details). I’m pleased to say the class is nearly full! I am looking forward to three great days with PowerShell!

Technorati Tags: PowerShell,PowerShell Master Class,Stockholm,Thomas Lee