Cookbooks provide tried and true recipes for those of us who don’t have time to experiment on our own. These cookbooks can range from gourmet meals to comfort foods, from luxurious desserts to home-cooked dinners. However, O’Reilly Media has produced different types of cookbooks over the years; cookbooks that teach programming and scripts to those of us who, like cooks, don’t always have the time to experiment and learn on our own. O’Reilly’s newest release, Windows PowerShell Cookbook, does just that in this comprehensive reference.

This particular cookbook, by Windows PowerShell team developer Lee Holmes, provides hundreds of tested scripts that you can use right away to get Microsoft’s new tool working for you. More than 150 recipes, combined with a concise task-based introduction to the Windows PowerShell scripting language and environment, make it the perfect look-up guide when you encounter a thorny problem or need a quick solution. The ideal companion to any tutorial or reference, Windows PowerShell Cookbook meets the needs of system administrators at any level.

Microsoft has revolutionized the world of system management and command-line shells with its release of Windows PowerShell, and Lee Holmes gives you practical tools and inside advice that will make you a more productive user and administrator. You will be able to solve everything from automating routine tasks, working with files, event logs, and other forms of structured data, to managing the users and resources of complex Windows networks. Each recipe includes a focused piece of code plus discussion of how and why it works, so that you can apply the solution to similar tasks.

You get an array of recipes covering PowerShell fundamentals, common tasks, and administrator tasks, including:

• Pipelines, variables, objects, looping and flow control, strings and unstructured text, calculations and math
• Simple files, structured files, Internet-enabled scripts, lists, arrays and hashtables, user feedback, error management, environmental awareness, script signing
• Files and directories, registry manipulation, comparing data, event logs, process cmdlets, service cmdlets, Active Directory, enterprise computer management

Appendixes include a PowerShell language quick reference and a reference to the .NET, WMI, and COM objects that administrators will find most helpful. Those who administer Microsoft’s Exchange 2007 and System Center Operations Manager (formerly MOM) will find separate chapters devoted to these servers.

With working scripts, tutorials, and references all in one volume, Windows PowerShell Cookbook will turbocharge the productivity of any Windows administrator.

[tags]windows powershell, exchange 2007, mom v3[/tags]