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I’ve been asked to work on an “advanced” PowerShell class. Now, I don’t like the “advanced” word very much, because it means something different to everyone, depending on their experience. So I’m trying to make the class focus on “powerful, practical things you can do with PowerShell that definitely drift into programming and scripting.”
You can tell me what you think by taking an online survey about the proposed outline, which will be online through October 18th, 2013.
I got a glance at the “short list” of speakers for the PowerShell Summit North America 2014. While none of these names are guaranteed - these guys haven’t even been contacted to confirm - they’ll definitely receive an invite in the next few days.
First up, Mike Pfeiffer. This excites me because Mike’s a former MVP, and now a Premier Field Engineer (PFE) with Microsoft. He _literally _wrote the book on managing Exchange Server with PowerShell, and should be a great addition to our new Domain-Specific track.
Next, Steven Murawski. I’m betting he’ll be asked to deliver talks on Desired State Configuration (DSC), something he’s been playing with intensely at his job. Yeah, production use of DSC.
Ed Wilson’s going to be invited. What’s a Summit without the Scripting Guy?!?!?
Ashley McGlone, too - another PFE, which gives us some awesome from-the-field experience, especially from large-scale environments where PFEs tend to work. Should be awesome stuff.
I imagine I’ll be invited to speak , along with my often-co-author Jeffery Hicks and PowerShell In Depth co-author Richard Siddaway. Richard’s a WMI master, and his talks in 2013 were very well-received. Jeff, of course, is Jeff - it’ll be a fun talk or two, whatever they’re about.
I saw Adam Driscoll’s name on the list (uber-developer with a ton of PowerShell experience), Jason Helmick (I’m hoping he’ll do a deeply in-depth talk on PowerShell Web Access, since he’s pretty much mastered all the not-documented intricacies of setting it up), and a few more.
Early November should see the schedule finalized. Stay tuned.
Now that’s a title! Â We’ve worked through my reasoning as to why I want Desired State Configuration (DSC) and how to build a pull server. Â Today and in the next post we are going to look at how to create configurations which describe how our target systems are supposed to work.
Configurations are the driving force for DSC. Â A configuration is a Managed Object Format (MOF) document that describes the how a specified server (or servers) should look.
Quick recap, I’m working through a series of posts about the Desired State Configuration infrastructure that I’m building at Stack Exchange, including some how-to’s.
I started with an overview of what and why. Â Today, I’m going to start the how.
I’m going to describe how to do this with Server 2012 R2 RTM (NOTE: this is not the General Availability  release, so there may be changes at GA), since that’s the environment I’m working most in.  If there is enough demand, I may follow up with how to do this using the Windows Management Framework on downlevel operating systems after the GA version of WMF 4 is released.
The first step is adding the required roles and features, including the DSC Service.
This is a the kickoff in a series of posts about building a Desired State Configuration (DSC) infrastructure. I’ll be leveraging concepts I’ve been working on as I’ve been building out our DSC deployment at Stack Exchange.
Overview (this post)
Creating Configurations (one of two, two of two)
Packaging Custom Resources
Advanced Client Targeting
I’m starting today with the general overview of what I’m trying to accomplish and why I’m trying to accomplish this. The what and why are critical in determining the how
We’re now seeking volunteer Coaches and Judges for the Winter Scripting Games!
The Games are tentatively scheduled to run for 4-6 weeks starting January 6th, 2014. There will be 4-6 events, each lasting one week.
Coaches have access to all teams’ entries and private discussion threads for the week while entries are being developed and accepted. Coaches are meant to log in throughout that one-week period, evaluate what teams have submitted so far, and offer comments and advice in the in-Game discussion thread.
Coaches’ comments receive a special flag, helping teams focus on them quickly. Note that teams are not required to use the in-Game discussion thread - they can discuss via email or elsewhere. Teams are also not required to continually submit entry files for coach review, so for some teams, coaches will have nothing to offer.
Team discussions are private to the team members and coaches; discussions will not be made public.
We’ll accept as many coaches as want to participate. Note that you cannot be both a coach and a judge, and coaches are not permitted to participate on a team as a player.
Another kudos to Jon Walz, host of the long running PowerScripting Podcast, for his first and well-deserved MVP Award!
We’re tentatively scheduling the 2014 Winter Scripting Games for 4-6 weeks beginning January 6, 2014. Right now, we’re running functional tests on the platform (which will be all-new and much-improved), and soliciting scenarios from MVPs and PowerShell celebrities.
As previously announced, players will work in teams of 2-6 in this edition of the Games, and it’s never too early to start finding friends to form a team with you. Because you’ll be working in teams, and because you’ll have a full week to complete each scenario, expect more complex scenarios! You’ll have to practice breaking down tasks and assigning them to team members.
You’ll also need to think about how you want to collaborate as a team. We’ll be providing a very basic private in-Game discussion thread for each team, but you’re welcome to use Git, PoshCode, e-mail, MailChimp lists, or whatever for your collaboration. You’ll be able to submit your entries’ files whenever you like, and revise them to your heart’s content right up to the entry submission deadline.
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