PowerShell is a great tool for administrating both workstations and servers.  If you are new to PowerShell it can be hard to figure out where to start.  The easiest thing I found besides just trying commands in the shell is to read about it.  TechNet has allot of resources including the Windows PowerShell Cmdlet Help Library.  This will give you a good idea of some of the built in cmdlets that are available.  Check out the link below and let us know what you think.

TechNet Windows PowerShell Cmdlet Help
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd347701.aspx

Additional Help
Scripting Guy Blog
PowerScripting Podcast

If you are not familiar with the Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog you should definitely check it out.  There is a new blog post everyday of the week.  The blog covers using Windows PowerShell in many different ways.  The blog has allot of scripts that will help you in your daily IT admin life.  The blog also answers allot of questions such as Should I Convert My VBScript Scripts To Windows PowerShell?  So stop on by and check out the great blog by Ed Wilson.  I don’t think you will be disappointed.  Stop back and let us know what you think.

Hey, Scripting Guy! BLOG
http://blogs.technet.com/heyscriptingguy/default.aspx

TechNet Script Center Home
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/default.aspx

Scripting Guys Forum
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ITCG/threads

I like finding reference guides that you hang up in your cube.  This one ranks right up there and is a must have for an IT Pro who is into PowerShell.  If you have not yet learned PowerShell what are waiting for?  The scripting center over at TechNet is a great place to start learning about PowerShell.  They have great articles that show examples of scripts that you can use everyday.  If you get stuck you can even submit a question to them.  Print out the guide below and let me know what you think!

PowerShell Refere Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=df8ed469-9007-401c-85e7-46649a32d0e0

TechNet Scripting Center
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/default.aspx

PAL v2.0 Alpha 4 was released on Feb 1, 2010.  If you ware not familiar with the project PAL stands for Performance Analysis of Logs.  PAL version 2.0 has been written in PowerShell from the bottom up.  Previous version were bases on VB script.  In this release it looks like it has added threshold files, installer check for MS Chart Controls, PowerShell Strict-Mode is used, category list fix, duplicate analysis, and several other output fixes.  If you have not check out the the new version I encourage you to do it.  The new graphs alone have pushed me to use this version instead of the older VB version.

PAL Project Page
http://pal.codeplex.com

PAL Download Page
http://pal.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=39809

If you have not had a chance to listen to the latest podcast on Powerscripting.net I highly recomend it.  They recoreded it the night Windows 7 launched.   The main part of the show is an interview with Jeffrey Snover who was the key guy in making powershell what it is today.  One of the most interesting facts that came out of the interview was how big the Powershell team was.  I was pretty surprised that the “core” team is really made up of around twelve team members.  Considering the power of powersehell that team has done a tremendous job and should be proud of their product.  I can’t wait to see what they can come up with over the next couple of years.

Powerscripting.net Podcast
http://powerscripting.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/episode-89-powershell-v2-launch-party-with-distinguished-engineer-jeffrey-snover/

Alan Renouf has posted an excellent two page cheat sheet on VMware Toolkit version 1.5.  The guide is a great way to learn how to leverage the toolkit to help you in your everyday life.  Some of the things covered are host cmdlets, vm cmdlets, folder cmdlets, and several other cmdlets.  The guide also list out some commands to get started and also has some commands for virtual machine tasks.  Please stop by and download it as this is a very valuable sheet of paper to have.

Download Link
http://virtu-al.net/Downloads/VIToolkitQuickReferenceGuide.pdf

Virtu-Al (Alan Renouf’s Site)
http://www.virtu-al.net

I just wanted to throw up a quick reminder that the Windows Powershell Virtual User Group Meeting #9 is coming up on Wednesday night February 18th.  The user group will start at 8:00 pm EST.  Marco has put together another great line up.  Below is the run down of what is planned and also the links to sign up for the event.  Please join the meeting and help support the virtual user group.

Registration
http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=135834
Event Code: 135834

To Join The Meeting
https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/winserver_usergroup/join?id=J5DPR3&role=attend&pw=8%5E-%5CzqX

Agenda From Marco’s Blog:
Agenda (EST/New York time):
8:00PM-8:10PM: Introduction (Marco)
8:10PM-8:40PM: Doug Finke
8:40PM-9:10PM: Chad Miller
9:10PM-9:40PM: James Brundage (Microsoft)
9:40PM-9:50PM: Closing (Marco)

Speaker topics:
*Doug Finke: Data visualization in PowerShell (http://www.dougfinke.com/blog).
*Chad Miller: SQL Server PowerShell Extensions (http://www.codeplex.com/SQLPSX).
*James Brundage: Using WPF from PowerShell (http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell).

Microsoft has posted a video over on Technet that goes over some of the cool things you can do with Powershell.   I think it is a great video since it starts are with some pretty simple scripts and keeps building on them.  This just scratches the surface on what you can do with powershell but will hopefully motivate you to learn more about Powershell.

Video – 10 Cool Thinks To Do With Powershell
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/2008/cc441384.aspx?tapm=A86S35A08