Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches 2nd Edition

I'm a Windows systems engineer who used NT/Command Shell for more than a decade to do administrative tasks. I had been hearing more and more about Powershell as the years passed, but it just seemed so *different* from what I knew and was good at, which made me nervous to try. Early attempts just led to frustration, so I gave up. An experienced Powershell guy at work offered to teach us over a couple of lunch hours per week and made this book the textbook for 'class'.I've read a number of "Learn X in Y lessons" books and they all seem to start out fine and quickly get into matters I don't have interest in, or get far too deep too quickly to really gain understanding. Within the first few chapters of this book, I was "learning how to learn" Powershell. By fully explaining and exploring the robust help system from the beginning, I was quickly able to solve command line problems I was having without needing to refer back to the book. Gaining this early understanding helped make the more complex challenges easier to break down and resolve. The lab examples are also real-world relevant and resemble problems I need to solve on a regular basis. I strongly recommend following along in a Powershell window as you're reading.

I've read quite a few books as a system's admin. This book by far, is probably one one of the most well-written books I've read when learning a new subject in Information Technology. Jones and Hicks do a great job in teaching the reader scripting in Powershell. The beginning chapters lay the foundation on understanding the help syntax in Powershell, which is essential before moving forward to advanced topics and creating your own scripts.If you are serious about learning scripting Powershell, buy Jones and Hicks' books on Powershell. It's money well-spent!!!

Note to author: I bought the book to learn about PowerShell. I'll buy a different book when I'm ready to learn about Windows 8. The modules chapter completely biffed the PowerShell Community opportunities and their usefulness in Windows 7. I had been excited to reach the modules chapter to learn how to find and install such modules. Also, if PowerShell is to reach its potential to manage the whole enterprise, shouldn't we start with features that are compatible throughout the enterprise? Then exceptions for Windows 8 could be introduced after the general solution is understood.My main criticism is that too many examples require Windows 8 or Server 2012. It would be fine if a bit of content were given to a newer OS within a chapter. Unfortunately, entire chapters seem to focus on an OS. The lessons and examples would have been useful if parts of those chapters allowed experimentation with Windows 7 or Server 2008.The author's concept of "Try It" is a good one and could reinforce what you read. Unfortunately, you can't "try" those lessons that are out of sync with your version of the OS.Nevertheless, I like this book because it goes beyond teaching "yet another shell". It walks you through the right way to think about PowerShell so that it becomes a powerful tool for quick solutions and long-term solutions. Once you learn the help system, the connections to Framework, and object-orientation of PowerShell, it becomes a tool that just keeps getting more powerful.

Great book!!

This is simply an excellent book to get you up to speed and confident with PowerShell, quickly. The layout and pace are perfect. I particularly liked how the authors show you how to use help within powershell right away, and then force you to use it moving forward. it really helps you understand what you're actually doing so you can figure out how to do something you don't understand later on (if that makes sense.. and if not, it will as you work your way through this book). for anyone interested in PowerShell (and if you're a sys admin working with windows servers, that should include you), pick this one up, even if you have no experience with PowerShell.

I've been administering IIS servers for several years and I'm learning lots of interesting new items. The PowerShell incorporated into this book is great as is the writing and examples/labs. Jason relates everyday situations to the book and the writing style is conversational but pithy. If I didn't own this book, I'd buy it again. I have purchased several Manning books since this one and I really like that I can download a free electronic version to my PC/kindle/iPhone.There are some chapters that I take more time and process the examples and labs. Lots of URLs are provided, e.g (...)

I found the book to be very educational. The author goes thru many topics very logically and keeps things simple. I learned a lot about the nuances and intricacies of powershell.I think the only problem I have with this book is that many of the examples and exercises require Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012. This made a good portion of the book useless to me because where I work, we use Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, and I don't see us upgrading any time in the foreseeable future.I would recommend the book with the caveat that in order to benefit fully from it, you need Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012. You'll still learn a lot about powershell if you don't have those, but there will be some limitations.