New classes added (2433 and 2439)

Two new classes have been added to the MCTExpert lineup.

2433: Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition and Microsoft Windows Script Host Essentials
2439: Scripting Using Microsoft Windows Management Instrumentation.

I will be instructing both courses next week In Ft. Wayne, IN.

My scripting experience actually goes back many years. I remember reading a magazine article that said the difference between Network Administrators that go home at 5 (in their convertible) and those who stay to 10 would be scripting. I jumped on it and was amazed at what I could do. Programing has never been an issue for me. I taught myself in the 5th grade how to do so. A Bachelor Degree in Computer Science also helps a bit. I was able to take weeks worth of redundant, boring tasks and automate them. I was able to take intermittent problems and set them up to resolve themselves.

In this class, I will show my students the benefits of scripting and also how to accomplish some of the administrative tasks that they are now facing. If anybody is interested in taking this class with me, feel free to email me at Jason@MCTExpert.com and I'll let you know where I'm instructing the class next.

Comments

Adding a Comment to a GPO with PowerShell

As I'm writing this article, I'm also writing a customization for a PowerShell course I'm teaching next week in Phoenix. This customization deals with Group Policy and PowerShell. For those of you who attend my classes may already know this, but I sit their and try to ask the questions to myself that others may ask as I present the material. I finished up my customization a few hours ago and then I realized that I did not add in how to put a comment on a GPO. This is a feature that many Group Policy Administrators may not be aware of. This past summer I attended a presentation at TechEd on Group Policy. One organization in the crowd had over 5,000 Group Policies. In an environment like that, the comment section can be priceless. I always like to write in the comment section why I created the policy so I know its purpose next week after I've completed 50 other tasks and can't remember what I did 5 minutes ago. In the Group Policy module for PowerShell V3, th

Return duplicate values from a collection with PowerShell

If you have a collection of objects and you want to remove any duplicate items, it is fairly simple. # Create a collection with duplicate values $Set1 = 1 , 1 , 2 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 1 , 2 # Remove the duplicate values. $Set1 | Select-Object -Unique 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 What if you want only the duplicate values and nothing else? # Create a collection with duplicate values $Set1 = 1 , 1 , 2 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 1 , 2 #Create a second collection with duplicate values removed. $Set2 = $Set1 | Select-Object -Unique # Return only the duplicate values. ( Compare-Object -ReferenceObject $Set2 -DifferenceObject $Set1 ) . InputObject | Select-Object – Unique 1 2 This works with objects as well as numbers. The first command creates a collection with 2 duplicates of both 1 and 2. The second command creates another collection with the duplicates filtered out. The Compare-Object cmdlet will first find items that are diffe

How to list all the AD LDS instances on a server

AD LDS allows you to provide directory services to applications that are free of the confines of Active Directory. To list all the AD LDS instances on a server, follow this procedure: Log into the server in question Open a command prompt. Type dsdbutil and press Enter Type List Instances and press Enter . You will receive a list of the instance name, both the LDAP and SSL port numbers, the location of the database, and its status.

Jason Yoder, MCT

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