Adam the Automator

Back to Basics: PowerShell Strings

Using PowerShell to Delete Files [All the Ways]

Maintaining free disk space is crucial when managing servers and systems. As admins, you wouldn't want to get caught unaware of a 'disk full' situation. We all know where that situation leads - dismounted database, stopped services, inaccessible website, and the list goes on.

Back to Basics: Understanding the PowerShell Switch Statement

The concept of conditional logic in programming is not anything new. Conditional logic is a fancy term for first checking for a condition (if something happened) and then doing something as a result of that condition.

How to Up your Game with PowerShell Try Catch Blocks

Have you ever run a script or a PowerShell cmdlet and get confronted with a screaming wall of text - in red - like the one shown below?

Resolve-DnsName: Monitoring DNS Records using PowerShell

If you're managing web or mail servers, you know how heavily these servers rely on adequately configured DNS records. Missing DNS records can cause all sorts of problems, including users not being able to find your website or non-delivery of emails. It is a good thing that the PowerShell Resolve-DnsName cmdlet exists, and with it, monitoring DNS records can be automated through scripting.

Getting Started using SSH with PowerShell

Know how to set up Windows' SSH client and get both Windows 10 and Windows Server set up to use SSH with PowerShell Remoting.

Back to Basics: The PowerShell For Loop

When you use PowerShell scripts to manage systems or process bulk tasks, you'll undoubtedly encounter the need to use a loop construct as part of your scripts. There are many types of loops available in PowerShell, and one of them is the for loop.  The PowerShell for loop can make running the same set of commands on multiple items quickly and produce consistent results.

The PowerShell Block Comment (And Creating Descriptive Comments)

When a newcomer to PowerShell begins to write scripts, they typically focus on the code. After all, the code is what makes things happen! Executable code is obviously important, but what happens when you write so much code, you forget what it does? This is when PowerShell comments can come in.

Running PowerShell Scripts in Azure DevOps Pipelines (2 of 2)

No one product will ever provide all of the built-in tools you need to get the job done. Scripts are like the glue that brings workflows together and the shims that make solutions work. in Azure DevOps (AzDo) Pipelines, PowerShell and Bash scripts are your best friends.

Understanding Import-Csv and the ForEach Loop

Have you ever had to do the same task multiple times? Like, creating multiple Active Directory users one user at a time using the GUI? Or how about logging in to a server to delete old logs from some selected folders? If your answer is yes, then know you're not alone. Most admins have gone through the same laborious process.

How to Build an Azure DevOps Pipeline for a PowerShell Module

You can build just about anything with PowerShell from teeny scripts to multi-hundred-line behemoths. But once you grow tired of creating PS1 script after PS1 script, you tend to start thinking reusable tools. In the PowerShell world, a tool usually goes hand in hand with a module.

Export-CliXml and Import-CliXml: Saving Objects to XML

Learn how to use the Export-CliXml and Import-CliXml cmdlets and how CliXml format is different from the standard XML document format.