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The Lonely Administrator
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The Lonely Administrator




BOOKS & TRAINING

Here is information about my books and training projects. I appreciate your
support when purchasing copies. It helps pay the mortgage and allows me to
continue what I'm doing. I always appreciate user reviews on appropriate sites
like Amazon, as well as word of mouth recommendations. If I'm speaking at a
conference or user group meeting, I'm more than happy to sign whatever you put
in front of me.


LIVE CLASSES



In addition to the material on this page, I would also love to come to do
PowerShell training for you and your organization. I think you'll need to set
aside at least 3 days for any sort of fundamentals class. Most of my clients
find 5 days is even better, especially if you want to dig into topics such
Desired State Configuration (DSC) or Just Enough Administration (JEA).

All course material is drawn from my books and is almost always tailored to the
client. During the class, I often adapt material and exercises "on-the-fly" to
better meet the students' needs and abilities. I try to incorporate as much
real-world and practical exercises, often drawing from the students' job and
company needs.

I have taught many, many students, literally all over the world. Here is a
sampling of possible courses:

 * PowerShell Fundamentals
 * Advanced PowerShell Scripting and Toolmaking
 * DSC/DevOps Fundamentals
 * DSC/DevOps Advanced
 * Just Enough Administration
 * PowerShell 7 Jump Start
 * PowerShell Remoting Deep Dive

Even though people talk about "training" what they really need, and the approach
I take is teaching. Training implies learning how to "click here" and "run
this". Teaching means learning the material at a deeper level so that you can
continue to learn and grow after the class ends. That's why my courses involve
intense hands-on exercises and minimal PowerPoint.

Ideally, you will want to have a training environment where each attendee has
access to a dedicated computer or laptop with at least 12GB or more of RAM and
100GB of hard drive space, that supports virtualization and can run the latest
version of Hyper-V. Detailed setup instructions will be provided.

My teaching fees are per day and all-inclusive (i.e. travel expenses). I also
try to schedule teaching engagements at least 6-8 weeks in advance. Short notice
classes may be possible but usually with a premium to cover the typically higher
travel expenses.

If it makes any difference, in addition to being a PowerShell MVP I was a
Microsoft Certified Trainer for 13 years. I dropped the certification as I
wasn't teaching a lot of Microsoft Official Curriculum. If you are interested,
please drop me a line about your learning needs.


BOOKS

This is a listing of most of my books that are still in print or relevant. For
beginners the recommended reading order is Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month
of Lunches - Learn PowerShell Scripting in a Month of Lunches - PowerShell
Scripting and Toolmaking. In between the Lunches books I'd also recommend going
through the PowerShell Practice Primer.

The PowerShell Practice Primer (LeanPub 2018)

I have wanted to create a book like this for years. Once you've started learning
PowerShell the best way to improve and learn more is by doing. But it can be
challenging trying to figure out what to do with it. This book consists of 100
simple, beginner exercises to test your PowerShell skills and improve them. Most
of the solutions require no more than a few lines of PowerShell commands that
you would type at the console. No scripting is required or expected. This book
is targeted for someone who has completed Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of
Lunches, or equivalent experience. When you purchase the book from Leanpub you
also get a number of downloadable extras including a script file version of each
exercise chapter complete with region markings so that you can open it in the
PowerShell ISE or Visual Studio Code and use the editor to take notes and
develop your solution. This is the real learning goal: how you figure out a
solution is where you really learn how to use PowerShell.

PowerShell Scripting and Toolmaking with Don Jones(LeanPub 2020)

This is the book Don and I have wanted to write for some time and the LeanPub
agile publishing module makes this a very attractive book. The book covers all
of the practices and patterns you will need to create useful PowerShell scripts
and tools. You need some basic PowerShell skills to get started (see the next
book) but after that, this book will get you ready for the next level. There is
naturally some overlap with the Learn PowerShell Toolmaking in a Month of
Lunches book, but this title allows us to dive into areas we couldn't before and
the "Forever" edition makes it easier for us to provide updates and correct
errors.

Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches 3rd Ed. with Don Jones. (Manning
Publications, 2016)

This is the for IT Pros who need to jump-start their PowerShell skills. A month
of easy to follow lessons to get you started on the road to PowerShell success.
Highly recommended by many in the PowerShell community. This edition has been
updated to reflect changes in PowerShell v5, although the fundamentals haven't
really changed since PowerShell v3. Once you've finished this, you might want to
consider the next book in this list.

Learn PowerShell Scripting in a Month of Lunches 3rd ed. with Don Jones (Manning
Publications, 2017)

You have some PowerShell skills at the command prompt. Now take them to the next
level and learn how to create PowerShell tools. Do you want to be the person who
runs the command or the person who creates it? Which job sounds more interesting
and most likely pays better? This book will take you from scripter to toolmaker
in a month of lunches and you don't have to be a developer. This edition has
been updated to include PowerShell v5 and has some slight restructuring over
previous versions.

PowerShell in Depth: An Administrator's Guide 2nd ed.(with Don Jones and Richard
Siddaway, Manning Publications, 2014)

A complete reference guide to PowerShell 4.0, targeted at IT Pro's written by 3
PowerShell MVPs with decades of experience. It is assumed you have some
experience with PowerShell. This is not the first book for an absolute beginner.
Go through the two Lunches book first, then get this. For everyone else we want
this to be the book you keep on your desk.


OUT OF PRINT

Managing Active Directory with Windows PowerShell: TFM 2nd Ed. (SAPIEN Press
2011)

This second edition of my book shows how to manage Active Directory using the
Microsoft Active Directory provider and cmdlets or the free Active Directory
cmdlets from Quest Software. Some material from the first edition, such as using
ADSI, has been moved to appendices.

Out of print but you might find used copies for sale somewhere.

WSH and VBScript Core: TFM (SAPIEN Press 2007).

A complete reference guide to VBScript for IT Pros packed with real-world
examples. Not sure if this is in print yet, or even if you really need it since
your automation language and tool today should be PowerShell.




LEARNING VIDEO

I've been creating video-based learning material for over 10 years. Today you
can find all of my work at Pluralsight. Here is a sampling of my
PowerShell-related courseware.

Windows PowerShell and Regular Expressions 



 

Many IT Pros, at least those from the Windows world, think regular expressions
are hard or don't know why they might want to use them. Why bother learning and
using them in your PowerShell scripting or even at a console prompt? In this
course, Windows PowerShell and Regular Expressions, you will learn the key
regular expression concepts and techniques that you can immediately put to use
in PowerShell.

Your First Day with PowerShell

You've decided to take the leap and begin learning PowerShell, but you don't
know where to begin or what to do first. In this course, Your First Day with
PowerShell, you'll learn the fundamental knowledge of Powershell and how to
utilize the program efficiently. First, you'll explore the critical skill of how
to use the Powershell help system. Next, you'll discover how to use commands and
be introduced to aliases, cmdlets, providers, and PSDrives. Finally, you'll
learn how to configure, navigate, and get the most out of the different
PowerShell consoles. By the end of this course, you'll develop an understanding
of the fundamental knowledge to efficiently utilize Powershell.

Putting PowerShell to Work



So, you've been reading blog posts, searching the Internet, and running commands
in PowerShell, although you really don't understand what you are running or why
it works the way it does. In this course, Putting PowerShell to Work, you'll
learn how to build your skills to be a more efficient PowerShell user. First,
you'll discover how to use PowerShell effectively from a command prompt. Next,
you'll explore how objects work in the pipeline with cmdlets. Finally, you'll
gain an understanding of how PowerShell’s formatting system works, and why. By
the end of this course, you'll have the necessary knowledge to begin making
PowerShell work effectively for you. Software required: Windows 10 system.

PowerShell on the Network

Windows PowerShell is a terrific tool, but naturally, you need to use it more
than just on your local computer. In this course, PowerShell on the Network,
you’ll learn how to put PowerShell to work for you in a networked environment.
First, you'll discover how PowerShell handles traditional or legacy remoting.
Then, you'll explore the modern way PowerShell works in a network environment,
and how easy it is to run a command on one or 100 remote servers. Finally,
you’ll learn how to get management information from your servers with WMI and
the CIM cmdlets. When you’re finished with this course, you'll have the
foundational knowledge for remotely managing servers and desktops in your
network, and you'll be ready to take on more advanced PowerShell networking
topics.

Automation with PowerShell Scripts

You have reached a point in your PowerShell experience where you want to move
beyond typing commands at a prompt. You want to automate processes and tasks so
that they are consistent, documented, and easy to run. This course is intended
to provide the beginning scripting knowledge you need to begin automating your
workload with PowerShell. 

Play by Play: PowerShell from Idea to Action with Don Jones and Jeff Hicks

This course is something a bit different. I spent an hour with Don Jones in
front of a camera talking about the process of using PowerShell to solve a
problem. In the span of about an hour, you'll get a better understanding of how
you might move from a problem or idea and how to begin solving it with
PowerShell. There is a lot of banter and this is a rare opportunity to see Don
and me together. I had a blast making this and hope you find it not only
educational but entertaining as well.

PowerShell Remoting Fundamentals

I created this course to teach PowerShell beginners how to get started with
PowerShell remoting. The course covers the basics about setting up remoting, how
to use it in one-to-one situations as well as running commands on many remote
servers at once. Also covers remoting security, including using SSL and topics
such as Implicit Remoting and Disconnected Sessions.

Advanced Windows PowerShell DSC

This is the followup course to the DSC Fundamentals. This includes more advanced
material such as working with certificates and setting up SMB or HTTP Pull
servers. The course includes in-depth walk-throughs of configuring a
Windows-based server with DSC as well as configuring a Linux installation.

PowerShell DSC Fundamentals

This is my introductory course to using Desired State Configuration (DSC) with
PowerShell 4.0. It covers the concepts, terms, and basics of using DSC with an
emphasis on using the Push model.

 



I hope you find my efforts worth your time and money. Thank you.

 

 




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