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Introducing PowerShell 3

Posted by Roopesh Shenoy on Jan 09, 2012

Sections: Operations & Infrastructure,; Development
Topics: .NET Framework ,; Operations ,; .NET ,; PowerShell ,; Infrastructure ,; Programming

PowerShell 3 which will be released as a part of Windows Management Framework 3.0 is currently in CTP. Apart from being based on the DLR, it has a lot of new features such as better workflows, simpler syntax, delegation of credentials, robust sessions and more.

A big change is that PowerShell 3.0 is based on the Dynamic Language Runtime; though not exactly the same way as other DLR languages like IronPython or IronRuby. Joel Benett, in his article “PowerShell 3 – Finally on the DLR!” explores this in detail and also explains the performance improvements that DLR brings to PowerShell.

Some of the new features in this version are -

PowerShell workflow
Sessions automatically recover from network failures, interruptions or even shutdowns
Commands that can be executed with a delegated set of credentials
Simplified language syntax
Improved cmdlet discovery and automatic module loading
Ability to Expose set of cmdlets as RESTful web services via OData
ISE Commands add-on
IntelliSense and Code Snippets
New cmdlets for DHCP
Invoke-RestMethod which simplifies working with XML returned from the web. PowerShell MVP, Doug Fink gives an example in his blog post.
Autoloading of modules
Web Access – access PowerShell remotely using a browser/mobile devices.
Default Parameter Values

If you are keen to try PowerShell 3 out, do note that you can also run PS 2 and 3 side-by-side; something that was not possible with 1 and 2. Also note that this is a preview release, and features could change between now and the final release.

What features in PowerShell 3 are you most excited about?