PowerShell Team Publishes New Set of Desired State Configuration Resources
The PowerShell team released a new set of Desired Configuration State (DSC) resources, packaged in five modules: xWebAdministration; xComputerManagement; xPSDesiredStateConfiguration; xNetworking and xHyperV. This release aims to encourage the PowerShell community to author more DSC resources. It also becomes possible with this release to create a web server from scratch using only DSC resources.
Powershell's Desired State Configuration Supports Push And Pull Modes
The Windows PowerShell Blog has been writing about PowerShell's Desired State Configuration (DSC). DSC is the Microsoft's proposal for computer's configuration management on the Windows world. One of the last articles explains how DSC allows both push and pull configuration modes, two approaches with different pros and cons.
Windows Azure SDK 2.2 Adds Visual Studio 2013, Integrated Sign-in and Filter Support
Microsoft has released Windows Azure SDK 2.2 with support for integrated sign-in, Visual Studio 2013 in addition to the ability to filter subscriptions/regions. The latest update also provides a set of pre-configured VM images of VS 2013 available within the Windows Azure Management Portal for use by MSDN subscribers.
Windows Management Framework 4.0 Adds New PowerShell Features, Improvements and Documentation
Microsoft has released Windows Management Framework 4.0 with updated versions of Windows PowerShell and its companion products in addition to release notes and quick reference guide to enable users to get start with WMF 4.
PowerShell Tools for Visual Studio with Editor, Debugger Extensions and Project System Support
PowerShell Tools for Visual Studio has been released with features such as syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, code folding, function navigation, script Output in addition to support for breakpoint, locals, stack frame and project system.
TFS 2013 Power Tools Adds Check-in policies, Process Template Editor, Windows PowerShell Cmdlets
Microsoft recently released Team Foundation Server 2013 Power Tools which includes best practices analyzer, check-in policies, process template editor, storyboard shapes, command line tool, Windows PowerShell Cmdlets, Windows Shell extension and work item templates.
Windows Azure SDK 2.1 with VS 2013, VM, Notification Hub, Cloud Services, PowerShell cmdlets Support
Microsoft has released an updated version of Windows Azure SDK with support for Visual Studio 2013, service bus notification hub, cloud services, virtual machines including new cmdlets for PowerShell.
Microsoft Refreshed Windows Azure with Point-to-Site, Dynamic DNS, Remote PowerShell and Ruby SDK
The recently released update to Windows Azure includes improvements to virtual networks, virtual machines, cloud services, Linux SSH support, remote powershell in addition to a new SDK for Ruby developed in association with AppFog.
Rackspace News: SDK for .NET, PowerClient and Mobile
Latest Rackspace developments include .NET SDK, PowerClient – a PowerShell-based management tool – and PHP mobile back-end.
Release of the Microsoft Script Explorer Canceled
Microsoft has canceled the release of their Script Explorer. This tool was designed to make it easier to find PowerShell scripts located in either public repositories (e.g. TechNet Script Center and PoshCode) or a company’s internal collection.
Amazon Web Services Launches AWS Tools For Windows PowerShell
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has released tools for the Windows PowerShell scripting environment to enhance support for Windows administrators' management of cloud infrastructure.
WMF 3.0 RTM Including PowerShell 3.0 Now Available
Windows Management Framework 3.0 features PowerShell 3.0, the command-line scripting tool for system administrators. Also included are updates to WMI, WinRM, and a new OData IIS extension.
DevOps With PowerShell 3
PowerShell 3 integrates with Windows Workflow Foundation, Task Scheduler and comes with new features such as easier scripting, 10x more cmdlets and tool building enhancements. These make PowerShell even more useful for DevOps, says Jeffrey Snover, Lead Architect for Windows Server Division.
Web Deploy 3.0 Adds IIS8 Support
Microsoft recently announced the Release Candidate of Web Deploy 3.0, their tool for packaging and deploying web applications. The new version includes support for IIS8 on Windows Server 8, PowerShell cmdlets, and automated backup.
More on Windows Workflow Foundation Support for PowerShell 3
Microsoft is starting to release more details on Windows PowerShell Workflow. Also known as PSWF, this feature of PowerShell 3 allows administrators to “reliably executing long-running tasks across multiple computers, devices or IT processes”. Since we are talking about Windows Workflow, the term “long-running” can mean hours or even days.
