Master PowerShell Automation for Enterprise IT Pros
You’re under pressure. Systems are complex, change windows are shrinking, and manual processes are dragging your team down. Every outage, every misconfigured server, every missed SLA chips away at your credibility - and your career. You know automation is the answer. But you’ve tried before. Scripting felt chaotic. PowerShell documentation was fragmented. You wasted hours on broken examples, only to find something that barely worked in your environment - if at all. That ends now. Master PowerShell Automation for Enterprise IT Pros isn’t another theory dump. It’s a battle-tested, step-by-step system built specifically for senior IT engineers, systems administrators, and infrastructure architects who need flawless, scalable automation - not hobbyist scripts. One graduate, Maria D., Senior Systems Engineer at a Fortune 500 financial institution, used this program to automate patching across 14,000 Windows servers. She reduced deployment time from 72 hours to 90 minutes - and eliminated human error. Her work was fast-tracked into a board-level digital transformation review. This course takes you from overwhelmed and reactive to being the go-to automation authority in your organisation. You’ll go from manual scripts to enterprise-grade PowerShell frameworks that run securely, log effectively, and integrate with your existing toolchain - all within 4 weeks of structured effort. And the best part? You’re not learning in isolation. Every module is designed to produce immediate, tangible output - a script, a function, a repeatable process - so you can show value early and often. Here’s how this course is structured to help you get there.Course Format & Delivery Details Learn at Your Pace, On Your Terms
This is a self-paced, on-demand program with no fixed schedules or deadlines. You decide when and where you learn - whether it’s during a quiet weekend or between meetings. Immediate online access means you begin the moment you enrol. The content is fully mobile-friendly, so you can review concepts on your phone during a commute or pull up a checklist during an incident. Most learners complete the core automation workflows in just 3 weeks, with full mastery achieved in 6–8 weeks of consistent application. Real results - like automated AD user provisioning or bulk Exchange mailbox configuration - appear in the first 7 days. Lifetime Access, Zero Obsolescence
You receive lifetime access to the course materials, including all future updates, at no additional cost. As PowerShell evolves, so does your training. No subscriptions. No expiration. This is a one-time investment in your technical future. Direct Instructor Guidance & Support
You’re not on your own. Each module includes direct access to expert-led guidance through structured Q&A channels. Troubleshoot complex script logic, validate security practices, or refine error handling with input from engineers who’ve deployed PowerShell at enterprise scale in banking, healthcare, and global manufacturing. Certification with Global Recognition
Upon completion, you earn a Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service - a credential recognised by IT departments, audit teams, and hiring managers worldwide. This certification validates your ability to design, deploy, and maintain PowerShell automation that meets enterprise standards for security, reliability, and compliance. Transparent, Upfront Pricing - No Hidden Fees
The price you see is the price you pay. There are no upsells, no recurring charges, and no surprise costs. One payment grants you full access to every module, tool, and resource in the program. Payment Options You Can Trust
We accept all major payment methods, including Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal - processed securely with bank-level encryption. Zero-Risk Enrollment with Our 30-Day Guarantee
If this course doesn’t deliver clarity, confidence, and career-ready skills, you’re covered by our 30-day “satisfied or refunded” guarantee. Just request a refund, and you’ll receive it - no questions asked. We remove the risk so you can focus on results. What Happens After You Enrol?
After signing up, you’ll receive a confirmation email. Your access details and course entry information will be sent separately once your learner profile is fully provisioned. This ensures you receive a secure, customised onboarding experience. “Will This Work for Me?” - Let’s Be Clear
This program works even if: - You’ve struggled with PowerShell before and felt lost in syntax and cmdlets
- Your environment is highly regulated, with strict security and compliance requirements
- You’re already using some scripts but need to scale them reliably across thousands of systems
- You’re not a developer - you’re an IT professional who needs practical, production-grade solutions fast
John R., a Lead Infrastructure Engineer in a 2,500-location retail chain, had zero PowerShell experience 6 months ago. After completing this course, he automated domain controller health checks and gained a promotion to Automation Lead. His scripts now run daily across every store. This isn’t just theory. This is the exact framework enterprise IT teams use to reduce toil, increase resilience, and position themselves as strategic contributors - not just support staff.
Extensive and Detailed Course Curriculum
Module 1: Foundations of PowerShell in the Enterprise - Understanding the role of PowerShell in modern IT operations
- Differences between Windows PowerShell and PowerShell Core
- Setting up a secure, standardised scripting environment
- Navigating the PowerShell console and ISE effectively
- Exploring execution policies and security constraints
- Using Get-Help and online documentation strategically
- Making sense of cmdlet naming conventions (Verb-Noun)
- Discovering available commands with Get-Command
- Understanding pipeline mechanics and data flow
- Working with objects vs. text in PowerShell output
- Practising basic cmdlet chaining for quick automation
- Using aliases wisely without sacrificing readability
- Configuring profiles for consistent startup environments
- Integrating PowerShell with enterprise logging standards
- Establishing naming and formatting standards for team alignment
Module 2: Core Syntax and Scripting Fundamentals - Variables: declaration, scope, and type enforcement
- Data types: strings, integers, arrays, hashtables, and objects
- Working with arrays and array manipulation techniques
- Using hashtables for configuration and structured data
- String formatting and concatenation best practices
- Operators: arithmetic, comparison, logical, and redirection
- Conditional logic with If, ElseIf, and Else blocks
- Switch statements for clean, scalable decision trees
- Looping with For, While, Do-While, and ForEach constructs
- Breaking and continuing loop execution efficiently
- Writing clean, readable, and maintainable code
- Commenting scripts for team collaboration and audit
- Using Write-Output, Write-Host, and Write-Warning appropriately
- Debugging with Write-Debug and Debug-Mode execution
- Tracing script flow with Step-Through analysis
Module 3: Command Discovery and Object Manipulation - Finding cmdlets with wildcards and partial names
- Using Get-Member to explore object properties and methods
- Selecting specific properties with Select-Object
- Sorting output with Sort-Object for analysis
- Filtering data with Where-Object
- Grouping results using Group-Object
- Counting, measuring, and aggregating with Measure-Object
- Exporting data to CSV, JSON, and XML formats
- Importing structured data for automation input
- Formatting output for reports with Format-Table and Format-List
- Limiting output with Select-Object -First and -Last
- Renaming properties on the fly for clarity
- Creating calculated properties in Select-Object
- Using the pipeline effectively across multiple stages
- Understanding object type consistency in automation workflows
Module 4: Functions and Reusable Code Design - Creating basic functions to encapsulate logic
- Defining parameters with strong typing and validation
- Using parameter sets for flexible function behaviour
- Assigning default values and dynamic defaults
- Implementing mandatory and optional parameters
- Writing advanced functions with [CmdletBinding()]
- Using $PSBoundParameters for proxy functions
- Returning consistent output types from functions
- Documenting functions with comment-based help
- Testing functions with real-world input sets
- Organising functions into script modules
- Exporting and importing functions with modules
- Versioning functions for enterprise deployment
- Avoiding scope conflicts in complex scripts
- Building reusable function libraries for your team
Module 5: Error Handling and Script Resilience - Understanding PowerShell error types: terminating vs non-terminating
- Using Try, Catch, and Finally blocks effectively
- Trapping specific exceptions based on error category
- Logging errors to centralised systems
- Using $Error and $LastErrorAction for diagnostics
- Controlling error flow with $ErrorActionPreference
- Implementing Write-Error for custom error messages
- Returning meaningful exit codes for monitoring tools
- Validating input before processing to prevent exceptions
- Designing fallback logic for unresponsive systems
- Building retry mechanisms for transient failures
- Handling credential failures securely and gracefully
- Using ShouldContinue and ShouldProcess for safety
- Creating robust logging with structured error output
- Integrating with SIEM and ITSM platforms
Module 6: File, Registry, and System Operations - Reading and writing files with Get-Content and Set-Content
- Managing file encoding and line endings
- Appending data with Add-Content
- Testing file and folder existence with Test-Path
- Creating and removing directories recursively
- Recursive file operations with -Recurse parameter
- Filtering files by name, size, and date
- Managing file permissions with Get-Acl and Set-Acl
- Backing up and restoring ACLs in scripts
- Reading and modifying registry keys and values
- Creating registry hives with New-Item
- Searching registry data across multiple hives
- Securing registry modifications with auditing
- Starting, stopping, and restarting Windows services
- Querying service dependencies and status
Module 7: Automation of Active Directory Tasks - Installing and importing the ActiveDirectory module
- Connecting to domain controllers with implicit remoting
- Searching users with Get-ADUser and advanced filters
- Creating bulk user accounts from CSV input
- Setting passwords securely using SecureString
- Modifying user properties in bulk: title, department, location
- Disabling stale user accounts based on last logon
- Generating AD reports: disabled accounts, expired passwords
- Managing group membership with Add-ADGroupMember
- Removing users from multiple groups efficiently
- Creating and managing distribution groups
- Handling nested group logic and circular references
- Automating OU structure replication across forests
- Querying group policy links with Get-GPInheritance
- Validating AD replication health with PowerShell
Module 8: Working with Remote Systems - Understanding PowerShell Remoting (WinRM) requirements
- Enabling PSRemoting on Windows servers and workstations
- Testing remoting connectivity with Test-WsMan
- Using Invoke-Command for one-to-many execution
- Managing sessions with New-PSSession and Enter-PSSession
- Passing local variables to remote sessions
- Executing commands in background jobs with Start-Job
- Retrieving job results with Receive-Job
- Managing job cleanup and resource usage
- Using CredSSP for multi-hop authentication securely
- Handling authentication failures in remote scenarios
- Limiting remoting to approved systems via firewall rules
- Running maintenance scripts across server farms
- Collecting hardware and OS inventory from remote machines
- Centralising log collection with remoting workflows
Module 9: Working with Windows Services and Processes - Listing all services on a system with Get-Service
- Filtering services by status, name, and display name
- Starting, stopping, and restarting services remotely
- Setting service startup type: Automatic, Manual, Disabled
- Monitoring service health with scheduled checks
- Killing unresponsive processes with Stop-Process
- Identifying high-CPU processes in real time
- Exporting process information for analysis
- Monitoring memory usage by application
- Automating service restart on failure
- Creating custom service monitors with looping scripts
- Integrating with Windows Event Log for alerts
- Scheduling service checks with Task Scheduler
- Logging service status changes for compliance
- Building dashboards with service health output
Module 10: Scheduled Task Automation - Creating scheduled tasks with New-ScheduledTaskAction
- Setting triggers: daily, weekly, at startup, on idle
- Registering tasks with Register-ScheduledTask
- Configuring task run levels and permissions
- Setting task policies: run if overdue, stop if idle
- Retrieving existing tasks with Get-ScheduledTask
- Enabling, disabling, and unregistering tasks
- Exporting and importing tasks as XML
- Deploying consistent tasks across multiple servers
- Validating task execution with event log auditing
- Setting up maintenance windows with task delays
- Chaining tasks with sequential triggers
- Logging task output to centralised storage
- Encrypting credentials in scheduled tasks
- Monitoring task success and failure rates
Module 11: Security and Script Hardening - Understanding code signing and its enterprise role
- Creating self-signed certificates for development
- Signing scripts with Set-AuthenticodeSignature
- Verifying script integrity with Get-AuthenticodeSignature
- Enforcing execution policy hierarchies: LocalMachine, CurrentUser
- Using Constrained Language Mode for security
- Preventing script tampering with file integrity checks
- Using SecureString for password handling
- Converting SecureString to plain text (only when necessary)
- Managing credentials with the Credential Manager API
- Using Get-Credential in automated, non-interactive contexts
- Storing credentials securely with encrypted XML
- Implementing just-enough-administration (JEA) principles
- Auditing script execution with transcription logging
- Restricting module imports with $PSModulePath control
Module 12: Working with JSON, XML, and APIs - Converting PowerShell objects to JSON with ConvertTo-Json
- Parsing JSON with ConvertFrom-Json
- Calling REST APIs with Invoke-RestMethod
- Sending data to APIs with POST, PUT, PATCH requests
- Handling API authentication: API keys, OAuth tokens
- Managing rate limits and retry logic for APIs
- Validating JSON structure before processing
- Transforming API output for internal reporting
- Reading and writing XML with ConvertTo-Xml
- Navigating XML nodes with XPath queries
- Integrating with cloud platforms: Azure, AWS, O365
- Pulling Azure VM inventory using REST endpoints
- Updating ticketing systems via API automation
- Automating web-based service configuration
- Wrapping external APIs into internal functions
Module 13: Report Generation and Logging - Designing human-readable reports from automation
- Using ConvertTo-Html for dashboard-like outputs
- Styling HTML reports with CSS embedding
- Exporting reports to file shares or SharePoint
- Emailing reports with Send-MailMessage
- Attaching CSV data to automated emails
- Setting up email credentials securely
- Scheduling report generation daily or weekly
- Building executive summaries from operational data
- Creating compliance-focused logs with timestamps
- Using Start-Transcript and Stop-Transcript wisely
- Appending logs instead of overwriting
- Log rotation and retention policies in scripts
- Centralising logs for SIEM ingestion
- Integrating with Splunk, ELK, or Datadog pipelines
Module 14: Building Interactive and User-Friendly Scripts - Prompting users with Read-Host for input
- Validating input before processing
- Creating menus with Switch and Write-Host
- Using Write-Progress to show script advancement
- Setting progress bar status and percent complete
- Providing real-time feedback during long operations
- Aborting scripts gracefully with Ctrl+C handling
- Confirming destructive actions before execution
- Piping confirmation prompts for team safety
- Designing scripts for both interactive and automated use
- Accepting command-line arguments for automation
- Using param() blocks for console script support
- Validating arguments before script entry
- Providing help text when -? is used
- Building scripts that work in CI/CD pipelines
Module 15: Advanced Automation Frameworks - Designing modular automation architectures
- Separating configuration from logic
- Using PSDefaultParameterValues for consistency
- Building reusable automation templates
- Creating pipeline-ready functions that accept input
- Using Begin, Process, End blocks for streaming
- Validating pipeline input types
- Implementing dynamic param blocks
- Using ValidateSet and ValidateScript for input control
- Handling large data sets with pagination
- Building self-healing automation workflows
- Log-based decision making in scripts
- State tracking across multiple runs
- Checkpointing long-running processes
- Integrating with configuration management tools
Module 16: PowerShell and Configuration Management - Introducing Desired State Configuration (DSC)
- Writing DSC configurations for consistency
- Using built-in DSC resources: File, Registry, Service
- Running DSC in push mode with Start-DscConfiguration
- Monitoring DSC compliance status
- Generating DSC reports for audits
- Integrating DSC with Group Policy workflows
- Building custom DSC resources when needed
- Managing DSC configurations in source control
- Using DSC for server role standardisation
- Automating DSC deployment across server fleets
- Combining PowerShell scripts with DSC pull servers
- Validating post-configuration state
- Handling drift detection and remediation
- Scaling DSC in hybrid cloud environments
Module 17: Integration with Modern IT Toolchains - Calling PowerShell from Ansible playbooks
- Using PowerShell in Chef and Puppet workflows
- Integrating with Terraform via provisioners
- Triggering scripts from Jenkins pipelines
- Wrapping PowerShell into Azure DevOps tasks
- Passing variables from CI/CD to scripts
- Handling exit codes in pipeline contexts
- Using PowerShell in GitHub Actions
- Automating cloud provisioning sequences
- Validating infrastructure as code outputs
- Building pre-deployment health checks
- Integrating with ServiceNow automation scripts
- Updating CMDB data automatically
- Syncing IT asset data with internal systems
- Creating feedback loops between tools
Module 18: Real-World Enterprise Projects - Automating full server onboarding and configuration
- Building a self-service user provisioning portal script
- Creating a bulk license assignment tool for Microsoft 365
- Developing a cross-platform patch compliance dashboard
- Designing a disaster recovery runbook automation suite
- Automating certificate renewal and deployment
- Building a daily health check for SQL Server instances
- Creating a stale DNS record cleanup tool
- Automating firmware update workflows for hardware
- Developing a secure password rotation script
- Building a PowerShell-based ticketing interface
- Creating pre-migration AD cleanup utilities
- Automating network device configuration backups
- Integrating with storage array APIs for provisioning
- Building a centralised log aggregation script
Module 19: Testing, Versioning, and Deployment - Using Pester for unit and integration testing
- Writing testable functions from the start
- Mocking cmdlets and external dependencies
- Testing error paths and edge cases
- Generating code coverage reports
- Integrating tests into deployment pipelines
- Using Git for version control of scripts
- Branching strategies for team-based scripting
- Pull request workflows for peer review
- Tagging releases with semantic versioning
- Signing and packaging modules for distribution
- Deploying scripts using Group Policy Preferences
- Using SCCM to distribute PowerShell tools
- Validating script execution post-deployment
- Maintaining a central script repository
Module 20: Certification and Career Advancement - Reviewing core automation competencies
- Preparing for the final skills assessment
- Building a portfolio of enterprise-ready scripts
- Documenting projects for resume and interview use
- Highlighting automation impact with metrics
- Presenting automation ROI to leadership
- Transitioning from operator to automation strategist
- Using the Certificate of Completion in performance reviews
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Negotiating higher compensation with new skills
- Positioning yourself for roles in SRE, DevOps, or CloudOps
- Joining exclusive alumni forums for continued growth
- Accessing advanced PowerShell resources post-completion
- Receiving job opportunity alerts from partner networks
- Earning a Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
Module 1: Foundations of PowerShell in the Enterprise - Understanding the role of PowerShell in modern IT operations
- Differences between Windows PowerShell and PowerShell Core
- Setting up a secure, standardised scripting environment
- Navigating the PowerShell console and ISE effectively
- Exploring execution policies and security constraints
- Using Get-Help and online documentation strategically
- Making sense of cmdlet naming conventions (Verb-Noun)
- Discovering available commands with Get-Command
- Understanding pipeline mechanics and data flow
- Working with objects vs. text in PowerShell output
- Practising basic cmdlet chaining for quick automation
- Using aliases wisely without sacrificing readability
- Configuring profiles for consistent startup environments
- Integrating PowerShell with enterprise logging standards
- Establishing naming and formatting standards for team alignment
Module 2: Core Syntax and Scripting Fundamentals - Variables: declaration, scope, and type enforcement
- Data types: strings, integers, arrays, hashtables, and objects
- Working with arrays and array manipulation techniques
- Using hashtables for configuration and structured data
- String formatting and concatenation best practices
- Operators: arithmetic, comparison, logical, and redirection
- Conditional logic with If, ElseIf, and Else blocks
- Switch statements for clean, scalable decision trees
- Looping with For, While, Do-While, and ForEach constructs
- Breaking and continuing loop execution efficiently
- Writing clean, readable, and maintainable code
- Commenting scripts for team collaboration and audit
- Using Write-Output, Write-Host, and Write-Warning appropriately
- Debugging with Write-Debug and Debug-Mode execution
- Tracing script flow with Step-Through analysis
Module 3: Command Discovery and Object Manipulation - Finding cmdlets with wildcards and partial names
- Using Get-Member to explore object properties and methods
- Selecting specific properties with Select-Object
- Sorting output with Sort-Object for analysis
- Filtering data with Where-Object
- Grouping results using Group-Object
- Counting, measuring, and aggregating with Measure-Object
- Exporting data to CSV, JSON, and XML formats
- Importing structured data for automation input
- Formatting output for reports with Format-Table and Format-List
- Limiting output with Select-Object -First and -Last
- Renaming properties on the fly for clarity
- Creating calculated properties in Select-Object
- Using the pipeline effectively across multiple stages
- Understanding object type consistency in automation workflows
Module 4: Functions and Reusable Code Design - Creating basic functions to encapsulate logic
- Defining parameters with strong typing and validation
- Using parameter sets for flexible function behaviour
- Assigning default values and dynamic defaults
- Implementing mandatory and optional parameters
- Writing advanced functions with [CmdletBinding()]
- Using $PSBoundParameters for proxy functions
- Returning consistent output types from functions
- Documenting functions with comment-based help
- Testing functions with real-world input sets
- Organising functions into script modules
- Exporting and importing functions with modules
- Versioning functions for enterprise deployment
- Avoiding scope conflicts in complex scripts
- Building reusable function libraries for your team
Module 5: Error Handling and Script Resilience - Understanding PowerShell error types: terminating vs non-terminating
- Using Try, Catch, and Finally blocks effectively
- Trapping specific exceptions based on error category
- Logging errors to centralised systems
- Using $Error and $LastErrorAction for diagnostics
- Controlling error flow with $ErrorActionPreference
- Implementing Write-Error for custom error messages
- Returning meaningful exit codes for monitoring tools
- Validating input before processing to prevent exceptions
- Designing fallback logic for unresponsive systems
- Building retry mechanisms for transient failures
- Handling credential failures securely and gracefully
- Using ShouldContinue and ShouldProcess for safety
- Creating robust logging with structured error output
- Integrating with SIEM and ITSM platforms
Module 6: File, Registry, and System Operations - Reading and writing files with Get-Content and Set-Content
- Managing file encoding and line endings
- Appending data with Add-Content
- Testing file and folder existence with Test-Path
- Creating and removing directories recursively
- Recursive file operations with -Recurse parameter
- Filtering files by name, size, and date
- Managing file permissions with Get-Acl and Set-Acl
- Backing up and restoring ACLs in scripts
- Reading and modifying registry keys and values
- Creating registry hives with New-Item
- Searching registry data across multiple hives
- Securing registry modifications with auditing
- Starting, stopping, and restarting Windows services
- Querying service dependencies and status
Module 7: Automation of Active Directory Tasks - Installing and importing the ActiveDirectory module
- Connecting to domain controllers with implicit remoting
- Searching users with Get-ADUser and advanced filters
- Creating bulk user accounts from CSV input
- Setting passwords securely using SecureString
- Modifying user properties in bulk: title, department, location
- Disabling stale user accounts based on last logon
- Generating AD reports: disabled accounts, expired passwords
- Managing group membership with Add-ADGroupMember
- Removing users from multiple groups efficiently
- Creating and managing distribution groups
- Handling nested group logic and circular references
- Automating OU structure replication across forests
- Querying group policy links with Get-GPInheritance
- Validating AD replication health with PowerShell
Module 8: Working with Remote Systems - Understanding PowerShell Remoting (WinRM) requirements
- Enabling PSRemoting on Windows servers and workstations
- Testing remoting connectivity with Test-WsMan
- Using Invoke-Command for one-to-many execution
- Managing sessions with New-PSSession and Enter-PSSession
- Passing local variables to remote sessions
- Executing commands in background jobs with Start-Job
- Retrieving job results with Receive-Job
- Managing job cleanup and resource usage
- Using CredSSP for multi-hop authentication securely
- Handling authentication failures in remote scenarios
- Limiting remoting to approved systems via firewall rules
- Running maintenance scripts across server farms
- Collecting hardware and OS inventory from remote machines
- Centralising log collection with remoting workflows
Module 9: Working with Windows Services and Processes - Listing all services on a system with Get-Service
- Filtering services by status, name, and display name
- Starting, stopping, and restarting services remotely
- Setting service startup type: Automatic, Manual, Disabled
- Monitoring service health with scheduled checks
- Killing unresponsive processes with Stop-Process
- Identifying high-CPU processes in real time
- Exporting process information for analysis
- Monitoring memory usage by application
- Automating service restart on failure
- Creating custom service monitors with looping scripts
- Integrating with Windows Event Log for alerts
- Scheduling service checks with Task Scheduler
- Logging service status changes for compliance
- Building dashboards with service health output
Module 10: Scheduled Task Automation - Creating scheduled tasks with New-ScheduledTaskAction
- Setting triggers: daily, weekly, at startup, on idle
- Registering tasks with Register-ScheduledTask
- Configuring task run levels and permissions
- Setting task policies: run if overdue, stop if idle
- Retrieving existing tasks with Get-ScheduledTask
- Enabling, disabling, and unregistering tasks
- Exporting and importing tasks as XML
- Deploying consistent tasks across multiple servers
- Validating task execution with event log auditing
- Setting up maintenance windows with task delays
- Chaining tasks with sequential triggers
- Logging task output to centralised storage
- Encrypting credentials in scheduled tasks
- Monitoring task success and failure rates
Module 11: Security and Script Hardening - Understanding code signing and its enterprise role
- Creating self-signed certificates for development
- Signing scripts with Set-AuthenticodeSignature
- Verifying script integrity with Get-AuthenticodeSignature
- Enforcing execution policy hierarchies: LocalMachine, CurrentUser
- Using Constrained Language Mode for security
- Preventing script tampering with file integrity checks
- Using SecureString for password handling
- Converting SecureString to plain text (only when necessary)
- Managing credentials with the Credential Manager API
- Using Get-Credential in automated, non-interactive contexts
- Storing credentials securely with encrypted XML
- Implementing just-enough-administration (JEA) principles
- Auditing script execution with transcription logging
- Restricting module imports with $PSModulePath control
Module 12: Working with JSON, XML, and APIs - Converting PowerShell objects to JSON with ConvertTo-Json
- Parsing JSON with ConvertFrom-Json
- Calling REST APIs with Invoke-RestMethod
- Sending data to APIs with POST, PUT, PATCH requests
- Handling API authentication: API keys, OAuth tokens
- Managing rate limits and retry logic for APIs
- Validating JSON structure before processing
- Transforming API output for internal reporting
- Reading and writing XML with ConvertTo-Xml
- Navigating XML nodes with XPath queries
- Integrating with cloud platforms: Azure, AWS, O365
- Pulling Azure VM inventory using REST endpoints
- Updating ticketing systems via API automation
- Automating web-based service configuration
- Wrapping external APIs into internal functions
Module 13: Report Generation and Logging - Designing human-readable reports from automation
- Using ConvertTo-Html for dashboard-like outputs
- Styling HTML reports with CSS embedding
- Exporting reports to file shares or SharePoint
- Emailing reports with Send-MailMessage
- Attaching CSV data to automated emails
- Setting up email credentials securely
- Scheduling report generation daily or weekly
- Building executive summaries from operational data
- Creating compliance-focused logs with timestamps
- Using Start-Transcript and Stop-Transcript wisely
- Appending logs instead of overwriting
- Log rotation and retention policies in scripts
- Centralising logs for SIEM ingestion
- Integrating with Splunk, ELK, or Datadog pipelines
Module 14: Building Interactive and User-Friendly Scripts - Prompting users with Read-Host for input
- Validating input before processing
- Creating menus with Switch and Write-Host
- Using Write-Progress to show script advancement
- Setting progress bar status and percent complete
- Providing real-time feedback during long operations
- Aborting scripts gracefully with Ctrl+C handling
- Confirming destructive actions before execution
- Piping confirmation prompts for team safety
- Designing scripts for both interactive and automated use
- Accepting command-line arguments for automation
- Using param() blocks for console script support
- Validating arguments before script entry
- Providing help text when -? is used
- Building scripts that work in CI/CD pipelines
Module 15: Advanced Automation Frameworks - Designing modular automation architectures
- Separating configuration from logic
- Using PSDefaultParameterValues for consistency
- Building reusable automation templates
- Creating pipeline-ready functions that accept input
- Using Begin, Process, End blocks for streaming
- Validating pipeline input types
- Implementing dynamic param blocks
- Using ValidateSet and ValidateScript for input control
- Handling large data sets with pagination
- Building self-healing automation workflows
- Log-based decision making in scripts
- State tracking across multiple runs
- Checkpointing long-running processes
- Integrating with configuration management tools
Module 16: PowerShell and Configuration Management - Introducing Desired State Configuration (DSC)
- Writing DSC configurations for consistency
- Using built-in DSC resources: File, Registry, Service
- Running DSC in push mode with Start-DscConfiguration
- Monitoring DSC compliance status
- Generating DSC reports for audits
- Integrating DSC with Group Policy workflows
- Building custom DSC resources when needed
- Managing DSC configurations in source control
- Using DSC for server role standardisation
- Automating DSC deployment across server fleets
- Combining PowerShell scripts with DSC pull servers
- Validating post-configuration state
- Handling drift detection and remediation
- Scaling DSC in hybrid cloud environments
Module 17: Integration with Modern IT Toolchains - Calling PowerShell from Ansible playbooks
- Using PowerShell in Chef and Puppet workflows
- Integrating with Terraform via provisioners
- Triggering scripts from Jenkins pipelines
- Wrapping PowerShell into Azure DevOps tasks
- Passing variables from CI/CD to scripts
- Handling exit codes in pipeline contexts
- Using PowerShell in GitHub Actions
- Automating cloud provisioning sequences
- Validating infrastructure as code outputs
- Building pre-deployment health checks
- Integrating with ServiceNow automation scripts
- Updating CMDB data automatically
- Syncing IT asset data with internal systems
- Creating feedback loops between tools
Module 18: Real-World Enterprise Projects - Automating full server onboarding and configuration
- Building a self-service user provisioning portal script
- Creating a bulk license assignment tool for Microsoft 365
- Developing a cross-platform patch compliance dashboard
- Designing a disaster recovery runbook automation suite
- Automating certificate renewal and deployment
- Building a daily health check for SQL Server instances
- Creating a stale DNS record cleanup tool
- Automating firmware update workflows for hardware
- Developing a secure password rotation script
- Building a PowerShell-based ticketing interface
- Creating pre-migration AD cleanup utilities
- Automating network device configuration backups
- Integrating with storage array APIs for provisioning
- Building a centralised log aggregation script
Module 19: Testing, Versioning, and Deployment - Using Pester for unit and integration testing
- Writing testable functions from the start
- Mocking cmdlets and external dependencies
- Testing error paths and edge cases
- Generating code coverage reports
- Integrating tests into deployment pipelines
- Using Git for version control of scripts
- Branching strategies for team-based scripting
- Pull request workflows for peer review
- Tagging releases with semantic versioning
- Signing and packaging modules for distribution
- Deploying scripts using Group Policy Preferences
- Using SCCM to distribute PowerShell tools
- Validating script execution post-deployment
- Maintaining a central script repository
Module 20: Certification and Career Advancement - Reviewing core automation competencies
- Preparing for the final skills assessment
- Building a portfolio of enterprise-ready scripts
- Documenting projects for resume and interview use
- Highlighting automation impact with metrics
- Presenting automation ROI to leadership
- Transitioning from operator to automation strategist
- Using the Certificate of Completion in performance reviews
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Negotiating higher compensation with new skills
- Positioning yourself for roles in SRE, DevOps, or CloudOps
- Joining exclusive alumni forums for continued growth
- Accessing advanced PowerShell resources post-completion
- Receiving job opportunity alerts from partner networks
- Earning a Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Variables: declaration, scope, and type enforcement
- Data types: strings, integers, arrays, hashtables, and objects
- Working with arrays and array manipulation techniques
- Using hashtables for configuration and structured data
- String formatting and concatenation best practices
- Operators: arithmetic, comparison, logical, and redirection
- Conditional logic with If, ElseIf, and Else blocks
- Switch statements for clean, scalable decision trees
- Looping with For, While, Do-While, and ForEach constructs
- Breaking and continuing loop execution efficiently
- Writing clean, readable, and maintainable code
- Commenting scripts for team collaboration and audit
- Using Write-Output, Write-Host, and Write-Warning appropriately
- Debugging with Write-Debug and Debug-Mode execution
- Tracing script flow with Step-Through analysis
Module 3: Command Discovery and Object Manipulation - Finding cmdlets with wildcards and partial names
- Using Get-Member to explore object properties and methods
- Selecting specific properties with Select-Object
- Sorting output with Sort-Object for analysis
- Filtering data with Where-Object
- Grouping results using Group-Object
- Counting, measuring, and aggregating with Measure-Object
- Exporting data to CSV, JSON, and XML formats
- Importing structured data for automation input
- Formatting output for reports with Format-Table and Format-List
- Limiting output with Select-Object -First and -Last
- Renaming properties on the fly for clarity
- Creating calculated properties in Select-Object
- Using the pipeline effectively across multiple stages
- Understanding object type consistency in automation workflows
Module 4: Functions and Reusable Code Design - Creating basic functions to encapsulate logic
- Defining parameters with strong typing and validation
- Using parameter sets for flexible function behaviour
- Assigning default values and dynamic defaults
- Implementing mandatory and optional parameters
- Writing advanced functions with [CmdletBinding()]
- Using $PSBoundParameters for proxy functions
- Returning consistent output types from functions
- Documenting functions with comment-based help
- Testing functions with real-world input sets
- Organising functions into script modules
- Exporting and importing functions with modules
- Versioning functions for enterprise deployment
- Avoiding scope conflicts in complex scripts
- Building reusable function libraries for your team
Module 5: Error Handling and Script Resilience - Understanding PowerShell error types: terminating vs non-terminating
- Using Try, Catch, and Finally blocks effectively
- Trapping specific exceptions based on error category
- Logging errors to centralised systems
- Using $Error and $LastErrorAction for diagnostics
- Controlling error flow with $ErrorActionPreference
- Implementing Write-Error for custom error messages
- Returning meaningful exit codes for monitoring tools
- Validating input before processing to prevent exceptions
- Designing fallback logic for unresponsive systems
- Building retry mechanisms for transient failures
- Handling credential failures securely and gracefully
- Using ShouldContinue and ShouldProcess for safety
- Creating robust logging with structured error output
- Integrating with SIEM and ITSM platforms
Module 6: File, Registry, and System Operations - Reading and writing files with Get-Content and Set-Content
- Managing file encoding and line endings
- Appending data with Add-Content
- Testing file and folder existence with Test-Path
- Creating and removing directories recursively
- Recursive file operations with -Recurse parameter
- Filtering files by name, size, and date
- Managing file permissions with Get-Acl and Set-Acl
- Backing up and restoring ACLs in scripts
- Reading and modifying registry keys and values
- Creating registry hives with New-Item
- Searching registry data across multiple hives
- Securing registry modifications with auditing
- Starting, stopping, and restarting Windows services
- Querying service dependencies and status
Module 7: Automation of Active Directory Tasks - Installing and importing the ActiveDirectory module
- Connecting to domain controllers with implicit remoting
- Searching users with Get-ADUser and advanced filters
- Creating bulk user accounts from CSV input
- Setting passwords securely using SecureString
- Modifying user properties in bulk: title, department, location
- Disabling stale user accounts based on last logon
- Generating AD reports: disabled accounts, expired passwords
- Managing group membership with Add-ADGroupMember
- Removing users from multiple groups efficiently
- Creating and managing distribution groups
- Handling nested group logic and circular references
- Automating OU structure replication across forests
- Querying group policy links with Get-GPInheritance
- Validating AD replication health with PowerShell
Module 8: Working with Remote Systems - Understanding PowerShell Remoting (WinRM) requirements
- Enabling PSRemoting on Windows servers and workstations
- Testing remoting connectivity with Test-WsMan
- Using Invoke-Command for one-to-many execution
- Managing sessions with New-PSSession and Enter-PSSession
- Passing local variables to remote sessions
- Executing commands in background jobs with Start-Job
- Retrieving job results with Receive-Job
- Managing job cleanup and resource usage
- Using CredSSP for multi-hop authentication securely
- Handling authentication failures in remote scenarios
- Limiting remoting to approved systems via firewall rules
- Running maintenance scripts across server farms
- Collecting hardware and OS inventory from remote machines
- Centralising log collection with remoting workflows
Module 9: Working with Windows Services and Processes - Listing all services on a system with Get-Service
- Filtering services by status, name, and display name
- Starting, stopping, and restarting services remotely
- Setting service startup type: Automatic, Manual, Disabled
- Monitoring service health with scheduled checks
- Killing unresponsive processes with Stop-Process
- Identifying high-CPU processes in real time
- Exporting process information for analysis
- Monitoring memory usage by application
- Automating service restart on failure
- Creating custom service monitors with looping scripts
- Integrating with Windows Event Log for alerts
- Scheduling service checks with Task Scheduler
- Logging service status changes for compliance
- Building dashboards with service health output
Module 10: Scheduled Task Automation - Creating scheduled tasks with New-ScheduledTaskAction
- Setting triggers: daily, weekly, at startup, on idle
- Registering tasks with Register-ScheduledTask
- Configuring task run levels and permissions
- Setting task policies: run if overdue, stop if idle
- Retrieving existing tasks with Get-ScheduledTask
- Enabling, disabling, and unregistering tasks
- Exporting and importing tasks as XML
- Deploying consistent tasks across multiple servers
- Validating task execution with event log auditing
- Setting up maintenance windows with task delays
- Chaining tasks with sequential triggers
- Logging task output to centralised storage
- Encrypting credentials in scheduled tasks
- Monitoring task success and failure rates
Module 11: Security and Script Hardening - Understanding code signing and its enterprise role
- Creating self-signed certificates for development
- Signing scripts with Set-AuthenticodeSignature
- Verifying script integrity with Get-AuthenticodeSignature
- Enforcing execution policy hierarchies: LocalMachine, CurrentUser
- Using Constrained Language Mode for security
- Preventing script tampering with file integrity checks
- Using SecureString for password handling
- Converting SecureString to plain text (only when necessary)
- Managing credentials with the Credential Manager API
- Using Get-Credential in automated, non-interactive contexts
- Storing credentials securely with encrypted XML
- Implementing just-enough-administration (JEA) principles
- Auditing script execution with transcription logging
- Restricting module imports with $PSModulePath control
Module 12: Working with JSON, XML, and APIs - Converting PowerShell objects to JSON with ConvertTo-Json
- Parsing JSON with ConvertFrom-Json
- Calling REST APIs with Invoke-RestMethod
- Sending data to APIs with POST, PUT, PATCH requests
- Handling API authentication: API keys, OAuth tokens
- Managing rate limits and retry logic for APIs
- Validating JSON structure before processing
- Transforming API output for internal reporting
- Reading and writing XML with ConvertTo-Xml
- Navigating XML nodes with XPath queries
- Integrating with cloud platforms: Azure, AWS, O365
- Pulling Azure VM inventory using REST endpoints
- Updating ticketing systems via API automation
- Automating web-based service configuration
- Wrapping external APIs into internal functions
Module 13: Report Generation and Logging - Designing human-readable reports from automation
- Using ConvertTo-Html for dashboard-like outputs
- Styling HTML reports with CSS embedding
- Exporting reports to file shares or SharePoint
- Emailing reports with Send-MailMessage
- Attaching CSV data to automated emails
- Setting up email credentials securely
- Scheduling report generation daily or weekly
- Building executive summaries from operational data
- Creating compliance-focused logs with timestamps
- Using Start-Transcript and Stop-Transcript wisely
- Appending logs instead of overwriting
- Log rotation and retention policies in scripts
- Centralising logs for SIEM ingestion
- Integrating with Splunk, ELK, or Datadog pipelines
Module 14: Building Interactive and User-Friendly Scripts - Prompting users with Read-Host for input
- Validating input before processing
- Creating menus with Switch and Write-Host
- Using Write-Progress to show script advancement
- Setting progress bar status and percent complete
- Providing real-time feedback during long operations
- Aborting scripts gracefully with Ctrl+C handling
- Confirming destructive actions before execution
- Piping confirmation prompts for team safety
- Designing scripts for both interactive and automated use
- Accepting command-line arguments for automation
- Using param() blocks for console script support
- Validating arguments before script entry
- Providing help text when -? is used
- Building scripts that work in CI/CD pipelines
Module 15: Advanced Automation Frameworks - Designing modular automation architectures
- Separating configuration from logic
- Using PSDefaultParameterValues for consistency
- Building reusable automation templates
- Creating pipeline-ready functions that accept input
- Using Begin, Process, End blocks for streaming
- Validating pipeline input types
- Implementing dynamic param blocks
- Using ValidateSet and ValidateScript for input control
- Handling large data sets with pagination
- Building self-healing automation workflows
- Log-based decision making in scripts
- State tracking across multiple runs
- Checkpointing long-running processes
- Integrating with configuration management tools
Module 16: PowerShell and Configuration Management - Introducing Desired State Configuration (DSC)
- Writing DSC configurations for consistency
- Using built-in DSC resources: File, Registry, Service
- Running DSC in push mode with Start-DscConfiguration
- Monitoring DSC compliance status
- Generating DSC reports for audits
- Integrating DSC with Group Policy workflows
- Building custom DSC resources when needed
- Managing DSC configurations in source control
- Using DSC for server role standardisation
- Automating DSC deployment across server fleets
- Combining PowerShell scripts with DSC pull servers
- Validating post-configuration state
- Handling drift detection and remediation
- Scaling DSC in hybrid cloud environments
Module 17: Integration with Modern IT Toolchains - Calling PowerShell from Ansible playbooks
- Using PowerShell in Chef and Puppet workflows
- Integrating with Terraform via provisioners
- Triggering scripts from Jenkins pipelines
- Wrapping PowerShell into Azure DevOps tasks
- Passing variables from CI/CD to scripts
- Handling exit codes in pipeline contexts
- Using PowerShell in GitHub Actions
- Automating cloud provisioning sequences
- Validating infrastructure as code outputs
- Building pre-deployment health checks
- Integrating with ServiceNow automation scripts
- Updating CMDB data automatically
- Syncing IT asset data with internal systems
- Creating feedback loops between tools
Module 18: Real-World Enterprise Projects - Automating full server onboarding and configuration
- Building a self-service user provisioning portal script
- Creating a bulk license assignment tool for Microsoft 365
- Developing a cross-platform patch compliance dashboard
- Designing a disaster recovery runbook automation suite
- Automating certificate renewal and deployment
- Building a daily health check for SQL Server instances
- Creating a stale DNS record cleanup tool
- Automating firmware update workflows for hardware
- Developing a secure password rotation script
- Building a PowerShell-based ticketing interface
- Creating pre-migration AD cleanup utilities
- Automating network device configuration backups
- Integrating with storage array APIs for provisioning
- Building a centralised log aggregation script
Module 19: Testing, Versioning, and Deployment - Using Pester for unit and integration testing
- Writing testable functions from the start
- Mocking cmdlets and external dependencies
- Testing error paths and edge cases
- Generating code coverage reports
- Integrating tests into deployment pipelines
- Using Git for version control of scripts
- Branching strategies for team-based scripting
- Pull request workflows for peer review
- Tagging releases with semantic versioning
- Signing and packaging modules for distribution
- Deploying scripts using Group Policy Preferences
- Using SCCM to distribute PowerShell tools
- Validating script execution post-deployment
- Maintaining a central script repository
Module 20: Certification and Career Advancement - Reviewing core automation competencies
- Preparing for the final skills assessment
- Building a portfolio of enterprise-ready scripts
- Documenting projects for resume and interview use
- Highlighting automation impact with metrics
- Presenting automation ROI to leadership
- Transitioning from operator to automation strategist
- Using the Certificate of Completion in performance reviews
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Negotiating higher compensation with new skills
- Positioning yourself for roles in SRE, DevOps, or CloudOps
- Joining exclusive alumni forums for continued growth
- Accessing advanced PowerShell resources post-completion
- Receiving job opportunity alerts from partner networks
- Earning a Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Creating basic functions to encapsulate logic
- Defining parameters with strong typing and validation
- Using parameter sets for flexible function behaviour
- Assigning default values and dynamic defaults
- Implementing mandatory and optional parameters
- Writing advanced functions with [CmdletBinding()]
- Using $PSBoundParameters for proxy functions
- Returning consistent output types from functions
- Documenting functions with comment-based help
- Testing functions with real-world input sets
- Organising functions into script modules
- Exporting and importing functions with modules
- Versioning functions for enterprise deployment
- Avoiding scope conflicts in complex scripts
- Building reusable function libraries for your team
Module 5: Error Handling and Script Resilience - Understanding PowerShell error types: terminating vs non-terminating
- Using Try, Catch, and Finally blocks effectively
- Trapping specific exceptions based on error category
- Logging errors to centralised systems
- Using $Error and $LastErrorAction for diagnostics
- Controlling error flow with $ErrorActionPreference
- Implementing Write-Error for custom error messages
- Returning meaningful exit codes for monitoring tools
- Validating input before processing to prevent exceptions
- Designing fallback logic for unresponsive systems
- Building retry mechanisms for transient failures
- Handling credential failures securely and gracefully
- Using ShouldContinue and ShouldProcess for safety
- Creating robust logging with structured error output
- Integrating with SIEM and ITSM platforms
Module 6: File, Registry, and System Operations - Reading and writing files with Get-Content and Set-Content
- Managing file encoding and line endings
- Appending data with Add-Content
- Testing file and folder existence with Test-Path
- Creating and removing directories recursively
- Recursive file operations with -Recurse parameter
- Filtering files by name, size, and date
- Managing file permissions with Get-Acl and Set-Acl
- Backing up and restoring ACLs in scripts
- Reading and modifying registry keys and values
- Creating registry hives with New-Item
- Searching registry data across multiple hives
- Securing registry modifications with auditing
- Starting, stopping, and restarting Windows services
- Querying service dependencies and status
Module 7: Automation of Active Directory Tasks - Installing and importing the ActiveDirectory module
- Connecting to domain controllers with implicit remoting
- Searching users with Get-ADUser and advanced filters
- Creating bulk user accounts from CSV input
- Setting passwords securely using SecureString
- Modifying user properties in bulk: title, department, location
- Disabling stale user accounts based on last logon
- Generating AD reports: disabled accounts, expired passwords
- Managing group membership with Add-ADGroupMember
- Removing users from multiple groups efficiently
- Creating and managing distribution groups
- Handling nested group logic and circular references
- Automating OU structure replication across forests
- Querying group policy links with Get-GPInheritance
- Validating AD replication health with PowerShell
Module 8: Working with Remote Systems - Understanding PowerShell Remoting (WinRM) requirements
- Enabling PSRemoting on Windows servers and workstations
- Testing remoting connectivity with Test-WsMan
- Using Invoke-Command for one-to-many execution
- Managing sessions with New-PSSession and Enter-PSSession
- Passing local variables to remote sessions
- Executing commands in background jobs with Start-Job
- Retrieving job results with Receive-Job
- Managing job cleanup and resource usage
- Using CredSSP for multi-hop authentication securely
- Handling authentication failures in remote scenarios
- Limiting remoting to approved systems via firewall rules
- Running maintenance scripts across server farms
- Collecting hardware and OS inventory from remote machines
- Centralising log collection with remoting workflows
Module 9: Working with Windows Services and Processes - Listing all services on a system with Get-Service
- Filtering services by status, name, and display name
- Starting, stopping, and restarting services remotely
- Setting service startup type: Automatic, Manual, Disabled
- Monitoring service health with scheduled checks
- Killing unresponsive processes with Stop-Process
- Identifying high-CPU processes in real time
- Exporting process information for analysis
- Monitoring memory usage by application
- Automating service restart on failure
- Creating custom service monitors with looping scripts
- Integrating with Windows Event Log for alerts
- Scheduling service checks with Task Scheduler
- Logging service status changes for compliance
- Building dashboards with service health output
Module 10: Scheduled Task Automation - Creating scheduled tasks with New-ScheduledTaskAction
- Setting triggers: daily, weekly, at startup, on idle
- Registering tasks with Register-ScheduledTask
- Configuring task run levels and permissions
- Setting task policies: run if overdue, stop if idle
- Retrieving existing tasks with Get-ScheduledTask
- Enabling, disabling, and unregistering tasks
- Exporting and importing tasks as XML
- Deploying consistent tasks across multiple servers
- Validating task execution with event log auditing
- Setting up maintenance windows with task delays
- Chaining tasks with sequential triggers
- Logging task output to centralised storage
- Encrypting credentials in scheduled tasks
- Monitoring task success and failure rates
Module 11: Security and Script Hardening - Understanding code signing and its enterprise role
- Creating self-signed certificates for development
- Signing scripts with Set-AuthenticodeSignature
- Verifying script integrity with Get-AuthenticodeSignature
- Enforcing execution policy hierarchies: LocalMachine, CurrentUser
- Using Constrained Language Mode for security
- Preventing script tampering with file integrity checks
- Using SecureString for password handling
- Converting SecureString to plain text (only when necessary)
- Managing credentials with the Credential Manager API
- Using Get-Credential in automated, non-interactive contexts
- Storing credentials securely with encrypted XML
- Implementing just-enough-administration (JEA) principles
- Auditing script execution with transcription logging
- Restricting module imports with $PSModulePath control
Module 12: Working with JSON, XML, and APIs - Converting PowerShell objects to JSON with ConvertTo-Json
- Parsing JSON with ConvertFrom-Json
- Calling REST APIs with Invoke-RestMethod
- Sending data to APIs with POST, PUT, PATCH requests
- Handling API authentication: API keys, OAuth tokens
- Managing rate limits and retry logic for APIs
- Validating JSON structure before processing
- Transforming API output for internal reporting
- Reading and writing XML with ConvertTo-Xml
- Navigating XML nodes with XPath queries
- Integrating with cloud platforms: Azure, AWS, O365
- Pulling Azure VM inventory using REST endpoints
- Updating ticketing systems via API automation
- Automating web-based service configuration
- Wrapping external APIs into internal functions
Module 13: Report Generation and Logging - Designing human-readable reports from automation
- Using ConvertTo-Html for dashboard-like outputs
- Styling HTML reports with CSS embedding
- Exporting reports to file shares or SharePoint
- Emailing reports with Send-MailMessage
- Attaching CSV data to automated emails
- Setting up email credentials securely
- Scheduling report generation daily or weekly
- Building executive summaries from operational data
- Creating compliance-focused logs with timestamps
- Using Start-Transcript and Stop-Transcript wisely
- Appending logs instead of overwriting
- Log rotation and retention policies in scripts
- Centralising logs for SIEM ingestion
- Integrating with Splunk, ELK, or Datadog pipelines
Module 14: Building Interactive and User-Friendly Scripts - Prompting users with Read-Host for input
- Validating input before processing
- Creating menus with Switch and Write-Host
- Using Write-Progress to show script advancement
- Setting progress bar status and percent complete
- Providing real-time feedback during long operations
- Aborting scripts gracefully with Ctrl+C handling
- Confirming destructive actions before execution
- Piping confirmation prompts for team safety
- Designing scripts for both interactive and automated use
- Accepting command-line arguments for automation
- Using param() blocks for console script support
- Validating arguments before script entry
- Providing help text when -? is used
- Building scripts that work in CI/CD pipelines
Module 15: Advanced Automation Frameworks - Designing modular automation architectures
- Separating configuration from logic
- Using PSDefaultParameterValues for consistency
- Building reusable automation templates
- Creating pipeline-ready functions that accept input
- Using Begin, Process, End blocks for streaming
- Validating pipeline input types
- Implementing dynamic param blocks
- Using ValidateSet and ValidateScript for input control
- Handling large data sets with pagination
- Building self-healing automation workflows
- Log-based decision making in scripts
- State tracking across multiple runs
- Checkpointing long-running processes
- Integrating with configuration management tools
Module 16: PowerShell and Configuration Management - Introducing Desired State Configuration (DSC)
- Writing DSC configurations for consistency
- Using built-in DSC resources: File, Registry, Service
- Running DSC in push mode with Start-DscConfiguration
- Monitoring DSC compliance status
- Generating DSC reports for audits
- Integrating DSC with Group Policy workflows
- Building custom DSC resources when needed
- Managing DSC configurations in source control
- Using DSC for server role standardisation
- Automating DSC deployment across server fleets
- Combining PowerShell scripts with DSC pull servers
- Validating post-configuration state
- Handling drift detection and remediation
- Scaling DSC in hybrid cloud environments
Module 17: Integration with Modern IT Toolchains - Calling PowerShell from Ansible playbooks
- Using PowerShell in Chef and Puppet workflows
- Integrating with Terraform via provisioners
- Triggering scripts from Jenkins pipelines
- Wrapping PowerShell into Azure DevOps tasks
- Passing variables from CI/CD to scripts
- Handling exit codes in pipeline contexts
- Using PowerShell in GitHub Actions
- Automating cloud provisioning sequences
- Validating infrastructure as code outputs
- Building pre-deployment health checks
- Integrating with ServiceNow automation scripts
- Updating CMDB data automatically
- Syncing IT asset data with internal systems
- Creating feedback loops between tools
Module 18: Real-World Enterprise Projects - Automating full server onboarding and configuration
- Building a self-service user provisioning portal script
- Creating a bulk license assignment tool for Microsoft 365
- Developing a cross-platform patch compliance dashboard
- Designing a disaster recovery runbook automation suite
- Automating certificate renewal and deployment
- Building a daily health check for SQL Server instances
- Creating a stale DNS record cleanup tool
- Automating firmware update workflows for hardware
- Developing a secure password rotation script
- Building a PowerShell-based ticketing interface
- Creating pre-migration AD cleanup utilities
- Automating network device configuration backups
- Integrating with storage array APIs for provisioning
- Building a centralised log aggregation script
Module 19: Testing, Versioning, and Deployment - Using Pester for unit and integration testing
- Writing testable functions from the start
- Mocking cmdlets and external dependencies
- Testing error paths and edge cases
- Generating code coverage reports
- Integrating tests into deployment pipelines
- Using Git for version control of scripts
- Branching strategies for team-based scripting
- Pull request workflows for peer review
- Tagging releases with semantic versioning
- Signing and packaging modules for distribution
- Deploying scripts using Group Policy Preferences
- Using SCCM to distribute PowerShell tools
- Validating script execution post-deployment
- Maintaining a central script repository
Module 20: Certification and Career Advancement - Reviewing core automation competencies
- Preparing for the final skills assessment
- Building a portfolio of enterprise-ready scripts
- Documenting projects for resume and interview use
- Highlighting automation impact with metrics
- Presenting automation ROI to leadership
- Transitioning from operator to automation strategist
- Using the Certificate of Completion in performance reviews
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Negotiating higher compensation with new skills
- Positioning yourself for roles in SRE, DevOps, or CloudOps
- Joining exclusive alumni forums for continued growth
- Accessing advanced PowerShell resources post-completion
- Receiving job opportunity alerts from partner networks
- Earning a Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Reading and writing files with Get-Content and Set-Content
- Managing file encoding and line endings
- Appending data with Add-Content
- Testing file and folder existence with Test-Path
- Creating and removing directories recursively
- Recursive file operations with -Recurse parameter
- Filtering files by name, size, and date
- Managing file permissions with Get-Acl and Set-Acl
- Backing up and restoring ACLs in scripts
- Reading and modifying registry keys and values
- Creating registry hives with New-Item
- Searching registry data across multiple hives
- Securing registry modifications with auditing
- Starting, stopping, and restarting Windows services
- Querying service dependencies and status
Module 7: Automation of Active Directory Tasks - Installing and importing the ActiveDirectory module
- Connecting to domain controllers with implicit remoting
- Searching users with Get-ADUser and advanced filters
- Creating bulk user accounts from CSV input
- Setting passwords securely using SecureString
- Modifying user properties in bulk: title, department, location
- Disabling stale user accounts based on last logon
- Generating AD reports: disabled accounts, expired passwords
- Managing group membership with Add-ADGroupMember
- Removing users from multiple groups efficiently
- Creating and managing distribution groups
- Handling nested group logic and circular references
- Automating OU structure replication across forests
- Querying group policy links with Get-GPInheritance
- Validating AD replication health with PowerShell
Module 8: Working with Remote Systems - Understanding PowerShell Remoting (WinRM) requirements
- Enabling PSRemoting on Windows servers and workstations
- Testing remoting connectivity with Test-WsMan
- Using Invoke-Command for one-to-many execution
- Managing sessions with New-PSSession and Enter-PSSession
- Passing local variables to remote sessions
- Executing commands in background jobs with Start-Job
- Retrieving job results with Receive-Job
- Managing job cleanup and resource usage
- Using CredSSP for multi-hop authentication securely
- Handling authentication failures in remote scenarios
- Limiting remoting to approved systems via firewall rules
- Running maintenance scripts across server farms
- Collecting hardware and OS inventory from remote machines
- Centralising log collection with remoting workflows
Module 9: Working with Windows Services and Processes - Listing all services on a system with Get-Service
- Filtering services by status, name, and display name
- Starting, stopping, and restarting services remotely
- Setting service startup type: Automatic, Manual, Disabled
- Monitoring service health with scheduled checks
- Killing unresponsive processes with Stop-Process
- Identifying high-CPU processes in real time
- Exporting process information for analysis
- Monitoring memory usage by application
- Automating service restart on failure
- Creating custom service monitors with looping scripts
- Integrating with Windows Event Log for alerts
- Scheduling service checks with Task Scheduler
- Logging service status changes for compliance
- Building dashboards with service health output
Module 10: Scheduled Task Automation - Creating scheduled tasks with New-ScheduledTaskAction
- Setting triggers: daily, weekly, at startup, on idle
- Registering tasks with Register-ScheduledTask
- Configuring task run levels and permissions
- Setting task policies: run if overdue, stop if idle
- Retrieving existing tasks with Get-ScheduledTask
- Enabling, disabling, and unregistering tasks
- Exporting and importing tasks as XML
- Deploying consistent tasks across multiple servers
- Validating task execution with event log auditing
- Setting up maintenance windows with task delays
- Chaining tasks with sequential triggers
- Logging task output to centralised storage
- Encrypting credentials in scheduled tasks
- Monitoring task success and failure rates
Module 11: Security and Script Hardening - Understanding code signing and its enterprise role
- Creating self-signed certificates for development
- Signing scripts with Set-AuthenticodeSignature
- Verifying script integrity with Get-AuthenticodeSignature
- Enforcing execution policy hierarchies: LocalMachine, CurrentUser
- Using Constrained Language Mode for security
- Preventing script tampering with file integrity checks
- Using SecureString for password handling
- Converting SecureString to plain text (only when necessary)
- Managing credentials with the Credential Manager API
- Using Get-Credential in automated, non-interactive contexts
- Storing credentials securely with encrypted XML
- Implementing just-enough-administration (JEA) principles
- Auditing script execution with transcription logging
- Restricting module imports with $PSModulePath control
Module 12: Working with JSON, XML, and APIs - Converting PowerShell objects to JSON with ConvertTo-Json
- Parsing JSON with ConvertFrom-Json
- Calling REST APIs with Invoke-RestMethod
- Sending data to APIs with POST, PUT, PATCH requests
- Handling API authentication: API keys, OAuth tokens
- Managing rate limits and retry logic for APIs
- Validating JSON structure before processing
- Transforming API output for internal reporting
- Reading and writing XML with ConvertTo-Xml
- Navigating XML nodes with XPath queries
- Integrating with cloud platforms: Azure, AWS, O365
- Pulling Azure VM inventory using REST endpoints
- Updating ticketing systems via API automation
- Automating web-based service configuration
- Wrapping external APIs into internal functions
Module 13: Report Generation and Logging - Designing human-readable reports from automation
- Using ConvertTo-Html for dashboard-like outputs
- Styling HTML reports with CSS embedding
- Exporting reports to file shares or SharePoint
- Emailing reports with Send-MailMessage
- Attaching CSV data to automated emails
- Setting up email credentials securely
- Scheduling report generation daily or weekly
- Building executive summaries from operational data
- Creating compliance-focused logs with timestamps
- Using Start-Transcript and Stop-Transcript wisely
- Appending logs instead of overwriting
- Log rotation and retention policies in scripts
- Centralising logs for SIEM ingestion
- Integrating with Splunk, ELK, or Datadog pipelines
Module 14: Building Interactive and User-Friendly Scripts - Prompting users with Read-Host for input
- Validating input before processing
- Creating menus with Switch and Write-Host
- Using Write-Progress to show script advancement
- Setting progress bar status and percent complete
- Providing real-time feedback during long operations
- Aborting scripts gracefully with Ctrl+C handling
- Confirming destructive actions before execution
- Piping confirmation prompts for team safety
- Designing scripts for both interactive and automated use
- Accepting command-line arguments for automation
- Using param() blocks for console script support
- Validating arguments before script entry
- Providing help text when -? is used
- Building scripts that work in CI/CD pipelines
Module 15: Advanced Automation Frameworks - Designing modular automation architectures
- Separating configuration from logic
- Using PSDefaultParameterValues for consistency
- Building reusable automation templates
- Creating pipeline-ready functions that accept input
- Using Begin, Process, End blocks for streaming
- Validating pipeline input types
- Implementing dynamic param blocks
- Using ValidateSet and ValidateScript for input control
- Handling large data sets with pagination
- Building self-healing automation workflows
- Log-based decision making in scripts
- State tracking across multiple runs
- Checkpointing long-running processes
- Integrating with configuration management tools
Module 16: PowerShell and Configuration Management - Introducing Desired State Configuration (DSC)
- Writing DSC configurations for consistency
- Using built-in DSC resources: File, Registry, Service
- Running DSC in push mode with Start-DscConfiguration
- Monitoring DSC compliance status
- Generating DSC reports for audits
- Integrating DSC with Group Policy workflows
- Building custom DSC resources when needed
- Managing DSC configurations in source control
- Using DSC for server role standardisation
- Automating DSC deployment across server fleets
- Combining PowerShell scripts with DSC pull servers
- Validating post-configuration state
- Handling drift detection and remediation
- Scaling DSC in hybrid cloud environments
Module 17: Integration with Modern IT Toolchains - Calling PowerShell from Ansible playbooks
- Using PowerShell in Chef and Puppet workflows
- Integrating with Terraform via provisioners
- Triggering scripts from Jenkins pipelines
- Wrapping PowerShell into Azure DevOps tasks
- Passing variables from CI/CD to scripts
- Handling exit codes in pipeline contexts
- Using PowerShell in GitHub Actions
- Automating cloud provisioning sequences
- Validating infrastructure as code outputs
- Building pre-deployment health checks
- Integrating with ServiceNow automation scripts
- Updating CMDB data automatically
- Syncing IT asset data with internal systems
- Creating feedback loops between tools
Module 18: Real-World Enterprise Projects - Automating full server onboarding and configuration
- Building a self-service user provisioning portal script
- Creating a bulk license assignment tool for Microsoft 365
- Developing a cross-platform patch compliance dashboard
- Designing a disaster recovery runbook automation suite
- Automating certificate renewal and deployment
- Building a daily health check for SQL Server instances
- Creating a stale DNS record cleanup tool
- Automating firmware update workflows for hardware
- Developing a secure password rotation script
- Building a PowerShell-based ticketing interface
- Creating pre-migration AD cleanup utilities
- Automating network device configuration backups
- Integrating with storage array APIs for provisioning
- Building a centralised log aggregation script
Module 19: Testing, Versioning, and Deployment - Using Pester for unit and integration testing
- Writing testable functions from the start
- Mocking cmdlets and external dependencies
- Testing error paths and edge cases
- Generating code coverage reports
- Integrating tests into deployment pipelines
- Using Git for version control of scripts
- Branching strategies for team-based scripting
- Pull request workflows for peer review
- Tagging releases with semantic versioning
- Signing and packaging modules for distribution
- Deploying scripts using Group Policy Preferences
- Using SCCM to distribute PowerShell tools
- Validating script execution post-deployment
- Maintaining a central script repository
Module 20: Certification and Career Advancement - Reviewing core automation competencies
- Preparing for the final skills assessment
- Building a portfolio of enterprise-ready scripts
- Documenting projects for resume and interview use
- Highlighting automation impact with metrics
- Presenting automation ROI to leadership
- Transitioning from operator to automation strategist
- Using the Certificate of Completion in performance reviews
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Negotiating higher compensation with new skills
- Positioning yourself for roles in SRE, DevOps, or CloudOps
- Joining exclusive alumni forums for continued growth
- Accessing advanced PowerShell resources post-completion
- Receiving job opportunity alerts from partner networks
- Earning a Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Understanding PowerShell Remoting (WinRM) requirements
- Enabling PSRemoting on Windows servers and workstations
- Testing remoting connectivity with Test-WsMan
- Using Invoke-Command for one-to-many execution
- Managing sessions with New-PSSession and Enter-PSSession
- Passing local variables to remote sessions
- Executing commands in background jobs with Start-Job
- Retrieving job results with Receive-Job
- Managing job cleanup and resource usage
- Using CredSSP for multi-hop authentication securely
- Handling authentication failures in remote scenarios
- Limiting remoting to approved systems via firewall rules
- Running maintenance scripts across server farms
- Collecting hardware and OS inventory from remote machines
- Centralising log collection with remoting workflows
Module 9: Working with Windows Services and Processes - Listing all services on a system with Get-Service
- Filtering services by status, name, and display name
- Starting, stopping, and restarting services remotely
- Setting service startup type: Automatic, Manual, Disabled
- Monitoring service health with scheduled checks
- Killing unresponsive processes with Stop-Process
- Identifying high-CPU processes in real time
- Exporting process information for analysis
- Monitoring memory usage by application
- Automating service restart on failure
- Creating custom service monitors with looping scripts
- Integrating with Windows Event Log for alerts
- Scheduling service checks with Task Scheduler
- Logging service status changes for compliance
- Building dashboards with service health output
Module 10: Scheduled Task Automation - Creating scheduled tasks with New-ScheduledTaskAction
- Setting triggers: daily, weekly, at startup, on idle
- Registering tasks with Register-ScheduledTask
- Configuring task run levels and permissions
- Setting task policies: run if overdue, stop if idle
- Retrieving existing tasks with Get-ScheduledTask
- Enabling, disabling, and unregistering tasks
- Exporting and importing tasks as XML
- Deploying consistent tasks across multiple servers
- Validating task execution with event log auditing
- Setting up maintenance windows with task delays
- Chaining tasks with sequential triggers
- Logging task output to centralised storage
- Encrypting credentials in scheduled tasks
- Monitoring task success and failure rates
Module 11: Security and Script Hardening - Understanding code signing and its enterprise role
- Creating self-signed certificates for development
- Signing scripts with Set-AuthenticodeSignature
- Verifying script integrity with Get-AuthenticodeSignature
- Enforcing execution policy hierarchies: LocalMachine, CurrentUser
- Using Constrained Language Mode for security
- Preventing script tampering with file integrity checks
- Using SecureString for password handling
- Converting SecureString to plain text (only when necessary)
- Managing credentials with the Credential Manager API
- Using Get-Credential in automated, non-interactive contexts
- Storing credentials securely with encrypted XML
- Implementing just-enough-administration (JEA) principles
- Auditing script execution with transcription logging
- Restricting module imports with $PSModulePath control
Module 12: Working with JSON, XML, and APIs - Converting PowerShell objects to JSON with ConvertTo-Json
- Parsing JSON with ConvertFrom-Json
- Calling REST APIs with Invoke-RestMethod
- Sending data to APIs with POST, PUT, PATCH requests
- Handling API authentication: API keys, OAuth tokens
- Managing rate limits and retry logic for APIs
- Validating JSON structure before processing
- Transforming API output for internal reporting
- Reading and writing XML with ConvertTo-Xml
- Navigating XML nodes with XPath queries
- Integrating with cloud platforms: Azure, AWS, O365
- Pulling Azure VM inventory using REST endpoints
- Updating ticketing systems via API automation
- Automating web-based service configuration
- Wrapping external APIs into internal functions
Module 13: Report Generation and Logging - Designing human-readable reports from automation
- Using ConvertTo-Html for dashboard-like outputs
- Styling HTML reports with CSS embedding
- Exporting reports to file shares or SharePoint
- Emailing reports with Send-MailMessage
- Attaching CSV data to automated emails
- Setting up email credentials securely
- Scheduling report generation daily or weekly
- Building executive summaries from operational data
- Creating compliance-focused logs with timestamps
- Using Start-Transcript and Stop-Transcript wisely
- Appending logs instead of overwriting
- Log rotation and retention policies in scripts
- Centralising logs for SIEM ingestion
- Integrating with Splunk, ELK, or Datadog pipelines
Module 14: Building Interactive and User-Friendly Scripts - Prompting users with Read-Host for input
- Validating input before processing
- Creating menus with Switch and Write-Host
- Using Write-Progress to show script advancement
- Setting progress bar status and percent complete
- Providing real-time feedback during long operations
- Aborting scripts gracefully with Ctrl+C handling
- Confirming destructive actions before execution
- Piping confirmation prompts for team safety
- Designing scripts for both interactive and automated use
- Accepting command-line arguments for automation
- Using param() blocks for console script support
- Validating arguments before script entry
- Providing help text when -? is used
- Building scripts that work in CI/CD pipelines
Module 15: Advanced Automation Frameworks - Designing modular automation architectures
- Separating configuration from logic
- Using PSDefaultParameterValues for consistency
- Building reusable automation templates
- Creating pipeline-ready functions that accept input
- Using Begin, Process, End blocks for streaming
- Validating pipeline input types
- Implementing dynamic param blocks
- Using ValidateSet and ValidateScript for input control
- Handling large data sets with pagination
- Building self-healing automation workflows
- Log-based decision making in scripts
- State tracking across multiple runs
- Checkpointing long-running processes
- Integrating with configuration management tools
Module 16: PowerShell and Configuration Management - Introducing Desired State Configuration (DSC)
- Writing DSC configurations for consistency
- Using built-in DSC resources: File, Registry, Service
- Running DSC in push mode with Start-DscConfiguration
- Monitoring DSC compliance status
- Generating DSC reports for audits
- Integrating DSC with Group Policy workflows
- Building custom DSC resources when needed
- Managing DSC configurations in source control
- Using DSC for server role standardisation
- Automating DSC deployment across server fleets
- Combining PowerShell scripts with DSC pull servers
- Validating post-configuration state
- Handling drift detection and remediation
- Scaling DSC in hybrid cloud environments
Module 17: Integration with Modern IT Toolchains - Calling PowerShell from Ansible playbooks
- Using PowerShell in Chef and Puppet workflows
- Integrating with Terraform via provisioners
- Triggering scripts from Jenkins pipelines
- Wrapping PowerShell into Azure DevOps tasks
- Passing variables from CI/CD to scripts
- Handling exit codes in pipeline contexts
- Using PowerShell in GitHub Actions
- Automating cloud provisioning sequences
- Validating infrastructure as code outputs
- Building pre-deployment health checks
- Integrating with ServiceNow automation scripts
- Updating CMDB data automatically
- Syncing IT asset data with internal systems
- Creating feedback loops between tools
Module 18: Real-World Enterprise Projects - Automating full server onboarding and configuration
- Building a self-service user provisioning portal script
- Creating a bulk license assignment tool for Microsoft 365
- Developing a cross-platform patch compliance dashboard
- Designing a disaster recovery runbook automation suite
- Automating certificate renewal and deployment
- Building a daily health check for SQL Server instances
- Creating a stale DNS record cleanup tool
- Automating firmware update workflows for hardware
- Developing a secure password rotation script
- Building a PowerShell-based ticketing interface
- Creating pre-migration AD cleanup utilities
- Automating network device configuration backups
- Integrating with storage array APIs for provisioning
- Building a centralised log aggregation script
Module 19: Testing, Versioning, and Deployment - Using Pester for unit and integration testing
- Writing testable functions from the start
- Mocking cmdlets and external dependencies
- Testing error paths and edge cases
- Generating code coverage reports
- Integrating tests into deployment pipelines
- Using Git for version control of scripts
- Branching strategies for team-based scripting
- Pull request workflows for peer review
- Tagging releases with semantic versioning
- Signing and packaging modules for distribution
- Deploying scripts using Group Policy Preferences
- Using SCCM to distribute PowerShell tools
- Validating script execution post-deployment
- Maintaining a central script repository
Module 20: Certification and Career Advancement - Reviewing core automation competencies
- Preparing for the final skills assessment
- Building a portfolio of enterprise-ready scripts
- Documenting projects for resume and interview use
- Highlighting automation impact with metrics
- Presenting automation ROI to leadership
- Transitioning from operator to automation strategist
- Using the Certificate of Completion in performance reviews
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Negotiating higher compensation with new skills
- Positioning yourself for roles in SRE, DevOps, or CloudOps
- Joining exclusive alumni forums for continued growth
- Accessing advanced PowerShell resources post-completion
- Receiving job opportunity alerts from partner networks
- Earning a Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Creating scheduled tasks with New-ScheduledTaskAction
- Setting triggers: daily, weekly, at startup, on idle
- Registering tasks with Register-ScheduledTask
- Configuring task run levels and permissions
- Setting task policies: run if overdue, stop if idle
- Retrieving existing tasks with Get-ScheduledTask
- Enabling, disabling, and unregistering tasks
- Exporting and importing tasks as XML
- Deploying consistent tasks across multiple servers
- Validating task execution with event log auditing
- Setting up maintenance windows with task delays
- Chaining tasks with sequential triggers
- Logging task output to centralised storage
- Encrypting credentials in scheduled tasks
- Monitoring task success and failure rates
Module 11: Security and Script Hardening - Understanding code signing and its enterprise role
- Creating self-signed certificates for development
- Signing scripts with Set-AuthenticodeSignature
- Verifying script integrity with Get-AuthenticodeSignature
- Enforcing execution policy hierarchies: LocalMachine, CurrentUser
- Using Constrained Language Mode for security
- Preventing script tampering with file integrity checks
- Using SecureString for password handling
- Converting SecureString to plain text (only when necessary)
- Managing credentials with the Credential Manager API
- Using Get-Credential in automated, non-interactive contexts
- Storing credentials securely with encrypted XML
- Implementing just-enough-administration (JEA) principles
- Auditing script execution with transcription logging
- Restricting module imports with $PSModulePath control
Module 12: Working with JSON, XML, and APIs - Converting PowerShell objects to JSON with ConvertTo-Json
- Parsing JSON with ConvertFrom-Json
- Calling REST APIs with Invoke-RestMethod
- Sending data to APIs with POST, PUT, PATCH requests
- Handling API authentication: API keys, OAuth tokens
- Managing rate limits and retry logic for APIs
- Validating JSON structure before processing
- Transforming API output for internal reporting
- Reading and writing XML with ConvertTo-Xml
- Navigating XML nodes with XPath queries
- Integrating with cloud platforms: Azure, AWS, O365
- Pulling Azure VM inventory using REST endpoints
- Updating ticketing systems via API automation
- Automating web-based service configuration
- Wrapping external APIs into internal functions
Module 13: Report Generation and Logging - Designing human-readable reports from automation
- Using ConvertTo-Html for dashboard-like outputs
- Styling HTML reports with CSS embedding
- Exporting reports to file shares or SharePoint
- Emailing reports with Send-MailMessage
- Attaching CSV data to automated emails
- Setting up email credentials securely
- Scheduling report generation daily or weekly
- Building executive summaries from operational data
- Creating compliance-focused logs with timestamps
- Using Start-Transcript and Stop-Transcript wisely
- Appending logs instead of overwriting
- Log rotation and retention policies in scripts
- Centralising logs for SIEM ingestion
- Integrating with Splunk, ELK, or Datadog pipelines
Module 14: Building Interactive and User-Friendly Scripts - Prompting users with Read-Host for input
- Validating input before processing
- Creating menus with Switch and Write-Host
- Using Write-Progress to show script advancement
- Setting progress bar status and percent complete
- Providing real-time feedback during long operations
- Aborting scripts gracefully with Ctrl+C handling
- Confirming destructive actions before execution
- Piping confirmation prompts for team safety
- Designing scripts for both interactive and automated use
- Accepting command-line arguments for automation
- Using param() blocks for console script support
- Validating arguments before script entry
- Providing help text when -? is used
- Building scripts that work in CI/CD pipelines
Module 15: Advanced Automation Frameworks - Designing modular automation architectures
- Separating configuration from logic
- Using PSDefaultParameterValues for consistency
- Building reusable automation templates
- Creating pipeline-ready functions that accept input
- Using Begin, Process, End blocks for streaming
- Validating pipeline input types
- Implementing dynamic param blocks
- Using ValidateSet and ValidateScript for input control
- Handling large data sets with pagination
- Building self-healing automation workflows
- Log-based decision making in scripts
- State tracking across multiple runs
- Checkpointing long-running processes
- Integrating with configuration management tools
Module 16: PowerShell and Configuration Management - Introducing Desired State Configuration (DSC)
- Writing DSC configurations for consistency
- Using built-in DSC resources: File, Registry, Service
- Running DSC in push mode with Start-DscConfiguration
- Monitoring DSC compliance status
- Generating DSC reports for audits
- Integrating DSC with Group Policy workflows
- Building custom DSC resources when needed
- Managing DSC configurations in source control
- Using DSC for server role standardisation
- Automating DSC deployment across server fleets
- Combining PowerShell scripts with DSC pull servers
- Validating post-configuration state
- Handling drift detection and remediation
- Scaling DSC in hybrid cloud environments
Module 17: Integration with Modern IT Toolchains - Calling PowerShell from Ansible playbooks
- Using PowerShell in Chef and Puppet workflows
- Integrating with Terraform via provisioners
- Triggering scripts from Jenkins pipelines
- Wrapping PowerShell into Azure DevOps tasks
- Passing variables from CI/CD to scripts
- Handling exit codes in pipeline contexts
- Using PowerShell in GitHub Actions
- Automating cloud provisioning sequences
- Validating infrastructure as code outputs
- Building pre-deployment health checks
- Integrating with ServiceNow automation scripts
- Updating CMDB data automatically
- Syncing IT asset data with internal systems
- Creating feedback loops between tools
Module 18: Real-World Enterprise Projects - Automating full server onboarding and configuration
- Building a self-service user provisioning portal script
- Creating a bulk license assignment tool for Microsoft 365
- Developing a cross-platform patch compliance dashboard
- Designing a disaster recovery runbook automation suite
- Automating certificate renewal and deployment
- Building a daily health check for SQL Server instances
- Creating a stale DNS record cleanup tool
- Automating firmware update workflows for hardware
- Developing a secure password rotation script
- Building a PowerShell-based ticketing interface
- Creating pre-migration AD cleanup utilities
- Automating network device configuration backups
- Integrating with storage array APIs for provisioning
- Building a centralised log aggregation script
Module 19: Testing, Versioning, and Deployment - Using Pester for unit and integration testing
- Writing testable functions from the start
- Mocking cmdlets and external dependencies
- Testing error paths and edge cases
- Generating code coverage reports
- Integrating tests into deployment pipelines
- Using Git for version control of scripts
- Branching strategies for team-based scripting
- Pull request workflows for peer review
- Tagging releases with semantic versioning
- Signing and packaging modules for distribution
- Deploying scripts using Group Policy Preferences
- Using SCCM to distribute PowerShell tools
- Validating script execution post-deployment
- Maintaining a central script repository
Module 20: Certification and Career Advancement - Reviewing core automation competencies
- Preparing for the final skills assessment
- Building a portfolio of enterprise-ready scripts
- Documenting projects for resume and interview use
- Highlighting automation impact with metrics
- Presenting automation ROI to leadership
- Transitioning from operator to automation strategist
- Using the Certificate of Completion in performance reviews
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Negotiating higher compensation with new skills
- Positioning yourself for roles in SRE, DevOps, or CloudOps
- Joining exclusive alumni forums for continued growth
- Accessing advanced PowerShell resources post-completion
- Receiving job opportunity alerts from partner networks
- Earning a Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Converting PowerShell objects to JSON with ConvertTo-Json
- Parsing JSON with ConvertFrom-Json
- Calling REST APIs with Invoke-RestMethod
- Sending data to APIs with POST, PUT, PATCH requests
- Handling API authentication: API keys, OAuth tokens
- Managing rate limits and retry logic for APIs
- Validating JSON structure before processing
- Transforming API output for internal reporting
- Reading and writing XML with ConvertTo-Xml
- Navigating XML nodes with XPath queries
- Integrating with cloud platforms: Azure, AWS, O365
- Pulling Azure VM inventory using REST endpoints
- Updating ticketing systems via API automation
- Automating web-based service configuration
- Wrapping external APIs into internal functions
Module 13: Report Generation and Logging - Designing human-readable reports from automation
- Using ConvertTo-Html for dashboard-like outputs
- Styling HTML reports with CSS embedding
- Exporting reports to file shares or SharePoint
- Emailing reports with Send-MailMessage
- Attaching CSV data to automated emails
- Setting up email credentials securely
- Scheduling report generation daily or weekly
- Building executive summaries from operational data
- Creating compliance-focused logs with timestamps
- Using Start-Transcript and Stop-Transcript wisely
- Appending logs instead of overwriting
- Log rotation and retention policies in scripts
- Centralising logs for SIEM ingestion
- Integrating with Splunk, ELK, or Datadog pipelines
Module 14: Building Interactive and User-Friendly Scripts - Prompting users with Read-Host for input
- Validating input before processing
- Creating menus with Switch and Write-Host
- Using Write-Progress to show script advancement
- Setting progress bar status and percent complete
- Providing real-time feedback during long operations
- Aborting scripts gracefully with Ctrl+C handling
- Confirming destructive actions before execution
- Piping confirmation prompts for team safety
- Designing scripts for both interactive and automated use
- Accepting command-line arguments for automation
- Using param() blocks for console script support
- Validating arguments before script entry
- Providing help text when -? is used
- Building scripts that work in CI/CD pipelines
Module 15: Advanced Automation Frameworks - Designing modular automation architectures
- Separating configuration from logic
- Using PSDefaultParameterValues for consistency
- Building reusable automation templates
- Creating pipeline-ready functions that accept input
- Using Begin, Process, End blocks for streaming
- Validating pipeline input types
- Implementing dynamic param blocks
- Using ValidateSet and ValidateScript for input control
- Handling large data sets with pagination
- Building self-healing automation workflows
- Log-based decision making in scripts
- State tracking across multiple runs
- Checkpointing long-running processes
- Integrating with configuration management tools
Module 16: PowerShell and Configuration Management - Introducing Desired State Configuration (DSC)
- Writing DSC configurations for consistency
- Using built-in DSC resources: File, Registry, Service
- Running DSC in push mode with Start-DscConfiguration
- Monitoring DSC compliance status
- Generating DSC reports for audits
- Integrating DSC with Group Policy workflows
- Building custom DSC resources when needed
- Managing DSC configurations in source control
- Using DSC for server role standardisation
- Automating DSC deployment across server fleets
- Combining PowerShell scripts with DSC pull servers
- Validating post-configuration state
- Handling drift detection and remediation
- Scaling DSC in hybrid cloud environments
Module 17: Integration with Modern IT Toolchains - Calling PowerShell from Ansible playbooks
- Using PowerShell in Chef and Puppet workflows
- Integrating with Terraform via provisioners
- Triggering scripts from Jenkins pipelines
- Wrapping PowerShell into Azure DevOps tasks
- Passing variables from CI/CD to scripts
- Handling exit codes in pipeline contexts
- Using PowerShell in GitHub Actions
- Automating cloud provisioning sequences
- Validating infrastructure as code outputs
- Building pre-deployment health checks
- Integrating with ServiceNow automation scripts
- Updating CMDB data automatically
- Syncing IT asset data with internal systems
- Creating feedback loops between tools
Module 18: Real-World Enterprise Projects - Automating full server onboarding and configuration
- Building a self-service user provisioning portal script
- Creating a bulk license assignment tool for Microsoft 365
- Developing a cross-platform patch compliance dashboard
- Designing a disaster recovery runbook automation suite
- Automating certificate renewal and deployment
- Building a daily health check for SQL Server instances
- Creating a stale DNS record cleanup tool
- Automating firmware update workflows for hardware
- Developing a secure password rotation script
- Building a PowerShell-based ticketing interface
- Creating pre-migration AD cleanup utilities
- Automating network device configuration backups
- Integrating with storage array APIs for provisioning
- Building a centralised log aggregation script
Module 19: Testing, Versioning, and Deployment - Using Pester for unit and integration testing
- Writing testable functions from the start
- Mocking cmdlets and external dependencies
- Testing error paths and edge cases
- Generating code coverage reports
- Integrating tests into deployment pipelines
- Using Git for version control of scripts
- Branching strategies for team-based scripting
- Pull request workflows for peer review
- Tagging releases with semantic versioning
- Signing and packaging modules for distribution
- Deploying scripts using Group Policy Preferences
- Using SCCM to distribute PowerShell tools
- Validating script execution post-deployment
- Maintaining a central script repository
Module 20: Certification and Career Advancement - Reviewing core automation competencies
- Preparing for the final skills assessment
- Building a portfolio of enterprise-ready scripts
- Documenting projects for resume and interview use
- Highlighting automation impact with metrics
- Presenting automation ROI to leadership
- Transitioning from operator to automation strategist
- Using the Certificate of Completion in performance reviews
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Negotiating higher compensation with new skills
- Positioning yourself for roles in SRE, DevOps, or CloudOps
- Joining exclusive alumni forums for continued growth
- Accessing advanced PowerShell resources post-completion
- Receiving job opportunity alerts from partner networks
- Earning a Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Prompting users with Read-Host for input
- Validating input before processing
- Creating menus with Switch and Write-Host
- Using Write-Progress to show script advancement
- Setting progress bar status and percent complete
- Providing real-time feedback during long operations
- Aborting scripts gracefully with Ctrl+C handling
- Confirming destructive actions before execution
- Piping confirmation prompts for team safety
- Designing scripts for both interactive and automated use
- Accepting command-line arguments for automation
- Using param() blocks for console script support
- Validating arguments before script entry
- Providing help text when -? is used
- Building scripts that work in CI/CD pipelines
Module 15: Advanced Automation Frameworks - Designing modular automation architectures
- Separating configuration from logic
- Using PSDefaultParameterValues for consistency
- Building reusable automation templates
- Creating pipeline-ready functions that accept input
- Using Begin, Process, End blocks for streaming
- Validating pipeline input types
- Implementing dynamic param blocks
- Using ValidateSet and ValidateScript for input control
- Handling large data sets with pagination
- Building self-healing automation workflows
- Log-based decision making in scripts
- State tracking across multiple runs
- Checkpointing long-running processes
- Integrating with configuration management tools
Module 16: PowerShell and Configuration Management - Introducing Desired State Configuration (DSC)
- Writing DSC configurations for consistency
- Using built-in DSC resources: File, Registry, Service
- Running DSC in push mode with Start-DscConfiguration
- Monitoring DSC compliance status
- Generating DSC reports for audits
- Integrating DSC with Group Policy workflows
- Building custom DSC resources when needed
- Managing DSC configurations in source control
- Using DSC for server role standardisation
- Automating DSC deployment across server fleets
- Combining PowerShell scripts with DSC pull servers
- Validating post-configuration state
- Handling drift detection and remediation
- Scaling DSC in hybrid cloud environments
Module 17: Integration with Modern IT Toolchains - Calling PowerShell from Ansible playbooks
- Using PowerShell in Chef and Puppet workflows
- Integrating with Terraform via provisioners
- Triggering scripts from Jenkins pipelines
- Wrapping PowerShell into Azure DevOps tasks
- Passing variables from CI/CD to scripts
- Handling exit codes in pipeline contexts
- Using PowerShell in GitHub Actions
- Automating cloud provisioning sequences
- Validating infrastructure as code outputs
- Building pre-deployment health checks
- Integrating with ServiceNow automation scripts
- Updating CMDB data automatically
- Syncing IT asset data with internal systems
- Creating feedback loops between tools
Module 18: Real-World Enterprise Projects - Automating full server onboarding and configuration
- Building a self-service user provisioning portal script
- Creating a bulk license assignment tool for Microsoft 365
- Developing a cross-platform patch compliance dashboard
- Designing a disaster recovery runbook automation suite
- Automating certificate renewal and deployment
- Building a daily health check for SQL Server instances
- Creating a stale DNS record cleanup tool
- Automating firmware update workflows for hardware
- Developing a secure password rotation script
- Building a PowerShell-based ticketing interface
- Creating pre-migration AD cleanup utilities
- Automating network device configuration backups
- Integrating with storage array APIs for provisioning
- Building a centralised log aggregation script
Module 19: Testing, Versioning, and Deployment - Using Pester for unit and integration testing
- Writing testable functions from the start
- Mocking cmdlets and external dependencies
- Testing error paths and edge cases
- Generating code coverage reports
- Integrating tests into deployment pipelines
- Using Git for version control of scripts
- Branching strategies for team-based scripting
- Pull request workflows for peer review
- Tagging releases with semantic versioning
- Signing and packaging modules for distribution
- Deploying scripts using Group Policy Preferences
- Using SCCM to distribute PowerShell tools
- Validating script execution post-deployment
- Maintaining a central script repository
Module 20: Certification and Career Advancement - Reviewing core automation competencies
- Preparing for the final skills assessment
- Building a portfolio of enterprise-ready scripts
- Documenting projects for resume and interview use
- Highlighting automation impact with metrics
- Presenting automation ROI to leadership
- Transitioning from operator to automation strategist
- Using the Certificate of Completion in performance reviews
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Negotiating higher compensation with new skills
- Positioning yourself for roles in SRE, DevOps, or CloudOps
- Joining exclusive alumni forums for continued growth
- Accessing advanced PowerShell resources post-completion
- Receiving job opportunity alerts from partner networks
- Earning a Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Introducing Desired State Configuration (DSC)
- Writing DSC configurations for consistency
- Using built-in DSC resources: File, Registry, Service
- Running DSC in push mode with Start-DscConfiguration
- Monitoring DSC compliance status
- Generating DSC reports for audits
- Integrating DSC with Group Policy workflows
- Building custom DSC resources when needed
- Managing DSC configurations in source control
- Using DSC for server role standardisation
- Automating DSC deployment across server fleets
- Combining PowerShell scripts with DSC pull servers
- Validating post-configuration state
- Handling drift detection and remediation
- Scaling DSC in hybrid cloud environments
Module 17: Integration with Modern IT Toolchains - Calling PowerShell from Ansible playbooks
- Using PowerShell in Chef and Puppet workflows
- Integrating with Terraform via provisioners
- Triggering scripts from Jenkins pipelines
- Wrapping PowerShell into Azure DevOps tasks
- Passing variables from CI/CD to scripts
- Handling exit codes in pipeline contexts
- Using PowerShell in GitHub Actions
- Automating cloud provisioning sequences
- Validating infrastructure as code outputs
- Building pre-deployment health checks
- Integrating with ServiceNow automation scripts
- Updating CMDB data automatically
- Syncing IT asset data with internal systems
- Creating feedback loops between tools
Module 18: Real-World Enterprise Projects - Automating full server onboarding and configuration
- Building a self-service user provisioning portal script
- Creating a bulk license assignment tool for Microsoft 365
- Developing a cross-platform patch compliance dashboard
- Designing a disaster recovery runbook automation suite
- Automating certificate renewal and deployment
- Building a daily health check for SQL Server instances
- Creating a stale DNS record cleanup tool
- Automating firmware update workflows for hardware
- Developing a secure password rotation script
- Building a PowerShell-based ticketing interface
- Creating pre-migration AD cleanup utilities
- Automating network device configuration backups
- Integrating with storage array APIs for provisioning
- Building a centralised log aggregation script
Module 19: Testing, Versioning, and Deployment - Using Pester for unit and integration testing
- Writing testable functions from the start
- Mocking cmdlets and external dependencies
- Testing error paths and edge cases
- Generating code coverage reports
- Integrating tests into deployment pipelines
- Using Git for version control of scripts
- Branching strategies for team-based scripting
- Pull request workflows for peer review
- Tagging releases with semantic versioning
- Signing and packaging modules for distribution
- Deploying scripts using Group Policy Preferences
- Using SCCM to distribute PowerShell tools
- Validating script execution post-deployment
- Maintaining a central script repository
Module 20: Certification and Career Advancement - Reviewing core automation competencies
- Preparing for the final skills assessment
- Building a portfolio of enterprise-ready scripts
- Documenting projects for resume and interview use
- Highlighting automation impact with metrics
- Presenting automation ROI to leadership
- Transitioning from operator to automation strategist
- Using the Certificate of Completion in performance reviews
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Negotiating higher compensation with new skills
- Positioning yourself for roles in SRE, DevOps, or CloudOps
- Joining exclusive alumni forums for continued growth
- Accessing advanced PowerShell resources post-completion
- Receiving job opportunity alerts from partner networks
- Earning a Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Automating full server onboarding and configuration
- Building a self-service user provisioning portal script
- Creating a bulk license assignment tool for Microsoft 365
- Developing a cross-platform patch compliance dashboard
- Designing a disaster recovery runbook automation suite
- Automating certificate renewal and deployment
- Building a daily health check for SQL Server instances
- Creating a stale DNS record cleanup tool
- Automating firmware update workflows for hardware
- Developing a secure password rotation script
- Building a PowerShell-based ticketing interface
- Creating pre-migration AD cleanup utilities
- Automating network device configuration backups
- Integrating with storage array APIs for provisioning
- Building a centralised log aggregation script
Module 19: Testing, Versioning, and Deployment - Using Pester for unit and integration testing
- Writing testable functions from the start
- Mocking cmdlets and external dependencies
- Testing error paths and edge cases
- Generating code coverage reports
- Integrating tests into deployment pipelines
- Using Git for version control of scripts
- Branching strategies for team-based scripting
- Pull request workflows for peer review
- Tagging releases with semantic versioning
- Signing and packaging modules for distribution
- Deploying scripts using Group Policy Preferences
- Using SCCM to distribute PowerShell tools
- Validating script execution post-deployment
- Maintaining a central script repository
Module 20: Certification and Career Advancement - Reviewing core automation competencies
- Preparing for the final skills assessment
- Building a portfolio of enterprise-ready scripts
- Documenting projects for resume and interview use
- Highlighting automation impact with metrics
- Presenting automation ROI to leadership
- Transitioning from operator to automation strategist
- Using the Certificate of Completion in performance reviews
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Negotiating higher compensation with new skills
- Positioning yourself for roles in SRE, DevOps, or CloudOps
- Joining exclusive alumni forums for continued growth
- Accessing advanced PowerShell resources post-completion
- Receiving job opportunity alerts from partner networks
- Earning a Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service
- Reviewing core automation competencies
- Preparing for the final skills assessment
- Building a portfolio of enterprise-ready scripts
- Documenting projects for resume and interview use
- Highlighting automation impact with metrics
- Presenting automation ROI to leadership
- Transitioning from operator to automation strategist
- Using the Certificate of Completion in performance reviews
- Adding certification to LinkedIn and professional profiles
- Negotiating higher compensation with new skills
- Positioning yourself for roles in SRE, DevOps, or CloudOps
- Joining exclusive alumni forums for continued growth
- Accessing advanced PowerShell resources post-completion
- Receiving job opportunity alerts from partner networks
- Earning a Certificate of Completion issued by The Art of Service