The fundamental goal of Windows PowerShell is providing better, easier administrative control over systems, either interactively or from script. This chapter walks through solutions to many specific problems in administering Windows systems with Windows PowerShell. Although we have not talked about scripts or functions in the Windows PowerShell User's Guide, the solutions can be used from scripts or as functions later. We will show examples that include functions as part of the solution to solve problems.
Throughout the solution descriptions, you will see a mix of solutions using specific cmdlets, the general Get-WmiObject cmdlet, and even external tools that are part of the Windows and .NET Framework infrastructures. Use of external tools is part of the long-term design intent of Windows PowerShell. Even as the system grows, users will continually encounter situations in which the available toolsets do not do everything they need. Rather than foster dependency on cmdlet implementations alone, Windows PowerShell tries to support integrating solutions from every possible alternative scenario.