# Could use some help with learning Powershell **URL:** \ **Category:** PowerShell Help\ **Created:** [October 31, 2018, 10:25am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/could-use-some-help-with-learning-powershell/11592 "2018-10-31T10:25:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fruitjacket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@fruitjacket](https://forums.powershell.org/u/fruitjacket)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 10:25am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/could-use-some-help-with-learning-powershell/11592/1 "2018-10-31T10:25:22Z")
A little background; I migrated our Exchange On Prem to Office 365 last year and had to learn powershell to administer it. Since then I’ve gotten into using it to perform numerous tasks and somewhat understand it, however more advanced things like creating an array, or understanding piping, etc., leave me a bit baffled. Ultimately what I’m trying to do is fully automate our VIRTUAL server patching and rebooting, along with verifying services set to ‘auto’ are actually started, and if not, start them from a single console. **Down the road, I want this to be a scheduled task that does the following:** Starting at 6pm the night before the scheduled reboots, tell each server to install the patches that are pushed from SCCM. Preferably this would be staggered, so that not all of the servers are hitting the SCCM server for their patch at the same time, but I have no idea how to do that. I have all of the servers in a .csv file and would prefer to keep it this way so going forward, when adding or removing a server, there is very little maintenance to do to make the script continue to work. Then, to wait until exactly 6am, and have it start rebooting servers, in a particular order (which could be achieved by the order they are listed in the CSV file), staggering the reboot initiation by 30 seconds between servers, so they’re not all hitting the VMware hosts at the exact same time. Once the reboots are completed, I’d like to have a way to go through each of the servers that were bounced, and verify that any service set to auto is started, and if not, have it remotely started, with a report written. Here’s the truth, most of what I have working so far (patching is one script, reboots are another, and I’m just running them manually for testing purposes), is stuff someone else wrote, so I’d like to learn how to do this stuff, but finding time is always a challenge. Here’s what I have so far: Patching: > # Determine script location $ScriptDir = Split-Path $script:MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path $log = "$ScriptDir\InstallUpdates.log" $date = Get-Date -Format "dd-MM-yyyy hh:mm:ss" # Get list of clients from notepad "--------------------- Script executed on $date (DD-MM-YYYY hh:mm:ss) ---------------------" + "`r`n" | Out-File $log -append #ForEach ($system in Get-Content $ScriptDir"\Chrisclients.txt") ForEach ($system in Import-CSV "H:\PathToCSVFile\ServersToReboot.csv") { $wmicheck=$null $wmicheck =Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $system -namespace root\cimv2 -Class Win32\_BIOS -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue if ($wmicheck) { # Get list of all instances of CCM\_SoftwareUpdate from root\CCM\ClientSDK for missing updates https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj155450.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396 $TargetedUpdates= Get-WmiObject -ComputerName $system -Namespace root\CCM\ClientSDK -Class CCM\_SoftwareUpdate -Filter ComplianceState=0 $approvedUpdates= ($TargetedUpdates |Measure-Object).count $pendingpatches=($TargetedUpdates |Where-Object {$TargetedUpdates.EvaluationState -ne 8} |Measure-Object).count $rebootpending=($TargetedUpdates |Where-Object {$TargetedUpdates.EvaluationState -eq 8} |Measure-Object).count if ($pendingpatches -gt 0) { try { $MissingUpdatesReformatted = @($TargetedUpdates | ForEach-Object {if($\_.ComplianceState -eq 0){[WMI]$\_.\_\_PATH}}) # The following is the invoke of the CCM\_SoftwareUpdatesManager.InstallUpdates with our found updates $InstallReturn = Invoke-WmiMethod -ComputerName $system -Class CCM\_SoftwareUpdatesManager -Name InstallUpdates -ArgumentList (,$MissingUpdatesReformatted) -Namespace root\ccm\clientsdk "$system,Targeted Patches :$approvedUpdates,Pending patches:$pendingpatches,Reboot Pending patches :$rebootpending,initiated $pendingpatches patches for install" | Out-File $log -append } catch {"$System,pending patches - $pendingpatches but unable to install them ,please check Further" | Out-File $log -append } } else {"$system,Targeted Patches :$approvedUpdates,Pending patches:$pendingpatches,Reboot Pending patches :$rebootpending,Compliant" | Out-File $log -append } } else {"$system,Unable to connect to remote system ,please check further" | Out-File $log -append } } Rebooting:   > $header = "server" $servers = import-csv "H:\PathToCSVFile\ServersToReboot.csv" -header $header > > foreach($i in $servers) { > Write-Host “Attempting to reboot:” $i.server “…” > > $serverObj = gwmi Win32\_operatingsystem -computer $i.server > > $status = $serverObj.reboot() > > if ($status.ReturnValue = “0”) { > Write-Host “Reboot successful.” > Write-Host “Waiting 15 seconds” > Start-Sleep -s 15 > Write-Host “Starting Next Reboot” > } else { > Write-Host “Reboot failed. Check permissions.” > } > }   The reboot script works, for the most part, but once the last server is finished, it does make me wait 15 seconds before terminating, but it does work as expected.   I have scoured the web, and ended up here by my searches on a powershell to check on services on those servers, and to restart them if needed, but the discussion seems to fall off, or I got lost and didn’t understand. Aside from reading a powershell book or taking another class, does anybody have any recommendations on how to accomplish this? ---
**Author:** ![fredrik-kacsmarck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a183cd/32.png) [@fredrik-kacsmarck](https://forums.powershell.org/u/fredrik-kacsmarck)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/could-use-some-help-with-learning-powershell/11592/2 "2018-10-31T14:04:19Z")
A book is always good 🙂 Don Jones, the president of this site has quite a few books about powershell on e.g. Amazon. If you don’t want to start with a book I would recommend to go to MVA (Microsoft Virtual Academy) and look at the two tracks with Jason Helmick and Jeffrey Snover. 1. Getting started with Microsoft Powershell 2. Advanced Tools & Scripting with PowerShell 3.0 Jump Start I would recommend to look at these no matter what since they are good, not too complicated to follow and some quirky humour mixed into it 🙂 If you go through both tracks you would understand the code that you posted, except maybe the WMI specific classes used. But that shouldn’t be to hard to catch up on afterwards. And the MVA courses are free. ---
**Author:** ![ta11ow](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/ta11ow/32/131_2.png) [@ta11ow](https://forums.powershell.org/u/ta11ow)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/could-use-some-help-with-learning-powershell/11592/3 "2018-10-31T14:04:50Z")
I have two recommendations in general. I haven’t time to go through all of that right now, but I’m sure someone will drop by shortly enough 🙂 1. Stick around the PS communities -- there's this forum, a [PowerShell subreddit](https://old.reddit.com/r/powershell), and a PS Slack or Discord (both of which are linked on the subreddit sidebar) 2. Don't be afraid to ask questions. I'm also working on some [koans](https://github.com/vexx32/pskoans) for PowerShell, if you learn better by doing & applying rather than just reading. :) ---
**Author:** ![fruitjacket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@fruitjacket](https://forums.powershell.org/u/fruitjacket)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 2:06pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/could-use-some-help-with-learning-powershell/11592/4 "2018-10-31T14:06:33Z")
[quote quote=120580]A book is always good 🙂 Don Jones, the president of this site has quite a few books about powershell on e.g. Amazon. If you don’t want to start with a book I would recommend to go to MVA (Microsoft Virtual Academy) and look at the two tracks with Jason Helmick and Jeffrey Snover. 1. Getting started with Microsoft Powershell 2. Advanced Tools & Scripting with PowerShell 3.0 Jump Start I would recommend to look at these no matter what since they are good, not too complicated to follow and some quirky humour mixed into it 🙂 If you go through both tracks you would understand the code that you posted, except maybe the WMI specific classes used. But that shouldn’t be to hard to catch up on afterwards. And the MVA courses are free. [/quote] Excellent. I will check out those courses. Thank you for the info. ---
**Author:** ![fruitjacket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@fruitjacket](https://forums.powershell.org/u/fruitjacket)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 2:15pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/could-use-some-help-with-learning-powershell/11592/5 "2018-10-31T14:15:20Z")
[quote quote=120582]I have two recommendations in general. I haven’t time to go through all of that right now, but I’m sure someone will drop by shortly enough 🙂 1. Stick around the PS communities — there's this forum, a [PowerShell subreddit](https://old.reddit.com/r/powershell), and a PS Slack or Discord (both of which are linked on the subreddit sidebar) 2. Don't be afraid to ask questions. I'm also working on some [koans](https://github.com/vexx32/pskoans) for PowerShell, if you learn better by doing & applying rather than just reading. 🙂 [/quote] I’d love to really learn this stuff, so I hope to be an active member. Thanks for the tips, and I’ll check out your KOANS as I don’t know what they are. ---
**Author:** ![alex-aymonier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@alex-aymonier](https://forums.powershell.org/u/alex-aymonier)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/could-use-some-help-with-learning-powershell/11592/6 "2018-10-31T17:39:59Z")
If you want end to end I would highly recommend Don Jones’ CBTnuggets course. Goes from Opening Powershell through to nearly everything you would need to know. It is PS 2,3 and 4 nearly all of this carries forwards to 5 and 5.1 [https://www.cbtnuggets.com/blog/2014/03/new-windows-powershell-v2-v3-v4-ultimate-training/](https://www.cbtnuggets.com/blog/2014/03/new-windows-powershell-v2-v3-v4-ultimate-training/) This is the moster list of awesome vids 1. Course Introduction and Lab Setup 2. Windows PowerShell Orientation and Requirements 3. Finding and Discovering Commands 4. Interpreting Command Help 5. Running Commands 6. Working with PSProviders and PSDrives 7. Variables, Strings, Hashtables, and Core Operators 8. Regular Expression Basics 9. Running External Commands: Tips and tricks 10. Learning the Pipeline: Exporting and converting data 11. Understanding Objects in PowerShell 12. Core Commands: Selecting, sorting, measuring, and more 13. How the PowerShell Pipeline Works 14. Formatting Command Output 15. Comparison Operators and Filtering 16. Advanced Operators 17. Setting Default Values for Command Parameters 18. Enumerating Objects in the Pipeline 19. Soup to Nuts: Completing a new task 20. Lab A: PowerShell core review 21. PowerShell Remoting Basics 22. Persistent Remoting: PSSessions 23. Implicit Remoting: Using commands on another computer 24. Advanced Remoting: Passing data and working with output 25. Advanced Remoting: Crossing domain boundaries 26. Advanced Remoting: Custom session configurations 27. Web Remoting: PowerShell web access 28. Lab B: PowerShell remoting review 29. WMI and CIM: WMI, docs, and the repository 30. WMI and CIM: Using WMI to command query qata 31. WMI and CIM: Using CIM command to query data, part 2 32. WMI and CIM: Filtering and WMI query language 33. WMI and CIM: Associations 34. WMI and CIM: Working with CIM sessions 35. WMI and CIM: Executing instance methods 36. Lab C: WMI and CIM review 37. Background Job Basics: Local, WMI, and Remoting jobs 38. Scheduled Background Jobs 39. Lab D: Jobs review 40. PowerShell Script Security 41. Prompting for Input, Producing Output 42. Creating Basic Parameterized Scripts 43. PowerShell Scripting: Logical constructs 44. PowerShell Scripting: Looping constructs 45. PowerShell Scripting: Basic functions, filters, and pipeline functions 46. PowerShell Scripting: Best practices 47. PowerShell Scripting: From command to script to function to module 48. PowerShell Scripting: Scope 49. PowerShell Scripting: Combining data from multiple sources 50. Lab E: PowerShell scripting review 51. Advanced Functions: Adding Help 52. Advanced Functions: Parameter Attributes 53. Advanced Functions: Pipeline Input 54. Advanced Functions: Parameter Sets 55. Lab F: Advanced Functions Review 56. Creating Private Utility Functions and Preference Variables 57. Adding Error Capturing and Handling to a Function 58. Advanced Error Handling 59. Error Handling the Old Way: Trap 60. Debugging Techniques 61. Creating Custom Formatting Views 62. Creating Custom Type Extensions 63. Working with SQL Server (and other) Databases 64. Working with XML Data Files 65. Supporting –WhatIf and –Confirm in Functions 66. Troubleshooting and Tracing the Pipeline 67. Using Object Hierarchies for Complex Output 68. Creating a Proxy Function 69. Lab G: Advanced Scripting Review 70. From the Field: Enhanced HTML Reporting 71. From the Field: Trend Analysis Reporting 72. From the Field: Scraping HTML Pages 73. Introduction to PowerShell Workflow 74. Desired State Configuration: The Basics 75. Desired State Configuration: Configuration Scripts and Pull Servers 76. Desired State Configuration: Writing Resources 77. Controller Scripts: Automating Business Processes 78. Controller Scripts: A Menu of Tools 79. Creating a GUI Tool: The GUI 80. Creating a GUI Tool: The Code 81. Creating a GUI Tool: The Output 82. Creating a GUI Tool: Using Data Tables 83. Lab H: Automating a Business Process 84. Globalizing a Function or Script 85. Discovering and Using COM Objects 86. Discovering and Using .NET Classes and Instances 87. Using Type Accelerators 88. The Big Gotchas in PowerShell 89. Fun With Profiles 90. Random Tips and Tricks ---
**Author:** ![simbrook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@simbrook](https://forums.powershell.org/u/simbrook)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2018, 3:04am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/could-use-some-help-with-learning-powershell/11592/7 "2018-11-01T03:04:38Z")
If you look on the forums for questions that interest you then search the internet for ways to solve the questions I find is a good way to learn, as this way you will learn things for solutions that you may of not thought of. Also I agree the MVA courses are good as well as PowerShell in a month of lunches ---
**Author:** ![dotnVo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@dotnVo](https://forums.powershell.org/u/dotnVo)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 8:33pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/could-use-some-help-with-learning-powershell/11592/8 "2024-05-16T20:33:44Z")