MS-55039: Windows PowerShell Scripting and Toolmaking Course Overview

To ensure success in the MS-55039: Windows PowerShell Scripting and Toolmaking course, students should come prepared with the following minimum knowledge and skills:

• Basic understanding of Windows operating system environments and familiarity with Windows Server.
• Experience in basic Windows administration tasks, such as creating and managing user accounts, assigning permissions, and setting up network shares.
• Fundamental knowledge of scripting or programming concepts. Prior exposure to any scripting language would be beneficial.
• Experience using command-line interfaces, such as the Windows Command Prompt or PowerShell.
• Basic understanding of how to use PowerShell for simple tasks, such as running commands, working with variables, and basic pipeline operations.
• Willingness to learn and apply new scripting techniques within PowerShell.

Please note that while prior experience with PowerShell is highly recommended, the course is designed to build on the foundational concepts, and participants will have the opportunity to practice and develop their scripting abilities throughout the training.

Target Audience for MS-55039: Windows PowerShell Scripting and Toolmaking

The MS-55039 course equips IT professionals with advanced PowerShell scripting and toolmaking skills for efficient task automation.

• System Administrators
• DevOps Engineers
• Network Administrators
• Database Administrators
• IT Professionals seeking to automate Windows-based tasks
• Security Analysts who use scripting for automation
• Support Technicians involved in regular scripting tasks
• Software Developers with a focus on automation and integration
• Technical Professionals looking to streamline deployment processes
• Cloud Infrastructure Engineers working with Windows environments
• Technical Team Leads managing automation strategies
• PowerShell Scripters looking to enhance their scripting capabilities
• IT Automation Specialists

Learning Objectives - What you will Learn in this MS-55039: Windows PowerShell Scripting and Toolmaking?

Introduction to Learning Outcomes

The MS-55039 course equips learners with the skills to design, script, and develop advanced PowerShell tools and modules, focusing on best practices in scripting and toolmaking.

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

• Understand the principles of tool design, ensuring tools perform specific tasks, are flexible, and have a native feel.
• Master the process of starting with a command, utilizing discovery and experimentation for tool development.
• Learn to build a basic function and script module, incorporating best practices and checking for prerequisites.
• Implement CmdletBinding to add advanced function capabilities and parameterize functions for flexibility and control.
• Emit well-constructed objects as output, adhering to PowerShell’s object-oriented nature.
• Develop skills in verbose, warning, and informational output to create user-friendly scripts.
• Write effective comment-based help to provide guidance and instructions for end-users of the tools.
• Handle errors and exceptions in scripts to ensure reliability and user confidence in tools.
• Apply basic debugging techniques to identify and resolve issues within PowerShell scripts.
• Create robust parameters for scripts, understanding parameter positions, validation, and multiple parameter sets.
• Write full external help files, making use of tools like PlatyPs and providing support for online help.
• Implement unit testing with Pester to ensure code reliability and expected behavior.
• Extend output types and customize objects using the Extensible Type System (ETS) for tailored outputs.
• Analyze scripts for performance and best practices, optimizing tools for efficiency.
• Publish tools to the PowerShell Gallery or private repositories, understanding the use of manifests and distribution best practices.
• Design basic controllers such as automation scripts and menus to manage script execution and user interactions.
• Create proxy functions to modify the behavior of existing commands without altering the original source code.
• Work with XML and JSON data formats for interoperability with other systems and data persistence.
• Interact with SQL Server data, performing queries and operations within PowerShell scripts.
• Complete a final exam that synthesizes all concepts learned into a practical toolmaking exercise.