The POWERshell

PlayWithLinux.ps1

Overview: This is my 1st stab at using PowerShell to automate some stuff at home. I pull data from a variety of hosts on my network to a drive. I, then, snapshot the partition (just in case an Rsync/SCP/SMBGet job is running at the time of a backup trigger). Finally, I upload to iDrive for archival purposes. Prior to this, much of this comprised of individual cron jobs on a makeshift debian-based linux "server."

SchedTaskBasedPopup.ps1

Overview: Simple Script to Schedule a task that runs as the user that's logged in. You'll want to write something that will figure out the computername and username of the logged on user this script will be targeting, however.

ConfigureRDP-LowBandwidth.ps1

Overview: This script will configure the RDP registry settings for a low-bandwidth scenario. This was created as a means to help manage how end users connect to their workstations. I find it easier to manage RDP settings at the host because we can't always know (with 100% confidence) what RDP client an end user has chosen, the RDP protocol used by said client, much less what individual settings a user may have chosen within their respective client's settings.

How to use:

To set the registry settings: .\ConfigureRDP-LowBandwidth.ps1 -aComputerName $env:COMPUTERNAME -set

Note: This will save the current RDP settings to .\TSClient-Settings_2022-05-18_09-29-11.json in case you need to roll-back to the original settings before the script executed against your target machine

To simply get a backup of the existing registry entries and refrain from making any changes: \ConfigureRDP-LowBandwidth.ps1 -aComputerName $env:COMPUTERNAME -backup

Note: Again, this will save the current RDP settings to .\TSClient-Settings_2022-05-18_09-29-11.json

To restore settings from a previous backup: \ConfigureRDP-LowBandwidth.ps1 -aComputerName $env:COMPUTERNAME -restore -restoreFrom .\TSClient-Settings_2022-05-18_09-29-11.json

Note: This will import the json stringified backup file to a PowerShell object and re-write to the registry.

Pre-Conditions:

You have administrator privileges to the target computer
Remote Registry service is accessible and allowed to start
PowerShell ExecutionPolicy has been changed accordingly

drTools.psm1

Overview: Wrote a module that queries machines over the network via WMI for all sorts of things. My favorite module member written gets me the actively logged on person and the type of session they're in (i.e., RDP, Console, etc.).

How to Use:

Import the module: Import-Module -Name drTools
Verify it's imported: Get-Module -Name drTools
Spit out the list of exported commands: Get-Module -Name drtools | Select-Object -ExpandProperty ExportedCommands
Try out some commands!


PS C:\> Import-Module .\drTools.psm1
PS C:\> Get-Module -Name drtools

ModuleType Version    Name                                ExportedCommands
---------- -------    ----                                ----------------
Script     0.0        drTools                             {drtBattery, drtBios, drtComputerSystem, drtCPUTop20...}

PS C:\> drtComputerSystem -ComputerName $env:computername

Device       : VAULT76
Manufacturer : LENOVO 
SystemFamily : ThinkPad E14 Gen 2
Model        : 20T6CTO1WW
TotalRam     : 23.23

Install-IISWebsite.ps1

Overview: This was something I put together to aid a DevOps team. The team needed to package a web service for Windows Servers that required IIS be installed along with an application pool. Turns out there is a native way to do this in PowerShell without resorting to command-line arguments that provide inconsistent error codes and dubious output to determine the success of an installation (and configuration).

VMwareTools.psm1

Overview: Wrote a module that leverages VMware's PowerCLi primarily for two functions: To extend the OS drives on Windows VMs without having to shut them down, and to enable CPU virtualization which allows for the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) to be installed within desktop VMs.