Week 22 of my MCSE studies was productive despite spending quite a bit of time setting up the hardware and software for the 70-411 lab environment. I finished the KnowledgeNet live learning course for 70-410, completed another chapter of "Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches" book, started into the 70-411 Training Guide by Orin Thomas, attending an exam prep session for 70-410, and got into some other supplemental training resources.
Cool Stuff
The coolest thing this past week was learning how customize a Windows Server 2012 R2 image, then deploy it via WDS (Windows Deployment Services). This could be a huge time saver for me when I need to setup a new lab environment, or simply add an additional server. The time savings come from learning how to add Windows Updates and drivers to an image file. Once this is done, future installs already have the Windows Updates installed. This alone could save 3-4 hours of update time per server. I think I'll setup a WDS server sometime in the next week or so.
PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This week's PowerShell cmdlet is one that I have used several times this week:
Add-Computer
Simple, I know, but it was actually faster to join a computer to an Active Directory domain using PowerShell, than clicking my way through the system properties dialog boxes. Say for example you want to add the local server to an AD Domain called contoso.com (everyone's favorite test/training domain), using my administrator account (since we all know you shouldn't use the Domain Administrator account).
Add-Computer -DomainName contoso.com -DomainCredential dlamb_admin@contoso.com
Once you hit 'Enter', you will be prompted for a password. Once that is done, you just need a quick reboot using:
Restart-Computer
Easy!
Stats
Total time studying: 22 hrs. 35 min.
- PowerShell: 1 hrs. 5 min.
- 70-410: 8 hrs. 15 min.
- 70-411: 2 hrs. 55 min.
- Lab Setup: 10 hrs. 20 min.
Resources used:
In Closing
It was a busy, chaotic week, but I accomplished more than I thought I would. Next week I will be back to the books as I study 70-411 and PowerShell. I have also registered for two Microsoft Virtual Academy Live Events: "Modernizing Your Data Center Jump Start" and "PowerShell for Active Directory Jump Start". I am especially looking forward to the PowerShell event, as one of the hosts is Jason Helmick. He was one of the hosts in the MVA course where I first learned how to use PowerShell, and I thoroughly enjoyed that course.
This coming week, I also need to sit down and spend some more time mapping out exam objectives, and start assessing where I need to spend extra time. It's going to be fun!
Have a great week everyone!
In Closing
It was a busy, chaotic week, but I accomplished more than I thought I would. Next week I will be back to the books as I study 70-411 and PowerShell. I have also registered for two Microsoft Virtual Academy Live Events: "Modernizing Your Data Center Jump Start" and "PowerShell for Active Directory Jump Start". I am especially looking forward to the PowerShell event, as one of the hosts is Jason Helmick. He was one of the hosts in the MVA course where I first learned how to use PowerShell, and I thoroughly enjoyed that course.
This coming week, I also need to sit down and spend some more time mapping out exam objectives, and start assessing where I need to spend extra time. It's going to be fun!
Have a great week everyone!
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