Automating Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Administration with Windows PowerShell 2.0

Gary Lapointe and I have started on the exciting journey of writing our first book, "Automating Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Administration with Windows PowerShell 2.0". 

The book is schedule to be release during the first quarter of 2011 and will cover many topics on advanced farm configurations.  SharePoint 2010 offers over 600 cmdlets, but even with this large number, there are many administrtion tasks that can not be done just using cmdlets.  We explore how to build your farm from start to finish using PowerShell 2.0.

If your interested to see some of the samples that will be included, check out my PowerShell blog located at http://sppowershell.com/.

SharePoint 2010, Site Direcotry, and PowerShell

You may have noticed that Central Administration offers you a screen to configure a master Site Directory in SharePoint 2010, but it does not give you the ability to create a site based off of this template through the UI. It appears that this functionality has been removed and is only available under the covers to support SharePoint 2007 upgrades that had this template included.

The following blog post will walk you through how to create and configure the Site Directory using PowerShell.

http://sppowershell.com/2010/07/17/sharepoint-2010-and-the-site-directory/

SharePoint 2010 Exam Coaching Sessions

If you are interested in studying for the SharePoint 2010 exams, Microsoft Learning is providing two recorded exam coaching sessions. 

MCTS and IT Pro Administration

https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/view?id=DC051310-1&pw=webcast

MCTS Developer Exam

https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/view?id=DC052010-1&pw=webcast

Adding Users to SharePoint from Active Directory

Just posted a new blog ...


This script will interrogate Active Directory and get a list of Users. If the user has an email address, it will then add the user to SharePoint using the API. This code works for both SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010. SharePoint 2007 user simply needs to uncomment the line that adds the SharePoint assembly.


Get the PowerShell at http://sppowershell.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/adding-users-to-sharepoint-from-active-directory/

Enable SharePoint Alerts for Security Groups

Just posted a new blog.

In a recent deployment, we came across an issue in SharePoint that disabled the use of alerts to members of security groups due to SharePoint sending the email anonymously. In order to fix the issue, I needed to change the ‘RequiresSenderAuthenticationEnabled’ property of the group to false. There were hundreds of security groups, so I had them dumped into a text file.

Grab the PowerShell at http://sppowershell.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/enable-sharepoint-alerts-for-security-groups/

SharePoint and PowerShell

I have started another blog that focuses on SharePoint and PowerShell.  You can find it at http://sppowershell.wordpress.com/.

Fine Tuning Your SharePoint 2010 Environment – Front End Optimizations

Yesterday, I co-presented at TechED North America with Mike Watson on 'Fine Tuning Your SharePoint 2010 Environment'.  We had a really nice turnout.  I have posted my notes for the session on my technical blog.  The session will also be available on-line in the next day or so.  If you would like to review my portion of the presentation, you can find it here.

I also found a good summary on-line...

http://sharepoint2010wss.com/teched-2010-fine-tuning-your-sharepoint-server-2010-environment/


If you have any question, please feel free to contact me on Twitter: @noidentity29 or shoot me an email.