PoSh Chap
Musings on the splendour of PowerShell...
10 Years of PowerShell!
Is it really 10 years? Time passes so fast. I was a Sys Admin when PowerShell was released, in...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 11/25/2016
Days of Service and Service Anniversaries
Not an exact science*, but PowerShell and Active Directory can be used to arrive at the length of...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 11/18/2016
All Properties AND a Constructed Attribute? Get out of here!
Can you retrieve all of an object's properties and request a constructed attribute at the same time?...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 11/11/2016
Active Directory Object Parent GUID Fun!
Another week of AD Object GUID fun! I've created an abridged version of a previous post, so crack...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 11/04/2016
Active Directory Object GUID Conversion Larks!
What fun I have in the hotel of an evening! Gym, meal and then Active Directory object conversion...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 10/28/2016
RegEx for SMTP Address Validation
Last week I opined about the cloud. None of that this week, you'll be glad to hear. Straight to...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 10/21/2016
RegEx for Password Complexity Validation
I often hear on-premises infrastructure described as 'legacy'. When you consider the innovation,...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 10/14/2016
Back to Basics: Comparing Property Values Between PS Custom Objects
You have two PS custom objects. They contain the same property names. You want to compare the values...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 10/07/2016
Back to Basics: Multiple Statements with Try / Catch
A customer question this week. What would happen if they chained a number of statements in a try...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 09/30/2016
Security Focus: Check Credential Guard Status with PowerShell
In Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows Server 2016, Credential Guard uses virtualization-based...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 09/23/2016
One-Liner: Use PowerShell to Verify Domain Controller Location
It's generally a bad thing if a domain controller isn't in the domain controllers OU. For example,...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 09/16/2016
Security Focus: Use PowerShell to List Authentication Policy Silo Members
A while back, I wrote a couple of posts on implementing Authentication Policies and Authentication...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 09/09/2016
Ooooh... PnP Cmdlets & Surface Book Fun!
PowerShell just gives and gives and gives. Whilst looking for automated UEFI management options for...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 09/02/2016
One-Liner: Use PowerShell to Get GPOs Containing User Settings
Last week we used Get-ADObject to find GPOs based on their flags attribute. We targeted GPOs that...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 08/26/2016
Use PowerShell to Get GPO Status Flag
Here's an interesting little exercise in using Get-ADObject to see which parts of a Group Policy are...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 08/19/2016
Security Focus One Liner: AD Privileged User and Password Doesn't Expire
I get to perform security assessments against Active Directory. It's always fascinating. There's a...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 08/12/2016
Security Focus: Orphaned AdminCount -eq 1 AD Users
AdminSDHolder and AdminCount have appeared in a few recent posts. In fact, in addition to this post,...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 07/29/2016
Back to Basics: Change an Attribute on a File
Today's post is short and sweet... just like the PoSh Progeny! Here's a short and sweet way to...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 07/22/2016
Security Focus: AD Objects Configured as AdminCount -eq 1
Let's go! In Active Directory, AdminSDHolder is an object in each domain partition's system...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 07/15/2016
Parameter HelpMessage Arguement
I taught a PowerShell course the other day. I hadn't delivered that content for a while. I came to a...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 07/08/2016
Use PowerShell to Decipher GPO Version Information
A Group Policy is made up of a GPC (Group Policy Container) and a GPT (Group Policy Template). The...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 07/01/2016
Security Focus: Check the AdminSDHolder ACL - Part 2
Two weeks ago we used PowerShell to report on the AdminSDHolder ACL. We ended up with a CSV file of...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 06/24/2016
MS16-072 - Known Issue - Use PowerShell to Check GPOs
UPDATE - 30/06/2016 Official detect and fix script released. See here: Powershell script to adjust...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 06/16/2016
Security Focus: Check the AdminSDHolder ACL - Part 1
In Active Directory, AdminSDHolder is an object in each domain partition's system container. It has...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 06/10/2016
Back to Basics: Is my Parameter Value from the Pipeline?
I was asked how to check if a supplied parameter value has come from the pipeline. I came up with...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 06/03/2016
Security Focus: Reporting on Interesting UserAccountControl Values
I've talked about various UserAccountControl values in previous AD security focused posts. Recently,...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 05/27/2016
Configure an Azure Automation Account - An Addendum
Recently, I wrote a series of articles on getting started with Azure Automation. Configure an Azure...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 05/20/2016
Back to Basics: A Casting Quandary
I could hear the screams of frustration from miles away! Not too long after my Skype for Business...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 05/13/2016
Perform a Basic o365 Inventory with PowerShell
An old customer wanted an insight into a little used o365 test tenant. I made sure they had a Global...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 05/06/2016
Security Focus: Report on Protocol Transition
A couple of weeks ago I showed how to report on Constrained Delegation. This week, I'm going to talk...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 04/29/2016
Security Focus: Report on Unconstrained Delegation
Last week I showed how to report on Constrained Delegation. This week, I'll show you how to...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 04/22/2016
Security Focus: Report on Constrained Delegation
It's a subject that's been written about on numerous occasions. However, there's not...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 04/15/2016
Active Directory - Parsing a 'Multi-Line' Description Property
Interesting one this... A customer had some information they needed to obtain from the description...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 04/08/2016
Even Newer and Even More Improved Formula: Build an Active Directory Forest in Microsoft Azure (IaaS) II
Now, there's a title! Why have I felt the need to blog about this again? Well, a little while...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 04/01/2016
Back to Basics: Use PowerShell to Search Servers for Specific Software
An old acquaintance, Mr. Rupert Torquil-Smythe Esq. (yes, it is he), recently wanted to know whether...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 03/25/2016
Back to Basics: Use PowerShell to Generate a List of Week Commencing Dates
The other day I need a year's worth of 'week commencing' dates to complete a work-related task....
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 03/18/2016
Configure DNS Dynamic Update Credentials for DHCP with PowerShell
It's an old story... client meets network, client falls in love obtains IP address from DHCP...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 03/11/2016
ADMirror PowerShell Module
Following on from my post about Test Lab Hydration, I've just released a Dump AD Groups script...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 03/04/2016
Configure an Azure Automation Account - Part 3 - Validation Run Book
Welcome back! This is part three of a three part series to get you up and running with Azure...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 02/26/2016
Configure an Azure Automation Account - Part 2 - Credentials and Variables
Welcome back! This is part two of a three part series to get you up and running with Azure...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 02/19/2016
Configure an Azure Automation Account - Part 1 - Start Me Up
Welcome to part one of a three part series to get you up and running with Azure Automation. The end...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 02/11/2016
Use PowerShell to Restrict DNS Resource Record Registration
I'm going to start with the PowerShell. Actually, in writing that sentence, I realise I've...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 02/04/2016
One-Liner: Generate a Random Password
Always learning. Forever delighted. Happily surprised. That's using PowerShell for you... well,...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 01/29/2016
One-liner: Use Get-ADObject to Find Authorised DHCP Servers
The DHCP PowerShell module has the Get-DhcpServerInDC cmdlet to show you the DHCP servers that have...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 01/22/2016
Automagically Keep the Azure PowerShell Module Up-To-Date
I'm a tidy(ish) person. Tidy desk, tidy mind and all that jazz... as someone once said! I like...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 01/15/2016
One-Liner: Is my Laptop Connected to a Domain Controller?
I'm a remote worker - my work colleagues think I'm rather distant! Actually, what I meant...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 01/08/2016
PowerShell and certutil.exe
An old customer got in contact recently. Could I help combine some PowerShell with certutil.exe to...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 01/01/2016
Happy Holidays - Festive Fun!
DISCLAIMER: my idea of fun and your idea of fun may well differ! Ho, Ho, Ho! Here's some...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 12/25/2015
Use PowerShell to Add a Vendor-Specific Class to Windows DHCP
I'm helping a customer migrate from an Infoblox appliance to Windows IPAM. One of the tasks...
Author: Ian Farr [MSFT] Date: 12/18/2015