Notice: The below links originally led to content on an external website. The links are no longer valid; therefore, work is being put in to restore this externally published content, on tommymaynard.com.
January 2019
Longtime Writer’s New Home – January 2, 2019
Top of the Next Hour – January 7, 2019
CIDR Notation Host Count – January 15, 2019
Return Only the Fixed Disks – January 15, 2019
Clear-Host Deconstructed – January 31, 2019
The last post was supposed to be the last one ever. Nope, this is it.
That “final” post indicated that I’ll be writing at PowerShell.org beginning in 2019. That’s still 100% true. Instead of having to read all of that post to learn the news, however, I’ve added a final, final post right here — same gist, just quicker.
Head over PowerShell.org to continue reading my writings about PowerShell. Maybe I can do another 315 posts like I did here!
Make that 316, if we count this “post.”
Today is a day like no other for me, and for tommymaynard.com.
As best I can tell, this will be the last blog post written for this website. I’ve known it was coming, and still it’s tough to write this. The content will remain for now, but my time here, will not.
I started this website in the summer of 2014 as a way to give back to the PowerShell community; as a way to share my success and failure with PowerShell over the years. It’s been a huge part of my recent life and as best I can tell, a success. I’ve averaged nearly six posts per month and of recent, close to 200 visits per weekday. For some reason, people don’t PowerShell over the weekend. Weird.
So yes, it’s a sad day. But, it’s not all sad.
I’m still going to PowerShell, and work, and PowerShell, and play with my kids, and PowerShell, and hang out with my wife, and PowerShell. I’ll probably also PowerShell. Not much is really going to change, other than I’m not going to be adding any new content to tommymaynard.com. I’m not out of new content; I’m just out of time to write about it here.
You see, I’m moving upward. That’s how I’m thinking about this change. I’m adding myself to the all-volunteer staff at PowerShell.org. That means I’m giving this place up, for a move where my writing and ramblings will be seen by a wider audience. I’m getting an opportunity to help share ideas and experiences, all related to PowerShell, with a group larger than what I was able to do on my own. I like that I’ve become a success here, but my next goal is to become a success over there.
I would like to formally invite everyone to visit PowerShell.org — the center of our community — if you’ve not already been there, or if you have. I’m still writing to teach; I’m still honored to be a part of our community. I’m just not writing it here anymore. Join me for my newest content at PowerShell.org, and if you want to write too, then let’s talk. If you’re passionate about PowerShell, then you have ideas and you’ve built things you should share. PowerShell.org isn’t a lecture hall, where the voices come from a few. It’s a platform for everyone in this community; it’s a place open for you to make an impact. It’s a line on your resume, if you want to think about it that way. That one little thing you did that one time, can be that one little thing for someone else too, when they need it most. All we have to do is share it.
Write, and tell a story.
Share, no matter how big or small.
Teach, to prove your knowledge.
As a group, we all have something that the others among us are missing.
Tommy Maynard [December 5, 2018]
tommymaynard.com [June 2014 – December 2018]
Earlier this week at the AWS re:Invent conference, I was able to sit alongside another PowerShell enthusiast in a workshop-based PowerShell session. That’s a laptop-open-work-through-a-scenario-with-your-table type of session. Today’s a little different.
Because of a session, I took yesterday (on Lambda and Step Functions), I know a little about today’s format. If all goes well for me getting in there, the session I’ll sit through in the next hour is called, “AWS Tools for PowerShell.”
In this event, a small group of maybe five or six people will each sit with an instructor and work through an example on whatever topic that table covers. While yesterday I was looking for a lecture (after another hands-on event), I simply didn’t get that. I choose incorrectly and did the whole small table hands-on thing. There was no traditional lecture.
Wish me luck, as again there’s no guarantee I’m getting into this session. That’s really starting to potentially come clear for me… ugh. I did pass the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam, so at least I’ve got that, I suppose.
Update: Well, I got a chair at the PowerShell table. We created a VPC, etc., etc. all using the PowerShell Core AWS PowerShell module. It has a rather interesting name and it’s escaping me at the moment. It was a good walk though and it did provide me with something I haven’t actually done in AWS with PowerShell.
It’s 11:30 p.m. where I’m from, so just perhaps that’s why I’m showered, in my hotel room, and ready to study for an AWS certification I’ll be taking in a couple of days. It’s 10:30 p.m. here in Las Vegas. Or maybe, while there’s a bunch of people set to do some sort of chicken wing eating contest a hotel or two over, I’m in my room and preparing to go to sleep, just before I quickly write out a new blog post, because I’m getting old. That’s probably it. There are a couple of things, I wanted to quickly mention.
One, it’s been a few years since I’ve been to one of these gigantic conferences. I’ve forgotten what it’s like, and honestly, I’m not even sure if those Microsoft TechEd conferences of the past, match up to the 45,000-person event this is set to be.
While I won’t be at the PowerShell and DevOps Global Summit 2019, I’ve been to a couple and after returning to something this big, I have something to say. The smaller ones have something these don’t. Or at least, don’t seem to have at the moment. I get it; it’s early still; chicken wings or not, the thing hasn’t really begun. But anyway, for those on the fence about going to the PowerShell conference, if that’s even possible for you, do it! Well, unless you want to ruin the ones with a billion people.
Two, a PowerShell community member contacted me on Twitter today and we’re meeting up for lunch tomorrow. How great is that!? And after that, we’re off to a PowerShell session. You read that right. Just because I’m at an AWS conference doesn’t mean I haven’t found some PowerShell content to devour. It’s called “Hands-On: Automating AWS Infrastructure with PowerShell.” To me, there’s no question that AWS has long accepted PowerShell. There are 4,499 PowerShell cmdlets in their AWSPowerShell module, and PowerShell was recently added to Lambda. There’s some commitment there. Oh! And one time, they were highly responsive and even created the Remove-EC2Instance cmdlet on my suggestion: https://tommymaynard.com/more-aws-powershell-changes-due-to-twitter-and-me-2016.
Looking forward to tomorrow and that sweet combination of AWS, PowerShell, and PowerShell community member meetups. Now to bed, and maybe I’ll still study.
If somehow you haven’t heard, The PowerShell Conference Book, has been published! Like, printed published.
That’s right. If you’d prefer a physical copy of the 30+ author PowerShell collaboration — a first volume, as I understand there may be more — then you can purchase it in that format today. Head over to Amazon, if you’d rather have the printed version of the publication, otherwise head over to Leanpub.com to purchase the e-Book. There’s two ways, to get the same great content.
In closing, (this super short post), it’s still an honor to have been included. Thanks goes out to Mike F. Robbins for bringing me along.
At first, I remember wondering, why do we even need such a thing, but in time, I’ve come to appreciate and respect the efforts behind Planet PowerShell and its Twitter feed. As I’ve stated previously, I’ve used Twitter for years for the PowerShell content it’s been able to provide. In many ways, the content available on Twitter via the PowerShell hashtag, has taught me a part of what I know about PowerShell. Twitter alone seemed like enough at first, but when Mike F. Robbins suggested I included my blog on Planet PowerShell, I took it as a compliment; I wasn’t about to say no. In time, I’ve come to see the benefit.
I can’t tell you exactly how long the posts on my personal site have been Tweeted by Planet PowerShell, but it has easily improved my numbers. While I’m not obsessed with my visitor count, I do appreciate to see those numbers go up for the simple fact that I’m continuing to give back to the community, and that others can benefit from my old friend — learning PowerShell in part, thanks to Twitter.
Yesterday morning, I Tweeted the following:
If you’re not following @planetpshell and you’re in the #PowerShell community, or using and learning PowerShell, then you ought to be. There’s no reason this account shouldn’t have greater than 1,000 followers. RT, and help push it upward. It’s a great source for new PS content.
— Tommy Maynard (@thetommymaynard) September 5, 2018
In a about a half of a day’s time, the follower count for Planet PowerShell was up by 50 new followers (758 to 808). As of today, it’s now at over 100. It currently has over 860 followers with the hope it would break past 1,000, total followers. Therefore, since this post will be posted to Twitter by Planet PowerShell, Tweet this post. I’m hopefully we can get 1,000 followers. Additionally, if you have a PowerShell blog, head over the the website and get yourself added. Share you secrets, tips, and tricks with as many people as you can.
Hey, look at this! I’m a part of the Top 50 PowerShell bloggers of 2018.
I’m number 33, to be exact. I’m not sure what it’s worth, but it’s a neat honor nonetheless. All this mentioned, it’s wrong when it says I post once a month. Based on the years I’ve been doing this, it was 6 posts per month on average as of August 2018. You know, a few days ago.
I suspect I’ll be at this in a year’s time, so just maybe I’ll move up from 33 over the next 12 months — it’s possible!
It was mid 2014 when I decided I was going to read through the about help files and rewrite them, right here on this website. What a dumb idea.
I did a couple and then, as if the world needed to tell me something, I read a Tweet from Jeffery Hicks. I can’t quote it verbatim, but it was along the lines of don’t rewrite help files; they already exist for a reason. I’ve never thought about it until now, but just maybe Jeffery was speaking to me without using my name. Lucky for me, I only completed those two, and not anywhere near the full list of which I’ve included the first five below.
PS > Get-Help -Name about_* Name Category Module Synopsis ---- -------- ------ -------- about_ActivityCommonParameters HelpFile Describes the parameters that Windows PowerShell about_Aliases HelpFile Describes how to use alternate names for cmdle... about_Arithmetic_Operators HelpFile Describes the operators that perform arithmeti... about_Arrays HelpFile Describes arrays, which are data structures de... about_Assignment_Operators HelpFile Describes how to use operators to assign value... ...
On my machine right now, there’s 148 of them! I wouldn’t have even been able to get to 300 if that’s all I wrote about. That’s if I would’ve even gotten that far. I’m glad I stopped, as I don’t believe I would’ve learned as much, had as good of a time, and become a resource for people looking for answers to their PowerShell questions.
PS > (Get-Help -Name about_* | Measure-Object).Count 148
I started this endeavor in June 2014 and now, it’s August 2018. That’s four years and two months, or 50 months. At 300 posts, that’s exactly an average 6 posts per month, or one a week with a couple extra jammed into the same month, each month.
I still love PowerShell. I’m still often rewarded by deciding to take my time to experiment with it. Often I take my experimentation straight to a blog post, in the moment I realized that someone else, would benefit from what I just learned. I’m grateful I took a chance at it, and I’m not done. I’m sure I’ll come up with more to write about and more that I will desire to share with the PowerShell community. And with any luck, it won’t be an about topic rewrite.
Thanks to everyone that’s stopped by over the years.
– Tommy Maynard
Welcome to the 297th post on tommymaynard.com. It’s countdown to 300!
Recently, PowerShell.org started a new weekly section on their website. It’s ICYMI, also know as, In Case You Missed It. The idea is to gather stories, blogs, and news about the PowerShell community to include in a once-a-week blog post, so people can potentially catch up on the things they might’ve missed during the current week.
A couple times now, I’ve seen my posts end up there! Apparently, I’ve done and shared a couple things that have landed in ICYMI on PowerShell.org. That’s kind of a neat honor. In order to keep these together, so I don’t have to chase them down later, if I find a reason I need them, I thought I write a quick post and catalog these on my own site. So here we go; we’ll do newest to oldest, and hopefully, these won’t be the only two. As of this writing, the newest entry is from August 17, 2018.
If you have something to share with the community, no matter how big or small, find a way to share it; get it out there for the community.
August 17, 2018
https://powershell.org/2018/08/17/icymi-powershell-week-of-17-august-2018/
July 13, 2018
https://powershell.org/2018/07/13/what-you-missed-this-week-in-powershell/