PowerShell-Enabled Server Products

Microsoft’s server products provide various levels of PowerShell support, including specialized commands (cmdlets), providers (which allow PowerShell to access a product’s unique data store), a snap-in to register commands and providers to PowerShell, and, in some cases, a command shell that hosts PowerShell from within the application.

Actual support in the products runs the gamut, from Exchange Server and System Center Virtual Machine Manager, which provide a command shell, specialized commands, a provider, and a snap-in or module, to applications such as SharePoint Server, which supply only some specialized commands and a snap-in. Office 365 supports PowerShell extensively for user and licensing provisioning and management, as well as for Exchange Online, but offers little for SharePoint Online or Lync Online.

Windows Server 2012 will include PowerShell 3.0 and uses it extensively for deployment and management of server features, roles, and troubleshooting, offering over 2,300 cmdlets, almost 10 times the number included in Windows Server 2008 R2. Windows Server 2012 adds support for management of the Windows Server Core mode of the product using PowerShell. The redesigned Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 offers a graphic user interface (GUI) for server management, but uses PowerShell underneath to perform all tasks, which can be performed directly from PowerShell if the administrator is more comfortable with the command line. Windows 8 also features PowerShell 3.0 support, but PowerShell is not as central to the user interface as it is on Windows Server 2012.