PowerShell is Microsoft's command shell and scripting language that gives us a single and consistent method for automating our entire environment. It is essentially an automation engine that Microsoft has built into its major products, and its extensibility is a major strength that makes it an invaluable resource for any administrator of Microsoft products. Knowing and using PowerShell can enable you to automate many administration and configuration tasks in SCOM and save you a great deal of time and energy in the process. That is the beauty of automation.

This section will provide a brief introduction to PowerShell, review some frequently used and useful cmdlets, and provide some practical examples on how to use PowerShell for administration tasks in System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager.

PowerShell comprises a number of features such as cmdlets, pipeline, providers, and the help system. These features make PowerShell a very powerful tool for...