We can check out policies in a SQL Server instance as well, by using PowerShell. Instead of using SMO, we can use the SQLSERVER PSDrive. You can first change your location to the SQLPolicy node:

Set-Location "SQLSERVER:\SQLPolicy\YourSqlServerMachineName"

You can use dir or Get-ChildItem to navigate to the available instances:

Change the location to the instance you are working with. When you list the current items, you should find all the policy-related objects:

If you navigate to Policies, you will be able to see all the policies that are currently installed in the instance (if you have any already installed):

There are more properties and methods to a Policy object, so you can use the Get-Member cmdlet to explore. Just before the list of properties and methods, you should also find that each policy is a Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Dmf.Policy object. Knowing this information will enable you to work with policies programmatically, the same way we've used SMO in previous sections...