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October 2011 Newsletter  

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In the News

Microsoft highlighted the upcoming release of Windows PowerShell 3.0 for Windows 8 during several sessions at its Build conference for developers in September.  Read more.
 
A GUI is great for making unfamiliar tasks more convenient and easy to learn. They do simplify your life. Where GUIs don't work so well is when you need to repeat some task across a hundred servers. Read more.
  
There's a lot to be said for being a do-it-yourself (DIY) type. In the IT pro world, the person overseeing IT operations often wears multiple hats (system, network, phone admin, Help desk) or, at the very least, has a limited budget for investing in new products. In such environments, being unafraid to roll up your sleeves and script your own solutions for IT task automation, monitoring, and deployment is a big plus.  Read more.
  

Why PowerShell? Why JAMS?

Windows PowerShell V3 is out and it's gaining traction.  But why?  Wasn't Windows success driven by the fact that it had this slick GUI where you could spend countless hours pointing and clicking on objects? The issues started to surface when Windows became a force in the data center.  Now, even in highly virtualized environments, a data center faces efficiency and scalability issues on a daily basis.  And PowerShell offers an efficient automation engine for the data center.

 

First, let's debunk the myths... 

 

PowerShell isn't just a Scripting Language - While PowerShell does contain a simplified scripting language, you don't need to be a programmer to use the shell effectively.

 

PowerShell isn't a Command-Line Interface - PowerShell is a set of .NET Framework classes - an "engine" if you will. The cmdlets you're used to seeing are also .NET Framework classes, written to a specific standard. PowerShell's engine leverages those classes, and calls methods within them to make stuff happen. 

So Why Use PowerShell?

Manageability is the differentiation point for products, and IT pros should strive to use automation to minimize errors and server downtime. It's especially important for addressing scalability issues, which are being driven by virtualization.
 
And PowerShell is efficient. Management is all about efficiency, and although PowerShell has a learning curve associated with it, once you pass that it's definitely more efficient than a GUI. 

 

And why use JAMS?

 

JAMS includes a PowerShell host that is specifically designed for executing back-end, unattended PowerShell scripts. JAMS also includes PowerShell cmdlets that are designed for back-end processing including a secure way to get credentials from the JAMS password vault and a cmdlet that can broadcast job status information to the people that are monitoring the back-end processing.

 

JAMS can also be managed with PowerShell! JAMS includes cmdlets for everything you (or we) could imagine. But, the real icing on the cake is the JAMS PowerShell Provider that exposes all of the JAMS objects, making it super simple to find, modify or move JAMS objects.

 

JAMS is the only enterprise job scheduling system built on the .NET framework and includes a PowerShell Provider. JAMS is the first enterprise job scheduling system that can be leveraged by both IT Operations Personnel and Application Developers. With its roots in Windows, JAMS also supports running processes across a variety of operating systems (UNIX, Linux, System i, OpenVMS, etc.) and a host of applications like Episys, SAP, SQL, Ecometry, PeopleSoft and JDE.