Skip to main content

How to Read Help Files (Part 2 of 7)

By
Yesterday I explained a little bit about why I am taking the time to do such a detailed set of blog posts with regards to utilizing PowerShells help files.  This is probably the most critical skill set of any when it comes to coding PowerShell.  As a Navy Chief, I get to meet all kinds of individuals.  I get to work with some talented and highly motivated men and women. On the other hand, I also have to work with others. The highly talented and motivated ones take to time to invest in learning the details of their jobs.  The others, well they do not invest very much and it shows.

Reading the PowerShell help files is an investment.  Each of us work with specific technologies.  When you start off utilizing PowerShell within your area of expertise, there will be a lot of reading.  Once you have made the initial investment into learning about the cmdlets that you will the use most, you will have to read those same help files less and less. 

Here is how to read the basic help files.  We are going to look at the help file for Stop-Service   I selected this cmdlet because it has a wide variety of different components that I can highlight as part of this series.  Let’s look at the basic help file for Stop-Service.

You access the help file of Stop-Service by utilizing the cmdlet Get-Help.  You can run this command as Get-Help –Name Stop-Service.  This is one of the few cmdlets that I utilize a positional parameter(something that I will explain later).  Execute this command:

Get-Help Stop-Service

PS C:\> Get-Help Stop-Service

NAME
    Stop-Service
   
SYNOPSIS
    Stops one or more running services.
   
   
SYNTAX
    Stop-Service [-InputObject] [-Exclude []]
    [-Force] [-Include []] [-InformationAction {SilentlyContinue |
    Stop | Continue | Inquire | Ignore | Suspend}] [-InformationVariable
    []] [-NoWait] [-PassThru] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf]
    []
   
    Stop-Service [-Exclude []] [-Force] [-Include []]
    [-InformationAction {SilentlyContinue | Stop | Continue | Inquire | Ignore
    | Suspend}] [-InformationVariable []] [-NoWait] [-PassThru]
    -DisplayName [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] []
   
    Stop-Service [-Name] [-Exclude []] [-Force] [-Include
    []] [-InformationAction {SilentlyContinue | Stop | Continue |
    Inquire | Ignore | Suspend}] [-InformationVariable []]
    [-NoWait] [-PassThru] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] []
   
   
DESCRIPTION
    The Stop-Service cmdlet sends a stop message to the Windows Service
    Controller for each of the specified services. You can specify the
    services by their service names or display names, or you can use the
    InputObject parameter to pass a service object representing the services
    that you want to stop.
   

RELATED LINKS
    Online Version: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=293923
    Get-Service
    New-Service
    Restart-Service
    Resume-Service
    Set-Service
    Start-Service
    Suspend-Service

REMARKS
    To see the examples, type: "get-help Stop-Service -examples".
    For more information, type: "get-help Stop-Service -detailed".
    For technical information, type: "get-help Stop-Service -full".
    For online help, type: "get-help Stop-Service -online"

There are 6 sections to this help file:
·         Name – The name of the help file being viewed.
·         Synopsis – A brief description of what this cmdlet will do.
·         Syntax – How to properly type this cmdlet.  I will cover this section in more detail tomorrow.
·         Description – A very detailed description of what this cmdlet will do.
·         Related Links – If this cmdlet does not look like what you are looking for, try these.
·         Remarks – More information on how to get more detailed help.

The syntax section is a bit trickier.  We will cover the syntax tomorrow.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

With the AD Recycle Bin Turned on, What Happens when you Create a User Account with a Password that does not meet the Password Policy?

By
This was an interesting observation from one of my Windows Server 2012 classes.  While working with the AD Recycle bin in a lab, one of my students discovered some interesting accounts that were created. When he created user accounts that did not meet password complexity requirements, an account is temporarily made and then deleted.  When a new password is provided that meets the password requirements, then a new account is made. We discovered this in two places.  First off in the Active Directory Administrative Center.  This is what caused the initial confusion.  Take a look.  This is in the Deleted Objects OU. You can see multiple deleted accounts for Test2 and one for Test3.  Test3 is a valid, functioning user account.  Using the PowerShell command Get-ADObject –IncludeDeletedObjects –Filter * –Properties ObjectSID we can see that indeed, two accounts were created, with one of them deleted. Notice the RID portion of the SID is different. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sticky Key problem between Windows Server 2012 and LogMeIn

By
This week I instructed my first class using Windows Server 2012 accessed via LogMeIn and discovered a Sticky Key problem every time you press the Shift key. Here is my solution to resolve this.  First off, in the Preferences of LogMeIn for the connection to the Windows Server, click General . Change the Keyboard and mouse priority to Host side user and click Apply at the bottom. On the Windows 2012 server, open the Control Panel – Ease of Access – Change how your keyboard works . Uncheck Turn on Sticky Keys . Click Set up Sticky Keys . Uncheck Turn on Sticky Keys when SHIFT is pressed five times . Click OK twice. If you are using Windows Server 2012 as a Hyper-V host, you will need to redo the Easy of Use settings on each guest operating system in order to avoid the Sticky Key Problem. Updated Information: March 20, 2013 If you continue to have problems, Uncheck Turn on Filter Keys .
6 comments
Read more

Backup and Restore AD LDS with DSDBUTIL.exe

By
Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services allow you to create a directory service that allows applications to have access to user accounts, groups, and authentication similar to Active Directory Domain Services.  The big advantage here is that the schema of the directory service will not be bound by the rules of an Active Directory database.  Exchange 2007/2010, for example, use an instance of AD LDS on the Edge Transport Server to provide for user authentication from the internet.  Because your Active Directory database is not exposed to the internet, this is more secure. Applications will handle most of the dirty work should they require AD LDS.  You may want to make sure the database is being backed up and also have a restore plan in place.  Should the database become corrupt, the application that uses that database will fail.  This document will walk you through backing up and restoring an instance of AD LDS using the dsdbutil.exe command. Fi...
6 comments
Read more