We saw an anonymous Unix blog post saying, "I didn't think the day would ever come that I would be saying this, but it seems like Microsoft actually invented a decent shell." Sentiments like these from Unix gurus stem from the fact that this is an object-based, .Net Framework-oriented shell. This differs from standard Unix shell environments that are text and command driven, with the result usually being comparatively less code to execute the same task.
With PowerShell, IT should be able to create and store powerful scripts that can be executed locally or remotely, in a variety of languages. Using what Microsoft terms "Command-lets," IT can accomplish many administrative tasks with less programmatic difficulty. For example, you can query a server for a list of all inactive services with one line of code. The same task in VBScript would take at least six lines--a lot more if you're as proficient at VBScript as we are.
The data returned can be easily manipulated, formatted, and fed to the console, a file, or a different utility. For server admins, PowerShell's ADSI and WMI support will open up Active Directory and Windows in a way only third-party, graphical-based utilities could do previously. Wassim Fayed of the PowerShell team demonstrated performing complex queries against an Active Directory; results were automatically exported to a spreadsheet by exposing the Office Shell through COM. PowerShell won't turn a point-and-click type into a scripting guru overnight, but it should help us accomplish tasks more quickly and efficiently.
TERMINAL SERVICES
No. 4 on our hit list of interesting new features is the improved Windows 2008 Terminal Services, which is now downright Citrix-like. For example, with TS RemoteApp and TS Web Access, individual applications now can be exposed to users via a desktop shortcut or Web page. As a result, it's no longer necessary to launch an entire Terminal Services environment to access and run internal corporate applications. With TS Gateway, a user outside the corporate boundary can execute an RDP session on any personal computer via HTTPS. And because the TS Gateway is really an SSL VPN that runs over port 443, not the RDP port of 3389, many firewalls will pass this traffic without problems.
The ability to centrally control access to network resources and apps at the TS Gateway level will be another strong sell. While TS Gateway still needs to be thoroughly tested in our labs, in some shops it could negate the need for enterprise VPN appliances to provide secure, remote access to corporate resources. Microsoft states up front that Windows 2008 Terminal Services isn't positioned for enterprise-scale deployments; it still lacks maturity when compared with Citrix for large-scale load-balancing, compression, and management of client connections. We hope to put Windows Server 2008 TS in a head-to-head comparison with Citrix later this year.
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