PowerShell v3: Zoinks! It's Full of Modules!

First: Seemy caveats regarding PowerShell v3 and Windows 8 Server.

Here's a list of what you'll be able to manage via PowerShell in Windows Server 8:

I basically just ran Get-Module -ListAvailable in a fresh "Win8 Server" install and looked at what was available. It's a lot. 

In fact, PowerShell appears to preload 900+ cmdlets. Importing all available modules took several minutes for my VM to process (and resulted in a few errors, as I likely didn't have underlying dependencies installed or enabled for everything). The result was more than 1,000 cmdlets - and you can bet there are more on the way. Not to mention some that I probably couldn't even load. Compare that with v2's 200-ish cmdlet set and you can see what a blowout this is!

And folks, this is just the core list. Active Directory isn't on there because I hadn't installed that role on my server. Ditto IIS and many other roles. So there's more. Lots more. Exactly how much more... well, I need to install all the roles and see, which is taking some time. So that'll be a future post.

[Update: After installing all the roles and features, I had more than 80 distinct modules, for pretty much everything I could think of. I didn't see DHCP Server specifically... but that functionality may be buried in some other module, or may yet be forthcoming.]

The moral of this story: If you haven't taken the time to learn PowerShell by now, you are officially behind the curve. Far, far behind the curve. Like, "still using NT 4.0 in 2011" level of behind the curve. Windows 8 Server is going to advance the cause of command-line management (while still leaving you your GUI, if you need it) light-years. I truly pity anyone who's held off on PowerShell this long... and I wonder what you'll be doing for a living in five years.

Let's put this into perspective: PowerShell v1 had about 139 cmdlets. v2 around 260 "core" cmdlets, plus bunches from the various server roles. v3 is starting with around 1,500 and it hasn't even shipped yet - plus all the ones from the various server roles. That's a 6x increase. Everyone who learned v2 will be able to apply everything they know to learning those new cmdlets. Everyone who hasn't bothered with PowerShell now has a mountain to climb, not a hill. Of course, v3 hasn't shipped yet. There are books to help you prepare, in-person classes, video training, and lots more - check out all the resources and get yourself into PowerShell ASAP.