Lead Image Photo by Harli Marten on Unsplash

Platform independence with PowerShell Core

Beyond the Horizon

Article from ADMIN 45/2018

By Thomas Wiefel

Microsoft has broken new ground with the release of PowerShell Core 6.0, which at heart is a complete reboot in terms of architecture and objectives. For the first time, a new version is not linked to the Windows operating system.

Windows PowerShell was designed with the following thought in mind: How could a technology be designed that combines the power of C# with the simplicity of a scripting language or shell? Therefore, PowerShell is architecturally a composition of types, especially those from the .NET framework. .NET access was necessary because the API of Microsoft's server products changed. The use of Visual Studio and high-level languages for administrative purposes was something that could no longer be reasonably expected. The result was the multilayer architecture of PowerShell.

The commands form the top of a pyramid, with a strong dependency on the underlying type library. This relationship is clear from the installation prerequisites for the different PowerShell versions (Table 1). The mutual dependencies between the installed .NET libraries, system components, and PowerShell make it impossible to use Windows PowerShell outside of Windows. The get-process command, for example, is based on the System.Diagnostics.Process type. However, if these classes are only available for Windows operating systems, the command pyramid lacks a basis. This changes with the new concept of .NET Core.

Table 1

Installation Requirements