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Optimization and standardization of PowerShell scripts

Beautiful Code

Article from ADMIN 48/2018

By Thomas Wiefel

When PowerShell one-liners become full-blown scripts that have an effect throughout the enterprise, IT managers need to review their software development strategies. We look at PowerShell best practices for script design, notation, error handling, and documentation.

The use of scripts in the work environment has changed considerably over the past decade. Initially, they were used to handle batch processing with rudimentary control structures, functions and executables that were only called as a function of events, and return values. The functional scope of the scripting language itself was therefore strongly focused on processing character strings.

The languages of the last century (e.g., Perl, Awk, and Bash shell scripting) are excellent tools for analyzing logfiles or the results of a command with regular expressions. PowerShell, on the other hand, focuses far more on the interfaces of server services, systems, and processes, with no need to detour through return values.

Another change in scripting relates to the relevance and design of a script app: Before PowerShell, scripts were typically developed by administrators to support their work. Their understanding of the use of the application as something fairly personal also affected the applied standards: In fact, there weren't any. The usual principles back then were:

Quick and dirty: Only the function is important.
Documentation is superfluous: After all, I wrote the script.

The lack of documentation can have negative consequences for the author, though, leading to cost-intensive delays in migration projects three years down the road if the admin no longer understands code or the purpose of the code.

Basic Principles for Business-Critical Scripts

The significance of PowerShell is best described as "enterprise scripting." On many Microsoft servers, PowerShell scripts are the only way to ensure comprehensive management – Exchange and Azure Active Directory being prime examples. The script thus gains business-critical relevance. When you create a script, you need to be aware of how its functionality is maintained in the server architecture

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