Add and Remove Users to Ad Groups With Group Policy

Group Policy allows you to add and remove users to an Active Directory (AD) group. Using this feature improves security because you can ensure that high-risk security groups only contain the users that you specify via Group Policy. Read More

Download Files From Github Without Git Using Powershell

Have you ever needed to download code or a repository from Github, but didn’t want to download and install Git on a machine, create an SSH key, etc. If so, I have something that you may like. You can find the entire function here: https://github.com/MSAdministrator/GetGithubRepository To use this function, you will need to know the path to the Github repository (of course) you want to download. Once you have that URL, you will need to pass each piece of the URL into a parameter on the function. Continue reading

Logging to the Windows Event Log in Your Powershell Scripts

As I discussed in my previous post, you can log information to a file, but sometimes you may want to log to the Windows Event Log. To log to the Windows Event Log, you will need to use the following cmdlets: New-EventLog Write-EventLog Read More

Standardize Powershell Logging With My Write Logentry Function

The PowerShell function Write-LogEntry described in this post allows you to integrate logging in your scripts in a standardized way. This will help you and your script users to troubleshoot and understand the output. Read More

Design Before Coding Kanban

The first post in this three-part series focused on gathering requirements before spending time coding. While it is not necessary, I recommend that everyone read part 1 (Gathering Requirements). Understanding and having clear “User Stories” outlining the intended purpose of a tool is crucial, especially as we move towards building our new tool. Once our “User Stories” have been defined and agreed upon by all stakeholders, we then need to begin breaking them down into tasks. Continue reading

Design Before Coding Gathering Requirements

If you have worked in IT for any duration, I’m sure you have overheard or been asked to build a tool to complete X or Y. Creating tools with PowerShell is fun, but it can become daunting when you create a tool that does not meet its intended purpose. Without understanding the full requirements, you may waste time and energy on developing a tool that no one will use. Creating tools with PowerShell to automate a manual process or to help an internal stakeholder accomplish a desired result, typically does not need to turn into a large initiative with a Project Manager or Project Management Office (PMO). Continue reading

How I Work

I recently saw this project shared by Adam Bertram, and decided that some of you may be interested in how I work on a day to day. https://github.com/adbertram/HowIWorkIT/blob/master/README.md If you’re not interested, well then why the hell are you here? You can see others that have participated here: https://github.com/adbertram/HowIWorkIT/blob/master/ThisIsHowIWork.md Where are you located? First of all, my name is Josh Rickard and I'm located in Columbia, Missouri. It sounds lame, but really it's a great little town. Continue reading