Automation script PowerShell: advantages and challenges

People often ignore or misunderstand the advantages of IT automation, which leads many IT experts to blame others for some problems. The Administrator must follow too many redundant processes-errors may inevitably occur when the Administrator completes these complex processes. Enterprises need IT departments to provide reliable, predictable, and efficient services to ensure their competitiveness. Automation can help achieve this goal. The workflow automation tool can provide some help, but the automation script-especially PowerShell-can provide more functions for the administrator.

You only need to press the button

Recently, my father-in-law showed me his T-series Ford and I found myself fascinated by the way he insisted on practicing car start. First adjust the spark plugs, open the gasoline piston, add some gasoline in the main cylinder, hold the neutral block, pull the handbrake, and then shake the engine in front of the car to ignition. This car can continue driving again.

When I saw that my father-in-law needed to pull the gearbox and step on the pedal to keep the car running, I had a new understanding of the simple entry mode and one-click Start of my car.

For physical and virtual data centers that are growing in size and are quite complex, whether local or remote, you cannot rely on someone to remember how to start the T series Ford, instead, you must execute repeated tasks to ensure normal operation.

Automation helps solve the following problems:

• Repeated. If you need to execute the same task multiple times and maintain reliability and consistency, You need to automate and schedule the task.

• Human error. Avoiding human errors, especially in crisis management, is crucial for the successful operation of large-scale environments. Even a good administrator may make mistakes to make the situation worse in the face of the huge pressure of critical business interruptions.

• Document problems. Automation provides clear documentation for specific steps and expected and auditable results. Make sure that your IT department has developed a disaster recovery document and has been automated.

Automation faces new challenges

Of course, automation cannot solve all IT problems magically. A good automated strategy needs to understand where appropriate tools are used and to maximize their role.

Different methods can be used for automation. Let's start with providing graphical user interface GUI) tools that allow IT administrators to execute tasks repeatedly and implement large-scale task management.

These tools, such as the graphical Server Manager and System Center Virtual Machine manager SCVMM in Windows Server 2012, provide automation and scalability, such as deploying roles to multiple servers or managing multiple virtual machines at the same time, but do not mistakenly think that this is a flexible automation environment. No GUI can understand your special business needs.

To achieve the flexibility to meet all requirements of the business department, a tool consisting of a wizard and a limited number of buttons is required for smooth execution. The best automation policy should provide an environment that is open to all possibilities and control permissions, which also means that a complete failure may occur. There is no simple automation method that is used in all environments.

Efficient automation tools are complex and require IT experts to invest heavily in training and specific technical fields. Learning automation skills can promote career development, increase cross-platform potential, and make profits for the company.

In addition, the IT department must work with the business department to develop a valuable solution for automation. Both IT experts and CIOs should read The Phoenix Project jointly written by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford. This book describes how the IT department should be part of its business, rather than its current hostility.