PowerShell has become one of the most important skills for an Exchange administrator to learn. If you’re not already starting to learn PowerShell, then you’re falling behind the industry.

It isn’t difficult to learn PowerShell. In fact, if you’ve ever run commands in a cmd prompt then you’ll be able to start using PowerShell straight away.

And Exchange Server administrators have an advantage of other IT pros, because the Exchange Management Console tells you the equivalent PowerShell commands to perform the same tasks in the shell that you just performed in the console.

Also, Exchange Server and Office 365 offer lots of opportunities to use PowerShell on a daily basis.

Download Free Exchange PowerShell Scripts

In your daily routine there are bound to be multiple opportunities to streamline and automate some of your repetitive tasks into PowerShell scripts.

Developing a toolbox of your own PowerShell scripts can really improve your efficiency and value to your employer.

If you’re looking for a place to start check out this four part series on sending SMTP email from PowerShell scripts.

You can also check out some of these free PowerShell scripts, download them, read through the code and comments, and modify them for your own use:

• Get-MailboxReport.ps1 – PowerShell Script to Generate Mailbox Reports
• Test-ExchangeServerHealth – PowerShell Script to Generate a Health Check Report for Exchange Server 2016/2013/2010
• Get-DailyBackupAlerts.ps1 – Check database backups and email if they have not run
• Get-EASDeviceReport.ps1 – Produces a report of ActiveSync devices in the organization
• Start-MailGen.ps1 – Test lab email traffic generator

Getting Started with PowerShell for Microsoft Exchange Server

The best way to get started with PowerShell is to begin by taking some of your daily, routine tasks and performing them within the shell instead of the management console.

You can do this by simply taking notes as you perform a GUI administration task, copying the PowerShell commands that Exchange Server shows you, and then using the shell next time you complete that same task.

If you’re for a little more direction on using PowerShell for daily administration tasks check out the Exchange Server 2010 PowerShell Cookbook.

Get More PowerShell Tips for Exchange Administrators

Here are some recent posts relating to PowerShell:

• PowerShell One-Liner: Get a Count of Exchange Server Mailboxes Per Database
• PowerShell One-Liner: Summary of Mailbox Move Request Status
• Help Test V1.02 of the Office 365 Groups Report Script
• Exchange Analyzer v0.2.5 Released
• Help Test the .NET Framework Checks for Exchange Analyzer
• Managing Office 365 Licenses with the Azure AD V2 PowerShell Module
• First Steps: Configuring Office 365 Groups Settings
• Reporting Office 365 Admin Role Group Members
• Test-ExchangeServerHealth.ps1 Has Been Updated to V1.16
• New Pluralsight Course – Managing Exchange Mailboxes and Distribution Groups in PowerShell

You might also want to read my guest article at PowerShell Magazine on the 5 Essential PowerShell Skills for Exchange Server Administrators.

Make sure you subscribe to Exchange Server Pro to get regular PowerShell tips and scripts to help you manage your Exchange Server environment.