Introduction

Windows Server changes quickly, with a new release about every two years. Since the publication of the last edition of this book, Microsoft has delivered both Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Server 2016 (as well as client OS versions: Windows 8.1 and Windows 10).

PowerShell evolved alongside the server OS with a release of both PowerShell version 4, version 5, and version 5.1. This chapter reviews the changes in both the OS and PowerShell and highlights the biggest and most useful changes and new cmdlets.

This chapter also explores PowerShellGet and PackageManagement modules, perhaps the most interesting and useful new features released in PowerShell 5 and PowerShell 5.1.