The second installment of our Windows Server 2008 Rolling Review focuses on Microsoft's unified scripting tool and operating environment, Windows PowerShell. In our first installment, we pitted Citrix XenApp against Windows 2008 Terminal Services, but in this case, PowerShell stood alone in our Boston Real-World Labs. Are there commercial packages that can do everything PowerShell can? Sure, but they'll cost you. PowerShell is free and represents a big change in how Microsoft server technologies are administered.

Think of it as DOS on steroids--PowerShell is great for batch importing or deleting large sets of user accounts and will let you collect a massive amount of detailed system information in bulk via WMI. Those who prefer to manage via the command line will be immediately comfortable, and our tests show there are major efficiency gains to be had.

Will admins who resist turning their Windows environments into Unix wannabes by scripting everything to the nth degree via a shell survive just fine without it? Probably, with one exception: If you plan to implement Exchange 2007, you should start learning PowerShell now because it's a required component for management.

If you're running Windows Server 2008, you have PowerShell as an installable option. Those with Windows 2003, XP, or Vista can download it as a standalone installation. Development of PowerShell, formerly code-named "Morad," started in 2003 with a primary design goal of providing more robust scripting and automation of complex and repetitive system administration tasks. The first beta of PowerShell surfaced in the wild in June 2005, and nuts-and-bolts administrators took to it immediately.