2 Automating email address creation
This chapter covers
- Using Variables and Cmdlets
- Outputting Variable contents with Write-Host
- Concatenating strings
- Modifying strings
- Adding comments to your code
Automating recurring tasks as an IT professional is the first step in freeing yourself from the menial so that you can focus on the real value your expertise adds to your organization. Every IT organization needs basic tasks done – sometimes dozens or hundreds of times a day! – but the companies we work for often have much more pressing demands on our time.
System outages, security incidents, planned changes, new technology deployments or incorporating new business units into the infrastructure – these types of tasks tend to constantly land on an IT professional’s plate. Far too often an administrator is pulled in every direction at once and your days can feel like you’ve simply jumped from one fire to the next.
While an individual task like creating a bunch of user names or email addresses may sound simple and you are confident it would only take 15 minutes, it is often 15 minutes you don’t have in the grand scheme of things.
Automation is a way of taking simple, repetitive things off your list. Besides freeing up the 15 minutes you didn’t have in the first place, it also helps keep your attention focused on the more important matters. Your organization gets more value out of your time, and you are less likely to suffer from burnout!