How do you write better PowerShell? Richard talks to Jeff Hicks about his latest book, Behind the PowerShell Pipeline, and his efforts to promote writing PowerShell scripts that are easy to understand, use, and maintain! Jeff talks about how making a script work is not enough anymore - you can use GitHub Copilot. The goal is to make the output as usable as possible, whether that is consistent output that is pipe-able or using color coding and column controls to make the results as actionable as possible. This is especially true as your team grows and more than one person works on scripts. Now, you'll want testing and source control, too!LinksPowerShell 7.5Behind the PowerShell PipelineGitHub CopilotPesterPowerShell SummitRecorded February 20, 2025
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36:37
Managing AI Costs with Sonia Cuff
How are you managing your AI costs? Richard chats with Sonia Cuff about how she's been helping sysadmins understand how AI technology is billed out and how to measure them within a given application and across the organization. Sonia starts with some definitions since the term AI is so broad. It's not just about large language models! The conversation also dives into carbon footprints, and using the FinOps models to help with costing for your cloud infrastructure, whether you're using AI or not!LinksOpenAI TokenizerManage Cost for Azure OpenAI ServiceSustainable Software Engineering with AKSAzure Carbon OptimizationFinOps FoundationFinOps FOCUSPhoenix ProjectRecorded February 19, 2025
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37:28
Strong Certificate Mapping in Active Directory with Richard Hicks
Are you using strong certificate mapping in Active Directory? Richard Hicks returns to the show to talk about the impacts of KB5015754, issued way back in 2022, and how it turned into an enforcement event on February 11, 2025 that might have caused some serious problems for folks trying to authenticate to Active Directory. For most sites, the upgrade to strong certificates was pretty much automatic. But if you're using Intune SCEP, you needed to do some configuration - and if that was missed, there is trouble. There are workarounds for now, but come September 2025, enforcement will be mandatory and everything gets harder, so it's worth looking into it now!LinksKB5015754: Certificate-based Authentication Changes on Windows Domain ControllersRichard's Blog Post on Strong Certificate Mapping EnforcementActive Directory Certificate ServicesCreate and Assign SCEP Certificate Profiles in IntuneHeartbleedRecorded February 17, 2025
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39:33
Secure by Design with Karinne Bessette
What does it mean to be secure by design? Richard chats with Karinne Bessette about the scope of the problem around making more secure software. Karinne talks about the US government's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) push to promote more secure software products. The conversation digs into some of the more famous exploits in recent years and some of the challenges of dealing with development tools that require super-user privileges, getting security testing done promptly and responding to exploits effectively when they happen.LinksWomen in TeamsCISA Secure by DesignAzure Kubernetes ServiceMicrosoft Security Response CenterRecorded February 21, 2025
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40:04
Exchange Server in 2025 with Michel de Rooij
What is it like to take care of an Exchange Server in 2025? Richard chats with Michel de Rooij about his work with Exchange, including the many scripts he has written and published over the years to help sysadmins solve problems. Michel discusses how staying on-premises with Exchange is getting harder - the new version will be subscription-based! The conversation also digs into the new version of Outlook, the challenges of securing email, and Michel's latest book Pro Exchange Administration.LinksRemove DuplicateItems ScriptUnarchive ScriptPro Exchange AdministrationOffice 365 for IT ProsMicrosoft Defender for Office 365Recorded January 9, 2025
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