PowerShell 3.0 is available for download

Since September 4th 2012 is PowerShell 3.0 available for download. PowerShell 3.0 is included in the Windows Management Framework 3.0 that contains also WMI and WinRM. It can be installed on Windows 7 SP1, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 SP2. Windows Management Framework 3.0 requires Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0. PowerShell 3.0 is a standard component of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

New features

Windows PowerShell 3.0

Some of the new features in Windows PowerShell 3.0 include:

• Workflow
  Windows PowerShell Workflow lets IT Pros and developers apply the benefits of workflows to the automation capabilities of Windows PowerShell. Workflows allow administrators to run long-running tasks (which can be made repeatable, frequent, parallelizable, interruptible, or restart-able) that can affect multiple managed computers or devices at the same time.
• Disconnected Sessions
  PowerShell sessions can be disconnected from the remote computer and reconnected later from the same computer or a different computer without losing state or causing running commands to fail.
• Robust Session Connectivity
  Remote sessions are resilient to network failures and will attempt to reconnect for several minutes. If connectivity cannot be reestablished, the session will automatically disconnect itself so that it can be reconnected when network connectivity is restored.
• Scheduled Jobs
  Scheduled jobs that run regularly or in response to an event.
• Delegated Administration
  Commands that can be executed with a delegated set of credentials so users with limited permissions can run critical jobs
• Simplified Language Syntax
  Simplified language syntax that make commands and scripts look a lot less like code and a lot more like natural language.
• Cmdlet Discovery
  Improved cmdlet discovery and automatic module loading that make it easier to find and run any of the cmdlets installed on your computer.
• Show-Command
  Show-Command, a cmdlet and ISE Add-On that helps users find the right cmdlet, view its parameters in a dialog box, and run it.

WMI

WMI in Windows Management Framework 3.0 introduces:

• A new provider development model
  This new model brings down the cost of provider development and removes the dependency on COM.
• A new MI Client API to perform standard CIM operations
  The API can be used to interact with any standard WsMan + CIMOM implementation, allowing management applications on Windows to manage non-Windows computers.
• The ability to write Windows PowerShell cmdlets in native code
  The new WMI Provider APIs supports an extended Windows PowerShell semantics API allowing you to provide rich Windows PowerShell semantics. e.g., Verbose, Error, Warning, WhatIf, Confirm, Progress

WinRM

With Windows Management Framework 3.0:

• Connections are more robust
  Remote connections communicating over WinRM are more robust to transient network failures such as a flaky WAN connection. In the case of a complete network failure, connections are gracefully disconnected and can be reconnected when network connectivity is restored.
• Remoting is more Standards-compliant
  Standard WS-Management operations, including Create and Delete, can be performed over WMI. Remoting for cmdlets written in native code using the new WMI provider development model uses WS-Management instead of DCOM.
• Multiple PowerShell sessions can be shared in the same process
  PowerShell sessions from the same user to the same session configuration (WinRM plug-in) can run in a single shared process instead of separate processes. This improves scalability and performance by allowing multiple sessions to share memory and other server resources.

Management OData IIS Extensions

Management OData IIS Extension enables an administrator to expose a set of PowerShell cmdlets as a RESTful web endpoint accessible via the Open Data Protocol (OData). This enables Windows and non-Windows clients to discover and invoke PowerShell cmdlets remotely over standard web protocols and interfaces.

Server Manager CIM Provider

The Server Manager CIM Provider packaged with Windows Management Framework 3.0 allows you to manage your Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 servers from Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 or Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 8