PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit 2026

Tired of clicking through endless wizards just to spin up a lab? In this session, we'll show how AutomatedLab makes lab building fast, consistent, and code-driven—right from your PowerShell console.We'll start with the basics of AutomatedLab's cmdlets, then walk step-by-step through creating a full two-server Active Directory forest in minutes using its sample scripts. Along the way, you'll learn and see how AutomatedLab automates network setup, VM provisioning, domain configuration, and post-install testing—no manual intervention required.Next, we'll dive into a live walkthrough of a custom script that spins up a repeatable environment Domain Controller, Root CA, and Privileged Access Workstation for a complete lab with PKI. You'll learn how to parameterize lab builds, integrate external switches for internet access, and customize VM roles for your own scenarios.This is a practical, hands-on session designed for PowerShell admins and IaC beginners who want to see exactly how to rapidly build, tear down, and rebuild entire environments for testing or trainingCome for the live demos, stay for the reusable scripts, and walk away ready to replace manual lab builds with clean, repeatable code.

Automation is critical to scaling IT environments, improving reliability, and reducing manual toil. In this 4-hour, hands-on workshop, you’ll go beyond theory and learn how to design, build, and deploy an end-to-end automation solution using Ansible—enhanced with PowerShell for cross-platform and Windows-specific tasks. Together, we’ll tackle a realistic infrastructure scenario, giving you practical skills to automate complex workflows across Linux and Windows systems.We’ll start with a concise overview of Ansible fundamentals—inventory files, YAML playbooks, roles, and modules—before diving into PowerShell integration for Windows automation. From there, you’ll follow along in a live lab to build automation that provisions servers, configures services, applies security hardening, and orchestrates application deployment across multiple nodes. By layering Ansible’s orchestration strengths with PowerShell’s depth on Windows hosts, you’ll see how to create a truly hybrid automation strategy.This is a fully interactive workshop: you’ll write your own Ansible playbooks, integrate PowerShell scripts, troubleshoot failures, and iterate on your work until it’s production-ready. By the end, you’ll have a complete, functioning project that demonstrates the value of combining open-source tools with native scripting to solve real-world challenges.Key topics covered include:Setting up Ansible for Linux and Windows automationWriting Ansible playbooks and roles to orchestrate multi-tier environmentsUsing PowerShell modules and scripts to manage Windows hostsSecuring secrets and credentials with Ansible VaultDesigning repeatable automation workflows for provisioning and configurationTesting, debugging, and scaling automation for long-term maintainabilityCome ready to write YAML and PowerShell, fight with some whitespace in that YAML file, deploy servers, and leave with a repeatable framework for automating your own environment—whether it’s a homelab, a hybrid cloud setup, or an enterprise network.This workshop will be useful for IT Pros whether in their profession roles from help desk to Sysadmins, or even any homelab enthusiasts who wants to go beyond basic automation. No Ansible or PowerShell expertise is required, but some capacity for groaning at bad jokes is encouraged.