PowerShell + DevOps Global Summit 2026

What happens when you mix PowerShell with wires, motors, sensors, and microcontrollers — then add a spark of creativity? You get scripts that put the physical world at your fingertips; light up RGB LEDs, spin motors, rotate a servo, trigger a MOSFET switch, water your cactus, and whatever else you can imagine!In this session, we’ll take PowerShell beyond the terminal and into the hardware realm. You’ll discover the concepts, tools, and skills needed to bridge the gap from scripts to circuits, building your own PowerShell Gadgets with accessible yet powerful platforms:- FT232H-based boards — for direct I²C, SPI, UART, and GPIO control straight from your console. - Pico and ESP32 microcontrollers running Python — for flexible, wireless, and rich automation possibilities.We’ll cover the essential starter toolkit—what you'll need, how to wire stuff together, and how to speak its language from PowerShell — then jump into live, real-world demos that show scripts breaking free from software to control and interact with the physical world around you.

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.

In the world of cloud computing, Azure Automation offers powerful capabilities for managing and orchestrating complex IT processes. However, even the best tools can lead to pitfalls if not used correctly. In this engaging session, we'll explore the top eight mistakes that can derail your Azure Automation efforts. From common configuration errors to overlooked security practices, we'll dive into real-world scenarios and lessons learned. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting with Azure Automation, you'll gain valuable insights to avoid these common traps and ensure your automation projects are successful. Join us to learn how to turn potential missteps into opportunities for growth and efficiency in your IT environment.

PowerShell isn’t just for sysadmins and DevOps pipelines; it’s also a powerful tool for making your everyday life easier, more efficient, and even a little more fun.In this lighthearted but practical session, I’ll share real-world ways I’ve used PowerShell outside the data center and beyond the cloud. From automating the hunt for our dream home, to organizing and deduplicating thousands of old family photos, to sending real-time weather alerts to my kid’s soccer team, and even assigning Secret Santas. PowerShell has been my go-to companion for solving real-life problems with code.We’ll walk through the scripts, logic, and thought processes behind these solutions. You’ll leave with a fresh perspective on what’s possible with PowerShell, along with tips for building your own everyday automations.Whether you’re looking for clever ways to sharpen your skills or just want to see what a little scripting creativity can do, this session will open your eyes to the power of PowerShell in your own life.

DSC v3 continues its evolutionary path, expanding into a more flexible, predictable, and approachable declarative configuration platform. Over the past year, the team has delivered substantial enhancements across the execution engine, resource model, and authoring experience. Configuration authoring is clearer and more consistent, schemas are richer and easier to validate, and new resource adapters make it simpler to integrate existing tools and ecosystems without rewriting everything from scratch.
 
This session highlights what’s new and what’s practical: writing and composing configurations, building custom resources, using adapters, and working with the latest export and testing capabilities. The focus is on real scenarios, repeatable patterns, and the forward direction of DSC v3 as it becomes an essential, lightweight foundation for configuration management across platforms. Join us for demos, discussion, and a look at what’s next.

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.