Don Jones

Don Jones is a multiple-year recipient of Microsoft’s prestigious Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for his work with Windows PowerShell. He writes the Windows PowerShell column for Microsoft TechNet Magazine, the PowerShell with a Purpose Blog, and the “Decision Maker” column for Redmond Magazine. Don is a prolific technology author and has published more than a dozen print books since 2001. He has also authored numerous free ebooks and currently serves as that company’s Editor-in-Chief and CTO. Don is a Senior Partner and Principal Technologist for Concentrated Technology, an IT education and strategic consulting firm. Don’s first Windows scripting language was KiXtart, all the way back in the mid-1990s. He quickly graduated to VBScript in 1995 and was one of the first IT pros to start using early releases of a new Microsoft product code-named “Monad”—which later became Windows PowerShell. Don lives in Las Vegas and travels all over the world delivering IT training (especially in PowerShell) and speaking at IT conferences.

books by Don Jones

The DSC Book

  • March 2019
  • ISBN 9781617296352
  • 184 pages

The DSC Book teaches you everything you need to know to implement DSC today! You’ll learn DSC’s basic architecture, how to write configurations, and how to author your own DSC resources. In their friendly style, the authors also explain advanced topics including reporting, security, and self-modifying configurations. Concise, real-world examples help your new skills stick!

PowerShell in Depth, Second Edition

  • October 2014
  • ISBN 9781617292187
  • 744 pages
  • printed in black & white

A Windows admin using PowerShell every day may not have the time to search the net every time he or she hits a snag. Wouldn't it be great to have a team of seasoned PowerShell experts ready to answer even the toughest questions? That's what you get with this book.

PowerShell in Depth, Second Edition is the go-to reference for administrators working with Windows PowerShell. Every major technique, technology, and tactic is carefully explained and demonstrated, providing a hands-on guide to almost everything an admin would do in the shell. Written by PowerShell MVPs Don Jones, Jeffrey Hicks, and Richard Siddaway, each valuable technique was developed and thoroughly tested, so you'll be able to consistently write production-quality, maintainable scripts while saving hours of time and effort.

Learn SQL Server Administration in a Month of Lunches

  • April 2014
  • ISBN 9781617292132
  • 256 pages
  • printed in black & white

Microsoft SQL Server is used by millions of businesses, ranging in size from Fortune 500s to small shops worldwide. Whether you're just getting started as a DBA, supporting a SQL Server-driven application, or you've been drafted by your office as the SQL Server admin, you do not need a thousand-page book to get up and running.

Learn SQL Server Administration in a Month of Lunches is the perfect way to get started with SQL Server. This concise, easy-to-read book skips academic introductions and teaches you day-to-day techniques for maintenance, backup and recovery, performance monitoring, and more. Each of the 21 short lessons gives you practical takeaways you'll use over and over.

Learn PowerShell Toolmaking in a Month of Lunches

  • December 2012
  • ISBN 9781617291166
  • 312 pages
  • printed in black & white

You don't have to be a software developer to build PowerShell tools. With this book, a PowerShell user is a step away from becoming a proficient toolmaker.

Learn PowerShell Toolmaking in a Month of Lunches is the best way to learn PowerShell scripting and toolmaking in just one hour a day. It's packed with hands-on labs to reinforce what you're learning. It's an easy-to-follow guide that covers core scripting concepts using four practical examples. Each chapter builds on the previous one as you add custom formatting, error handling, input validation, help files, and more.

Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches, Second Edition

  • November 2012
  • ISBN 9781617291081
  • 368 pages
  • printed in black & white

This book is a tutorial designed for busy administrators. Just set aside one hour a day for a month and you'll learn all the practical techniques you need to make your job easier and your day shorter. This totally revised book covers new PowerShell features that run on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and later. This edition is appropriate for PowerShell version 3 and later.

PowerShell in Depth

  • February 2013
  • ISBN 9781617290558
  • 632 pages
  • printed in black & white

Organized into 40 concise chapters, PowerShell in Depth is the go-to reference for administrators working with Windows PowerShell. Every major shell technique, technology, and tactic is explained and demonstrated, providing a comprehensive reference to almost everything an admin would do in the shell. Written by three experienced authors and PowerShell MVPs, this is the PowerShell book you'll keep next to your monitor--not on your bookshelf!

This book requires basic familiarity with PowerShell.

Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches

  • April 2011
  • ISBN 9781617290213
  • 336 pages
  • printed in black & white

Learn Windows PowerShell in a Month of Lunches is a newly designed tutorial for system administrators. Just set aside one hour a day--lunchtime would be perfect--for a month, and you'll be automating administrative tasks in a hurry. Author Don Jones combines his in-the-trenches experience with a unique teaching style to help you master the effective parts of PowerShell quickly and painlessly.