What makes Command Blocks and Sets different from PowerShell?
There will always be tasks that take more time than they should. As tenant numbers grow and Microsoft processes advance, IT service providers will always chase the need to find extra time. This goes for efficient ways of working too.
There are many useful Microsoft solutions to help support businesses with Windows admin tasks. One of the most commonly used being PowerShell.
What is PowerShell?
PowerShell is a cross-platform task automation solution made up of a command-line shell, a scripting language, and a configuration management framework. PowerShell runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Many MSPs and Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) use it to automate various repetitive user tasks, for example, converting an inbox to a shared mailbox or adding someone to a Microsoft Teams channel.
The benefit of PowerShell
Specialists no longer need to spend hours building and configuring Microsoft 365 environments manually. When used, technicians can automate repetitive setup tasks at scale.
However, challenges still arise when using PowerShell and scripts and they tend to appear when you manage a large volume of tenants.
How can you manage customer environments more efficiently?
This falls to the support of Command Blocks and Command Sets. This could be new to you as it’s specific Cloud User Hub terminology, but bear with us, we’ll touch on that soon.
Let’s start with an example.
A help desk team member has 20 tenants whose security policies need updating to meet the latest requirements. To facilitate this, they need to hop into each customer portal to do the setup, which naturally will take them a lot of time.
Of course, you could use PowerShell to do this, but it isn’t a scalable service. So, how will you distribute those scripts or transfer the knowledge across a 20-user environment?
While PowerShell scripts can make life a lot easier for Microsoft Partners, they still typically run inside each individual tenant. As scripts need to be kept up to date and tweaked when Microsoft configurations or settings change, switching from portal to portal to manage this becomes an inefficient way of working, and ultimately, can hold you back from scaling.
There are other limitations to PowerShell, too:
- Scripts can be complex
- They often require systems admin to have some coding knowledge
- They often need updating and maintaining when settings change
- They are sometimes difficult for others to work with
- PowerShell is still very single tenant focused
MSPs and CSPs lives can be made easier by building their own scalable workflows that are:
- Easy to maintain
- Used for multiple tenants
- All managed from one portal
And this can be managed with something we call a Command Block.
What are Command Blocks?
Behind every great Microsoft 365 deployment is a great workflow.
When using the Command Blocks functionality, MSPs and CSPs can easily create workflows and automate day-to-day tasks.
This feature has been designed to streamline the more traditional PowerShell commands, and makes automated processes even easier. We’re talking adding multiple users to groups, creating numerous mailboxes, and applying security settings effortlessly without the need to write a single line of code.
The big difference is you can control commands from a single pain of glass. No more scattered management and logging in and out of various solutions. Cloud User Hub allows you to list all of your customers in one place and roll out commands widely to multiple-tenants.
As command blocks are standardized but still configurable, it means teams can take advantage of commands, and use them to manage Microsoft 365 deployments on repeat. This can bring huge time saving advantages.
It doesn’t stop there. Let’s go one step further and talk about Command Sets.
What are Command Sets?
There are hundreds of command blocks to choose from. Our command set function lets you bundle multiple commands together, be flexible with their parameters, and reuse them over and over.
Cloud User Hub differs from other automation tools. It allows you to build your own solution that is specific to your end-customer or group of end customers. Having this capability means you can build your IP into command blocks and command sets.
Once you’ve incorporated your own unique approach, you can tailor commands and sets to the specific server environments you are configuring. For example, bundle a group of commands to set up common workflows or security permissions. You can either create your own command sets or use ones that the portal has customized for easy roll-out.
Using Commands Blocks and Sets to help you scale
You can rise to almost any Microsoft challenge when you use Commands. Workflows are the roadmap for modern success and Command Blocks and Command Sets can help you achieve this.
They allow service providers to advance from PowerShell and connect multiple-users and tenants to Microsoft setups quickly. Being able to manage customer environments from one interface allows help desk teams to spend less time on customer deployments, and more time on scaling.
Command Blocks and Sets give you easy, accurate and efficient management. Which means less admin time is needed—that’s what we call a winner!
Click here to experience for yourself how else Cloud User Hub can help your business.
Laura Moise is Sr. Product Marketing Manager at N‑able
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