The PowerShell Podcast

Andrew welcomes back Constantin Hager, a senior systems engineer, PowerShell User Group organizer, and brand new Microsoft MVP. They open by revisiting Constantin's infamous "size of a finger" intro from his first appearance, then dig into his talks at PSConfEU this year on dev containers with GitHub Codespaces and on Maester, the testing framework for M365 and on-prem AD. A quick detour into the GitHub vs. GitLab vs. Codeberg debate leads into the main event: a deep breakdown of Microsoft365DSC, what it actually does, how it treats M365 tenant settings like Intune, Entra, and Exchange as idempotent, drift-monitored code, and how the M365DSC Workshop wraps the notoriously painful setup process into a lab folder anyone can run. They cover the workshop's multi-tenant design, its DSC Community roots, and the honest limitations, like settings that still aren't exposed through public APIs. Constantin also shares his organic path to becoming an MVP, updates on his user group's shift to English-language talks, and a heads up on an upcoming blog series diving deeper into M365DSC. They close with news on the free PSConfEU MiniCon, happening October 13th with the CFP open until September 25th.
Key Takeaways:

Microsoft365DSC turns M365 tenant configuration into idempotent, drift-monitored code, and the M365DSC Workshop exists specifically to make the notoriously painful setup process approachable through a ready-to-run lab folder instead of a hundred-page whitepaper.

Not everything in M365 is automatable yet. Settings without a public API (some Copilot controls, for example) still require manual portal fixes or an interactive token, so full automation has real gaps today.

Constantin's MVP award grew out of years of showing up, organizing his user group, speaking at conferences, and opening GitHub issues, not out of being the loudest voice in the room.

Guest Bio:
Constantin Hager is a senior systems engineer based in Germany, organizer of the PowerShell User Group Inn-Salzach, and a newly awarded Microsoft MVP. A returning guest of the podcast, he's known for his enthusiasm around dev containers, PSFramework, and now Microsoft365DSC.
 
Resource Links:
Constantin Hager on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/constantin-hager/
Constantin's blog, The IT Guide https://the-itguide.de
Andrew's blog: https://andrewpla.tech
PowerShell User Group Inn-Salzach (Meetup) https://www.meetup.com/de-DE/powershell-usergroup-inn-salzach/
Maester (M365 and Entra security testing framework) https://maester.dev/
Microsoft365DSC official site https://microsoft365dsc.com
Microsoft365DSC on GitHub https://github.com/microsoft/Microsoft365DSC
M365DSC whitepaper and CI/CD pipeline scripts https://github.com/ykuijs/M365DSC_CICD
DSC Community https://dsccommunity.org
PSConfEU https://psconf.eu
PSConfEU MiniCon Call for Papers (Sessionize) https://sessionize.com/psconfeu-minicon/
PDQ Discord https://discord.gg/PDQ
The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Vy4kaayGT2M

David McFall joins Andrew Pla to talk about practical PowerShell, mentorship, automation, and why you do not need to be a PowerShell expert to get serious value from it. David shares how he uses PowerShell across Active Directory, Entra, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Graph, and PDQ, including real-world examples like device posture reporting, identifying hardware gaps, and automating project management. They also dig into learning with AI, knowing when a simple script is enough, the importance of testing before production, and why helping the people around you grow can make everyone’s job easier.

Key Takeaways:
· PowerShell does not have to be complicated to be useful. David approaches PowerShell as a working sysadmin who wants to automate repetitive tasks, reuse existing tools, and solve real problems rather than build everything from scratch.
· AI can accelerate learning, but it should not replace understanding. David uses AI to better understand PowerShell concepts and Microsoft Graph, while emphasizing the importance of reviewing, testing, and understanding scripts before putting them into production.
· Sharing knowledge makes the whole team stronger. David views himself as a mentor rather than simply a manager. Helping junior team members develop their skills gives them more opportunities while also creating a team that can share responsibility instead of relying on one person who knows everything.

Guest Bio:
David McFall is an IT infrastructure and operations leader with experience across enterprise cloud platforms, cybersecurity, system administration, Microsoft Defender, Azure, incident response, and automation. Based in Metro Detroit, David combines hands-on technical work with a strong focus on mentoring IT professionals and sharing what he has learned throughout his career.

Resource links:

ImportExcel (create Excel reports without Excel installed) https://github.com/dfinke/ImportExcel

PSWriteHTML (build interactive HTML reports from PowerShell) https://github.com/EvotecIT/PSWriteHTML

BurntToast (Windows toast notifications from PowerShell) https://github.com/Windos/BurntToast

Maester (automated Microsoft 365 security posture testing) https://maester.dev

The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/36VN6K-oE8w

Andrew welcomes Morten Mynster back to the PowerShell Podcast to dig into the projects he’s been building around Microsoft Graph, Entra, least privilege, and authentication. Morten walks through Least Privileged Entra, a module that uses activity logs to identify users who may have more permissions than they actually need, and MS Graph Proxy, which lets developers work with mocked Microsoft Graph data locally without connecting to a live tenant. They also get into managed identities, the rougher corners of Microsoft 365 APIs, testing Graph-based projects in CI/CD pipelines, and how contributing to open source can solve real problems while creating unexpected career opportunities.
 
Key Takeaways:
· Least privilege is easier when you can see what people actually use. Morten’s Least Privileged Entra module compares assigned Entra roles with activity data to identify permissions that may be unnecessary and suggest more limited alternatives. The goal is to give admins something actionable rather than simply reporting that a configuration passed or failed.
· You don’t always need a live Microsoft 365 tenant to develop against Microsoft Graph. MS Graph Proxy intercepts Graph requests and responds with mocked data, allowing developers to test scripts and modules locally, offline, or inside CI/CD pipelines. It can also identify the minimum Graph permissions associated with the endpoints an application uses.
· Sharing your work can have benefits far beyond the project itself. Morten credits his Least Privileged MS Graph project with helping him land his current job. His approach is simple: solve a real problem, share the solution, contribute where you can, and let other people build on what you’ve learned.
 
Guest Bio:
Morten Mynster is an IT professional and open source contributor focused on Microsoft Entra, Microsoft Graph, security, and least privilege. His projects include LeastPrivilegedMSGraph, LeastPrivilegedEntra, and MSGraphProxy, and he regularly contributes to community projects and discussions around Microsoft 365 security and PowerShell.

Resource Links:

https://github.com/Mynster9361/Least_Privileged_MSGraph

https://github.com/Mynster9361/LeastPrivilegedEntra

https://github.com/Mynster9361/msgraphProxy

https://github.com/FriedrichWeinmann/EntraAuth

The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cB_QE1HvAyI

Mike Soule, Field CTO at Sentinel Technologies, returns to the PowerShell Podcast for the first time in three years to talk identity security, cloud configuration testing, and the evolving role of AI in the Microsoft ecosystem. Andrew and Mike dig into Maester, the open source PowerShell-based test automation framework that applies unit testing concepts to Microsoft 365 security configuration. Mike breaks down how Maester works, how Sentinel uses it with clients, and how the community has grown it into something that spans hundreds of built-in tests covering conditional access, CIS baselines, CISA standards, and more. They also cover EntraOps, the Enterprise Access Model, AI's impact on the MSP world, and why working in managed services is still one of the fastest ways to level up in IT. The episode closes with a strong Brandon Sanderson tangent.

Key Takeaways:

Maester brings the concept of unit testing to Microsoft 365 security configuration, letting admins continuously validate their cloud settings against known-good baselines with as few as three PowerShell commands. It's built on Pester, is fully open source, and now has over 100 community contributors.

AI is changing the MSP landscape fast, but the fundamentals still matter. Mike and Andrew discuss how to think about Copilot licensing complexity, model routing in agent stacks, and why meeting users in their existing interface is often more important than deploying a shiny new tool.

MSP experience accelerates learning in a way that internal IT often can't match. When you're working across multiple clients and environments, you accumulate reps quickly, and that breadth is hard to replicate elsewhere.

Guest Bio:
Mike Soule is the Field CTO at Sentinel Technologies, a large managed service provider focused on identity, cloud, and security strategy. Mike has been working hands-on with PowerShell, Entra ID, and Microsoft 365 security architecture for years and is a regular speaker at identity and security conferences.

Resource Links:
Maester (open source framework): https://maester.dev
Maester on GitHub: https://github.com/maester365/maester
Maester Cloud (hosted version by Merill Fernando): https://maester.cloud
HIPConf (Hybrid Identity Protection Conference): https://www.hipconf.com
EntraOps by Thomas Naunheim: https://github.com/Cloud-Architekt/EntraOps
Mike Soule on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikesoule
The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/EQK693gGWoo

Andrew Pla sits down with TJ Turner at Microsoft’s TechMentor conference @ Microsoft HQ in Redmond, Washington, for a conversation about PowerShell, career growth, and the parts of working in IT that don’t show up in the documentation. TJ traces his path from infrastructure through K-12, finance, and retail to his current role as a Cloud Evangelist at TD SYNNEX, along with his early days using PowerShell v2 and v3, competing in the Scripting Games, and helping start the Philadelphia PowerShell User Group. They also dig into real-world automation wins, including a PowerShell workflow that helped validate thousands of systems before a holiday weekend, plus burnout, community, asking for help, and what years of broken demos and IT mistakes can teach you about staying prepared and learning to adapt.

Key Takeaways:
· What got you here won’t get you there. TJ’s career moved from hands-on infrastructure into distribution, cloud, and technical evangelism, and none of those moves were necessarily part of the original plan. Staying open to new roles, skills, and opportunities has been a big part of that growth.
· PowerShell changes how you think, not just how you work. TJ shares examples of using PowerShell to validate thousands of systems, automate VMware update workflows, and collect detailed system state information. Over time, that automation mindset became part of how he approaches problems, even as his career moved beyond day-to-day infrastructure work.
· Community and communication are technical skills too. Whether it’s recognizing burnout, asking for help, meeting someone at a conference, or admitting you don’t know an answer during a presentation, the ability to connect with other people can have just as much impact on your career as knowing the technology.

Guest Bio:
TJ Turner is a Cloud Evangelist at TD SYNNEX, one of Microsoft’s largest distributors in the CSP and partner channel. His background is in infrastructure, with experience spanning K-12, financial services, retail, and other enterprise environments. TJ got started with PowerShell during the v2 and v3 era, competed in the Scripting Games, and helped found the Philadelphia PowerShell User Group. Today, his work includes Azure, Microsoft 365, security, GitHub, DevOps, and helping partners grow their businesses.

Resource Links:
· TD SYNNEX Microsoft Partner Programs: https://www.tdsynnex.com/na/us/Microsoft/

· PDQ Connect PowerShell Scanner: https://www.pdq.com/powershell-scanner/

· PDQ PowerShell Scanner Blog Post: https://www.pdq.com/blog/the-powershell-scanner-has-arrived-in-pdq-connect/

· PDQ Community PowerShell Scanners Repository: https://github.com/pdqcom/PowerShell-Scanners

· TJ Turner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?keywords=TJ+Turner+TD+SYNNEX

The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ce9vxdkzDbo