Hi Cluster Fans,
In Windows Server 2012, Windows PowerShell® cmdlet help content has new functionality that enables it to be updatable over the life of the product. This allows us to get feedback from the community and update the help with enhanced explanations or additional examples even after Windows Server 2012 has released!
One point to note is that out of the box Windows PowerShell® ships with basic cmdlet help which has Syntax, Parameters, Inputs, Outputs and Aliases but no descriptive text, related links or examples. This minimizes the size of your ISOs and VHDs for those machines that you won’t be using the Windows PowerShell® help on. When you want the latest and greatest help, it can be installed on demand by following these steps:
1) Open an elevated Windows PowerShell ® prompt
2) Notice what basic help provides
3) Update the help content for the Failover Clusters or Network Load Balancing module
Update-Help –Module FailoverClusters
Update-Help –Module NetworkLoadBalancingClusters
The help content for a module can also be saved to a file system directory:
Save-Help -DestinationPath <DestinationPathString> -Module FailoverClusters
Save-Help -DestinationPath <DestinationPathString> -Module NetworkLoadBalancingClusters
This saved content can then be used to update the help content on Windows Server 2012 machines that are not internet capable or do not have WinHTTP configured:
Update-Help –SourcePath <SourcePathString> –Module FailoverClusters
Update-Help –SourcePath <SourcePathString> –Module NetworkLoadBalancingClusters
Note: One of the great new Windows PowerShell® features in Windows Server 2012 is that you do not need to manually import Windows PowerShell® modules each time you open a Windows PowerShell® prompt. They are automatically loaded for you when you run a cmdlet from the module for the first time.
4) You now have access to the most recent cmdlet help
You can also find the entire cmdlet help for Failover Clustering and Network Load Balancing online.
Failover Clustering: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=233200
Network Load Balancing: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=238123
Thanks!
Subhasish Bhattacharya
Program Manager
Clustering & High Availability
Microsoft