The next part in my Lab setup now that I’ve gotten network configured is to actually no longer touch my new Lab machine…

While that might sound strange at first, the reason for this is simple. My Lab should be a headless server, stuffed in a cabinet somewhere with power and a network connection and I should be able to do ALL my management tasks remotely.

This should be a simple task you’d say, but for the sake of clarity [and to learn this process better myself] I have decided to write down all the steps required to do this.

Since I’ve decided to get more serious about updating my skills and knowledge again [also why I started blogging], I thought about getting a proper lab setup.

The goal is to have a small, portable but powerful Hyper-V based lab which I can carry along with me from home and to work if need be. Now I tend to have a test setup on my home machine and one on my work laptop, depending on what I need at that moment. Using this portable lab I want to make everything I need accessible from one location.

I’m loving the way Microsoft is currently pushing PowerShell as THE go-to tool required to manage all your solutions.

I’m at a loss however at why they aren’t providing out of the box solutions so that you can manage all of your workstations/servers through PowerShell. Sure, you can head over to every machine and configure PowerShell using

In order to manage your Office 365 tenant(s) using PowerShell, there are some pre-requisites required.

1. Ensure you are running Windows 8.1, Windows 8, or Windows 7.
2. Make sure you have the .NET Framework 3.51 feature [enabled by default on Windows 8 and up]
3. Make sure you have the latest updates. It is important to run this after you install .NET Framework 3.51, so you get updates for that in addition to updates for your operating system.
4. Install the Microsoft Online Services Sign-In assistant. Even though the link provided should work, you should always look up the latest version [see next link].
5. Install the Windows Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) module for the appropriate version of your operating system.

Once these requirements are installed, you can continue to connect to your tenant using the following function:

As I’m pondering what to write for my first proper techy blog post, I’ve got to thinking about WHY I’ve chosen to blog in the first place.