Windows Server® 2012 Unleashed

Modules and Snap-Ins

One of the main design goals behind PowerShell was to make extending the default functionality in PowerShell and sharing those extensions easy enough that anyone could do it. In PowerShell 1.0, part of this design goal was realized through the use of snap-ins. PowerShell snap-ins (PSSnapins) are dynamic-link library (DLL) files that can be used to provide access to additional cmdlets or providers. By default, a number of PSSnapins are loaded into every PowerShell session. These default sets of PSSnapins contain the built-in cmdlets and providers that are used by PowerShell. You can display a list of these cmdlets by entering the command Get-PSSnapin at the PowerShell command prompt, as follows:

PS C:\> get-pssnapinName        : ...