topic Should I use powershell or perl to develop WFA? in Active IQ Unified Manager Discussions

Should I use powershell or perl to develop WFA?

netappmagic — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 05:46:01 GMT

I am new to WFA, and wondering what development tool I should use, Powershell or perl which seems two options I can use for WFA operations. I wanted to ask experienced exerts here, what tool would be better suited, considering adopting / integrating any existing modules/libraries. I don't want to be too late in the middle of the development when I find one tool is not better than the other.

Is there any issue on using Perl over Powershell? Since personally I like perl, although both is new to me.

Thanks!

Re: Should I use powershell or perl to develop WFA?

mgoddard — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 23:05:37 GMT

Hi,

The majority of WFA Commands are written in Powershell as this is built into Windows, although newer WFA include Perl in the bundle so you can use either easily. I'd probably suggest powershell if you don't have experience in either, as powershell tends to be easier to learn. You could use a GUI like PowerGUI to help. If you run the shell interactively, load the <WFA-Install-Dir>/PoSH/profile.ps1 to include the WFA-specific powershell extensions.

Kind Regards,

Michael.

Re: Should I use powershell or perl to develop WFA?

sinhaa — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 05:27:51 GMT

PowerGUI... not used it but I think I should try. I hope it doesn't need a license.

Answering to the original post, Powershell beats Perl hands down in every single respect one can think of. Also WFA current infrastructure aids the command development in Powershell. Discover parameters, different parameter input types etc.. all work with Posh commands.

If you like Perl, you are going to love Powershell. Use Posh3.0 or 4.0.

Re: Should I use powershell or perl to develop WFA?

raovolvoadmin — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 07:11:28 GMT

I agree with Mgoddard.Most of the WFA commands written in PowerShell.

But I heard that Perl WFA commands going to be included in next release.Is it true?.I am not very much sure.

As per my knowledge,Most of the Storage Admin's are familiar with Perl compared with PowerShell. One reason is Perl is platform independent.

Regards

Rao.

Re: Should I use powershell or perl to develop WFA?

sinhaa — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 08:00:15 GMT

@ But I heard that Perl WFA commands going to be included in next release.Is it true?.I am not very much sure.

===

Certified Perl commands have been in WFA since WFA2.0. Many more Protection related commands were added in WFA2.1.

@ As per my knowledge,Most of the Storage Admin's are familiar with Perl compared with PowerShell.

====

Possible. Its just a user choice which he/she has to make based on his comfort level. But as said earlier based on personal experience of using both, I'll always pick Powershell.

@One reason is Perl is platform independent.

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Only thing is WFA is platform dependent. And on Windows platform, posh works best.

Re: Should I use powershell or perl to develop WFA?

madden — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 08:12:52 GMT

Given the trend of OnCommand products moving to VMs on top of linux, can we expect WFA to go that way too? If yes, could that be a reason to prefer Perl?

Re: Should I use powershell or perl to develop WFA?

sinhaa — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 08:47:14 GMT

Perhaps WFA may break some trends then .

Re: Should I use powershell or perl to develop WFA?

dblackwe — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 14:21:07 GMT

I like perl, powershell annoys me greatly. That said all major development and most if not all NetApp new development uses powershell

David Blackwell, NCDA

(571) 358-5522

Re: Should I use powershell or perl to develop WFA?

dblackwe — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 14:22:55 GMT

While there is a Linux virtual app version of WFA in development it unfortunately will be feature stripped down. It will lack any and all windows lun configuration abilities (host side) as well as a few other items.

David Blackwell, NCDA

(571) 358-5522