SQL Server 2014 with PowerShell V5 Cookbook

Over 150 real-world recipes to simplify database management, automate repetitive tasks, and enhance your productivity

About This Book

• This book helps you build a strong foundation to get you comfortable using PowerShell with SQL Server, empowering you to create more complex scripts for your day-to-day job
• The book provides numerous guidelines, tips, and explanations on how and when to use PowerShell cmdlets, WMI, SMO, .NET classes, or other components
• It offers easy-to-follow, practical recipes to help you get the most out of SQL Server and PowerShell

Who This Book Is For

If you are a SQL Server database professional (DBA, developer, or BI developer) who wants to use PowerShell to automate, integrate, and simplify database tasks, this books is for you. Prior knowledge of scripting would be helpful, but it is not necessary.

What You Will Learn

• Explore database objects and execute queries on multiple servers
• Manage and monitor the running of SQL Server services and accounts
• Back up and restore databases
• Create an inventory of database properties and server configuration settings
• Maintain permissions and security for users
• Work with CLR assemblies, XML, and BLOB objects in SQL
• Manage and deploy SSIS packages and SSRS reports

In Detail

PowerShell can be leveraged when automating and streamlining SQL Server tasks. PowerShell comes with a rich set of cmdlets, and integrates tightly with the .NET framework. Its scripting capabilities are robust and flexible, allowing you to simplify automation and integration across different Microsoft applications and components.

The book starts with an introduction to the new features in SQL Server 2014 and PowerShell v5 and the installation of SQL Server. You will learn about basic SQL Server administration tasks and then get to know about some security-related topics such as the authentication mode and assigning permissions. Moving on, you will explore different methods to back up and restore your databases and perform advanced administration tasks such as working with Policies, Filetables, and SQL audits. The next part of the book covers more advanced HADR tasks such as log shipping and data mirroring, and then shows you how to develop your server to work with BLOB, XML, and JSON.

Following on from that, you will learn about SQL Server's BI stack, which includes SSRS reports, the SSIS package, and the SSAS cmdlet and database. Snippets not specific to SQL Server will help you perform tasks quickly on SQL servers. Towards the end of the book, you will find some useful information, which includes a PowerShell tutorial for novice users, some commonly-used PowerShell and SQL Server syntax, and a few online resources. Finally, you will create your own SQL Server Sandbox VMs. All these concepts will help you to efficiently manage your administration tasks.

Style and approach

SQL Server 2014 with PowerShell v5 Cookbook is an example-focused book that provides step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish specific SQL Server tasks using PowerShell. Each recipe is followed by an analysis of the steps or design decisions taken and additional information about the task at hand. Working scripts are provided for all examples so that you can dive in right away.

You can read this book sequentially by chapter or you can pick and choose which topics you need right away.

Donabel Santos

Donabel Santos (SQL Server MVP) is a business intelligence architect, trainer/instructor, consultant, author, and principal at QueryWorks Solutions (http://www.queryworks.ca/), based in Vancouver, Canada. She works primarily with SQL Server for database/data warehouse, reporting, and ETL solutions. She scripts and automates tasks with T-SQL and PowerShell and creates corporate dashboards and visualizations with Tableau and Power BI. She is a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) and an accredited Tableau trainer. She provides consulting and corporate training to clients and also conducts some of Tableau's fundamental and advanced classes in Canada. She is the lead instructor for SQL Server and Tableau (Visual Analytics) courses at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) Part-time Studies (PTS). She is a self-professed data geek. Her idea of fun is working with data, SQL Server, PowerShell, and Tableau. She authored two books from Packt Publishing: SQL Server 2012 with PowerShell v3 Cookbook, and PowerShell and SQL Server Essentials. She has also contributed to PowerShell Deep Dives, Manning Publications. She blogs at http://sqlbelle.com/ and tweets at @sqlbelle.