Windows PowerShell for the SQL Server DBA

Most people think Windows administrators make a living with their right-hand—you know, right-clicking and left-clicking the user interface to get things done. While anybody can do that in Windows, the real value comes in when you no longer need to rely so much on the user interface but instead write scripts. Lower total cost of ownership is achieved when the administrative costs are kept low, and this is where Windows PowerShell comes in.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time writing VBScript scripts to administer Windows servers and workstations and automating repetitive tasks. One reason for me moving into Windows PowerShell is its roots in the Microsoft .NET Framework, as I have done a fair amount of .NET programming. But what is Windows PowerShell anyway?

Windows PowerShell is an extensible command-line shell and an associated scripting language built on top of the .NET Framework v2.0. It was released in 2006 and is currently available for Windows XP SP2/SP3, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and is included in Windows Server 2008.

PowerShell will be included as a common engineering criteria (CEC) in future releases of Microsoft server products, making it a must-learn for Microsoft server administrators.

Administrators (DBAs included) have been using scripting to automate administrative tasks with scripting languages like DOS batch, VBScript, Perl, and a few third-party tools like KiXtart and WinScript. Windows PowerShell complements the administrators’ existing scripting toolkit to easily manage and administer Windows workstations and servers and other Microsoft server products as THEY are being built using the .NET Framework.

Although it is designed for operating systems, Windows PowerShell can be used to administer SQL Server 2005 instances and higher, as Server Management Objects—the object model used to manage SQL Server 2005—are built using the .NET Framework, thus exposing the object model in PowerShell. And since SMO is compatible with SQL Server 2000, you can administer SQL Server 2000 instances using Windows PowerShell. SQL Server 2008 even ships with its own PowerShell snap-in.

No wonder it makes sense to learn a thing or two about Windows PowerShell. Besides, I’ve seen Windows administrators being “forced” to do SQL Server DBA tasks even without knowing what T-SQL is. Windows PowerShell makes it a level playing field.

I will be posting a series of blog posts on getting started with Windows PowerShell, and how any Windows administrator can use it for their day-to-day tasks. In the process, I’ll also cover how to use Windows PowerShell for administering SQL Server instances.