powershell

Make Your Application's Name Heard

Andy Levy
Odds are, you’ve got more than one application or script accessing your database or SQL Server instance at any given time. You’re probably stacking them on a small number of servers in an attempt to cut down on licensing costs and resource usage. All those PowerShell scripts running on the central job server are running under a single service account, and you’ve got a lazy vendor who set up both the website and back-end application server to run under the same account, maybe even on a single app/web server.

SQL New Blogger Challenge Weekly Digest

Andy Levy
Watching all of the tweets as people posted their first entries in the SQL New Blogger Challenge earlier this week, I quickly realized that keeping up was going to be a challenge of its own. Fortunately, there are ways to reign it in. My first stop was IFTTT (If This Then That). IFTTT allows you to create simple “recipes” to watch for specific events/conditions, then perform an action. They have over 175 “channels” to choose from, each of which has one or more triggers (events) and actions.

Connecting SQLite to SQL Server with PowerShell

Andy Levy
This post is part of Ed Leighton-Dick’s SQL New Blogger Challenge. Please follow and support these new (or reborn) bloggers. I’m working with a number of SQLite databases as extra data sources in addition to the SQL Server database I’m primarily using for a project. Brian Davis (blog|twitter) wrote a blog post a few years ago that covers setting up the connection quite well. In my case, I’ve got nine SQLite databases to connect to, and that gets tedious.

Rochester SQL Server User Group February Meeting - Slides & Demos

Andy Levy
On Thursday, February 26th I presented “Easing Into Windows PowerShell” to a packed house at the Rochester SQL Server User Group meeting. Thanks to Matt Slocum (blog | twitter) for being my semi-official photographer. Presenting Easing Into Windows PowerShell at the Rochester SQL Server User Group February 26, 2015 We set a chapter attendance record! I had a lot of fun presenting this (my first time speaking outside my company) and we had some great conversations during and after the meeting.

Rochester PASS Chapter February Meeting - I'm Speaking!

Andy Levy
On Thursday, February 26th at 6:00 PM EST I will be speaking at the Rochester PASS chapter meeting. The topic is “Easing Into PowerShell - What’s It All About?”. You’ve been hearing a lot about Windows PowerShell, but you’re wondering if it’s something you should be looking into. In this introductory session, we’ll talk about what PowerShell is, where it came from, how it works, and what it can do for you.

My First Windows Update Gone Bad

Andy Levy
I don’t think I’ve ever had a Windows Update go bad - until this week. I recently upgraded to Office 2013 and late Monday afternoon, decided to check in with Windows Update prior to our company’s normal monthly patching to see how bad the damage would be. Nearly 1 GB of updates, thanks to my fresh Office install. But there were also a couple optional updates, including a .NET Framework update.

Shorten Your PowerShell Prompt

Andy Levy
Recently, I’ve been getting very annoyed by the length of the default PowerShell prompt. Most of my work starts in my Documents folder, so with the default prompt, I’m working with C:\Users\username\Documents. But more often, it’s closer to C:\Users\username\Documents\_Projects\Project\Section\ and with some projects, even longer. Before you know it, you’re line-wrapping for anything more than running a cmdlet with no parameters. Sure, it’s better than C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents (props to Microsoft for cleaning that up in post-XP releases), but sometimes it’s still not enough.

T-SQL Tuesday #39 - Here's what my PoSH is cooking

Andy Levy
My first official entry for T-SQL Tuesday (my first was a guest post hosted by Kendal Van Dyke (blog|twitter), so I’m not really counting it) is brought to you by PowerShell, or PoSH. Ever since I discovered PoSH and really dove into learning it a couple years ago, my co-workers have gotten a bit annoyed by my insistence upon using it for everything. It is my favorite hammer, and around me I see nothing but acres and acres of nails.