Speaking at PASS Summit On Tour: NYC

I’ll be speaking on Tuesday, 8/19, at the PASS Summit on tour in New York City. I’ll be giving a talk in the “professional development” world this time.. And I’ll be doing the same session at the PASS Summit in Seattle this fall. This time, rather than talk about SQL Server DBA tips, upgrades, migrations, … Read more

Save Time On SQL Server Installs With Install-DbaInstance (dbatoools)

save time on SQL Server installs with Install-DbaInstance

As DBAs we install SQL Server for various reasons regularly. If you could save time for each installation for more critical tasks, would you? In this blog post, we will audit the dbatools command Install-Dbainstance. I will test, review, and evaluate the script based on a series of identical steps. Our goal is to provide … Read more

Updates and improvements to sp_CheckBackup

SQL Server database backup tool for checking recoverability issues

Since we introduced sp_CheckBackup last year we’ve gotten some great feedback on ways to improve this tool that helps you quickly and easily review the backup history for your SQL Server databases. We’ve even noticed a few things ourselves that we wanted to change as we used it more internally here at Straight Path Solutions. … Read more

How to Quickly Load CSV Files Into SQL Server Using Import-DbaCsv (dbatools)

Import-DbaCsv

Most businesses are rotten with Excel sheets and CSV exports from various tools and as my mentor puts it “Excel is the world’s database”. The dbatools command Import-DbaCsv enables the quick load of CSV tables into SQL Server, which then opens up the world of fast transformation and use in other tools such as PowerBI, … Read more

How to Automatically Install SQL Server Service Packs and Cumulative Updates with Update-DbaInstance (dbatools)

Update DbaInstance

Keeping your SQL Server instance up to date with the latest service packs and cumulative updates is one of the key components of SQL Server security. In this blog post, we will audit the dbatools command Update-DbaInstance, which can save you hours every month and help keep your environment more secure. I will test, review, … Read more

Your Silent Face: The Illusion of the Safety of “Never Patching” Your SQL Servers.

No hearing, or breathing… No movement, no colors… Just silence… Sounds peaceful. Sounds serene. And in a world where entropy didn’t exist, it could even stay that way. That’s not our world, though. Our SQL Servers (in whatever flavor they exist) don’t live in utopia. They live in a world where bad actors are trying … Read more