Blog Posts

• Connecting to SQL Server on Another Domain

  August 25, 2022

  This post contains a guide on how to connect to SQL Server with Windows Authentication, but using a different Domain User other than your own. The regular Windows SQL Server User connects & runs their queries via SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). If you’re in a corporate environment,…

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• Restart Services on Multiple Hosts using PowerShell

  August 24, 2022

  In this post, we’ll walk through a script that restarts services on multiple remote hosts using PowerShell. A single PowerShell command will be run on several computers at the same time. If you need to run a command on multiple remote machines, the PowerShell Invoke-Command cmdlet is a…

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• How to Rename a Computer that Hosts SQL Server

  August 23, 2022

  When changing the hostname of a computer that is running SQL Server, we have to update system metadata so that remote connections and applications do not lose connectivity. The hostname system metadata is stored in sys.servers and reported by @@SERVERNAME. This post is a guide on how to update…

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• PowerShell ForEach Loop Tutorial

  August 22, 2022

  Looping is a fundamental concept in PowerShell, and in programming in general. It’s needed for various situations where we need to work with one object at a time within an array/collection of objects. Microsoft’s documentation on this, about Foreach : Microsoft Documentation, describes Foreach to be for ‘stepping…

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• How to Check Listening Ports on Windows

  August 21, 2022

  This guide will show you how to check which service is running on a specific TCP or UDP port on a Windows computer. This can be useful for verifying which service is tied to a port or proactively checking for any dodgy (suspicious) open ports. In this post,…

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• Get Database Sizes in SQL Server

  August 20, 2022

  Knowing how much disk space your databases are consuming in SQL Server is an important thing to know and monitor as a Database Administrator. As well as this, we should be looking at future growth of database files, ensuring we have enough disk space for years to come.…

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• How to Backup a SQL Server Database

  August 19, 2022

  This guide provides a simple demo on how to back up a SQL Server database and explains three main types of backups in MS SQL: > SQL Server Full Backup > SQL Server Transaction Log Backup > SQL Server Differential Backup > Additional Notes on SQL Server Backups…

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• Get Estimated Database Backup/Restore Example

  August 18, 2022

  When you’re waiting on a database backup or restore to complete in SQL Server, we can run the script below to get an estimated time of how long the backup has left to go – We have one 5GB database here currently being backed up at the time…

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• Get Last Backup Times for all Databases in SQL Server

  August 17, 2022

  Ensuring your databases are regularly backed up is critical for data recovery in case of corruption, accidental deletions, or other failures. If you don’t have a backup, recovering lost data may be impossible. As a Database Administrator, it’s your number one Priority along-side ensuring your SQL Service is…

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• How to Check Windows Firewall Status with PowerShell

  August 16, 2022

  Want to quickly check whether your Windows Firewall is enabled or disabled? This guide shows you how to use PowerShell to get the status of your local Windows Firewall for each profile. PowerShell cmdlets follow a standard format: verb-noun. The verb describes the action, and the noun specifies…

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