One of the main DBA’s duties is to guarantee that SQL Server instances are up-to-date in terms of patches (Service Packs, Cumulative Updates or Security Updates). Recently, dbatools added a new command that turns this validation a piece of cake. Thanks to Simone Bizzotto (@niphlod) for baking up the command that Shawn Melton (@wsmelton) and I initially requested. Some dbatools users already expressed their happiness with the command, like Jess Pomfret did here So, I thought that this information should be shared with other people too.

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Last night, I received Adam Machanic’s ( b | t ) newsletter “Announcing sp_whoisactive v11.20: Live Query Plans”. For those who don’t know about it, sp_WhoIsActive is a stored procedure that provides detailed information about the sessions running on your SQL Server instance. It is a great tool when we need to troubleshoot some problems such as long-running queries or blocking. (just two examples) This stored procedure works on any version/edition since SQL Server 2005 SP1.

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This month’s T-SQL Tuesday is brought to us by my good friend Rob Sewell ( b | t ). Together “Let’s get all Posh – What are you going to automate today?” I have written some blog posts on how I use PowerShell to automate mundane tasks or some other more complex scenarios like: Find and fix SQL Server databases with empty owner property using dbatools PowerShell module or Have you backed up your SQL Logins today?

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I was using open source PowerShell module dbatools ( GitHub repository ) to get the list of SQL Server services I have on a bunch of hosts so I could confirm if they are in “running” state. – Quick note – For those who don’t know, dbatools is a module, written by the community, that makes SQL Server administration much easier using PowerShell. Today, the module has more than 260 commands.

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Cláudio Silva

Data Platform Architect and PowerShell lover.

Data Platform Architect

Portugal