SQL Server 2008 and PowerShell

SQL Server 2008 now has support for PowerShell.

SQL Server provides two PowerShell snap-ins that implement:

* A SQL Server provider, which enables a simple navigation mechanism similar to file system paths. You can build paths similar to file system paths, where the drive is associated with a SQL Server management object model, and the nodes are based on the object model classes. You can then use familiar commands such as cd and dir to navigate the paths similar to the way you navigate folders in a command prompt window. You can use other commands, such as ren or del, to perform actions on the nodes in the path.

* A set of cmdlets, which are commands used in PowerShell scripts to specify a SQL Server action. The SQL Server cmdlets support actions such as running a sqlcmd script containing Transact-SQL or XQuery statements.

Resources:
SQL Server PowerShell Overview

Pre-written Powershell scripts for SQL Server Management

SQL Server Standard Edition 2005 upgrade to SQL Server Standard 2008 upgrade rules fail

I had an issue with SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Rules. I was running SQL Server 2005 Standard. I could not get past the Upgrade Rules. I told me I was trying to upgrade to an incompatible version and to see the version matrix. It made no sense to me. I ran “Select @@version” and it all came back correct. I did some digging into the Microsoft SQL Server100Setup BootstrapLogSummary.txt. I found out that my Reporting Services and tools version were installed with SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition.

What! How could that be? Yes, that is what I had installed, so not matter what version I tried to upgrade to it failed. The installer could not figure out what to do.

The Solution:
None really, I could not upgrade.
So, I had to re-create my environment with a new clean install of SQL Server 2005 Standard w/ Reporting Services then go through my upgrade tests. All was fine after that.

Upgrade to SQL Server 2008 fixes Reporting Services nested data region export to Excel

I recently upgraded to SQL Server 2008. The primary reason was to fix an issue with SQL Server Reporting Services – Excel Export issues with nested data regions.

“Any data region nested inside of a table or matrix data region is not supported. An error is displayed in Excel if this layout is encountered.”

They reportedly fixed this issue in SQL Server 2008. I my testing supports the claim and we no longer have the “nested data region errors”.

I must say that I was impressed with the new installer. Microsoft goes to great lengths to validate your SQL Server configuration before trying to upgrade. I had one upgrade issue that I talk about in this post, that was caused by me.