Fix broken WMI provider in SQL Server

Being unable to open SQL Server Configuration Manager if often caused by a corrupt or removed WMI provider for SQL Server. This post explains how to resolve this.

Being unable to open SQL Server Configuration Manager if often caused by a corrupt or removed WMI provider for SQL Server. This post explains how to resolve this.

The fire-and-forget method to update SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) automatically by uninstalling any installed version and downloading & installing the newest available version from Microsoft.

Whenever I need to restore an SQL Server .bak backup file, I want to know some properties of the backup file to make sure I'm working with the correct file(s). Luckily, the .bak file and PowerShell provide all the information I need, so I don't have to start a Restore procedure in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) just to view the header information. As you know, SSMS is slow...

Sometimes you need to create an additional SQL Server Login (user) for your database (databases). Here is a small T-SQL snippet that creates such a login for contained databases in SQL Server and adds memberships.

Monitor Microsoft SQL Server, databases and performance with Zabbix, PowerShell, Performance Counters and WMI. Keep SQL Server and databases in top shape and performance up! In this post I show you how you can use Zabbix to monitor those important aspects for database administrators (DBA).

How can I convert an SqlCe database to Microsoft SQL Server?

Learn how to install SQL Server cumulative updates (CU) silently using PowerShell opposed to the cumbersome task of running the GUI installer.

For the time being, some manual labor is involved, but it is still manageable. You can use this to create your own solution to block offending IP addresses in SQL Server’s firewall.

A manual SQL Server failover can only be initiated from the principal server, and the mirrored database must be synchronized (that is, when the database is in the SYNCHRONIZED state). In this article I will show you how to manual failover mirrored SQL Server databases using Transact-SQL (T-SQL) in SQL Server 2017 and up.

Compressed SQL Server backups can be verified in PowerShell using a handy PowerShell function. This comes in handy when you need to verify if existing SQL Server backups are compressed.

This post walks you through the steps necessary to install the SQL Server driver and SQLSRV extension for PHP 7+, on Windows Server IIS of course.

Configure Umbraco for SQLServer sessionState storage and prepare Umbraco for high performance web garden or web farm, and load balancing environments. This post explains it all.
As of PHP 5.3.2 you have to use the SQLSRV API functions to connect to an Microsoft SQL Server database from PHP. For example, use sqlsrv_connect() to create a connection resource and open a connection. Learn how to connect to a Microsoft SQL Server database using PHP 5.3+ and SQLSRV.