When I was doing performance monitoring of servers, I typically struggled with a good way to get the data. In years past it was cumbersome to keep track of server information and rarely was it done well. So often I found that many problems were the result of simple mis-configuration settings, or a lack of patches. Once a DBA or sysadmin can’t remember everything about every instance, it invites chaos.
Allen White is showing how to better track a “server inventory” to learn all about the setup, configuration, and performance of SQL Server using Powershell. It’s easy to find this information in an ad hoc manner, but keeping track of it and catching exceptions requires something more formal. Powershell is a great way to do that in a repeatable way.
Based on an article at Simple Talk, Allen shows how you can put your servers in an XML file and then read that in from Powershell and use it to drive a series of queries against a particular instance and machine.
Most of this session gives you a good look at a script that will gather various information, including performance data, from your instances. One of the more practical sessions that can really help you understand a large Powershell script in detail.
However Powershell takes some practice. It’s a set of fairly concepts that are designed to be put together, but you need to take a little time to understand how the scripts work.
If you get the chance to see Allen speak, it’s worth it. He does a good job of walking through code and helping you understand how it works.
