So, are you saying that whether I use SMO or not, eventually a SQL SELECT will be performed?\

I posted a similar question in the EF forums on the MSDN Entity Framework forum and someone there recommended that I use the following SELECT:


SELECT
p.name AS [Name] ,r.type_desc
FROM
sys.server_principals r
INNER JOIN sys.server_role_members m ON r.principal_id = m.role_principal_id
INNER JOIN sys.server_principals p ON
p.principal_id = m.member_principal_id
WHERE r.type = 'R' and r.name = N'sysadmin'


I've been experimenting with the code and it doesn't seem to give me what I'd hope for. In fact, running the above code exactly as it is given, returns only 1 record: 

Name: sa
type_desc: SERVER_ROLE

I'm not familiar with any of those views (which is what I think they are) so I'm just poking around trying to figure them out.