Budget for Training

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Budget for Training

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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January 4, 2014 at 11:36 am

#281750

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Budget for Training

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Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003851 More actions · Answer 1

I've been tackling the Powershell Challenge for a little over a month now,

Ok, so let me ask...

1. Is the book any good?

2. Is it any good WRT SQL Server/DBA tasks?

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Gary Varga SSC Guru Points: 82166 More actions · Answer 2

Jeff Moden (1/4/2014)
I've been tackling the Powershell Challenge for a little over a month now,
Ok, so let me ask...
1. Is the book any good?
2. Is it any good WRT SQL Server/DBA tasks?

I am definitely interested in question 1. as I am very rusty so cannot do all the things I could off the top of my head. On top of that I cut my teeth on PowerShell 1.0 and so much has changed since.

As an aside, I am looking into refreshing some of my development skills this year. My strategy is to pick a single technology and stick with it as far as I can go without introducing another technology I need to refresh on i.e. keep focus!!!

Gaz

-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 734418 More actions · Answer 3

The book is interesting, but I'll have to save comments for after I finish. I will note that this isn't specific to SQL DBA stuff, and I wasn't intending for it to be. I wanted to learn the core Powershell functioning and then delve into more SQL specific stuff.

Keith Tate SSCrazy Eights Points: 9888 More actions · Answer 4

Nice article Steve!

In my MCM prep I had to get pretty good at craving some time out for my studying. Problem is once I passed my test I stopped my personal development (brain was wasted). I need to get back into it and what better time than the first of the year.

Microsoft Certified Master - SQL Server 2008
Follow me on twitter: @keith_tate

Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help[/url]

shoestringdba SSCertifiable Points: 6226 More actions · Answer 5

I happened to watch Sean McCown's Powershell for Beginners video over on Pragmatic Works this weekend. The video made a similar observation to Steve's comment in that Powershell provides a consistent way of interacting with things like Windows, SQL Server, Exchange, etc., and once you've learned the core concepts, branching out into other areas via snap-ins is pretty simple.

Learning Powershell is on my to-do list this year (I managed to get it configured to work with SS2005 this morning), so I for one would be interested in a review of this book down the road.

____________
Just my $0.02 from over here in the cheap seats of the peanut gallery - please adjust for inflation and/or your local currency.

mosaic-287947 Ten Centuries Points: 1053 More actions · Answer 6

I took a slightly different route. After a few basic HowTo exercises from the Web I worked my way through "Windows PowerShell in Action" and found it very enjoyable. Of course I do not remember everything (far from it!) but it was a great way to get a general feel for the language and some idea of why things are the way they are. I still use it as my main reference book.

I am currently reading "PowerShell Toolmaking in a month of lunches", mostly in the weekends. It provides a refreshing perspective on scripting and I have picked up a lot of useful things - not so much syntax but ways to organise my scripts. I don't care for the "lunches" thing at all though; for me an hour here and there does not work because it wastes too much time getting back to where I left off and anyway I need more than an hour in one go to properly experiment with a new idea.

I believe the topics you need to study depend somewhat on the job you're doing. For example I am not a domain admin and so far I have not needed to use remoting at all. But I often need to write scripts to automate scheduled interaction with Active Directory, SQL Server and the file system, and I am fanatic about logging script progress and capturing all errors. Compared to CMD scripting PowerShell wins hands down.