Learn dbatools in a Month of Lunches: Automating SQL server tasks with PowerShell commands

If you work with SQL Server, dbatools is a lifesaver. This book will show you how to use this free and open source PowerShell module to automate just about every SQL server task you can imagine—all in just one month!

In Learn dbatools in a Month of Lunches you will learn how to:

Perform instance-to-instance and customized migrations
Automate security audits, tempdb configuration, alerting, and reporting
Schedule and monitor PowerShell tasks in SQL Server Agent
Bulk-import any type of data into SQL Server
Install dbatools in secure environments

Written by a group of expert authors including dbatools creator Chrissy LeMaire, Learn dbatools in a Month of Lunches teaches you techniques that will make you more effective—and efficient—than you ever thought possible. In twenty-eight lunchbreak lessons, you’ll learn the most important use cases of dbatools and the favorite functions of its core developers. Stabilize and standardize your SQL server environment, and simplify your tasks by building automation, alerting, and reporting with this powerful tool.

About the technology
For SQL Server DBAs, automation is the key to efficiency. Using the open-source dbatools PowerShell module, you can easily execute tasks on thousands of database servers at once—all from the command line. dbatools gives you over 500 pre-built commands, with countless new options for managing SQL Server at scale. There’s nothing else like it.

About the book
Learn dbatools in a Month of Lunches teaches you how to automate SQL Server using the dbatools PowerShell module. Each 30-minute lesson introduces a new automation that will make your daily duties easier. Following the expert advice of dbatools creator Chrissy LeMaire and other top community contributors, you’ll learn to script everything from backups to disaster recovery.

What's inside

Performing instance-to-instance and customized migrations
Automating security audits, best practices, and standardized configurations
Administering SQL Server Agent including running PowerShell scripts effectively
Bulk-importing many types of data into SQL Server
Executing advanced tasks and increasing efficiency for everyday administration

About the reader
For DBAs, accidental DBAs, and systems engineers who manage SQL Server.

About the author
Chrissy LeMaire is a GitHub Star and the creator of dbatools. Rob Sewell is a data engineer and a passionate automator. Jess Pomfret and Cláudio Silva are data platform architects. All are Microsoft MVPs.

Table of Contents
1 Before you begin
2 Installing dbatools
3 The dbatools lab
4 A gentle introduction to dbatools commands
5 Writing to SQL Server
6 Finding SQL Server instances on your network
7 Inventorying your SQL estate
8 Registered Servers
9 Logins and users
10 Backups
11 Restore
12 Snapshots
13 Install and update SQL Server
14 Preparing for disaster
15 Performing your first advanced SQL Server instance migration, part 1
16 Performing your first advanced SQL Server instance migration, part 2
17 High availability and disaster recovery
18 PowerShell and SQL Server Agent
19 SQL Server Agent administration
20 Creating and working with SQL Server Agent objects
21 Data masking
22 DevOps automation
23 Tracing SQL Server activity
24 Security and encryption
25 Data compression
26 Validating your estate with dbachecks
27 Working in the cloud
28 dbatools configurations and logging
29 Never the end

Chrissy LeMaire is a dual Microsoft MVP, awarded for her work with both SQL Server and PowerShell. She is an international speaker and the creator of the popular PowerShell module, dbatools. She has over 20 years of IT experience and currently works for General Dynamics Information Technology at NATO Special Ops HQ in Belgium.

Rob Sewell is a passionate automator who has been recognized as an MVP by Microsoft. He is a keen community contributor as an event organizer, speaker and open-source contributor.

Cláudio Silva is a database professional, automator, and contributor of the open-source PowerShell module dbatools.

Jess Pomfret is a SQL Server Database Engineer and a Microsoft MVP. She started working with SQL Server in 2011, and enjoys the problem-solving aspects of performance tuning and automating processes with PowerShell.