I am proud to be a part of the #SQLCommunity and #SQLFamily as well as the PowerShell Community and lucky enough to be selected to speak at SQL and PowerShell Events. You can find links to the presentations, demos and webinars
Techorama – Continuous Delivery to the PowerShell Gallery with Azure DevOps
Come and join Cloud and DataCenter MVP Rob Sewell and learn how to publish your PowerShell module to the PowerShell Gallery continuously for free using AzureDevOps enabling you to easily share your code with all of the community or colleagues
We will have plenty of demos and scripts and discuss
From Scripts to Modules and why
Using VS Code
Using Plaster to create the customised framework for your modules
How to use Script Analyser to help you to code better
Why you should use Test Driven Development and how to do that for your PowerShell modules with Pester
The importance of Get-Help and why you need write good help
The PowerShell Gallery and how to create your own private PowerShell Gallery
Signing your code
How to continuously deliver changes to your PowerShell Module in the gallery using GitHub and AzureDevOps
We will have a lot of fun along the way and you will return to work with a lot of ideas, samples and better habits
Techorama – Workshop – Professional and Proficient PowerShell
IT Pros are seeing the benefit of using PowerShell to automate away the mundane. A modern technology professional needs to be able to interact with multiple services and learning PowerShell increases your ability to do that and your usefulness to your company.
At the end of this fun filled day with Rob, a former SQL Server DBA turned professional automator, you will be much more confident in being able to approach any task with PowerShell and you will leave with all of the code and demos.
We will cover:
How to learn how to interact with any technology using PowerShell
Understanding the syntax
The importance of Get-Help and how PowerShell enables you to help yourself
Why to write your own Modules and how to make them available to all of your team
A quick automated method to creating your module framework
Unit testing and debugging your code
How to continuously deliver changes to your PowerShell modules using GitHub and Azure DevOps
We will have a lot of fun along the way and you will return to work with a lot of ideas, samples and better habits to become a PowerShell ninja and save yourself and your organisation time and effort. Prerequisites: Know how to open PowerShell!! It is better if you have typed in a command. Those brand new to PowerShell might find the learning curve steep but everyone will find benefit.
Data In Devon – How Can You Do CI/CD with SQL Databases using AKS and ACR and Azure DevOps?
Continuous Delivery using the Azure Managed Kubernetes Services (which is called Azure Container Service and known as AKS !) and Azure Container Registry (ACR) using Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS)
It sounds like we are just using cool tech acronyms but come on a journey with Eelco Drost and Rob Sewell and we will show you how simple and easy it is to enable your team to be able to Spin up new SQL databases for developers to use (and when they break it they can do it again.. and again… and again)
Automatically provision testing environments run tests and enable control of progression of changes.
Complete deployment to production automatically in a controlled and useful fashion.
We will teach you the lessons we have learnt enabling data teams to be able to make changes more effectively and proficiently and show you how you can too.
How Can You Do CI/CD with SQL Databases using AKS and ACR and VSTS?
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April 26, 2019
Data In Devon – Workshop – Getting up to speed with PowerShell
PowerShell is cross-platform, it works exactly the same on Windows, on Linux and Mac. It is awesome for automation and amazing for administration.
Come and join Cloud and Data Center MVP Rob Sewell and spend a day getting yourself up to speed with PowerShell.
We will cover
the basics about PowerShell, PowerShell security
how to open it, how to install it.
4 vital commands to enable you to be able to help yourself
The PowerShell Gallery and how to find, install and use additional modules
Reading the language
Working with output
We will even delve into scripting with PowerShell and how to validate your environment
There will also be the opportunity to learn about any areas of PowerShell, Automation, CI/CD that you have questions about.
What do I need to know / bring with me
Attendees wanting to follow along should bring a laptop.
SQL Bits – Validate Your SQL Server Estate with Ease Using dbachecks
As a SQL DBA you want to know that your SQL Server Estate is compliant with the rules that you have set up. Now there is a simple method using PowerShell and you can get the results in PowerBi or embedded into your CI/CD solution
Details such as:
How long since your last backup?
How long since your last DBCC Check?
Are your Agent Operators Correct?
Is AutoClose, AutoShrink, Auto Update Stats set up correctly?
Is DAC Allowed?
Are your file growth settings correct, what about the number of VLFs?
Is your latency, TCP Port, PS remoting as you expect?
Is Page Verify, Data Purity, Compression correctly set up?
And many more checks (even your own) can be achieved using the dbachecks PowerShell module brought to you by the SQL Collaborative team.
and all configurable so that you can validate YOUR settings
Join one of the founders of the module, Rob Sewell MVP. and he will show you how easy it is to use this module and release time for more important things whilst keeping the confidence that your estate is as you would expect it.
SQLBits – Workshop – Professional and Proficient PowerShell: From Writing Scripts
DBAs are seeing the benefit of using PowerShell to automate away the mundane. A modern data professional needs to be able to interact with multiple technologies and learning PowerShell increases your ability to do that and your usefulness to your company.
At the end of this fun filled day with Rob, a former SQL Server DBA turned professional automator, you will be much more confident in being able to approach any task with PowerShell
and you will leave with all of the code and demos. You can even follow along if you bring a laptop with an instance of SQL Server installed.
We will cover
• How to learn how to interact with any technology using PowerShell
• Understanding the syntax
• The importance of Get-Help and how PowerShell enables you to help yourself
• Why to write your own Modules and how to make them available to all of your team
• A quick automated method to creating your module framework
• Unit testing and debugging your code
• How to continuously deliver changes to your PowerShell modules using GitHub and Azure DevOps
• Tips and tricks for script writing with the popular open-source community dbatools module
• How to validate your SQL Server estate with PowerShell
• Advanced SQL Server Agent and PowerShell management
We will have a lot of fun along the way and you will return to work with a lot of ideas, samples and better habits to become a PowerShell ninja and save yourself and your organisation time and effort.
Prerequisites: Know how to open PowerShell!! It is better if you have typed in a command. Those brand new to PowerShell might find the learning curve steep but everyone will find benefit. Bring your laptop with SQL Server and WideWorldImporters and you can follow along.
Pre-requisites
Very basic experience with PowerShell
Laptop Required: Optional
Manchester Data Platform User Group – #DataDrinks A community-run social for data folk and #SQLBits attendees.
Hosted by Manchester and Leeds’ Data Platform User Groups (https://www.meetup.com/leeds_data_platform/), this is an informal get together where you’ll meet fellow data professionals, have a drink, have a laugh, and learn something new. They’ll be a casual Q&A session compered by Rob Sewell where anybody can ask or answer data platform related questions.
This event is free, and light bites/snacks and some drinks will be provided by our sponsors Aireforge (https://www.aireforge.com/), who will be around on the night.
Hosted at Rainbar, in private function room close to the SQLbits venue
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2018
August 9, 2018
Birmingham Data Platform User Group – dbachecks – The PowerShell Module to validate your SQL Estate
As a SQL DBA you want to know that your SQL Server Estate is compliant with the rules that you have set up. Now there is a simple method to set this up using PowerShell and you can get the results in PowerBi or a report emailed to you on a schedule. Details such as How long since your last backup? How long since your last DBCC Check? Are your Agent Operators Correct? Is AutoClose, AutoShrink, Auto Update Stats set up correctly? Is DAC Allowed? Are your file growth settings correct, what about the number of VLFs? Is your latency, TCP Port, PS remoting as you expect? Is Page Verify, Data Purity, Compression correctly set up? and many more checks (even your own) can be achieved using the dbachecks PowerShell module brought to you by the dbatools team. Join one of the founders of the module, Rob Sewell MVP. and he will show you how easy it is to use this module and release time for more important things whilst keeping the confidence that your estate is as you would expect it
— Microsoft Data Platform Group Birmingham (@MSDataGroupBrum) August 9, 2018
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July 22, 2018
SQL Saturday Manchester – Precon – PowerShell and SQL Server with Rob Sewell
Since Microsoft announced the SQL Server PowerShell module with the July release of SSMS more and more people have been using PowerShell to help them to administer their SQL Servers.
The SQL Server Collaborative organisation have created the free, open source PowerShell module dbatools lead by Chrissy LeMaire and with over 80 contributors to extend PowerShell support for SQL Server even further
Join Cloud and Data Center MVP and dbatools evangelist Rob Sewell to learn how to you can make use of both of these modules to simplify and automate your DBA needs.
You will be shown how you can accomplish many routine DBA tasks easily and simply with one line of PowerShell code
Come and join me for a great day of PowerShell and SQL full of demos and useful solutions that you will be able to take back to your workplace. You will improve your knowledge and skills, see how the modern DBA will work and have fun at the same time
SQL Saturday Manchester – dbachecks – The PowerShell Module to validate your SQL Estate
As a SQL DBA you want to know that your SQL Server Estate is compliant with the rules that you have set up. Now there is a simple method to set this up using PowerShell and you can get the results in PowerBi or a report emailed to you on a schedule. Details such as How long since your last backup? How long since your last DBCC Check? Are your Agent Operators Correct? Is AutoClose, AutoShrink, Auto Update Stats set up correctly? Is DAC Allowed? Are your file growth settings correct, what about the number of VLFs? Is your latency, TCP Port, PS remoting as you expect? Is Page Verify, Data Purity, Compression correctly set up? and many more checks (even your own) can be achieved using the dbachecks PowerShell module brought to you by the dbatools team. Join one of the founders of the module, Rob Sewell MVP. and he will show you how easy it is to use this module and release time for more important things whilst keeping the confidence that your estate is as you would expect it
Manchester Data Platform User Group – Administrating SQL Server with PowerShell dbatools
Let me show you how easy it is to use PowerShell to accomplish many everyday tasks straight from the command line with the community developed module dbatools. Afraid of PowerShell? Worried its too complicated? Don’t want to go through the learning curve? Let me show you with plenty of demos how easy and straight forward it can be and I will save you time starting Monday Want to restore an entire servers databases to the latest available point in time of the backups in just one line? Be useful to know the Last DBCC Check for your entire estate in only one line of code? Need to test your restores but its complicated? and many many more All this in a fast paced, fun session
So @tsqltidy says "oh show a real migration with dbatools instead of the video" so I created a container and copied everything except the databases onto it in a couple of minutes to 🧙♂️
dbatools is dead mint as they say in Manchester#sqlsatmanc
Leeds Data Platform User Group – dbachecks – The PowerShell Module to validate your SQL Estate
As a SQL DBA you want to know that your SQL Server Estate is compliant with the rules that you have set up. Now there is a simple method to set this up using PowerShell and you can get the results in PowerBi or a report emailed to you on a schedule. Details such as
How long since your last backup?
How long since your last DBCC Check?
Are your Agent Operators Correct?
Is AutoClose, AutoShrink, Auto Update Stats set up correctly?
Is DAC Allowed?
Are your file growth settings correct, what about the number of VLFs?
Is your latency, TCP Port, PS remoting as you expect?
Is Page Verify, Data Purity, Compression correctly set up?
and many more checks (even your own) can be achieved using the dbachecks PowerShell module brought to you by the dbatools team.
Join one of the founders of the module, Rob Sewell MVP. and he will show you how easy it is to use this module and release time for more important things whilst keeping the confidence that your estate is as you would expect it.
Sentry One Webinar – Panel Discussion: Tips and Tricks to Growing Your SQL Server Estate from SMB to Enterprise Scale
Growing pains are a common and unpleasant part of many life experiences, from our youth as we grew up, to the difficulties companies experience when growing from a Small- or Medium-sized Business (SMB) to a major Enterprise, to IT teams that grow from having no specialized database skillset to supporting and grooming thousands of databases concurrently.
It’s a learning process, one littered with many pitfalls and potholes. So what do those top-tier DBAs do to ensure reliable and fast performance despite managing hundreds or even thousands of SQL Servers?
View this panel discussion to learn those secrets! This collection of tips, tricks, tools, and techniques will help you achieve consistently better performance, support a rapidly growing infrastructure, perform fast and accurate troubleshooting, and deliver more effective customer service.
Thank you again for this. This was amazing and learned some really good speaking tips during the entire event. Would love to do it again!
SQL Grillen – dbachecks – The PowerShell Module to validate your SQL Estate
As a SQL DBA you want to know that your SQL Server Estate is compliant with the rules that you have set up. Now there is a simple method to set this up using PowerShell and you can get the results in PowerBi or a report emailed to you on a schedule. Details such as
How long since your last backup?
How long since your last DBCC Check?
Are your Agent Operators Correct?
Is AutoClose, AutoShrink, Auto Update Stats set up correctly?
Is DAC Allowed?
Are your file growth settings correct, what about the number of VLFs?
Is your latency, TCP Port, PS remoting as you expect?
Is Page Verify, Data Purity, Compression correctly set up?
and many more checks (even your own) can be achieved using the dbachecks PowerShell module brought to you by the dbatools team.
Join one of the founders of the module, Rob Sewell MVP. and he will show you how easy it is to use this module and release time for more important things whilst keeping the confidence that your estate is as you would expect it.
SQL Saturday Cork – Administrating SQL Server with PowerShell dbatools
Let me show you how easy it is to use PowerShell to accomplish many everyday tasks straight from the command line with the community developed module dbatools. Afraid of PowerShell? Worried its too complicated? Don’t want to go through the learning curve? Let me show you with plenty of demos how easy and straight forward it can be and I will save you time starting Monday Want to restore an entire servers databases to the latest available point in time of the backups in just one line? Be useful to know the Last DBCC Check for your entire estate in only one line of code? Need to test your restores but its complicated? and many many more All this in a fast paced, fun session
SQL Day – dbachecks – The PowerShell Module to validate your SQL Estate
As a SQL DBA you want to know that your SQL Server Estate is compliant with the rules that you have set up. Now there is a simple method to set this up using PowerShell and you can get the results in PowerBi or a report emailed to you on a schedule. Details such as
How long since your last backup?
How long since your last DBCC Check?
Are your Agent Operators Correct?
Is AutoClose, AutoShrink, Auto Update Stats set up correctly?
Is DAC Allowed?
Are your file growth settings correct, what about the number of VLFs?
Is your latency, TCP Port, PS remoting as you expect?
Is Page Verify, Data Purity, Compression correctly set up?
and many more checks (even your own) can be achieved using the dbachecks PowerShell module brought to you by the dbatools team.
Join one of the founders of the module, Rob Sewell MVP. and he will show you how easy it is to use this module and release time for more important things whilst keeping the confidence that your estate is as you would expect it.
SQL Saturday Finland – Administrating SQL Server with PowerShell dbatools
Let me show you how easy it is to use PowerShell to accomplish many everyday tasks straight from the command line with the community developed module dbatools. Afraid of PowerShell? Worried its too complicated? Don’t want to go through the learning curve? Let me show you with plenty of demos how easy and straight forward it can be and I will save you time starting Monday Want to restore an entire servers databases to the latest available point in time of the backups in just one line? Be useful to know the Last DBCC Check for your entire estate in only one line of code? Need to test your restores but its complicated? and many many more All this in a fast paced, fun session
It was very cool recommending https://t.co/7Cfp6cMoqx to an attendee in my Always On talk and then getting to meet @sqldbawithbeard immediately afterwards as his session followed mine!
PowerShell Conference Europe – Continuous Delivery for your Module to the PowerShell Gallery
An intro session to show how to deploy a PowerShell module with CD In this fast paced demo heavy session we will – Use Plaster – Use GitHub – Use Pester – Use VSTS to Build, Test & Release All using a module that uses the Microsoft Cognitive Services Faces API to analyse Beards!
Now finalised, it’s a beard double header. Rob Sewell will be presenting 2 of his great sessions.
These 2 add up to a great introduction into using modern Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (or Devops if you prefer) in the PowerShell world.
Session 1:
Introuction to Pester:
Start from nothing and use Test Driven Development to write a PowerShell function that uses the Microsoft Cognitive Services API to analyse pictures. I will take you on a journey from nothing to a complete function, making sure that all of the code works as expected, is written according to PowerShell best practices and has a complete help system. You will leave this session with a good understanding of what Pester can do and a methodology to develop your own PowerShell function
Session 2:
Continuous Delivery for your Module – Put your PowerShell modules in the gallery with just a commit.
An introduction session to show you how YOU can deploy your PowerShell module to a PowerShell Gallery (public or private) automatically
In this fast paced demo heavy session we will
– Use Plaster to create our module framework
– Use GitHub for Version Control
– Use Pester to develop our module with TDD
– Use VSTS to Build, Test (with Pester) and Release our changes to the PowerShell Gallery
Within 45 minutes you will have the tools that you require to continuously deliver changes safely to your published PowerShell module for the consumption of others
24 Hours Of PASS – Writing PowerShell with VS Code
We should be using VS Code to write our PowerShell code. In this presentation I will show you how to set up VS Code, which extensions I use, and some of the features that make writing PowerShell easy using VS Code.
2017
May 3, 2017
PowerShell Conference Europe – Creating and Maintaining Successful Open Source Projects
Looking to get more contributors for your Open Source project?
Once you’ve got them, what’s awesome and what sucks about your baby being popular?
In this session, Community Leader Rob Sewell and PowerShell MVP Chrissy LeMaire talk about their real world experiences with building popular PowerShell repos and the catalysts for their projects becoming owned and beloved by the open source community
PowerShell Conference Europe – Green is bad Red is Good – Turning your Checklists into Pester Tests
Relevant to any technicians who use checklists. Intro level and idea forming, getting people to look at the way they can use Pester
I was required to prove that I had successfully installed and configured a backup solution across a large estate. I had a number of success criteria that had to be met. Checking all of these by hand (eye) would have been error prone, so I wrote a test to do this for me and an easy for management to read HTML report using PowerShell and Pester.
The session has come from that situation and is about enabling you to provide an easy to read output to quickly and repeatedly show that infrastructure is as expected for a set of checks. There are many use cases for this type of solution; DR testing, installation, first line checks, presentation setups
After this session you will have a basic understanding of how Pester works and the capability to examine your checklists and create your own validation tests and provide some reporting for management. You will pick up ideas of processes and checks that can be automated within your company
I am able to perform the following checks in 15 minutes across hundreds of servers and thousands of databases and I think it is cool and useful and everyone should be able to do so and take the functionality to create their own.
Every Job in Ola Hallengrens Maintenance Solution exists, is enabled, has a schedule, has succeeded, has 2 job steps, has a generate restore script job step, the root backup folder is contactable, for every database the correct folders exist for the full, differential and log backup depending on recovery model in that folder, that each of those backup folders has files in it, that the most recent file in each of those folders is less than the required frequency for those job
Battle of the Beards – Powershell: A Beards Favourite Shell
You don’t have to be a marquisotte to see the Power in PowerShell. Pogonophiles and pogonophobes alike who work in IT can benefit across all platforms, operating systems and cloud providers by taking advantage of it.
Join this famous, impressively be whiskered PowerShell nut and his fabulous chin curtain in a quick introduction to the magnificence of PowerShell and learn some the basics quickly so you won’t need to stroke your muzzle lashings but will be able to help yourself.
Battle of the Beards started out as a fun user group event, where bristling techies would square off in our very own arena. Our Beardy Battlers would give presentations and winners would be decided based on the quality of their beards and their talks. The crowd went wild (and wanted more)!
Where our first events had a mere 3 contenders, this year we’re upping the ante and there’ll be at least 10 contenders! Whether their beard is permanent or just for the day, our Beardy Battlers will be delivering half-hour techie talks that’ll be useful and engaging for anyone in IT. Every Beardy Battler will make a difference to your life.
If you come along you’ll make a difference. All proceeds will go to the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). Supporting CALM means they can provide vital counselling services and save lives.
In our male dominated industry, we’re likely to be disproportionately affected by suicide. It was the cause of a quarter of all deaths of 20 – 34 year old males in 2014. That’s a sad and uncomfortable fact.
SQL South West – Using the SQL Server Provider in PowerShell
Using the SQL Server Provider in PowerShell
With the new sqlserver module released last year I decided to revisit the SQL Server Provider. Come and take a look at it with me and I will show you what works and what doesn’t and how you can make use of it
SQL North East User Group – Green is good, Red is bad – Turning your Checklists into Pester Tests
I was required to prove that I had successfully installed and configured a backup solution across a large estate. I had a number of success criteria that had to be met. Checking all of these by hand (eye) would have been error prone, so I wrote a test to do this for me and an easy for management to read HTML report using PowerShell and Pester.
The session has come from that situation and is about enabling you to provide an easy to read output to quickly and repeatedly show that infrastructure is as expected for a set of checks, also known as Operational Validation using Pester. There are many use cases for this type of solution; DR testing, installation, first line checks, presentation setups
What is Pester?
Pester is a Unit Testing framework for PowerShell which can be used for testing your code but also as shown in this session for validating your infrastructure. This is an excellent post by Adam Bertram to introduce Pester It is included with PowerShell on modern Operating Systems and free to download from the PowerShell Gallery or GitHub if not included
After this session you will have a basic understanding of how Pester works and the capability to examine your checklists and create your own validation tests and provide some reporting for management.
We all had to start somewhere, and today is the day you start learning PowerShell.
In the morning, this session will go through the basic concepts of PowerShell, on to creating your first function and then taking this knowledge to create your first scripts to run against Azure.
In the afternoon, we will focus on PowerShell for SQL Server. We will show you how to perform many DBA tasks easily and simply using PowerShell. Need to properly configure tempdb? We’ve got you covered. Not sure if all of the SQL Servers in your estate are set to the proper power plan? A single PowerShell command can help. Want to alter the schedule for an Agent Job on dozens, hundreds or even thousands of servers? We will teach you how easy that is, along with many other solutions as well as showing you how to easily gather information about your estate and display it in SSRS or Power BI
Come and join us for a great day of PowerShell, Azure and SQL full of demos and useful solutions that you will be able to take back to your workplace. We will improve your knowledge and skills, show you how the modern Admin and DBA will work and have fun at the same time.
SQL Saturday Vienna – Modern Database Administration using PowerShell and dbatools
In this session, I’ll feature some crazy useful PowerShell commands from the dbatools module. This SQL Server-centric toolset, which has evolved into an open-source community project with over 20 contributors, includes commands like Remove-SqlDatabaseSafely, Set-SqlTempDbConfiguration, Find-SqlDuplicateIndex, Show-SqlWhoIsActive, Test-SqlPowerPlan and Repair-SqlOrphanUser. Join for me for this electric, demo-heavy session to learn how to greatly simplify your life as a DBA.
SQL Saturday Vienna Pre-Con – SQL Server and PowerShell – Better Together. Building the Modern DBAs Tools
With the new SqlServer module announced by Microsoft with the July SSMS release SQL Server finally got some PowerShell love.
Join PowerShell MVP & DBA Chrissy LeMaire and PowerShell Expert & DBA Rob Sewell to learn how you can take advantage of the new module and some amazing community modules to improve your work/bacon life balance.
We will show you how to perform many DBA tasks easily and simply using PowerShell. Need to properly configure tempdb? We’ve got you covered. Not sure if all of the SQL Servers in your estate are set to the proper power plan? A single PowerShell command can help. Want to alter the schedule for an Agent Job on dozens, hundreds or even thousands of servers? We will teach you how easy that is, along with many other solutions as well as showing you how to easily gather information about your estate and display it in SSRS or PowerBi
Our session is aimed at DBAs, from junior to senior, who want to embrace the latest methods and increase their toolset
Come and join us for a great day of PowerShell and SQL full of demos and useful solutions that you will be able to take back to your workplace. We will improve your knowledge and skills, show you how the modern DBA will work and have fun at the same time.
SQL Saturday Slovenia – Green is Good Red is Bad – Turning Your Checklists into Pester Tests
This session is for DBAs specifically, but will be relevant to any technicians who use checklists
I was required to prove that I had successfully installed and configured a backup solution across a large estate.
I had a number of success criteria that had to be met.
Checking all of these by hand (eye) would have been error prone, so I wrote a test to do this for me and an easy for management to read HTML report using PowerShell and Pester.
The session has come from that situation and is about enabling you to provide an easy to read output to quickly and repeatedly show that infrastructure is as expected for a set of checks, also known as Operational Validation using Pester.
There are many use cases for this type of solution; DR testing, installation, first line checks, presentation setups After this session you will have a basic understanding of how Pester works and the capability to examine your checklists, create own validation tests and provide reports for managers.
SQL Saturday Slovenia – How I use PowerShell to automate the installation & upgrade of DBA scripts
Every DBA will have a collection of scripts that they want to have on all of their instances. Maintenance scripts, Troubleshooting scripts, post-installation scripts – with a dozen instances these may be easy to manage manually. But when your number of instances increases, you still want that consistency and when you need to deploy an upgrade to the scripts, you want to test it prior to releasing to production In this session I will show how I tackle this for hundreds or thousands of instances using my DBA database and PowerShell
Southampton SQL User Group – Turn Your Checklist into a Pester Test
This session is for DBAs specifically, but will be relevant to any technicians who use checklists
I was required to prove that I had successfully installed and configured a backup solution across a large estate. I had a number of success criteria that had to be met. Checking all of these by hand (eye) would have been error prone, so I wrote a test to do this for me and an easy for management to read HTML report using PowerShell and Pester.
The session has come from that situation and is about enabling you to provide an easy to read output to quickly and repeatedly show that infrastructure is as expected for a set of checks, also known as Operational Validation using Pester.
There are many use cases for this type of solution; DR testing, installation, first line checks, presentation setups
After this session you will have a basic understanding of how Pester works and the capability to examine your checklists, create own validation tests and provide reports for managers.
Birmingham SQL User Group – PowerShell Loves SQL Server – Community Modules for All
Prior to June 28th 2016 there were 46 official PowerShell Cmdlets.
Then the sqlserver module was released and more come with every release of SSMS every month
Lets take a tour through the new sqlserver module and see the new cmdlets in action
We will also look at the SQL Server Community Collaborative – an organisation on Github providing superb resources for DBAs.
Join me for a demo heavy fun filled tour of PowerShell and SQL Server.
PowerShell Conference Asia – Singapore – PowerShell, SQL and PowerBi-Reducing your Context Switching
“Could you just tell me……….?”
This may cost 10 seconds of time or it may take several hours but it will definitely stop the current task and impact its completion
A SQL DBA will be required to provide a myriad of information in many different ways to many different types of people, answering questions from technical teams, technology teams, other parts of the business as well as directors and external parties.
In this session you will learn the why, what and how of automating the gathering, storing and displaying of information enabling self-service and reducing the interruptive calls on your time whilst ensuring that the data is correct and trustworthy. I will also show you how you can use this to enable consistency across your estate. This session will be of benefit to the “Accidental DBAs” as well as DBAs looking after large estates
The majority of the session will concentrate on the way I use PowerShell to gather the information and store it. I will also show you how to enable self-service with natural language query using PowerBi.
You will leave the session with all of the tools you need to return to work and convince your boss this is a worthwhile use of your time and to implement this solution to provide a modern way of providing accurate information about your estate
PowerShell Conference Asia – Singapore – Powershell Profile Prepares Perfect Production Purlieu
A Purlieu is a place, an environment, a haunt
The 6 P’s are usually Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.
The Powershell profile is a powerful tool that can provide a perfect Powershell scripting environment.
It runs on start up preparing your editor for the purposes and processes that you intend to produce If you use Powershell you should be making use of your profile and in this beginners session I will show you how you can start making your Powershell environment work even better for you
SQL Relay – Cardiff – PowerShell Loves SQLServer – New module and community modules
Prior to June 28th 2016 there were 46 official PowerShell Cmdlets.
Then the sqlserver module was released and more come with every release of SSMS every month
Lets take a tour through the new sqlserver module and see the new cmdlets in action
We will also look at the SQL Server Community Collaborative – an organisation on Github providing superb resources for DBAs.
Join me for a demo heavy fun filled tour of PowerShell and SQL Server.
Dutch PowerShell User Group – PowerShell SQL and Power Bi
Could you just tell me…?
This may cost 10 seconds of time or it may take several hours but it will definitely stop the current task and impact its completion
A SQL DBA will be required to provide a myriad of information in many different ways to many different types of people, answering questions from technical teams, technology teams, other parts of the business as well as directors and external parties.
In this session you will learn the why, what and how of automating the gathering, storing and displaying of information enabling self-service and reducing the interruptive calls on your time whilst ensuring that the data is correct and trustworthy.
PowerShell Monday Munich – PowerShell SQL and Power Bi
Could you just tell me…?
This may cost 10 seconds of time or it may take several hours but it will definitely stop the current task and impact its completion
A SQL DBA will be required to provide a myriad of information in many different ways to many different types of people, answering questions from technical teams, technology teams, other parts of the business as well as directors and external parties.
In this session you will learn the why, what and how of automating the gathering, storing and displaying of information enabling self-service and reducing the interruptive calls on your time whilst ensuring that the data is correct and trustworthy.
PASS PowerShell Virtual Group – PowerShell, SQL and Power BI – Reducing your Context Switching
Could you just tell me…?
This may cost 10 seconds of time or it may take several hours but it will definitely stop the current task and impact its completion
A SQL DBA will be required to provide a myriad of information in many different ways to many different types of people, answering questions from technical teams, technology teams, other parts of the business as well as directors and external parties.
In this session you will learn the why, what and how of automating the gathering, storing and displaying of information enabling self-service and reducing the interruptive calls on your time whilst ensuring that the data is correct and trustworthy.
SQL Saturday Manchester – Powershell Profile Prepares Perfect Production Purlieu
A Purlieu is a place, an environment, a haunt The 6 P’s are usually Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. The Powershell profile is a powerful tool that can provide a perfect Powershell scripting environment. It runs on start up preparing your editor for the purposes and processes that you intend to produce If you use Powershell you should be making use of your profile and in this beginners session I will show you how you can start making your Powershell environment work even better for you
— Ryan (not yet a Dr) | Love will conquer over hate (@ryanyates1990) July 23, 2016
July 6, 2016
PASS PowerShell Virtual Chapter – The State of PowerShell, SQL Server, and SQLPS
The end-of-June release of SSMS 2016 is bringing more needed PowerShell enhancements to the new SqlServer PowerShell module. We will discuss the 25 new cmdlets that made the cut and show you some practical ways to use them! There are also 3 great update to existing functionality that we will walk through.
June 18, 2016
SQL Saturday Dublin – Making PowerShell useful for your team
Come on a journey from The bloke that wrote some scripts to a professional solution for a whole IT team.
A session for Powershell beginners and those wishing to improve how their team use PowerShell
Each organization requires specific tasks that can be accomplished using PowerShell.
I will show you how you can achieve this by demonstrating An easy way to learn the syntax
How to explore objects with Powershell and turn your one off scripts into shareable functions
How to ensure that your team can easily and quickly make use of and contribute to PowerShell solutions
A fast-paced session with ideas and discussion points for you to take back to work
— Andrew Pruski 🏴 (@dbafromthecold) June 18, 2016
April 27, 2016
SQL Relay Guerilla Talks – Four things you should know to effectively learn PowerShell
Guerrilla Talks – 27th April 2016
Four things you should know to effectively learn PowerShell
This short demo will be of use to new comers to PowerShell explaining 4 things to remember and a process to follow to make it easier to learn some PowerShell.
Come on a journey from The bloke that wrote some scripts to a professional solution for a whole IT team.
A session for Powershell beginners and those wishing to improve how their team use PowerShell
Each organization requires specific tasks that can be accomplished using PowerShell.
I will show you how you can achieve this by demonstrating
An easy way to learn the syntax
How to explore objects with Powershell and turn your one off scripts into shareable functions
How to ensure that your team can easily and quickly make use of and contribute to PowerShell solutions
A fast-paced session with ideas and discussion points for you to take back to work
PSConfEU – Power Bi, PowerShell and DBA Double Session Rob Sewell Part1
“Could you just tell me……….?”
This may cost 10 seconds of time or it may take several hours but it will definitely stop the current task and impact its completion
A SQL DBA will be required to provide a myriad of information in many different ways to many different types of people, answering questions from technical teams, technology teams, other parts of the business as well as directors and external parties.
In this session you will learn the why, what and how of automating the gathering, storing and displaying of information enabling self-service and reducing the interruptive calls on your time whilst ensuring that the data is correct and trustworthy. I will also show you how you can use this to enable consistency across your estate. This session will be of benefit to the “Accidental DBAs” as well as DBAs looking after large estates
The majority of the session will concentrate on the way I use PowerShell to gather the information and store it. I will also show you how to enable self-service with natural language query using PowerBi.
You will leave the session with all of the tools you need to return to work and convince your boss this is a worthwhile use of your time and to implement this solution to provide a modern way of providing accurate information about your estate
PSConfEU – Power Bi, PowerShell and DBA Double Session Rob Sewell Part2
“Could you just tell me……….?”
This may cost 10 seconds of time or it may take several hours but it will definitely stop the current task and impact its completion
A SQL DBA will be required to provide a myriad of information in many different ways to many different types of people, answering questions from technical teams, technology teams, other parts of the business as well as directors and external parties.
In this session you will learn the why, what and how of automating the gathering, storing and displaying of information enabling self-service and reducing the interruptive calls on your time whilst ensuring that the data is correct and trustworthy. I will also show you how you can use this to enable consistency across your estate. This session will be of benefit to the “Accidental DBAs” as well as DBAs looking after large estates
The majority of the session will concentrate on the way I use PowerShell to gather the information and store it. I will also show you how to enable self-service with natural language query using PowerBi.
You will leave the session with all of the tools you need to return to work and convince your boss this is a worthwhile use of your time and to implement this solution to provide a modern way of providing accurate information about your estate
Cardiff SQL User Group – Return Of The Beards – PowerShell, SQL and PowerBI – Reducing your Context Switching
“Could you just tell me……….?”
This may cost 10 seconds of time or it may take several hours but it will definitely stop the current task and impact its completion
A SQL DBA will be required to provide a myriad of information in many different ways to many different types of people, answering questions from technical teams, technology teams, other parts of the business as well as directors and external parties.
In this session you will learn the why, what and how of automating the gathering, storing and displaying of information enabling self-service and reducing the interruptive calls on your time whilst ensuring that the data is correct and trustworthy. I will also show you how you can use this to enable consistency across your estate. This session will be of benefit to the “Accidental DBAs” as well as DBAs looking after large estates
The majority of the session will concentrate on the way I use PowerShell to gather the information and store it. I will also show you how to enable self-service with natural language query using PowerBi.
You will leave the session with all of the tools you need to return to work and convince your boss this is a worthwhile use of your time and to implement this solution to provide a modern way of providing accurate information about your estate
SQL Saturday Exeter – Using Power Bi with my DBA Database
Every good DBA should have a DBA database. A place to store information about all of their instances and databases. They should automatically gather information into that database. They are also often required to query that information to answer questions from other technical teams, Project Managers, Client Account managers, Compliance Teams, Auditors, Directors In this session I will talk about the way that I automate the gathering of this information and also how I use Power BI to be able to allow people to self serve answers to their own questions and remove some load from the DBA team. I am no BI expert so this session is aimed at DBAs who want to be able to show information using the latest tools rather than BI professionals
SQL Southampton User Group – PowerShell, SQL and PowerBI – Reducing your Context Switching
PowerShell, SQL and PowerBI – Reducing your Context Switching
“Could you just tell me……….?”
This may cost 10 seconds of time or it may take several hours but it will definitely stop the current task and impact its completion
A SQL DBA will be required to provide a myriad of information in many different ways to many different types of people, answering questions from technical teams, technology teams, other parts of the business as well as directors and external parties.
In this session you will learn the why, what and how of automating the gathering, storing and displaying of information enabling self-service and reducing the interruptive calls on your time whilst ensuring that the data is correct and trustworthy. I will also show you how you can use this to enable consistency across your estate. This session will be of benefit to the “Accidental DBAs” as well as DBAs looking after large estates
The majority of the session will concentrate on the way I use PowerShell to gather the information and store it. I will also show you how to enable self-service with natural language query using PowerBi.
You will leave the session with all of the tools you need to return to work and convince your boss this is a worthwhile use of your time and to implement this solution to provide a modern way of providing accurate information about your estate
SQL South West – PowerShell, SQL and PowerBi-Reducing your Context Switching
PowerShell, SQL and PowerBI – Reducing your Context Switching
“Could you just tell me……….?”
This may cost 10 seconds of time or it may take several hours but it will definitely stop the current task and impact its completion
A SQL DBA will be required to provide a myriad of information in many different ways to many different types of people, answering questions from technical teams, technology teams, other parts of the business as well as directors and external parties.
In this session you will learn the why, what and how of automating the gathering, storing and displaying of information enabling self-service and reducing the interruptive calls on your time whilst ensuring that the data is correct and trustworthy. I will also show you how you can use this to enable consistency across your estate. This session will be of benefit to the “Accidental DBAs” as well as DBAs looking after large estates
The majority of the session will concentrate on the way I use PowerShell to gather the information and store it. I will also show you how to enable self-service with natural language query using PowerBi.
You will leave the session with all of the tools you need to return to work and convince your boss this is a worthwhile use of your time and to implement this solution to provide a modern way of providing accurate information about your estate
I will show you how you can achieve this by demonstrating
– An easy way to learn the syntax
– How to explore SQL Server with Powershell
– How to turn your one off scripts into shareable functions
– How to ensure that your team can easily and quickly make use of and contribute to PowerShell solutions
– Where else to go for help
October 14, 2015
SQL Relay – Cardiff – Using Power Bi with my DBA Database
Every good DBA should have a DBA database.
A place to store information about all of their instances and databases. They should automatically gather information into that database. They are also often required to query that information to answer questions from other technical teams, Project Managers, Client Account managers, Compliance Teams, Auditors, Directors
In this session I will talk about the way that I automate the gathering of this information and also how I use Power BI to be able to allow people to self serve answers to their own questions and remove some load from the DBA team. I am no BI expert so this session is aimed at DBAs who want to be able to show information using the latest tools rather than BI professionals
October 13, 2015
SQL Relay – Bristol – Using Power Bi with my DBA Database
Every good DBA should have a DBA database.
A place to store information about all of their instances and databases. They should automatically gather information into that database. They are also often required to query that information to answer questions from other technical teams, Project Managers, Client Account managers, Compliance Teams, Auditors, Directors
In this session I will talk about the way that I automate the gathering of this information and also how I use Power BI to be able to allow people to self serve answers to their own questions and remove some load from the DBA team. I am no BI expert so this session is aimed at DBAs who want to be able to show information using the latest tools rather than BI professionals
October 12, 2015
SQL Relay – London – Continuous Learning
A look at the importance of continuing to learn every day, how and where
you can achieve this and suggestions that you can bring into the workplace.
SQL South West – Azure SQL VM Automated Backup and Azure Automated Patching
If you are building SQL VMs in Azure you can use Azure SQL VM Automated
Backup and Azure Automated Patching to reduce the amount of configurations
you need to do to ensure that your user databases are regularly backed up and
your servers are kept up to date with the latest updates.
I will show you how you can achieve this by demonstrating
– An easy way to learn the syntax
– How to explore SQL Server with Powershell
– How to turn your one off scripts into shareable functions
– How to ensure that your team can easily and quickly make use of and contribute to PowerShell solutions
– Where else to go for help
March 19, 2015
PASS PowerShell Virtual Chapter – Making PowerShell useful for your team
You have heard about PowerShell and may be spent a little bit of
time exploring some of the ways in which it will benefit you at work.
You want to be able to perform tasks more specific to your
organisation and need to share them with your team.
This session will show you some functions that you can use to save
time spent on this and hopefully inspire SQL DBAs to explore
PowerShell further by showing how easy it is to explore SQL Server
properties with it.
March 22, 2014
SQL Saturday Exeter – PowerShell Box of Tricks
The life of a SQL Server DBA is a busy one. A fount of all knowledge,
the SQL Server DBA is often interrupted with small questions and
routine tasks.
This session will show you some functions that you can
use to save time spent on this and hopefully inspire SQL DBAs to
explore PowerShell further by showing how easy it is to explore SQL
Server properties with it.
