Microsoft Windows PowerShell and SQL Server 2005 SMO - Part I

June 6, 2007

As you probably know, Windows PowerShell is the new command shell and scripting language that provides a command line environment for interactive exploration and administration of computers. In addition, it provides an opportunity to script these commands so that we can schedule and run these scripts multiple times.

Windows PowerShell depends on .NET framework 2.0.

SQL Server Management Objects, known as SMO, is an object model for SQL Server and its configuration settings. SMO-based applications use .NET Framework languages to program against this in-memory object model, rather than sending Transact-SQL (T-SQL) commands to SQL Server to do so.

In this article series, I am going to illustrate the power of Windows PowerShell in conjunction with SQL Server 2005.

Part I of this series is going to illustrate how to install and use a simple PowerShell command and a simple SMO command.

Assumption

Download and Install Microsoft PowerShell

Step 1: Double click on the “WindowsXP-KB926139-x86-ENU.exe’ executable. [Refer Fig 1.0]

Step 2: Click “Run”. [Refer Fig 1.1]

Step 3: Click “Next”. [Refer Fig 1.2]

Step 4: Select the option “I agree”. [Refer Fig 1.3]

Step 5: Watch the progress of installation. Refer Fig 1.4

Step 6: Click Finish. [Refer Fig 1.5]

Launch PowerShell

There are few ways to launch PowerShell. One method is to go to the command prompt and type the following command. [Refer Fig 1.6]

PowerShell

After a short pause, the PowerShell prompt appears. [Refer Fig 1.7]

Alternatively, you can start PowerShell by selecting Programs-Windows PowerShell 1.0-Windows PowerShell. [Refer Fig 1.8]