The Hammer

Essential for developments of all shapes & sizes

  • How to: Transfer Logins to a New Server

    Often enough we encounter a situation where we need security to be migrated. Microsoft hasn’t made this task as easy as moving other things such as SQL Agent jobs since restoring the master database to another server is tricky at best but they do provide us some tools. A couple of common reasons that you’d […]

  • PowerShell SQL Connection Test

    In the interest of providing minimal surface area exposure to my servers I have taken on the common practice of not installing development tools on any of my Production servers. In almost all cases this is no big deal because I’d prefer to use SSMS from a remote central location anyways but there are a […]

  • Huge distribution database

    The Problem: Today I noticed the data drive of one of my Production servers growing. It wasn’t growing overly fast and it had been quite some time since the last SAN drive expansion so I gave the thumbs up to my SAN techs to add 5GBs of space. I started with 5GBs just out of […]

  • Automated Unattended (Silent) SQL Server Installs with PowerShell

    Last time we covered the basics of unattended installs in my post, Unattended (Silent) SQL Server Installations. Here I will be providing and explaining my PowerShell script for facilitating these installations. UPDATED: Click here for the QS-Config product page. Where you can download the latest version for free. Download the script here: InstallSQL_Silent_SQLHammer.zip. This script is also Featured […]

  • Unattended (Silent) SQL Server Installations

    As promised from my last post, Relocating SQL Server System Databases without Access to the Instance, today I will be blogging about ‘unattended’ or ‘silent’ installations of SQL Server. I will be discussing the concept and uses of the unattended installation and then I will provide detailed explanation of my PowerShell script at a later […]

  • Relocating SQL Server System Databases without Access to the Instance

    Recently I wrote myself a PowerShell unattended AKA silent installation script. I had thoroughly tested this script on clustered installations and stand-a-lone named instances but my tests for stand-a-lone default instances fell short. I will share the details of my PowerShell unattended install script in my next post but for now we’ll see what happens […]

  • Welcome to my blog!

    Welcome to my first post on the new sqlHammer blog site. My name is Derik Hammer and I’m a believer in sharing knowledge. Few people understand how powerful the old saying, “Feed a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for life,” really is. Even if […]