Years ago I found myself frustrated with the SQL Server installation wizard. I was working for an organization where SQL Server installs were needed regularly during points in their operational cycle and often they were not cookie cutter. Tweaks were necessary to many of their configurations and to say that I was overworked would be an understatement. So, I wrote a PowerShell script which took a batch of configuration files and installed them in a loop to various servers. The next morning I was giddy, for lack of a better term, over the fact that I had installed 32 instances of SQL Server overnight, without any intervention.
The problem still remained that I had to either write the configuration files by hand or run through the install wizard to generate one. The problem I had with the install wizard was all of the time wasted installing support files, performing rule checks, and just being slow in general. I didn’t want to spend 10 mins for every different configuration anymore.
This drove me to write what ended up becoming my QS-Config utility. QS-Config is a PowerShell solution for guiding you through the interview process of a SQL installation, without running the wizard. For a DBA who is prepared with the necessary service accounts and file paths, the interview takes less than 2 minutes to complete.
I’m extremely excited for the upcoming version 2.0 of QS-Config. v2.0 is completely refactored into an object-oriented class model which supports config file generation for all versions of SQL Server from 2008 to present.
You no longer need a separate script for each version of SQL Server!
Based on user feedback and Jamie Wick’s (t | b) recommendations.
- Now supports FILESTREAM.
- Granted more explicit control over folder structures.
Currently we are in closed beta of QS-Config v2.0. I expect to have the open beta version available in the next week or two but, if you want to take a look sooner, contact me @SQLHammer to inquire about the closed beta.
Leave a Reply