code.commongroove.com

IT Toolbox: TechNet Magazine August 2010

Greg — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:24:47 +0000

The new IT Toolbox posts are on the TechNet Magazine site. This month, I covered these 3 cool tools/utilities:

grepWin: Search files for text across your file system
TeraCopy: Copy files faster
Tunnelier SSH Client: Feature-full SSH client for Windows

Check it out here and let me know what you think:

August 2010 IT Toolbox for TechNet Magazine

And, as always, if you have a suggestion for a product to cover, please let me know.

T-SQL: Backup All User Databases

Greg — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:35:07 +0000

Here’s an easy, generic way to back up all user databases on a SQL Server instance:

DECLARE @name VARCHAR(50) -- database name
DECLARE @path VARCHAR(256) -- path for backup files
DECLARE @fileName VARCHAR(256) -- filename for backup
DECLARE @fileDate VARCHAR(20) -- used for file name

SET @path = 'D:\localBackups\' -- has to be a local path

SELECT @fileDate = CONVERT(VARCHAR(20),GETDATE(),112)

DECLARE db_cursor CURSOR FOR
SELECT name
FROM master.dbo.sysdatabases
WHERE name NOT IN ('master','model','msdb','tempdb')

OPEN db_cursor
FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name

WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
SET @fileName = @path + @name + '_' + @fileDate + '.BAK'
BACKUP DATABASE @name TO DISK = @fileName

FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name
END

CLOSE db_cursor
DEALLOCATE db_cursor

Hope this helps!

Stored Procedure to Export a Table via BCP

Greg — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:18:28 +0000

If you are looking for a generic way to export table data via BCP, here’s how:

CREATE PROCEDURE ExportDataViaBcp
(
@server VARCHAR(100) = '(local)',
@db VARCHAR(100),
@dbtable VARCHAR(100),
@file VARCHAR(200),
@fmt_date INT = 121,
@fmt_decimal INT = 128,
@fmt_money INT = 1,
@fmt_float INT = NULL
)
AS

SET NOCOUNT ON

-- sql that gets executed
DECLARE @tmpSql VARCHAR(8000)

-- in case we have an error
DECLARE @error VARCHAR(200)

-- USE the database
SELECT @tmpSql = 'USE ' + @db + ';'
PRINT @tmpSql
EXEC(@tmpSql)

-- Make sure the (global) temp tables have been cleaned up
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..##export_temp') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE ##export_temp
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..##export_temp2') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE ##export_temp2

-- Execute the use and the select
SELECT @tmpSql = 'SELECT * INTO ##export_temp FROM ' + @dbtable + ';'
PRINT @tmpSql
EXEC(@tmpSql)

-- Build 2 lists
-- 1. column names
-- 2. columns converted to nvarchar from their original type
DECLARE
@columnNames VARCHAR(MAX),
@columnConversions VARCHAR(MAX)
SELECT
@columnNames =
  COALESCE(@columnNames + ',', '') +
  '[' + column_name + ']',
@columnConversions =
  COALESCE(@columnConversions + ',', '') +
  'CONVERT(NVARCHAR(100),[' + column_name + ']' +
  CASE
   WHEN data_type IN ('NUMERIC', 'DECIMAL') THEN CASE WHEN @fmt_decimal IS NOT NULL THEN ',' + CONVERT(VARCHAR, @fmt_decimal) ELSE '' END
   WHEN data_type IN ('MONEY', 'SMALLMONEY') THEN CASE WHEN @fmt_money IS NOT NULL THEN ',' + CONVERT(VARCHAR, @fmt_money) ELSE '' END
   WHEN data_type IN ('DATETIME', 'SMALLDATETIME') THEN CASE WHEN @fmt_date IS NOT NULL THEN ',' + + CONVERT(VARCHAR, @fmt_date) ELSE '' END
   WHEN data_type IN ('FLOAT', 'REAL') THEN CASE WHEN @fmt_float IS NOT NULL THEN ',' + + CONVERT(VARCHAR, @fmt_float) ELSE '' END
   ELSE ''
  END + ') AS [' + column_name + ']'
FROM tempdb.INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
WHERE table_name = '##export_temp'

-- execute select query to insert data and column names into new temp table
SELECT @tmpSql =
  'SELECT ' + @columnNames + ' ' +
  'INTO ##export_temp2 ' +
  'FROM ( ' +
  ' SELECT ' + @columnConversions + ', 2 AS tmpsort FROM ##export_temp ' +
  ' UNION ALL ' +
  ' SELECT ''' + REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(@columnNames, ',', ''', '''),'[',''),']','') + ''', 1 AS tmpsort ' +
  ' ) AS x ' +
  ' ORDER BY x.tmpsort; ';

PRINT @tmpSql
EXEC(@tmpSql)

-- Execute the BCP to create the file
SELECT @tmpSql = 'bcp "SELECT * FROM ##export_temp2" queryout "' + @file + '" -c -CRAW -t, -T -S' + @server
EXEC master.sys.xp_cmdshell @tmpSql
IF @@ERROR > 0
BEGIN
IF OBJECT_ID('##export_temp') IS NOT NULL
  DROP TABLE ##export_temp
IF OBJECT_ID('##export_temp2') IS NOT NULL
  DROP TABLE ##export_temp2
SELECT @error = 'Couldn''t execute the bcp: ''' + @tmpSql;
RAISERROR(@error, 16, 1)
RETURN
END

-- Make sure the (global) temp tables have been cleaned up
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..##export_temp') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE ##export_temp
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..##export_temp2') IS NOT NULL
DROP TABLE ##export_temp2

GO

This does use global temp tables as well as xp_cmdshell, but it also gets the job done.

This is a modified version of the suggestion found here:
http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/mladenp/archive/2006/07/25/10771.aspx

Thanks to them for actually doing the hard work! I just cleaned it up and made it support varied column names.

IT Toolbox: TechNet Magazine July 2010

Greg — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:23:58 +0000

The new IT Toolbox column has been posted to the TechNet Magazine website. This month, I covered 3 cool tools:

PowerShell SSH Server: Secured remote management
Genie Timeline Professional: Fire and forget backups
StressLinux Project: Stress your new system builds

Check it out and let me know what you think:

July 2010 IT Toolbox for TechNet Magazine

As always, if you have a suggestion for a product to cover, please let me know.

IT Toolbox: TechNet Magazine June 2010

Greg — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:59:56 +0000

The new IT toolbox column has been posted to the TechNet Magazine website. This month, I covered 3 cool tools:

Password Reset Pro: Simple web-based AD password management for end users
PerfectDisk 11 Server Edition: Keep your server’s HDD arrays tuned up
FastCopy: Copy files faster

Check it out and let me know what you think!

June 2010 IT Toolbox for TechNet Magazine

As always, if you have a suggestion for a product to cover, feel free to email me via tntools@microsoft.com.

IT Toolbox: TechNet Magazine May 2010

Greg — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:38:00 +0000

The new IT toolbox column has been posted to the TechNet Magazine website. This month, I covered 2 useful tools:

SmartDeploy Enterprise: Virtualized, simplified, and easy to manage system images
Tweak7: Make Windows 7 run how you want it to run

Check them out and let me know what you think!

May 2010 IT Toolbox for TechNet Magazine

As always, if you have a suggestion for a product to cover, feel free to email me via tntools@microsoft.com.

IT Toolbox: TechNet Magazine April 2010

Greg — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 01:33:21 +0000

The new IT toolbox column has been posted to the TechNet Magazine website. This month, I covered 3 cool tools:

VirtualBox: Free and open source virtualization platform for Windows
CPU-Z: Check out detailed stats on your CPU and memory with this free tool
Prime95: Stress test your new PC or server before you let it loose

Check it out and let me know what you think!

April 2010 IT Toolbox for TechNet Magazine

As always, if you have a suggestion for a product to cover, feel free to email me via tntools@microsoft.com.

Quickly Create Test Users on your Domain Controller

Greg — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:14:38 +0000

If you are looking for a quick way to create test users in your domain, you can do so through the old NET USER command. You will have to run this on your domain controller’s command prompt. The following will create 200k test users:

for /l %i in (1,1,200000) do net user TestUser%i p@ssw0rd /domain /add

If you need to tweak more of the details of the test accounts, there are a number of other options for the NET USER command, but you most likely will want to take a look at the more robust tools out there like csvde.

Thanks to Daniel Petri for this little nugget. For a more in depth view of your options for quickly creating test users, check out his post here:

http://www.petri.co.il/create_users_for_testing_purposes.htm

Hope this helps!

So I got a fake Intel Core i7-920

Greg — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:52:05 +0000

Perhaps you have seen the hub-bub about the counterfeit Intel Core i7-920 chips that were sent out across the country between March 1st and March 4th from NewEgg.com (via their distributor)? Well, I got one of these “chips” myself!!

Here’s the write-up on the box I received over at GearLog.com from Dan Evans:

Hands On: Unboxing the Fake Intel Core i7-920

Check it out!

(By the way, NewEgg dealt with this efficiently and quickly offering me either a full refund or another chip via expedited delivery. Their service rocks! )

March 2010 IT Toolbox – TechNet Magazine Online

Greg — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:14:58 +0000

The March 2010 TechNet Magazine posts on the website. Check out my IT Toolbox column here:

March 2010 TechNet Magazine IT Toolbox

In this issue I covered:

Alloy Navigator Express: Asset, Help Desk, and Inventory Tracking
CleanAfterMe: Clean up your tracks
KBAlertz.com: Hot fix and security bulletin website

Check it out and let me know what you think!

And if you have a tool you want to see me review, please suggest it to me here: tntools@microsoft.com.