This page has a checklist for the different possible ways to get your environment set up
Study Group Links

Real World DBA Toolkit @ SQLSaturday#627
Thank you for attending my Session, which was a last minute replacement for a session that was moved due to scheduling conflicts.
feel free to get in touch with me via email at any time, and I will be glad to help or answer questions.
The next post below hightlights the keyboard shortcuts that I so highly recommend, which uses just nine or so of the procedures from my DBA toolkit.

Many DBA's and Developers use SQL Server Management Studio on a daily basis, but there are dozens of functionalities that exist, that you may not even be aware of. We will be going over some of the nice things that can make you more productive as a DBA or Developer: Central Management Servers, Activity Monitor, Built in Reports, Object Explorer Details, Template Explorer, code snippets and so much more.
Keyboard Shortcuts are a free built in functionality that can make finding and accessing your data easier, and easily increase your productivity.
There are various Plug ins that can make your life easier, that range from free to expensive, that can really make a difference in your day to day productivity, or even save you from losing hours or days of work. Come see how you can make your life easier, with a tool already in your toolbelt!

This session covered Getting Active Directory Information, Inserting and Updating into SQL Tables via Powershell. the scripts get all AD Users, all AD groups, all computer and server names in the AD, and a lot more, and put them in your sweet spot: a suite of tables in the database of your choice for further analysis.
A complete suite of both Powershell and TSQL scripts will be provided to add to your DBA Toolkit for all the features presented.
I will go over the prerequisite if you want to do this on your workstation, vs a Server, which might already have the Powershell AD components installed.
Once in the database you can do some great analysis that can help you remove individual logins and replace them with the groups they belong to , Who has access but are no longer working, which groups are inheriting from other groups, and lots of other possibilities.
Examples of some of the reports I generate:
List of all Groups a user belongs to, including inheritance via nested groups.
List of All Users who are enabled / disabled.
List of users who's passwords must be changed in the next x days
List of All Users who are locked out, and whether it's due to password expiration or other reasons.
List of users who also have SQL Server access, and their permissions at either the server or database level.
List of users who also have SQL Server access,and they are disabled in AD.
How to schedule this as a job to keep the data up to date.

Using VirtualBox to create a Virtual Server with SQL Server 2016 Developer Edition.
Ideal for the Developer on a budget! The only thing this costs is your time to learn.
A step by step Demonstration on using VirtualBox, where we will create a Virtual Machine With a Windows Server Operating System Evaluation Edition, install SQL 2016 Developer, and show how we can then clone or snapshot those machines for rollback and recovery purposes.
I went over the caveats for using the portable edition version as well, so you can avoid headaches in the future, while carrying around your entire lab on an SSD drive.
You may know that if your operating system is Windows 7, you cannot install SQL2016. Having a virtual lab that you control give you the leg up and allows you to test other operating systems and the latest SQL Versions you might otherwise not get to work with.

This session will consist of a handful of applications I recommend to make your like easier, and a huge suite of stored procedures to put a real world DBA's primary responsibilities at his or her fingertips.
Lowell is Senior Database Administrator in the Healthcare industry whose daily emphasis is improving performance automating and streamlining tasks. The SFSSUG Study Group contributed to his ability to earn his MCSA this year.

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