Video: Automate Operational Readiness and Validation Testing of SQL Server with PowerShell and Pester

I recently presented a session on “Automate Operational Readiness and Validation Testing of SQL Server with PowerShell and Pester” for the PowerShell Virtual Chapter of SQL PASS. The video from that presentation is now available: Both the code and slide deck from the presentation can be found in my presentations repository on GitHub. µ

November 17, 2016 · 1 min · 54 words · Mike F. Robbins

Store Environmental Code in a SQL Server Database for PowerShell Operational Validation Tests

I’ve previously published articles on separating environmental code from structural code for both DSC (Desired State Configuration) and Operational Validation or Readiness Tests. This article picks up where I left off last week in Separating Environmental Code from Structural Code in PowerShell Operational Validation Tests. As many existing open source PowerShell functions as possible have been used in the examples shown in this blog article instead of re-inventing the wheel and rewriting everything from scratch....

September 15, 2016 · 4 min · 663 words · Mike F. Robbins

Use PowerShell and Pester for Operational Readiness Testing of Altaro VM Backup

I’ve recently been working with Altaro VM Backup and I must say that I’ve been very impressed with the ease and simplicity of the product. The back-end portion of the product can run on a virtual or physical server with or without the GUI (Server Core is supported). It can backup to just about any type of drive (local disk, UNC path, USB drive, etc). It doesn’t require SQL Server. In my environment, adding a Hyper-V server (running Windows Server 2012 R2) installed a service on the Hypervisor, but did not require a reboot....

September 1, 2016 · 7 min · 1408 words · Mike F. Robbins

Be Mindful of Object Types when Writing Unit Tests and Performing Operational Validation in PowerShell with Pester

I recently wrote a Pester test that performs some basic operational validation (smoke tests) of SQL Servers. I’ve previously written similar tests as functions as shown in my Write Dynamic Unit Tests for your PowerShell Code with Pester blog article, but I decided to write this one as a script with the naming convention that seems to be recommended. The name of this particular test is Validate-MrSQLServer.Tests.ps1. You’re probably thinking Validate isn’t an approved verb and you’re right, but this isn’t a function, it’s a script....

April 28, 2016 · 4 min · 755 words · Mike F. Robbins