ashleyknowles

Category: System Administration

  • CASE WHEN “I need to learn more T-SQL” THEN GoogleTheResult() END

    One of my favorite recent discoveries in my SQL Server work recently, is the awesome T-SQL “CASE…WHEN…THEN” statement. I can’t describe how much I love this thing. It’s pretty simple really: SELECT CASE WHEN fruit = ‘apples’ THEN ‘not oranges’ WHEN fruit = ‘oranges’ THEN ‘not apples’ ELSE ‘neither apples nor oranges’ END AS fruit…

  • Backing up all SQL Server user databases to file

    The ultimate lazy backup script. I wasn’t feeling to selective about which databases to backup, and I figured, it’d be best to back them all up, even that testing database I occasionally use for data import/export. Never know when I might need it again… This sits inside a SQL Server Agent job, and runs nightly. Simple enough…

  • Server Posterpedia Windows 8 Application

    Server Posterpedia Windows 8 Application

    You’re designing a new SQL Server infrastructure for a client, but can’t remember if that high availability solution topology requires shared storage or not, and need to quickly look it up without searching through TechNet. How? With this application! Some genius has combined all of Microsoft’s server architecture posters into a handy Windows 8 application…

  • Windows 8 Without a Tablet? Nonsense!

    Today, Microsoft launched Windows 8 to the masses. And I’m frustrated. Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to play with Windows 8, blowing away my daily work laptop and installing the new operating system at each release – beta, release preview, consumer preview, and RTM. Yes. A laptop. Not a touch screen…

  • Windows 8 Promo Videos

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tgKEgI42WA8

  • Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Architecture Reference

    Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Architecture Reference

    I was lucky enough to pick one of these up in hard copy form at TechEd Australia 2012!! Very useful reference! Download the full copies from Microsoft here – http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29189&ocid=aff-n-we-loc–ITPRO40886&WT.mc_id=aff-n-we-loc–ITPRO40886

  • Recovering a RAID5 Array on the Intel C600 Controller

    Like everyone else in this digital age, my PC is full of stuff which, if I lost, would be beside myself. Pictures of my kids and all of those memories have a special place set aside on my RAID 5 array. A special place I had intended to backup but kept forgetting to setup. And…

  • What’s New in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V

    I recently attended TechEd 2012 on the Gold Coast, and was pretty spoilt for choice as to what technologies I wanted to learn more about. I have an infrastructure background, and recently completed the MCITP Virtualisation Administrator certification for Windows Server 2008 R2, so Hyper-V was still fresh in my mind and one of those…

  • System Centre Orchestrator 2012: why you should be using it

    Firstly, what is Orchestrator? Orchestrator is a new member of the Microsoft System Centre suite, previously badged System Centre Opalis or Opalis Integration Services, and commonly referred to as SCO or SCORCH. Orchestrator is quite simply, a workflow engine. You define the workflow, it goes off and executes it. Workflow? Isn’t that a business thing?…

  • Enable Intel VT-x & EPT in VMWare Workstation

    Enable Intel VT-x & EPT in VMWare Workstation

    Following on from my previous post, I forgot that VMWare doesn’t turn this on by default. You absolutely require passthrough of the Intel VT-x and EPT bits to the VM if you want to run Hyper-V. As shown in the screenshot below, it’s a quick drop down setting. You require this in addition to the…