Most DBA's have a hard time coming to terms with programming languages, and although I've used close to 10 in my history I've always defaulted back to my tried and trusted T-SQL to cater for my data-focussed needs...

A while back now though, the hype increased on LINQ for example and now for Powershell, and although I never saw LINQ take off Powershell is another matter in deed...

Powershell leverages many components to bring a powerful scripting interface that surpasses the old WMI and VBScripting, making use of the .NET framework and other rich programming interfaces and libraries to leap over the boundaries that each of the general MS applications and components encounter. For example, theoretically, I should be able to run a script that checks for space on my server, determine what is installed on it, what "space-hogs" exist for the installed applications and decide [intelligently] what should be removed and how to remove them cleanly... If this is a server that hosts SQL Server, Exchange etc, then we could build within the scripting interface complex enough logic to clean these up without impacting their use nor their availability.

With that said, I've tried to get into it as I have previously with other scripting languages and found myself a mere data focussed guy, lost... even after attending great sessions and reading several blogs and articles...

Powershell MVP Marc van Orsouw has moved to Switzerland from the Netherlands, and apart from attending and supporting the PASS Chapter and Usergroup meetings has gone one step further to teaching this old dog a new trick. He took the time today to walk me through some of the basics, and I'll be sharing some of his insights and tips with you in a series of blog posts focussed on Powershell for SQL Server. As I learn and come to terms with it I hope that it will help other "victims" get over the initial hurdles of breaking in a new-ish technology to truly enhance your DBA time and experience. I've got a lot of ideas on what we can do with it, and am looking forward to putting these out there for one and all to leverage.

Stay tuned...