I typically use a ‘management’ server for most of my needs and have therefore written the script to use UNC type pathing for the primary as well as mirror server. You will also notice I defaulted several of the parameters. This is handy when working on a set of servers for multiple databases.

I hope you find the script useful. You can also find a copy of the script at www.scriptinganswers.com.

<#
	.SYNOPSIS
		Set up an SQL Server mirrored database
	.DESCRIPTION
		Backs up a database and tlog, copies it to the destination,
		Restores the database on the mirror server, sets up the partner,
		and starts the mirror.
	.PARAMETER  database
		The name of the database to be mirrored
	.PARAMETER  SourceServer
		The name of the primary server
	.PARAMETER  SourcePath
		Local Path for the backup
	.PARAMETER  DestServer
		The name of mirror server
	.PARAMETER  DestPath
		Local path for restore file
	.EXAMPLE
		PS C:\> Invoke-Mirror -database 'string value' `
			-SourceServer 'string\string' -SourcePath 'string' `
			-DestServer 'string\string' -DestPath 'string'
	.NOTES
		The SQL connections rely on Windows authentication and assumes Endpoints
		already exist. Error checking is minimal (i.e. no check is made to
		verify the recovery model is FULL).
	.AUTHOR
		John P. Wood
		07/28/2010
#>
Param(
	[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
	[string]$database,
	[string]$SourceServer='Server1\Instance',
	[string]$SourcePath='K:\SQL Backups',
	[string]$DestServer='Server2\Instance',
	[string]$DestPath='K:\SQL Backups'
	)
[Void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo")
[Void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.SMO")
[Void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.SmoExtended")
Function New-SMOconnection {
    Param (
		[string]$server
	)
	$conn = New-Object Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Common.ServerConnection($server)
	$conn.applicationName = "PowerShell SMO"
	$conn.StatementTimeout = 0
	$conn.Connect()
	if ($conn.IsOpen -eq $false) {
		Throw "Could not connect to server $($server) for database backup of $($dbname)."
	}
	$smo = New-Object Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Server($conn)
	$smo
}
Function Invoke-SqlBackup {
	$dbbk = new-object ('Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Backup')
	$dbbk.Action = [Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.BackupActionType]::Database
	$dbbk.BackupSetDescription = "Full backup of " + $database
	$dbbk.BackupSetName = $database + " Backup"
	$dbbk.Database = $database
	$dbbk.MediaDescription = "Disk"
	$device = "$SourcePath\$bkpfile"
	$dbbk.Devices.AddDevice($device, 'File')
	$smo = New-SMOconnection -server $SourceServer
	Try {
		$dbbk.SqlBackup($smo)
		$dbbk.Action = [Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.BackupActionType]::Log
		$dbbk.SqlBackup($smo)
		$smo.ConnectionContext.Disconnect()
	}
	Catch {
		$ex = $_.Exception
		Write-Output $ex.message
		$ex = $ex.InnerException
		while ($ex.InnerException)
		{
			Write-Output $ex.InnerException.message
			$ex = $ex.InnerException
		};
		continue
	}
	Finally {
		if ($smo.ConnectionContext.IsOpen -eq $true) {
			$smo.ConnectionContext.Disconnect()
		}
	}
}
Function Invoke-SqlRestore {
	Param([string]$filename)
	$restore = new-object Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Restore
	$restore.Action = 'Database'
	$restore.Database = $database
	$device = "$DestPath\$filename"
	$restore.Devices.AddDevice($device, 'File')
    $restore.ReplaceDatabase = $true
    $restore.NoRecovery = $true
	$smo = New-SMOconnection -server $DestServer
	Try {
		$restore.SqlRestore($smo)
		$restore.Action = [Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.RestoreActionType]::Log
		$restore.FileNumber = 2
		$restore.SqlRestore($smo)
		$smo.ConnectionContext.Disconnect()
	}
	Catch {
		$ex = $_.Exception
		Write-Output $ex.message
		$ex = $ex.InnerException
		while ($ex.InnerException)
		{
			Write-Output $ex.InnerException.message
			$ex = $ex.InnerException
		};
		continue
	}
	Finally {
		if ($smo.ConnectionContext.IsOpen -eq $true) {
			$smo.ConnectionContext.Disconnect()
		}
	}
}
Function Set-Mirror {
	Param([string]$server,[string]$database,[string]$partner)
	$conn = "Server=$server; Integrated Security=SSPI; Database=Master"
	$cn = New-Object "System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection" $conn
	$cn.Open()
	$cmd = New-Object "System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand"
	$cmd.CommandType = [System.Data.CommandType]::Text

	$cmd.CommandText = "ALTER DATABASE $database SET PARTNER = 'TCP://" + $partner + ":5022'"
	$cmd.Connection = $cn
	$cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
	$cn.Close()
	Trap {
		$ex = $_.Exception
		Write-Output $ex.message
		$ex = $ex.InnerException
		while ($ex.InnerException)
		{
			Write-Output $ex.InnerException.message
			$ex = $ex.InnerException
		};
		continue
	}
}
$srcUNC = Join-Path "\\$($SourceServer.Split('\\')[0])" $($SourcePath.Replace(':','$'))
if (-not(Test-Path $srcUNC)) { New-Item $srcUNC -ItemType directory | Out-Null}
$destUNC = Join-Path "\\$($DestServer.Split('\\')[0])" $($DestPath.Replace(':','$'))
if (-not(Test-Path $destUNC)) { New-Item $destUNC -ItemType directory | Out-Null}
$bkpfile = $($SourceServer.Replace("\", "$")) + "_" + $database + "_FULL_" + $(get-date -format yyyyMMdd-HHmmss) + ".bak"
Invoke-SqlBackup
Copy-Item $(Join-Path $srcUNC $bkpfile) -Destination $destUNC -Verbose
Invoke-SqlRestore -filename $bkpfile
# Establish Mirroring from the mirrored database
Set-Mirror -server $DestServer -database $database -partner $($SourceServer.Split('\\')[0])
# Start the mirror
Set-Mirror -server $SourceServer -database $database -partner $($DestServer.Split('\\')[0])

Using Powershell and a simple script to execute Sp_Cycle_Errorlog, I now have a weekly, Windows scheduled task which executes the sproc to cycle the logs for all my SQL Servers.

foreach ($svr in get-content D:\Scripts\Servers.TXT ){
    $svr
    Invoke-Expression 'SQLCMD -E -S $svr -Q "Exec Sp_Cycle_Errorlog"' | Out-Null
	}

After creating a linked server on a 64bit SQL Server 2005 instance, I then needed to create a view which referenced the linked server. The linked server is a SQL Server 2000 32bit instance. However, when I tried to create the view, I got this error:  Cannot obtain the schema rowset “DBSCHEMA_TABLES_INFO” for OLE DB provider “SQLNCLI”.

This really proved to be a conundrum because I had just recently created the same linked server and view on another SQL 2005 instance. However, I had not yet connected the fact the 2005 instance was 32bit as opposed to the one I was now working on, which is 64bit.

I wrestled with it being a permissions issue for a while but ruled that out when I could not create the view even while using a domain admin account having authority of all the instances. A search on Google, using the above mentioned error message, turned up Joel’s blog. His specific problem was relative to SQL Server 7 but the answer applied to SQL Server 2000 also. He had found the original post of the ultimate solution and was good enough to include it in his blog which I have an excerpt here.

I found an extremely helpful post by Marek Adamczuk at http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=62887&SiteID=1. Marek  explains the 32-bit editions are missing a stored procedure on the master database called sp_tables_info_rowset_64.

Marek’s solution is to create a wrapper on the master database as follows (his code not mine):

create procedure sp_tables_info_rowset_64
    @table_name sysname,
    @table_schema sysname = null,
    @table_type nvarchar(255) = null
as
declare @Result int set @Result = 0
exec @Result = sp_tables_info_rowset
    @table_name,
    @table_schema,
    @table_type

It would appear the existing sproc does the same thing but just needs to be referenced using the 64bit name. Kudos to both Joel and to Marek for making this solution available!

eHarmony spurns Microsoft, finds match with Oracle 10g

Physical file fragmentation can hinder SQL Server’s performance. Learn how Diskeeper can help resolve this problem. By Howard Butler Sr. and Michael Materie.

Source: Keeping Your SQL Server Databases Defragmented With Diskeeper (Updated)
Originally published on 5/17/2007 4:11 PM