Perspectives
This & That
Script Watch
Scripter's Toolkit
Info To Go
Perspectives
by Karen Bemowski, [email protected]
Favorite Tools and Favorite Articles
Scripting tools and scripting articles are a few of my favorite
things. I'm not familiar with too many scripting tools, so last month I
asked you to tell me about your favorite utilities. Unfortunately, I
received only one response. (Thanks Jim!) I asked for a rather short
turnaround time, so I'm guessing that's why I didn't receive more.
Because I feel strongly that this information will be helpful to all scripters, I'm going to ask you again to tell me about your favorite utilities. This round, I'll give you lots of time--until December 15-- so that you can procrastinate a bit. Just send me an email ([email protected]) telling me about one or more utilities you often use in your scripting endeavors. The utilities must be freeware or shareware so that all scripters can have access to them. However, because many people already know about the various Microsoft utilities, please don't include any Microsoft tools. After I receive your list of favorite utilities, I'll enter your name in a drawing for $100. I'll announce the lucky winner of the drawing and share the list of readers' favorite tools in the January 5, 2007, issue of Scripting Central.
Although I'm not familiar with too many scripting tools, I am familiar with many excellent scripting articles. Having worked on the Windows Scripting Solutions newsletter for almost 8 years, I have a long list of favorites. I'll be narrowing that list to two articles, which I can honestly say won't be easy. In the November 3 and December 1 issues of Scripting Central, I'll tell you about those articles
And provide a link to them. Maybe they'll become some of your favorite scripting articles, too.
This & That
10 Troubleshooting Tips
If you've run into problems when writing command shell scripts, you might
want to check out Bill Stewart's article "10 Keys to Command Shell Scripting"
in the October 2006 issue of Windows IT Pro
(http://www.windowsitpro.com/Windows/Issues/IssueID/855/Index.html).
These tips can help you avoid common problems and create more robust scripts.
The tips include instructions on how to use double quotes correctly and when
to use the escape character.
Bone Up on PowerShell
If you want to learn about Windows PowerShell or are simply curious as to
what it's all about, check out Windows PowerShell Week. Microsoft will be
holding five Webcasts at the beginning of November:
- And Now for Something Completely Different: Introducing Windows PowerShell (Monday, November 6)
- One Cmdlet, Two Cmdlet, Three Cmdlet, Four: An Introduction to Windows PowerShell Commands (Tuesday November 7)
- Objects, Objects Everywhere: Working With Objects in Windows PowerShell (Wednesday November 8)
- New Kid on the Script Block: Writing Scripts with Windows PowerShell (Thursday November 9)
- Amazing But True: Things You Never Dreamt You Could Do With Windows PowerShell (Friday November 10)
For more information about Windows PowerShell Week, go to http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/webcasts/ps.mspx.
Talk Tech With Some Tech Experts
Spend a day with technical experts Michael Otey, Gil Kirkpatrick, Dustin
Puryear, and Randy Dyess. Designed specifically for IT professionals who work
in a "Windows Plus" environment, TechX World is a four-track, one-day event
featuring information about OS interoperability, data interoperability,
directory and security integration, and virtualization. The content will
focus on interoperability tips to help make disparate systems work well
together.
The regional event series will visit four cities between October 24 and November 2, including Washington DC, Chicago , Dallas, and San Francisco. For complete agenda and speaker details, go to http://www.techxworld.com.
TechX World is brought to you by people who understand that the world you live in never fits the textbook IT infrastructure.
Script Watch
Handy Script Reports Mailbox Statistics
If you regularly perform analyses on mailboxes in your Exchange Server
2003 machine, you'll want to check out MailboxSizes.vbs. This script
retrieves mailbox data about all the mailboxes on all the mailbox stores from
an Exchange 2003 server, then outputs this information to an XML file. You
can then import the XML file into Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Access for
analysis. Learn more about MailboxSizes.vbs in the Reader to Reader article
"Script Lets You Easily Review Mailbox Data." This article, which will appear
in the November issue of Exchange & Outlook Administrator, is now available
for public viewing at http://www.windowsitpro.com/MicrosoftExchangeOutlook/Article/ArticleID/93350/93350.html.
Scripter's Toolkit
Extend the sp_spaceUsed Stored Procedure's Usefulness
SQL Server supplies the sp_SpaceUsed stored procedure for getting information
about database size. With this procedure, you can obtain the current
database's name, size, and amount of unallocated space, reserved space, space
used by data, space used by indexes, and unused space. However, sp_SpaceUsed
doesn't provide information about the transaction log's size or the amount of
used space in it. However, you can extend the ability of sp_SpaceUsed to
obtain transaction log statistics by compiling a stored procedure named
sp_LogSpace in a master database and calling it from an updated version of
sp_SpaceUsed. Here's the code for sp_LogSpace:
USE MASTER
GO
CREATE PROC sp_LogSpace (@dbName sysname = NULL)
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON
IF (@dbName IS NULL) SET @dbName = DB_NAME()
CREATE TABLE #tempLogSpace (dbName sysname,
LogSize real, LogSpacePctUsed real, stat int)
INSERT INTO #tempLogSpace EXEC ('DBCC SQLPERF (LOGSPACE)')
SELECT CAST (convert (decimal (8,3),
ROUND (LogSize,3)) as varchar(20)) + ' MB' AS LogSize ,
CAST (convert (decimal (8,3),
ROUND (LogSize * LogSpacePctUsed / 100.0,3)) AS varchar(20))
+ ' MB' AS LogSpaceUsed
FROM #tempLogSpace
WHERE LOWER (rtrim(ltrim(dbName))) = LOWER (rtrim(ltrim(@dbName)))
DROP TABLE #tempLogSpace
SET NOCOUNT OFF
END
GO
As this code shows, sp_LogSpace uses the DBCC SQLPERF statement to get the transaction log statistics. The procedure enters the DBCC SQLPERF data into a temporary table and extracts the log-size and space-used statistics, which it outputs to the varchar(20) string. The size is specified in megabytes (MB).
To use sp_LogSpace, you provide the database name as an input parameter. If you don't provide this parameter, the current database name is used. For example, the code
USE northwind GO EXEC sp_LogSpace EXEC sp_LogSpace 'pubs' EXEC sp_LogSpace 'msdb'
first uses sp_LogSpace to get the transaction log statistics for the current database (in this case, Northwind), then uses sp_LogSpace to get the transaction log statistics for the pubs and msdb databases. The sp_LogSpace has been tested on a Windows XP machine running SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 1 (SP1). You can download a commented version of the sp_LogSpace.sql at http://www.sqlmag.com/Article/ArticleID/49252/sql_server_49252.html.
Thanks to Eli Leiba for writing and sharing his sp_LogSpace stored procedure.
Info To Go
Join experts Douglas McDowell from Solid Quality Learning and Andrew Sisson from Scalability Experts, as well as Intel insiders and other database professionals, to learn the latest about SQL Server and Oracle database mirroring, BI, 64-bit database computing, and high-availability. Coming to cities across the US in this fall. Visit http://www.windowsitpro.com/roadshows/sqloracle/?code=1004emailannc
Your business, like most today, relies upon its computing systems to store financial information, house proprietary data, and maintain communications channels. This increasing reliance also increases the dangers to your systems from security breaches, including viruses, spyware, spam, and hackers. Visit the Windows Protection Site at http://www.windowsitpro.com/go/protection for the latest tips on safeguarding your system.
Learn all you need to know about code-signing technology, including the goals
and benefits of code signing, how code signing works, and the underlying
cryptographic and security concepts and building blocks. Download the full
eBook today--it's free!
http://www.windowsitpro.com/go/ebooks/codesigning?code=1004emailannc
Learn from industry expert Michael Otey about different approaches to server
consolidation and how to stop server sprawl by using consolidation and
virtualization. Find out how to run legacy OSs, Linux, and Windows together
and more using virtualization. You'll even get step-by-step instructions on
building a virtual machine for Windows Server 2003. Live Event: Wednesday,
October 18
http://www.windowsitpro.com/go/seminars/microsoft/serverconsolidation/?partnerref=1004emailannc
Uncover Essential Windows Knowledge Through Excavator
Try out the ultimate vertical search tool--Windows Excavator. Windows
Excavator gives you fast, thorough third-party information while filtering
out unwanted content. Visit http://www.winexcavator.com today!
Examine the threats of allowing unwanted or offensive content into your
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inappropriate content, spyware, IM, and P2P.
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