SQL Server Patching Using PowerShell DSC (2024-04-05)

SQLServerCentral Newsletter for April 5, 2024 Problems displaying this newsletter? [View online](. [SQL Server Central]( Featured Contents - [SQL Server Patching Using PowerShell DSC]( - [Introduction to Python including Installation, Jupyter Notebooks and Visual Studio Code]( - [From the SQL Server Central Blogs - Using SQL Elastic Pools]( - [From the SQL Server Central Blogs - Apr 9 Webinar: Accelerating Success: De-risking and Streamlining Releases with Flyway Enterprise]( - [The Phoenix Project]( Question of the Day - [LIKE Condition for Date]( The Voice of the DBA  When is it time for a new job? I subscribe to quite a few newsletters, and one of them is for job hunters. I have a great job, maybe the best job for me, but I like to keep in touch with what's going on because I, well, I have job insecurity and worry about being without a job. I think this is leftover from childhood. I also want to know how to help others in finding their dream job. Recently there was a question asking when it was time for a new job How can you tell (for yourself) when you should be seeking new opportunities? It might not be easy to recognize for many of you. Perhaps you don't realize there are other opportunities you might appreciate because you're comfortable. Perhaps you're the frog in water that's being heated so slowly that you don't realize how poor your current situation is for your health. Earlier in my career I was constantly looking for new opportunities. Whether that was within my current employer or outside, I was looking every month for other jobs, asking people what they liked about their position or employer, and regularly looking to increase my salary. I was working hard to drive my career forward in my 20s, both with opportunities to grow and more compensation. In my 30s, I had children. They became important, and while I was aware of opportunities, I wasn't actively looking to move unless I found myself in a very poor situation. Even then, I tolerated a couple of very poor managers for months because I had no options, little energy to look, and felt resigned at times. I worked on my career, but lightly. At some point, I somewhat fell into owning a business (with partners) with [SQL Server Central](. I had good and bad jobs, high and low stress, but I didn't do enough to stop and think about my current situation at various points in time. In my 40s, I found a great employer in [Redgate]( a company run the way I'd want to run my own company. I've been there 16 years, and I don't ever want to look for a job. I still evaluate how I feel, and I appreciate the ability to log my feelings periodically in [Thymometrics]( which helps me decide if I'm satisfied. This is a service that lets you rate your position in many ways. I question myself, regularly, as I fill out the form and I often look at the historical trends. I measure those graphs against how I feel that day and decide if I need to make any changes in how I approach my job. I'm older now, approaching retirement though not anytime soon. I don't want to look for any more jobs, and I love the one I have. Thymometrics verifies this. My job has changed over the years, evolving to better help me support Redgate's direction. Fortunately, I've enjoyed those changes. However, I do always keep an eye on my friends' jobs and am aware of other opportunities. While I don't expect to move, I'm always lightly looking. It pays to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. I still touch my resume a few times a year and try to keep it up to date. I recommend you do the same. Steve Jones - SSC Editor [Join the debate, and respond to today's editorial on the forums](   Featured Contents [SQLServerCentral Article]( [SQL Server Patching Using PowerShell DSC]( VishnuGupthanSQLPowershellDBA from SQLServerCentral In this article, learn how to use the PowerShell DSC to patch your SQL Server instances. [External Article]( [Introduction to Python including Installation, Jupyter Notebooks and Visual Studio Code]( Additional Articles from MSSQLTips.com In this step-by-step article, learn how to quickly install Python and start writing Python code using Jupyter Notebooks or Visual Studio Code. [Blog Post]( From the SQL Server Central Blogs - [Using SQL Elastic Pools]( hellosqlkitty from SQLKitty We use SQL elastic pools at work. I needed to learn more about their nuances and help you with some of their challenges. Setting Up Elastic Pools Here‘s some... [Blog Post]( From the SQL Server Central Blogs - [Apr 9 Webinar: Accelerating Success: De-risking and Streamlining Releases with Flyway Enterprise]( Steve Jones - SSC Editor from The Voice of the DBA UPDATE: This moved to Apr 9 Join me Tuesday, Apr 9 for a webinar, 10:00am CDT. You can register here and then come watch live with questions or get... [The Phoenix Project]( [The Phoenix Project]( Additional Articles from SQLServerCentral In this newly updated and expanded edition of the bestselling The Phoenix Project, co-author Gene Kim includes a new afterword and a deeper delve into the Three Ways as described in The DevOps Handbook.   Question of the Day Today's question (by Thomas Franz):  LIKE Condition for Date Which lines will I get back from the following statements: IF '2024_03_04' LIKE '[12][8901][0-9][0-9][ _-,.]%' SELECT 'underscore_1' IF '2024_03_04' LIKE '[12][8901][0-9][0-9][ _,.-]%' SELECT 'underscore_2' IF '2024-03-04' LIKE '[12][8901][0-9][0-9][ _-,.]%' SELECT 'dash_1' IF '2024-03-04' LIKE '[12][8901][0-9][0-9][ _,.-]%' SELECT 'dash_2'  Think you know the answer? [Click here]( and find out if you are right.    Yesterday's Question of the Day (by Stewart "Arturius" Campbell) SQL Server Standard Always On Availability Groups My environment is running SQL Server Standard. I have 3 instances of SQL Server for the application, the first located at the Head Office, the second at a regional office and the 3rd at the DR site. I plan to implement Basic Always On Availability groups for the application, with the Head office instance as the Primary Replica, the regional office as a Synchronized Secondary Replica, and the DR site as an Asynchronous Secondary Replica. Can this be done? Answer: No Explanation: SQL Server Basic Always On Availability Groups only allow 2 Nodes, viz. the Primary Replica and one Secondary Replica. Ref: Basic Availability Groups - [ [Discuss this question and answer on the forums](    Database Pros Who Need Your Help Here's a few of the new posts today on the forums. To see more, [visit the forums](. --------------------------------------------------------------- SQL Server 2017 - Administration [Downgrade from Enterprise to Standard (incl. SSAS, SSIS, SSRS)]( - Hi there, thanks for listening! We are preparing to downgrade one or our Instance from Enterprise to Standard. Thankfully, this is not a production server, so some downtime is not an issue. We are planning to make a snapshot of the VM so that we can rollback in case something goes wrong. I want to […] SQL Server 2017 - Development [Query help please]( - I have a history table that tracks changes to client records, im having trouble writing a query that will capture BOTH of these records based on (Where changedcolumns = 'Paid'). I need the OLD and NEW history in the result. [SQL agent help]( - Hi Guys, I have an SQL Agent job. It is called an SSIS Package and is stored in SSIS DB. I can see the SSIS Package completed without any problem. Job has only one step. However, the SQL Agent job never ends. Just for my testing, I created an SQL Agent job and used SQL […] SQL Server 2016 - Development and T-SQL [Tracking Database Growth - Script Automation & Reporting]( - Hello,  I found this script that helps me in populate a table with information about my database; specifically sizes. I am a looking for a way to automate the process wherein the data can be extracted to an excel spreadsheet for us to do reporting against to track our database size growth overtime. Your […] Development - SQL Server 2014 [Outer join table where there is 2 foreign keys to join]( - I am asked to provide a date in a query from a table that may or may not have a record. Thus the outer join. The issue is the joined table may have many records for the ID (foreign key) being joined, and the query is returning the first result not the last.  There […] SQL Server 2019 - Administration [Optimizing Always On failover alert]( - Hello, We are trying to optimize the no. of alerts generating while Availability Group fails over. Event ID: 1480: Database Replica Role Changed Event ID: 19406: Availability Group Replica Role changed. As per my understanding Event 1480 can never happen without 19406. Hence it is ok to disable alert for 1480. Please let me know […] SQL Server 2019 - Development [how to do this in SQL?]( - Hi everyone I am working on a query and I am totally stumped. I don't even know where to begin. I will give test data, expected outcome, and explanation of logic. Test Data: create table #test_table ( company char(4), trade_date date, type char(1), level int, price decimal(6,2) ) insert into #test_table values ('ABC','2024-03-21','L','100','23.45'), ('ABC','2024-03-21','L','200','33.12'), ('ABC','2024-03-21','L','300','21.05'), […] [Need Help: Polybase external table on Parquet file stored in Azure StorageV2]( - My goal is to create a Polybase external table from a Parquet file located in an Azure storage container. SQL Server 2019 (RTM-CU22-GDR) (KB5029378) - 15.0.4326.1 (X64) StorageV2 (general purpose v2) (LRS) File was exported from SQL Server using: parquet-cpp-arrow version 4.0.0 I know that the SAS token I'm using is probably good in terms […] [Help with reading from JSON array]( - Hi all, I am trying to read the following JSON code in SQL Server: declare @json nvarchar(max) set @json = ' { "WorkId":121, "Code":"UK_AAT", "UpdateAttributes": { "TriggerDateMapping": { "3N":"N/A", "10N": "N/A" }, "OverrideRules": [ {"Busket Rule":"A1", "Exit_Window": 15, "Strategy": "STE Triggered", "Start_Date": "Month 2" }, {"Busket Rule":"C2", "Exit_Window": 44, "Strategy": "STE", "Start_Date": "Month 2" }, […] [test sql servers]( - Hi we run 2019 standard. I'm torn between asking my dept head for 3 test sql servers for use by everybody so that we can test 3 projects at once vs enough horsepower on my local to run 3 instances.  I'm leaning toward one that is shared and whatever it takes to run 3 instances […] [error using #temp tables]( - Hi I am getting this error message when I try to re-use a temp table. The code is a bit long so I won't post it here. Here is a template on how the temp tables are being used. What am I doing wrong? Code: DROP TABLE IF EXISTS #TEMP1 DROP TABLE IF EXISTS #TEMP2 […] SQL Azure - Administration [Database Snapshot Alternative in SQL MI]( - Database snapshots are not supported in SQL Managed Instance, Is there a workaround for Database snapshot feature. Restore from point in time backups will take a lot of time for us. I want to create a readonly copy of a database from a specific point, how can this be achieved in SQL MI? Analysis Services [Dates are rendered in multiple formats in Excel against Cube]( - We upgraded a SQL2014 environment to a sql2016 one recently with a customer. This customer still uses the traditional SSAS Multidimensional cubes. After the upgrade the dates no longer present themselves in the singular same format within Excel reports. A value of 14 march 2024 is represented as '2024-03-14' correctly , but 4 march 2024 […] SQL Server 2022 - Administration [Post Upgrade Access issues - Databases in 120 Compatibility and Read_Only Status]( - I recently did an in place upgrade from 2014 to 2022, and couldn't connect to any of the databases that were in Read_Only state AND still in 120 compatibility mode, with the following error: "Cannot open database 'DBName' version 782. Upgrade the database to the latest version." After setting all the databases to 160 mode […] [SQL2022 CU12 Question]( - Hi. I installed SQL2022 CU12 and in the notes it says:  2937584 Fixes an issue in which the sp_server_diagnostics stored procedure doesn't respond to the Always On availability group (AG) resource DLL within the HealthCheckTimeout when the I/O takes a long time, which causes unnecessary restart and failover. For example, when the sp_server_diagnostics stored procedure is waiting for the PREEMPTIVE_OS_GETFINALFILEPATHBYHANDLE wait type. […]   [RSS Feed]( This email has been sent to {EMAIL}. To be removed from this list, please click [here](. If you have any problems leaving the list, please contact the webmaster@sqlservercentral.com. This newsletter was sent to you because you signed up at SQLServerCentral.com. ©2019 Redgate Software Ltd, Newnham House, Cambridge Business Park, Cambridge, CB4 0WZ, United Kingdom. All rights reserved. webmaster@sqlservercentral.com  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -