Registering SQL Servers in 2000 EM, 2005 SSMS, and 2008 SSMS

SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 2008

The SQL Server 2008 Powershell provider includes new-item functionality which easily allows you to create server groups and server registration using a directory/file analogy. Microsoft makes registering SQL Servers in SSMS 2008 via Powershell very simple. Thank You Microsoft!

1. Start the SQL Server 2008 Powershell host, SQLPS.exe
2. CD ‘SQLSERVER:\sqlregistration\Database Engine Server Group’
3. new-item MyGroup — (Creates new server group)
4. CD MyGroup
5. New-Item $(Encode-Sqlname MyServer) -itemtype registration -Value “server=MyServer;integrated security=true” – (registers new server)

**UPDATE: Use Encode-Sqlname cmdlet to deal with named instances, since adding Encode-Sqlname doesn’t effect default instances use it all the time.**

new-item $(Encode-Sqlname MyServer) -itemtype registration -Value “server=MyServer;integrated security=true”

SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 2005

SQL Server 2005 uses the .NET Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.RegisteredServers classes. Save the following code as register2005.ps1:

[reflection.assembly]::Load(“Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo, Version=9.0.242.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken= 89845dcd8080cc91″) > $null

#######################
function Add-SSMSServerGroup
{
param($groupname)

$ServerGroup = new-object (“Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.RegisteredServers.ServerGroup”) “$groupname”
$ServerGroup.Create()

return $ServerGroup
}

#######################
function Add-SSMSRegisteredServer
{
param($ServerGroup, $servername)

$server = new-object (“Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.RegisteredServers.RegisteredServer”) $ServerGroup, “$servername”
$server.ServerInstance = “$servername”
$server.LoginSecure = $true
$server.Create()
}

To use the functions, source the file:

. ./register2005.ps1

Here is an example which registers a list of SQL Server from a text file, servers.txt under a new group called “All”. Keep in mind unlike SQL 2000 in 2005/2008 you can register a server multiple times under different groups. You can even nest groups.

$ServerGroup = Add-ServerGroup “All”
Get-Content ./servers.txt |foreach { Add-SSMSRegisteredServer $ServerGroup $_ }

SQL Server Enterprise Manager (EM) 2000

I orginally published a script entitled Import/Export SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager Registered Servers on SQLServerCentral. The script/notes are reposted below.

Note: Prior to Powershell I used a VBScript/Perl version of the script.

Imports or exports SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager group and server registrations. Note: SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager should be installed and then launched to initialize the registry keys. Close Enterprise Manager prior to running script. To use you’ll need to source the Powershell Script.

Save the code below as sqlem.ps1

$global:appl = New-Object -comobject “SQLDMO.Application”

#######################
function Export-RegisteredServers
{
param($file)

#Dumps current SQL Server Enterprise Manager Groups and servers to specific
$appl.ServerGroups | %{$group = $_.Name; $_.RegisteredServers | % {$group + ” ” + $_.Name}} >> $file

}

#######################
function Add-ServerGroup
{
param($groupname)

$ServerGroup = New-Object -comobject “SQLDMO.ServerGroup”
$ServerGroup.Name = $groupname
trap {$script:Exception = $_; continue} $appl.ServerGroups.Add($ServerGroup)
$ServerGroup = $appl.ServerGroups.Item($groupname)

return $ServerGroup

}

#######################
function Add-RegisteredServer
{
param($ServerGroup, $servername)

$RegisteredServer = New-Object -comobject “SQLDMO.RegisteredServer”
$RegisteredServer.Name = $servername
$RegisteredServer.UseTrustedConnection = 1
$RegisteredServer.PersistFlags = 1
trap {$script:Exception = $_; continue} $ServerGroup.RegisteredServers.Add($RegisteredServer)

}

#######################
function Import-RegisteredServers
{
param($file)

#Registers each group/server in enterprise manager based on file generated from write-registeredServers function

Get-Content $file |foreach {$groupname, $servername = $_.split();
$ServerGroup = Add-ServerGroup $groupname;
Add-RegisteredServer $ServerGroup $servername}

}

Launch Powershell cd to the file location

Source the Powershell script

. ./sqlem.ps1

Example usage to export and import server registrations to c:\serves.txt file:

Export-RegisteredServers c:\servers.txt

or

Import-RegisteredServers c:\servers.txt