Recently I've been looking into the potential that Windows Server Core holds for our environment. Like most eager new Core users, I imagine, I jumped in with grand visions of spinning up a VM quickly and being off to the races administering it from my desktop. The reality wasn't quite the same, as I ran... Continue Reading →
The Final Push – CRM 2016 is Live
After months of ups and downs, plans built and destroyed, and countless hours invested, CRM 2016 is live. (Actually, it's been live since Easter weekend. But keeping a blog up to date is obviously not one of my talents.) For the last installment in this series I'd like to go over how we went about... Continue Reading →
Dynamics CRM Install\Import “The SQL Server {sqlserver_name} is unavailable”
My apologies for the significant gap between my last post on our CRM 2016 Upgrade Adventure and this one. My time has been consumed with preparing for go-live, but I've been keeping track of the roadblocks and caveats we encounter as I go so that I can post about them at later dates. One of... Continue Reading →
Dynamics CRM Import Fails on “Upgrade Indexes”
As I mentioned in the last post, I'm taking you through our adventure in upgrading the existing on-premise Dynamics CRM 2011 environment to 2016 (and eventually 2016 cloud). Previously I discussed the first show-stopper error we received, "Must declare the scalar variable “@table”." Following that resolution the import continued past the stage “Metadata xml upgrade: pass... Continue Reading →
Dynamics CRM Import Error “Must declare the scalar variable “@table”
This post is the first in a new series I'm going to call "CRM 2016 Upgrade Adventure". Summary: my organization has taken on the ambitious challenge of not only upgrading our existing Dynamics CRM 2011 environment to the 2016 version but of moving it to the cloud service as well. Aside from getting the vanilla components... Continue Reading →
Using Powershell to Refresh a Test SQL Server Instance from Production
A project I've been wanting to work on for a long time is how to automate restores of our Production databases to the Test instance. There are a number of challenges associated with this. First, the restore has to be able to find which backup it needs to use. Secondly, many of our databases do... Continue Reading →
Using PowerShell to Perform Availability Group Failovers
In the past we've explored how to use PowerShell to automate failovers on SQL Failover Clusters for Windows Updates and other scheduled maintenance. But what if you're using Availability Groups instead of the traditional cluster? Fear not, there is still a PowerShell option for that. Usually I would have our night team use SSMS to fail... Continue Reading →
Fixing Orphaned SQL Users via PowerShell
In SQL Server, a login is an instance level object that is used for authentication. It is mapped to a database user, which controls permissions at the database level. These objects (login and user) are tied to one another via a SID. If the login is deleted and then recreated, or if you restore your... Continue Reading →
Using PowerShell to Execute SQL Maintenance
It's an odd truth that laziness leads to better systems administration. That is, so long as it spurs you to automate and thoroughly document a repetitive or tedious task. For instance, I was recently tasked with reducing the excessive size of some system tables in our Microsoft Dynamics CRM environment. To start with, I accomplished... Continue Reading →
The Faith of Atheism
The extent to which Christians are criticized for their faith always surprises me. In current American culture, and especially in science-based fields like IT, one is viewed as unintelligent or at least ignorant if they believe in any kind of religion. It is automatically assumed that if you find faith to be a credible notion... Continue Reading →