Invoke-SqlAssessment
Runs SQL Assessment best practice checks for a chosen SQL Server object and returns their results.
Syntax
Invoke-SqlAssessment
[-Check <Object[]>]
[[-InputObject] <PSObject>]
[-Configuration <PSObject>]
[-MinSeverity <SeverityLevel>]
[-FlattenOutput]
[-ProgressAction <ActionPreference>]
[<CommonParameters>] Description
The Invoke-SqlAssessment cmdlet runs an assessment for each input object and returns a list of best practice recommendations that should be applied to the specified objects. It's up to you to follow the given recommendations or not. For more information, see the SQL Assessment API overview.
This cmdlet accepts the following input types:
- Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Server
- Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Database
- Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.AvailabilityGroup
- Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.FileGroup
- Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.RegisteredServers.RegisteredServer
- String containing path to any object of the above types
- Collection of objects
You can get input objects with SqlServer cmdlets like Get-SqlInstance and Get-SqlDatabase or basic PowerShell cmdlets like Get-Item and Get-ChildItem. Also, the cmdlet supports the SQL Server PowerShell provider, so it can obtain an object from its path. The path can be passed explicitly, otherwise the current path will be used.
Availability of a check for a chosen object varies on the SQL Server version, platform, and object type. Also,
there are checks that target specific databases like tempdb or master. You can additionally filter checks
by tags, names, and severity with the parameters -MinSeverity and -Check.
You can get a list of checks applicable to the given SQL Server object with Get-SqlAssessmentItem cmdlet.
The cmdlet runs only checks that are applicable to an input object. For example, database checks will not be run for a SQL Server instance or an availability group, even when specified in -Check list.
Custom configurations can be applied with the -Configuration parameter. Customization examples are available on Github.
NOTE. In the first public preview Invoke-SqlAssessment returned AssessmentNote objects with properties CheckId and CheckName containing Check's ID and DisplayName respectively. In the second public preview the two properties were replaced with a single Check property providing much more data. Assuming $note was an object returned by Invoke-SqlAssessment, you can access check's ID as $note.Check.Id instead of $note.CheckId, or check's description as $note.Check.Description. You can use -FlattenOutput parameter to get results in the previous format with CheckId and CheckName. This parameter will also help to retain compatibility to some cmdlets like Write-SqlTableData. See examples 12-14 for more details.
Invoke-SqlAssessment cmdlet's output is a list of violated best practices for every given SQL Server object. Use Description property to learn about the best practice and Message property to find out how it can be solved. Also, every check result contains a link to online documentation, which will help you figure out the issue better.
SQL Server on Azure VM support
With SQL Assessment cmdlets, you can assess an instance of SQL Server on Azure VM not only as on-prem SQL Server, but also with rules that are specific to SQL Server on Azure VM (ones that use information about the virtual machine configuration). For example, the AzSqlVmSize rule checks that the VM that hosts an instance of SQL Server on Azure VM is of recommended size.
To use such rules, connect to Azure with Azure PowerShell Module and make sure that the Az.ResourceGraph module is installed.
Sign in with Azure PowerShell before invoking SQL Assessment against a SQL Server on Azure VM instance. Example 16 shows the interactive sign in process and subscription selection.
NOTE. It is possible to use Azure account connection persisted between PowerShell sessions, i.e. invoke Connect-AzAccount in one session and omit this command later. However, the current version of SQL Assessment cmdlets needs the Az.ResourceGraph module to be imported explicitly in this case: Import-Module Az.ResourceGraph
Examples
Example 1: Invoke assessment for local default instance
PS:> Get-SqlInstance -ServerInstance localhost | Invoke-SqlAssessment
TargetPath : Server[@Name='LOCAL']
Sev. Message Check ID Origin
---- ------- -------- ------
Info Enable trace flag 834 to use large-page allocations to improve TF834 Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
analytical and data warehousing workloads.
Low Detected deprecated or discontinued feature uses: String literals DeprecatedFeatures Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
as column aliases, syscolumns, sysusers, SET FMTONLY ON, XP_API,
Table hint without WITH, More than two-part column name. We
recommend to replace them with features actual for SQL Server
version 14.0.1000.
Medi Amount of single use plans in cache is high (100%). Consider PlansUseRatio Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
enabling the Optimize for ad hoc workloads setting on heavy OLTP
ad-hoc workloads to conserve resources.
...This example shows how to get all best practice recommendations for the default instance of SQL Server running on the current machine.
Example 2: Invoke assessment with PSProvider cmdlet
PS:> Get-Item SQLSERVER:\SQL\localhost\default | Invoke-SqlAssessment
TargetPath : Server[@Name='LOCAL']
Sev. Message Check ID Origin
---- ------- -------- ------
Info Enable trace flag 834 to use large-page allocations to improve TF834 Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
analytical and data warehousing workloads.
Low Detected deprecated or discontinued feature uses: String literals DeprecatedFeatures Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
as column aliases, syscolumns, sysusers, SET FMTONLY ON, XP_API,
Table hint without WITH, More than two-part column name. We
recommend to replace them with features actual for SQL Server
version 14.0.1000.
Medi Amount of single use plans in cache is high (100%). Consider PlansUseRatio Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
enabling the Optimize for ad hoc workloads setting on heavy OLTP
ad-hoc workloads to conserve resources.
...This example shows how to get all best practice recommendations for the default instance of SQL Server.
Example 3: Invoke assessment with PS Provider path
PS:> Invoke-SqlAssessment SQLSERVER:\SQL\localhost\default
TargetPath : Server[@Name='LOCAL']
Sev. Message Check ID Origin
---- ------- -------- ------
Info Enable trace flag 834 to use large-page allocations to improve TF834 Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
analytical and data warehousing workloads.
Low Detected deprecated or discontinued feature uses: String literals DeprecatedFeatures Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
as column aliases, syscolumns, sysusers, SET FMTONLY ON, XP_API,
Table hint without WITH, More than two-part column name. We
recommend to replace them with features actual for SQL Server
version 14.0.1000.
Medi Amount of single use plans in cache is high (100%). Consider PlansUseRatio Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
enabling the Optimize for ad hoc workloads setting on heavy OLTP
ad-hoc workloads to conserve resources.
...This example shows how to get all best practice recommendations for the default instance of SQL Server.
Example 4: Invoke assessment with custom configuration
PS:> Get-SqlInstance -ServerInstance '(local)' | Invoke-SqlAssessment -Configuration C:\profileA.json, C:\profileB.json
TargetPath : Server[@Name='LOCAL']
Sev. Message Check ID Origin
---- ------- -------- ------
Low Detected deprecated or discontinued feature uses: String literals DeprecatedFeatures Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
as column aliases, syscolumns, sysusers, SET FMTONLY ON, XP_API,
Table hint without WITH, More than two-part column name. We
recommend to replace them with features actual for SQL Server
version 14.0.1000.
Medi A custom rule violation detected. CustomRuleA Profile A 1.0
...This example shows how to apply custom configuration to get a modified set of best practice recommendations. Custom configurations are described in JSON files. Custom rulesets profileA.json and profileB.json disabled some checks and introduced some new ones. One of the new checks from profileA.json detected a problem with the current configuration of the SQL Server instance. Visit SQL Assessment samples folder on Github to find out how to make customization.
Example 5: Invoke assessment for all instances
PS:> dir SQLSERVER:\SQL\localhost | Invoke-SqlAssessment
TargetPath : Server[@Name='LOCAL']
Sev. Message Check ID Origin
---- ------- -------- ------
Info Enable trace flag 834 to use large-page allocations to improve TF834 Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
analytical and data warehousing workloads.
Low Detected deprecated or discontinued feature uses: String literals DeprecatedFeatures Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
as column aliases, syscolumns, sysusers, SET FMTONLY ON, XP_API,
Table hint without WITH, More than two-part column name. We
recommend to replace them with features actual for SQL Server
version 14.0.1000.
Medi Amount of single use plans in cache is high (100%). Consider PlansUseRatio Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
enabling the Optimize for ad hoc workloads setting on heavy OLTP
ad-hoc workloads to conserve resources.
TargetPath : Server[@Name='LOCAL\INSTANCE1']
Sev. Message Check ID Origin
---- ------- -------- ------
Medi Product version 14.0.1000 is not the latest available. Keep your LatestCU Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
your SQL Server up to date and install Service Packs and
Cumulative Updates as they are released.
...This example shows Invoke-SqlAssessment cmdlet accepting a set of SQL Server instances via pipeline.
Example 6: Run assessment for a filtered set ot tragets
PS:> Get-SqlInstance -ServerInstance . | Where { $_.Name -Match '.*\d+' } | Invoke-SqlAssessment
TargetPath : Server[@Name='LOCAL\INSTANCE1']
Sev. Message Check ID Origin
---- ------- -------- ------
Medi Product version 14.0.1000 is not the latest available. Keep your LatestCU Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
your SQL Server up to date and install Service Packs and
Cumulative Updates as they are released.
...This example shows Invoke-SqlAssessment cmdlet accepting a set of SQL Server instances via pipeline. The set is filtered with the standard PowerShell Where-Object cmdlet.
Example 7: Invoke assessment for a database by name
PS:> Get-SqlDatabase master -ServerInstance localhost | Invoke-SqlAssessment -Verbose
VERBOSE: Base ruleset version: 0.2.
VERBOSE: No recommendations for [master].This example shows Invoke-SqlAssessment cmdlet accepting name of a database. In this case no issue was found.
Example 8: Invoke assessment for a database by path
PS:> Invoke-SqlAssessment SQLSERVER:\SQL\localhost\default\Databases\master -Verbose
VERBOSE: Base ruleset version: 0.2.
VERBOSE: No recommendations for [master].This example shows Invoke-SqlAssessment cmdlet accepting the path to a SQL Server database.
Example 9: Detect high issues for a database
PS:> cd SQLSERVER:\SQL\localhost\default\Databases\master
PS:> Invoke-SqlAssessment -MinSeverity High
VERBOSE: Base ruleset version: 0.2.
VERBOSE: No recommendations for [master].This example shows Invoke-SqlAssessment cmdlet assessing the current location. Only high issues are reported.
Example 10: Run checks selected by tag
PS:> Get-SqlInstance -ServerInstance . | Invoke-SqlAssessment -Check Backup -Verbose
VERBOSE: Base ruleset version: 0.2.
VERBOSE: No recommendations for [LOCAL].This example shows Invoke-SqlAssessment cmdlet running all backup-related checks for every SQL Server instance on the local server.
Example 11: Run interactively selected checks
PS:> $serverInstance = Get-SqlInstance -ServerInstance '(local)'
PS:> $checks = Get-SqlAssessmentItem $serverInstance | Select Name, Description | Out-GridView -PassThru
PS:> Invoke-SqlAssessment $serverInstance -Check $checks
TargetPath : Server[@Name='LOCAL']
Sev. Message Check ID Origin
---- ------- -------- ------
Info Enable trace flag 834 to use large-page allocations to improve TF834 Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
analytical and data warehousing workloads.
Low Detected deprecated or discontinued feature uses: String literals DeprecatedFeatures Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
as column aliases, syscolumns, sysusers, SET FMTONLY ON, XP_API,
Table hint without WITH, More than two-part column name. We
recommend to replace them with features actual for SQL Server
version 14.0.1000.The second line of this example shows obtaining checks for a $serverInstance, and selecting some of them interactively. Selected items are stored in an array variable, which then is used as input for Invoke-SqlAssessment cmdlet. Only picked checks run during the assessment process.
Example 12: Effect of -FlattenOutput parameter
PS> $inst = Get-SqlInstance -ServerInstance .
PS> Invoke-SqlAssessment $inst -FlattenOutput | Select -First 1 | Get-Member
TypeName: Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Assessment.Cmdlets.AssessmentNoteFlat
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode()
GetType Method type GetType()
ToString Method string ToString()
CheckId Property string CheckId {get;}
CheckName Property string CheckName {get;}
HelpLink Property string HelpLink {get;}
Message Property string Message {get;}
RulesetName Property string RulesetName {get;}
RulesetVersion Property string RulesetVersion {get;}
Severity Property string Severity {get;}
TargetPath Property string TargetPath {get;}
TargetType Property string TargetType {get;}
PS> Invoke-SqlAssessment $inst | Select -First 1 | Get-Member
TypeName: Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Assessment.Cmdlets.AssessmentNote
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode()
GetType Method type GetType()
ToString Method string ToString()
Check Property Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Assessment.Checks.ICheck Check {get;}
HelpLink Property string HelpLink {get;}
Message Property string Message {get;}
Severity Property Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Assessment.SeverityLevel Severity {get;}
TargetPath Property string TargetPath {get;}
TargetType Property string TargetType {get;}
PS> (Invoke-SqlAssessment $inst | Select -First 1).Check | Get-Member
TypeName: Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Assessment.Checks.Check
Name MemberType Definition
---- ---------- ----------
Equals Method bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetHashCode Method int GetHashCode()
GetType Method type GetType()
ToString Method string ToString()
Condition Property Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Assessment....
Description Property string Description {get;set;}
DisplayName Property string DisplayName {get;set;}
Enabled Property bool Enabled {get;set;}
HelpLink Property string HelpLink {get;set;}
Id Property string Id {get;set;}
Level Property Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Assessment....
Message Property string Message {get;set;}
OriginName Property string OriginName {get;set;}
OriginVersion Property version OriginVersion {get;set;}
Parameters Property System.Collections.Generic.IDictionary[str...
Probes Property System.Collections.Generic.List[Microsoft....
Tags Property System.Collections.Generic.HashSet[string]...
Target Property Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Assessment....This example shows the difference between objects returned with or without -FlattenOutput parameter. The parameter replaces huge complex Check object with two string properties CheckId and CheckName. This is useful for serialization purposes (see the next example).
The first command shows simple object with all properties of type string.
The second command shows another object with two non-string properties: Check and Severity.
The third command shows the rich set of data accessible with the Check property.
Example 13: Run failed checks again
PS> $inst = Get-SqlInstance -ServerInstance .
PS> $results = Invoke-SqlAssessment $inst
PS> $results
TargetPath : Server[@Name='LOCAL']
Sev. Message Check ID Origin
---- ------- -------- ------
Info Enable trace flag 834 to use large-page allocations to improve TF834 Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
analytical and data warehousing workloads.
Low Detected deprecated or discontinued feature uses: String literals DeprecatedFeatures Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
as column aliases, syscolumns, sysusers, SET FMTONLY ON, XP_API,
Table hint without WITH, More than two-part column name. We
recommend to replace them with features actual for SQL Server
version 14.0.1000.
Medi Amount of single use plans in cache is high (100%). Consider PlansUseRatio Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
enabling the Optimize for ad hoc workloads setting on heavy OLTP
ad-hoc workloads to conserve resources.
PS> $results[1].Check.Description
This check detects deprecated or discontinued features used on target SQL Server instance. Deprecated features may be
removed in a future release of SQL Server. Discontinued features have been removed from specific versions of SQL Server.
PS> Invoke-SqlAssessment $inst -Check $results[1].Check
TargetPath : Server[@Name='LOCAL']
Sev. Message Check ID Origin
---- ------- -------- ------
Low Detected deprecated or discontinued feature uses: String literals DeprecatedFeatures Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
as column aliases, syscolumns, sysusers, SET FMTONLY ON, XP_API,
Table hint without WITH, More than two-part column name. We
recommend to replace them with features actual for SQL Server
version 14.0.1000.
PS> Invoke-SqlAssessment $inst -Check ($results).Check
TargetPath : Server[@Name='LOCAL']
Sev. Message Check ID Origin
---- ------- -------- ------
Info Enable trace flag 834 to use large-page allocations to improve TF834 Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
analytical and data warehousing workloads.
Low Detected deprecated or discontinued feature uses: String literals DeprecatedFeatures Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
as column aliases, syscolumns, sysusers, SET FMTONLY ON, XP_API,
Table hint without WITH, More than two-part column name. We
recommend to replace them with features actual for SQL Server
version 14.0.1000.
Medi Amount of single use plans in cache is high (100%). Consider PlansUseRatio Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
enabling the Optimize for ad hoc workloads setting on heavy OLTP
ad-hoc workloads to conserve resources.This example shows how a Check returned with assessment results can be reused. You can rerun the checks which produced AssessmentNotes before.
Example 14: Store assessment results to a table
PS:> $serverInstance = Get-SqlInstance -ServerInstance '(local)'
PS:> Invoke-SqlAssessment $serverInstance -FlattenOutput |
Write-SqlTableData -ServerInstance localhost -DatabaseName SqlAssessment -SchemaName Assessment -TableName Results -ForceThe second line of this example shows using -FlattenOutput parameter with Write-SqlTableData cmdlet to store assessment results to a SQL database.
Example 15: Specify credentials explicitly
PS> $cred = Get-Credential
PowerShell credential request
Enter your credentials.
User: Administrator
Password for user Administrator: ********
PS> $inst = Get-SqlInstance -ServerInstance 10.0.3.118 -Credential $cred
PS> Invoke-SqlAssessment $inst
TargetPath : Server[@Name='ContosSQL']
Sev. Message Check ID Origin
---- ------- -------- ------
Medi Amount of single use plans in cache is high (100%). Consider PlansUseRatio Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
enabling the Optimize for ad hoc workloads setting on heavy OLTP
ad-hoc workloads to conserve resourcesThis example shows how to invoke SQL Assessment with explicitly specified credentials.
Example 16: Invoke assessment for a SQL Server on Azure VM instance
PS> Connect-AzAccount
PS> Set-Subscription My-Pay-As-You-Go
PS> $cred = Get-Credential
PowerShell credential request
Enter your credentials.
User: Administrator
Password for user Administrator: ********
PS> $inst = Get-SqlInstance -ServerInstance 10.0.3.118 -Credential $cred
PS> Invoke-SqlAssessment $inst
TargetPath : Server[@Name='ContosoAzureSQL']
Sev. Message Check ID Origin
---- ------- -------- ------
Medi Amount of single use plans in cache is high (100%). Consider PlansUseRatio Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
enabling the Optimize for ad hoc workloads setting on heavy OLTP
ad-hoc workloads to conserve resources
Info Use memory optimized virtual machine sizes for the best AzSqlVmSize Microsoft Ruleset 0.1.202
performance of SQL Server workloadsThis example shows how to invoke assessment for an SQL Server on Azure VM instance.
An active Azure subscription connection enables SQL Server on Azure VM related checks (AzSqlVmSize in this example). The first line connects to an Azure account to get data from Azure Resource Graph. The second line is optional.
To run these checks SQL Assessment requires Az.ResourceGraph module.
Parameters
-Check
One or more checks, check IDs, or tags.
For every check object, Invoke-SqlAssessment runs that check if it supports the input object.
For every check ID, Invoke-SqlAssessment runs the corresponding check if it supports the input object.
For tags, Invoke-SqlAssessment runs checks with any of those tags.
| Type: | Object[] |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Configuration
Specifies paths to files containing custom configuration. Customization files will be applied to default configuration in specified order. The scope is limited to this cmdlet invocation only.
| Type: | PSObject |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-FlattenOutput
Indicates that this cmdlet produces simple objects of type Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Assessment.Cmdlets.AssessmentNoteFlat instead of Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Assessment.Cmdlets.AssessmentNote.
Regular AssessmentNote returned from Invoke-SqlAssessment contains references to other useful complex objects like Check (see example 12). With the Check property, you can get the check's description or reuse the check (see example 13). But some cmdlets do not support complex properties. For example, Write-SqlTableData will raise an error while trying to write AssessmentNote to a database. To avoid this you can use -FlattenOutput parameter to replace the Check property with two simple strings: CheckId and CheckName (see example 14).
| Type: | SwitchParameter |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-InputObject
Specifies a SQL Server object or the path to such an object. The cmdlet runs assessment for this object. When this parameter is omitted, current location is used as input object. If current location is not a supported SQL Server object, the cmdlet signals an error.
| Type: | PSObject |
| Aliases: | Target |
| Position: | 10 |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | True |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-MinSeverity
Specifies minimum severity level for checks to be found. For example, checks of Low, Medium or Information levels will not be returned when -MinSeverity High.
| Type: | SeverityLevel |
| Aliases: | Severity |
| Accepted values: | Information, Low, Medium, High |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-ProgressAction
Determines how PowerShell responds to progress updates generated by a script, cmdlet, or provider, such as the progress bars generated by the Write-Progress cmdlet. The Write-Progress cmdlet creates progress bars that show a command's status.
| Type: | ActionPreference |
| Aliases: | proga |
| Position: | Named |
| Default value: | None |
| Required: | False |
| Accept pipeline input: | False |
| Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Inputs
System.String[]
Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.SqlSmoObject[]
Outputs
Microsoft.SqlServer.Assessment.Cmdlets.AssessmentNote