Disable-DbaHideInstance View Source Gareth Newman (@gazeranco), ifexists.blog Windows, Linux, macOS Synopsis Makes SQL Server instances visible to network discovery by disabling the Hide Instance registry setting.
Description Modifies the Windows registry to disable the Hide Instance setting, making SQL Server instances visible to the SQL Server Browser service and network discovery tools. When Hide Instance is enabled, the instance won’t respond to browse requests, which is often used for security hardening but makes instances harder to locate.
Enable-DbaHideInstance View Source Gareth Newman (@gazeranco), ifexists.blog Windows, Linux, macOS Synopsis Enables the Hide Instance setting to prevent SQL Server Browser service from advertising the instance.
Description Enables the Hide Instance setting in the SQL Server network configuration registry, which prevents the instance from responding to SQL Server Browser service enumeration requests. This security setting makes the instance invisible to network discovery tools and requires clients to specify the exact port number or use a SQL Server alias to connect.
Scott Sutherland, 2018 NetSPI | Friedrich Weinmann (@FredWeinmann)
Find-DbaInstance View Source Scott Sutherland, 2018 NetSPI , Friedrich Weinmann (@FredWeinmann) Windows, Linux, macOS Synopsis Discovers SQL Server instances across networks using multiple scanning methods
Description This function performs comprehensive SQL Server instance discovery across your network infrastructure using multiple detection methods. Perfect for creating complete SQL Server inventories, compliance auditing, and finding forgotten or undocumented instances that might pose security risks.
The function combines two distinct phases to systematically locate SQL Server instances:
Get-DbaErrorLog View Source Chrissy LeMaire (@cl), netnerds.net Windows, Linux, macOS Synopsis Retrieves SQL Server error log entries for troubleshooting and monitoring
Description Retrieves entries from SQL Server error logs across all available log files (0-99, where 0 is current and 99 is oldest).
Essential for troubleshooting SQL Server issues, monitoring login failures, tracking system events, and compliance auditing.
Supports filtering by log number, source type, text patterns, and date ranges to quickly locate specific errors or events.
Get-DbaErrorLogConfig View Source Shawn Melton (@wsmelton), wsmelton.github.io Windows, Linux, macOS Synopsis Retrieves SQL Server error log configuration settings including file count, size limits, and storage location
Description Retrieves current error log configuration from SQL Server instances, showing how many log files are retained, where they’re stored, and size limits if configured. This information helps DBAs understand log retention policies and troubleshoot logging issues without connecting to SQL Server Management Studio.
Get-DbaExtendedProtection View Source Claudio Silva (@claudioessilva), claudioessilva.eu Windows, Linux, macOS Synopsis Retrieves Extended Protection authentication settings from SQL Server network configuration.
Description Retrieves the Extended Protection setting for SQL Server instances to help assess authentication security posture. Extended Protection is a Windows authentication enhancement that helps prevent credential relay attacks by validating channel binding and service principal names.
This function queries the Windows registry directly rather than connecting to SQL Server, so it requires Windows-level access to the target server.
Get-DbaHideInstance View Source Tracy Boggiano @TracyBoggiano, databaseuperhero.com Windows, Linux, macOS Synopsis Retrieves the Hide Instance setting from SQL Server registry configuration
Description Retrieves the Hide Instance setting from the Windows registry for SQL Server instances. This security setting controls whether the instance appears when clients browse the network for available SQL Server instances. When Hide Instance is enabled, the SQL Server instance will not respond to broadcast requests from SQL Server Browser service, making it invisible to network discovery tools.
Get-DbaInstanceInstallDate View Source Mitchell Hamann (@SirCaptainMitch), mitchellhamann.com Windows, Linux, macOS Synopsis Retrieves SQL Server installation dates by querying system tables for compliance auditing and infrastructure tracking.
Description Queries system tables (sys.server_principals or sysservers) to determine when SQL Server was originally installed on each target instance. This information is essential for compliance auditing, license management, and tracking hardware refresh cycles. The function automatically handles different SQL Server versions using the appropriate system table, and can optionally retrieve the Windows OS installation date through WMI for complete infrastructure documentation.
Get-DbaInstanceProperty View Source Klaas Vandenberghe (@powerdbaklaas) Windows, Linux, macOS Synopsis Retrieves comprehensive SQL Server instance configuration properties for auditing and comparison
Description Retrieves all instance-level configuration properties from SQL Server’s Information, UserOptions, and Settings collections via SMO. This gives you a complete inventory of server settings like default file paths, memory configuration, security options, and user defaults in a standardized format. Essential for configuration audits, compliance reporting, environment comparisons, and troubleshooting configuration-related issues across multiple instances.
Get-DbaInstanceUserOption View Source Klaas Vandenberghe (@powerdbaklaas) Windows, Linux, macOS Synopsis Retrieves instance-level user option defaults that affect new database connections
Description Returns the default user options configured at the SQL Server instance level that are automatically applied to new database connections. These settings include ANSI compliance options like ANSI_NULLS, QUOTED_IDENTIFIER, date format preferences, and other connection-level defaults. This is useful when standardizing connection behavior across environments or troubleshooting why applications behave differently on different instances.
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