Command-Line Utilities

Command Utilities provides database administrators different way to access the databse engine. SQL Server 2005 provides new command line utilities such as:
DTA
TableDiff
sac: which can be used to import or export settings that relates to surface area configuration.
sqlcmd: Lets you execute T-SQL statements and scripts from the command prompt or from query editor window is SSMS. sqlcmd provides a mechanism for utilizing variables within sqlcmd input files or scripts.

To demostrate the use of scripting variables, lets use this example.

A new input file named backupAdventureWorks.sql is created with the following sql statements inside it.

BACKUP DATABASE $(DatabasetoBackup)
TO DISK ='c:\$(DatabasetoBackup).bak'

Scripting varaibles are refrenced using the $() designators. The -v option is used to assign a value to a variable at the command prompt as shown in the following example, which backups Adventureworks database.

Now execute the following in a command prompt.

sqlcmd -S pavilion -E -i"c:\backupAdventureWorks.sql" -v DatabasetoBackup = AdventureWorks

Scripting variables can also be assigned within the script using :SETVAR command. The input file from the previous backup would be modified as follows to assign the DatabasetoBackup variable within the script:


:SETVAR DatabasetoBackup AdventureWorks
BACKUP DATABASE $(DatabasetoBackup)
TO DISK ='c:\$(DatabasetoBackup).bak'

Then execute the following in a command prompt.

sqlcmd -S pavilion -E -i"c:\backupAdventureWorks.sql"

There are also other command-line utilities that are also new to SQL Server 2005 that are used to lauch the graphical tools that come with SQL Server.

• profiler90: Lauches the SQL Server Profiler application.
• sqlwb: This utility launches the SQL Server Management Studion(SSMS).
• dtswizard: This util luanches import/export wizard that allows you to import and export data between SQL Server data sources and other data sources.