Testing anything with SQL as the Destination !

So as a DBA I often get told "SQL isn't working..." I used to get frustrated as it implies I didn't do my job right and telling people it isn't SQ, well thats the issue isn't it really, it just created a series of fence throwing activities without making progress.

Instead I have been looking at ways to connectivity test locally with SQL as the destination to help debug (prove its not) SQL.

The first tool I draw everyone's attention to is SQLCMD, its so lightweight and available in most OS versions it can be used by anyone to test connectivity to SQL.

Start by installing it using the link above, does not matter which OS you are on just chose the appropriate file, then call it from Powershell/Bash/CMD.

Once open you can start running some commands to try and connect

Windows Authentication vanilla attempt

sqlcmd -S UKATEST123,1433

A basic little script which will attempt to connect on the default port using with Authentication as the current user.

SQL Authentication

sqlcmd - S UKATEST123,1433  -U Kurt -P Kurtspasssword 

Once connected you can then run anything as though you are in SQL server Management Studio, maybe try this to check its working

Select @@Servername 
Select getdate()

Naturally you can then start doing more complex things, it works for Listeners, different ports you can even use runas to run a CMD/PS/Bash window as the Service account you want to connect to SQL for to get an even better

In summary, this is a great tool to help test connectivity to a SQL server, useful for helping Networks debug connectivity, Operational bods check that connectivity is there, Application developers can find SQL and interact with it.