Monthly Archives: October 2018

A picture with garbled characters and the word password in the middle

How to generate a random password with T-SQL

Database Administrator, dba, sql, SQL Server, T-SQL, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The following script will generate a random 10 character password that meets the complexity requirement for Microsoft Windows. To generate a password just run the script in a new SQL Server Management Studio window. The logic can also be easily turned into a function.

The option of symbol characters is limited to what’s shown below as dealing with quotes and obscure characters in a password is often more trouble than it is worth. The password generated however should still be very secure as it will be 10 characters long with a guaranteed number, lowercase letter, uppercase letter and a symbol.

!
#
$
%
&
(
)
*
+

/*Declare Variables*/
DECLARE @i INT;
DECLARE @Pw VARCHAR(MAX);
DECLARE @Numbers TABLE (Characters CHAR(1));
DECLARE @LowerCase TABLE (Characters CHAR(1));
DECLARE @UpperCase TABLE (Characters CHAR(1));
DECLARE @Symbols TABLE (Characters CHAR(1));
DECLARE @BaseCharacters TABLE (Characters CHAR(1));
DECLARE @GuaranteedCharacters TABLE (Characters CHAR(1));
DECLARE @PwCharacters TABLE (Characters CHAR(1));

/*Generate Numbers*/
SET @i = 0;

WHILE @i <= 9
BEGIN
	INSERT INTO @Numbers
	SELECT @i

	SET @i = @i + 1
END;

/*Generate Lowercase Letters*/
SET @i = 97;

WHILE @i <= 122
BEGIN
	INSERT INTO @LowerCase
	SELECT CHAR(@i)

	SET @i = @i + 1
END;

/*Generate Uppercase Letters*/
SET @i = 65;

WHILE @i <= 90
BEGIN
	INSERT INTO @UpperCase
	SELECT CHAR(@i)

	SET @i = @i + 1
END;

/*Generate Symbols*/
SET @i = 33;

WHILE @i <= 43
BEGIN
	IF (
			@i = 34
			OR @i = 39
			)
	BEGIN
		SET @i = @i + 1
	END

	INSERT INTO @Symbols
	SELECT CHAR(@i)

	SET @i = @i + 1
END;

/*
Randomly Select A Number, Lowercase Letter,
Uppercase Letter And A Symbol So Four Character Types
Are Guaranteed To Be Present Somewhere In The Password
*/
INSERT INTO @GuaranteedCharacters (Characters)
SELECT TOP 1 Characters
FROM @Numbers
ORDER BY NEWID();

INSERT INTO @GuaranteedCharacters (Characters)
SELECT TOP 1 Characters
FROM @LowerCase
ORDER BY NEWID();

INSERT INTO @GuaranteedCharacters (Characters)
SELECT TOP 1 Characters
FROM @UpperCase
ORDER BY NEWID();

INSERT INTO @GuaranteedCharacters (Characters)
SELECT TOP 1 Characters
FROM @Symbols
ORDER BY NEWID();

/*
Randomly Select Another 6 Characters
*/
INSERT INTO @BaseCharacters
SELECT TOP 6 Characters
FROM (
	SELECT Characters
	FROM @Numbers
	
	UNION ALL
	
	SELECT Characters
	FROM @LowerCase
	
	UNION ALL
	
	SELECT Characters
	FROM @UpperCase
	
	UNION ALL
	
	SELECT Characters
	FROM @Symbols
	) AS Characters
ORDER BY NEWID()

/*Generate A 10 Character Password*/
INSERT INTO @PwCharacters (Characters)
SELECT Characters
FROM (
	SELECT Characters
	FROM @BaseCharacters
	
	UNION ALL
	
	SELECT Characters
	FROM @GuaranteedCharacters
	) AS Characters
ORDER BY NEWID()

/*Save The Password To A String*/
SELECT @Pw = COALESCE(@Pw + Characters, Characters)
FROM @PwCharacters

SELECT @Pw AS PW;

 

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An icon of a computer folder with a visible file and two arrows facing up and down

How to move/rename Database files in SQL Server

Database Administrator, dba, How To, SQL Server, T-SQL, tsql, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

An example use case for the process below could be you need to move database files to a new drive. Another example might be your organisation intends to run a legacy database along side a new updated database with both sharing the same database name in the same instance with the files located in the same directory with the same names. Obviously this cannot be done and requires the database names to differ and the files to be renamed or not exist in the same directory.

For example AdventureWorks might become AdventureWorks_Legacy while a new and improved AdventureWorks database retains the original database name. The associated database file names would also need to be changed/moved to reflect this.

Someone might also want to do something like this for test purposes but obviously having test resources in a live environment would not be recommended if avoidable.

The first step to moving and renaming the files is to copy and modify the script below. Note the script below assumes you want to move and change the names of the files. To avoid any database conflicts you only need to do one or the other.

/* 
Find & Replace DbName with the name of the Database you are working with
*/
USE [DbName];

/*
Changing Physical names and paths
Replace 'C:\...\NewDbName.mdf' with full path of new Db file to be used
*/
ALTER DATABASE DbName MODIFY FILE (
	NAME = ' DbName '
	,FILENAME = 'C:\...\NewDbName.mdf'
	);

/*
Replace 'C:\...\NewDbName_log.ldf' with full path of new Db log file to be used
*/
ALTER DATABASE DbName MODIFY FILE (
	NAME = ' DbName _log'
	,FILENAME = 'C:\...\NewDbName_log.ldf'
	);

/*
Changing logical names
*/
ALTER DATABASE DbName MODIFY FILE (
	NAME = DbName
	,NEWNAME = NewDbName
	);

ALTER DATABASE DbName MODIFY FILE (
	NAME = DbName_log
	,NEWNAME = NewDbName_log
	);
Once the script has been set up as desired follow the steps below:
  1. Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).
  2. Connect to the server that houses the Db you are working with.
  3. Run the modified script
  4. Right click on the Db in SSMS and select Tasks > Take Offline
  5. If you are moving the database files log into the server that houses the database files and copy and move the MDF and LDF files to the location you specified in first two alter commands. If the script specifies new names rename the copied files to match the names given in the script exactly.
  6. Go back to SSMS and right click on the Db and select Tasks > Bring Online.
  7. If you have moved the files once the database is back online and confirmed working as expected the unused original files can be deleted.
  8. Now you can rename the Db to the new name if you wish using SSMS.