Tools I Use on My Jump Box

Having recently taken a new job and introducing a number of new tools to my new coworker I thought I’d share how I setup my jump box to and keep it updated so others can benefit, and I can find it later (I did put this in our internal Confluence pages, but I do have a box in Azure for presentations). In alphabetical order because that’s the only way to make sense of things.  I’d be curious if anybody has anything they use that I should add, so please leave comments.

• • .NET 6 SDK (Download .NET 6.0 SDK (v6.0.300) – Windows x64 Installer) – This is used for .Net Juypter Interactive notebooks in Azure Data Studio and VSCode so I can run blocks of code combining with different languages in the same notebook.
  • Azure Data Studio (ADS) – Azure Data Studio to help manage Azure SQL DB, it is missing some admin stuff for on prem instances but does a lot of stuff and have a PowerShell Terminal. I like to put this in dark mode. Here is a list of extensions to install:
    • .NET Interactive Notebooks because I used Notebooks to run Glenn Alan Berry’s scripts for example and I’ve created my to store the Azure SQL Tips results.  Speaking of Azure Tips there are plenty more here.
    • Admin Pack for SQL Server – Downloads the following admin extensions like SQL Server Agent, SQL Agent Profile (boo), SQL Server Import, SQL Server dacpac.
    • Azure CLI – Lets me run Azure CLI (az) in ADS.
    • Azure Monitor Logs – Let’s connect and query Loga Analytics from ADS.
    • Central Management Servers – Note when you add the CMS server it will not appear until after you close and reopen ADS.
    • Database Administration Tool Extensions for Windows (preview) – Gives mte two features on Windows only, properties dialog box on objects and the ability to Generate Scripts on objects.
    • Jupyter – Back to being able to developer notebooks
    • Kusto – Let’s connect to an Azure Data Explorer cluster and query it use KQL.
    • Managed Instance Dashboard – I’m not currently using this at my job but if you have MIs, you comes in handy.
    • Query History – This adds a query view so you can see your past queries you ran, you know you might have forgotten and want to know.
    • PowerShell – Well everyone uses PowerShell, right?
    • SentryOne Plan Explorer – Everyone needs to look at execution plans, should install Plan Explorer.
    • Server Reports – This gives us from reports that are useful of looking at servers, in particular I like the Backup Growth Trend report.
    • Settings Sync – This one I highly recommended so you setup a GitHub account and let it sync your settings that way if you have to reinstall it can re-setup your settings and extensions to install.
    • SQL Assessment – Used to evaluate you SQL Server and MIs for best practices.
    • SQL Database Projects – Source controlled database projects, who doesn’t want source  control.
    • SQL Server Schema Compare – Use dacpacs to compare schemas and apply them, makes deployments easier.
    • Visual Studio IntelliCode – AI-assisted development for T-SQL development.
    • whoisactive – sp_whoisactive with charts.
    • Also, follow these directions to help load very large notebooks in ADS such as Glenn’s he has a lot of data he collects.
      • Improved large Jupyter Notebook loading time in Azure Data Studio – MsSQLGirl
  • Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager – This I use for remote desktop manager, you can set all your settings and securely save your credentials. I hate typing in passwords to connect to everything.  And it does more than just RDP.
  • Git – I contribute to dbatools and dbachecks so I still need Git even though my org using something different.
  • GitHub Desktop – This is how I check my code back into Github.
  • PowerShell 7 – Shoot for the stars and use the newest version of PowerShell.
    • PowerShell Modules I use are below:
      • Az.Accounts – Manages my credentials to get into all things Azure.
      • Azure PowerShell – So I can automate speaking to all my Azure instances.
    • • dbachecks – Open source module to run reports about our configuration and makes sure things are configured correctly.
      • dbatools – Open source module to do all things SQL. Book is finally finished as of yesterday but you can just get the MEAP but a 50% of discount code is available here.
      • EditorServicesCommandSuite – Use to customize my PowerShell prompt with code I got from Rob Sewell (t).
      • FormatMarkDownTable – To used to export query info to Markdown for documentation.
      • ImportExcel – Handy functions ImportExcel and ExportExcel
      • MarkdownPS – Render Markdown, again I use this to generate documenation automagically to be stored in GitHub,
      • posh-git – Use to customize my PowerShell prompt with code I got from Rob Sewell (t).
      • SqlServer – Use to run Invoke-SqlNotebook but it has to be ran in PowerShell 5 it will not work in PowerShell 7, maybe Microsoft will update one day, I should ask them.
  • To customize your PowerShell prompt do the following.  I do this because I like to see how a command took to run and get timestamps on when I ran things.
    • Open PowerShell 5 and PowerShell 7 in any editors you are using
    • Type “notepad $PROFILE”
    • In the blank file that pops up copy the code from Rob Sewell’s GitHub and make sure to edit lines 14-27 to git your GitHub setup on your machine..
  • PowerBI Desktop – Used currently to view reports from dbachecks.
  • SentryOne (Solarwinds) Plan Explorer – Advanced viewer for SQL Server execution plans.
  • ShareX – Great free screen capture software.  I do recommend changing the Hotkey settings to have the Print Screen do regions and Ctrl + Print Screen do Capture entire screen.  I actually install this on my laptop or desktop as well, and well on every machine I have.
  • SSMS
  • VSCode – PowerShell code development area for me and markdown files. I like to put this in dark mode. Here is an article on how to use VSCode of PowerShell development and settings to set.  Here is a list of extensions I install some of these are the same as ADS above.
    • .NET Interactive Notebooks
    • Azure Account – Azure account sign stuff.
    • Azure CLI Tools
    • Azure Log Analytics (Kusto) Syntax Highlighter
    • Azure Resources – Let’s me view my Azure resources from within VSCode.
    • Better Comments – Better human friendly comments like Alerts, Queries, TODOs, Highlights.
    • Code Spell Checker – Who doesn’t misspell there code and need some help there.
    • CodeTour – Setup a tour of your code for others to follow with directions.  Great for handing off after a presentation.
    • Data Workspace – Provides additional functionality for data projects.
    • Git Graph – Do fun stuff with Git.
    • Git History – Show the Git checkin history.
    • GitHub Pull Requests and Issues – Show PRs and Issues in VSCode.
    • indent-rainbow – One of my favorites colors the indents so you can see them better and line them up.
    • Jupyter – Back to more notebook related stuff.
    • jupyter-notebook-vscode – Back to more notebook related stuff.
    • Markdown All in One – Helps you with all those markdown files.
    • markdownlint – More help with writing markdown files.
    • Material Icon Theme – Another favorite shows icons for the types of files in the file explorer.
    • Peacock – Let’s you open a workspace with different colors.
    • PowerShell
    • Prettier – Code Formatter – Make my code pretty please.
    • Render Line Endings – Display the line endings so I can see whitespace.
    • search from code – By default, this extension allows you to search dbatools.io, microsoft docs, google or your VS Code workspace for the highlighted text.
    • SQL Bindings – Microsoft SQL Bindings for VS Code enables users to develop Azure Functions with Azure SQL bindings.
    • SQL Database Projects
    • SQL Server (mssql)
    • SQLTools – Database management in VSCode.
    • TODO Highlights – Highlights those comments in the code.
    • vscode-database

Last updated February 3, 2023.