Simulating SQL Server Work with PowerShell

No, I’m not talking about simulating your job so you can sit home in your PJs and play Call of Duty. (Although if you work out a way to do so, call me!) What I’m speaking of is emulating a workload on your server.

There’s many reasons for wanting to do this. For folks like me, who do a lot of demos, it can be a good way to get your server busy so you can demo things like DMVs or the SQL Provider. Another use would be stress or performance testing your applications. Ensuring you get good retrieval times when the server is loaded.

I have to give a little shout out here to my friend and fellow MVP Allen White (Blog | Twitter). I had attended one of his sessions back at a SQL Saturday, and when I downloaded his samples found a “SimulateWork” PowerShell script among the sample code. In Allen’s script he used the .Net SQLClient library to do his work. I decided to emulate the concept but to rewrite the entire thing using the SQL Provider. I borrowed a few of his queries so I could be sure my results were similar.

The script is pretty simple. I have a function that will load up the SQL Provider, if it’s not already loaded. Next is the SimulateWork function. It has one parameter, how many times you want to execute the code in the loop.

Within the function I load up a series of T-SQL queries against the AdventureWorks2012 database using “here” strings. I then execute them using the Invoke-SqlCmd cmdlet. Finally I have a little code which calls the functions.

My goal with this script was to get the server ram loaded up and simulate some I/O so I could demo a few simple things. Astute observers will notice that, because these are just executing the same T-SQL commands over and over, for the most part SQL Server will just hit its plan cache and memory each time. If those are important to you, I’d suggest altering the T-SQL commands to include a where clause of some sort then each time through the loop add your new where condition to the variable holding the T-SQL.

So without further ado, here’s the full script.

#******************************************************************************
# Simulate Work
#
# This routine will simulate work being done against a SQL Server. Ideal
# for demoing things like the SQL Profiler or DMV Stats. 
#
# The T-SQL queries were tested against the AdventureWorks2012 database. You
# may have to alter some queries if you are on previous versions of
# AdventureWorks.
#
# Author......: Robert C. Cain
# Blog........: http://arcanecode.com
# Twitter.....: http://twitter.com/arcanecode
# Last Revised: July 17, 2012
#
# Credit...: This script is based on one by SQL MVP Allen White.
#   Blog...: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/allen_white/default.aspx
#   Twitter: http://twitter.com/sqlrunr
#
# In his original script, he used the System.Data.SqlClient .Net library to 
# simulate work being done on a SQL Server. I liked the idea, but rewrote 
# using the SQL Provider. A couple of the SQL queries I borrowed from 
# his routine. 
#
# Other uses: The techniques below might also be a good way to stress test
# a system. Alter the t-sql (and probably variable names) and away you go. 
#******************************************************************************

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Loads the SQL Provider into memory so we can use it. If the provider is 
# already loaded, the function does nothing. This makes it safe to call
# multiple times. 
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function Load-Provider
{
  # Get folder where SQL Server PS files should be
  $SqlPsRegistryPath = "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\ShellIds\Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.PowerShell.sqlps"
  $RegValue = Get-ItemProperty $SqlPsRegistryPath
  $SqlPsPath = [System.IO.Path]::GetDirectoryName($RegValue.Path) + "\"
  
  # Check to see if the SQL provider is loaded. If not, load it. 
  [String] $IsLoaded = Get-PSProvider | Select Name | Where { $_ -match "Sql*" }

  if ($IsLoaded.Length -eq 0)
  { 
    # In this case we're only using the SQL Provider, so the code to load the
    # SMO has been commented out. Leaving it though in case you copy and paste it from somewhere
    # and need it. 
    <#
  # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    # Load the assemblies so we can use the SMO objects if we want. 
    # Note if all you need is the basic SMO functionality like was in 2005, you can get away
    # with loading only the first three assemblies. 
  # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    $assemblylist = 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo ", 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.SmoExtended ", 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo", 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.Dmf ", 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.SqlWmiManagement ", 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.RegisteredServers ", 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Sdk.Sfc ", 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.SqlEnum ", 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.RegSvrEnum ", 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.WmiEnum ", 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.ServiceBrokerEnum ", 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfoExtended ", 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Collector ", 
    "Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.CollectorEnum"
    foreach ($asm in $assemblylist) {[void][Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName($asm)}
    #>

    # Set the global variables required by the SQL Provider    
    Set-Variable -scope Global -name SqlServerMaximumChildItems -Value 0
    Set-Variable -scope Global -name SqlServerConnectionTimeout -Value 30
    Set-Variable -scope Global -name SqlServerIncludeSystemObjects -Value $false
    Set-Variable -scope Global -name SqlServerMaximumTabCompletion -Value 1000

    # Load the actual providers  
    Add-PSSnapin SqlServerCmdletSnapin100
    Add-PSSnapin SqlServerProviderSnapin100
  
    # The Types file lets the SQL Provider recognize SQL specific type data.
    # The Format file tells the SQL Provider how to format output for the 
    # Format-* cmdlets.
    # First, set a path to the folder where the Type and format data should be
    $sqlpTypes = $SqlPsPath + "SQLProvider.Types.ps1xml"
    $sqlpFormat = $sqlpsPath + "SQLProvider.Format.ps1xml"
  
    # Now update the type and format data. 
    # Updating if its already loaded won't do any harm. 
    Update-TypeData -PrependPath $sqlpTypes
    Update-FormatData -prependpath $sqlpFormat
  }
  
  # Normally I wouldn't print out a message, but since this is a demo
  # it will give us a nice 'warm fuzzy' the provider is ready
  Write-Host "SQL Server Libraries are Loaded"

}

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# This function simply loads a series of SQL Commands into variables, then
# executes them. The idea is to simulate work being done on the server, so
# we can demo things like SQL Profiler. 
# 
# Parameters: $iterations - The number of times to repeat the loop
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function SimulateWork ($iterations) 
{

  $sqlSalesOrder = @"  
  SELECT d.SalesOrderID
       , d.OrderQty
       , h.OrderDate
       , o.Description
       , o.StartDate
       , o.EndDate
    FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail d
   INNER JOIN Sales.SalesOrderHeader h ON d.SalesOrderID = h.SalesOrderID
   INNER JOIN Sales.SpecialOffer o ON d.SpecialOfferID = o.SpecialOfferID
   WHERE d.SpecialOfferID <> 1
"@

  $sqlSalesTaxRate = @"  
  SELECT TOP 5
         sp.Name
       , st.TaxRate
    FROM Sales.SalesTaxRate st
    JOIN Person.StateProvince sp 
         ON st.StateProvinceID = sp.StateProvinceID
   WHERE sp.CountryRegionCode = 'US'
   ORDER BY st.TaxRate desc ;
"@
  
  $sqlGetEmployeeManagers = @"
  EXECUTE dbo.uspGetEmployeeManagers 1
"@

  $sqlSalesPeople = @"
  SELECT h.SalesOrderID
       , h.OrderDate
       , h.SubTotal
       , p.SalesQuota
    FROM Sales.SalesPerson p
   INNER JOIN Sales.SalesOrderHeader h 
         ON p.BusinessEntityID = h.SalesPersonID ;
"@

  $sqlProductLine = @"
  SELECT Name
       , ProductNumber
       , ListPrice AS Price
    FROM Production.Product
   WHERE ProductLine = 'R'
     AND DaysToManufacture < 4
   ORDER BY Name ASC ;
"@

  $sqlHiringTrend = @"
  WITH HiringTrendCTE(TheYear, TotalHired)
    AS
    (SELECT YEAR(e.HireDate), COUNT(e.BusinessEntityID) 
     FROM HumanResources.Employee AS e
     GROUP BY YEAR(e.HireDate)
     )
   SELECT thisYear.*, prevYear.TotalHired AS HiredPrevYear, 
    (thisYear.TotalHired - prevYear.TotalHired) AS Diff,
    ((thisYear.TotalHired - prevYear.TotalHired) * 100) / 
                 prevYear.TotalHired AS DiffPerc
   FROM HiringTrendCTE AS thisYear 
      LEFT OUTER JOIN 
        HiringTrendCTE AS prevYear
   ON thisYear.TheYear =  prevYear.TheYear + 1;
"@

  
  $mi = $env:COMPUTERNAME + "\SQL2012"  
  Set-Location SQLSERVER:\sql\$mi\databases\AdventureWorks2012

  for ($i=1; $i -lt $iterations; $i++) 
  {
    Write-Host "Loop $i"
    $outSalesOrder = Invoke-Sqlcmd -Query $sqlSalesOrder -ServerInstance $mi -SuppressProviderContextWarning
    $outSalesTaxRate = Invoke-Sqlcmd -Query $sqlSalesTaxRate -ServerInstance $mi -SuppressProviderContextWarning
    $outGetEmployeeManagers = Invoke-Sqlcmd -Query $sqlGetEmployeeManagers -ServerInstance $mi -SuppressProviderContextWarning
    $outSalesPeople = Invoke-Sqlcmd -Query $sqlSalesPeople -ServerInstance $mi -SuppressProviderContextWarning
    $outProductLine = Invoke-Sqlcmd -Query $sqlProductLine -ServerInstance $mi -SuppressProviderContextWarning
    $outHiringTrend = Invoke-Sqlcmd -Query $sqlHiringTrend -ServerInstance $mi -SuppressProviderContextWarning
  }

}

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# This is the code that executes the above functions. To change the workload
# simply change the number of iterations. 
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Load-Provider

# Number of times to repeat the work simulation. 
$iterations = 100 

Write-Host "Starting simulated work"
SimulateWork $iterations
Write-Host "Done Working"