How to find the model name or serial number of a Windows server
Ok, ok... Not necessarily tSQL, but definitely quite useful! Today, for example, I was evaluating a customer's server, attempting to answer the question -- is the server adequate for the firm's enterprise reporting solution? As-is, not even close. But, I wanted to know the model of the machine, so that I could determine whether we could add more disk, and what our other resource limitations were.
Easy sneasy. Open a command prompt on your server and type the following to return your computer model:
wmic csproduct get name
Or, type in this at the command prompt to return the serial number for the server:
wmic bios get serialnumber
Why is this helpful to you, as a DBA? Well, with that information, you can get online and and look up the server specs. In this case, it's an HP Proliant SL390s G7, which DOES allow for additional drives, based on the model, be it 1U, 2U or 4U. For example, if it is a 4U, you can have up to eight 2.5" hot plug hard drive bays.
In my book, as a DBA you need to know you hardware layer just as much as you do the software layer. This is a little tip that will help you do exactly that.