Test Database Connectivity

Often it is needed to test a connection to a SQL Server database. This small PowerShell function can do the trick if you con’t have installed SQL Server Management Studio on your client computer.

function Test-SQLConnection
{    
    [OutputType([bool])]
    Param
    (
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,
                    ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true,
                    Position=0)]
        $ConnectionString
    )
    try
    {
        $sqlConnection = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection $ConnectionString;
        $sqlConnection.Open();
        $sqlConnection.Close();
        return $true;
    }
    catch
    {
        return $false;
    }
}

Here is an example of how to use the PowerShell:

Test-SQLConnection "Data Source=localhost;database=myDB;User ID=myUser;Password=myPassword;"

Since the function use a connection-string as input parameter, the function can be used to test both SQL Authentication users and Active Directory integrated users.