Resources

Regular expressions (a.k.a. regex or regexp) are very useful tools in programming that allow you to search, match, and manipulate strings based on patterns. They might look intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of them, they can simplify complex text processing tasks significantly. In this guide, we’ll break down the basics of Read More

At Fortra, we consider automation a discipline, not just a singular product. Sure, individual automation tools can lead to quick wins by taking a repetitive task off your plate. But to reap the full benefits of automation across your organization—increasing efficiency, decreasing errors, and maximizing resources, both human and technological—you need to take a more Read More

Beyond the most used join types in SQL, there are also a range of advanced join techniques that allow for more intricate data relationships and querying flexibility. These options, such as joining on multiple conditions, self joins, non-equi joins, and cross joins, can unlock deeper insights from your data. Let’s work through the more advanced Read More

Windows PowerShell is a versatile framework designed to help IT professionals automate administrative tasks and manage system configurations. It combines a command-line interface with a scripting language, making it an essential tool for Windows system administration. PowerShell can interact with Windows OS’s, file systems, and various APIs, allowing users to manage servers, workstations, and even Read More

SQL joins are a great way to combine data from multiple tables into a relational database. Understanding how to use the different types of joins will allow you to efficiently pull results from your data. Let’s go through the most common SQL joins and explore practical examples—including tips and common pitfalls to avoid—using the popular Read More

The core strength of PowerShell lies in its use of objects. If you’re new to PowerShell—or scripting in general—understanding how objects work can enhance your scripting capabilities. To get started, we’ll explore the basics of objects in PowerShell and how you can use them to make your scripts efficient and powerful. What is an Object Read More

Writing maintainable and efficient SQL queries is crucial for database performance and readability. This guide walks you through a few important best practices to implement to achieve both goals—ensuring your queries are optimized and easy to manage. 1. Understand Your Data and Schema Before writing a query, familiarize yourself with the database schema, data types, Read More

Native schedulers seem simple enough. They’re cheap, already installed with your platforms, and provide the basics—like backups, script execution, and simple time-based job scheduling. But after a while, the simplicity of Windows Task Scheduler, cron, SQL Agent, and other native schedulers reveals themselves to be quite complicated. In a perfect world, jobs always run reliably Read More

Playing traffic cop shouldn’t be a part of any IT job. But that’s the reality when it comes to coordinating the IT processes that keep an organization running—whether they involve batch jobs, scripts, EOD processes, or more. Job scheduling software keeps the traffic of your IT environment moving, but not all solutions are created equal. Read More

Today’s IT teams can’t do it all. Once only in charge of that “fancy tech stuff”, practitioners today find themselves strapped as it’s all fancy tech stuff now – and business outcomes are intrinsically related to digital outcomes.  Simply put, if you’re up on your digital processes, the business moves ahead. If you’re behind, so Read More