Creating a login

This recipe shows how you can create a SQL login using PowerShell and SMO.

Getting ready

For this recipe, we will create a SQL login called eric. Here's the T-SQL equivalent of what we are trying to accomplish:

CREATE LOGIN [eric]
WITH PASSWORD=N'YourSuperStrongPassword',
CHECK_EXPIRATION=OFF
GO

How to do it...

These are the steps to create a login:

1. Open PowerShell ISE as an administrator.

2. Import the SQLPS module and create a new SMO Server Object as follows:

   #import SQL Server module
   Import-Module SQLPS -DisableNameChecking
   
   #replace this with your instance name
   $instanceName = "localhost"
   $server = New-Object -TypeName Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Server -ArgumentList $instanceName

3. Add the following script and run:

   $loginName = "eric"
   
   #for our recipe
   #drop login if it exists
   if ($server.Logins.Contains($loginName))
   {
      $server.Logins[$loginName].Drop()
   }
   
   $login = New-Object -TypeName Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Login -ArgumentList $server, $loginName
   
   #specify SQL...