TSQL - Who is a sysadmin on this server anyhow?

SELECT  p.name AS [Name] ,
        r.type_desc ,
        r.is_disabled ,
        r.create_date ,
        r.modify_date ,
        r.default_database_name
FROM    sys.server_principals r
        INNER JOIN sys.server_role_members m ON r.principal_id = m.role_principal_id
        INNER JOIN sys.server_principals p ON p.principal_id = m.member_principal_id
WHERE   r.type = 'R'
        AND r.name = N'sysadmin'

Which is a heck of a lot easier than faffing about clicking things...

Oh what a horrible error!

RAISERROR('Error performing SQLBackup backup.', 16, 1)SQL Backup v7.3.2.12                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  ERRSQB: 5240 (SQB service did not acknowledge receipt of data. (WAIT_TIMEOUT)) ()

And the log backups completely and utterly failed. Trawling round the internet gave me one post in a Red Gate Forum, and that looked scary. Removing mutex objects? Restarting the server (not exactly an option)?

However, simply restarting SQL Backup itself solved the problem. As to why it happened? I'm not sure. The cluster hadn't failed over, or received any patches. It might be co-incidence that I'd just applied the licence key after having run out of evaluation period. It might not.

We now have log backups again. Phew.

So how do I enable SQLCMD Mode?

Well, in SSMS.exe, you click on 'Query' then 'SQL CMD Mode'. Simples!

But wait! There's a catch if your script has variables, or os prompts:

Because you are not starting SQLCMD from the command line, there are some limitations when running Query Editor in SQLCMD Mode. You cannot pass in command-line parameters such as variables, and, because the Query Editor does not have the ability to respond to operating system prompts, you must be careful not to execute interactive statements.

What then?

Open up the Command Prompt, and load your script in thusly:

sqlcmd -S servername -U username -P password -i C:\Folder\Script.txt

And then it'll all work nicely, assuming that the script itself is sensible. For more parameters for the SQLCMD utility, see here.