Before you can use the SMO library, the assemblies need to be loaded. With the introduction of the SQLPS module, this step is easier than ever.
To load SMO assemblies via the SQLPS module, perform the following steps:
Open up your PowerShell console, PowerShell ISE, or your favorite PowerShell Editor.
Type the import-module command as follows:
Import-Module SQLPS
Confirm that the module is loaded by running the following. This should give the name of the module if it is loaded:
Get-Module
The way to load SMO assemblies has changed between different versions of PowerShell and SQL Server. Before the SQLPS module and in PowerShell v1, loading assemblies could be done explicitly using the Load() or LoadWithPartialName() methods. The LoadWithPartialName() accepts the partial name of the assembly and loads from the application directory or the Global Assembly Cache (GAC):
[void][Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo")Although you may still see LoadWithPartialName() in some older scripts, this method is now obsolete and should not be used with any new development.
The method Load() requires the fully qualified name of the assembly:
[void][Reflection.Assembly]::Load("Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo, Version=9.0.242.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91")In PowerShell v2, assemblies can be added by using Add-Type:
Add-Type -AssemblyName "Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo"
When the SQLPS module was shipped with SQL Server 2012, loading these assemblies one by one became unnecessary, as long as the SQLPS module is loaded using the following code:
Import-Module SQLPS
There may be cases where you will still want to load specific DLL versions if you are dealing with specific SQL Server versions. Alternatively, you might want to load only specific assemblies without loading the whole SQLPS module. In this case, the Add-Type command is still the viable method of bringing the assemblies in.
When you import the SQLPS module, you might see an error about conflicting or unapproved verbs:
Note
WARNING: The names of some imported commands from the module SQLPS
include unapproved verbs that might make them less discoverable. To find the commands with unapproved verbs, run the Import-Module command again with the Verbose parameter.
For a list of approved verbs, type Get-Verb.
This means there are some cmdlets that do not conform to the PowerShell naming convention, but the module and its containing cmdlets are still all loaded into your host. To suppress this warning, import the SQLPS module with the –DisableNameChecking parameter.
Note
Learn how to load SMO assemblies using PowerShell from the MSDN at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh245202(v=sql.120).aspx.