SQLServerPing

Ping a SQL Server. For example to test connectivity through a firewall, testing a failover cluster or testing permissions.

This is a .NET console app and should run fine on all supported operating systems: Windows, Linux and macOS.

USAGE:

SQLPing <Server> [OPTIONS]

ARGUMENTS:

<Server>    Server host or ip number. For non-standard port use the format "server,port"

OPTIONS:

                         DEFAULT
-h, --help                          Prints help information
-d, --database           master     Database name
-u, --username                      SQL Username, leave empty for Windows integrated security
-p, --password                      Password (NOT RECOMMENDED - see Security Notes below)
-t, --timeout            3          Connection timeout in seconds
-c, --command                       SQL Command (default will return database information)
-f, --failover                      This is a failover cluster / availability group, use MultiSubnetFailover=true
-a, --failoverpartner               Use a custom failover partner
-n, --nonstop                       Set this to true to continuously ping the server. Default is ping once
-w, --wait <SECONDS>     10         How long to wait, in seconds, between non-stop pings
--encrypt <VALUE>        true       Encryption mode: true|false|strict
-T, --trust-server-certificate      Trust server certificate without validation (DEV ONLY)
-H, --hostname-in-certificate       Override hostname for TLS certificate validation
--no-tnir                           Disable TransparentNetworkIPResolution

SECURITY NOTES:

Credential Handling

SQLPing supports multiple ways to provide credentials, listed from most secure to least secure:

1. Interactive Password Prompt (RECOMMENDED)

# Provide username, password will be prompted securely
SQLPing myserver -u myusername
Password: ********

2. Environment Variables (RECOMMENDED)

# Set environment variables (more secure than command line)
export SQLPING_USERNAME="myusername"
export SQLPING_PASSWORD="mypassword"
SQLPing myserver

3. Command Line Arguments (NOT RECOMMENDED)

# WARNING: Password visible in process list and shell history
SQLPing myserver -u myusername -p mypassword

Important Security Considerations:

• Passwords provided via command line (-p) are visible in:
  • Shell history
  • Process lists (ps aux, Task Manager)
  • Logs and monitoring tools
• Always prefer environment variables or interactive prompts for production use
• Connection strings in output have passwords redacted automatically

TLS/ENCRYPTION OPTIONS:

Connection Encryption

By default, SQL Server connections use encryption. You can control this behavior with the following options:

--encrypt <true|false|strict>

• true (default): Encrypted connection with certificate validation
• false: No encryption (not recommended for production)
• strict: Strictest encryption mode (requires SQL Server 2022+)

-T, --trust-server-certificate

• For development/testing environments only
• Bypasses certificate validation but maintains encryption
• WARNING: Vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks in production

-H, --hostname-in-certificate

• Override the expected hostname in the server's TLS certificate
• Useful when connecting via IP address but certificate contains a specific hostname
• Must match the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) or CN in the server's certificate

--no-tnir

• Disables TransparentNetworkIPResolution
• Prevents automatic hostname-to-IP substitution that can break TLS name matching
• Recommended when using --hostname-in-certificate

Examples

# Connect with strict encryption (SQL Server 2022+)
SQLPing myserver -u myuser --encrypt strict

# Development: connect via IP with self-signed certificate
SQLPing 10.0.0.5 -u myuser -T --hostname-in-certificate sqlserver.local

# Production: connect via IP with valid certificate, specify expected hostname
SQLPing 10.0.0.5 -u myuser -H sqlserver.company.com --no-tnir

# Disable encryption (not recommended)
SQLPing myserver -u myuser --encrypt false

Todo

• Add terse output option, just returning the output of the command
• Add custom connection string option