PROBLEM: The SQL Servers instances I manage have long cryptic names that are almost impossible to memorize and too many keystrokes to type; besides, I rather use my memory for other things. How can I set up aliases for all the SQL instances I manage in a quick an easy manner?

SOLUTION: The configuration of SQL aliases is saved in the registry under two locations. This first one is for 32bit clients HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Client\ConnectTo
And this second one is for 64bit clients HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Client\ConnectTo

PowerShell to the rescue!  I wrote the Set-SQLAlias function that will take the SQL instance name, port number and alias I want to create. It will use this information to add an entry on the registry or modify an existing alias. I have added this function to my profile so it is always available. THIS FUNCTION MUST BE EXECUTED IN A POWERSHELL SESSION RUNNING UNDER ADMINSTRATOR PRIVILEGES”

Function Set-SqlAlias {
	[Cmdletbinding()] 
	param ( [parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $SqlInstanceName,
            [parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $Alias,
			[parameter(Mandatory=$true)] [string] $Port,
			[parameter(Mandatory=$false)] $OverWrite = 0
          ) 

	BEGIN {
		$x64 = "HKLM:SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Client\ConnectTo"

		if (!(Test-Path "$x64")) {
			New-Item -Path "$x64" -Name "ConnectTo" 
		}
	}

	PROCESS {
		if ($OverWrite -ne 0) {
			Get-Item -path "$x64"|Remove-ItemProperty -Name "$Alias"|Out-Null 
		} 
		
		if (!(Get-Item -Path "$x64").GetValue("$Alias")) {
			New-ItemProperty -Path "$x64" -Name "$Alias" `
-PropertyType String `
-Value $("DBMSSOCN,{0},{1}" -f "$SqlInstanceName", $Port) `
|Out-Null
		} 
	} 
}

Thanks to my friend Rodney Starcher for helping me out with the PowerShell script.