Check if SQL server service is running - batch-file

Question

Currently we are facing a problem that effects system stability, our server has SQL server 2012 and for unknown reason its services stop running and that needs someone to restart it manually every single day. I have created a command in batch file to restart SQL server automatically and it works fine, however, I am looking for better command that can check if SQL server stop, just restart it, if running, just ignore. How can I do that command that ?
#ECHO OFF
NET START MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS

Answer 1

You can use sc to query the status:
sc query MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS | findstr /I /C:STATE | findstr /I /C:RUNNING
If ERRORLEVEL 1 sc start MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS
But since you have Server 2012, Powershell is another option:
$service = Get-Service -Name MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS
If ($service.Status -ine "running") {
$service | Start-Service
}

Answer 2

Something like this. pause is optional. Don't use it if this goes in a scheduled task! In that case you wouldn't need all the echo statements either. Of course you will need to run this with administrative privileges to start the service. I added a check for that.
#echo off
set "Service=MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS"
rem Make sure service exists
sc query %Service% | (findstr "does not exist" && goto :Done)
for /f "tokens=1,2,3,4" %%A in ('sc query %Service%') do (
if /I %%A == STATE (
if /i not %%D == RUNNING (
echo(%Service% STATE is %%D. It should be RUNNING.
rem openfiles requires admin
openfiles >nul 2>&1 || (Color E0 & ECHO(You must run with Administrative priveleges to start the service. & goto :Done)
echo(Starting it now...
sc start %Service%
)
)
)
:Done
pause
Might be a good idea to look through the Windows event log and see if you can determine why the service is stopping, as there is obviously something wrong.