“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson After witnessing 3 SQL Server releases (Katmai, KJ and Denali “which is yet to...

  SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 4 (latest SP in SQL 2005) was publically released on 18-Dec-2010 . This time the word RTM suffixed to this patch name. This is 1st time that SQL Release team has added “RTM” to a SQL Service Pack release and to a degree...

  It's has been couple of years for me working on SQL Server and I keep coming across various SQL Server misconceptions (or say a DBA Myth). In this specific post I’ll demystify a common DBA myth around log-shipping: "In a log shipping setup...

  You may have seen the announcement of release SQL Server Code-Named “Denali” in recent PASS summit ( featured in Ted Kummert’s keynote ). Even morem “Denali” Community Technology Preview 1 (CTP1) is available for download here   “Denali” release...

  To begin with, lets first get the basics: What is Atlanta? Microsoft Codename Atlanta ( http://beta.microsoftatlanta.com ) is an online service that analyzes installations of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (and later versions) and provides proactive...

  Hello All, Sometime back, I have written blog post on ‘Backing-up SQL Server Database on a network shared drive’. This can be found here . I have received numerous queries on an another related topic i.e. ‘How to Create a SQL Server Database on...

  Hi Guys In a recent issue with a customer, I came across a strange SQL belief (or say a DBA Myth ) around SQL Server Transaction Logs Backup/Restore. Let me explain you what was the scenario and then let’s try attempting to break the myth with...

I recently worked with a customer who ran into an interesting situation. The issue deals with SQL Server 2008 RTM setup. He is trying to install SQL Server 2008 Enterprise on a Windows 2008 x64 box. As soon as we click ‘setup.exe’, we get below pop-up...

Technorati Tags: Performance Counter Missing SQL Server performance counters missing!! Past few hours been crazy one, breaking my head on a ‘Missing Performance Counters’ and now since this is resolved, I want to now off-load every bit of this issue from...

Starting SQL Server 2008, you can leverage the new “Slipstream” feature. In the below post, I’m demonstrating steps to create a new source media that slipstream the original SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1, and a CU based on service pack 1. Once you have...

Here’s an interesting issue that surfaced recently while troubleshooting a database performance slowness issue. Here, we were trying tune the performance of database for SCOM (System Center Operations Manager). While, we started with regular tuning...

SQL Server 2008 RTM finally reaches it’s end of support tomorrow i.e. April 13, 2010. Here’s snippet from SQL Release Services team blog : Product: SQL Server 2008 RTM Mainstream Support End Date: 4/13/2010 Extended Support End Date: Not Applicable...

Recently, while working on a SQL Performance issue, I encountered a blocking scenario, causing the query timeout and application hang. I worked on this issue along with my colleague Suhas . We started with some vanilla testing and eventually were able...

So as the year 2010 settles in, we have approached to an end of support for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2). What does this means? The usual Product Support Lifecycle page on Microsoft confirms a product support ends 12 months after the next...

Today I was walking a customer through SQL Server database backup on tape and realized that I’m unable to view the tape drive from SQL Server Management Studio. At this time I took a pause to check the if all is well with the Tape Drive. Here’s tape...

Ok, so this one is interesting. I was reading an Internal DL (Distribution Group) post on tuning %Like% operator performance. I find some confusion in various places about index selectivity of ' %Like% ' operator, and I decided to do few test myself....

This blog post has been moved to my team blog site >> http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlserverfaq/archive/2009/09/24/bcp-command-fails-with-error-user-name-not-provided-when-both-sql-server-2000-and-sql-server-2005-tools-are-installed-on-machine.aspx ...

  I’ve been recently asked to explain the reason of high PF Usage on Windows 2003 server running SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition. Problem Statement: - From: OS Task Manager > Performance Tab: High value depicted in “ PF Usage ” graph. - On...

  Recently came across a customer scenario, wherein the 'ask' was to change the current location of SQL Server Errorlog files to a different location. Here’s a simple way to get this done: Steps to change Location of SQL Svr Errorlog files Step 1...

The following post describes how you can configure your SQL Server to archive more than six Errorlog files using SSMS (2008, 2005) or Enterprise Manager GUI. While I was aware of MS KB # 196909 , that describes a way of increasing the number of SQL...

Hello All, Yesterday while doing the regular stuff, I was reported a strange error related to profiler traces. I broke my head for a day almost to figure out what was happening. Issue: I have a SQL Agent Job that creates profiler trace files using...

Hello All, You have a situation wherein you want to backup SQL Server database to a network mapped drive. So all you thought of doing is mapping the drive from Operating System with a Drive Letter. Now you tried taking the backup from SSMS backup GUI...

Hello, April 09, has lot more than expected. During my usual stuff, I was trying to open a table in “Design” view, I got this error TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio ------------------------------ The located assembly...

Hello All, This month have been filled with interesting and thought provoking issues. Here's a new one In a recent scenario, I tried dropping a “secondary” data-file in SQL 2005. Got below error TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server Management...

Hi Friends, Here's something interesting about Management Studio 2005 (SSMS) When you launch SQL Server Management Studio 2005 on the server, it takes a couple of minutes (more than 5 mins in some case) before it starts up and another few...