Blog do Ezequiel

Microsoft SQL Azure

The CTP 2 of SQL Azure was released last week at PASS event.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/sqlazure/

But what is SQL Azure? – To get a quick answer for this question check this video.

Check this document that have an overview about SQL Azure - Overview of Microsoft SQL Azure and a datasheet here - SQL Azure Datasheet

This other document describes the similarities and the differences between SQL Azure and SQL Server - SQL Azure vs. SQL Server - Similarities and Differences

To get an idea/overview of all the Azure initiative check this MIX presentation:

http://videos.visitmix.com/MIX09/T06F

To connect to SQL Azure, you can use the SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Tools (after creating a valid login) - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=c772467d-e45b-43e1-9208-2c7b663d7ad1

A new KB article was released with information how to update the ASP.NET scripts to work with SQL Azure:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;2006191&sd=rss&spid=8940

Resources about SQL Azure:

MSDN – Documentation - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee336279.aspx

MSDN – Development Center - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/dataservices/default.aspx

Microsoft – Windows Azure – SQL Azure section - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/developers/sqlazure/

Channel 9 videos

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/David+Gristwood/Hands-on-with-SQL-Azure-CTP-2/

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/David+Gristwood/Getting-Started-with-SQL-Azure/

Additional Info:

Windows Azure Platform Training Kit

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=413E88F8-5966-4A83-B309-53B7B77EDF78&displaylang=en

SQL Azure Team Blog

http://blogs.msdn.com/ssds/

Windows Azure Software Development Kit (November 2009)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=772990DA-8926-4DB0-958F-95C1DA572C84&displaylang=en

Windows Azure Platform White Papers

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/whitepapers/

List of PDC 2009 sessions about SQL Azure

http://microsoftpdc.com/Sessions/Tags/SQLAzure

Windows Azure PDC 2009 sessions list:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/pdc09/

Information about the SQL Azure CTP available

http://blogs.msdn.com/ssds/archive/2009/10/14/9907238.aspx

Cheers,

SQL Server 2008 R2 – November CTP

Hi all,

At PASS Event, last week, it was released the latest CTP of SQL Server 2008 R2, the November CTP:

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/R2.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/R2-Next.aspx

This CTP is available for download here:

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/R2Downloads.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=fe0c6a31-5ad6-4eea-a865-73bbe2608bd1&displaylang=en

(MSDN & TECHNET subscribers can also download this CTP using their subscriptions)

Release Notes - Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2 Release Notes

Readme - Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2 Readme

SQL Server 2008 R2 introduces two new premium editions:

- SQL Server 2008 R2 Datacenter

- SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse

But there are news in the core editions, too:

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/R2-editions.aspx

To read what is new in SQL Server® 2008 R2 November Community Technology Preview click here.

The Feature Pack for the SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP is available here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=020EE0D5-BCE4-4A45-9D64-B0C49C8831E5&displaylang=en

SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP version of the Books Online is available online and also as an offline download:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms130214(SQL.105).aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=C18BAD82-0E5F-4E82-812B-5B23E5D52B9C&displaylang=en

Some technologies are getting some highlights:

• Application and Multi-Server Management (check this article about AMM - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee364757.aspx)
• Managed Self-Service Business Intelligence
• Master Data Services
  • Check MSDN information about MDS - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee633763(SQL.105).aspx
• StreamInsight Complex Event Processing Technology
  • Blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/streaminsight/
  • White Paper - StreamInsight Whitepaper

And there are more information about what is the Project “Madison” and the Fast Track initiative:

• Parallel Data Warehouse (previously code named project "Madison")

Check this new White Paper about Data Warehouse 2.0 - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee730351.aspx

• Fast Track Data Warehouse

Check this technical article about the Fast Track Data Warehouse 2.0 Architecture - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd459178.aspx

Cheers,

Latest Cumulative Updates for SQL Server

Hi all,

These are the latest Cumulative Updates available for SQL Server – based on the actual date 18/11/2009:

SQL Server 2008

SQL Server 2005

(*) – Review the following link because the support of these builds is ending:

End of Service Pack Support for SQL Server 2005 SP2 and SQL Server 2008 RTM

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlreleaseservices/archive/2009/10/08/end-of-service-pack-support-for-sql-server-2005-sp2-and-sql-server-2008-rtm.aspx

Support of SQL Server 2008 RTM

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=13165.

Support of the SQL Server 2005 SP2

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=2855.

Notes:

Please review these two posts about some issues with the previous cumulative updates:

Known Issue In Cumulative Updates For SQL Server 2008 RTM CU 7, SP1 CU 3, SP1 CU 4 In SQL Agent when Upgrading

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlreleaseservices/archive/2009/11/13/known-issue-in-cumulative-updates-for-sql-server-2008-rtm-cu-7-sp1-cu-3-sp1-cu-4-in-sql-agent-when-upgrading.aspx

and

Known Issue In Cumulative Updates For SQL Server 2005 SP2, SP3, SQL Server 2008 RTM, SP1 In Analysis Services Partition Processing Engine

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlreleaseservices/archive/2009/11/13/known-issue-in-cumulative-updates-for-sql-server-2005-sp2-sp3-sql-server-2008-rtm-sp1-in-analysis-services-partition-processing-engine.aspx

Cheers,

Project “Gemini” or just PowerPivot 2010

Hello,

Some weeks ago, Microsoft, announced the official name of the project with codename “Gemini” – PowerPivot for Excel 2010 – www.powerpivot.com .

PowerPivot for Excel 2010
http://www.microsoft.com/officebusiness/office2010/Default.aspx?vid=Gemini

Microsoft SQL Server PowerPivot for Excel 2010
http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/powerpivot.aspx

To get an overview of the features that you can find on PowerPivot, follow this link:

Overview Of Gemini Features
http://blogs.msdn.com/gemini/archive/2009/08/24/overview-of-gemini-features.aspx

Download of the CTP is available here:

http://www.powerpivot.com/download.aspx

Additional information:

PowerPivot Team Blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/gemini/

PowerPivot DataSheet
http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/C/F/8CF3C7AD-E252-44F1-B3A0-CB26CD0AC902/PowerPivot%20datasheet%20(TDM).docx

Cheers,

Information about the SNAC package and Cumulative Updates

Hello,

When you follow the steps to download a SQL Server 2005 (SP2/SP3) or SQL Server 2008 (RTM/SP1) cumulative update, you see a list of packages where you need to chose which ones you want to download and, normally, you have doubts about which one or ones you need to select. Should I download SNAC package also ??? The SQL PSS team create a blog post about this topic. Please, read it carefully:

Should I have a SNAC with my cumulative update?
http://blogs.msdn.com/psssql/archive/2009/10/23/should-i-have-a-snac-with-my-cumulative-update.aspx

Cheers,

Security Update – MS09-062

Hello,

Normally, two releases of a SQL security update are released:

• GDR (General Distribution Release)
• QFE (Quick Fix Engineering)

The GDR release must be applied to all the SQL Server instances that keeps the RTM build or for the cases where only a Service Pack was installed.

The QFE release must be applied for the remaining cases. This means that the QFE version needs to be applied on the cases where a hotfix (generic SQL hotfix or a cumulative update) or a previous security update were installed after the initial installation (RTM) or after a Service Pack installation.

You can find all the information about the MS09-062 security update following this link:

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-062 - Critical

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS09-062.mspx

Note:

This security update must be applied also on the cases where you have the Reporting Services role installed on a different machine from where you have the Database Engine role installed:

Reporting Services and the MS09-062 GDR (GDI+)

http://blogs.msdn.com/psssql/archive/2009/10/15/reporting-services-and-the-ms09-062-gdr-gdi.aspx

The same is true for the cases you’ve the Visual Studio 2005/2008 installed to create/update a report or a Integration Services package on a different machine:

GDI+ Updated

http://blogs.msdn.com/brianhartman/archive/2009/10/13/gdi-updated-again.aspx

Cheers,

New white papers for SQL Server were released

Hello,

New white papers where published for SQL Server 2008:

• Consolidation Using SQL Server 2008
• High Availability with SQL Server 2008
• Using the Microsoft Connector for Oracle by Attunity with SQL Server 2008 Integration Services
• Using the Microsoft Connector for Teradata by Attunity
• Response to Oracle’s Edison 2009 Report
• SharePoint and Reporting Services Integration Troubleshooting
• SQL Server 2008 Migration Guides

  Guide to Migrating Sybase ASA to SQL Server 2008

  Guide to Migrating Sybase ASE to SQL Server 2008

  Guide to Migrating Oracle to SQL Server 2008

  Guide to Migrating Informix to SQL Server 2008

  Guide to Migrating MySQL to SQL Server 2008

• Plan Caching in SQL Server 2008
• Using Star Join and Few-Outer-Row Optimizations to Improve Data Warehousing Queries

For SQL Server 2008 R2, two white papers were already released:

• Application and Multi-Server Management (SQL Server 2008 R2 August CTP)
• Data Warehousing 2.0 and SQL Server: Architecture and Vision (SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP)

Cheers,

SQL Server 2008 Failover Clustering White Paper

Hello SQL Nation,

A new white paper is available for SQL Server 2008. This time about the SQL Server 2008 Failover Clustering feature. Look at the SQL CAT Team web site:

http://sqlcat.com/whitepapers/archive/2009/07/08/sql-server-2008-failover-clustering.aspx

Cheers,

SQL Server 2005 – Performance Dashboard installation steps

Hi,

To get the Performance Dashboard for SQL Server 2005 installed you must follow these steps:

1. Download the installation package from Microsoft Web Site:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1d3a4a0d-7e0c-4730-8204-e419218c1efc&displaylang=en

2. Install the MSI where you have the SQL Server Management Studio installed

3. Locate the Performance Dashboard folder, normally you should find it here:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\PerformanceDashboard

4. Edit the setup.sql file and append the code available in this blog post, to the end of the file:

http://blogs.msdn.com/chrissk/archive/2008/06/19/performance-dashboard-error-difference-of-two-datetime-values-caused-an-overflow-at-runtime.aspx

5. Connect to every instance that you want to see information using the Performance Dashboard and then run the setup.sql script against each SQL Server instance.

 

After these 5 steps you should get a similar view like the image above, using the Reports option in the SSMS, then choose the Custom Reports option, navigate to the Performance Dashboard folder and then select the performance_dashboard_main.rdl file. After this, you must accept all the security alerts:

“The dashboard distribution is a set of .RDL files, a SETUP.SQL script, and this help (PerfDash.chm) file. The SETUP.SQL script creates a new schema (MS_PerfDashboard) in the msdb database and a set of procedures and functions referenced by the reports.  The dashboard does not create a database or tables or store any trending data over time.  It relies solely on the information made available in the SQL Server 2005 dynamic management views (DMVs).”

Cheers,

SQL Server 2008 - Slipstream

Hi,

To build a slipstreamed version of the SQL Server 2008 setup, please, take a look in the following links:

How to update or slipstream an installation of SQL Server 2008
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955392

SQL Server 2008 Slipstream Frequently Asked Questions
http://blogs.msdn.com/petersad/archive/2009/04/24/sql-server-2008-slipstream-frequently-asked-questions.aspx

Create a merged (slipstream) drop containing SQL Server 2008, Server Pack 1 and a Cumulative Update (CU) based on Server Pack 1
http://blogs.msdn.com/petersad/archive/2009/04/16/create-a-merged-slipstream-drop-containing-sql-server-2008-server-pack-1-and-a-cumulative-update-cu-based-on-server-pack-1.aspx

Cheers,

SQL Server 2005/2008 – How to know which are the latest builds available?

Hi,

It is very common to have doubts about the last build or the latest Cumulative Update available for SQL Server 2005 and 2008. These two tables represent the actual situation (1/7/2009):

SQL Server 2005

SQL Server 2008

These KB articles can be used to know the latest builds publicly available for SQL Server 2005 (SP2 and SP3) / 2008 (RTM and SP1):

The SQL Server 2005 builds that were released after SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 was released

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937137/

The SQL Server 2005 builds that were released after SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 was released

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/960598/

The SQL Server 2008 builds that were released after SQL Server 2008 was released

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956909/

The SQL Server 2008 builds that were released after SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 was released

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970365/

My recommendation is that you subscribe this RSS Feed to get a notification every time that a new Cumulative Update or Service Pack is released:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlreleaseservices/archive/2009/06/15/cumulative-update-4-for-sql-server-2005-service-pack-3.aspx

Cheers,

SQL Server 2008 - Cumulative Update 4

Hi,

Yesterday, it was released the Cumulative Update 4, for SQL Server 2008 (RTM), build number 10.00.1798:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlreleaseservices/archive/2009/03/16/cumulative-update-4-for-sql-server-2008-rtm.aspx

This is the KB article link, where you can request the respective hotfix and read about all the issues that are included inside this cumulative update:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/963036/en-us

In this other KB article you have the list of builds released after the RTM release of SQL Server 2008:

The SQL Server 2008 builds that were released after SQL Server 2008 was released http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956909/

Regards,

SQL Server 2008 - White Papers

[Updated on 01/07/2009]

I would like to list here some of the new white papers that are available about SQL Server 2008:

Auditing in SQL Server 2008
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd392015.aspx

Tuning the Performance of Change Data Capture in SQL Server 2008
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd266396.aspx

The Data Loading Performance Guide
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd425070.aspx

Implementing a SQL Server Fast Track Data Warehouse
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd459178.aspx

SQL Server White Paper: SQL Server 2008 Compliance Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=6E1021DD-65B9-41C2-8385-438028F5ACC2&displaylang=en

SQL Server 2008 Management Data Warehouse
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd939169.aspx

SQL Server 2008 Policy-Based Management
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd938891.aspx

Understanding and Using PowerShell Support in SQL Server 2008
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd938892.aspx

Disk Partition Alignment Best Practices for SQL Server
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd758814.aspx

Data Compression: Strategy, Capacity Planning and Best Practices
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd894051.aspx

SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Performance Guide
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd542635.aspx

Enterprise Policy Management Framework with SQL Server 2008
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd542632.aspx

A small note regarding Enterprise Policy Management:

Automating SQL Server 2005/2000 Policy Evaluation

http://sqlblog.com/blogs/lara_rubbelke/archive/2009/06/13/automating-sql-server-2005-2000-policy-evaluation.aspx

“…. The Enterprise Policy Management Framework version 3.0, a new version of the framework to support policy automated policy evaluation for SQL Server 2000 and 2005 …”

“… The EPM Framework leverages the Central Management Server, PowerShell, Reporting Services 2008, and Policy-Based Management.  You will need at least one instance of SQL Server 2008 and an instance of SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services to support the framework. …”

============

But these ones are also very important:

SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Technical Reference Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=66D3E6F5-6902-4FDD-AF75-9975AEA5BEA7&displaylang=en

Running SQL Server 2008 in Hyper-V Environment
http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/9/4/d948f981-926e-40fa-a026-5bfcf076d9b9/SQL2008inHyperV2008.docx

Regards,

SQL Server Tools - Extended Events Manager & Partition Management

There are two tools available on Codeplex that you may consider to use/test:

SQL Server 2008 Extended Events Manager

http://extendedeventmanager.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=23813

and

SQL Server Partition Management

http://sqlpartitionmgmt.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=23683

Cheers,

TDS Parser for NetMon 3.2 and 3.3 (Beta)

It is available a new set of Network Monitor Parsers that include a Microsoft SQL Tabular Data Stream Protocol (TDS) parser:

http://nmparsers.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=23966

This new set of parsers are available for the versions 3.2 and 3.3 (Beta) of NetMon.

Cheers,