August 2007 - Posts

Why does a light switch move up to turn on the light? (And why do we say "turn on" the light?)
31 August 07 07:45 AM | Buck Woody | 4 Comments   
I read a great book last night called "The Psychology of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman. It's actually an older book that explores what works and what doesn't from a usability perspective. That's interesting to my group since we are in charge of the Read More...
Creating features nobody wants
30 August 07 08:02 AM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
You hear all the time that your code (not just Microsoft's; everybody in a software development firm hears this) has features in it that "nobody wants". But is this true? Well, sometimes it is. But sometimes there are solid business (not necessarily technical) Read More...
SQL Server and Green Computing
29 August 07 08:03 AM | Buck Woody | 0 Comments   
As I was working through the list of customer requests for the next feature set in SQL Server 2008, one item that kept floating to the top was "multiple monitor support". More and more of us are using two flat-screen monitors to do our work each day. Read More...
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Using the Tools
28 August 07 09:00 AM | Buck Woody | 1 Comments   
A lot of the comments I get at conferences and over e-mail ask for various features within the management tools. To be sure, there are many things we can do to make the tools better, but many times (over half, actually) I end up saying "You know you can Read More...
Speeding up encryption
27 August 07 08:18 AM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
A friend of mine from Tampa, Florida wrote me the other day with an interesting observation: "I have a small finding and don't know where to publish it. Maybe you can help get the word out via your blog? OPEN SYMMETRIC KEY is somewhat costly to execute. Read More...
Script of the day - Remove White Space from a String
24 August 07 01:39 PM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
OK - this might be stretching the "Is this Useful" question a bit, but hey, I needed it today and thought I would share it with you - it's free! This construct takes the whitespace out of a string. /* usc_DBA_Remove_White_Space.sql Removes extra white Read More...
Connection Security Confusion
22 August 07 09:12 AM | Buck Woody | 1 Comments   
You know, more than just about any other question I get the most common is around connection security for SQL Server Management Studio. Let's take a couple of scenarios and walk through the basics. Windows Accounts on SQL Server (Windows Authentication) Read More...
Index Overlaps
21 August 07 10:32 AM | Buck Woody | 0 Comments   
There are a lot of tools in SQL Server 2005 that will help you with indexes, from enhanced plan diagrams to the Database Tuning Advisor. But I was scouting around this morning for a script that would find places where I had indexes that included duplicate Read More...
Don't Negelct Yourself
20 August 07 08:55 AM | Buck Woody | 0 Comments   
Wow - I have a new job where I'm trying to drink from a firehose of knowledge, my mother was up for the week from Florida (see here for more on that: http://carpedatum.spaces.live.com/ ), I had to write a complete tutorial on locking, get a project plan Read More...
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Longhorn (Windows Server) and SQL Server
17 August 07 08:26 AM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
Feeling a bit adventurous, I've installed the latest Longhorn Beta and then SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition on top of it. Other than the inevitable video driver issues, it's been pretty stable. One feature I do like is the "Server Manager" that pops Read More...
Powershell Plus - Very Nice!
16 August 07 08:32 AM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
Our group (the Management Platform Team) is heavily involved in the PowerShell-as-it-applies-to-SQL area. We're working on a new provider for SQL Server 2008, as I'm sure you've seen in some of the demos we've been giving at various user groups. Well, Read More...
Script of the day - Locking Information
15 August 07 08:25 AM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
This one is an oldie but a goodie. I don't remember who originally gave me this, but I've edited it over the years. Works on SQL Server 2000 and 2005. /* usc_DBA_Show_Lock_Types.sql Author: Unknown Purpose: Shows the various locks taken on a system */ Read More...
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Web 2.0 or whatever they're calling it these days...
14 August 07 08:33 AM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
Everyone is trying to figure out where technology is these days. We seem to be somewhere between alchemy and a mature industry like construction or telecommunications. we've come from single-seat cowboy shops where just a few IT people could understand Read More...
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Script of the Day - Find the Cores on a System
13 August 07 07:16 PM | Buck Woody | 4 Comments   
Sure, you can get the number of processors fairly easily ffrom SQL Server. But did you know you can also get the number of actual cores as well? This little gem works with SQL Server 2005: SELECT cpu_count/hyperthread_ratio AS sockets FROM sys.dm_os_sys_info; Read More...
What's really important?
10 August 07 07:08 PM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
First it was "cyber-". Everything had to start with "cyber". Then it was "e-", and then "i-". Now it seems to be "My". While buzzwords are great marketing tools, what is really important? First, it matters that things work. I'm on the Management Platform Read More...
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The Biggest Problem We Face
09 August 07 07:55 AM | Buck Woody | 1 Comments   
Last night I gave a presentation to the Pacific Northwest SQL User Group. I mentioned that we often think our biggest problems are lack of time, too much work, people we have to deal with or technical issues. But all of us get done only what we can, we Read More...
Table Diffs
08 August 07 08:35 AM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
I think one of the most asked and answered questions in SQL (not just SQL Server, but SQL engines in general) is "How do I find/get the data from table A to table B?" In fact, you've probably seen multiple variations of the question and the answer. I Read More...
Maintenance Plan MetaData
07 August 07 07:45 AM | Buck Woody | 0 Comments   
I was recently asked about which tables are involved in a maintenance plan in SQL Server 2005.The primary tables are: msdb.dbo.sysmaintplan_subplans msdb.dbo.sysmaintplan_log msdb.dbo.sysmaintplan_logdetail msdb.dbo.sysdbmaintplans msdb.dbo.sysdbmaintplan_jobs Read More...
Secure by design
06 August 07 09:05 AM | Buck Woody | 4 Comments   
Whenever you're developing a new application that hits SQL Server, make sure you design in security from the outset. In the new releae of the Community Tehcnal Preview (CTP) for SQL Server 2008, you'll notice that there are several new improvements in Read More...
Script of the day - Finding Foreign Objects in master
03 August 07 09:56 AM | Buck Woody | 0 Comments   
Have you ever forgot to set the database when you ran a query, filling the master system database with your user objects? And I'll bet you used the dbo user too, didn't you? Doh! Here's a quick way to ferret those out so you can clean them up: /* Find Read More...
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Ch..ch..ch..changes!
01 August 07 08:02 AM | Buck Woody | 0 Comments   
I've been with Microsoft for about a year now. It's an interesting place to work, and I've enjoyed it here. I started with the SQL Server "User Education" team, and I've written documentation for Books Online, whitepapers and other technical outlets. Read More...
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