November 2007 - Posts

Do you code or Don'tcha?
30 November 07 07:21 AM | Buck Woody | 1 Comments   
I've met a lot of DBA's that don't do a lot of coding. Sure, they know basic T-SQL, and are probably pretty handy with a scripting language, but they don't write code for a living. In some shops where I've worked (usually larger ones) we had separate Read More...
Go get me a switch!
29 November 07 09:36 AM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
You probably access SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) using an icon somewhere in your Start menu or on your desktop. But did you know that there are several command-line switches that you can use to start SSMS and end up right where you want to go? Read More...
Templates
28 November 07 12:10 PM | Buck Woody | 1 Comments   
I’ve run into quite a few DBA’s who aren’t using the Templates feature we provide with SQL Server Management Studio. If you spend a little time becoming familiar with them, I think you’ll find they are a powerful tool. Templates are really just a series Read More...
SQL Server Management Studio Standard Reports – Performance – Top Queries by *
27 November 07 08:47 AM | Buck Woody | 3 Comments   
I'm continuing my series on the Standard Reports in SQL Server Management Studio . Today I'm covering four reports at a time – the performance reports that are broken down by average and total times. The reason I’ll cover all four of them is that they Read More...
CTP5 is out! OK, so maybe you already know that...
26 November 07 09:08 AM | Buck Woody | 1 Comments   
I got back from vacation ( more here if you want to read about where we go and what we do every other week) and we released SQL Server 2008 CTP5. If you have been waiting for a bit to install and learn more about it, this is a good release to try. Make Read More...
Happy Thanksgiving
16 November 07 10:18 AM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
I'll be offline for about a week. For those of you reading this blog outside of the US, we have a holiday called "Thanksgiving" where we are all encouraged to be thankful for the things we have. I think this is a great tradition, and one of the things Read More...
Filed under:
More info on those reports
16 November 07 07:06 AM | Buck Woody | 1 Comments   
I spoke with Andrew Fryer yesterday via e-mail when I noticed he was also covering some of the same information we're looking at here on the Standard Reports in SQL Server. I think that's great - I had been wondering if there were many people using these Read More...
SQL Server Management Studio Standard Reports - Performance - Object Execution Statistics
15 November 07 08:51 AM | Buck Woody | 0 Comments   
We're in the performance section of the series of Standard Reports you get with SQL Server Management Studio . The report we're covering today, located in the "Server" level of reports is another Performance Report, and it is interesting because it brings Read More...
It's the little things that count
14 November 07 09:26 AM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
As I've mentioned, I've only been in my current role a few months. I've inherited a lot of things from the Program Managers who have gone before me, so I can't take credit or blame for everything I'm now responsible for. But going forward, I want to do Read More...
SQL Server Management Studio Standard Reports - Performance - Batch Execution Statistics
13 November 07 08:35 AM | Buck Woody | 3 Comments   
I’m working my way through the Standard Reports you get in SQL Server Management Studio. I’ve gone through several of them already, and today we finally move out of the locking and blocking reports. The next report in the list, and we’re still only on Read More...
The Importance of Connections
12 November 07 10:40 AM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
Since I didn't blog about anything very technical in my last entry, I thought I would post a little something about what we're hearing about the "Connection" dialogs. We have quite a few places in Management Studio that we pop up a place for you to connect Read More...
Everything I need to be a good worker I learned in parenting
09 November 07 08:23 AM | Buck Woody | 1 Comments   
(OK – this has almost nothing to do with technology – something I read really irked me) I use the time on the unbelievably long bus ride home (don’t even get me started about the traffic up here. Only California compares to this mess) to clear out my Read More...
Filed under:
SQL Server Management Studio Standard Reports - Top Transactions by Locks Count
08 November 07 06:50 AM | Buck Woody | 3 Comments   
I'm continuing my series on the Standard Reports in SQL Server Management Studio , and today I'm covering a report that shows more about locking activity, by transaction. Before I begin describing the columns and values in this report, it might make some Read More...
Are you using what you already have?
07 November 07 08:07 AM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
We get a lot of suggestions for our tools here at Microsoft. We get some really good tips about how people are using the tools, and we get some instructions about what we can do to make them better. And we also get requests for features in the tools that Read More...
Top Transactions by Blocked Transactions Count
06 November 07 08:46 AM | Buck Woody | 1 Comments   
I'm continuing my series on the Standard Reports in SQL Server Management Studio , and today I'm covering a report that shows the transactions on an instance that block others. I’ve described some of this blocking activity here , but this report orders Read More...
The Pain of Triage
05 November 07 08:34 AM | Buck Woody | 0 Comments   
The Program Managers here at Microsoft get work from three main buckets. There are things that we have that are broken (bugs), things that we have that people want more/different/other features in (enhancements), and new features (Improvements). As with Read More...
SQL Server Management Studio Standard Reports - Activity – Top Transactions by Age
02 November 07 03:32 PM | Buck Woody | 1 Comments   
I'm continuing my series on the Standard Reports in SQL Server Management Studio , and today I'm covering another "Activity" report. This report shows more information about transactions, which I’ve covered in some of the other reports. This one, however, Read More...
What does "Writing Good Software" Mean? Good for Who?
01 November 07 09:06 AM | Buck Woody | 2 Comments   
I’ve mentioned before on this blog a little about how we write software here at Microsoft. I think it’s great that we are allowed to talk about it – in fact, we’re encouraged to be open about it. That’s very different from many other software firms I’ve Read More...
Page view tracker