Cindy Gross - Troubleshooting, tips, and general advice about SQL Server

Backing up a corrupted SQL Server database

CindyGross — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:33:00 GMT

I had a question about how to do a backup and skip a corrupted block of data. First, DO NOT DO IT unless you absolutely have to, such as when you are taking a backup prior to trying to fix the corruption (which means you should be on the phone with Microsoft...(read more)

Compilation of SQL Server TempDB IO Best Practices

CindyGross — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:07:00 GMT

It is important to optimize TempDB for good performance. In particular, I am focusing on how to allocate files. TempDB is a unique database in several ways. The ones most relevant to this discussion are: · It is often one of the busiest databases on an...(read more)

SQL Server and Fragmentation

CindyGross — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:58:00 GMT

There are several types of fragmentation that affect SQL Server, all of which have the potential to cause performance problems. 1) At the disk/OS level individual files can become fragmented due to growth over time. This can be addressed by a defragmentation...(read more)

SQL Server 2008 setup may report a Windows 2008 cluster validation failure

CindyGross — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:55:00 GMT

You may receive the error "The cluster either has not been verified or there are errors or failures in the verification report" while installing a SQL Server clustered installation on Windows 2008. When see this error you must fix the underlying error...(read more)

How to tell what edition your SQL Server setup files are

CindyGross — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:49:00 GMT

The setup files for SQL Server look pretty much the same for all editions. If you saved the files somewhere but didn't indicate in your directory name or a readme file which edition they are for, how do you tell the edition? Running setup doesn't necessarily...(read more)

How to use PsGetSid for SQL Server

CindyGross — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:38:00 GMT

To translate a SID to a name or vice versa, you can use this tool from sysinternals: PsGetSid v1.43 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897417.aspx You can use it to translate the SID in these registry keys into the SQL Domain Groups or...(read more)

Checklist for upgrading to a new version of SQL Server

CindyGross — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:22:00 GMT

Here is the basic process for a full version upgrade (such as 2000 to 2008) of the SQL Server engine. The steps will be different for RS or AS. I did not include all the details of variations such as replication, mirroring, log shipping, full-text search,...(read more)

How People Abuse Their SQL Server Transaction Log - Things NOT to Do

CindyGross — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:47:00 GMT

Care and Feeding of the Transaction Log Want to learn more about how the transaction log works? Kalen Delaney, celebrated author of SQL Server 2008 Internals and the Inside SQL Server series as well as a world class trainer and performance tuner, is giving...(read more)

Considerations for installing SQL Server on VMWare

CindyGross — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:15:00 GMT

You still need to follow the standard SQL Server best practices, security, and preparation when you install on a VMware VM. Below are some additional considerations with regards to VMware. Key points: · You must double check that your combination of VMWare,...(read more)

Checklist for installing SQL Server 2005 as a clustered instance

CindyGross — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:06:00 GMT

Checklist for installing SQL Server 2005 as a clustered instance Windows/Hardware 1) Verify the Windows cluster is set up per basic best practices and that basic failover works. 2) Verify you have the latest patches, especially security patches, for Windows....(read more)

SQL Server and TCP Chimney

CindyGross — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:42:00 GMT

If you are using SQL Server or Analysis Services: I suggest you double check that your SNP settings, especially TCP Chimney Offset, are all OFF unless your NIC vendor has verified they support it and you have installed their version of drivers that support...(read more)

There is still time to register for the 2009 SQL PASS Summit

CindyGross — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:22:00 GMT

If you are considering going to SQL PASS this year Nov 2-5 there are several different discounts available for the main conference (Tues, Wed, Thu). You can only use one of the discounts, you can NOT add them together. I will be at PASS, and I hope to...(read more)

How to automate Update Statistics

CindyGross — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:51:00 GMT

For SQL Server 2005 here are some options to update statistics with the default settings that samples the data instead of reading every row: 1) If you are also defragmenting your database with REBUILD and/or REORGANIZE you will want to integrate your...(read more)

SQL Server with NetApp SAN

CindyGross — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:44:00 GMT

If you are planning to use NetApp as the SAN for your SQL Server instance(s), take a look at these documents in addition to the normal SQL Server IO planning best practices documents. TR-3779 Sizing best practice guide. http://media.netapp.com/documents/tr-3779.pdf...(read more)

SQL Server Security Granularity

CindyGross — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:10:00 GMT

I have had some questions recently about how to grant developers certain permissions without giving them sysadmin rights. Hopefully this summary will help you determine how to grant the least possible privileges. The summary is based on SQL Server 2005...(read more)