January 2009 - Posts

MERGE Syntax - SQL Server 2008 Transact-SQL Recipes
31 January 09 08:05 PM | josephsa | 2 Comments   

I received an email about this today (Thanks again Steven) and thought I would put out a brief post on this topic just to share with others... A couple of months before SQL Server 2008 Transact-SQL Recipes was sent to the printer, pre-RTM, there were Read More...

SQL Server and HBA Queue Depth Mashup
28 January 09 03:25 PM | josephsa | 3 Comments   

Using SAN storage for your SQL Server instance? If so, you should take into consideration the host bus adapter (HBA) queue depth setting. In a nutshell, a HBA is used to connect your server to the SAN. The HBA Queue depth setting throttles the maximum Read More...

Troubleshooting ASYNC_NETWORK_IO, NETWORKIO
09 January 09 02:03 AM | josephsa | 1 Comments   

** cross-posted from www.joesack.com as I reference this one quite a bit ** As you may already be aware, the ASYNC_NETWORK_IO (seen in SQL 2005) and NETWORKIO (seen in SQL 2000) wait types are associated with either a calling application that is not processing Read More...

Six Failover Clustering Benefits Realized from Migrating to SQL Server 2008
08 January 09 03:40 AM | josephsa | 1 Comments   

The Microsoft SQL Customer Advisory Team just published my 'Top X List' article - " Six Failover Clustering Benefits Realized from Migrating to SQL Server 2008 ." Have a look at www.SQLCAT.com and let me know if you have questions/comments. Thanks! Read More...

Consider Data Distribution when using OPTIMIZE FOR UNKNOWN
08 January 09 03:40 AM | josephsa | 1 Comments   

The Microsoft SQL Programmability & API Development Team Blog recently posted an excellent article titled " OPTIMIZE FOR UNKNOWN – a little known SQL Server 2008 feature ." I can definitely think of a few scenarios where this feature will be useful, Read More...

Logging of SPN auto-registration in SQL Server 2008
08 January 09 03:39 AM | josephsa | 1 Comments   

I noticed today that when SQL Server automatically registers the SPN (service principal name) on startup, it gets logged now in the SQL error log. For example: The SQL Server Network Interface library successfully registered the Service Principal Name Read More...

Windows Server 2008 - How to Move the Quorum Disk Group
08 January 09 03:38 AM | josephsa | 0 Comments   

I received this question from a friend the other day - asking how on a Windows Server 2008 cluster you can move the quorum disk group to another node? Much has changed with failover clusters in Windows Server 2008, and after digging around for several Read More...

Find Non-Buffer Pool Memory (MemToLeave) in "Private Bytes"
08 January 09 03:38 AM | josephsa | 1 Comments   

Yesterday I had a discussion on how to determine the non-buffer pool memory usage (formerly called MemToLeave/MTL) for a SQL Server 2005 64-bit instance. The two counters I pay attention to for this specific scenario are "Process: sqlservr: Private Bytes" Read More...

Handling "No passive nodes were successfully patched"
08 January 09 03:37 AM | josephsa | 0 Comments   

The other day I witnessed the following scenario... A new node was added to a failover cluster, and a SQL Server instance was added to the node using normal methods. After adding the SQL Server instance to the new server node, an attempt was made to install Read More...

SQL 2008: A new method for finding the SQL instance start time
08 January 09 03:37 AM | josephsa | 1 Comments   

There are several methods you could use in SQL Server 2005 to determine when the SQL Server instance started up - however SQL Server 2008 introduces a quick and direct method by querying the sqlserver_start_time column from the sys.dm_os_sys_info DMV Read More...

Logical I/Os - Not a useful performance metric?
08 January 09 02:01 AM | josephsa | 1 Comments   

Joe Chang wrote a compelling post on " Why Logical IO is a poor performance metric ". I do admit that I will continue to look at logical IO within the context of the Waits and Queues methodology, however as a stand-alone metric, I believe Joe Chang has Read More...

Locked out of SQL Server sysadmin?
08 January 09 01:58 AM | josephsa | 1 Comments   

Have you removed all the windows accounts or forgetten the sa password? You still have one more option. Check out the new KB article, " How to make unwanted access to SQL Server 2005 by an operating system administrator more difficult ". In it, you'll Read More...

Meditation on sys.dm_exec_connections
08 January 09 01:53 AM | josephsa | 1 Comments   

I saw an email thread recently regarding sys.dm_exec_connections and I thought I would spread the word if you aren't already using this DMV in your troubleshooting toolbox. This DMV can answer several different questions. For example: Q. Is a connection Read More...

Moving from www.joesack.com to http://blogs.msdn.com/joesack/default.aspx
07 January 09 09:32 PM | josephsa | 1 Comments   

Well, 2009 marks the end of my third year working for Microsoft, and I think it is time to simplify and consolidate by moving under the company umbrella. I'll migrate a few of the more popular posts from www.joesack.com over to blogs.msdn.com over time, Read More...