Action plans and problem solving

Parameter gets converted in execution plan, when you explicitly define a different datatype for the parameter

2009-11-13T12:43:00Z

Consider this scenario: You are trying to identify why a query like this is performing poorly: UPDATE table SET column1 = 0 WHERE table .column2 = @Parameter Where the @Parameter is explicitly specified as datatype VARCHAR(10) and the column2 is defined as CHAR(10) earlier in your transaction. There is a simple explanation why this query is performing poorly: - You explicitly specify the data type for the @Parameter as a different data type than the column with which you compare it. - The SQL Server...(read more)

Msg 7399 – OLE DB provider “MSDASQL” - The provider reported an unexpected catastrophic failure

2009-11-13T12:19:00Z

Consider this scenario: - You have setup a linked server by using the MSDASQL provider - You are sometimes getting this error: Msg 7399, Level 16, State 1, Line 1 The OLE DB provider "MSDASQL" for linked server "XXXXXX" reported an error. The provider reported an unexpected catastrophic failure. Msg 7330, Level 16, State 2, Line 1 Cannot fetch a row from OLE DB provider "MSDASQL" for linked server "XXXXXX". - Every time you get this error, the SQL Server has to be restarted for the linked server...(read more)

No collector registered for scope: "SetupStateScope” - Message pump returning: 1602

2009-10-30T08:09:00Z

Consider this scenario: - You have already installed a SQL Server 2000 instance on a Windows 2003 machine. - You also try to install a SQL Server 2005 instance on the same Windows 2003 machine. - Searching in the hotfix.log and summary.txt log files you see that this error is responsible for the failure: Failed to find property "watsonFailedActionErrorCode" {"SetupStateScope", "", ""} in cache Source File Name: datastore\propertycollection.cpp Compiler Timestamp: Wed Jun 14 16:28:01 2006 Function...(read more)

Request from IIS 5.0 arrives as anonymous login (‘null’) on SQL Server 2000

2009-10-30T07:47:00Z

Recently we did troubleshoot an issue where requests from an IIS 5.0 site arrived as anonymous logins (‘null’) in SQL Server 2000. The ASP.NET application was using IIS 5.0 anonymous authentication for its users to send requests to SQL server 2000. The IIS 5.0 was allowing anonymous authentication and each anonymous user connection was configured in IIS settings to be impersonated by a domain account. Also the “Integrated Windows Authentication” option in his IIS "Directory Security" tab. At first...(read more)

The SQL server specified in SSIS service configuration is not present or is not available

2009-10-15T13:08:00Z

Consider this scenario: - You have setup a SQL Server 2005 failover instance. - You then install SSIS 2005. - When you try to access the MSDB database from inside the Integration Services you get this message: The SQL server specified in SSIS service configuration is not present or is not available The explanation is that you need to configure SSIS to access the correct SQL Server: v For this purpose SSIS uses a file called MsDtsSrvr.ini.xml to determine on which SQL Server the SSIS will connect...(read more)

Test connection failed because of an error in initializing provider (ORA-12154)

2009-10-12T10:33:00Z

Consider this scenario: - You have migrated a DTS packages from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005. - The new SQL Server is installed on a Windows 64-bit machine. - This DTS package is connecting to an Oracle 10G database. - You get this error or something similar: Test connection failed because of an error in initializing provider (ORA-12154) This Oracle specific error (ORA-12154) is usually caused by the parenthesis (x86) in the Program Files of the 64-bit Windows. To resolve this error, it is...(read more)

Installing SSIS services after installing SQL Server database engine

2009-10-12T09:09:00Z

Consider this scenario: - You have installed SQL Server 2005 and patched it with a Service Pack (in our case it was SP3). - Then you install SSIS on the same box, but do not patch it with any Service Pack. - Specifically you get this error when you try to start the SSIS service: Time: 23/9/2009 10:05:34 πμ ID: 7000 Level: Error Provider: Service Control Manager Machine: PRODSQL11 Message: The SQL Server Integration Services service failed to start due to the following error: %%1053 Time: 23/9/2009...(read more)

Error with event id of 17052 reports Access Violation

2009-07-30T15:18:00Z

Now this is one was a thrilling issue! Consider the following scenario: You have a SQL 2000 SP4 server running on Windows 2000 SP4 server. After you install some updates, you get an error like this error reported in the event viewer: Event Id 17052 – Access Violation If you go to the SQL ERRORLOG you will see an error like that: Process XX generated fatal exception c0000005 EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION Also a minidump is created in your LOG folder. Analysis of the minidump’s stack trace relates this...(read more)

Error 5042 (000013b2) when trying to failover an Exchange cluster group

2009-07-28T16:29:00Z

Recently we came across an interesting issue. When trying to failover an exchange cluster group, the operation failed with error : "The cluster node was not found", Error ID:5042 (000013b2) This problem has two common causes: 1. One common cause is that If you have any 3 rd party resource in the exchange group (e.g. the SCANMail resource), which is already present before you add a new node to the cluster, this problem might occur. When a 3 rd party resource like SCANMail is created, then it will...(read more)

How to add an additional node to a SQL Server failover cluster

2009-07-27T14:40:00Z

Sometimes a two-node cluster configuration is not enough for your SQL Server, as you may want to create new SQL instances, which will reside in a different node than the existing SQL instances. So in this case you may want to add a 3 rd or a 4 th node to the SQL cluster. Assuming you already have installed a SQL Server failover instance on two nodes and you now want to add a 3 rd node, the steps to perform this procedure are as follows: 1. Setup Windows on the 3 rd machine. a. Patch Windows with...(read more)

URL Rewrite Module may not work as expected when redirecting to file://

2009-07-08T11:29:00Z

The URL Rewrite Module is part of the Microsoft Application Request Routing for IIS 7: Microsoft Application Request Routing Version 1 for IIS 7 (x86) http://www.iis.net/downloads/default.aspx?tabid=34&i=1709&g=6 Maybe you have been trying to use this module in order to redirect to a file:// url. In this case, the module may not work as expected depending on the version of the module. e.g. consider this scenario You are trying to use the URL Rewrite module, so that his web site redirects...(read more)

Recovery of database 'XXXXXXXXX' (X) is X% complete

2009-07-06T14:29:00Z

Recently I received a question regarding SQL Server database Analysis and Recovery. It seems that a pretty huge database got into recovering mode, due to a huge transaction that was taking place, when suddenly the disk ran out of space and the transaction was left incomplete. When more free space was added to the disk, SQL Server started rolling back this transaction. The initial estimation of SQL Server was that this procedure would take more than one full day to be completed, but usually this is...(read more)

How to identify the version of Sharepoint you are using

2009-07-06T13:38:00Z

At first glance, this seems to be a very simple question, but after a long research in the internet I could not find a clear answer!!! Thankfully, one of my colleagues had the answer and shared it with me :) Strange as it may seem, there are actually at least two methods you can do this: 1st Method 1. Navigate to the SharePoint Central Administration. 2. Click on Site Actions->Site Settings. 3. The version is just below Site Information. 4. Consult the table below to see what the version number...(read more)

How to allow a user to view a file over a network share, but at the same time stop him from copying this file?

2009-07-06T12:04:00Z

Recently we had a strange support request that had never occurred to me before: “Is there any combination of NTFS and share permissions that would allow a user to view a video file over a network share, but at the same time stop this user from copying this video?” Research and experimentation and research showed that there is no built-in Windows functionality to get the desired result. When a client wants to copy a file from a server share, there are access checks made at two different levels: 1....(read more)

How to export events from SQL Server 2005 and send them to the Windows Event Viewer Log

2009-07-06T11:17:00Z

Recently I was asked how to export events from a SQL Server 2005 and send them to the Event Viewer Log, so that the SCOM administrator could see these events. As I found out, there existed no “out of the box” solution for SQL Server 2005. The workaround we found was to develop our own solution: · At first you need to capture a profiler trace: o The profiler trace should be saved inside a database table and not inside a file. o You should use appropriate filters to avoid capturing unnecessary events...(read more)