Zen and the Art of SQL Server Maintenance

Windows Update Error 80072EE2

mwilmot — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:03:08 GMT

I am getting a Windows Update Error:80072EE2 when I try to run Windows Update. These steps seemed to help me. I don’t recommend updating your registry, but I tried it with success….

1. Click Start, open All Programs, and then click Accessories.
2. Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
3. Type the following commands below:
a. reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate /f
b. wmic /namespace:\\root\ccm\SoftwareUpdates\Wuahandler path CCM_UpdateSource delete
c. wmic /namespace:\\root\ccm\ScanAgent path CCM_ScanToolHistory delete
d. net stop wuauserv
e. net start wuauserv
4. Close the Command Prompt and restart the computer.
5. Test Windows Update to verify the issue is resolved.

Telerik

mwilmot — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:42:38 GMT

Been looking for some powerful software tools that I can produce rich .NET reports with WPF and Silverlight for a codeplex project I am working on (more details to follow soon). Over the years I have leveraged Telerik for their ASP.NET components while producing a site for Avtrak and been impressed with the RAD features and results - max impact with minimum effort. They have a nice WPF and SL toolset here that is powerful. Their documentation and support are excellent as well. Will keep you posted on the visualizations I come up with in WPF. This next gen toolset is going to be fun to work with.

SQL Server Resource Governor

mwilmot — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:22:24 GMT

Here is a podcast on the SQL Server Resource Governor and some related sample code. Shows examples of classifier functions, resource pools and groups, etc..

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/mwilmot/SQL-Server-Resource-Governor/

Here is an overview of the SQL Server Resource Governor in slides and some demos.
SQL Server 2008 provides Resource Governor, a feature than you can use to manage SQL Server workload and system resource consumption. Resource Governor enables you to specify limits on the amount of CPU and memory that incoming application requests can use.

Resource Governor is configurable in SQL Server Management Studio by using Transact-SQL statements or by using Object Explorer.

Resource Governor is available only on the Enterprise, Developer, and Evaluation editions of SQL Server.

use master
GO
sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;
RECONFIGURE;
GO

sp_configure
GO

sp_configure 'affinity mask', 1;
RECONFIGURE;
GO

CREATE FUNCTION fv1()
RETURNS SYSNAME WITH SCHEMABINDING
BEGIN
    DECLARE @val sysname
    if 'User1' = SUSER_SNAME()
        SET @val = 'gSlow';
    else if 'User2' = SUSER_SNAME()
        SET @val = 'gFast';
    return @val;
END
GO

-- Create pool for monitoring
CREATE RESOURCE POOL pSlow
WITH (MAX_CPU_PERCENT = 100)

CREATE RESOURCE POOL pFast
WITH (MAX_CPU_PERCENT = 100)

-- group definitions based on users
CREATE WORKLOAD GROUP gSlow
USING pSlow

CREATE WORKLOAD GROUP gFast
USING pFast

CREATE LOGIN User1 WITH PASSWORD = 'u1', CHECK_POLICY = OFF
CREATE LOGIN User2 WITH PASSWORD = 'u2', CHECK_POLICY = OFF
GO

ALTER RESOURCE GOVERNOR WITH (CLASSIFIER_FUNCTION=dbo.fv1)
ALTER RESOURCE GOVERNOR RECONFIGURE

-- verify the classification
select
    sess.session_id, sess.group_id, grps.name
from
    sys.dm_exec_sessions as sess join
    sys.dm_resource_governor_workload_groups as grps on sess.group_id = grps.group_id
where
    session_id > 50

--
ALTER RESOURCE POOL pSlow
WITH (MAX_CPU_PERCENT = 20)

ALTER RESOURCE POOL pFast
WITH (MAX_CPU_PERCENT = 80)

ALTER RESOURCE GOVERNOR RECONFIGURE

Open perfmon
Counters:
    -sql server resource pool load
    -sql server workload
    -cpu usage for pfast & pslow
-open 2 query analyzers and run the LOAD below for each user to get a sense of how the RG allocates resources to each. You can view the RG resources in SQL Server Mgmt Studio under Mgmt->Resource Governor
-1 for u1 and 1 for u2
------------------------------

---CREATE THE LOAD
set nocount on
declare @i int=100000000;
declare @s varchar(100);
declare @x float(10);

while @i > 0
begin
    select @s = @@version;
    --if (@i % 5 = 0)
        select @x=VAR(s1.object_id) FROM sys.all_columns s1 INNER JOIN sys.all_columns s2 ON s1.object_id = s2.object_id WHERE s1.name LIKE '%a%'
    set @i = @i - 1;
end

----------------------

TEAR DOWN

ALTER RESOURCE GOVERNOR WITH (CLASSIFIER_FUNCTION=null)
ALTER RESOURCE GOVERNOR RECONFIGURE
ALTER RESOURCE GOVERNOR DISABLE
ALTER RESOURCE GOVERNOR RECONFIGURE
DROP FUNCTION fv1
DROP LOGIN User1
DROP LOGIN User2
DROP WORKLOAD GROUP gSlow
DROP WORKLOAD GROUP gFast
DROP RESOURCE POOL pSlow
DROP RESOURCE POOL pFast

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) High Availability (some ideas I got from Steve Howard - MSFT PFE)

mwilmot — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 06:49:55 GMT

Recently a topic came up on SSIS High Availability. This is not a typical SSIS configuration. Steve Howard (Microsoft PFE) has done a lot of work on this topic and has come up with some interesting ideas. I am going to try to pass on what I learned. It may not be perfect (OK, it is probably a total hackjob), but hopefully it captures something you can consider in trying HA SSIS.

Here is an interesting way to make SSIS and clustering work together in a kind of HA setup. The goal is to have the SSIS package running under SQL Server Agent create a checkpoint so that if it fails on node a, it will pick it up on node b, since the SQL Agent is cluster aware. There should be a common folder on both nodes (ie C:\SSIS) that has the SSIS package. The strategy will be to have 2 SSIS packages. One will be called SkedAtStartup and one Will be Called MainPkg. The main goal of the SkedAtStartup package is to check for the checkpoint file. If it exists, it runs the MainPkg package thru an Execute Package task. If the checkpoint file does not exist, it does not run the MainPkg thru the ExecutePackage task - it just terminates. The precedence constraint below is designed to implement the logic to fire off the ExecutePackage task if the checkpoint file is found. The MainPkg will use checkpoints for all the control flow tasks and will have the config for the CheckPointPath var, the ServerName in the connection, and the InitialCatalog (not tempdb). The SkedAtStartup will be called when the cluster fails over to node b. The strategy is to leverage the fact that the SQL Agent will failover and run the SkedAtStartUp job, and the fact that you are logging the steps that were completed so that when the SkedAtStartup runs, it will pick up where the first node left off.

Setup a Windows and SQL Server Cluster
Make sure that the SQL Agent job is running
Setup a common SSIS package on both nodes to run under the context of a SQL Server Agent Job
The package should use checkpoints. It should pick up where the node a one left off if a checkpoint file exists.
Here are some screenshots from Steve's email:

Also, Steve pointed out that you can manage multiple SSIS instances from a singe SQL Server Instance by updating the MsDtsSrvr.ini.xml file per the below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

</Folder>

</Folder>

<Name>File System</Name>

<StorePath>..\Packages</StorePath>

</Folder>

</TopLevelFolders>

</DtsServiceConfiguration>

Here are some other posts on the topic:

http://dougbert.com/blogs/dougbert/archive/2009/04/09/ssis-and-clustering-what-you-should-do-instead.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb522568.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345193.aspx

SQL Server Reporting Services High Availability

mwilmot — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 05:45:57 GMT

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb522745.aspx

SQL Server 2000-2008 Security

mwilmot — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:50:07 GMT

Here are some security features from SQL 2000-2008 that I find relevant to SQL Server Security:

Transparent Data Encryption & External Key Management & Signed Modules
Auditing
User/Schema Separation
Change Data Capture
Policy Management
DDL Triggers
Code Access Security
SQL Login Policies
- Strong Passwords/Match AD

Logon Triggers
Stop SQL Injection with SqlCommand Object in .NET
Module Execution Context
Fine-Grained Permission Granularity
- Principles-Permissions-Securables

Grant-Revoke-Deny

Cell-level Encryption
Surface Area Configuration
Configuration Manager
Non-essential services shut down
Authentication Modes
Application Roles
SQL Browser moved to service, off by default
Windows & SQL Authentication
Domain Logons, NETWORK SERVICE, SYSTEM Logins
Secure by Design
Secure by Default
Server or Database Roles
Principles-Permissions-Securables
Cross Database Ownership Chaining

SQL Payment Card Industry Security

http://www.parentenet.com/news/0904_whitepaper.pdf

SQL Server 2008 Security

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/security.aspx

SQL Server Security Best Practices

2008

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/Security.aspx

2005

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2005/en/us/Security.aspx

2000

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc966456.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/cc984178.aspx

http://vyaskn.tripod.com/sql_server_security_best_practices.htm

Security Overview for DBAs

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/wp-sql-2008-security.aspx

SQL Server Common Criteria & SQL 2008

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/commoncriteria/certifications.mspx

http://www.cisecurity.org/bench_sqlserver.html

http://www.commoncriteriaportal.org/files/epfiles/0520a.pdf

SQL Server Compliance

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/compliance

http://sqlcat.com/msdnmirror/archive/2009/04/15/sql-resources-for-compliance.aspx

SQL Server Security Blog

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlsecurity/default.aspx

Center for Security Benchmarks for SQL Server

http://www.cisecurity.org/bench_sqlserver.html

Dept. of Defense & SQL 2008 Security

http://iase.disa.mil/stigs/checklist/db_srr_checklist_sql_server_v8r1-2.pdf

Microsoft vs. Oracle DB Security

http://www.ngssoftware.com/research/papers/comparison.pdf

Implementing Row- and Cell-Level Security in SQL Server 2005

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc966395.aspx

Payment Industry Security Practices

http://www.parentenet.com/news/0904_whitepaper.pdf

Courseware

2787A Designing Security for Microsoft SQL Server 2005

4614A Designing Security for Microsoft® SQL Server 2005 Designing Security for Microsoft® SQL Server 2005

4615A Designing Security for Microsoft SQL Server 2005

SQL Security NewsGroup

microsoft.public.sqlserver.security

Partitioned Tables and Indexes

mwilmot — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:03:00 GMT

Here is a good article on SQL Server 2005 Partitioned Tables and Indexes.

Virtual PC 2007 Console System Tray Problem Options.xml doesn't exist

mwilmot — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:52:00 GMT

I have a common Virtual PC 2007 problem with dual monitors for my SQL VMs... when I most need to use my Virtual PC software, often the console goes insane when using a dual monitor, and though I can limp along by using Virtual PC from the system tray, i can not run it from the console correctly. I searched for an options.xml file, but it didn't seem to exist. Turns out, the options.xml file is nicely HIDDEN in the location:

C:\Documents and Settings\(YOURLOGONNAMEHERE)\Application Data\Microsoft\Virtual PC

so I have spent hours trying to find an answer to this.

I found this entry in Options.xml:

<left_position type="integer">4294966036</left_position>

<top_position type="integer">20</top_position>

I changed the ubber 429... number to 0, saved the file and it worked well... guess MS never fixed that problem in the latest release of VPC....

Adding the checkbox in search to include hidden files and folders would have helped as well... I can't get back those lost hours of sleep, but when it happens again I will be ready next time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Terminal Services Configuration Settings for SQL Server Virtual Machine

mwilmot — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 03:21:00 GMT

Though this article is a bit outdated, it is helpful in setting up the Terminal Services settings for a SQL Server VM:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/win2kts/maintain/optimize/secw2kts.mspx

SharePoint and SSRS (Reporting Services) IIS Port Conflict

mwilmot — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:55:00 GMT

I have been having trouble installing SharePoint on the same Server as SQL 2005 due to port 80 conflicts.

If you search on "SharePoint" in SQL BOL (Books On Line) there are some good links to configure both on the same machine.

Here is some initial reasearch I have done.

Great doc! http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/attachment/4194088.ashx

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/attachment/4194088.ashx

http://blogs.ameriteach.com/chris-randall/2007/8/17/sql-server-reporting-services-ssrs-installationconfiguration.html

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/attachment/4194088.ashx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb326358.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb677368.aspx

There is also a reporting services add-in for SharePoint:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa905871.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb677368.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb326358.aspx

It also may be possible to host SSRS reports in the context of a SharePoint PageViewer control, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

Here is the SQL BOL Content:

You can run a report server and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services together on a single Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 server as long as each service runs in a different application pool and you add the Reporting Services virtual directories to the Windows SharePoint Services list of exclusions.

Installation Recommendations

You can install Reporting Services and Windows SharePoint Services in any order.

For best results, install the report server instance using the installation option that copies the program files to disk and performs minimal configuration. In the SQL Server Installation Wizard, this is the Install but do not configure server option. Use the Reporting Services Configuration tool after Setup is finished to complete the report server deployment.

Windows SharePoint Services can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download site. The executable that installs the service is stsv2.exe. To install Windows SharePoint Services, choose a computer that is running Windows Server 2003 with IIS 6.0 in Worker Process Isolation Mode and ASP.NET enabled.

Configuration Steps for Side-by-Side Deployment

The following steps explain how to run Windows SharePoint Services and Reporting Services together after both products are installed. You can configure the report server for deployment before or after the following steps are complete.

Run the following commands to add the Reporting Services virtual directories to the Windows SharePoint Services list of exclusions. If you installed Reporting Services using the default virtual directories, run the following at the command prompt:
Copy Code

STSADM.EXE -o addpath -url http://localhost/ReportServer -type exclusion
and
Copy Code

STSADM.EXE -o addpath -url http://localhost/Reports -type exclusion

	Copy Code
STSADM.EXE -o addpath -url http://localhost/ReportServer -type exclusion

	Copy Code
STSADM.EXE -o addpath -url http://localhost/Reports -type exclusion

Note:
By default, the stsadm.exe file is located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\60\bin.

Run the Reporting Services Configuration tool. If you have not yet configured the report server for operation, you must create the report server and Report Manager virtual directories, specify service accounts, and create the report server database. For more information about how to set the options in the tool, see Reporting Services Configuration F1 Help.

If you configured the report server before installing Windows SharePoint Services, check the application pool settings for the Web service to verify they are correct:
1. Open the Web Service Identity page.
2. Verify that the application pool for the report server and Report Manager is set to Default Application Pool (or another application pool that you defined for the service). The application pool used by the report server must be different from the one used by SharePoint Services.

Note:
In the previous release, the documentation recommended that you enable session state. Enabling session state is no longer a requirement. However, if you do not enable session state, session state for Report Manager folder pages that get set in detail view will not be preserved. If you require session state for detail view, enable session state by setting enableSessionState to true in the SharePoint Web.config file located at C:\Inetpub\wwwroot.

Note:

In the previous release, the documentation recommended that you enable session state. Enabling session state is no longer a requirement. However, if you do not enable session state, session state for Report Manager folder pages that get set in detail view will not be preserved. If you require session state for detail view, enable session state by setting enableSessionState to true in the SharePoint Web.config file located at C:\Inetpub\wwwroot.

Determine SQL Server Version

mwilmot — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:48:00 GMT

Here is a nice way to determine SQL Server Version Information aside from @@version:

SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('productversion'), SERVERPROPERTY ('productlevel'), SERVERPROPERTY ('edition')

AdventureWorks Sample Databases for SQL 2005

mwilmot — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:15:00 GMT

Here are the AdventureWorks Samples for SQL 2005 and 2008 .

Here is a good pointer to the AdventureWorks Sample Databases overview for SQL 2005.

I also found that there is a SqlRun_Tools.msi file under the setup disk ..\Tools\Setup that willl help with the sample db install as well.

There are also .sql scripts you can run to manually install under \90\Tools\Samples

Determine Space Used By a SQL Server Database with sp_SpaceUsed

mwilmot — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 03:05:00 GMT

Here is a nice link about how to determine space consumed by a SQL Server database for each table by Nigel Rivett:

and some other useful scripts:

VHD Resizer for Virtual Server or Virtual PC

mwilmot — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:33:00 GMT

Found this tool that is good for VHD / Virtual Hard drive / Virtual Machine resizing. I have been running SQL Server on a VM and the performace thus far is good. The December 2007 edition of SQL Server Magazine had some good articles about virtualizing SQL Server... said a deprication of performance of 25%. Thus far, for my test purposes, I see no major difference in performace from a standard windows server.

SQL Server 2008 (Katmai) New Features Overview

mwilmot — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 20:59:00 GMT

C:\Program Files\ProClarity\ProClarity Dashboard Server\Nice article on SQL 2008 (Katmai) New Features:

http://blogs.mssqltips.com/blogs/chadboyd/archive/2007/10/15/katmai-sql-2008-the-list-of-new-features.aspx

I have attached a PowerPoint file that has a listing of all the new features from the public SQL Server Connect site. You can download it from there.

Zen and the Art of SQL Server Maintenance

Windows Update Error 80072EE2

Telerik

SQL Server Resource Governor

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) High Availability (some ideas I got from Steve Howard - MSFT PFE)

SQL Server Reporting Services High Availability

SQL Server 2000-2008 Security

Partitioned Tables and Indexes

Virtual PC 2007 Console System Tray Problem Options.xml doesn't exist

Terminal Services Configuration Settings for SQL Server Virtual Machine

SharePoint and SSRS (Reporting Services) IIS Port Conflict

Installation Recommendations

Configuration Steps for Side-by-Side Deployment

See Also

Tasks

Concepts

Help and Information

Determine SQL Server Version

AdventureWorks Sample Databases for SQL 2005

Determine Space Used By a SQL Server Database with sp_SpaceUsed

VHD Resizer for Virtual Server or Virtual PC

SQL Server 2008 (Katmai) New Features Overview