Reed Me : 2008

Bing: there it is! My PPS setup problem(s) solved.

reedme — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:04:29 GMT

Obligatory bing plug. The name is growing on me... Link #1 in the search results was Nick Barclay’s great post on sorting out PPS setup issues with SQL Server 2008:

"System.Web.Extensions" performancepoint "configuration error" - Bing

Useful reference linkages:

Neither TechNet nor Nick were 100% dead-on, but together gave me enough to get the missing AJAX bits and stopped app pools sorted out. Thanks, folks.

Note to self on install order:

Windows Serve 2008 (x86 – if you want charting to work)
Web Server role
Windows Updates
SharePoint Services 3.0 with SP1
SQLNCLI 9.0 SP2
SQL Server 2005 ADOMD.NET
SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services
ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 (setup won’t ding you for it, but it’s absolutely required)
PerformancePoint 2007
PerformancePoint 2007 SP2
Configure SharePoint (with remote SQL Server 2008 databases)
Configure PPS M&A (with remote SQL Server 2008 databases)

Also, I’m not sure why Hyper-V guests don’t like the HP NC373i Multifunction Gigabit Server Adapter, but the only way that I could get Windows Server 2008 (x86) to recognize the network adapter under Hyper-V as a guest o/s was to use the Legacy Network Adapter instead of the Network Adapter. Not sure why; it wouldn’t even show up in Device Mangler when I used the Network Adapter. The only thing I didn’t try was tracking down the drivers from HP and installing them in the guest o/s the old-fashioned way, since the Legacy Network Adapter works just fine (so far).

One more thing: Team Foundation Server 2010 Beta 1 rocks! However, it didn’t play nice with PPS and PAS, so it’ll have to be lonely over there in its own little VM.

Maybe I’ll describe my adventures with the chainsaw tomorrow...

Whoops. Got to uninstall all the .NET 4.x bits or Server Manager breaks...

reedme — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:26:48 GMT

Fiddling around with TFS 2010 (x64) got me into a little trouble:

"MMC could not create the snap-in. The snap-in might not have been installed correctly. CLSID: FX:{18ea3f92-d6aa-41d9-a205-2023400c8fbb}"

Doh.

Fortunately, there were just two more .NET 4.x Beta 1 items in PAF (on 2008, formerly known as ARP on 2003) that I overlooked for a total of 4 items to uninstall to put the system back in order.

I was right: I was wrong. 15% was too much.

reedme — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:34:56 GMT

One of the shiny new features added to Management Studio for 2008 allows you to plot spatial data for any table that has geography or geometry data in the new spatial types. This comes in pretty handy for doing quick visual inspection of small spatial data sets... and it turns out that my early suspicion was correct.

In retrospect, 15% might be a bit too much potential randomness.
Reed Me : Geocoding semi-imaginary data points

Bonnie noticed that the variation much to wide and sent me back to the drawing board. The state of Washington addresses alone turned into a rectangular noise pattern. Whoops. I'm still learning my way around, but even I know that Lynnwood is *not* east of Redmond. Doh! (Sorry, Weird Al. We feex dat!)

We're going to fiddle with some parameters, but it looks like 0.15% (0.0015) might give us an OK seeming distribution of semi-imaginary addresses around the postal code center without putting Yakima addresses in the Pacific Ocean.

A big thanks to the improvement team for getting this cool tool into SQL Server 2008, especially Ivor, for prodding me to take another look at the AdventureWorks2008 data.

SQL Server 2008 RC0 Samples are up!

reedme — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 03:11:39 GMT

I'm still recovering from three weeks OOF, but my teammates in Redmond and Beijing have done a great job getting the next preview of SQL Server 2008 samples ready for you.

The main CodePlex portal for SQL Server Samples has links to all the individual projects. But if you want to just grab the whole kit-and-caboodle at once (~200MB including sample databases), they're all there to download.

Breaking News! AdventureWorks abandoned for Katmai in favor of Northwind, pubs and...

reedme — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:01:45 GMT

In a striking change of direction, I'm happy to announce that AdventureWorks is being deprecated and abandoned for SQL Server 2008 samples in favor of long-time favorite databases of simple-minded data modelers: Northwind and pubs.

Also, I can gleefully announce, in the spirit of oversimplification, that work is underway on ports of the Oracle sample schemas named:

The creatively-named Oracle sample schema IX "might" present a challenge for SQL Server; however, we're going to give it a college try... for April Fools' Day.

Heh.

Seriously, though, one person out of billions of (conscious or unconscious) SQL Server users has formally asked us to [re]include Northwind and pubs in our Official Family of Sample Databases™:

Feedback: Include option for Northwind Database install with SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 (connect.microsoft.com)

Since nobody has voted for it (not even the original requestor), we can only assume that it was filed on Connect as an early April Fools' joke.

[For the record, I hate April Fools' Day, but I am trying to get into the spirit of the faux holiday.]

SQL Server gurus: Find bugs. Win an Xbox 360?

reedme — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:48:41 GMT

If you don't think there are any bugs in SQL Server 2008 CTP6 -or- if you wouldn't know what to do with a shiny new Xbox 360, then this contest is not for you.

For everyone else, there are enough categories and potential 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes that you'd have to simply not report any bugs to have no chance to win!

Number of overall reproducible non-duplicate bugs submitted during Entry Period.

Most critical reproducible non-duplicate bug submitted during Entry period.

Most Voted-for reproducible non-duplicate bug submitted during Entry Period.

Number of IA-64 platform reproducible non-duplicate bugs submitted during Entry Period.

Number of x86 platform reproducible non-duplicate bugs submitted during Entry Period.

Number of x64 platform reproducible non-duplicate bugs submitted during Entry Period.

Number of SQL Express version reproducible non-duplicate bugs submitted during Entry Period.

Most critical reproducible non-duplicate Reporting Services Report Upgrade bug submitted during Entry Period.

Number of reproducible non-duplicate Reporting Services Report Upgrade bugs submitted during Entry Period

Most severe reproducible non-duplicate security bug submitted during Entry Period.

Number of reproducible non-duplicate localization version bugs submitted during Entry Period

Number of qualified reproducible non-duplicate SQL Server 2008 UI string translation (linguistic) bugs submitted during Entry Period

Number of reproducible non-duplicate SQL Server 2008 Full Text Search bugs submitted during Entry Period

Number of reproducible non-duplicate SQL Server 2008 Spatial bugs submitted during Entry Period

Number of reproducible non-duplicate SQL Server 2008 Resource Governor bugs submitted during Entry Period

Number of reproducible non-duplicate SQL Server 2008 failover cluster bugs submitted during Entry Period

Number of reproducible non-duplicate SQL Server 2008 upgrade bugs submitted during Entry Period

Number of reproducible non-duplicate SQL Server 2008 Collation Sorting & Comparison bugs submitted during Entry Period

See the official rules on Connect for any additions, addendums, clarifications, legalese and/or to play: SQL Server 2008 February CTP - Bug Bash Official Rules

Unfortunately, I'm not eligible to play, or I'd beat *you* easily. Heh.

Charging toward CTP6 on Longhorn...

reedme — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:57:24 GMT

This weekend was going to be the one to setup Windows Home Server, but I got distracted by Windows Server 2008 when I just happened to see the x86 bits hit MSDN... which reminded me that I should covert my development VPC images over to 2008. (I've been busy with Mass Effect. Sorry.) I like Longhorn so far; the install is pretty simple and I think I like some of the changes there, but on disk its fatter than I'd hoped (<900MB or so bigger than a fully patched 2003 server image, but still fat). I guess I'm still bummed that I can't run SQL Server on a Core installation...

Dropped the latest internal/prerelease build of SQL Server 2008 onto it (gotta love undo disks!) for testing some AdventureWorks 2008 stuff and other samples and everything was clean. When I tried to install the x64 bits into the VPC image (I hadn't had my caffeine quota yet for the morning), the JavaScript error message from the setup HTA about platform mismatch wasn't as pretty as one might wish for, but... that just means that I need to switch my workstation to the x64 version of Virtual Server so that I can run x64 images and stop caring about x86 media entirely... Which would mean that they wouldn't work on my x86 tablet, though. Grrr!! Curses upon the accounting demons of the hardware refresh cycle budget! (Perhaps I should listen to something more peaceful than Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder & Lead" at work? Something soothing like the new Megadeath re-re-release?) Maybe I'll give up running VPCs on my tablet altogether and go back to remote desktop-only work from the aging Toshiba... but it doesn't have dual monitors like my workstation!! Where's my medication? (Gabe's explanation of the comic is a must read, too.)

Anyway, I have all my 2008s lined up in a row now and it all rocks together!! I noticed that 2008 includes a choice of enabling Vista look-n-feel, so maybe I'll give it a test spin on my workstation this week instead for Vista x64 (which is overdue for a reinstall already, for reasons that will best be forgotten and not Vista's fault at all -- caffeine is a jealous, jealous mistress).

Mmmm. SQL Server PowerShell. Yummy!!

How do I use Feature X in SQL Server?

reedme — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:20:18 GMT

Buck's got a great point about how SQL Server's development themes are managed from the top down:

It isn't a matter of thinking up single features or changes to the product, it's a cohesive direction we all want to go.
Carpe Datum : Why on earth are you working on that?

Reading his blog always make me wish that I could translate the pun in the title of my blog into Latin, too. Heh.

However, when it comes down to actually using SQL Server's new features du jour (see how I get my exotic language points in, too?), it's all about the individual features and changes to the product. Which is where the product samples and community projects come in... We (collectively) have got to take the roadmap and figure out the simplest way to show people how to use individual features and changes to the product in 2008.

Here are of the new features that we're fixin' to show off in the AdventureWorks 2008 family of databases. (Yes, I just moved from Tejas to Redmond, so we're fixin' to. Deal wit' it.)

Support for Entity Framework
Integrated full text indexing support
New data types

New date/time types
ORDPATH
FILESTREAM
GEOGRAPHY

Backup compression

At least that's the current plan. We're working through some changes that we tentatively plan to ship in the CTP6/joint launch timeframe. Among other things, I'd like to figure out how to get transparent data encryption and some others in there, too. BUT some of the self-imposed constraints for the AdventureWorks family of databases are that they have to be easy to deploy... and easy to understand. I've got half a mission statement for the AdventureWorks databases drafted, but those are two of the core principles.

Easy to understand is the driver that prompted Bonnie last year to create the newest member of the AdventureWorks family of databases: AdventureWorks LT. We (before I was part of we) had received feedback from customers that there are some folks who are new to the database universe who struggle with a higher level of normalization that the AdventureWorks OLTP database demonstrates, so AdventureWorks LT was born. It's a subset of the AdventureWorks data in a greatly denormalized format that is easier for instructors to demonstrate simple T-SQL concepts with and easier for new students of database technology to grasp. But I digress... If you yearn for the simplicity of Northwind or pubs, check out AdventureWorks LT and let me know what you think.

If you've got a favorite Feature X that you'd like to see in the AdventureWorks 2008 schemas, now is the time to voice your opinion. Let's hear it!

[Obligatory Disclaimer: Like the Any Key of legend, the name Feature X is a convenient placeholder or wildcard term. There is not now, nor has there ever been, a part of SQL Server called Feature X. As far as you know.]

Hi, Mom! (And everybody else.)

reedme — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:06:55 GMT

"So, what do you do?" It's a common enough question, right? Usually immediately subsequent to "Where do you work?" People ask it to break the ice. They ask it because they're interested. They ask it because they can't believe somebody actually pays me to work @ Microsoft. Heh. Even my eight year-old son asks me the same question. Over and over. Again this morning, before breakfast!

Imagine trying to explain what a Program Manager does to an eight year-old. (Apparently all of my previous attempts at explanation have been lost in the mists of prepubescent time.) Well, actually, I'm still struggling to figure it out myself and I are one (for almost a whole month now!).

So, here goes... For my mother, my oldest son (and everybody else who cares), I've circled below the little corner of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 that is more (or less) my fault in some small fashion. The rest of the team has been doing it for a lot longer than I and they deserve all the real credit! I'm just showing up at the last minute to take the blame. Heh.

With the November 2007 Community Technology Preview (aka CTP5), we added a link from the SQL Server Installation Center to our little home in CodePlex where all of the "official" samples live. You'll also find a shortcut to it after installation under Microsoft SQL Server 2008\Documentation and Tutorials\Microsoft SQL Server Samples Overview. At least it was there with the CTP5 bits... (Let's hope it stays there, eh?)

We've got a lot of cool new stuff coming "real soon now" from the SQL Server Community & Samples team, so stay tuned here, on Bonnie's blog and on CodePlex.com\SQLServerSamples.

FILESTREAM, Windows Vista and you.

reedme — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:16:52 GMT

I won't complain about yet-another-configuration-stored-procedure, since I hold out hope that managing FILESTREAM's status at the server level will be rolled into sp_configure or DDL before RTM... but this is me not holding my breath. *sigh*

Anyway, if you want to use FILESTREAM data on your SQL Server 2008 instance (hopefully with the November 2007 CTP (aka CTP5), you should check the readme for some of the little gotchas. Then you've got to turn it on (Books Online for CTP5 makes this pretty obvious if you look):

sp_filestream_configure [ [ @enable_level = ] level ]
[ [ , @share_name = ] 'share_name' ] ;

Seems easy enough... (Hint: you want @enable_level = 3.) Unless you're running Windows Vista and if you don't remember to launch your SQL Server Management Studio 2008 (SSMS) elevated. If you forget (like I do occasionally - until I remember to flip the run-as-administrator bit on the shortcut) then you'll get this error (or one just like it):

(local)(MYDOMAIN\myusername): Msg 5587, Level 14, State 1, Procedure sp_filestream_configure, Line 1
You do not have permissions to configure FILESTREAM feature. You need Windows Administrator and sysadmin rights to configure FILESTREAM feature.

Whoops. I'm an administrator, but UAC forgot to tell SQL Server that (on purpose). Doh. Elevate! Either right-click and Run as administrator or change your shortcut to do the same.

Why am I warning you about this? Because we're planning to ship AdventureWorks2008 with some FILESTREAM data in it and if you want an easy way to demo FILESTREAM, AdventureWorks2008 is it! No promises on exact features to be included in anything, including AdventureWorks2008, so [Insert standard Microsoft pre-RTM disclaimer here]. Caveat downloader.

Belated happy annibirthary, SQL Server.

reedme — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 20:02:32 GMT

I always seem to miss birthdays and anniversaries. *sigh* Not sure whether to call this one a birthday or an anniversary. Maybe the anniversary of prenatal announcement? Or was this back when nobody announced a product until it was done. (Did that ever happen? Or was I dreaming?)

Yesterday in history...

January 16, 1988 - Microsoft and Ashton-Tate announce Microsoft SQL Server, a relational database server software product for local area networks (LANs) based on a relational database management system licensed from Sybase.

Wow. Twenty years. I'm not sure I want to remember what I was doing in 1988... or how long my hair was. Heh.

Big brother (or SkyNet) is coming... to a PC near you.

reedme — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:18:24 GMT

I loved the book 1984, even though it was almost 1984 by the time I read it. The fact that the date was around the corner and technology wasn't anywhere close kind of took the punch out of the story. I guess it didn't scare me the way it scared "previous generations" (to put it politely). Perhaps being able to fool a lie detector later in life clinched it for me... Any system can be beaten; you just have to figure out how.

Labor unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer's assessment of their physiological state.
Microsoft System May Monitor Workers' Brains, Bodies (FOXNews.com)

I'm not concerned about the automated dismissal so much as I am about where and how we're going to store all of that telemetry data. Wow! Imagine how much sensor data would have to be collected every polling period (1 second?), centralized and sanitized to make it useful... Multiply that times 100,000 employees over the course of a couple years and you've got a serious data warehousing problem. Not to mention the AI for alerting someone in HR that a pink slip cannon needs to be activated.

Watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles this past two evenings did make me starting knoodling about the complexities of the database systems required for SkyNet's C3 systems (command, control and communications). Wouldn't that be a fun database to model on SQL Server 2008? Wish I had more free time!

Fiction is rapidly becoming science. Brought to you by Microsoft.

Sun makes database play! Is MySQL worth $1B?

reedme — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:12:04 GMT

Now don't that take the rag off'n the bush?

Sun Microsystems Inc. has agreed to buy open-source software maker MySQL AB for $1 billion, and said its fiscal second-quarter net income nearly doubled on boosted margins, according to preliminary results.
Sun Micro to Buy MySQL, Maker of Open-Source Database (WSJ.com)

It's going to be a fun year!

I'm not the only one! Poor lil' guy...

reedme — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 04:48:05 GMT

Although he probably won't live as long as I do, I still feel a little sad for the poor fellow.

"I won’t tell you what I actually do now on Microsoft.com. It’s too embarrassing."
The Lone Server @ Microsoft.com

Not. What a whiner... Upgrade or die! Heh.

Inquiring transplants want to know, too: Who ordered snow?

reedme — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 03:27:20 GMT

When I was interviewing, everybody kept telling me how it *wink* almost never snows here. *wink* Uh-huh. Sure. Seen it twice already since we moved. Must be global warming.

"Schools running late but not work."
Steve Clayton: Geek In Disguise : Who ordered snow?

Bought a Sequoia anyway, so there.