SQL Server Premier Field Engineer Posts / Rants..

Windows 7: Be first. Save half.

2009-06-26T07:49:00Z

Pre-order Windows 7 today at Microsoft Store. You'll get it for at least half off and be one of the first to get it. Hurry, quantities are limited.*

It's pretty simple

Windows 7 is coming on October 22, 2009. Here's an easy way to get it fast and save a bundle: Pre-order a Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $49 or a Windows 7 Professional Upgrade for $99 at Microsoft Store. That's about half off the estimated retail prices.

Want more info?

Go to the Windows team blog and find out all the details.

* The offer begins on June 26, 2009 and will continue while supplies last, or until July 11, 2009, whichever comes first.

SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard (Difference of two datetime values caused an overflow at runtime) error message...

2008-08-12T07:45:00Z

I recently came across this error "Difference of two datetime values caused an overflow at runtime" when I open the performance_dashboard_main_report.

Thanks to Keith Elmore for providing the fix and allowing me to post this here.

This is a caused by one of the queries in the report that attempts to do a datediff for a session that has been connected to the server for longer than ~20 days. This can be fixed by editing the MS_PerfDashboard.usp_Main_GetSessionInfo procedure in setup.sql script as follows:

ORIGINAL:

sum(convert(bigint, datediff(ms, login_time, getdate()))) - sum(convert(bigint, s.total_elapsed_time)) as idle_connection_time,

CHANGE TO:

sum(convert(bigint, CAST ( DATEDIFF ( minute, login_time, getdate()) AS BIGINT)*60000 + DATEDIFF ( millisecond, DATEADD ( minute, DATEDIFF ( minute, login_time, getdate() ), login_time ),getdate() ))) - sum(convert(bigint, s.total_elapsed_time)) as idle_connection_time,

Visual Studio 2008 SP1 released

2008-08-12T06:25:00Z

VS 2008 SP1 is released and can be downloaded here..

This should now fix the errors that were encountered while installing SQL Server 2008 RTM as mentioned in my previous blog post.

Problems installing SQL Server 2008 (RTM Build)

2008-08-09T23:13:00Z

SQL Server 2008 is released but a lot of users who have installed Visual Studio 2008 are having problems installing SQL 2008.

The error message a lot of users are seeing is :

Rule "Previous releases of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008" failed.

A previous release of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 is installed on this computer. Upgrade Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 to the SP1 before installing SQL Server 2008.

The SQL Server 2008 Release Notes which can be found here has the updated information on how to proceed further with the install.
KB 956139 talks about the issue and can be found here...

If you have Visual Studio 2008 (RTM) version installed do the following:

1. Wait till the release of SP1 for Visual Studio 2008. Due next week
2. Uninstall all VS 2008 components and then install SQL 2008.
3. Install SQL 2008 components that don't require VS 2008.

Online Indexing Operation

2008-01-10T21:38:00Z

I came across a great whitepaper written by the SQL Server Storage Engine team and can be downloaded here

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2005/onlineindex.mspx

SQL Server 2008 CTP5 is released

2007-11-20T08:30:00Z

SQL Server 2008 CTP 5 is released and can be downloaded here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3BF4C5CA-B905-4EBC-8901-1D4C1D1DA884&displaylang=en

http://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer

SQL Server 2008 CTP 4 is now available

2007-08-01T04:17:00Z

SQL Server 2008 CTP-4 is officially released. Get it here https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer

What's DAC?

2007-07-11T00:48:00Z

In the past there have been many instances where the SQL Server (database engine) has become unresponsive which could result in users / administrators not being able to connect to the server to troubleshoot issues etc. SQL 2005 has a new feature called " Dedicated Administrator Connection (DAC)".

The Admin Connection (DAC) always uses a specific TCP end point which is always attached to a dedicated UMS. To ensure that resources will be available SQL Server only permits one DAC connection per instance. If there is an active DAC connection open all new requests to connect via DAC are denied. Only members with the SysAdmin role will be able to connect to the database engine using DAC.

Resources that could spawn multiple threads or resource intensive queries should not be run using a DAC connection.

A DAC connection is created in 2 ways

a. SQLCMD utility or

b. Using SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio)

you must use the -A switch when using SQLCMD

E.g.

D:\> SQLCMD -S <servername> -E (to use your NT authentication) or -U<usrname> -P <password> -A

you can also connect via SSMS using admin:<servername>

DAC feature can be turned on / off using either SSMS or the Surface Area Configuration Utility.

sp_configure 'remote admin connections' , '1'

reconfigure with override

Backing up Large Databases

2007-06-20T20:34:00Z

A database restore from a backup is a repair / recovery feature and not a high availability feature. If you are running a mission-critical system and if your database requires high availability, then please look into various H/A features available with SQL Server 2005.

If you are running a mission-critical system then you need your database to be available continuously or for extended periods of time with minimal down-time for maintenance tasks. So, the time required for databases to be restored must be kept as short as possible. Also, if your databases are large (VLDB's) , which may require a longer time to perform backup and restore then you SHOULD look into some cool features SQL Server offers to increase the speed of backup and restore operations to minimize the effect on users during both operations.

If you are backing up or restoring a Large Database (VLDB) then try and use multiple backup devices simultaneously to allow backups to be written to all the devices at the same time. (Note: A database can be restored from multiple devices at the same time)

Use a mirrored media set. A total of four mirrors is possible per media set. With the mirrored media set, the backup operation writes to multiple groups of backup devices. Each group of backup devices makes up a single mirror in the mirrored media set. Every mirror must use the same quantity and type of physical backup devices, which must all have the same properties.

If the database recovery model is set to FULL, then use the available backup options e.x. (FULL, DIFFERENTIAL, LOG). This will help to minimize the number of backups that need to be applied to bring the database to the point of failure.

Make use of the file and filegroup backup option . This allows for only those files that contain the relevant data, instead of the whole database, to be backed up or restored.

Use Snapshot backups to minimize backup and restore time. (such type of backups are usually supported by third-party vendors)

Tech Ed

2007-06-04T22:04:00Z

As you all might know this years teched is being hosted in Orlando. For those who are unable to attend the event in person feel free to visit http://virtualteched.com/Pages/default.aspx

SQL Server 2008

2007-06-04T20:48:00Z

The first public CTP of Katmai will be available for download from http://connect.microsoft.com/sqlserver.

The name for the next release of SQL Server™: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, formerly code-named SQL Server “Katmai,” and the delivery of the first SQL Server 2008 Community Technology Preview (CTP), now available for customer download at http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/futureversion/default.mspx

Be sure to check out the live web cast of Dave Campbell's Katmai Overview presentation at Tech Ed in Orlando.

TechNet Webcast: The Next Release of Microsoft SQL Server: Overview (Level 200)

Monday, June 4, 2007

12:00 P.M. - 1:15 P.M. Pacific Time