Goals for 2011
After getting tagged by Denis Gobo, I put my 2011 goals down on paper.
Yearly Archive: 2010
Identifying Key and RID Lookup Issues and How to Resolve
Tip : Identifying Key and RID Lookup Issues and How to Resolve
SSMS Tools Pack now supports Denali CTP1
Earlier today, Mladen Prajdić (blog | twitter) released an updated version of his SSMS Tools Pack (v.1.9.4), a free add-in for Management Studio that provides a ton of helpful functionality that isn't available with...
Cumulative Update #1 for SQL Server 2005 SP4
Well, much quicker than I would have suspected, the SQL Server Release Services team has incorporated all of the fixes in 2005 SP3's CU #12 into the first CU for SP4. Thanks to Chris...
SQL Sentry Plan Explorer : Version 1.1!
Last week, Microsoft offered up an early Christmas present: SQL Server 2005 SP4. This week, it's SQL Sentry's turn to play Santa Claus: several new features and fixes have been packaged up into SQL...
Cumulative Updates for SQL Server 2005 SP3 and 2008 R2 are available
After releasing SQL Server 2005 SP4 on Friday (you can read more about it here), the release services team did not hang up their hats for the Christmas holiday, but continued working on other...
The curious case(s) of the Microsoft product naming department
I talk about some questionable choices by the SQL Server naming committee.
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Metadata enhancements
See some new metadata-related features introduced in SQL Server 2012.
SQL Server 2005 SP4 is here!
Yes, the day has finally arrived, and a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. Typically when Microsoft promises a release in Qx or Hx, the software comes on the last or second last day...
Slide Deck & Demos : Charlotte SQL Server User Group, 2010-12-15
On Wednesday I presented my "What's New in Denali" presentation in Charlotte, NC. Attached is a .zip file containing the PowerPoint presentation, as well as the scripts used in the demos and some sample...
What permissions are required for SET IDENTITY_INSERT ON?
Some older versions of SQL Server documentation were not very precise about the permissions required to change a table's IDENTITY_INSERT setting.
The old "do as I say, not as I do" problem
Sometimes, Microsoft's documentation – and the occasional comment in their own code – doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence.
T-SQL Tuesday #13 : Business Expectations
This month's T-SQL Tuesday is being hosted by Steve Jones (@way0utwest) over at SQLServerCentral. For some history on T-SQL Tuesday, see Adam Machanic's posts here and here. The topic this time is summarized as:...
Ola Hallengren adds STATISTICS support to his solution
Last week, Ola published a very useful update to his Backup, Integrity Check and Index Optimization scripts: the solution now supports updating statistics. There are several options, such as only updating when the data...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Deriving sets using SEQUENCE
One complaint about SEQUENCE is that there is no simple construct such as NEXT (@n) VALUES FOR so that you could get a range of SEQUENCE values as a set. In a previous post...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : More on contained databases and "contained users"
One of the reasons for contained databases (see my previous post) is to allow for a more seamless transition when moving a database from one server to another. One of the biggest complications in...
Slides : Philly SSUG, 2010-12-08
Attached are the slides and samples from my presentation to the Philadelphia SQL Server User Group on December 8 (Denali_PSSUG_20101208.zip). Please let me know if you have any problems. File Attachment: Denali_PSSUG_20101208.zip
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Another SSMS bug that should be fixed
Sorry to call this out in a separate post (I talked about a bunch of SSMS Connect items the other day), but Aaron Nelson (blog | twitter) jogged my memory today about an issue...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Launch point for BI resources
Microsoft's new data platform vision for BI is called BISM – Business Intelligence Semantic Model. While I focus primarily on manageability, availability and database engine features, I'd like to keep tabs on who can...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : How has sys.databases changed?
Earlier, I documented the system objects that have changed in Denali. One that caught my eye was a slew of new columns made available through sys.databases, mostly to support a feature I also blogged...
[OT] : An open blog post to bit.ly
I am not sure when it happened, but at some point, bit.ly marked all URLs to connect.microsoft.com as dangerous. So for example, I created this shortened link http://bit.ly/fKKQPT which just goes to http://web.archive.org/web/*/https://connect.microsoft.com/sql/. When...
Find unused SQL Server indexes with Policy Based Management
Tip : Find unused SQL Server indexes with Policy Based Management
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Some Management Studio bugs you should vote for
It's been a while since I hosted a true Connect pity party digest, trying to pimp your votes for the issues I think are worthwhile. And okay, some of these bugs haven't been filed...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : New, Changed and Removed System Objects
While it's still only the CTP1 timeframe, getting a glimpse of the changes in system objects can start preparing you for what's coming – especially when there are potential breaking changes, as you'll see...
Debugging T-SQL in SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : You can make a difference!
This afternoon, Adam Machanic (blog | twitter) reminded me how the current T-SQL debugger in Management Studio is ineffective. Sure, there are some enhancements coming in Denali (I mentioned them briefly yesterday), but there...
What I'm Thankful For
It's the day before American Thanksgiving, and Jason Strate (blog | twitter) has asked all of us to tell the SQL community what we're thankful for. While I seem to recall doing this before,...
More intuitive tool for reading SQL Server execution plans
Tip : More intuitive tool for reading SQL Server execution plans
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : The New SSMS
In SQL Server Denali, Management Studio has been entirely migrated from its earlier incarnation. Previously SSMS had slight traces here and there that it was a distant cousin to Visual Studio; in this release,...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Exploring THROW
Sadly, THROW is not mentioned in the Programmability Enhancements (Database Engine) topic of Denali's "What's New" section. So, unless you were at PASS Summit, have been reading the various blogs from the keynotes and...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Restoring a SQL Server 2000 database
I guess the title should be, "You can't restore a SQL Server 2000 database on Denali." I had the occasion just today to recover some data from a backup I took way back in...
Cumulative Updates for SQL Server 2008 are available
On Monday, the SQL Server Release Services team released cumulative updates for both SQL Server 2008 SP1 and SQL Server 2008 SP2. The cumulative update for SP2 restores the fixes that were potentially undone...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Contained Databases
A problem that has plagued SQL Server for a long time is that a database is not very portable. Sure, you can backup or detach a database and restore or attach it elsewhere, but...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Books Online
There are posts elsewhere that go through the whole rigamarole. I just wanted to highlight the key bullet points: if you want to use Books Online locally, you will need to: install Books Online...
Reflections on the 2010 PASS Summit
It hasn't been 24 hours since I left behind a slew of new and old friends in Seattle, and I already feel – as someone else put it – that I've left summer camp...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : The instance is down; what happened?
If you come across a SQL Server that is not running, it can be troublesome to determine what happened and when. You can run through the Windows event viewer, but this can be a...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Using SEQUENCE
SQL Server 2011 introduces a feature that Oracle professionals will certainly recognize: SEQUENCE. SEQUENCE allows you to define a central place where SQL Server will maintain a counter of values for you. The last-used...
Blogging from the PASS keynote : 2010-11-11
Rick Heiges comes on stage and talks about the way the Board of Directors works. He sent off Lynda Rab, a director since 2007. He introduces the new Directors-at-Large: Douglas McDowell, Andy Warren, and...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Using the OFFSET clause (paging)
A very common request over the past, oh, 10 years, maybe more, has been better support for paging within T-SQL (this Connect request dates back to 2005). Well, you will see some broader support...
Blogging from the PASS keynote : 2010-11-10
It is the second day of keynotes at PASS, and we're gearing up for Quentin Clark's presentation. There are not as many kilts around as I would have expected, and I'm only noticing because...
SQL Server 2012 : Breaking change to #temp tables
Discover a potentially breaking change to how object_id values are assigned to #temp tables starting with SQL Server 2012.
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Installing AdventureWorks2008R2
After five tries, I've given up trying to install AdventureWorks on machines where Denali exists – even in cases where 2008 or 2008 R2 instances also exist, and when my goal is to install...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Setup walk-through
The next version of SQL Server (codenamed "Denali"), I suspect, will be released sometime toward the end of 2011; I will stress, however, that this is nothing more than a barely-educated guess. Please don't...
Blogging from the PASS Keynote : 2010-11-09
The keynote starts off with a tine Turner impersonator (or maybe it really was Tina?): Rushabh Mehta (donning the Tina wig) delivers the first segment of the keynote, telling the SQL Server community...
You Can Help Too : SQL Geeks for Good
Kalen Delaney has called out to the altruist in each of us to help out a former student's mission trip to San Ramon, Nicaragua: Did You Know : SQL Geeks for Good I think...
Now we're getting somewhere : the MSXML6 issue
Last February / March, I wrote several posts about an issue with MSXML6 on Windows XP which prevented the installation of SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, and even service packs or cumulative updates...
SQL Server 2005 SP4 CTP is available for download
Yesterday, Microsoft released a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 4. You can read about the release on the following blog post from SQL Release Services: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlreleaseservices/…preview-available.aspx If you don't...
Blogging from the SQL Connections keynote
Quentin Clark is on stage right now talking about high-level SQL Server stuff. I think I can take this time to explain how Connections is different from PASS (at least according to my first...
T-SQL Tuesday #12 : Are hotshot DBA skills necessary?
Let's face it, there is a wide variety of skill out there. If you spend any time monitoring Stack Overflow, MSDN forums, Ask SQL Server Central or twitter's #sqlhelp hash tag, you'll be very...
What PASS sessions will I try to attend?
Every year at PASS, I do the same thing. I hmm and haw over which sessions I want to go to, and I end up making some tough choices at game time. This year...
What will I be doing at PASS?
I felt horrible last year when I missed the MVP Deep Dives book signing at PASS. I took part instead in a focus group that ran a little late, and still regret it. So...