Getting graphical ShowPlans back in SQL Server 2008 R2
For those of you using the SQL Server 2008 R2 version of Management Studio, and have applied Service Pack 1, you have probably noticed that clicking on a ShowPlan in grid results no longer...
Monthly Archive: October 2011
A birthday, of sorts…
A year ago today, I made quite easily the best decision of my career, and joined the folks at SQL Sentry. I explained a lot of this process in a blog post last year,...
SQL Sentry Plan Explorer v1.3
On Friday, we published a new version of our free query plan analysis tool, SQL Sentry Plan Explorer. We've added a couple of important features: SQL Server 2012 support With a whole slew of...
A rose by any other name…
At the PASS Summit, one of the most anticipated announcements was the release date, and marketing label, for SQL Server code-named "Denali" – the release date is "first half of 2012" (which probably means...
Unexpected errors from table-valued functions
See why you might be getting unexpected syntax errors when using builtins within table-valued function calls.
Finding keyless tables across multiple servers
See a quick metadata script that finds all tables, across all user databases, without a primary key.
What do BETWEEN and the devil have in common?
Learn why you shouldn't use BETWEEN for date range queries, even with the date data type.
Cumulative Update #1 for SQL Server 2008 SP3 is available!
The first cumulative update for SQL Server 2008 SP3 is available. Build number: 10.00.5766 KB Article: KB #2617146 19 fixes Please note: this update is not for SQL Server 2008 R2 or for SQL...
Cumulative Updates for SQL Server 2008 R2 are available!
Today Microsoft has released Cumulative Updates for SQL Server 2008 R2. Cumulative Update #10 for SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM Build number: 10.50.1807 KB article: KB #2591746 13 fixes Cumulative Update #3 for SQL...
Blogging from the PASS Summit Keynote : Day 3
This is a rough morning. Got in at 2:00 AM, then had no water in my hotel this morning. I doubt I will ever voluntarily stay at the Seattle Hilton again. Still, I'm very...
Blogging from the PASS Summit Keynote : Day 2
VP Finance, Bill Graziano comes on stage in a great kilt (but white socks!). No Tina Turner this year. 1,000 people from 53 countries watched the keynote yesterday. He recognizes Tim Radney (@tradney) and...
PASS Summit 2011 Resource List : What's New in SQL Server 2012
At PASS I am giving a presentation on Denali SQL Server 2012 – What's New in Engine and Tools. In previous blog posts I've compiled a list of resources and, now that CTP3 is...
Blogging from the PASS Summit Keynote : Day 1
Before the lights came down, I had already hit what will probably be the highlight of my morning: having a brief conversation with Dr. David DeWitt. Rushabh Mehta, President, PASS Rushabh Mehta comes on...
Getting Juneau CTP3 to work – SqlCeManager issues
Since installing Juneau, I've had various issues accomplishing even the simplest of tasks. I would get errors saying that the SqlCeManager could not be initialized or "object reference not set to an instance of...
SQL Server v.Next (Denali) : Changes to Resource Governor
After reading the headline, you're probably quite excited – but sadly, no, Denali does not introduce the ability to govern I/O. But there are some cool additions here that you will be able to...
SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3 is available!
Today Microsoft released Service Pack 3 for SQL Server 2008. The build number is 10.00.5500. The announcement blog post from SQL Server Release Services team: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlreleaseservices/archive/2011/10/06/sql-server-2008-sp3-is-now-available.aspx List of fixes: KB #2546951 : List of...
Printing SPID information along with DBCC output
On older versions of SQL Server, it was tedious work tying DBCC INPUTBUFFER output to active requests. See one way we used to do this.
Where will you find me at the PASS Summit?
I wanted to lay out my rough schedule at PASS Summit 2011, so you'll know where to find me. And this is as much for me as it is for you – this is...
T-SQL Tuesday #23 : Well, that's a kick in the JOIN…
This month's T-SQL Tuesday is a week early due to the upcoming PASS Summit. It is being hosted by Stuart Ainsworth (blog | @codegumbo) and the topic is a general one: JOINs. I had...
Policy-Based Management : Which facets support which evaluation methods?
At SQLBits this week, a colleague of Chris Testa-O'Neill (twitter) asked me a question about Policy-Based Management. Specifically, he wanted to know how to determine, programmatically, which execution modes are applicable to each facet...
Reflections on SQL Bits 9
Last week I went to Liverpool, UK – birthplace of The Beatles – to speak and to represent SQL Sentry at SQL Bits 9. I have to hand it to these guys – James,...