Beta

I’m drunk with power at ServerFault.com

As of Monday it’s official, that I’m now one of the two moderators over at ServerFault.com.  From what I understand this means I basically go through the list of posts that people have tagged as not being relevant to he site and remove them, as well as making sure that the user base is following the rules.

I think that its a great site, and I’m thrilled that Jeff trusts enough in me to put me into this position on the site.

The site is still in public beta.  If you’d like to join the beta you’ll need to use the password “alt.sysadmin.recovery” to get into the site.

Denny

SQL 2008 RC0 Intellisense doesn’t work against SQL 2005

I’ve been working with SQL 2008 RC0 for a couple of weeks now, and something I’ve noticed that really sucks.  The Intellisense doesn’t work against a SQL 2005 server any more.  I’ve been using the SQL 2008 UI exclusively for several months now (since the November CTP at least) and I’ve gotten quite used to the intellisense.

While jumping around the net looking to see who else was talking about this (and several people are) I found this Connect bug about it.  The notes from Eric @ Microsoft are that if the vote count shows that enough people want this fixed they’ll see what they can do.   The comments in the Connect bug indicate that pretty much everyone wants it back, even if it’s not perfect.

The only other person I really see complaining about the lack of downlevel support is Aaron Bertrand.

Be sure to vote on the connect bug and leave a comment here or there so that the developers get the idea that we want it back.

Denny

Use caution when upgrading SQL 2008 CTP SSIS packages to RC0

A ran across a bit of a problem when upgrading my SQL 2008  CTP 5 (November 2007) SSIS Packages to SQL 2008 RC0.  Apparently Microsoft has changed the way that they handle the script tasks within the SSIS packages.  Because of this when I edit all of the script tasks within my SSIS package the scripts were all blank.

 The official fix from Microsoft is to install the older CTP version that you edited the scripts in on another machine and open the un-updated version of the SSIS package on that machine, and copy the code for the scripts into the RC0 version of the SSIS package.

The only object which I’ve had to do this on was a .NET Script Task.  I had this problem when going from CTP 5 to CTP 6 as well as from CTP 5 to RC0.  This will not effect migrating from SQL 2005 to SQL 2008 as SQL 2005 and SQL 2008 CTP 5 do not use the same scripting engine in the back end.

Denny

Slide Decks and Sample Code from SoCal Code Camp

The SoCal Code Camp was this last weekend.  I had a great time attending and speaking at the code camp this time around.   I hope that everyone who attended my sessions had as much fun attending the sessions as I did speaking at them.  I did my best to make them as much fun and interactive as I could.

As promised here are the slide decks and sample T/SQL code from the four sessions.  Everything is within a single ZIP file.  I’ve included two copies of each slide deck.  One in the Office 2007 format, and one in the Office 97-2003 format.  They are identical to each other, but I wanted to include both so that people with the older version of Microsoft Office can see the deck without having to download and install the patch which allows Office 2003 to view Office 2007 files.

The sample scripts which I’ve included are all run against the AdventureWorks database or the AdventureWorksDW database (check the USE commands at the top of the scripts).  If they need a different database they will create the new database.

Session 1 - SQL Server Query Tuning (SQL 2000+)

Session 2 - SQL Server 2008 Resource Governor (SQL 2008 CTP5+ only)

Session 3 - SQL Server Service Broker in the Real World (SQL 2005+) (I’ve fixed the problem with the single server script that we were having at the Code Camp.  Turns out I had left the route in place which is why the message never showed up.  The first script didn’t run correctly because I had run the server to server script on my virtual machine and the route was left by accident.)

Session 4 - SQL Server 2008 What’s on the Horizon (SQL 2008 CTP5+)

If you have any questions about these slide decks or sample code feel free to post a comment here, or drop me an email.

Denny

SQL 2008 November CTP

We’ll I’ve finely gotten around to installing the SQL 2008 November CTP.  While walking through the installer I have seen some excellent changes.  Not only is the option to change the paths of the data files no longer hidden, there are more than just two options.  There are at least 7 paths that you get to specify while installing.  The first one is the Shared component directory.  This appears to be the base path where all your binarys will be based off of.

 Next you get the Instance root directory.  This is where the system database files will be based off of, so make sure that you don’t point this to the C drive is you want the system databases on another drive.

A couple of screens later you get to set 6 install paths.  The first is the data root directory.  This changes the base path for all the others options.  The others are the User database folder, user log database folder, tempdb data folder, tempdb log folder, and the backup directory.

This amount of flexability in the installer is a first, and it’s a welcome change.  Look for more posts, tips and articles about SQL Server 2008 in the comming weeks and months up till the release.

Denny

Microsoft Announces SQL Server 2008 November CTP

Microsoft announced at TechEd in Barcelona, Spain that the SQL Server 2008 November CTP would be made available this month.  Read more here.

—> Update…

Microsoft has just posted the URL to download the new CTP.  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3BF4C5CA-B905-4EBC-8901-1D4C1D1DA884&displaylang=en