Microsoft CSS archives - SQL Server with Mr. Denny

SQL Server with Mr. Denny:

Microsoft CSS

Apr 26 2009   5:29AM GMT

SQL Server Standard Edition getting Lock Pages in Memory



Posted by: mrdenny
SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, Lock Pages, Bob Ward, Microsoft CSS, Bug

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and 2008 Standard edition will be getting the Lock Pages in Memory feature that SQL Server Enterprise Edition has had starting in SQL Server 2005.  This was announced by Bob Ward via the CSS Blog in his post “SQL Server, Locked Pages, and Standard SKU…“.  Per Bob’s post a CU will be released for SQL 2005 SP3 and SQL 2008 SP1 which will allow for a trace flag to be used to turn this feature on.

On behalf of the users I’d like to thank Bob and the rest of the SQL Server team for being able to get this into the product.

On behalf of the developer team, I emplore you to not turn this on for no reason.  Only use this feature once you understand what this feature does and in the correct places.

The Locked Pages flag bascially tells the SQL Server that if it is told to flush RAM to disk to ignore it.  If the setting is enabled then SQL doesn’t flush to disk.  If you find that your SQL Server is flushing to disk, don’t just enable the flag and move on.  I emplore you to contact CSS and figure out why SQL is being told to flush to disk.  This is the only way the bug will be fixed.  Once the issue has been reported to Microsoft and they have the information they need enable the flag until the bug is fixed.  Then install the patch to fix the bug, disable the flag and you’ll be fine.

Because of the fact that this is how bugs are found and fixed I hope that this is a CSS only CU which will require that users contact CSS before they can get the fix.

Denny

Mar 30 2009   7:45PM GMT

SQL 2008 Clusters require treaking to make SQL Dumpter work



Posted by: mrdenny
SQL Dumper, Microsoft CSS, SQL Server 2008

If you don’t already read the CSS teams blog, I suggest that you do.  A little while ago they posted a blog post about how the SQL Dumper utility wouldn’t work in a SQL Server 2008 Clustered Installation.

This should be considdered mandatory reading for anyone with a SQL Server 2008 install in a cluster.

Denny


Jan 7 2009   11:27PM GMT

Installing SQL Server 2005 SP3 or SQL Server 2008 on XP Prep SP3 can cause Bug Check



Posted by: mrdenny
SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, Bug Check, Microsoft CSS

The SQL Server CSS team has just posted a blog post saying that it you install SQL Server 2005 SP3 or SQL Server 2008 on a Windows XP Machine which is pre SP 3 you can get a Bug Check (Blue Screen).

If you are running Windows XP I highly recommend that you read this before installing SQL 2005 SP3 or SQL 2008 on your machine.

Denny