Microsoft Windows archives - SQL Server with Mr. Denny

SQL Server with Mr. Denny:

Microsoft Windows

Oct 27 2009   11:00AM GMT

The Windows 7, Windows 2008 R2, Exchange 2010 launch was more informative that I thought



Posted by: mrdenny
Windows 7, Exchange 2010, Windows 2008 R2

Yesterday was the Windows 7, Windows 2008 R2, Exchange 2010 launch event here in Southern California (Orange County to be specific, Burbank is on Wednesday).  For the most part I was planning on going to pick up a couple of tidbits of information, and a free copy on Windows 7 Ultimate (I’m not stupid, someone offers me a free Windows license, I’m going to take it).  However the day was much more informative that I had expected that’s for sure.

In this post I’m going to cover some of the high level information, then over a few future posts I’ll give more into what was covered. Continued »

Oct 26 2009   11:00AM GMT

I’ve got some money for an upgrade, what should I upgrade?



Posted by: mrdenny
Server Hardware, RAM, SQL

So you are going along your normal day, and your boss comes up to you and tells you “We’ve got a few thousand bucks left in this years budget, what would you like to upgrade?”  Assuming that new 26″ monitors for your workstation are out of the question, the boss is probably talking about a server upgrade here so lets see what we can do. Continued »


Oct 22 2009   10:25PM GMT

This isn’t your grand-mothers bingo game (#sqlbingo)



Posted by: mrdenny
PASS, In Person Events, Quest Software, SQLServerPedia.com, Bingo, Twitter

This year at the PASS Summit there will be a daily bingo game.  This isn’t the standard sit in a room while someone calls out numbers.  No you have to find the people who’s names and faces (for the most part) are on the bingo cards. Continued »


Oct 15 2009   7:06AM GMT

The polished turd that is Dell’s Gold Level Support department really isn’t all that supporting



Posted by: mrdenny
Windows 2008, IIS 7, Microsoft PSS, hang at the Applying Computer Settings, HTTP.SYS, DependOnService, CryptSvc, Cryptographic Services, sc, Services Database

If you follow me on twitter then you’ve heard bits and pieces of this already on my twitter stream.

In preparation for the onslaught of security patches which were released on October 14, 2009 I went ahead and patched all our severs the day before as it had been a couple of weeks since I had triggered patching and I wanted to get everything else installed so that there wouldn’t be any dependency issues with installing the new patches.  All of our servers, about 60 in all, patched correctly except for two of the three servers which host our web application which our customers use.  Now I say that two of the three servers didn’t patch correctly, but the third server wasn’t allowed to reboot so I don’t know if that one patched corrected or not at the time.  But with two machines of the three offline, I wasn’t willing to chance it. Continued »


Oct 5 2009   6:42PM GMT

I’m totally going to crash the Quest event this Friday



Posted by: mrdenny
Quest Software, In Person Events

Shhh… Don’t tell anyone, put I’m planning on sneaking into Quest’s presentation this Friday (which in itself is a feet when half the people there know you by site) grabbing some of the free lunch, and giving a quick presentation on Virtualization. Continued »


Oct 5 2009   11:00AM GMT

SQL 2005 SP3 Failing to install with password length error



Posted by: mrdenny
SQL Server 2005, Installation, SQL

When installing SQL Server 2005 SP3 you may get an error about the password being to short, and it may have nothing to do with your sa password.  It’s because the Install Scripts are trying to create a certificate with a password which doesn’t meet your domain’s password requirements.

If you get this error navigate to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Upgrade folder.  Find the script for upgrading the SQL Agent.  Open the script and find the CREATE CERTIFICATE statement.  Make the password longer.  In my case I added 123456@ to the end of the password.  The password is in two different places in the script.

Then open Add/Remove Programs and select SQL Server 2005 and select Change.  Then run though the wizard to complete the installation of the service pack.

Denny


Sep 1 2009   6:31PM GMT

SQL Server 2008 Clustering Article in SQL Server Magazine



Posted by: mrdenny
Article, SQL Server Magazine, Clustering, SQL Server 2008, Windows 2008

For those of you who haven’t check out this months SQL Server Magazine, the cover article was written by yours truly about Clustering SQL Server 2008 on Windows Server 2008.  This is an updated version of the article I did last December on Clustering SQL Server 2005 on Windows Server 2003.

I hope that you find it handy.  (Subscription is required.)

Denny


Aug 26 2009   3:34PM GMT

Clearing the Windows page file and its effect on server performance



Posted by: mrdenny
SearchSQLServer.com, Article, Page File, Microsoft Windows

I just published a new article over on SearchSQLServer.com about “Clearing the Windows page file and its effect on server performance“.  In the article I talk about the pros and cons of telling Windows to clear out the page file when the server is rebooted.

Denny


Aug 3 2009   11:00AM GMT

Single Instance vs Multiple Instances



Posted by: mrdenny
Instance, SQL Server, RAM, TempDB, Multiple Instance Configuration

I see this question quite a bit, should I use a single instance or one instance per application database on my server. Continued »


Jul 29 2009   7:50PM GMT

Windows 2008, where oh where has all my drive space gone?



Posted by: mrdenny
Windows 2008, WER, Windows Error Reporting, Space

If you are using Windows 2008, you may be like me.  Wondering where the hell all this drive space is disapearing to. Continued »