SQL Server

Join me at the San Gabrial Valley .NET User Group Meeting on November 18th

For those not at PDC or the Underground party on November 18th, 2009 …

Join me at the San Gabrial Valley .NET User Group as I give a presentation all about SQL Service Broker.  The pizza starts at 6pm and the presentation starts at 6:30.  The groups site says that there is no fee to attend as the event is being sponsored.  I don’t see any RSVP info on the site, so show up ready to learn.

In addition to what the UG will be giving away, Quest is sending me over some goodies to give away (don’t ask me what, I’ll find out when the box arrives).  Thank you Quest.

I’ll see everyone there.

Denny

SQL Server gets an ANSI compliant unique index … sort of

If you work with any of the other big database platforms you’ve probably noticed that SQL Server’s implementation of a unique index is “different” than the others.  Until now there hasn’t been a way to fix that without using a trigger.  Until now… Continued »

Keep your databases off the Internet

Over on the SecurityFightClub.com site I wrote a post about why database servers shouldn’t be on the Internet.

Denny

Data Transformation Services vs. SSIS: The key differences

I recently published an article on SearchSQLServer.com about DTS and SSIS where I talk about some of the differences.  Obvsiolly I didn’t cover all the differences between DTS and SSIS, just some of them.  So don’t go railing on me that I didn’t cover something.

Denny

SQL 2005 SP3 Failing to install with password length error

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

Understanding what the WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE does

Based on some questions on forums and some of the responses that people have been giving there appears to be done misunderstanding about what the WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE option does when added to the ALTER DATABASE command.  My goal here is to try and clear up at least some of the confusion. Continued »

Dates can easily be the hardest datatype to work with.

The datetime data type can be one of the hardest to work with when it comes to index optimization.  Most queries that use a datetime data type for filtering (part of the where clause) only want to match the date portion of the value.  Most people handle this via a convert function around the date column.  This causes the index that you create to become useless as the convert function causes the index to be scanned not seeked.

Continued »

SQL Server Clustering Guide & Webcast Links

A white paper which I wrote for Starwind Software is now available.  The link to register for the webcast (October 21, 2009) has also been put up.  The webcast and white paper go together, so I recommend that you grab the white paper now and I hope to see you at the webcast next month.

Denny

Whitepaper on why database maintenance is important

Today I’m publishing a white paper which I wrote for our Customer Service department to give to our customers. It explains why database maintenance is so important in keeping your database happy and healthy. Continued »

SQL Server 2008 Clustering Article in SQL Server Magazine

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