Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Best Practices Analyzer

However, I received quite a few emails that users are not able to install it after downloading this tool. There is nothing wrong with this tool but there are two prerequisites which are needed. I am additionally listing the download link to all of them here with.

Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer 2.0

Microsoft PowerShell 2.0

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

As above images are very clear I will not write more about them. SQL Azure does not support filegroups. Let us generate script for any table created on PRIMARY filegroup for standalong SQL Server and compare it with the script generated for SQL Azure.

You can clearly see that there is no filegroup in the code generated for SQL Azure. Give it a try and please your comment here about what do you think about the same.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Laerte Junior has previously helped me personally to resolve the issue with Powershell installation on my computer. He did awesome job to help. He has send this another wonderful article regarding performance counter for readers of this blog. I really liked it and I expect all of you who are Powershell geeks, you will like the same as well.

As a good DBA, you know that our social life is restricted to a few movies over the year and, when possible, a pizza in a restaurant next to your company’s place, of course.

So what we have to do is to create methods through which we can facilitate our daily processes to go home early, and eventually have a nice time with our family (and not sleeping on the couch).

As a consultant or fixed employee, one of our daily tasks is to monitor performance counters using Perfmom. To be honest, IDE is getting more complicated. To deal with this, I thought a solution using Powershell. Yes, with some lines of Powershell, you can configure which counters to use. And with one more line, you can already start collecting data. Let’s see one scenario:

You are a consultant who has several clients and has just closed another project in troubleshooting an SQL Server environment.

You are to use Perfmom to collect data from the server and you already have its XML configuration files made with the counters that you will be using- a file for memory bottleneck f, one for CPU, etc.

With one Powershell command line for each XML file, you start collecting. The output of such a TXT file collection is set to up in an SQL Server. With two lines of command for each XML, you make the whole process of data collection.

Creating an XML configuration File to Memory Counters:

Get-PerfCounterCategory -CategoryName "Memory" | Get-PerfCounterInstance  | Get-PerfCounterCounters |Save-ConfigPerfCounter -PathConfigFile "c:\temp\ConfigfileMemory.xml" -newfile

Creating an XML Configuration File to Buffer Manager, counters Page lookups/sec, Page reads/sec, Page writes/sec, Page life expectancy:

Get-PerfCounterCategory -CategoryName "SQLServer:Buffer Manager" | Get-PerfCounterInstance | Get-PerfCounterCounters -CounterName "Page*" | Save-ConfigPerfCounter -PathConfigFile "c:\temp\BufferManager.xml" –NewFile

Then you start the collection:

Set-CollectPerfCounter -DateTimeStart "05/24/2010 08:00:00" -DateTimeEnd "05/24/2010 22:00:00" -Interval 10 -PathConfigFile c:\temp\ConfigfileMemory.xml -PathOutputFile c:\temp\ConfigfileMemory.txt

To let the Buffer Manager collect, you need one more counters, including the Buffer cache hit ratio.

Just add a new counter to BufferManager.xml, omitting the new file parameter

Get-PerfCounterCategory -CategoryName "SQLServer:Buffer Manager" | Get-PerfCounterInstance | Get-PerfCounterCounters -CounterName "Buffer cache hit ratio" | Save-ConfigPerfCounter -PathConfigFile "c:\temp\BufferManager.xml"

And start the collection:

Set-CollectPerfCounter -DateTimeStart "05/24/2010 08:00:00" -DateTimeEnd "05/24/2010 22:00:00" -Interval 10 -PathConfigFile c:\temp\BufferManager.xml -PathOutputFile c:\temp\BufferManager.txt

You do not know which counters are in the Category Buffer Manager? Simple!

Get-PerfCounterCategory -CategoryName "SQLServer:Buffer Manager" | Get-PerfCounterInstance | Get-PerfCounterCounters

Let’s see one output file as shown below. It is ready to bulk insert into the SQL Server.

As you can see, Powershell makes this process incredibly easy and fast. Do you want to see more examples? Visit my blog at Shell Your Experience

You can find more about Laerte Junior over here:

• www.laertejuniordba.spaces.live.com
• www.simple-talk.com/author/laerte-junior
• www.twitter.com/laertejuniordba
• SQL Server Powershell Extension Team: http://sqlpsx.codeplex.com/

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

I immediately told him that if he explores the table in SSMS, he can just right click on it and SELECT TOP 1000 records. If he wanted only 100 records, then he could edit that 1000 to 100 by means of going to Options.

Go to Options, then hover the mouse over the SQL Server Object Explorer, then proceed to Commands. Afterwards, change the Value for Select Top <n> Audit Records.

After narrating the steps, he told me that he was not looking for the right click option; rather he was asking if there is any kind of keyboard shortcut for convenience’s sake.

Actually, a keyboard shortcut is also possible. SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) lets you configure the settings you want using a shortcut. Here is how you can do it.

Go to Options, then to Environment. Proceed to Keyboard, and from there, configure your T-SQL with the desired keyword.

Now, open SSMS New Query Window, and then click and type in any table name.  After that, just hit the shortcut you just made earlier. Doing this should display TOP 100 records in the Result window.

I am sure this trick is quite old, but it is still helpful to many.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

My Scenario

It is quite common in real life that sometimes observing or retrieving older data is necessary; however, it had changed as time passed by. The full database backup was 40 GB in size, and, to restore it on our production server, it usually takes around 16 to 22 minutes, depending on the load server that is usually present. This range in time varies from one server to another as per the configuration of the computer. Some other issues we used to have are the following:

1. When we try to restore a large 40-GB database, we needed at least that much space on our production server.
2. Once in a while, we even had to make changes in the restored database, and use the said changed and restored database for our purpose, making it more time-consuming.

My Solution

I have heard a lot about the Idera’s SQL virtual database tool.. Well, right after we started to test this tool, we found out that it really delivers what it promises. Using this software was very easy and we were able to restore our database from backup in less than 2 minutes, sparing us from the usual longer time of 16–22 minutes. The needful was finished in a total of 10 minutes. Another interesting observation is that there is no need to have an additional space for restoring the database. For complete database restoration, the single additional MB on the drive is not required anymore. We can use the database in the same way as our regular database, and there is no need for any additional configuration and setup.

Let us look at the most relevant points of this product based on my initial experience:

• Quick restoration of the database backup
• No additional space required for database restoration
• virtual database has no physical .MDF or .LDF
• The database which is restored is, in fact, the backup file converted in the virtual database. DDL and DML queries can be executed against this virtually restored database.
• Regular backup operation can be implemented against virtual database, creating a physical .bak file that can be used for future use.
• There was no observed degradation in performance on the original database as well the restored virtual database.
• Additional T-SQL queries can be let off on the virtual database.

Well, this summarizes my quick review. And, as I was saying, I am very impressed with the product and I plan to explore it more. There are many features that I have noticed in this tool, which I think can be very useful if properly understood.

I had taken a few screenshots using my demo database afterwards. Let us see what other things this tool can do besides the mentioned activities. I am surprised with its performance so I want to know how exactly this feature works, specifically in the matter of why it does not create any additional files and yet, it still allows update on the virtually restored database. I guess I will have to send an e-mail to the developers of Idera and try to figure this out from them.

I think this tool is very useful, and it delivers a high level of performance way more than what I expected. Soon, I will write a review for additional uses of SQL virtual database.. If you are using SQL virtual database in your production environment, I am eager to learn more about it and your experience while using it.

The ‘Virtual’ Part of virtual database

When I set out to test this software, I thought virtual database had something to do with Hyper-V or visualization. In fact, the virtual database is a kind of database which shows up in your SQL Server Management Studio without actually restoring or even creating it. This tool creates a database in SSMS from the backup of the same database. The backup, however, works virtually the same way as original database.

Potential Usage of virtual database:

As soon as I described this tool to my teammate, I think his very first reaction was, “hey, if we have this then there is no need for log shipping.” I find his comment very interesting as log shipping is something where logs are moved to another server. In fact, there are no updates on the database from log; I would rather compare it with Snapshot Replication. In fact, whatever we use, snapshot replicated database can be similarly used and configured with virtual database. I totally believe that we can use it for reporting purpose. In fact, after this database was configured, I think the uses of this tool are unlimited. I will have to spend some more time studying it and will get back to you.

Click on images to see larger images.

Please note that all SQL Server MVP gets free license of this software.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com), Idera (virtual database)

VDS Technologies has all the spatial files for every location for free. You can download the spatial file from here. If you cannot find the spatial file you are looking for, please leave a comment here, and I will send you the necessary details. Unzip the file to a folder and it will have the following content.

Then, download Shape2SQL tool from SharpGIS. This is one of the best tools available to convert shapefiles to SQL tables. Afterwards, run the .exe file.

When the file is run for the first time, it will ask for the database properties. Provide your database details.

Select the appropriate shape files and the tool will fill up the essential details automatically. If you do not want to create the index on the column, uncheck the box beside it. The screenshot below is simply explains the procedure. You also have to be careful regarding your data, whether that is GEOMETRY or GEOGRAPHY. In this example,  it is GEOMETRY data.

Click “Upload to Database”. It will show you the uploading process. Once the shape file is uploaded, close the application and open SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

Run the following code in SSMS Query Editor.

USE Spatial
GO
SELECT *
FROM dbo.world
GO

This will show the complete map of world after you click on Spatial Results in Spatial Tab.

In Spatial Results Set, the Zoom feature is available. From the Select label column, choose the country name in order to show the country name overlaying the country borders.

Let me know if this tutorial is helpful enough. I am planning to write a few more posts about this later.

Note: Please note that the images displayed here do not reflect the original political boundaries. These data are pretty old and can probably draw incorrect maps as well. I have personally spotted several parts of the map where some countries are located a little bit inaccurately.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Official site: What’s New in SQL Server 2008 R2 Editions

However, I have bookmarked following site of Brent Ozar SQL Server 2008 R2 Pricing and Feature Changes. I think Brent has answered one very interesting question there that SQL Server R2 is FREE for only who has purchased software assurance.

I really would like to know if your organization is upgrading to SQL Server 2008 R2. Please leave your comment here.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 November Community Technology Preview Feature Pack
The Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Feature Pack is a collection of stand-alone packages which provide additional value for SQL Server 2008 R2.

SQL Server 2008 R2 Books Online Community Technology Preview November 2009
Download the a community technology preview (CTP) release version of the documentation and tutorials for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 November Community Technology Preview – Express Edition
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express is a powerful and reliable data management system that delivers a rich set of features, data protection, and performance for embedded application clients, light Web applications, and local data stores.

SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies 2010
The Microsoft® SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies allows you to integrate your reporting environment with SharePoint to experience the benefits of using the collaborative environment provided by SharePoint.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP StreamInsight
Microsoft® SQL Server® StreamInsight is Microsoft’s new Complex Event Processing technology to help businesses derive better insights by correlating event streams from multiple sources with near-zero latency.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP Report Builder 3.0
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Report Builder 3.0 provides an intuitive report authoring environment for business and power users. It supports the full capabilities of SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services. The download provides a stand-alone installer for Report Builder 3.0.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 – PowerPivot for Microsoft® Excel 2010 – November Community Technology Preview
Microsoft® PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel 2010 provides ground-breaking technology, such as fast manipulation on large data sets (often in millions of rows), streamlined integration of data, and the ability to effortlessly share your analysis through Microsoft SharePoint 2010.

What’s New in SQL Server 2008 R2 November Community Technology Preview (CTP)
This document describes what’s new in the November CTP of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. Analysis Services, Database Engine, Reporting Services, and Service Broker all have new or enhanced features in this release. Master Data Services is a new component in this release.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Here are a few articles to get you started on using the IIS Database Manager:

• Basics of the IIS Database Manager
• Working with Tables
• Working with Views
• Working with Stored Procedures

IIS Database Manager (x86)

IIS Database Manager (x64)

Abstract courtesy : Microsoft

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Who do I talk to in Microsoft about…

Test your Restores, or, a Cautionary Tale

If due to any reason, the original image is moved, you can download the image by clicking on following image as well.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Posted in Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Add-On, SQL Authority, SQL Download, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Website Review, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/09/10/sql-server-sql-server-desktop-screen-background/feed/ 1 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/08/30/sqlauthority-news-application-and-multi-server-management/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/08/30/sqlauthority-news-application-and-multi-server-management/#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 01:30:36 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=6695 ]]> SQL Server 2008 R2 – Application and Multi-Server Management
SQL Server Technical Article
Title: SQL Server 2008 R2Application and Multi-Server Management Introduction
Writers: Geoff Allix
Technical Reviewers: Joanne Hodgins, Omri Bahat, Morgan Oslake
Published: February 2010

SQL Server 2008 R2 introduces new management tools to help improve IT efficiency and productivity. Investments in application and multi-server management will help organizations proactively manage database environments efficiently at scale through centralized visibility into resource utilization. Such investments can help streamline consolidation and upgrade initiatives across the application lifecycle—all with tools that make it fast and easy.

This paper introduces the new extensions in SQL Server Management Studio and the Control Point Explorer, and it walks through the simple process of setting up a SQL Server managed server group, including SQL Server Control Point installation, enrolling an instance into central management, extracting Data-tier Applications from existing deployments, and deploying Data-tier Applications to the new managed server group.

Read whitepaper Application and Multi-Server Management

Abstract courtesy : Microsoft

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Posted in Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, SQL, SQL Add-On, SQL Authority, SQL Documentation, SQL Download, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL White Papers, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/08/30/sqlauthority-news-application-and-multi-server-management/feed/ 0 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/08/01/sqlauthority-news-download-microsoft-sql-server-management-pack-for-operations-manager-2007-4/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/08/01/sqlauthority-news-download-microsoft-sql-server-management-pack-for-operations-manager-2007-4/#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2009 01:30:58 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=6337 ]]> Note : Download Microsoft SQL Server Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007 by Microsoft

The SQL Server Management Pack provides the capabilities for Operations Manager 2007 to discover SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008 installations and components and to monitor them, primarily from the perspective of availability and performance. The availability and performance monitoring is done using a combination of scripts and native Operations Manager capabilities.

The following list gives an overview of the features of the SQL Server management pack.

• Support for Enterprise, Standard and Express editions of SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008 and 32bit, 64bit and ia64 architectures.
• Support for both simple and complex SQL configurations such as clustered installations, multiple instances and 32bit roles running on a 64bit OS. For full details on supported configurations refer to the guide included with the management pack.
• Discovery and monitoring of SQL Server roles such as DB Engine, Reporting Services, Analysis Services, Integrations Services.
• Discovery of SQL components such as databases, the SQL Agent and SQL jobs.
• Over 20 views covering areas such as database free space, SQL related performance, SQL related alerts, and lists of the various SQL roles and components which are discovered and their related state.
• Reports for longer-term analysis of common problem areas related to SQL Server such as SQL Server lock analysis and top deadlocked databases, SQL Server service pack levels across discovered roles, user connection activity. Likewise the generic reports from the Microsoft Generic Report Library can be used against the roles and components discovered by the SQL MPs to review availability and performance across many systems and over longer periods of time.
• Role and component specific tasks which provide access to common tools, triage information, or corrective actions without needing to leave the Operations Console in most cases.
• Monitoring of databases covers database status, database free space, log shipping monitoring for both the source and destination, and transaction log free space.
• Monitoring of key SQL related services.
• Monitoring for persistent SPID blocking.
• Monitoring of numerous SQL events and performance data points. Alerts bring the issue to your attention and provide knowledge on the impact and possible resolutions.

Download Microsoft SQL Server Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007

Abstract courtesy : Microsoft

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Posted in SQL, SQL Add-On, SQL Authority, SQL Download, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Utility, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/08/01/sqlauthority-news-download-microsoft-sql-server-management-pack-for-operations-manager-2007-4/feed/ 5 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/06/12/sql-server-2008-customize-toolbar-remove-debug-button-from-toolbar/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/06/12/sql-server-2008-customize-toolbar-remove-debug-button-from-toolbar/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:30:58 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=5430 ]]> In today’s article I have combined two different questions. I was fond of SQL Server Debugger feature in SQL Server 2000. To my utter disappointment, this feature was withdrawn from SQL Server 2005. However, because of loads of requests from developers it was re-introduced in SQL Server 2008.

Developers were extremely happy with “return of debugger”, however, it issued forth a new problem. The button of debugger is similar to a play button and is used to run debugging commands of Visual Studio. For SQL Server, the button to execute code is exclamation mark (!).  Both these buttons are placed very close to each other, which confuses developers. Developers want to debug code in Visual Studio but the same debugging is completely different in SQL Server. Developers want to execute the code in SQL Server Management Studio.

Because of this reason, it gets very much infuriating for developers when they are developing on both – Visual Studio and SSMS. However, there is a very simple solution to this perplexing problem. Simply remove the button of debugger from tool bar. Customization of toolbar is a very helpful feature. Developers have the option to add many more buttons and remove any desired button from SSMS.

Let us now see how we can remove debugging button from SQL Server Management Studio.

Click on a small arrow on the extreme right side of the toolbar. It will bring down menu -”Add or Remove Buttons”. Next, go to “Customization”.

Click on the button at the bottom of the screen with label “Rearrange Commands…”.

On the screen of “Rearrange Commands” select the radio button of “Toolbar”. Once that is selected, on the right side of the drop down bring up “SQL Editor”. After that, click on “Debug” and remove by clicking “Delete”.

Now, your toolbar will not have debug button anymore. If you have ever customized your SSMS, I am interested to learn the reason behind it and the benefits you gained upon customization.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

A couple of months back, I learnt that SQL Server Book On-Line (BOL) update has been released. I usually depend on my Windows Update of SQL Server to install all updates in my OS, so I do not have to  bother myself with installing updates manually.

However, this time I was quite taken aback to find that my computer was not updated with the latest updates released by Microsoft. Further, I noticed that my SQL Server Book On-Line is not up to date. This experience was nerve-wracking, as I expected my computer to have all the latest updates. I probed into the matter and found that there was an issue with some previous incomplete updates available with Windows Update. I was getting vexed with the following error every time I tried to run Windows Update.

Windows Update; Error Code 8000FFFF

I attempted to reboot, uninstall antivirus but had no luck fixing this error. I finally sent out an email to my friend who is expert in troubleshooting OS issues.  He sent me some steps to resolve the issue.

Fix/Solution/Workaround:

After I performed the following steps, windows updated started to work normally and I was able to successfully download all SQL Server related updates.

1. Click on Windows button and search ‘regedit’.
2. Right click on the regedit and “Run as Administrator” (See Image 1).
3. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE >> COMPONENTS and look for keys described in steps 4, 5 and 6. In the absence of  any  key  go to  the next step (See Image 2).
4. Find key PendingXmlIdentifier and delete it.
5. Find key NextQueueEntryIndex and delete it.
6. Find key AdvancedInstallersNeedResolving and delete it.
7. Restart the computer.
8. Once restarted now attempt Windows Updates;  it  should work fine now.

Do let me know if this solution helps you.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

SQL Server Profiler is a powerful tool that is available with SQL Server since a long time; however, it has mostly been underutilized by DBAs. SQL Server Profiler can perform various significant functions such as tracing what is running under the SQL Server Engine’s hood, and finding out how queries are resolved internally and what scripts are running to accomplish any T-SQL command. The major functions this tool can perform have been listed below:

• Creating trace
• Watching trace
• Storing trace
• Replaying trace

Trace includes all the T-SQL scripts that run simultaneously on SQL Server. As trace contains all the T-SQL scripts running on SQL Server, it often tends to become considerably huge. Hence, it is always a good practice to capture only those data that are actually required for analysis.

Dilemma to use on Production Server

SQL Server Profiler has a lot of potential as a tool and offers several advantages. Unfortunately, developers have been keeping their hands off from this tool and usually give two major excuses.

• Reason 1: Profiler adds too much overhead to production server.
• Reason 2: Profiler accumulates plethora of data making it extremely intricate to analyze them afterwards.

Read Complete Article here.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Most of the time, I get login and DBA from my clients. However, sometimes I face login-related problems, primarily because my clients forget to confer admin rights on me. Anticipating this situation I perform a simple task, which saves my time and saves me from exasperation.  Whenever I receive a server login I run the following query to verify if  the client has assigned me the role of system admin or not.

SELECT IS_SRVROLEMEMBER('sysadmin');

If I have been assigned system admin role then the result will be 1 else it will be 0.

I have listed below valid roles that can be verified using the above function.

sysadmin
dbcreator
diskadmin
processadmin
serveradmin
setupadmin
securityadmin

If you pass an invalid role to the above function, it will return value NULL.

I hope my article is clear to all my readers. Please send me your feedback. I want my readers to come up with more issues that need to be tackled.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

The SQL Server Management Pack provides the capabilities for Operations Manager 2007 to discover SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008 installations and components and to monitor them, primarily from the perspective of availability and performance. The availability and performance monitoring is done using a combination of scripts and native Operations Manager capabilities.

Scripts in the SQL Server 2008 management pack rely on SQL Data Management Objects (SQL-DMO) to query information from the SQL Server. SQL-DMO is now deprecated and is not shipped as a part of SQL Server 2008. Every system with SQL Server 2008 that will be monitored must have SQL-DMO installed from the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward Compatibility Components. For instructions on how to download and install the SQL Server 2005 Backward Compatibility Components refer to the management pack guide.

Download Microsoft SQL Server Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007

Abstract courtesy : Microsoft

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services is a comprehensive, server-based reporting solution designed to help you author, manage, and deliver both paper-based, ad hoc, and interactive Web-based reports.

Each report pack consists of a set of predefined reports, a sample database, a readme file, and an End User License Agreement (EULA). You can use these sample reports as templates to quickly author and distribute new interactive reports.

Report Pack contains following sample reports

• SQL Server 2005 Integration Services Log Reports
• SQL Server 2005 Report Pack for Microsoft Dynamics Axapta 3.0
• SQL Server 2005 Report Pack for Microsoft Dynamics Navision 4.0
• SQL Server 2005 Report Pack for Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains 8.0
• SQL Server 2005 Report Pack for Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains 9.0
• SQL Server 2005 Report Pack for Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS)
• SQL Server 2005 Report Pack for Financial Reporting

Download SQL Server 2005 Report Packs

Abstract courtesy : Microsoft

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

SQL Server - .sql
SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1 - .sqlce
SQL Server Analysis Service – .mdx, .xmla

Moving on, I would like to talk about another command that can open SQL Server Management Studio. Just type sqlwb in command prompt to open SSMS and bring credential prompt on screen.

I hope you find this article useful. Let me have your feedback so that we can take this topic further.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

This article describes the top 5 features of SQL Server Management Studio 2008. With the release of SQL Server 2008 Microsoft has upgraded SSMS with many new features as well as added tons of new functionalities requested by DBAs for long time.

SQL Server 2008 has been released for a year now. In SQL Server 2000, DBA had to use two different tools to maintain the database as well as the query database, specifically SQL Server Enterprise Manager and SQL Server Query Analyzer. With the release of SQL Server 2005 both of these tools are combined into one tool: SQL Server Management Studio. For a while DBA who were fan of Query Analyzer requested to bring it back but as they keep on using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) they realized that it was much more convenient if every task related to SQL Server could be accomplished using SSMS. With the release of SQL Server 2008 Microsoft has upgraded SSMS with many new features as well as added tons of new functionalities requested by DBAs for long time.

Let us go over a few of the important new features of the SSMS 2008. The list of SQL Server 2008 SSMS improvements is very long. I have selected my favorite 5 features and we will go over them.

1. IntelliSense for Query Editing
2. Multi Server Query
3. Query Editor Regions
4. Object Explorer Enhancements
5. Activity Monitors

Read Complete article here.

While I was searching online for a very simple solution for one of my clients, I came across a small-sized but feature-rich application from SqlBackupAndFTP.com. This practical application has been created by Pranas.NET (http://pranas.net) I have made extensive use of this tool for some time now and undoubtedly, this tool is very impressive by all standards!

To put it simply, SQLBackupAndFTP is MS SQL Server backup software. This tool performs several tasks such as running scheduled backups of SQL Server or SQL Server Express databases, zipping the backups, storing them on a network or on a FTP server, removing old backups, and finally, sending an e-mail confirmation on job’s success or failure. Besides, SQLBackupAndFTP Free is freeware, which is free from any spyware. Best of all, this ingeniously simple tool is extremely affordable for all. You just need to install it on the server and you can get up and running really fast.

Given below are some important tasks which this tool can perform using daily scheduler:
•    Backup SQL Server Database
•    Zip the backups
•    Encrypt the backups
•    FTP the backups to remove FTP server
•    Move file to local area network
•    Send final status of tasks in email.

Let us now see how we can take backup and move it to the desired folder.

Image 1: First, connect to the desired server.

Image 2: As you can see, all the settings are very easy as described in the following image. Pay attention to these very simple, one screen settings. From database selection to job scheduling, you can configure everything from this page itself.

Image 3: This screen describes all the steps that are being performed. User can easily view the status of all the jobs – either success or failure – on this page.

Image 4: The following screen displays the settings for advanced users who have to deal with large database.

Image 5: This screen displays email regarding final status of tasks, which is sent to the user after task completion.

Now, a question that might baffle your mind is – how this tool is better than maintenance tasks available in SQL Server. Well, here goes the answer. Maintenance tasks are easy to set up for backups; however, SQLBackupAndFTP have integrated solution for encryption, FTP and email which make it superior to maintenance tasks in every aspect.

I would like to present my unbiased view about this tool. At the same time, I want to give my readers a broad perspective about backup tools in general.  On comparing this tool with other backup tools I have experienced that it is not the fanciest tool to manage backups or check their health. This is one tool that smoothly performs the job in a few steps compared to native SQL Server backup, which takes numerous steps to execute the same job.

SQLBackupAndFTP is best suited for developers/DBAs who just want to ensure that they have schedule job that takes care of backup and moves them to appropriate place. In fact, it is ideal for any SQL Server database where backups need to be sent every day to a remote FTP server. It saves maintenance time on any SQL Server version. Besides, it is especially useful for SQL Server Express 2005 and SQL Server Express 2008, as they lack built in tools for backup.

This tool is compatible with almost all the known SQL Server versions. It works with SQL Server 2008 (all versions) and many of the previous versions.

While testing this tool, I noticed that there are few limitations. It does not support differential or transaction backups. I also found that this tool only works on local SQL Server instances and cannot connect to another SQL Server on LAN. When I contacted support, I came to know that they are planning to release its updated version in April 2009, which will not have any such limitations.

I strongly recommend this tool to all the DBAs. They must try it as it is absolutely free and does exactly what it promises. You can download your free copy of the tool from here.

Please share your experience about using this tool. I am eager to receive your feedback regarding this article.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Given below are four different ways through which you can enable IntelliSense.

1) Make sure you are connected to SQL Server 2008 Edition.
IntelliSense does not work with the previous versions of SQL Server.

2) IntelliSense should be enabled.
There are two ways to verify whether IntelliSense is enabled or not.
a) From Toolbar

b) Go to Tools >> Options >> Text Editor >> Transact-SQL >> IntelliSense

3) IntelliSense should be refreshed with the latest changes in database.
a) Press CTRL+SHIFT+R
b) Go to Edit >> IntelliSense >> Refresh Local Cache

4) Go to Tools >> Options >> Text Editor >> Transact-SQL >> General >> IntelliSense
Select Auto List Members and Check Parameter Information.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Hello Pinalbhai,

Thank you for your post about activity monitor, but I can not find activity monitor under Menu — Tools. How to activate it?

[Other unrelated information removed]

Take care,
Aloke Sinha

The reason I decided to write about this subject is because I totally understand why Aloke is confused here. Activity Monitor can not be activated from any menu from top menu bar. There are two different methods to activate Activity Monitors.

From Standard Toolbar (Standard Toolbar can be made visible from here : Menu >> View >> Toolbar >> Standard) and from “Right Click” of SQL Server Node.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Address Windowing Extensions API is commonly known as AWE.  AWE is used by SQL Server when it has to support very large amounts of physical memory. AWE feature is only available in SQL Server Enterprise, Standard, and Developer editions with of SQL Server 32 bit version.

Microsoft Windows 2000/2003 server supports maximum of 64GB memory. If we have installed SQL Server 32 bit version which can support maximum of 3 GB memory on Windows 2000/2003, we can enable AWE feature to use available physical memory of server to improve performance of SQL Server. In simple words, AWE provides memory management functions which lets windows to allow more than 3GB memory to standard 32 bit application.

There are many other modification needs to be done before AWE option can be used. Please refer SQL Server BOL Using AWE for additional details.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Profiler can be invoked just typing profiler in command prompt. I am using Windows Vista Ultimate 32 bit (License Version) and SQL Server 2008 Development (License Version). The reason I have put “License Version” because I encourage everybody to use only licensed software.

SQL Server Profiler gives feature where we can specify which column filter. Column filter can have value which can be validated with atucal data and based on it, it will store information in profiler stress.

I was always under impression that adding filter will reduce the load on CPU as profiler will have to do less amount of the work. I found that my assumption is wrong while doing testing with very large sample data and collecting very little information with column filter. In fact, column filter increase my CPU usage. After thinking it more I realize why this is happening. I am assuming that SQL Server Profiler has to collect all the necessary information in all the condition but in case of column filter, it will have to compare all the data with filter data, which can be the reason for higher CPU Load. For additional, testing I had removed few of the column filter and found that CPU load is reduced.This validates my theory that when there is filter, CPU has to work harder to filter the data. One good thing is that SQL Server does not store data which is removed, thus it reduces the storage space.

I am eager to know if SQLAuthority.com readers have ever faced situation like this. What is your opinion about it?

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)