Download Adventure Works for SQL Server 2012 RC0

Please note this is just a data file. You will have to follow my earlier blog post to create database without log file read here.

Additionally this is sample database so install on your development environment. Recently I had seen this on few production database and when I asked production DBA why they exists, they told me it is ‘for practice’. I suggest you do your practice on your development box and not on production box.

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

During the movie, someone recognized me from our blog photo. He changed his sit and while I was watching movie and asked couple of quick question. I understand it is a bad manner to talk in movie while others are watching but still answered him quickly. Let us call him Jatin.

Here is our conversation:

Jatin: Are you Pinal Dave?
Pinal: I guess so.
Jatin: Guess?
Pinal: I am.
Jatin: I have one SQL question?
Pinal: Sure – can we talk after the movie is over.
Jatin: This movie is boring any way.
Pinal: Hm… Some may like it too. Any way we should talk afterwords.
Jatin: Answer me when you can – how can I connect from Linux box to SQL Box?
Pinal: Oh… why do you want to do that?
Jatin: Now you are asking me question and prolonging the conversation – see you lost interest from this boring movie.
Pinal: Oh…I did… (silence)… you are correct. Let us talk after the movie.
Jatin: Nice blog by the way, I read it every day.

Well, that was it, after the movie was over – we all rushed outside and never connected. I never met Jatin afterwords, Infact, I do not know what is his real name. I wanted to answer his question and reason why he wanted to use Linux box to connect to SQL Server installed machine. Any way, Jatin if you are reading my blog everyday as you said, here is your answer. Please leave your answer in comment as well – do mention your real name and details so we can continue our conversation.

The Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Driver for Linux provides native connectivity from Linux to Microsoft SQL Server. The 64 bit version of the Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Driver for Linux provides robust data access to Microsoft SQL Server. It allows native C and C++ applications to leverage the standard ODBC API and connect to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2. Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Driver for Linux also comes with powerful tools – sqlcmd and bcp.

Details of Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Driver for Linux Available Now

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

• TIP #1: Edit Package Configuration and Data Source after upgrading
• TIP #2: Convert to project deployment model using Project Conversion Wizard
• TIP #3: Update Execute Package Task to use project reference and use parameter to pass data from parent package to child package
• TIP #4: Parameterize PackageName property of Execute Package Task to dynamically configure which child package to run at execution time
• TIP #5: Convert package configuration to parameter when possible

Download Whitepaper Download Whitepaper 5 Tips for a Smooth SSIS Upgrade to SQL Server 2012

Above text is taken from original msdn documentation.

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

Well, we learn the lesson from the experience and have made sure that the inventory does not run out any more. Since then we are now available on multiple outlets. Pretty much anywhere in USA and India the book is available. Additionally, where ever Amazon ships internationally.

I have created dedicated page where I have listed where one can avail this book from Details of SQL Server Interview Question and Answers. Even though I keep on getting common question like – where one can get this book.

You can get this book from:

USA: Amazon

India: Flipkart | IndiaPlaza | Crossword

In India now you can walk into any crossword store and ask this book, if they do not have it, you can ask them get one for you.

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

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express RC
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Express RC0 is a powerful and reliable free data management system that delivers a rich set of features, data protection, and performance for embedded applications, lightweight Web Sites, applications, and local data stores.

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Semantic Language Statistics RC0
The Semantic Language Statistics Database is a required component for the Statistical Semantic Search feature in Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Semantic Language Statistics RC0.

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Release Candidate 0 (RC0) Manageability Tool Kit
The Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Release Candidate 0 (RC0) Manageability Tool Kit is a collection of stand-alone packages which provide additional value for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Release Candidate 0 (RC0).

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel 2010 Release Candidate 0 (RC0)
Microsoft PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel 2010 provides ground-breaking technology; fast manipulation of large data sets, streamlined integration of data, and the ability to effortlessly share your analysis through Microsoft SharePoint

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

Microsoft SQL Server Protocol Documentation

The Microsoft SQL Server protocol documentation provides technical specifications for Microsoft proprietary protocols that are implemented and used in Microsoft SQL Server 2008.

Microsoft SQL Server Protocol Documentation

The SQL Server data portability documentation explains various mechanisms by which user-created data in SQL Server can be extracted for use in other software products. These mechanisms include import/export functionality, documented APIs, industry standard formats, or documented data structures/file formats.

SQL Server Standards Support Documentation

The SQL Server standards support documentation provides detailed support information for certain standards that are implemented in Microsoft SQL Server.

Microsoft Product Support Reports

Download the scripted system configuration gathering tools. The Microsoft Product Support Reports utility facilitates the gathering of critical system and logging information used in troubleshooting support issues.

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

With CSVexpress, moving data between data sources can be as simple as providing the database connection details, describing the structure of the incoming and outgoing data and then connecting two pre-programmed operators.   There’s no need to learn the intricacies of the data integration tool or to write code.  Let’s look at an example.

Suppose I have a comma separated value data file with data similar to the following, which is a listing of terminated employees that includes their hiring and termination date, department, job description, and final salary.

EMP_ID,STRT_DATE,END_DATE,JOB_ID,DEPT_ID,SALARY
102,13-JAN-93,24-JUL-98 17:00,Programmer,60,"$85,000"
101,21-SEP-89,27-OCT-93 17:00,Account Representative,110,"$65,000"
103,28-OCT-93,15-MAR-97 17:00,Account Manager,110,"$75,000"
304,17-FEB-96,19-DEC-99 17:00,Marketing,20,"$45,000"
333,24-MAR-98,31-DEC-99 17:00,Data Entry Clerk,50,"$35,000"
100,17-SEP-87,17-JUN-93 17:00,Administrative Assistant,90,"$40,000"
334,24-MAR-98,31-DEC-98 17:00,Sales Representative,80,"$40,000"
400,01-JAN-99,31-DEC-99 17:00,Sales Manager,80,"$55,000"

Notice the concise format used for the date values, the fact that the termination date includes both date and time information, and that the salary is clearly identified as money by the dollar sign and digit grouping.  In moving this data to a database table I want to express the dates using a format that includes the century since it’s obvious that this listing could include employees who left the company in both the 20^th and 21^st centuries, and I want the salary to be stored as a decimal value without the currency symbol and grouping character.  Most data integration tools would require coding within a transformation operation to effect these changes, but not expressor Studio.  Directives for these modifications are included in the description of the incoming data.

Besides starting the expressor Studio tool and opening a project, the first step is to create connection artifacts, which describe to expressor where data is stored.  For this example, two connection artifacts are required: a file connection, which encapsulates the file system location of my file; and a database connection, which encapsulates the database connection information.  With expressor Studio, I use wizards to create these artifacts.

First click New Connection > File Connection in the Home tab of expressor Studio’s ribbon bar, which starts the File Connection wizard.  In the first window, I enter the path to the directory that contains the input file.  Note that the file connection artifact only specifies the file system location, not the name of the file.

Then I click Next and enter a meaningful name for this connection artifact; clicking Finish closes the wizard and saves the artifact.

To create the Database Connection artifact, I must know the location of, or instance name, of the target database and have the credentials of an account with sufficient privileges to write to the target table.  To use expressor Studio’s features to the fullest, this account should also have the authority to create a table.

I click the New Connection > Database Connection in the Home tab of expressor Studio’s ribbon bar, which starts the Database Connection wizard.  expressor Studio includes high-performance drivers for many relational database management systems, so I can simply make a selection from the “Supplied database drivers” drop down control.  If my desired RDBMS isn’t listed, I can optionally use an existing ODBC DSN by selecting the “Existing DSN” radio button.

In the following window, I enter the connection details.  With Microsoft SQL Server, I may choose to use Windows Authentication rather than rather than account credentials.  After clicking Next, I enter a meaningful name for this connection artifact and clicking Finish closes the wizard and saves the artifact.

Now I create a schema artifact, which describes the structure of the file data.  When expressor reads a file, all data fields are typed as strings.  In some use cases this may be exactly what is needed and there is no need to edit the schema artifact.  But in this example, editing the schema artifact will be used to specify how the data should be transformed; that is, reformat the dates to include century designations, change the employee and job ID’s to integers, and convert the salary to a decimal value.

Again a wizard is used to create the schema artifact.  I click New Schema > Delimited Schema in the Home tab of expressor Studio’s ribbon bar, which starts the Database Connection wizard.  In the first window, I click Get Data from File, which then displays a listing of the file connections in the project.  When I click on the file connection I previously created, a browse window opens to this file system location; I then select the file and click Open, which imports 10 lines from the file into the wizard.

I now view the file’s content and confirm that the appropriate delimiter characters are selected in the “Field Delimiter” and “Record Delimiter” drop down controls; then I click Next.
Since the input file includes a header row, I can easily indicate that fields in the file should be identified through the corresponding header value by clicking “Set All Names from Selected Row. “ Alternatively, I could enter a different identifier into the Field Details > Name text box.  I click Next and enter a meaningful name for this schema artifact; clicking Finish closes the wizard and saves the artifact.

Now I open the schema artifact in the schema editor.  When I first view the schema’s content, I note that the types of all attributes in the Semantic Type (the right-hand panel) are strings and that the attribute names are the same as the field names in the data file.  To change an attribute’s name and type, I highlight the attribute and click Edit in the Attributes grouping on the Schema > Edit tab of the editor’s ribbon bar.  This opens the Edit Attribute window; I can change the attribute name and select the desired type from the “Data type” drop down control.  In this example, I change the name of each attribute to the name of the corresponding database table column (EmployeeID, StartingDate, TerminationDate, JobDescription, DepartmentID, and FinalSalary).  Then for the EmployeeID and DepartmentID attributes, I select Integer as the data type, for the StartingDate and TerminationDate attributes, I select Datetime as the data type, and for the FinalSalary attribute, I select the Decimal type.

But I can do much more in the schema editor.  For the datetime attributes, I can set a constraint that ensures that the data adheres to some predetermined specifications; a starting date must be later than January 1, 1980 (the date on which the company began operations) and a termination date must be earlier than 11:59 PM on December 31, 1999.  I simply select the appropriate constraint and enter the value (1980-01-01 00:00 as the starting date and 1999-12-31 11:59 as the termination date).

As a last step in setting up these datetime conversions, I edit the mapping, describing the format of each datetime type in the source file.

I highlight the mapping line for the StartingDate attribute and click Edit Mapping in the Mappings grouping on the Schema > Edit tab of the editor’s ribbon bar.  This opens the Edit Mapping window in which I either enter, or select, a format that describes how the datetime values are represented in the file.  Note the use of Y01 as the syntax for the year.  This syntax is the indicator to expressor Studio to derive the century by setting any year later than 01 to the 20^th century and any year before 01 to the 21^st century.  As each datetime value is read from the file, the year values are transformed into century and year values.

For the TerminationDate attribute, my format also indicates that the datetime value includes hours and minutes.

And now to the Salary attribute. I open its mapping and in the Edit Mapping window select the Currency tab and the “Use currency” check box.  This indicates that the file data will include the dollar sign (or in Europe the Pound or Euro sign), which should be removed.

And on the Grouping tab, I select the “Use grouping” checkbox and enter 3 into the “Group size” text box, a comma into the “Grouping character” text box, and a decimal point into the “Decimal separator” character text box.

These entries allow the string to be properly converted into a decimal value.

By making these entries into the schema that describes my input file, I’ve specified how I want the data transformed prior to writing to the database table and completely removed the requirement for coding within the data integration application itself.

Assembling the data integration application is simple.  Onto the canvas I drag the Read File and Write Table operators, connecting the output of the Read File operator to the input of the Write Table operator.

Next, I select the Read File operator and its Properties panel opens on the right-hand side of expressor Studio.  For each property, I can select an appropriate entry from the corresponding drop down control.  Clicking on the button to the right of the “File name” text box opens the file system location specified in the file connection artifact, allowing me to select the appropriate input file.  I indicate also that the first row in the file, the header row, should be skipped, and that any record that fails one of the datetime constraints should be skipped.

I then select the Write Table operator and in its Properties panel specify the database connection, normal for the “Mode,” and the “Truncate” and “Create Missing Table” options.  If my target table does not yet exist, expressor will create the table using the information encapsulated in the schema artifact assigned to the operator.

The last task needed to complete the application is to create the schema artifact used by the Write Table operator.  This is extremely easy as another wizard is capable of using the schema artifact assigned to the Read Table operator to create a schema artifact for the Write Table operator.  In the Write Table Properties panel, I click the drop down control to the right of the “Schema” property and select “New Table Schema from Upstream Output…” from the drop down menu.

The wizard first displays the table description and in its second screen asks me to select the database connection artifact that specifies the RDBMS in which the target table will exist.  The wizard then connects to the RDBMS and retrieves a list of database schemas from which I make a selection.  The fourth screen gives me the opportunity to fine tune the table’s description.  In this example, I set the width of the JobDescription column to a maximum of 40 characters and select money as the type of the LastSalary column.  I also provide the name for the table.

This completes development of the application.  The entire application was created through the use of wizards and the required data transformations specified through simple constraints and specifications rather than through coding.  To develop this application, I only needed a basic understanding of expressor Studio, a level of expertise that can be gained by working through a few introductory tutorials.  expressor Studio is as close to a point and click data integration tool as one could want and I urge you to try this product if you have a need to move data between files or from files to database tables.

Check out CSVexpress in more detail.  It offers a few basic video tutorials and a preview of expressor Studio 3.5, which will support the reading and writing of data into Salesforce.com.

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

SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3

• Enhanced upgrade experience from previous versions of SQL Server to SQL Server 2008 SP3. In addition, we have increased the performance & reliability of the setup experience.
• In SQL Server Integration Services logs will now show the total number of rows sent in Data Flows.
• Enhanced warning messages when creating the maintenance plan if the Shrink Database option is enabled.
• Resolving database issue with transparent data encryption enabled and making it available even if certificate is dropped.
• Optimized query outcomes when indexed Spatial Data Type column is referenced by DTA (Database Tuning Advisor).
• Superior user experience with Sequence Functions (e.g Row_Numbers()) in a Parallel execution plan.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP3 Express Edition
SQL Server 2008 SP3 Express is a free edition of SQL Server that is ideal for learning and building desktop and small server applications, and for redistribution by ISVs.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 3 Feature Pack
The Feature Pack is a collection of stand-alone install packages that provide additional value for SQL Server 2008 SP3.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP3 Reporting Services Report Builder
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Report Builder 2.0 delivers an intuitive, Office-like report authoring environment enabling business and power users to leverage their experience with Microsoft Office 2007 products.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP3 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies
The Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP3 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies is a Web download that provides features for running a report server within a larger deployment of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

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

System Center Monitoring Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse Appliance

This Monitoring Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse (PDW) Appliance provides capabilities to discover, monitor, and manage your SQL Server PDW appliances. The management pack simplifies the monitoring process for PDW.

In addition to health monitoring capabilities, this monitoring pack includes a custom diagram view to visualize appliance health. The custom view has detailed knowledge about the health states for the hardware and software components. The custom view enables near real-time diagnosis and resolution of detected issues.

Note: Description is taken from Microsoft page.

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

I have used this tool extensively since 2009 at numerous occasion and found it to be very impressive. What separates it from the crowd the most – it is it’s apparent simplicity and speed. When I install SQLBackupAndFTP and configure backups – all in 1 or 2 minutes, my clients are always impressed.

To put it simply, SQLBackupAndFTP is MS SQL Server backup software that performs these tasks:

• Backup SQL Server Database
• Zip the backups
• Encrypt the backups
• FTP the backups to remote FTP server
• Move file to local area network
• Send final status of tasks in email.
• Allows to monitor the history of jobs through the web

SQLBackupAndFTP comes in Free and Paid versions (starting from $29) – see this version comparison chart, but even Free version is fully functional for unlimited ad hoc backups or for scheduled backups of up to two databases – it will be sufficient for many small customers.

But enough theory, let us now see how we can take backup and move it to the desired folder.

Image 1: You start from the main form and  all the settings are very easy as described in the following image. From database selection to job scheduling, you can configure everything on one screen.

On this form you would usually do the following:

1. Press “Connect to SQL Server” button to connect to your SQL Server instance
2. Check databases in the list to select databases to backup
3. If you need to store backups in a Local/Network folder – fill out the path to this folder
4. If you need to send backups to FTP – fill out your FTP server settings
5. Enter you email to receive job notification e-mails
6. Fill out the time when a scheduled daily backup job should run
7. Press “Run Now” button to test your backups

Note that the above covers just the basic scenario when you need full backups once a day. If you need Differential or Transaction Log backups or a schedule more complicated than once per day – press “Advanced Schedule”.

Image 2: Advanced Backup Schedule. Again, what I love about this program – it is how simply it allows you to resolve even quite complicated tasks. Your can click the sample scenario link that matches you needs the most – like “Daily 4 times” and everything is set – you’ll get one full and 3 Differential backups per day. Or select any other scenario that suits you.

Image 3: Advanced Settings screen is optional and allows you set encryption, compression levels, backup file name, temporary folders, if you want to use web logs (more about it below) and more

Image 4: If you checked “Use web log” in Advanced Settings, the log of your jobs is being saved on the web on sqlbackupandftp.com site (see weblog demo) and you can see the history of these jobs (even collected from multiple servers) in a single page – very interesting feature that can be very handy for large organizations

A detailed configuration tutorial is available here if you are interested.

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 very few steps compared to native SQL Server backup, which takes numerous steps to execute the similar job.

Image 5: Along with SQLBackupAndFTP setup gives you the option to install “One-Click SQL Restore” (you can install it stand-alone too) – a basic tool for restoring just Full backups.

However basic, you can drag-and-drop on it the zip file created by SQLBackupAndFTP, it unzips the BAK file if necessary, connects to the SQL server on the start, selects the right database, it is smart enough to restart the server to drop open connections if necessary – very handy for developers who need to restore databases often.

While testing SQLBackupAndFTP I noticed some limitations. It only works reliably on local SQL Server instances. In other words it has to be installed on the SQL server itself. For remote servers it uses scripting which is less reliable. This limitations is actually inherent in SQL server itself as BACKUP DATABASE command  creates backup not on the client, but on the server itself.

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. It is especially useful for SQL Server Express 2005 and SQL Server Express 2008, as they lack built in tools for backup.

SQLBackupAndFTP is rapidly evolving since I first started using it two years ago. I spoke to developers and it seems that their immediate goal is to include cloud storage support – users will be able to backup directly to Microsoft SkyDrive, Amazon S3, DropBox, Box.net and others – very exciting development.

I strongly recommend this tool to all the DBAs. They must absolutely try it as it is 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. I will also give print book of my SQL Server Wait Stats book to two individual who share their feedback about this product. The book will be sent to any country where Amazon delivers the book.

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

Here are few of the Information_schema system tables which works in SQL CE.

-- Get all the columns of the database
SELECT *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
-- Get all the indexes of the database
SELECT *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.INDEXES
-- Get all the indexes and columns of the database
SELECT *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE
-- Get all the datatypes of the database
SELECT *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PROVIDER_TYPES
-- Get all the tables of the database
SELECT *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
-- Get all the constraint of the database
SELECT *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLE_CONSTRAINTS
-- Get all the foreign keys of the database
SELECT *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.REFERENTIAL_CONSTRAINTS

Here is my question – how many of you use SQL CE and how many of you use SQL Express? and for what purpose?

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

—————————
About WebMatrix
—————————
Version 2 Beta

WebMatrix: 7.1.1307.1
IIS 7.5 Express: 7.1.1307.1
.NET Framework: 4.0.30319.235 (RTMGDR.030319-2300)
Web Deploy: 7.1.1307.1
SQL Server Compact: 4.0.8482.1
Web Platform Installer: 7.1.1307.1
ASP.NET Web Pages: 1.0.20105.407
ASP.NET Web Pages: 2.0.10906.0

What got my attention was that when I noticed SQL Server Compact version 4 installed with WebMatrix. As soon as I see this SQL Server CE, I decided to install my personal sample database to test various. However, when I tried to install my very old sdf file (data file) it did not work. Finally, I did upgraded it to latest version it finally worked and I can install the same easily.

I know many must be looking for sample database to run on SQL Server CE. You can use my converted database. This infect is very old database, I just upgraded the version of the same.

Download Sample Database for SQL CE 4.0

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

A HyperV image of SQL Server Denali CTP3 in action, including fully configured services and integration with SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010. The following software is configured on the virtual machine:

• SQL Server “Denali” CTP3
• SharePoint 2010
• Office 2010

Download SQL Server DENALI CTP3 Demo VHD

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

Download the Whitepaper from here.

Note: Abstract taken from whitepaper.

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

This solution also introduces the concept of ensemble models for data mining, which are sets of multiple related models. For most data mining projects, you need to create several models, analyze the differences, and compare outputs before you can select a best model to use operationally. Integration Services provides a framework within which you can easily generate and manage ensemble models.

Download the whitepaper from here.

Note: Abstract taken from whitepaper.

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

Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Documentation, SQL Download, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL White Papers, T SQL, Technology ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2011/09/18/sqlauthority-news-automation-of-data-mining-using-integration-services/feed/ 0 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2011/09/12/sql-server-denali-ctp3-step-by-step-installation-video-200-seconds/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2011/09/12/sql-server-denali-ctp3-step-by-step-installation-video-200-seconds/#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 01:30:41 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=14343 ]]> My recent article on SQL SERVER – Download Denali CTP3 and Denali CTP 3 Product Guide has inspired today’s post. After reading this blog post, I received a few emails and few comments on facebook page that if I can post a video guide to Denali CTP3 installation. Finally I create this video which is about how one can install SQL Server Denali CTP3. There is no audio in this video as the video is very simple and one can understand it quite easily.

Click here to watch the Denali CTP3 Installation Video on YouTube.

Let me know if you like the video I will post few more videos based on your feedback.

Download Denali from here.

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

Download Running SQL Server with Hyper-V Dynamic Memory – Best Practices and Considerations

Memory is a critical resource to Microsoft SQL Server workloads, especially in a virtualized environment where resources are shared and contention for shared resources can lead to negative impact on the workload. Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 introduced Hyper-V Dynamic Memory, which enables virtual machines to make more efficient use of physical memory resources. Hyper-V Dynamic Memory treats memory as a shared resource that can be reallocated automatically among running virtual machines. There are unique considerations that apply to virtual machines that run SQL Server workloads in such environments. This document provides insight into considerations and best practices for running SQL Server 2008 R2 in Hyper-V Dynamic Memory configurations on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

Download Consolidating Databases Using Virtualization Planning Guide

he purpose of this guide is to provide a description of the technologies and best practices utilized to design a database consolidation solution; guidance will be appropriately defined throughout to prescribe configurations and considerations to implement for best results. Documentation of specific tasks will be very limited.

This white paper consider the following three potential strategies:

• Using a single physical machine to host multiple virtual machines running the Microsoft SQL Server database software
• Using a single machine to host multiple SQL Server instances
• Using a single instance of SQL Server to host multiple databases

Note: Above abstract is from Microsoft Official documentation.

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

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Introduction – Day 1 of 31

In this very first blog post – various aspect of the interview questions and answers are discussed. Some people like the subject for their helpful hints and thought provoking subject, and others dislike these posts because they feel it is nothing more than cheating.  I’d like to discuss the pros and cons of a Question and Answer format here.

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 2 of 31

• What is RDBMS?
• What are the Properties of the Relational Tables?
• What is Normalization?
• What is De-normalization?
• How is ACID property related to Database?
• What are the Different Normalization Forms?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 3 of 31

• What is a Stored Procedure?
• What is a Trigger?
• What are the Different Types of Triggers?
• What is a View?
• What is an Index?
• What is a Linked Server?
• What is a Cursor?
• What is Collation?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 4 of 31

• What is the Difference between a Function and a Stored Procedure?
• What is subquery? Explain the Properties of a Subquery?
• What are Different Types of Join?
• What are Primary Keys and Foreign Keys?
• What is User-defined Functions? What are the types of User-defined Functions that can be created?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 5 of 31

• What is an Identity?
• What is DataWarehousing?
• What languages BI uses to achieve the goal?
• What is Standby Servers? Explain Types of Standby Servers.
• What is Dirty Read?
• Why can’t I use Outer Join in an Indexed View?
• What is the Correct Order of the Logical Query Processing Phases?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 6 of 31

• Which TCP/IP port does the SQL Server run on? How can it be Changed?
• What are the Difference between Clustered and a Non-clustered Index?
• What are the Different Index Configurations a Table can have?
• What are Different Types of Collation Sensitivity?
• What is OLTP (Online Transaction Processing)?
• What’s the Difference between a Primary Key and a Unique Key?
• What is Difference between DELETE  and TRUNCATE Commands?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 7 of 31

• What are Different Types of Locks?
• What are Pessimistic Lock and Optimistic Lock?
• When is the use of UPDATE_STATISTICS command?
• What is the Difference between a HAVING clause and a WHERE clause?
• What is Connection Pooling and why it is Used?
• What are the Properties and Different Types of Sub-Queries?
• What are the Authentication Modes in SQL Server? How can it be Changed?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 8 of 31

• Which Command using Query Analyzer will give you the Version of SQL Server and Operating System?
• What is an SQL Server Agent?
• Can a Stored Procedure call itself or a Recursive Stored Procedure? How many levels of SP nesting is possible?
• What is Log Shipping?
• Name 3 ways to get an Accurate Count of the Number of Records in a Table?
• What does it mean to have QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON? What are the Implications of having it OFF?
• What is the Difference between a Local and a Global Temporary Table?
• What is the STUFF Function and How Does it Differ from the REPLACE Function?
• What is PRIMARY KEY?
• What is UNIQUE KEY Constraint?
• What is FOREIGN KEY?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 9 of 31

• What is CHECK Constraint?
• What is NOT NULL Constraint?
• What is the difference between UNION and UNION ALL?
• What is B-Tree?
• How to get @@ERROR and @@ROWCOUNT at the Same Time?
• What is a Scheduled Job or What is a Scheduled Task?
• What are the Advantages of Using Stored Procedures?
• What is a Table Called, if it has neither Cluster nor Non-cluster Index? What is it Used for?
• Can SQL Servers Linked to other Servers like Oracle?
• What is BCP? When is it Used?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 10 of 31

• What Command do we Use to Rename a db, a Table and a Column?
• What are sp_configure Commands and SET Commands?
• How to Implement One-to-One, One-to-Many and Many-to-Many Relationships while Designing Tables?
• What is Difference between Commit and Rollback when Used in Transactions?
• What is an Execution Plan? When would you Use it? How would you View the Execution Plan?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 11 of 31

• What is Difference between Table Aliases and Column Aliases? Do they Affect Performance?
• What is the difference between CHAR and VARCHAR Datatypes?
• What is the Difference between VARCHAR and VARCHAR(MAX) Datatypes?
• What is the Difference between VARCHAR and NVARCHAR datatypes?
• Which are the Important Points to Note when Multilanguage Data is Stored in a Table?
• How to Optimize Stored Procedure Optimization?
• What is SQL Injection? How to Protect Against SQL Injection Attack?
• How to Find Out the List Schema Name and Table Name for the Database?
• What is CHECKPOINT Process in the SQL Server?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 12 of 31

• How does Using a Separate Hard Drive for Several Database Objects Improves Performance Right Away?
• How to Find the List of Fixed Hard Drive and Free Space on Server?
• Why can there be only one Clustered Index and not more than one?
• What is Difference between Line Feed (\n) and Carriage Return (\r)?
• Is It Possible to have Clustered Index on Separate Drive From Original Table Location?
• What is a Hint?
• How to Delete Duplicate Rows?
• Why the Trigger Fires Multiple Times in Single Login?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 13 of 31

• What is Aggregate Functions?
• What is Use of @@ SPID in SQL Server?
• What is the Difference between Index Seek vs. Index Scan?
• What is the Maximum Size per Database for SQL Server Express?
• How do We Know if Any Query is Retrieving a Large Amount of Data or very little data?
• What is the Difference between GRANT and WITH GRANT while Giving Permissions to the User?
• How to Create Primary Key with Specific Name while Creating a Table?
• What is T-SQL Script to Take Database Offline – Take Database Online
• How to Enable/Disable Indexes?
• Can we Insert Data if Clustered Index is Disabled?
• How to Recompile Stored Procedure at Run Time?
• Is there any Performance Difference between IF EXISTS (Select null from table) and IF EXISTS (Select 1 from table)?
• What is Difference in Performance between INSERT TOP (N) INTO Table and Using Top with INSERT?
• Does the Order of Columns in UPDATE statements Matter?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 14 of 31

• What are the basic functions for master, msdb, model, tempdb and resource databases?
• What is the Maximum Number of Index per Table?
• Explain Few of the New Features of SQL Server 2008 Management Studio
• Explain IntelliSense for Query Editing
• Explain MultiServer Query
• Explain Query Editor Regions
• Explain Object Explorer Enhancements
• Explain Activity Monitors

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 15 of 31

• What is Service Broker?
• Where are SQL server Usernames and Passwords Stored in the SQL server?
• What is Policy Management?
• What is Database Mirroring?
• What are Sparse Columns?
• What does TOP Operator Do?
• What is CTE?
• What is MERGE Statement?
• What is Filtered Index?
• Which are the New Data Types Introduced in SQL SERVER 2008?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 16 of 31

• What are the Advantages of Using CTE?
• How can we Rewrite Sub-Queries into Simple Select Statements or with Joins?
• What is CLR?
• What are Synonyms?
• What is LINQ?
• What are Isolation Levels?
• What is Use of EXCEPT Clause?
• What is XPath?
• What is NOLOCK?
• What is the Difference between Update Lock and Exclusive Lock?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 17 of 31

• How will you Handle Error in SQL SERVER 2008?
• What is RAISEERROR? What is RAISEERROR?
• How to Rebuild the Master Database?
• What is the XML Datatype?
• What is Data Compression?
• What is Use of DBCC Commands?
• How to Copy the Tables, Schema and Views from one SQL Server to Another?
• How to Find Tables without Indexes?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 18 of 31

• How to Copy Data from One Table to Another Table?
• What is Catalog Views?
• What is PIVOT and UNPIVOT?
• What is a Filestream?
• What is SQLCMD?
• What do you mean by TABLESAMPLE?
• What is ROW_NUMBER()?
• What are Ranking Functions?
• What is Change Data Capture (CDC) in SQL Server 2008?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 19 of 31

• How can I Track the Changes or Identify the Latest Insert-Update-Delete from a Table?
• What is the CPU Pressure?
• How can I Get Data from a Database on Another Server?
• What is the Bookmark Lookup and RID Lookup?
• What is Difference between ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE and WITH NO_WAIT during ALTER DATABASE?
• What is Difference between GETDATE and SYSDATETIME in SQL Server 2008?
• How can I Check that whether Automatic Statistic Update is Enabled or not?
• How to Find Index Size for Each Index on Table?
• What is the Difference between Seek Predicate and Predicate?
• What are Basics of Policy Management?
• What are the Advantages of Policy Management?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 20 of 31

• What are Policy Management Terms?
• What is the ‘FILLFACTOR’?
• Where in MS SQL Server is ’100’ equal to ‘0’?
• What are Points to Remember while Using the FILLFACTOR Argument?
• What is a ROLLUP Clause?
• What are Various Limitations of the Views?
• What is a Covered index?
• When I Delete any Data from a Table, does the SQL Server reduce the size of that table?
• What are Wait Types?
• How to Stop Log File Growing too Big?
• If any Stored Procedure is Encrypted, then can we see its definition in Activity Monitor?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Data Warehouseing Concepts – Day 21 of 31

• What is Data Warehousing?
• What is Business Intelligence (BI)?
• What is a Dimension Table?
• What is Dimensional Modeling?
• What is a Fact Table?
• What are the Fundamental Stages of Data Warehousing?
• What are the Different Methods of Loading Dimension tables?
• Describes the Foreign Key Columns in Fact Table and Dimension Table?
• What is Data Mining?
• What is the Difference between a View and a Materialized View?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Data Warehouseing Concepts – Day 22 of 31

• What is OLTP?
• What is OLAP?
• What is the Difference between OLTP and OLAP?
• What is ODS?
• What is ER Diagram?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Data Warehouseing Concepts – Day 23 of 31

• What is ETL?
• What is VLDB?
• Is OLTP Database is Design Optimal for Data Warehouse?
• If denormalizing improves Data Warehouse Processes, then why is the Fact Table is in the Normal Form?
• What are Lookup Tables?
• What are Aggregate Tables?
• What is Real-Time Data-Warehousing?
• What are Conformed Dimensions?
• What is a Conformed Fact?
• How do you Load the Time Dimension?
• What is a Level of Granularity of a Fact Table?
• What are Non-Additive Facts?
• What is a Factless Facts Table?
• What are Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD)?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Data Warehouseing Concepts – Day 24 of 31

• What is Hybrid Slowly Changing Dimension?
• What is BUS Schema?
• What is a Star Schema?
• What Snow Flake Schema?
• Differences between the Star and Snowflake Schema?
• What is Difference between ER Modeling and Dimensional Modeling?
• What is Degenerate Dimension Table?
• Why is Data Modeling Important?
• What is a Surrogate Key?
• What is Junk Dimension?
• What is a Data Mart?
• What is the Difference between OLAP and Data Warehouse?
• What is a Cube and Linked Cube with Reference to Data Warehouse?
• What is Snapshot with Reference to Data Warehouse?
• What is Active Data Warehousing?
• What is the Difference between Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence?
• What is MDS?
• Explain the Paradigm of Bill Inmon and Ralph Kimball.

SQL SERVER – Azure Interview Questions and Answers – Guest Post by Paras Doshi – Day 25 of 31

Paras Doshi has submitted 21 interesting question and answers for SQL Azure.

1.What is SQL Azure?
2.What is cloud computing?
3.How is SQL Azure different than SQL server?
4.How many replicas are maintained for each SQL Azure database?
5.How can we migrate from SQL server to SQL Azure?
6.Which tools are available to manage SQL Azure databases and servers?
7.Tell me something about security and SQL Azure.
8.What is SQL Azure Firewall?
9.What is the difference between web edition and business edition?
10.How do we synchronize On Premise SQL server with SQL Azure?
11.How do we Backup SQL Azure Data?
12.What is the current pricing model of SQL Azure?
13.What is the current limitation of the size of SQL Azure DB?
14.How do you handle datasets larger than 50 GB?
15.What happens when the SQL Azure database reaches Max Size?
16.How many databases can we create in a single server?
17.How many servers can we create in a single subscription?
18.How do you improve the performance of a SQL Azure Database?
19.What is code near application topology?
20.What were the latest updates to SQL Azure service?
21.When does a workload on SQL Azure get throttled?

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Guest Post by Malathi Mahadevan – Day 26 of 31

Malathi has asked a simple question which have several answer. Each answer make you think and ponder about the reality of the IT world. Look at the simple question – ‘What is the toughest challenge you have faced at your present job and how did you handle it’? and its various answers. Each answer has its own story.

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Guest Post by Rick Morelan – Day 27 of 31

Rick Morelan of Joes2Pros has written excellent blog post on subject how to find top N values. Most people are fully aware of how the TOP keyword works with a SELECT statement. After years preparing so many students to pass the SQL Certification I noticed they were pretty well prepared for job interviews too. Yes, they would do well in the interview but not great. There seemed to be a few questions that would come up repeatedly for almost everyone. Rick addresses similar question in his lucid writing skills.

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Guest Post by Nakul Vachhrajani – Day 28 of 31

Nakul explains the word – ‘interview ‘ with entire different angle to the subject. What really attacks in Nakul’s writing is his extremely clear ideas which are super crisp and to the point. Nakul talks about ‘Educational Qualification is never the only requirement’ with such a decent argument, that makes this article a must read.

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Guest Post by Feodor Georgiev – Day 29 of 31

Feodor is our most read gust blog author. He always comes up with interesting subject. Feodor start writing with interesting concept that – the job interview is like an enchanted dance between a potential employee and a potential employer which plays a defining role in their entire collaboration. This article has many witty comments and many interesting subject. A long article which has not a single dull moment.

SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Guest Post by Jacob Sebastian – Day 30 of 31

Jacob Sebastian never likes to talk on easy subject. He always talks on difficult subjects. This time he talks about the philosophy of XML. The purpose of the questions and their answers given below is to ensure that the people who read them and learn them will get a basic understanding of the XML functionalities provided by SQL Server. Jacob makes the dry subject like XML to worth reading and learning it.

SQL SERVER – The Difficult Interview Question – Moment of the Life – Day 31 of 31

I guess the title says all – Interview is the moment of life. Final write up on this subject by myself.

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

In this guide you will find information on how to test and run Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services in SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, and SQL Server 2008 R2 in a production environment. The focus of this guide is how you can test, monitor, diagnose, and remove production issues on even the largest scaled cubes. This paper also provides guidance on how to configure the server for best possible performance. It is the goal of this guide to make your operations processes as painless as possible, and to have you run with the best possible performance without any additional development effort to your deployed cubes. In this guide, you will learn how to get the best out of your existing data model by making changes transparent to the data model and by making configuration changes that improve the user experience of the cube.

Download SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services Operations Guide

Note: Abstract taken white paper.

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

4 Tips for ETL Software IDE Developers

Introduction to Adaptive ETL Tool – How adaptive is your ETL?

Sharing your ETL Resources Across Applications with Ease

expressor Studio Includes Powerful Scripting Capabilities

expressor 3.2 Release Review

5 Tips for Improving Your Data with expressor Studio

As I had mentioned in some of my blog posts on them, I encourage you to download and test-drive their Studio product – it’s free.

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

Download and read this whitepaper.

Note: Abstract is taken from MSDN

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

Filed under: PostADay, SQL, 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/2011/06/19/sqlauthority-news-download-whitepaper-using-sharepoint-list-data-in-powerpivot/feed/ 1 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2011/06/14/sql-server-watch-online-and-download-inside-of-next-generation-sql-server-best-practices-analyzer-using-microsoft-baseline-configuration-analyzer/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2011/06/14/sql-server-watch-online-and-download-inside-of-next-generation-sql-server-best-practices-analyzer-using-microsoft-baseline-configuration-analyzer/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 01:30:39 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=13198 ]]> I presented on subject Inside of Next Generation SQL Server – Denali online at Zeollar.com. This sessions are really fun as they are online, downloadable, and 100% demo oriented. I used SQL Server ‘Denali’ CTP 1 to present on the subject of What is New in Denali.

My earlier session on the Topic of Best Practices Analyzer is also available to watch online here: SQL SERVER – Video – Best Practices Analyzer using Microsoft Baseline Configuration Analyzer

I enjoyed presenting a lot on above two subjects. I would like to ask your opinion on the same. You can download the sessions and watch it yourself afterwords.

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

PHP & SQL Server Demos

• Integrating SQL Server Geo-Spatial with PHP
• SQL Server Reporting Services and PHP

PHP & SQL Server Hands On Labs

• Introduction to Using SQL Server with PHP
• Using SQL Server Full-Text Search and FILESTREAM Storage with PHP
• New: Getting Started with SQL Server Migration Assistant for MySQL

Download SQL Server PHP on Windows and SQL Server Training Kit

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

Download SQL Server Integration Services Balanced Data Distributor

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

The training kit is divided into four sections:

• Getting Started (for Web and BI developers who are new to SQL Server)
• SQL Server 2008 (for experienced SQL Server developers who want to understand what’s new in 2008)
• SQL Server 2008 R2 (for experienced SQL Server developers who want to understand what’s new in 2008 R2)
• Office 2010 (for experienced BI developers who want to understand what’s new in 2008 R2 and Office 2010)

SQL Server 2008 R2 Update for Developers Training Kit

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