“Pinal,

I am new DBA in my organization and I have to manage SQL Server 2005, 2008 and 2008 R2. Today is my first day at job and my manager has asked me to install all these different edition on our test environment. I have finished installing them. Later he has asked me provide him Installation Log Summary. I searched on internet and I could not find it, would you send me format of the installation log summary?”

I like this question, even though it is very simple, it demonstrates how new job can be confusing on very first day.

I sent him following reply

“Jeff,

I believe your manager is asking you following summary log produced by SQL Server installation. You can find it from following location on various version

Let us assume that your installation directory is: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server

SQL Server 2012 - C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Setup Bootstrap\Log\Summary.txt
SQL Server 2008\R2 - C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\Summary.txt

Congratulations on first day!”

He immediately replied that I was correct, his manager was looking for summary file in above mentioned folder. You should replace the path of your installation directory with the C drive I specified in above response.

This remind me my first day at job. I was very much confused and lost too. I did not know the abbreviation and jargon used in organization. Thanks to my seniors and co-workers that I am now familiar with the same. However, the learning is forever ongoing activity. Every single day I learn something new when I walk into my office, I consider every day as my first day for learning something new.

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

I was able to install the database successful. He informed me that he has created database diagram so I can easily understand his database tables. As soon as I tried to open the database diagram I faced following error. For a while I could not figure out how to resolve the error.

Error:
Database diagram support objects cannot be installed because this database does not have a valid owner. To continue, first use the Files page of the Database Properties dialog box or the ALTER AUTHORIZATION statement to set the database owner to a valid login, then add the database diagram support objects.

Workaround / Fix / Solution :

Well for a while I attempted few things and nothing worked. After that I carefully read the error and I realized that solution was proposed in the error only. I just have to read it carefully. Here are the steps I did to make this work.

-- Replace YourDatabaseName in following script
ALTER AUTHORIZATION ON DATABASE::YourDatabaseName TO sa
GO


• Select your database >> Right Click >> Select Properties
• Select FILE in left side of page
• In the OWNER box, select button which has three dots (…) in it
• Now select user ‘sa’ or NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM and click OK.

This should solve your problem.

Please note, I suggest you check your security policies before changing authorization. I did this to quickly solve my problem on my development server. If you are on production server, you may open yourself to potential security compromise.

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

One of the interesting questions I recently received is how many people actually touch the manuscript of the book before it goes to the publisher. Now this number may vary, but here is how many people touched our book’s manuscript.

• 2 authors
• 1 technical adviser
• 3 technical editors
• 1 language  adviser
• 2 layout designers
• 2 other people at the publisher/printer

With this many people collaborating, keeping organized was our main concern.  There were multiple people working together and most of the time we all were working parallel to each other on various part of the book. We kept on increasing the versions of the Word documents which we were all sharing. In the end the final version was sent to the printer. In our book there were two kinds of inaccuracies – 1) Ones we overlooked and did not correct, and 2) Ones we noticed but missed while collating various versions.

Before the book was published, everybody involved (every single person who contributed to the book in any capacity) had decided that if any errata was found, the next version must not have that error and we should maintain an error log. It has been 60 days since the book has been published and we have received quite a lot of communication on the book. The number one request is that many want a second part of the book, I am overwhelmed with your support and love.

Here is the page where we are listing all the errata of the book, if you are reading the book and you find anything which you would like to share with us – you are welcome to send us an email at books “at” sqlauthority.com. It does not matter if it is an English grammar error or technical inaccuracy – we value your input on any and all points. We aspired to be as close to perfect as possible and the first step is to accept our mistakes. Once we know the mistake, we will not repeat it and promptly correct it.

I know that I am looking forward to hearing from my readers about what they loved and what they’d like to see changed, and I’m sure my fellow collaborators would like to hear from you, too.  Thank you again for all your support.

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

The database principal owns a schema in the database, and cannot be dropped. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 15138)

As per him it was very urgent and he was not able to solve the same. I totally understand his situation and here is the quick workaround to the issue. The reason for error is quite clear from the error message as there were schema associated with the user and that needs to be transferred to another user.

Workaround / Resolution / Fix:

Let us assume that user was trying to delete user which is named as ‘pinaladmin’ and it exists in the database ‘AdventureWorks’.

Now run following script with the context of the database where user belongs.

USE AdventureWorks;
SELECT s.name
FROM sys.schemas s
WHERE s.principal_id = USER_ID('pinaladmin');


In my query I get following two schema as a result.

Now let us run following query where I will take my schema and and alter authorization on schema. In our case we have two schema so we will execute it two times.

ALTER AUTHORIZATION ON SCHEMA::db_denydatareader TO dbo;
ALTER AUTHORIZATION ON SCHEMA::db_denydatawriter TO dbo;

Now if you drop the database owner it will not throw any error.

Here is generic script for resolving the error:

SELECT s.name
FROM sys.schemas s
WHERE s.principal_id = USER_ID('YourUserID');

Now replace the result name in following script:

ALTER AUTHORIZATION ON SCHEMA::YourSchemaName TO dbo;

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

Msg 3201, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
Cannot open backup device ‘D:\Backup\SQLAuthority.bak’. Operating system error 3(The system cannot find the path specified.).
Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
BACKUP DATABASE is terminating abnormally.

Solution:

Go to your drive and create the missing folder. In my case I went to Drive D and created Backup Folder there.

Additional Story:

If you read the first line of the blog post you will read there that I mentioned that I had frustrating experience. It was not frustrating that I do not know the solution – it was totally different reason. When I encountered the above error I quickly went and created the folder in my machine. Once I created the folder, I still keep on getting the error. After a while I realize what I was doing. I was creating the folder in the machine where I had installed SQL Server Management Studio. To resolve this error one has to create the folder in the machine where SQL Server is installed. Once I created the folder to the location where I was attempting to take backup the issue was resolved.

How many of you have been in the same situation as me as mentioned in additional story?

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

Here is the quick example where when attempted to create statistics on 33 columns is generating error but when statistics are created on 32 columns it works successfully.

Set up Script:

CREATE DATABASE TestDB
GO
USE TestDB
GO
CREATE TABLE Test1
(ID1 INT,  ID2 INT, ID3 INT,
ID4 INT, ID5 INT, ID6 INT,
ID7 INT, ID8 INT, ID9 INT,
ID10 INT, ID11 INT, ID12 INT,
ID13 INT, ID14 INT, ID15 INT,
ID16 INT, ID17 INT, ID18 INT,
ID19 INT, ID20 INT, ID21 INT,
ID22 INT, ID23 INT, ID24 INT,
ID25 INT, ID26 INT, ID27 INT,
ID28 INT, ID29 INT, ID30 INT,
ID31 INT, ID32 INT, ID33 INT)
GO


Here is the example when index created on 33 columns it gives error.

CREATE STATISTICS [Stats_Test1]
ON [dbo].[Test1]
([ID1], [ID2], [ID3], [ID4], [ID5],
[ID6], [ID7], [ID8], [ID9], [ID10],
[ID11], [ID12], [ID13], [ID14], [ID15],
[ID16], [ID17], [ID18], [ID19], [ID20],
[ID21], [ID22], [ID23], [ID24], [ID25],
[ID26], [ID27], [ID28], [ID29], [ID30],
[ID31], [ID32], [ID33]
)
GO

Msg 1904, Level 16, State 2, Line 1
The statistics ‘Stats_Test1′ on table ‘dbo.Test1′ has 33 column names in statistics key list. The maximum limit for index or statistics key column list is 32.

Here is the example when index created on 32 columns it works perfectly fine.

CREATE STATISTICS [Stats_Test1]
ON [dbo].[Test1]
([ID1], [ID2], [ID3], [ID4], [ID5],
[ID6], [ID7], [ID8], [ID9], [ID10],
[ID11], [ID12], [ID13], [ID14], [ID15],
[ID16], [ID17], [ID18], [ID19], [ID20],
[ID21], [ID22], [ID23], [ID24], [ID25],
[ID26], [ID27], [ID28], [ID29], [ID30],
[ID31], [ID32]
)
GO

Well, in simple words, one can create statistics on 32 columns. Please additionally, note, the scope of this blog is not to discuss if that is good or bad. The purpose of this post is notice the Index can have maximum 16 columns but statistics can have 32 columns.

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

Though our conversation was very long – I have kept only relevant conversation here.

User: While installing the SQL Server 2012 RC0 the error which is displayed is: File format is not valid.
Pinal: Download the iso format idea again.
User: Downloaded the iso media and extracted it again into C Drive and attempted the installation – still the same error.
Pinal: What is the tool you are using to extract the file?
User: (Some tool)
Pinal: Use alternate iso extractor tool or  winrar to extract file.
User: It worked!

The original media was all fine. However, when user was using a software which extract the files from ISO to folder, it was corrupting few files. Well, if you face this issue remember to attempt new software to extract your file. If that does not work, try one more time to download the file.

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

File cannot be loaded because the execution of scripts is disabled on this system. Please see “get-help about_signing” for more details

Fix/Solution/Workaround:

The solution is very simple. Open the Powershell window and type following two lines and everything will fine right after that.

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Again, this is I have done for my environment where I am very careful what I will run. You can change the policy back to original restricted policy if you want to restrict future execution of the powershell scripts.

Simple – isn’t it? Well all complex looking problems are very simple to solve.

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

C:\Users\pinald>sqlcmd -A -d master -S .\SQLEXPRESS

Sqlcmd: Error: Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 11.0 : SQL Server Network Interfaces: An error occurred while obtaining the dedicated administrator connection (DAC) port. Make sure that SQL Browser is running, or check the error log for t he port number [xFFFFFFFF]. .Sqlcmd: Error: Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 11.0 : Login timeout expired.Sqlcmd: Error: Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 11.0 : A network-related or instance-specific error has occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. Server is not found or not accessible. Check if instance name is correct and if SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. For more information see SQL Server Books Online.

I was bit taken a back as I knew that my commands are correct to login and if DAC does not work, there should be some serious reason for it. When inquired further about the SQL Server version I learned that it was SQL Server Express version deployed. To conserve resources, SQL Server Express does not listen on the DAC port. There is an additional step to be done if SQL Server Express has to be used with DAC. Enable TRACEFLAG on SQL Server Express will enable the connection by DAC possible. Here is the quick methods how one can enable DAC on SQL Server Express.

Go to Start >> All Program >>Microsoft SQL Server (your version) >> Configuration Tools >> SQL Server Configuration Manager.

Click on SQL Server Services >> Select your SQL Server Express version >> Right Click Properties >> select Startup Parameters

Once on the Startup Parameter add the Startup parameter which is TRACEFLAG -T7806. Click on OK and RESTART SQL Server Express edition. Now once again try to connect to SQL Server Express edition and it will work just fine.

This is absolutely documented method on BOL and SQL Server Express needs to be restarted.

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

TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio
——————————
Unable to start service SQLSERVERAGENT on server PINALKUMAR. (mscorlib)
——————————
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Service Logon Failure (ObjectExplorer)

Indeed this was again issue with my changed password which I forget to change it for my SQL Server Agent. Once I changed the password, it fixed itself.

I guess this should be last time when I change my password and do not change it in my services depending on the same login.

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

1. Office Laptop – Provided by work organization
2. Personal Laptop – My wife uses it
3. Demo Machine – A very old machine – I think I can only do demo of my messenger only – it is 32 bit – single CPU 1 GB RAM

I work with SQL Server 2008 (R2) and SQL Server ‘Denali’ and often connect to both the instances. Recently while I was connecting to Denali I encountered following error.

Failed to retrieve data for this request. Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Sdk.Sfc)
‘DATABASEPROPERTY’ is not a recognized built-in function name. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 195)

I was bit confused with the error and suddenly realized that I was attempting to connect to SQL Server ‘Denali’ instance from SQL Server 2008 R2 SSMS.

However, if you try to connect to SQL Server 2008 R2 from SQL Server ‘Denali’ SSMS it will work absolutely fine.

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


Msg 3201, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
Cannot open backup device ‘C:\AdventureWorks.bak’. Operating system error 5(Access is denied.).

Fix/Resolution/Workaround:

I checked which user account my SQL Server services are running.

I gave full permission to that account to get read of the error.

NOTE: This whole experience was done on the my personal machine and not on production server. Please check with your network administrator for permission on production server.

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

Error:

The request failed or the service did not respond in timely fashion. Consult the event log or other applicable error logs for details.

I was bit puzzled and looked into the Windows Application Error Log. It showed me following details:

When I looked at above error I right away realized what had happened.

Fix/Workaround/Resolution:

My organization has policy to change password at frequent interval. I had changed the password the day before and because of the same all the services were down. I quickly went to Property of the service and change the password to my updated password.

Once done when I attempted to start the service, it worked well and error wend away.

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

The datatype of money is also visually look similar to the decimal, why it would throw following error:

Msg 8115, Level 16, State 8, Line 3
Arithmetic overflow error converting money to data type numeric.

Please leave a comment with explanation and I will post a your answer on this blog with due credit.

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

During presentations I often create and drop various databases for demonstrations purpose. Recently in one of the presentations, I tried to remove my recently created database, I got following error.

Msg 3702, Level 16, State 3, Line 1
Cannot drop database “MyDBName” because it is currently in use.

The reason was very simple as my database was in use by another session or window. I had option that I should go and find open session and close it right away; later followed by dropping the database. As I was in rush I quickly wrote down following code and I was able to successfully drop the database.

USE MASTER
GO
ALTER DATABASE MyDBName
SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;
DROP DATABASE MyDBName
GO

Please note that I am doing all this on my demonstrations, do not run above code on production without proper approvals and supervisions.

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

However, there is no need to restart the server to create a new log file or recycle the log file. You can run sp_cycle_errorlog and achieve the same result. Here is an example of what I am suggesting.

Before sp_cycle_errorlog

Executing sp_cycle_errorlog

EXEC sp_cycle_errorlog
GO

After sp_cycle_errorlog

You can also create a new log for the agent in the same way after running sp_cycle_agent_errorlog.

Do you use this feature on your production server? I am interested to learn about this.

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

MS Jet OLEDB 4.0 cannot be used for distributed queries because the provider is used to run in apartment mode.

The fix of the same is very easy.

Fix/Workaround/Resolution:

sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;
GO
RECONFIGURE;
GO
sp_configure 'Ad Hoc Distributed Queries', 1;
GO
RECONFIGURE;
GO

If you are still facing the error after running above statement please leave a comment here and I will do my best to help you out.

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

I was recently working on an offshore project where I was called in to tune high transaction OLTP server. During work, I demanded that I should have a server which is very similar to live database so I could inspect all the settings and data. I may end up running a few queries which may or may not change the server settings. The Sr. DBA agreed and instructed the Jr. DBA accordingly to restore a database from their backup.

In a few minutes, their Jr. DBA arrived running to us, asking for our help. The problem was that when he attempted to restore the database, he was not able to restore the database as their backup. This eventually threw an error. Now this was very alarming for them because their backup file had some issues. I suggested trying some backups but again, the same issue occurred on all of them.

The CTO, who was also present at the location, got very upset with this situation. He then asked when the last successful restore test was done. As expected, the answer was NEVER. There were no successful restore tests done before.

During that time, I was present and I could clearly see the stress, confusion, carelessness and anger around me. I did not appreciate the feeling and I was pretty sure that no one in there wanted the atmosphere like me.

The next step was to take a backup of their database right away. The CTO wanted to observe the complete process so he could figure out where the error originated and where was its exact location.

Here is the error they were receiving when they attempted to restore the database:

Msg 3243, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
The media family on device ‘D:\TestDB.bak’ was created using Microsoft Tape Format version 1.22. SQL Server supports version 1.0.
Msg 3013, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
RESTORE DATABASE is terminating abnormally.

The first thing I attempted to do is to take a backup of the database on another spare drive by myself. After having that backup, I tried to restore it to the database. As what I expected, it was successfully restored. Now that event provided me the information that there was nothing wrong with how the backup was done. The problem was located somewhere else. I asked them about their current process of taking a backup and storing it. They provided me the following diagram:

Looking at the diagram, I decided to test their FTP software. I uploaded  our organization’s FTP space. After it was done, I restored the database again and it worked without an error. This led me to think that there is something wrong in their UNIX server. After talking to their UNIX administrator, he informed me that they were running some cron jobs to compress the files and they were also moving those files to a larger drive. After listening to this, I was very sure there was something wrong during that process which had something to do with the .bak file because it was not able to work properly.

After a few tests, the UNIX administrator accepted that that cron job was changing the structure of the file. In the meantime, he disabled the process to avoid this corruption. The CTO then asked me if there was any way they could tell if the backup which was already taken was good as gold or if there was a corruption in it.

Here is the command that you can run on your database file so you can check if the database file is intact or if it has any corruption in it:

RESTORE VERIFYONLY
FROM DISK=N'D:\TestDB.bak'


The question is, “Do you practice this on your production server’s backup?”

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

Could not connect to  TCP error code 10061: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.

The solution was very simple, I had to enable exception of the my port in my windows firewall. The way I figured it out  was by quickly disabling the firewall (it was not a production server). Once I disabled it, the application just worked fine; this was a sign that the firewall was the cause of the issue, I right away enabled firewall and added my port as exception.

So many errors have cropped up recently due to the connectivity issue. I have started to make my routine to check firewall first before I move to next action item in my troubleshooting list.

When I sent this detail to my internal technical list of the expert, I got the suggestion that this error happens due to many other reasons as well and not only due to firewall.

I am interested to know when and how this error happens and what is the resolution. This way, if we have complete list, we can avoid this error in future.

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

Msg 5133, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
Directory lookup for the file “filepath” failed with the operating system error 2(The system cannot find the file specified.).
Msg 1802, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
CREATE DATABASE failed. Some file names listed could not be created. Check related errors.
Msg 5133, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
Directory lookup for the file “filepath” failed with the operating system error 2(The system cannot find the file specified.).
Msg 1802, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
CREATE DATABASE failed. Some file names listed could not be created. Check related errors.

As per him he had gone crazy to find solution. He had been trying to create database  and he had all the admin privileges. After getting remote desktop, I realize that he was everything correct but the filepath he was trying to create. Once he corrected the filepath everything was smooth from there.

If you have the same error I suggest you carefully check your filepath. There must be some typo or error in filepath. If that is not the case and with admin rights you are still facing issue, post a comment here.

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

One of the requirements of Indexed View is that it has to be created ‘WITH SCHEMABINDING’. If the View is not created with that clause, it would not let you create an index on that View. Moreover, if you try to create a View with schemabinding, it would not allow you to create the database.

-- Create DB
USE MASTER
GO
CREATE DATABASE TEST1
CREATE DATABASE TEST2
GO
-- Table1
USE Test1
GO
CREATE TABLE TABLE1 (ID INT)
GO
USE Test2
GO
-- Table2
CREATE TABLE TABLE2 (ID INT)
GO
USE Test1
GO
-- Create View
CREATE VIEW CrossDBView
WITH SCHEMABINDING
AS
SELECT t1.ID AS t1id, t2.ID AS t2id
FROM Test1.dbo.Table1 t1
INNER JOIN Test2.dbo.Table2 t2 ON t1.ID = t2.ID
GO
/*
Error:
Msg 4512, Level 16, State 3, Procedure CrossDBView, Line 4
Cannot schema bind view 'CrossDBView' because name 'Test1.dbo.Table1' is invalid for schema binding. Names must be in two-part format and an object cannot reference itself.
*/
-- Clean up
DROP VIEW CrossDBView
GO
USE MASTER
GO
DROP DATABASE TEST1
DROP DATABASE TEST2
GO


When you try to create the View, it would throw the following error:

Msg 4512, Level 16, State 3, Procedure CrossDBView, Line 4
Cannot schema bind view ‘CrossDBView’ because name ‘Test1.dbo.Table1′ is invalid for schema binding. Names must be in two-part format and an object cannot reference itself.

After looking at all these limitations, have you thought of other constraints that View has? If you know any other interesting limitations, please share them here through your comments.

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

This is very well known limitation of the View.

Once the view is created and if the basic table has any column added or removed, it is not usually reflected in the view till it is refreshed.

To test this, we will create a view where we will use SELECT * and select everything from the table. Once the view is created, we will add a column to the view. We will test that even though we have used SELECT *, the view does not retrieve the newly added column. Once we refresh the view using SP_REFRESHVIEW, it will start retrieving the newly added column.

Run the following T-SQL script in SQL Server Management Studio New Query Window:

USE AdventureWorks
GO
IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.views WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[LimitView4]'))
DROP VIEW [dbo].[LimitView4]
GO
-- Create View
CREATE VIEW LimitView4
AS
SELECT *
FROM HumanResources.Shift
GO
-- Select from original table
SELECT *
FROM HumanResources.Shift
GO
-- Select from View
SELECT *
FROM LimitView4
GO
-- Add Column to original Table
ALTER TABLE HumanResources.Shift
ADD AdditionalCol INT
GO
-- Select from original table
SELECT *
FROM HumanResources.Shift
GO
-- Select from View
SELECT *
FROM LimitView4
GO
-- Refresh the view
EXEC sp_refreshview 'LimitView4'
GO
-- Select from original table
SELECT *
FROM HumanResources.Shift
GO
-- Select from View
SELECT *
FROM LimitView4
GO
-- Clean up
ALTER TABLE HumanResources.Shift
DROP COLUMN AdditionalCol
GO


Above query will return following resultset.

The same limitation exits in the case of deleting the column as well. This is a very well-known issue with the Views. The resolutions of these issues are as follows:

1. Refresh the views using sp_refreshview stored procedure
2. Do not use SELECT * but use SELECT columnnames
3. Create view with SCHEMABINDING; this way, the underlying table will not get modified.

I am enjoying writing this series of blog posts on the limitation of the views. Do let me know if there is any other limitation you would like to read on this blog.

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

Msg 8170, Level 16, State 2, Line 1
Insufficient result space to convert uniqueidentifier value to char.

The code which I had ran earlier was as following.

SELECT 'GeneratedID:'+CAST(NEWID() AS VARCHAR(10)) AS NEW_ID


Solution:

The solution of above error is extremely simple. I just increased the length from VARCHAR(10) to VARCHAR(36) and it worked fine.

SELECT 'GeneratedID:'+CAST(NEWID() AS VARCHAR(36)) AS NEW_ID


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

Hi Pinal,

Even thought my database is in full recovery mode when I try to take log backup I am getting following error.

BACKUP LOG cannot be performed because there is no current database backup. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)

How to fix it?

Thanks,
[name and email removed as requested]

Solution / Fix:

This error can happen when you have never taken full backup of your database and you try to attempt to take backup of the log only. Take full backup once and attempt to take log back up. If the name of your database is MyTestDB follow procedure as following.

BACKUP DATABASE [MyTestDB]
TO DISK = N'C:\MyTestDB.bak'
GO
BACKUP LOG [MyTestDB]
TO DISK = N'C:\MyTestDB.bak'
GO

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

MSDTC on server is unavailable. Changed database context to publisherdatabase. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 8501)

Solution:

Enable “Distributed Transaction Coordinator” in SQL Server.

Method 1:

1. Click on Start–>Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services
2. Select the service “Distributed Transaction Coordinator”
3. Right on the service and choose “Start”

Method 2:

1. Type services.msc in the run command box
2. Select “Services” manager; Hit Enter
3. Select the service “Distributed Transaction Coordinator”
4. Right on the service and choose “Start”

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