Client Statistics is very important. Many a time, people relate queries execution plan with query cost. This is not a good comparison. Both are different parameters, and they are not always related. It is possible that the query cost of any statement is less, but the amount of the data returned is considerably large, which is causing any query to run slow. How do we know if any query is retrieving a large amount data or very little data? In one way, it is quite easy to figure this out by just looking at the result set; however, this method cannot be relied upon all the time as it is difficult to reach a conclusion when there are many columns and many rows.

To measure how much data is retrieved from server to client side is very simple. SQL Server Management Studio has feature that can measure client statistics. There are three different ways to enable client statistics.

Method 1

Press SHIFT+ALT+S together.

Method 2

Go to Menu >> Query >> Include Client Statistics

Method 3

Once you enable the client statistics, it will display another tab in the result span; when clicked, we obtain the following:

As shown in the image, it will capture details for different trials and they are compared with each other. Green arrows indicate improved statistics and red arrows indicate degrading statistics. Please note that here an increase does not always imply a good result; sometimes some statistics when marked as “up” can imply a bad result as well. For the same reason, they are colored in green and red, signifying good and bad results, respectively.

A maximum of 10 trials are averaged in the display window. When the11th trial comes into the result, the very first trial is dropped, keeping total average of latest 10 trials. There are many other aspects about client statistics; these shall be discussed in other articles.

Do you use this particular feature of SQL Server? If you do, what do you use it for?

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

Posted in Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Statistics ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/10/01/sql-server-sql-server-management-studio-and-client-statistics/feed/ 6 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/09/14/sql-server-plan-caching-and-schema-change-an-interesting-observation/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/09/14/sql-server-plan-caching-and-schema-change-an-interesting-observation/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:30:10 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=6756 ]]>

Last week, I had published details regarding SQL SERVER – Plan Caching in SQL Server 2008 by Greg Low on this blog. Similar to any other white paper, I have read this paper very carefully and enjoyed reading it. One particular topic in the white paper that caught my attention is definition of schema change. I was well aware of this definition, but I have often found that users are not familiar with what exactly does a schema change mean.

Many people assume that a change in the table structure is schema change. In fact, creating or dropping index on any table also qualifies as schema change.

As per the white paper, “Schema change” is defined as follows:

• Adding or dropping columns to a table or view.
• Adding or dropping constraints, defaults, or rules to/from a table.
• Adding an index to a table or an indexed view.
• Dropping an index defined on a table or an indexed view (only if the index is used by the query plan in question).
• Dropping a statistic (not creating or updating!) defined on a table will cause a correctness-related recompilation of any query plans that use that table. Such recompilations occur at that instant when the query plan in question begins execution. Updating a statistic (both manual and auto-update) will cause an optimality-related (data related) recompilation of any query plans that uses this statistic.

As per the above definition, I decided to experiment with schema change. In white paper, it was mentioned that schema change will recompile the execution batch. I decided to test this out. I created a small script (given below) and decided to test it.

As per the script, I created a large table and stored the procedure that was accessing that table. I created another object that was an index to the table; when SP was ran with index on table, it showed a plan different from that without the index on table. It was evident that the batch was recompiled when the index on the table was modified.

The script is available here to download.

Without Index execution plan:

With Index execution plan:

It is clear from the execution plan that it is different, and this proves the point that schema change recompiles the execution plan.

There is one more script provided in the white paper, which gets data from DMV related to cached plan. When I ran the following SP, it did not give me very interesting results.

SELECT cp.objtype AS PlanType,
OBJECT_NAME(st.objectid,st.dbid) AS ObjectName,
cp.refcounts AS ReferenceCounts,
cp.usecounts AS UseCounts,
st.TEXT AS SQLBatch,
qp.query_plan AS QueryPlan
FROM sys.dm_exec_cached_plans AS cp
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_query_plan(cp.plan_handle) AS qp
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(cp.plan_handle) AS st;

When I ran the above script, I found that the UseCount column did not reset when QueryPlan is changed. This was very surprising as I was expecting UseCount to reset on changing the query plan. I sent an email to Dr. Greg Low, who is author of this white paper. He was very kind to respond back within minutes with a proper answer, which is as follows:

You’ll notice in Profiler when you run the sproc after creating the index that it does in fact cause a recompile. However, in SQL Server 2008 (and 2005), these are statement level recompiles not proc level recompiles. I imagine that’s why they’re not reflected in the UseCount values ie: the plan itself isn’t recompiled and that’s what the counts are based on.

Well, this simple explanation clarified my doubts. Let me know what you think, and I strongly suggest you all to read the white paper written by Dr. Greg Low.

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

I just received a call from an old friend with whom I used to work in Las Vegas. He told me about a password-related issue he faced in his organization. They had changed the password of username SA and now they are not able to recall the new password. I am sure that he is not the first person who has faced this issue. There may be many more similar situations where employees who have sysamin password leaves the job or a hacker disables the SA account.

Resetting the password of SA is a breeze!

Option 1 :

If there is any other SQL Server Login that is a member of sysadmin role, you can log in using that account and reset the password of SQL Server. Change the password of SA account as described here :  SQL SERVER – Change Password of SA Login Using Management Studio.

Option 2 :

If there is any other Windows Login that is a member of Windows Admin Group, log in using that account. Start SQL Server in Single User Mode as described here :  SQL SERVER – Start SQL Server Instance in Single User Mode.
Create a new login and give it sysadmin permission.

Note : If you have SQL Server Agent enabled, it starts before SQL Server service. If you have enabled SQL Server in a single user mode, it will connect it first, so it is recommended to turn that off before attempting any of the above options.

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

I had a great, unforgettable time at Teched India 2009 in Hyderabad. I had delivered a successful session on SQL Server Management Studio Best Practices, which created a lot of interest in community. I was truly amazed at the tremendous response I got. I received countless different questions on this subject as soon as the event was over. One of the most frequently asked questions was about my demo on how to increase real estate of SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio).

I had explained the following two different methods:

1) Open Results in Separate Tab

This is a very interesting method as result pan shows up in a different tab instead of the splitting screen horizontally.

To enable this, first go to Tools >> Options >> Query Results >> Result to Grid (or Text) >> Enable Display results in a separate tab.

If you want to switch to a result set after the results are generated enable additional check box of ‘Switch to results tab after the query executes’. I do not find this option comfortable, as while working on query my focus on the working windows suddenly shifts to new windows.

2) Open SSMS in Full Screen

This works always and to its best. Not many people are aware of this method; hence, very few people use it to enhance performance.

Press Shift + Alter + Enter to enable full screen on computer.

In my opinion, by using the above both the options running together one can certainly increase more work area on computer screen. Are you using any of these options? Please share me with by leaving your comments here.

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

Posted in Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/07/24/sql-server-maximizing-view-of-sql-server-management-studio-full-screen-new-screen/feed/ 6 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/06/28/sql-server-2008-management-studio-new-features-2/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/06/28/sql-server-2008-management-studio-new-features-2/#comments Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:30:57 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=5706 ]]>

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

IntelliSense for Query Editing

This is my favorite feature so far. If you have used Visual Studio before, this feature may not be new to you. Implementation of IntelliSense is not as advanced as in Visual Studio but it is still very useful and well implemented.

After implementing IntelliSense, DBAs and developers will not have to remember all the syntax or browse online references. IntelliSense offers a few additional features besides just completing the world. You can see those option from SSMS Menu >> Edit >> IntelliSense >> (See the available options)

There are a total of five options available in Edit Menu. I suggest to experiment with all of them while playing with IntelliSense.

1. List Members
2. Parameter Info
3. Quick Info
4. Complete Word
5. Refresh Local Cache

If your IntelliSense does not bring up recently created objects, try “Refresh Local Cache” as described above, or press CTRL + SHIFT + R.

IntelliSense is a new feature and it will take some time to get adjusted to it. If any developer does not like this option, it can be turned off from Menu >> Query >> (deselect) Enable IntelliSense.

MultiServer Query

Usually DBA don’t manage only one database; they have many servers to manage. There are cases when DBA has to check the status of all the servers. I have seen one of the DBA who used to manage 400 servers, writing query using XML_CMDSHELL where he wanted to find out what the status of fullback up on all the servers was. In one of the recent consultancy job, when I had to find out if all the three servers were upgraded with Services Packs (SP), I ran a query to find version information on all the three instance separately in three windows.

SSMS 2008 has a feature to run a query on different servers from one query editor window. First of all make sure that you registered all the servers under your registered server. Once they are registered Right Click on server group name and click New Query as shown in the image below.

Now in the opened query window run the following query (you can find it in the sample code for this article):

SELECT
SERVERPROPERTY('Edition') AS Edition,
SERVERPROPERTY('ProductLevel') AS ProductLevel,
SERVERPROPERTY('ProductVersion') AS ProductVersion

Query above will give the result shown in the image below. Note that we have only three columns in the SELECT but our output contains four columns. The very first column is the “Server Name” and it is added by SQL Server to indentify rows belonging to a specific server.

If all of the above servers are registered with “central server” – the option which is right below it, other administrators can also register to those entire servers by simple registering one central server.

Query Editor Regions

This feature exists in many programming languages already but now it is newly introduced in SSMS 2008. The reason I am highlighting this feature is because there are cases when T-SQL code is longer than hundreds of lines and after a while it keeps on getting confusing.

The regions are defined by the following hierarchy:

1. From first GO command to next GO command.
2. Statements between BEGIN – END, BEGIN TRY – END TRY, BEGIN CATCH – END CATCH
3. Multiline statements

In the following code snippet I have reported an example which has five coding regions (you can find it in the sample code for this article). I have made small comment besides them describing their region type.

CREATE PROCEDURE MyTest -- Region Type 1
AS
BEGIN -- Region Type 2
SELECT 1
BEGIN -- Region Type 2
SELECT 2;
SELECT * -- Region Type 3
FROM sys.objects;
SELECT * -- Region Type 3
FROM sys.columns;
SELECT 3;
END
END
GO


Regions can be collapsed as well as expanded by clicking the small sign of ‘-’ or ‘+’ besides them. The following image shows a fully expanded region code snippet and a fully collapsed code snippet.

If there is any single-line statement, it does not qualify for a coding region.

Object Explorer Enhancements

Object Explorer Detail initially looks the same as the previous version but when right clicked on the bar with labels it reveals what it can do. This feature looks the same as the Vista OS folder option but when looked at how it is implemented for SQL Server data, it is really amazing. Object Explorer Detail view can be enabled by either going to Menu >> View >> Object Explorer Detail or pressing F7.

In Object Explorer Detail the new feature is Object Search. Enter any object name in the object search box and the searched result will be displayed in the same window as Object Explorer Detail.

Additionally, there are new wizards which help you perform several tasks, from policy management to disk monitoring. One cool thing is that everything displayed in the object explorer details screen can be right away copied and pasted to Excel without any formatting issue.

Activity Monitors

This feature is totally revamped in SSMS 2008. When opening “Activity Monitor” it shows a screen similar to the following image.

There are four graphs 1) % Processor Time, 2) Waiting Tasks, 3) Database I/O, 4) Batch Requests/Sec

Additionally, there are four tabs which also reflect some statistics of the above four graphs 1) Processes, 2) Resource Waits, 3) Data File I/O, 4) Recent Expensive Queries. Clicking on the tables will expand the tabs as shown in the following image.

All the four tabs provide very important information, however the one which I refer most is ‘Recent Expensive Queries’. Whenever I find my server running slow or having any performance related issues my first reaction is to open this tab and see which query is running slow. I usually look at the query with the highest number for Average Duration. The Recent Expensive Queries monitors only show queries which are in the SQL Server cache at that moment.

Summary

There are lots of new features of SSMS 2008. The ones I have listed today are the most prominent and my personal favorites.

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

In my recent visit to TechEd India 2009 at Hyderabad, I had taken a technical session on SQL Server Management Studio 2008 New Features, which was attended by a huge number of participants and was very successful. I got loads of requests from my readers for posting the session online. My presentation involved several videos and demos, so practically it is not possible for me to post my original session online. But as I do not want to disappoint my readers I have one solution; what I can do is that I can share some valuable tips from the session with you all.

Using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) DBAs can now query multiple servers from one window. It is quite common for DBAs with large amount of servers to maintain and gather information from multiple SQL Servers and create report. This feature is a blessing for the DBAs, as they can now assemble all the information instantaneously without going anywhere.

Prior to running a multi-server query, it is mandatory to first create a Registered SQL Server Group with the desired servers.

Create Registered Servers Group:

Go to Toolbar >> Views >> Registered Servers

In the opened window, Right Click on Local Server Groups and add a new server.

After all the desired servers are added run the following query in Query Editor. It will produce the result from all the registered servers. Make sure that when Queries are run on the left side the entire group of servers is selected. In the following example, Local Server Groups node is selected.

SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('Edition') AS Edition,
SERVERPROPERTY('ProductLevel') AS ProductLevel,
SERVERPROPERTY('ProductVersion') AS ProductVersion
GO

In my local machine, two different SQL Server 2008 are installed: SQL Server Dev Enterprise and SQL Server Express. These queries bring back two rows with expected results. Another thing to notice is that even though we have not selected, this result has brought back additional column of Server Name. This additional column has been added to differentiate our resultset and indicate which row belongs to which server.

In my case, I have only two registered servers, but it is absolutely possible to have hundreds of SQL Servers registered as group. If user wants to query few selected servers, it is presently not possible to make selection from server groups. User will have to create a new server group and the registered selected servers all over again. This is possible as one SQL Server can belong to multiple SQL Servers.

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

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)

I am elated to receive hundreds of emails every day from my readers. My tight work schedule refrains me from answering all your questions, but I do try my best to entertain them whenever I can. Today’s post revolves around a question I received a number of times last year but never blogged on it. On positive side, you are reading about that interesting subject today.

The question is – How to create multiple filegroup for any database?

To find solution to this query, we will go through the following four cases.

1) Creating New Database

a) Using T-SQL
b) Using SSMS

2) Updating Existing Database and Adding Filegroup

a) Using T-SQL
b) Using SSMS

Let us go over each of the cases one by one.

1) Creating New Database
a) Using T-SQL

CREATE DATABASE [FGTest] ON  PRIMARY
( NAME = N'FGTest',
FILENAME = N'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\FGTest.mdf' ,
SIZE = 3072KB , FILEGROWTH = 1024KB ),
FILEGROUP [Secondary]
( NAME = N'FGTest_2',
FILENAME = N'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\FGTest_2.ndf' ,
SIZE = 3072KB , FILEGROWTH = 1024KB )
LOG ON
( NAME = N'FGTest_log',
FILENAME = N'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\FGTest_log.ldf' ,
SIZE = 1024KB , FILEGROWTH = 10%)
GO

b) Using SSMS

2) Updating Existing Database and Adding Filegroup

Updating existing database is much simpler compared with adding filegroup to new database. Let us take a look at how quickly it can be completed in a few simple steps.

a) Using T-SQL
We will add a Third filegroup to the same database where we added secondary filegroup in the above example.

USE [master]
GO
ALTER DATABASE [FGTest] ADD FILEGROUP [Third]
GO

b) Using SSMS
Right click on the database and go to properties and filegroup. Add new filegroup by simply adding name.

I encourage all my readers to keep mailing me send in your questions and doubts. I will certainly take them up at some point of time.

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

Regular readers of my blog are aware of the fact that I have written about this subject umpteen times earlier, and every time I have spoken about a new issue related to it. Few days ago, I had redone my local home network. I have LAN setup with wireless router connected with my four computers, two mobile devices, one printer and one VOIP solution. I had also formatted my primary computer and clean installed SQL Server 2008 into it. Yesterday, incidentally, I was sitting in my yard trying to connect SQL Server located in home office and suddenly I stumbled upon the following error. Finding the solution was the most infuriating part as it consumed my precious 10 minutes.

Let us look at few of the common errors received:

An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server.

(provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 – Could not open a connection to SQL Server) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 5)

An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server.  When connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 – Could not open a connection to SQL Server) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 1326)

I eventually found the resolution to this error on this blog itself; so I was saved from hunting for the solution. I am sure there are a number of developers who had previously fixed this error while installing SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2005 but in due course forgot the right solution to this error. This is just a quick refresher. Make sure to bookmark this as you never know when you would need this solution.

Let us check into the steps to resolve this error.

1) SQL Server should be up and running.

Go to All Programs >> Microsoft SQL Server 2008 >> Configuration Tools >> SQL Server Configuration Manager >> SQL Server Services, and check if SQL Server service status is “Running”.

In addition, ensure that your remote server is in the same network. Run “sqlcmd -L” in your command prompt to ascertain if your server is included in your network list. You can even find tutorial for the same here SQL SERVER – Find All Servers From Local Network – Using sqlcmd – Detect Installed SQL Server on Network.

I have confronted numerous situations when these nerve-wracking errors crop up, and most of the time when I try to troubleshoot I notice that SQL Server services are neither running nor installed. If SQL Server is not installed as default instance SQL Server Browser should be running together with it; we will explore this further in Topic 5.

2) Enable TCP/IP in SQL Server Configuration

When two or more SQL Servers are connected across network they do all communication using TCP/IP. The default port of SQL Server installation is 1433. This port can be changed through SQL Server Configuration Manager. TCP/IP should be enabled for SQL Server to be connected.

Go to All Programs >> Microsoft SQL Server 2008 >> Configuration Tools >> SQL Server Configuration Manager >> Select TCP/IP

Right Click on TCP/IP >> Click on Enable

You must restart SQL Server Services for all the changes to take effect. Right click and go to menu properties to select location where default port of SQL Server can be changed.

3) Open Port in Windows Firewall

Windows Firewall is very efficacious in protecting the Operating system from all sorts of malicious attacks. By default, many of the ports and services are refrained from running by firewall. Time and again, SQL Server ports are not open in firewall as well. All the ports on which SQL Server is running should be added to exception and firewall should filter all the traffic from those ports. As described, by default SQL Server runs on port 1433, but if default port is changed then the new port should be added to exception. If SQL Server has named instance (another instance besides default instance) is installed, SQL Server browser should also be added to the exception, as described in Step 7.

Go to Control Panel >> Windows Firewall >> Change Settings >> Exceptions  >> Add Port

Make the following entries in popup “Add a Port” and click OK.
Name : SQL
Port Number: 1433
Protocol: Select TCP

4) Enable Remote Connection

Enabling remote connection is another important, yet oft-neglected step that is frequently missed by database administrators while setting up SQL Server. If this feature is turned off SQL Server will function smoothly on local machine, but it will let another server connect to it remotely. By default this feature is ON in SQL Server 2008.

Right click on the server node and select Properties.

Go to Left Tab of Connections and check “Allow remote connections to this server”

5) Enable SQL Server Browser Service

If SQL Server is not installed as default instance but instead installed as named instance and also if there is no specific TCP/IP port configured, it will give rise to the error that is being discussed in this article. If SQL Server Browser service is enabled, it will allow the server to be connected through dynamic TCP/IP port. Enabling this service is a one-time process, as on enabling it once it will apply to all the instances installed on the same server.

Go to All Programs >> Microsoft SQL Server 2008 >> Configuration Tools >> SQL Server Configuration Manager >> SQL Server Browser

Right Click on SQL Server Browser >> Click on Enable

6) Create exception of sqlbrowser.exe in Firewall

As elucidated in Step 6, sqlbrowser service needs to be enabled for named instance. Windows Firewall may prevent sqlbrowser.exe to execute. So, it is imperative to add exception for the same in windows firewall.

Search for sqlbrowser.exe on your local drive where SQL Server is installed. Copy the path of the sqlbrowser.exe like C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Shared\sqlbrowser.exe and create the exception of the file in Firewall, as delineated in Step 3.

7) Recreate Alias

It is getting quite common to create alias of SQL Server and use it in application. This will ensure that in future if any physical SQL Server has to be moved, it will not be required to change any code or connection string. You can simply create alias with the same name pointing to different SQL Server and it will start working instantaneously. I have observed that a couple of times due to internal error while recreating alias this error was fixed.

Go to All Programs >> Microsoft SQL Server 2008 >> Configuration Tools >> SQL Native Client 10.0 Configuration >> Aliases

Delete the alias that is giving problem and recreate it with identical parameters.

I have tried my best to include all the methods of fixing this error and if I have missed any, please leave a comment and I will be very glad to include them here. I have put in my effort to encompass this issue in one article that needs to be refereed when any connection error comes up.

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

Posted in Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Error Messages, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/05/21/sql-server-fix-error-provider-named-pipes-provider-error-40-could-not-open-a-connection-to-sql-server-microsoft-sql-server-error/feed/ 21 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/05/18/sql-server-fix-management-studio-error-saving-changes-in-not-permitted-the-changes-you-have-made-require-the-following-tables-to-be-dropped-and-re-created-you-have-either-made-changes-to-a-tab/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/05/18/sql-server-fix-management-studio-error-saving-changes-in-not-permitted-the-changes-you-have-made-require-the-following-tables-to-be-dropped-and-re-created-you-have-either-made-changes-to-a-tab/#comments Mon, 18 May 2009 01:30:45 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=4822 ]]>

Today, we will delve into a very simple issue that one of the Jr. Developers at my organization confronted. I have a preference for T-SQL. According to me, all the developers should always use T-SQL instead of Design feature of SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). In fact, sound knowledge of T-SQL has the potential to make a huge difference in the development of the developer. One issue with using design mode of SSMS is that it sometimes adds too much overhead to the actual code and locks up the complete database. In the earlier version of SSMS, it was quite common to see that even on doing a small change the whole SSMS got hanged and went unresponsive till the operation was over.

The reason for SSMS to go unresponsive is that when some operations (i.e. adding column, changing datatype of any column, etc) happen, it has to do much more work than the actual operation. Let us now examine an operation where we will add a new column to an already existing table.

• Transaction starts.
• When a new column is added SSMS renames the existing table to temp table.
• After that, it creates a new table with new specification.
• Now, SSMS has two tables: copy of  previous table with data and empty table with new structure.
• SSMS now starts moving older data from older table to newer table.
• If there is any error, it rolls back transaction.
• If there is no error, it commits all the previous operations.
• Transaction ends.

This entire operation is very resource intensive and puts lock on SQL Server tables in operation, eventually hanging SSMS.

SQL Server 2008 SSMS has new a feature that averts this issue. SSMS prevents user from running any operation that goes through the above-mentioned process. Let us see an example for the same.

First, create table using the following script in any database.

CREATE TABLE dbo.Table_1
(
ID INT NOT NULL,
First VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
Second VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
Third VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO

Once the table is created open the table in SSMS by clicking on the table name and selecting “Design.” Try to include another column to the existing table and click on save (CTRL+S). It will prevent it from saving and will emit the following error in popup.

Saving Changes in not permitted. The changes you have made require the following tables to be dropped and re-created. You have either made changes to a table that can’t be re-created or enabled the option Prevent saving changes that require the table to be re-created

I like how SSMS takes stance of displaying warning message and stops user from going further to do operation, thereby preventing hanging of SSMS. However, this feature can cause inconvenience in a situation when one is required to save table using SSMS. If such situation arises, then this feature can be turned off by going to Menu >> Tools >> Options >> Designers >> Uncheck “Prevent Saving changes that require table re-creation”.

This restriction only applies to operation attempted using only SSMS. If modification of tables are attempted using T-SQL in Query Editor, it will work just fine!

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

TechEd India 2009 has ended today and I’ve already started missing it! This three-day event was one of the best events of this year so far. I got the platform to meet best of the best people in the industry today. If I have to rate my days at TechEd I will assign the highest rating to day 3 as it was the most significant day. However, in today’s article I will not be writing in detail about the last day because most of the things that I want to discuss have been covered by NDA. Besides, I learnt some vital information from the SQL Server product group, which is very exhilarating and important, but I will not be able to share those with you.

Day 3 set off with meeting friends. Though are friendship was just 2-days old we felt connected to each other. Meeting new people, catching up with old friends, and learning about the best and the advanced technology – I just felt ecstatic!

I attended one of the most talked-about sessions of “Advanced Data Recovery and Troubleshooting with SQL Server 2008″ by Vinod Kumar. Meeting Vinod everyday and attending his sessions is quite addictive. He is very much like Steve Jones of SQL Server Central. He would bring smile on your face with his talks and pleasing personality.

Abstract of Vinod’s session

“Whenever we encounter a problem that could lead to a loss of data in a customer location we term it as Data Recovery problem. All of us in our SQL Server administration life would have encountered various problems like DBCC CHECKDB failing or database being marked as suspect or log file fails to restore etc.”

Satya – a SQL Domain Expert, an MVP, an International speaker and one of the most down-to-earth people – had also come to attend TechEd India from UK. He is a well-known name in the European countries for his speaking events. Today, we were all very fortunate to attend his enriching session on Highly Availability and SQL Server Upgrades. You would not believe no one moved from their seats throughout the session. Instead of the expected 2 hours the session lasted over 3 hours but everyone wanted more of it. It was a great experience listing to the very famous Satya in person. I would like to share another interesting fact about him.  He is currently writing on 14 (yes Fourteen!) blogs  all by himself!

I even attended an important meeting with nearly 10 very senior members from Microsoft SQL Server Product Team, who have actually created SQL Server. We had nearly 3-hours long meeting and it just went on. All MVPs were euphoric to see the Product Team. I must thank Microsoft Product Team for their great patience and for listening to us talking about SQL Server Product. It was a very rewarding meeting with the Product Group members. They promised to follow up very soon! I will not write further details about it as they have been covered by NDA.

After enjoying the three-day event the very thought of parting with great friends, MVP, UG Leads, and Microsoft Employees makes me sad. But at the end of the day I feel satisfied that I was part of this great event. I got the chance to learn new information from great people. Also, I was given a platform to share my knowledge with other participants, which truly satisfies me as I am an MVP.  My wife Nupur, who came along with me, also found this event very enjoyable.

I will continue my stay in Hyderabad for the following 3 days, as I have to attend some business meetings. Besides, I certainly don’t want to miss the opportunity of sightseeing. If any of you reside in Hyderabad, please do leave comment and send me email so that we can meet up and discuss technology.

TechEd 2009 India is over but my excitement has not faded yet. I have a very special announcement regarding Gandhinagar SQL Server User Group Meeting. I promise that the meeting that we will have on May 20, 2009 will be the biggest event of the year 2009. We are going to have an international speaker from USA. I will give more details about this upcoming event tomorrow.

I hope you have followed this event on my Twitter.

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

First day of TechEd India 2009 is over and when I recall the day I can say that it was truly a blast! This immensely huge and grand event was conducted successfully. I am having a tough time trying to recapitulate the first day as there were several different activities worth covering. Let me start with the three most important events of day.

Steve Ballmer – Microsoft CEO – was the Keynote speaker at TechEd India. He is really an enthusiastic person. As soon as he showed up on stage, the entire auditorium was charged with energy. People were extremely keen to see him and listen to him. He gave a very impressive overview of Microsoft Strategies and its future planning. Listening to him about recession was quite interesting. Steve is a man with wisdom and according to him this is in fact a good time and things will soon improve. With a tinge of humor he said “Recession is life time opportunity and do not miss to learn new things and grow out as stronger person”. Now, you tell me where else you will get to hear optimistic statement like this.

Today, I had a technical session on “SQL Server Management Studio 2008 New Features”. I really enjoyed the presence of participants at my session. The session hall was occupied with SQL enthusiasts who were excited to learn something new. I commenced my session by saying that the session was useful for people who are ever going to touch Management Studio. My session had nearly 9 demos and around 40 slides. Interestingly enough, I proficiently covered everything in less than 40 min, and we had ample time for discussing, addressing future issues with SQL Server, and interacting with SQL Server Product Team of Hyderabad. It may come as a surprise to few but yes, there are an interesting lot of people in SQL Server Product Team in Hyderabad.

Vigorous participation of people made my session interactive throughout. There was a two way communication. Not surprisingly, I received lots of feedback while the session was progressing. At one point, the entire hall was crammed with people and we ran out of chairs. I must thank the team leads Abhishek Kant and Abhishek Baxi for their speedy arrangement of additional chairs to accommodate all the attendees. SQL Server Cheat Sheets, which were prepared along with me by Digi-corp, were available for free pickup. We did not expect that SQL Server Cheat Sheet will become so popular; we ran out of them right during the session. I was able to arrange few of them right away, thanks to the agility of my cooperative wife Nupur, who is also attending TechEd event along with me.

Today, was one of the most important days of my life as I got the opportunity to meet a person I always wanted to meet. Vinod Kumar is a very well-known person in SQL community, and it feels weird to give introduction about him who is a celebrity in his own right. But for those who do not know him, let me introduce him to you. Vinod Kumar is a technical evangelist at Microsoft who is very passionate about community. He is one of the lead organizers of the highly esteemed TechEd India event. I was fortunate to spend time with him today and exchange a few words with him. Vinod is a very down to earth person and refuses to be addressed as “Sir.” He likes to be called just “Vinod.” He gave me many good suggestions, tips and advice. I would like to mention one statement he made -“Just be what you are!”

I attended two TV interviews and one community jam event as well. When I started giving autographs I did not realize when the number crossed 125. It was surprising, exciting and real fun! I will give details about it tomorrow.

Even though today was an action-packed day, I did take about sufficient time to meet few of my MVP fellows. Whenever MVPs meet, we have a great time! It was a pleasure to meet Jacob Sebastian (Beyond Relational), Vikram Pendse (The Silverlight Guru), Suprotim Agrawal (SQL Server Curry), Mahesh Mittkari (Pune UG), Satya (SQL Server Q&A – he came from Scotland to see Steve B and meet us), Amit Bansal (Peopleware India), Mahesh Dhola, Sanjay Shetty (INETA Lead), Ashwin Kini (Culminis Lead), Nauzad Kapadia (Quartz), Niraj (Niraj Rules), Arun (XML Guru), Gitesh Bajaj (PPT God), Hardik Shah (MS), K-Mug Leaders and many more.

Please pardon me if I missed any name. I will update it in my tomorrow’s post with further information about what we talked about and how much we enjoyed together.

Jacob (XML), Pinal (SQL), Vikram (Silverlight)

Back at hotel, I had lip smacking Thai Dinner with my wife. We both are vegetarians so the choice was limited, but nonetheless the food was great.

I’m looking forward to another action-packed day tomorrow. You can follow updates on Twitter here.

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

Pinalkumar Dave describes the top 5 features of SQL Server Management Studio 2008.

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.

There are certain situation when user wants to start SQL Server Engine in “single user” mode from the start up.

To start SQL Server in single user mode is very simple procedure as displayed below.

Go to SQL Server Configuration Manager and click on  SQL Server 2005 Services. Click on desired SQL Server instance and right click go to properties. On the Advance table enter param ‘-m;‘ before existing params in Startup Parameters box.

Make sure that you entered semi-comma after -m. Once that is completed, restart SQL Server services to take this in effect. Once this is done, now you will be only able to connect SQL Server using sqlcmd.

Make sure to remove newly added params after required work is completed to restart it in multi user mode.

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

This is one very interesting issue which I have started to follow recently. Just like any other organization my company has many servers. Some are production and some are development. It is very much necessary that query which are written for developer environment does not run for production environment accidentally.

In SQL Server 2008 there is special feature which can change the color of the task bar. This will alert developer to run query on server.

Let us see quick tutorial with images which explains how the color of the status bar in SQL Server management studio can be changed.

Another example of different color status bar.

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

Today we will go over very quick tip about finding out collation of database and table column. Collations specify the rules for how strings of character data are sorted and compared, based on the norms of particular languages and locales

Today’s script are self explanatory so I will not explain it much.

/* Find Collation of SQL Server Database */
SELECT DATABASEPROPERTYEX('AdventureWorks', 'Collation')
GO
/* Find Collation of SQL Server Database Table Column */
USE AdventureWorks
GO
SELECT name, collation_name
FROM sys.columns
WHERE OBJECT_ID IN (SELECT OBJECT_ID
FROM sys.objects
WHERE type = 'U'
AND name = 'Address')
AND name = 'City'

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

I received following email from Mike Bikkins.

“How can I connect to SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008 using SQL Server 2000’s Enterprise Manager?”

No. You can not connect with SQL Server 2005 and higher version using Enterprise Manager. You will need SQL Server Management Studio available with SQL Server 2005 and higher version.

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

Recently I have been busy with interviewing many candidates for my organization. We are looking for some smart and experienced developers for some senior positions. I have wrote this previously SQL SERVER – Interesting Interview Questions.

I had asked following question to one of the candidate and he was not able to answer this question. I promised him that I will put answer to this question on blog.

The question was : How to find table rowcount without using T-SQL and without opening table?

Answer : Well it is quite simple by using SQL Server Management Studio.

Right click on table and click on Properties. Now on left nav of opened window click on storage and under general section there is display of Row Count.

If you have similar interesting questions, please share with me. I will post on blog.

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

Recently I wrote article about SQL SERVER – 2008 – Install SQL Server 2008 – How to Upgrade to SQL Server 2008 – Installation Tutorial, I received couple of comment suggesting that I did not talk about SQL Server default collation setting or how to change default collation when installing SQL Server 2008.

While installing SQL Server 2008 on Server Configuration setting select “Collation” tab. It will bring up setting displayed in following image.

You can check the default collation of SQL Server as well can change it from the same. SQL Server offers the SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS collation as the default collation for server installations.

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

While attending conference SQLAuthority Author Visit – Microsoft Student Partner Conference, some developers informed me that SQL SERVER 2008 cannot be connected to Visual Studio 2008 and error displays as MS does not support SQL Server version. I was surprised initially as I could not believe that two MS products are not compatible. When trying myself I got the same error.

SQL Server 2008 when connected to Visual Studio 2008 gives the error that “This server version is not supported.  Only servers up to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 are supported“.

This error can be easily resolved by just installing Service pack. Download Visual Studio Service Pack 1 and install. Once service pack installed it will connect just fine.

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