I love active participation from my readers. Just a day ago I wrote article about SQL SERVER - Simple Use of Cursor to Print All Stored Procedures of Database. I just received comment from Jerry Hung who have improved on previously written article of generating text of Stored Procedure.

DECLARE @procName VARCHAR(100)
DECLARE @getprocName CURSOR
SET @getprocName = CURSOR FOR
SELECT Name = ‘[' + SCHEMA_NAME(SCHEMA_ID) + '].[' + Name + ']‘
FROM sys.all_objects WHERE TYPE = ‘P’
AND is_ms_shipped 1

CLOSE @getprocName
DEALLOCATE @getprocName
GO

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

Organizations across the globe are being inundated with regulatory requirements. They also have a strong need to better manage their IT systems to ensure they are operating efficiently and staying secure. Microsoft is often asked to provide guidance and technology to assist organizations struggling with compliance. The SQL Server 2008 Compliance Guidance white paper was written to help organizations and individuals understand how to use the features of the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 database software to address their compliance needs. This paper serves as an accompaniment to the SQL Server 2008 compliance software development kit (SDK), which provides sample code and guidance for understanding SQL Server 2008 compliance features and using them for developing solutions.

Download White Paper

SQLAuthority Blog reader YordanGeorgiev has submitted very interesting SP, which uses cursor to generate text of all the Stored Procedure of current Database. This task can be done many ways, however, this is also interesting method.

USE AdventureWorks
GO
DECLARE @procName VARCHAR(100)
DECLARE @getprocName CURSOR
SET @getprocName = CURSOR FOR
SELECT s.name
FROM sysobjects s
WHERE type = ‘P’
OPEN @getprocName
FETCH NEXT
FROM @getprocName INTO @procName
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
EXEC sp_HelpText @procName
FETCH NEXT
FROM @getprocName INTO @procName
END
CLOSE @getprocName
DEALLOCATE @getprocName
GO

Just give this script a try and it will print text of all the SP in your database. If you are using Grid View for Result Pan I suggest to change it to Text View (CTRL+T) to read the text easily.

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

MVP Open day 2008 is one of the best event happened so far. I have previously written about this event in detail on this blog.

SQLAuthority News - Author Visit - South Asia MVP Open Day 2008 - Goa - Link List
SQLAuthority News - Author Visit - South Asia MVP Open Day 2008 - Goa - Day 1
SQLAuthority News - Author Visit - South Asia MVP Open Day 2008 - Goa - Day 2
SQLAuthority News - Author Visit - South Asia MVP Open Day 2008 - Goa - Day 3

Please read the event about on above articles. Today I have received group photo of this event. I thank you fellow MVP and Expert Allen Bailochan Tuladhar for sending me group photo. Allen is Country Manager of MICROSOFT MDP Nepal and only MVP from Nepal.

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

Yesterday was our last day at South Asia MVP Open Day. For three days continuously we are having great time along with fellow MVP. Every MVP was having great time because the way whole event was planned. We had plenty of time for networking as well lots of interesting sessions were going on.

Most of the MVPs had slept late the day before because everybody was preparing their presentation for community buzz. The day before we had wonderful Open Space sessions at Midnight. The most avaited sessions was Nitin Paranjape - Do’s and Dont’s of being an entrepreneur (Monetizing your expertise). I have requested PPT to Nitin (as we were coming back in the same flight to Mumbai), as soon as I receive the PPT I will share with everybody on this blog.

I visited for long walk by myself on beach. From last two days I was so busy that I hardly had a single min with myself. My phone was showing full battery after end of the second day as it was absolutely not used. I enjoyed long walk on beach. I had discussion about India and Russian economy with one of the Russian visitor on beach. If I had more time, I might have discussed with him for little longer.

I had to get back to attend excellent session of Blogging Workshop by Abhishek Kant. The reason I like this session as it has given all the blogger to share their thoughts with everybody. Whole group listened suggestions carefully and agreed with each other. Abhishek has made some notes about all the suggestions, once I receive the copy of it, I will share with everybody.

Workshop was followed up with community activity, where four team proposed their agenda of promoting MS product. Winner team promoted IE8 and won MP4 players. It was great team building activity and extremely hilarious as well. We all end up discussing and laughing at presentation. Hats off to everybody who took part in this team activity.

Abhishek thanked all the MVPs for their tremendous response to the event. Closing notes were presented by Howard Lo. All MPVs ended event with three cheers to MS team.

Overall, South Asia MVP Open Day 2008 was very successful event. What I have covered in my three days notes is actually very small percentage of what actually was happening at event. There were parallel technical sessions and lots of discussion among technology experts. I will write more about different sessions and other technical discussion in next few days. I am also waiting for few PPTs and demos to share with all of you. There were few sessions which shared information which I can not disclose here as we are under NDA. Only thing I will say that Microsoft is coming out with lots of exciting features and products.

Pinal at Sea Shore

Abhishek on Blog Workshop

Allen from Nepal and Pinal

Pinal discussing Blog Buzz

MVP Group Photo

Howard Lo - Closing Notes

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

At MVP Open Day we were promised that we will have 8 to 8 action packed day but we all observed much longer hours where we all MVP’s were busy with activity. I will say instead of 8 AM to 8 PM we actually had fun from 8 AM to 2 AM (next day).

Day 2 at MVP Open day was filled with technical sessions followed by River Cruise and Dance party at Casino. On day 2 we had team photo, as I was part of team photo I could not take this photo myself. I will request Abhishek Kant to send me the team photo of all the MVP who came to MVP OpenDay and post on this blog.

We all MVP were thinking that we will not enjoy the River Cruise but when party started on Cruise we all were so much into it that we wanted to take one more round of the cruise. As we had to get back to Casino Dance Party we all decided to come back to our hotel. Out Hotel Kenilworth Resorts, Goa is indeed good hotel with all the fun stuff available right of there.

Read more about Day 1 at SQLAuthority News - Author Visit - South Asia MVP Open Day 2008 - Goa - Day 1. One thing which was most important was Community Buzz. We all MVP has to promote campaign plan for one MS product. Our strong team was assigned color green and Windows Server 2008. My team member really worked hard and prepared the documentation. We have presentation to do tomorrow about the same. I am very excited to do the same. We hope to win but if we do not win, it is still lots of fun.

There were lots of other activity we did but one of the most interesting activity was NETWORKING with other MVPs. I want to congratulate Microsoft MVP Leads ( Abhishek Kant and Abhishek Bakshi) for arranging the event such a way that there was plenty of opportunity of the networking with everybody. MVPs mingled and learned about each other. Let us see some of the snaps which I took at event.

Again, I am waiting for group photo to receive from any member who took it.

At hotel large Chess ground

All MVP Same T-Shirt

Santa Monica of Goat

R.E.D.

Casino Night

Pool - where is the cue?

MVP background

All MVPs

At Cruise Night

At Cruise Night - happy MVPs

At R.E.D.

My Beach Clothes!

MVP Background

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

It is great fun! Perfect Event and Great start.

Yesterday I wrote about agenda of South Asia MVP Open Day 2008 which is at Hotel Kenilworth Resorts, Goa. November 15 - Day 1 of Open Day started with plain journey and ended with Goan Team Party at beach with fellow MVP.

I have more than hundreds of the photos of this event. I will share few of the them with you.

First of all let me thank three four people, without their support this event might have not possible.

Haward Lo - Microsoft, Singapore - Regional Manager, Asia Pacific and Greater China
Abhishek Kant - Microsoft, India - MVP Lead
Abhishek Bakshi - Microsoft, India - MVP Program Specialist
Tanuj Vohra - Microsoft, India - Partner Director, Visual Studio Test Business

I met all of them personally and had wonderful connection with them. I want to personally thank all of them for their extra ordinary support for this excellent event to happen. Haward were in the same plane from Mumbai to Goa and we had some good discussion about open day when we were together going to hotel.

Hotel Kenilworth Resort is amazingly beautiful hotel and it is very hard to describe in words. I will share few of the photos here to give you some idea about the place. Very clear goan beach is just adjoining to this hotel.

After quick introduction to program we had demo of Windows 7 and goan theme party at beach, followed by open space presentation. Open space presentation were presentation by fellow MVP for other MVPs and they started at midnight 12. You can image how action packed days we all MVP had at Open Day 2008.

Following image I found on Mumbai Airport.

MVP Open Day Logo

My room at hotel

My room at hotel

Hotel Kenilworth Resort

Pinal at event

Hotel Kenilworth Resort

Abhishek Kant Presenting

Howard Lo Presenting

Pradeep Presenting

Tanuj Vohra Presenting

Abhishek Bakshi Presenting

Goan Night Theme

Pinal, Suprotim, Rahul, Abhishek K

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

Today is very exciting day as I will start my trip to South Asia MVP Open Day 2008 - Goa. Yesterday I wrote about my visit. I will be attending South Asia MVP Open Day 2008 on November 15 - 17, 2008 at Hotel Kenilworth Resorts, Goa. Those who have asked how can they meet me in Goa is that you will have to send me email and I will respond to them.

At this moment I have reached goa and writing using my new USB Data Card internet.

I will post more photos and event details as I receive them. Following is proposed agenda of this event. I am publishing this agenda with verbal approval of MVP Team Lead Abhishek.

Nov 15, Saturday
16:30 - 17:00: Welcome Note, Howard Lo*
17:00 - 18:00: MVP Lead Briefing, Abhishek Kant*
18:00 - 19:00: Windows 7 Demo - PDC Build, Pradeep Parappil
19:00 - 20:00: Team Activity - Community Buzz
20:00 - PARTY with Goan Theme
00:00 - After Hours Open Space

Nov 16, Sunday
9:00 - 9:30: MVPs WorldWide, Nestor Portillo*
9:30 - 11:00: [Main Conference Room] Rosario: What’s Coming?, Ashwini Gupta & Tanuj Vohra
9:30 - 11:00: [BreakAway Room] IW & Client Community Plans & Participation, Pradeep Parappil
11:00 - 11:15: TEAM PHOTOS
11:15 - 11:30: BREAK
11:30 - 12:30: [Main Conference Room] Microsoft’s Community Plan for the fiscal, Deepak Rajendran*
12:30 - 13:30: [Main Conference Room] DPE Audience Marketing Rhythms, Deepak Rajendran*
12:30 - 13:30: [BreakAway Room] Immersion into Groove Technologies, Ashok Hingorani
13:30 - 14:30: LUNCH
14:30 - 15:30: [Main Conference Room] Feedback from Quarter 1 & 2 & Plan for Quarter 3 & 4– Mitigation plan
14:30 - 15:30: [BreakAway Room] Blogging Brainstorming
15:30 - 16:30: Team Activity - Community Buzz
16:30 - 17:00: BREAK
17:00 - 20:00: River Cruise
20:00 - PARTY - Casino, Kenilworth
00:00 - After Hours Open Space

Nov 17, Monday
9:00 - 10:00: Blogging Workshop
10:00 - 11:00: Team Presentations
11:00 - 11:30: BREAK
11:30 - 13:00: Open Session with MVP Program Team, Abhishek Kant, Abhishek Baxi and Howard Lo
13:00 - 13:30: Closing Note, Howard Lo
13:30: LUNCH

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

I will be attending South Asia MVP Open Day 2008 on November 15 - 17, 2008 at Hotel Kenilworth Resorts, Goa. I am very excited as this will be my first Open Day event after being MVP. Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) are exceptional technical community leaders from around the world who are awarded for voluntarily sharing their high quality, real world expertise in offline and online technical communities. Microsoft MVPs are a highly select group of experts that represents the technical community’s best and brightest, and they share a deep commitment to community and a willingness to help others.

There will be lots of events at South Asia MVP Open Day and lots of opportunity to meet smartest experts of Microsoft Technology. I will be writing article about how event is going everyday from Goa. If you are in Goa and want to meet me and few of the other Industry Leaders please send me email and we can meet at Hotel Kenilworth Resort after the event. Hotel Kenilworth Resort is known for its guest services and wonderful environment. You can look at some of the photos of Hotel here.

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

Yesterday I wrote about SQLAuthority News - Download RML Utilities for SQL Server. I received many emails where different developers requested how to find additional help regarding RML Utilities. Few users reported that they are not able to install RML Utilities because of some reporting service pre-requisite.

If RML Utilities are not being installed due to pre-requisite, install Microsoft Report Viewer 2008 SP1 Redistributable and then try to install RML Utilities. If there is need of additional help once RML Utilities are installed click on Start >> All Programs >> RML Utilities for SQL Server >> Help >> RML Help. Once you click on link it will open PDF with instructions about how to use RML.

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

The RML utilities allow you to process SQL Server trace files and view reports showing how SQL Server is performing. For example, you can quickly see:

You can also test how the system will behave with some change (different service pack or hotfix build, changing a stored procedure or function, modifying or adding indexes, and so forth) by using the provided tools to replay the trace files against another instance of SQL Server. If you capture trace during this replay you can use the tools to directly compare to the original baseline capture.

Supports SQL Server versions 2000, 2005 and 2008.

Download RML Utilities for SQL Server

SQL Server stores history of all the taken backup forever. History of all the backup is stored in msdb database. Many times older history is no more required. Following Stored Procedure can be executed with parameter which takes days of history to keep. In following example 30 is passed to keep history of month.

USE msdb
GO
DECLARE @DaysToKeepHistory DATETIME
SET @DaysToKeepHistory = CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), DATEADD(dd, -30, GETDATE()), 101)

EXEC sp_delete_backuphistory @DaysToKeepHistory
GO

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

Today we will see quick script which will check integrity of all the database of SQL Server.

EXEC sp_msforeachdb ‘DBCC CHECKDB(”?”)’

Above script will return you lots of messages in resultset. If there are any errors in resultset they will be displayed in red text. If everything is black text there is no error. Typical output of above script will be like image included in the article.

Image displayed above is only partial image.

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

SQL Server 2008 Books Online is updated on 31 October 2008. I always bookmark latest BOL for my easy reference.

Getting Started: New and Updated Topics (31 October 2008)

Analysis Services - Multidimensional Data: New and Updated Topics (31 October 2008)

Database Engine: New and Updated Topics (31 October 2008)

Integration Services: New and Updated Topics (31 October 2008)

Analysis Services - Data Mining: New and Updated Topics (31 October 2008)

Reporting Services: New and Updated Topics (31 October 2008)

It was not possible to connect SQL Server 2008 to Visual Studio 2005 so far. Microsoft has released Service Pack once it is installed SQL Server 2008 can be connected to Visual Studio 2005.

Download Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Support

For connecting SQL Server 2008 to Visual Studio 2008.

SQL SERVER - 2008 - Fix Connection Error with Visual Studio 2008 - Server Version is not supported - VS SP1 ISO Download

Yesterday I received following questions on blog. Ashish Agarwal asked following question.

Hi Pinal,

Can we refresh a database (like we do by right clicking database node in object explorer and clicking on refresh) thru SQL Query?
If yes, can you please tell me the query?

Thanks,
Ashish Agarwal

Answer to above question is NO. It is not possible to do the same task using SQL Query.

However, if you have changed some SP or any other object and if they are cached in the database, database can be refreshed using DBCC commands.

Read my previous article about SQL SERVER - Clear SQL Server Memory Caches.

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

I just received following screen shot from one of the regular reader of SQLAuthority.com blog. He pointed out important milestone for our blog. We have crossed 5 millions visitors. In less than 2 years SQLAuthority.com blog has been visited by 5 millions visitors. I even missed the anniversary our blog. On November 1st 2008 SQLAuthority.com has completed 2 years of its existence and now continuing in 3rd year.

There are many important miles stones I have during this journey the most important one is that I have received Microsoft Award for SQL Server Most Valuable Professional. I usually avoid discussing politics or business trends. However, I have received many emails requesting my opinion about current recession and economy slow down as well how it will effect SQL Server technology and Job Opportunities.

On occasion of two major events - celebrating beginning of 3rd year of this blog and crossing 5 millions visitors I will share my opinion about economy slow down and SQL Server. If you consider Barack Obama historic victory as US president today, then we have three major events.

Due to current slow down in economy it is for sure that budgets of companies are affected but technological advancement and development is not affected at all. Demand of SQL Server experts are still the same in job market. If due to any reason any developer has lost his/her job they will find their dream job in no time. Until they find their new job they must continue to learn new technologies. Do not sit around thinking that you will learn new technology when you will find new job. In fact, learning new technology will help you find new job. If you have any question or looking for answer, use the customized search engine which finds your SQL Server answers very quickly Search SQLAuthority.

I do receive many emails every day when either developer is looking for job or employers are looking for good candidates. I do forward their emails to each other. If you are employer and looking for good developer contact me as I know many good candidates who are looking for suitable job. If you are employee and looking for job change or unemployed do contact me and I can get you connected to right person. If you are .NET(C#) and SQL Server 2+ years experience developer in Ahmedabad, India, I have opening at my organization. If you are eager to learn, I will hire you myself and you will have opportunity to work with me as well other MVPs. I am fortunate to work along with other SQL Server MVP. Take a look at SQLAuthority Job Portal.

Again, I have complete faith that jobs which are related to SQL Server and companies which are depending on SQL Server will not have much problem with economic slow down. SQL Server is way more cost effective than its direct competitor and offers way more feature. If you are going to appear for interview I suggest to prepare properly for interview. Read following articles and understand them before interview and I promise there will be no issue at all. I am always available to help and I respond to every question and query I receive in 24 hours. Send me email directly at pinal ‘at’ sqlauthority.com or pinaldave ‘at’ yahoo.com for any help.

SQL Server 2008 Interview Questions and Answers

SQL Server Data Warehousing and BI Interview Questions and Answers

SQL Server Database Guidelines Complete and Coding Standards List

SQL Server Cheat Sheet

SQL Server Frequently Asked Generic Interview Questions

Regards,
Pinal Dave (http://www.pinaldave.com)
Founder - http://blog.SQLAuthority.com

Quite often it happens that SQL Server Management Studio’s Dropdown box is cluttered with many different SQL Server’s name. Sometime it contains the name of the server which does not exist or developer does not have access to it. It is very easy to clean the list and start over.

Delete mru.dat file from following location.

For SQL Server 2005:
C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\Shell\mru.dat

If you can not find mru.dat at above location look for mru.dat in following folder.
C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\ShellSEM\mru.dat

For SQL Server 2008:
C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Shell\mru.dat

If you can not find mru.dat at above location look for mru.dat in following folder.
C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\ShellSEM\mru.dat

If you are using VISTA OS instead of XP OS. Replace C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\Microsoft\ with
C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\ and it should work.

Make sure to take note down any IP address of SQL Server you may need in future.

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

I have received following question nearly 10 times in last week though emails. Many users have received following error while connecting to the database. This error happens when database is dropped for which is default for some of the database user. When user try to login and their default database is dropped following error shows up.

Cannot open user default database. Login failed.
Login failed for user ‘UserName’. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 4064)

The fix for this problem is very simple.

Fix/Workaround/Solution:

First click on Option>> Button of “Connect to Server” Prompt.

Now change the connect to database to any existing database on your server like master or msdb.

Now click on connect and it will successfully log you in. Once you login in the system run following statement for your username and it should fix your problem. Make sure to replace [test] with your username and master with yourdatabase name.

ALTER LOGIN [test] WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE = master
GO

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

Microsoft has published following three security related white papers. I suggest to all my readers to read them. Read the summary know what is covered in those  white papers.

• Engine Separation of Duties for the Application Developer - Separation of duties is an important consideration for databases and database applications. By properly defining schemas and roles, you can create a distinction between users who can manipulate data from those that administer the database. This paper discusses the topics of which application developers should be aware and provides a heuristic example to guide you in achieving separation of duties.
• Database Encryption in SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition - With the introduction of transparent data encryption (TDE) in SQL Server 2008, users now have the choice between cell-level encryption as in SQL Server 2005, full database-level encryption by using TDE, or the file-level encryption options provided by Windows. TDE is the optimal choice for bulk encryption to meet regulatory compliance or corporate data security standards. TDE works at the file level, which is similar to two Windows features: the Encrypting File System (EFS) and BitLocker Drive Encryption, the new volume-level encryption introduced in Windows Vista, both of which also encrypt data on the hard drive. TDE does not replace cell-level encryption, EFS, or BitLocker. This white paper compares TDE with these other encryption methods for application developers and database administrators. While this is not a technical, in-depth review of TDE, technical implementations are explored and a familiarity with concepts such as virtual log files and the buffer pool are assumed. The user is assumed to be familiar with cell-level encryption and cryptography in general. Implementing database encryption is covered, but not the rationale for encrypting a database.
• Cryptography in SQL Server - Although cryptography provides SQL Server with powerful tools for encryption and verification, these are often not well understood. This can lead to poor or incomplete implementations. This white paper presents an overview of cryptographic functionality and discusses how this applies to authentication, signed procedures, permissions, and encryption. Because the target audience is the database professional and not necessarily security experts, the focus is on practical ways to use cryptography in SQL Server.

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