Sql-Server

A while back, I took a look at Levelator (from the Conversations Network) and it was a bit rough around the edges. It’s a tool that take an audio conversation like a podcast and evens out the audio levels of the different speakers. This is no easy trick. I normally spend a while on this with every podcast we produce. I’ve still had comments that sometimes my voice is almost deafening but the guest is a bit quiet. I’ve found the main problem is that people you interview vary their amplitude enormously at different parts of the interview.

2009-02-06

I’ve finally got show 43 posted up today. In this show, Jessica Moss discusses Reporting Services in 2008 and overall lessons learned with Reporting Services in all versions.

You can download it now from https://sqldownunder.com .

Enjoy!

2009-02-06

Another item that I’ve seen used a lot which is now deprecated is the :: function calling sequence.

If you have code like:

SELECT * FROM ::fn_virtualfilestats(2,1);

You should now instead be coding it as:

SELECT * FROM sys.fn_virtualfilestats(2,1);

2009-02-05

At a meeting I was at a few months back, it was noted that in a future version of SQL Server, the intention was to disallow results being returned from triggers. That surprised me somewhat.

My main concern with this was about my ability to debug triggers. I often seem to end up working on systems where people have layers of nested triggers. (Perhaps I’m just lucky that way). Usually I have to end up using a combination of PRINT statements and writing values into tables to work out what’s going on in the triggers. And given that the action of the triggers may well be rolled-back, writing to a table is often not a simple option if you want the values to still be there later.

2009-02-05

Just had our Canberra mate Jeff Wharton confirm that he’s organised a SQL user group meeting while I’m there next week. I’ll be doing the session “Answering the queries your users really want to ask” which covers full-text indexes in SQL Server 2008. I find three categories of people in these sessions:

* those that have never used full-text indexing in SQL Server

* those that have old pain associated with trying to use it

2009-02-02

Some time back I posted about Logins and SIDs and I’ve had a number of people ask me for examples. So I’ve updated the post here.

A very common issue that’s raised in the newsgroups relates to SQL Server logins that need to be moved between servers. When you recreate a SQL Server login (ie: not a Windows one), by default you get a new security ID (SID), even though you have the same user name and password.

2009-02-02

I’m really proud of the work my colleagues did on the SQL Server 2008 System Views poster in conjunction with our partners. Ron Talmage led our team. But the best news is that it’s now available for download for free:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=531c53e7-8a2a-4375-8f2f-5d799aa67b5c&displaylang=en

2009-01-30

Victor Isakov has decided to spin up a new SQL Server user group that will be meeting on the 1st Wednesday of each month, at Westpac Place in the city. He describes the group as focussing on best practices, optimisation, design and implementation and is aiming directly at the local corporate market.

Access to Westpac Place will be quickest if you have pre-registered so Victor is asking you to let him know you’re coming by sending him an email to victor@sqlserversolutions.com.au .

2009-01-29

Ken Tanner recently reminded me of the link showing current certification status.

(no longer available)

The SQL Server related entries from this list are:

MCDBA	SQL 2000	152086
MCTS	SQL 2005	41665
	SQL 2005 BI	2600
	SQL 2008 Dev	336
	SQL 2008 BI	134
MCITP	SQL 2005 DBA	6695
	SQL 2005 Dev	2925
	SQL 2005 BI	1088
	SQL 2008 DBA	92
	SQL 2008 BI	50
MCM	SQL 2005	18
	SQL 2008	2

The 18 SQL 2005 Certified Masters folk have been brought across from the earlier SQL Ranger program. The list doesn’t include the SQL 2008 DBA TS certification for some reason. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on why there was such a big drop in numbers from the 2000 versions to the 2005 versions. I suspect that part of it has to do with the 2000 exams being much easier and that they were a relatively easy option for those pursuing a variety of certifications, including the developer certifications.

2009-01-29

I’m also locked in to present a one day “SQL 2k8 for Developers” preconference session and three conference sessions for DevWeek in London in March, along with a number of my colleagues from Solid Quality: Itzik Ben-Gan and Javier Loria. I’m really looking forward to it and would love to catch up with any SQL locals while there. Details are at the DevWeek site.

2009-01-27