The Bit Bucket

There seems to be a concept that no-one should install a new version of SQL Server until at least one service pack has been released for it. I’ve never ascribed to that thinking. I find it amusing that customers who would not install the RTM version of SQL Server 2008 (which was fully regression tested) would happily run SQL Server 2005 SP2 plus about 10 cumulative updates (which weren’t).

Most of the issues I’ve seen with new versions tends to relate to the newer functionality. You do occasionally find exceptions to this but that’s also why you need to do reasonable testing on your own applications.

2009-04-08

Hi Folks,

I mentioned in a blog post a little while ago that we’d installed a copy of Levelator and started working through all the SQL Down Under shows to even out the volume of the speaker’s voices. Mai has been working hard with that for some time and tonight I’ve posted up the last of the shows so they are now all “levelated”!

You’ll find them at the “Previous Shows” tab at: https://sqldownunder.com .

2009-04-05

If you are using Outlook 2007, you need to consider installing this fix: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=961752

I’ve had so many frustrations with Outlook 2007 in recent times, mostly performance issues and the dreaded messages about Outlook not having been shut down properly last time it was used. I’ve also had some serious issues with calendaring, etc.

This update makes a stunning change to the responsiveness and stability of Outlook. If you have any doubt, the hotfix above includes performance improvements that will come in SP2 and are documented here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968009/  But the hotfix above is the one to install.

2009-03-30

We’ve been running our local PASS chapter meetings as lunchtime events in Melbourne. I like the idea of lunchtime events, particuarly in the CBD of major cities.

Great to see Patrick LeBlanc and the folk from the Baton Rouge chapter doing some lunchtime sessions. I like the name too: “SQL Lunch”. It’s to the point !

2009-03-14

I’ve been running a number of sessions around the world on the full-text search capabilities in SQL Server 2008. In the sessions I’ve been delivering, I find three groups of people in the room:

• People that have never used FTS in any version (most of the room)
• People that have old pain associated with FTS (some people)
• People that are using it and wondering what’s new in 2008 (almost no-one)

I think there is now a really, really good story to tell. In earlier versions of the product, FTS was a well-kept secret but was painful to manage and was problematic in terms of performance. 

2009-03-10

Over the last few months, my colleague Steve Abraham and I have been working with a team at Microsoft who have been creating one of the new IPD (Infrastructure Planning and Design) Guide for SQL Server 2008 as part of the Microsoft Solution Accelerator series. The main author was Melissa Stowe.

Rather than a deep technical guide on how to deploy the product, these guides are targeted at those who are making the decisions about what to deploy and those who are involved in planning deployments, to make sure they don’t miss any key decision points.

2009-03-10

Just got the email back to say I’ll be one of the speakers for the worldwide TechDays event that Microsoft have running on April 1st. I’ll be delivering my session on Full Text Indexing called “Answering the queries your users really want to ask”. Not sure of the time yet but I’m excited to be part of this large virtual event, along with other colleagues: Eladio Rincón and Ken Spencer.

2009-03-10

A while back I posted about the index maintenance scripts that one of our friends Ola Hallengren had posted. A lot of people have started using these rather than the database maintenance plans that are created in SQL Server Management Studio.

I got an email from him yesterday pointing out that there’s a new update for it. Details of the release are here:

http://ola.hallengren.com

release notes here:

http://ola.hallengren.com/Versions.html

and documentation here:

http://ola.hallengren.com/Documentation.html

Great work Ola!

2009-03-10

In a recent SQL Down Under show with Jessica Moss, we discussed the need for reports on reporting services itself.

Tim Schmidt from Data Aspects pointed out the following set of reports: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms161561(SQL.90).aspx .

He noted that they are installed as part of the SQL Server samples at:

<drive>:\\Program Files\\Microsoft SQL Server\\<version>\\Samples\\Reporting Services\\Report Samples\\Server Management Sample Reports

and available from CodePlex. Also, that they aren’t pretty :-)

Thanks for the feedback Tim!

2009-03-02

Most that know me well are aware I have an adult daughter with Rett Syndrome. It’s a rare condition that pretty much exclusively targets girls.

Recently, I received an email from an old school mate that told me about a project he’s involved with. They decided to paddle kayaks from Victoria to Tasmania across the Bass Strait. This is a treacherous section of ocean that often hits the news when boats (or crew members) are lost in the annual Sydney to Hobart race. I cannot believe they attempted this in kayaks.

2009-03-01