The Bit Bucket

One of the things I’ve always wanted in DBCC CHECKDB is the option to omit particular tables from the check. The situation that I often see is that companies with large databases often have only one or two very large tables. They want to run a DBCC CHECKDB on the database to check everything except those couple of tables due to time constraints.

I posted a request on the Connect site about time some time ago:

2012-07-02

Well it’s been a few months but I’m back on a roll creating some SQL Down Under podcasts. The first out the door is an interview with Gadi Peleg from the SQL Server team, introducing Data Quality Services.

Gadi came to Microsoft when Zoomix was acquired.

Details of this podcast (and other available podcasts) are here: https://sqldownunder.com/Resources/Podcast.aspx

Hope you enjoy it even though there are some telling signs that I recorded it at 3AM :-)

2012-06-14

There are lots of reports of data quality services (DQS) not working after installing CU1 for SQL Server 2012. One symptom is that when trying to connect from the DQS client, you receive the following error: “System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): An error occurred in the Microsoft .NET Framework while trying to load assembly id 65581”

After applying CU1, you need to execute:

dqsinstaller.exe -upgrade

This is typically from the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Binn (but depends upon your installation path)

2012-04-27

Great to see our buddy Ola Hallengren has created an updated version of his database maintenance scripts. Many people use these in place of the database maintenance plans that ship with SQL Server.

Here’s the updated info from Ola and the best part is that they continue to be free:

New Version Available

A new version of the SQL Server Maintenance Solution is now available. The new version supports SQL Server 2012.

2012-04-22

I’ve been working on a team with Roger Doherty building parts of what’s now become the SQL Server 2012 Early Adoption Cook Book.

So, if you work on the bleeding edge of SQL Server and are keen to get your head around what’s coming, this is a seriously good resource.

Time to go and get it.

The material is constructed as a large number of bite-sized pieces. Each presentation is about 15 minutes in length, and each demo is about 5 minutes. And there are lots of them.

2012-02-02

We have a very common customer scenario where the customer decides to upgrade to a new version (in this case let’s say SQL Server 2012). They run upgrade advisor and note that there are a whole lot of problems. They think “Hey that’s way too much to deal with right now. I don’t have time”.

So they don’t deal with them. They upgrade the server to 2012 but leave their db_compat level at a lower level with the intention of dealing with the problems later.

2011-12-24

Well it’s been a while since I’ve posted up a new podcast. (I know, I know).

But I’ve just started a new series for SQL Server 2012. First out of the gate is Roger Doherty (Senior Program Manager in the SQL Server team) with an overview of all the key SQL Server 2012 pillars and enhancements.

You’ll find it here:

https://sqldownunder.com/podcast

Enjoy!

2011-12-21

Over the years, I’ve seen several causes of this error in SQL Server Integration Services but today I came across another one.

You can get this error if you’ve used 3rd party components (particularly data sources) and the licensing for those components has expired.

Hope that helps someone sometime.

2011-12-13

One of the things that I have been pestering the SQL team to do is to name their updates according to what is contained in them. For example, instead of just:

sqlncli.msi 

What I’d prefer is that the file was called something like:

SQLServerNativeClient2k8SP1CU3x64.msi

So I normally rename them as soon as I receive them, to avoid confusion in future. However, today I found that doing so caused me a problem. After renaming the file, and installing it, the installation failed with the error:

2011-11-26

It’s great to see that volume 2 of MVP Deep Dives is now available and will be distributed at the PASS summit next week. I’m really sad that I won’t be at the book signing next week but I’d encourage you all to get along, order a copy and have it signed.

A huge thanks has to go to Kalen Delaney for her management of this project and a big thanks to my fellow editors Louis Davidson, Brad McGehee, Paul Nielsen, Paul Randal, and Kimberly Tripp for their efforts. A special mention for Paul Nielsen whose ideas and spirit around volume 1 that have continued into this new volume.

2011-10-06