PASS Presentation Rehearsal

My friend Trevor Barkhouse called me up a couple of nights ago and asked if I could host a Live Meeting Rehearsal of his PASS Presentation.  Is that a question, of course I can.  So if you have some time this morning join in a for a sneak peek.  The meeting details are as follows:

NOTE: The Live Meeting is set up from 9:00 a.m. through 11:30 a.m. (CDT), however the presentation is actually from 9:30 a.m. through 10:45 a.m. Please do not attempt to join the meeting until 2009-10-30T09:30:00.000-05:00!

Speaker:  Trevor Barkhouse.  Trevor is a DBA on the Database Escalations and Implementations team for Terremark Worldwide, Inc.  He is also a volunteer on the board of the NTSSUG and maintains the groups website

Topic:  Leveraging PSSDiag/SQLDiag for Efficient Troubleshooting

Overview:  Over the years, Microsoft Customer Service and Support has developed a number of amazing tools for troubleshooting SQL Server. Thankfully many of these tools have been shared with the public. In this session I will demonstrate the configuration and usage of PSSDiag (for SQL Server 2000) and SQLDiag (for SQL Server 2005 and 2008), which collect valuable diagnostic data. We will then analyze the data using RML Utilities as well as a few scripts of my own. Come and see how these tools can save you massive amounts of troubleshooting time!

Meeting URL:  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=HD8QCW&role=attend

Talk to you soon

Patrick LeBlanc, founder www.tsqlscripts.com and www.sqllunch.com

SQL Down South

SQLLunch – Accidental DBA and Performance Data Collector

If you haven’t had a chance to attend the SQL Lunch Live Meeting learning series then sign in Monday at 11:30 CST for our next meeting.  Barry Ralston will be presenting on the Data Collector. 

Speaker:  Barry Ralston

Time: 11:30 AM CST

Meeting URL:  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=3GBFMJ&role=attend

Add to Outlook Calendar

BIO: Barry is currently Vice President for Technical Solutions with Birmingham-based ComFrame Software. Since joining ComFrame in 2001, his client successes include Aflac, Honda, and the Children's Hospital of Alabama. In addition to speaking at the Alabama .Net Code Camps 1, 4 and 5, Barry has delivered presentations on Business Intelligence with Microsoft technologies at SQL Saturday 1 and 4.

Topic: #2-Accidental DBA and Performance Data Collector
A new feature in SQL 2008 may well improve the ability of “accidental DBA’s” to monitor, manage and tune SQL Server. This presentation will outline how to setup Performance Data Collector (PDC) and use the included Management Data Warehouse reports to take action on your database server based on information and not ‘gut feel’ or hunch.

If you would like to receive updates about upcoming meetings click here to sign up.

 

Talk to you soon

Patrick LeBlanc, founder www.tsqlscripts.com and www.sqllunch.com

SQL Down South

Wildcard – Match One Character using Underscore (_)

I was recently contacted by a developer with what I would consider to be a very simple question.  How do you search for string of the same length starting and ending with given characters.  My response was simple, use the underscore(_) Wildcard Character Match.  The person looked very puzzled from my response.  As a result, I wrote a quick example to clarify.  For some of you this may be second nature, but for many developers and some DBAs that I have spoken to, this was a new concept.  Therefore, I am sharing this information.

Scenario:  Suppose you have the following table

CustomerID	FirstName	LastName
1	Patrick	First
2	Patrick	Second
3	Pick	Third
4	Luke	Fourth
5	Patrick	Tenth
6	Park	Last

and you wanted to return all the customers whose name started with P and ended with a K.  One last thing, you only wanted customers whose first name contained Seven characters.  How would you accomplish this task.  If you used the following query:

SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE FirstName LIKE ‘P%k’

your results set would return the following rows:

CustomerID	FirstName	LastName
1	Patrick	First
2	Patrick	Second
3	Pick	Third
5	Patrick	Tenth
6	Park	Last

This is because the % wild card character matches any string of characters.  If you modified the query to look like this:

SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE FirstName LIKE ‘P_____k’

then you result would be correct, returning only the rows.

CustomerID	FirstName	LastName
1	Patrick	First
2	Patrick	Second
5	Patrick	Tenth

This is because I included 5 underscores as part of the character string.  These 5 underscores restricts the search to that number plus any additional characters that are specified within the character string.  In my case 2.  Therefore, my keyword search was limited to character strings that started with P, ended with K and strings that contained seven characters.

SQL Saturday #21 Orlando – Recap

This past weekend I had the pleasure of not only attending, but speaking at SQL Saturday in Orlando, FL.  When I arrived in Orlando on Friday I drove over to the SQL Share office and met Andy Warren and Jack Corbett.  Two great guys.  When I arrived at the office Buck Woody was giving a training session on Performance Tuning.  I spent most of the afternoon with Andy and Jack having lunch and picking up a few items for the event.  We discussed many topics, including the recent Board of Directors election, which I will leave for another blog posting.

I left Andy and Jack around 4:30 pm and decided to go and check in and answer a few emails before the speaker event.  The hotel was nice and centrally located to each event location, but about 36 miles from the airport.  When I arrived at the speaker event many of the speakers were already there.  I am not going to try and name each speaker, but Andy and Jack had a great list that included MVPs, book authors and columnists.  I had a chance to meet all the speakers and have some very interesting conversations throughout the evening.  After a long evening of talk I decided to call it a night.

The next morning I arrived at the event around 7:45AM.  There were several people already in line.  My session was not until 4pm, therefore I had time to do a lot of networking and attend other sessions.  I attended Brian Knights sessions on SSAS and MDX.  Both sessions provided me with some good information to get started building my own cubes and writing some MDX.  I also had an opportunity to spend about an hour chatting with Joe Celko, details of that conversation is forthcoming.  I also attended a session on Partitioning given by Elijah Baker, which was one of the best partitioning sessions that I have ever attended.  He has a new take on partitioning, at least new to me, that he is writing a white paper on. 

I started my session promptly at 4pm.  My turnout was very low, but the talk went on.  This was my second time presenting this topic, Using the CLR to Monitor Disk Space.  The attendees all seemed intrigued by the concept.  In this session I provide the attendees scripts, which include CLR Functions, that will allow them to proactively monitor Disk space from a central location.  If a drive on the server is running low on disk space an email notification will be sent to the DBA.  If you would like a copy of the scripts and the slides please email me at pleblanc@tsqlscripts.com

Overall the event was one of the best that I have attended.  My only criticism is that a few of the speakers went over on their time.  Everything else was great. 

Thanks Andy and Jack

Talk to you soon

Patrick LeBlanc, founder www.tsqlscripts.com and www.sqlllunch.com

SQL Down South

SQL Server Lunch Milestone (100+ Attendees)

Today’s SQL Lunch was a huge success, even though we experienced a few technical difficulties.  Tim Mitchell spoke on Deploying Report Builder 2.0 for Self-Service Reporting, which apparently is a very hot topic.  There were 100 people in attendance.  When I initially started the SQL Lunch I always hoped to reach as many people as possible.  Well it looks like it is paying off.  Thanks Tim for such a great presentation.  If you have yet to attend a SQL Lunch Meeting our next meeting is on October 26, 2009 at 11:30 AM CST time.  Here are the details:

Meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=3GBFMJ&role=attend

Topic: Accidental DBA and Performance Data Collector

Presenter: Barry Ralston. Barry is currently Vice President for Technical Solutions with Birmingham-based ComFrame Software. Since joining ComFrame in 2001, his client successes include Aflac, Honda, and the Children's Hospital of Alabama. In addition to speaking at the Alabama .Net Code Camps 1, 4 and 5, Barry has delivered presentations on Business Intelligence with Microsoft technologies at SQL Saturday 1 and 4.

Abstract: A new feature in SQL 2008 may well improve the ability of “accidental DBA’s” to monitor, manage and tune SQL Server.  This presentation will outline how to setup Performance Data Collector (PDC) and use

Click here to receive updates about upcoming SQL Lunches. 

If you would like to speak at upcoming SQL Lunch events please email me at pleblanc@tsqlscripts.com.  In your email include a short Bio, Title and Abstract.

Talk to you soon

Patrick LeBlanc, founder TSQLScripts.com and SQL Lunch

SQL Down South

Next SQL Lunch - Deploying Report Builder 2.0 for Self-Service Reporting

Meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=95MQQM&role=attend

Click Here to Add to Outlook Calendar

Click the above Meeting URL around 11:00 AM CST on 10/12/2009 to join the meeting

Date: 10/12/2009

Time: 11:30 AM

Meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=95MQQM&role=attend

Presenter: Tim Mitchell .Tim is a Microsoft SQL Server consultant, developer, speaker, and trainer.  He has been working with SQL Server for over 6 years, working primarily in database development, business administration, data integration, and automation.  He has earned a number of industry certifications and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from Texas A&M at Commerce.

Tim is principal and senior data engineer for Tyleris Data Solutions, a business intelligence and data management consulting firm.  As an active member of the community, Tim has spoken at venues including SQL Saturday and the PASS Business Intelligence SIG, and is an active volunteer and speaker at the North Texas SQL Server User Group in Dallas.  Tim is an author and forum contributor on SQLServerCentral.com and has published dozens of SQL Server training videos on JumpstartTV.com.

Topic: Deploying Report Builder 2.0 for Self-Service Reporting

For the DBA, creating and maintaining reports can take up a significant amount of time.  Constantly changing requirements, an endless stream of ad-hoc requests, and simple formatting changes all add up to a good deal of maintenance.  To lighten the load, Microsoft offers SQL Server Report Buider 2.0, an easy-to-use reporting tool for building published and ad-hoc reports using SQL Server Reporting Services.  In this SQL Lunch presentation, we'll look at the capabilities of Report Builder 2.0 and how it can be used with SSRS to allow users to create and maintain many of their own reports.

If you would like to receive email notification about upcoming SQL Lunches go here:

http://www.tsqlscripts.com/sqllunch.aspx

Talk to you soon

Patrick LeBlanc, found TSQLScripts.com and SQL Lunch

SQL Down South

Baton Rouge October SQL Server User Group

Last night I presented, Monitoring Disk Space using CLR, to the Baton Rouge Area SQL Server User Group.  There were approximately 20 people in attendance.  I will be giving this presentation again next week at SQL Saturday #21 in Orlando, FL.  I was surprised that so many attendees were unfamiliar with the SQL CLR.  This really gave me a chance to identify anything that I may have omitted and any mistakes that were in the presentation or demonstrations. 

Overall the attendees appeared to follow the presentation and understand the concept.  I have added a few slides and rearranged a few things to accommodate a few requests and include some missing items.  If you are in the Baton Rouge Area and would like to attend our meeting register at http://batonrouge.sqlpass.org.

Talk to you soon

Patrick LeBlanc, found TSQLScripts.com and SQL Lunch

SQL Down South

MSDE – Database Size Limit

Most of you are aware that the Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE) limits database size to 2 gigabytes.  However, how do you know when it reaches that limit.  Well, the database becomes inaccessible.  Yesterday one of my clients called and said, “My SQL Server is not running, can you take a look?”.  Of course I could.  I logged into the server and the SQL Server was running.  Hmmmm, I thought.  The server did not have any client tools installed, so I had to logon to another machine and connect.

Before I did that I asked the client what was the specific error?  He sent me the following screen shot:

While reading the error I realized one thing, the SQL Server was running as a named instance.  Typically in our environment, this usually indicates that someone in the department installed an application that’s using a Desktop version of SQL Server.  I connected to the instance via Management Studio and ran, SELECT @@version, which returned the following:

Microsoft SQL Server  2000 - 8.00.760 (Intel X86)   Dec 17 2002 14:22:05   Copyright (c) 1988-2003 Microsoft Corporation  Desktop Engine on Windows NT 5.2 (Build 3790: Service Pack 2). 

I quickly noticed that it was an MSDE install.  A quick look in the error log validated my suspicions. 

2009-10-06 16:54:01.98 spid3     CREATE/ALTER DATABASE failed because the resulting cumulative database size would exceed your licensed limit of 2048 MB per database. 2009-10-06 16:54:02.00 spid3     Could not allocate space for object 'StatisticalMemory' in database 'WhatsUp' because the 'DEFAULT' filegroup is full.

The database had reached  the 2 gigabyte limit.  As a result, I stopped the SQL Server, copied the .mdf and .ldf files to another SQL Server (SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition) and attached it to that server.

Just a little blast from the past for all of you have that have ever experienced this.

Talk to you soon

Patrick LeBlanc, Founder TSQLScripts.com and SQL Lunch

SQL Down South

SQL Lunch Starting at 11:30 AM CST 10/5/2009

TOPIC:  SQL Lunch - Memory Management in SQL Server Analysis Services

If you haven’t already, go out and register for today’s SQL Lunch.  Remember every attendee in the meeting will be entered in a drawing for a FREE full license of full license of SQL Sentry Performance Advisor (a $1,495 value). 

SQL Lunch - Memory Management in SQL Server Analysis Services Join us for a Webinar on October 5 Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/958730107 In this presentation Steve Wright will discuss methods used to manage memory in SQL Server Analysis Services focusing primarily on memory limits.  He will also present some examples from the field of performance issues due to mis-configuration, how they were identified, and ultimately resolved. About The Presenter:  Steve Wright - Steve is the Director of Product Support at SQL Sentry, which is located in the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a critical member of the development team behind the award winning SQL Sentry Event Manager and Performance Advisor. Steve holds MCSD, MCDBA, OCDBA 8i, and IT Project+ certifications. Prior to joining SQL Sentry in 2005, Steve developed and presented web based training courses for Wachovia Bank. Previous experience includes education positions at Techskills and Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools.   Title:   SQL Lunch - Memory Management in SQL Server Analysis Services       Date:   Monday, October 5, 2009       Time:   11:30 AM - 12:05 PM CDT SQL Sentry is providing a door prize of a full license of SQL Sentry Performance Advisor (a $1,495 value).  SQL Sentry Performance Advisor® is a revolutionary new performance monitoring and tuning tool for Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008. The software provides unparalleled insight, awareness and control over the true source of SQL Server performance issues. Performance Advisor is packed with many ground-breaking features, not found in any other software, such as Graphical Blocking and Deadlock Analysis, Patent-pending Graphical Monitoring of Disk Activity, Latency and Capacity, etc… all designed to simplify the process of optimizing SQL Server performance. Performance Advisor represents over two years of research and development by the same team that brought you the innovative, award-winning SQL Sentry Event Manager®. After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.   System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista   Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

My Top 10 SQL Saturday Tips

Top 10 SQL Saturday Coordination Tips

1.  First and probably the most important thing is to assemble a very responsible and dependable group of people to assist in coordinating the event.  These individuals must share the same level of commitment as the Primary Coordinator.  This I think is the most difficult task, but will prove to me the most vital component.

2. I recommend using a College campus as the venue for your event.  If possible, make sure that something is taking place in the building you are using.  This is to ensure that the facilities personnel and tech support is available.

3. Always obtain a tech support phone number for the facilities.

4. Arrive at the facilities as early as possible.  If you can, attempt to gain access to the facilities the day prior to your event.  Also, if you live in a very warm and humid area of the country, ask if the air conditioner can remain on overnight or can someone turn it on hours before your event.

5. Begin contacting sponsors and speakers as soon as you have secured a venue.  Be willing to accept SWAG in the place of money.

6. If you are offering a free lunch, order about 70% of the number of registered attendees.  It is also a good idea to make arrangement with the business to be on call.  If you have more attendees than lunches you can call them around 9 or 10 am and make a request for the additional lunches.

7. Never schedule a speaker for more than 3 sessions.  Always have back up speakers, a minimum of one backups per track.

8. Be sure to have really good directional signs strategically place on and around campus.  Especially if you are on a large college campus.

9. Prior to the start of each session, have someone visit each classroom to do a check.  Checking to make sure that everything is working properly and offering the speaker something to drink and any other assistance he or she may need.

10. Provide a very simple and self-contained lunch.  Something like a box lunch from your local Subway or sandwich shop.  A box that includes a sandwich, chips and cookie.  Don’t forget to order some Veggie sandwiches.

Talk to you soon

Patrick LeBlanc, founder TSQLScripts.com and SQL Lunch

SQL Down South

SQL Saturday #21 – Orlando

Well we are less than two weeks away from SQL Saturday #21 in Orlando, FL.  My bags are packed and I can’t wait to join so many SQL Professionals in a day of learning, sharing and networking.  If you are in the area and have not registered please do so.  The list of speakers is very impressive, which includes myself, and you don’t want to miss out on this great day of free learning.  Click here to register.

Event URL: http://sqlsaturday.com/eventhome.aspx?eventid=32

See you in Orlando

Patrick LeBlanc, Founder TSQLScripts.com and SQL Lunch

SQL Down South

SQL Lunch - Memory Management in SQL Server Analysis Services

EVERY ATTENDEE IN THE MEETING WILL BE ENTERED IN A DRAWING FOR A FREE full license of SQL Sentry Performance Advisor (a $1,495 value)

SQL Lunch - Memory Management in SQL Server Analysis Services

Sponsored By

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/958730107

In this presentation Steve Wright will discuss methods used to manage memory in SQL Server Analysis Services focusing primarily on memory limits.  He will also present some examples from the field of performance issues due to mis-configuration, how they were identified, and ultimately resolved. About The Presenter:  Steve Wright - Steve is the Director of Product Support at SQL Sentry, which is located in the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a critical member of the development team behind the award winning SQL Sentry Event Manager and Performance Advisor. Steve holds MCSD, MCDBA, OCDBA 8i, and IT Project+ certifications. Prior to joining SQL Sentry in 2005, Steve developed and presented web based training courses for Wachovia Bank. Previous experience includes education positions at Techskills and Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools.   Title:   SQL Lunch - Memory Management in SQL Server Analysis Services       Date:   Monday, October 5, 2009       Time:   11:30 AM - 12:05 PM CDT SQL Sentry is providing a door prize of a full license of SQL Sentry Performance Advisor (a $1,495 value).  SQL Sentry Performance Advisor® is a revolutionary new performance monitoring and tuning tool for Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008. The software provides unparalleled insight, awareness and control over the true source of SQL Server performance issues. Performance Advisor is packed with many ground-breaking features, not found in any other software, such as Graphical Blocking and Deadlock Analysis, Patent-pending Graphical Monitoring of Disk Activity, Latency and Capacity, etc… all designed to simplify the process of optimizing SQL Server performance. Performance Advisor represents over two years of research and development by the same team that brought you the innovative, award-winning SQL Sentry Event Manager®. After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.   System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista   Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Installer Cache – C:\Windows\Installer

Over the past few months I have been upgrading most of my SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) 2005 installs to 2008.  Recently, a developer found some issues with the upgrade and we concluded that SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 and a recent Cumulative Hotfix would resolve the problem.  About 1 minute into the service pack install the following dialogue box appeared:

After browsing to that directory I realized that not only was that file missing, but so was anything else that belonged in that directory.  This directory contains information that is needed when you upgrade, patch or remove several Microsoft Products.  In my case SQL Server Reporting Services.  To make things even worse, the contents of this folder is unique to each server and each SQL Server Reporting Instance that you install on that server.  As a result, the contents cannot be copied from one server to the other.

Unfortunately, I am not going to provide you the steps to solve this problem, because we found out that our server was in a very inconsistent state.  Therefore, it could not be fixed correctly.  I would like to applaud the efforts of the Microsoft Engineers.  They were relentless at their efforts. What I will tell you is that the Installer folder is hidden and it should stay that way.  Protect the contents of that folder with your life :). 

Talk to you soon

Patrick LeBlanc, TSQLScripts.com and SQL Lunch

SQL Down South

Tips for Networking at PASS

This year will be my third trip to the PASS conference.  If you have met me or had any conversation with me, you know that I LIKE TO TALK.  If time permitted I would try to meet and talk with everyone in attendance at the conference.  When I speak at or attend a User Group meeting I try to meet everyone that was in attendance.  At PASS its almost impossible to accomplish this because there are so many people at the event.  As a result, I usually just meet as many people as possible.  So how do I meet these people?  I am so happy you asked.  This is what I do:

1.  If you want to meet someone like Andy Warren, Steve Jones, Kalen Delaney or Kevin Kline, you almost have to make an appointment, but we all know that is not possible.  What I do is arrive early to their session or I may even attend the session prior to their session.  Sometimes I sit outside the room prior to the start of the session.  What I have found is that these guys like to talk as much as I do, and the usually welcome a good conversation.

2.  Always have a stack of business cards and a notepad.  The first thing I do when I meet someone is give them my business card and ask for one in return.  If they don’t have one I hand them my note pad and ask that they write their contact information down.  Some people will and some will not, but all they can say is yes or no.

3.  Go to lunch!  There are so many opportunities for networking at lunch.  Most of the time when I sit at a lunch table there are 7 or 8 people sitting there in silence.  I quickly change that, because I introduce myself to each person and give them a business card, asking for one in return.  Believe it or not I do this everyday that I am there.  During lunch at my first PASS conference I met a group of DBAs that worked for Progressive Auto Insurance.  I actually was offered a job with Progressive.

4.  During a session I always sit next to someone that I don’t know.  Most of the time that person will start a conversation with you.  If not, simply introduce yourself and a conversation usually begins.

5.  Finally, if you are invited to a mixer at the end of the day, GO!  The Casino Night hosted by SQL Server Central is a great event and great opportunity to meet lots of people.

At the end of the day I return to my hotel and add all the people that I meet to my contacts list.  When I get back to the office I usually send out a follow-up email to each person that I met.  So if you see me at the conference please stop me,  I am always looking for a good conversation.  Be prepared to write your name down on my notepad if you don’t have a business card.

Talk to you soon

Patrick LeBlanc, Founder TSQLScripts.com and SQL Lunch

SQL Down South