DBA Best Practices - A Blog Series: Episode 2 - Password Lists
Updated: 2012-11-30 02:10:54
: THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web Welcome to SQLblog.com The SQL Server blog spot on the web Sign in in Argenis Fernandez Entire Site Search Home Blogs Downloads Opml Argenis Fernandez DBA Best Practices A Blog Series : Episode 2 Password Lists Digital World , Digital Locks One of the biggest digital assets that any company has is its secrets . These include passwords , key rings , certificates , and any other digital asset used to protect another asset from tampering or unauthorized . access As a DBA , you are very likely to manage some of these assets for your company and your employer trusts you with keeping them safe . Probably one of the most important of these assets are passwords . As you well know , the can be used anywhere : for service accounts , credentials , proxies ,
SQL SERVER – Fix Visual Studio Error : Connections to SQL Server files (.mdf) require SQL Server Express 2005 to function properly. Please verify the installation of the component or download from the URL
Updated: 2012-11-30 01:30:47
In one of the virtual environment while I was trying to add SQL Server Database (.mdf) file to asp.net project I encountered following error: Connections to SQL Server files (.mdf) require SQL Server Express 2005 to function properly. Please verify the installation of the component or download from the URL: For a long time I [...]Row Sorting in SQL
Updated: 2012-11-30 00:00:00It should be easy to model a game of poker in SQL. The problem is, however, that you need to model a permutation from a set of elements. Joe Celko argues that using a group of columns to do this isn't necessarily a violation of 1NF, since a permutation is atomic. Then comes the second problem: how would you sort such a column-base permutation in order? Sorting columns in SQL?Database Deployment: The Bits - Database Version Drift
Updated: 2012-11-30 00:00:00When you are about to deploy a new version of a database by updating the current version, one of the essential pre-deployment checks is to make sure that the version in production is exactly what it should be. If changes have somehow slipped in, you'll need to understand them and deal with them before you can deploy.Olympics data available for all on Windows Azure SQL Database and Power View
Updated: 2012-11-29 23:19:37
THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web Welcome to SQLblog.com The SQL Server blog spot on the web Sign in in SSIS Junkie Entire Site Search Home Blogs Downloads Opml SSIS Junkie This is the blog of Jamie Thomson , a freelance SQL Server developer in London Olympics data available for all on Windows Azure SQL Database and Power View Are you looking around for some decent test data for your BI demos Well , if so , Microsoft have provided some data about all medals won at the Olympics Games 1900 to 2008 at OlympicsData workbook Excel , SSIS , Azure sample it provides analysis over athletes , countries , medal type , sport , discipline and various other dimensions . The data has been provided in an Excel workbook along with instructions on how to load the data into a Windows Azure SQL DatabaseReacting to XEvents in almost real-time
Updated: 2012-11-29 22:48:00Home Syndication Log in Reacting to XEvents in almost real-time I've heard it said that the main difference between SQL Server Extended Events and SQL Server Event Notifications is that you can't react to Extended Events . Event Notifications are written to the service broker service of your choice , and multiple Event Notifications can even be routed to the same service , even on different machines . But there IS a way to react to Extended Events in almost realtime that is , by capturing and reacting using the Extended Event XeReader API . It's certainly not as nice and built-in as Event Notifications , but never say never . Mike Wachal introduced the XeReader to the world in a blog post at SQL Server 2012 CTP3. There are a variety of constructors for QueryableXEventData , you'reLoading spatial data and cleansing-converting with SQL Server 2012
Updated: 2012-11-29 22:27:00Home Syndication Log in Reacting to XEvents in almost real-time Loading spatial data and cleansing-converting with SQL Server 2012 Someone asked , on Twitter , if it were possible to get a set of spatial data that included cities , counties administrative regions and countries in database table format for SQL Server spatial . I'd come across just these datasets and more as shapefiles at the CDC website and pointed them out . Then came the question about how to load these shapefiles into SQL Server . I've always preferred FME by Safe Software to load spatial data into SQL Server . They have a variety of products for SQL Server , including a low-priced option that more than suffices for loading shapefiles . But what if you can't afford even Safe's low-priced option you're doing it forCTP for Power View and SSAS Multidimensional Cubes
Updated: 2012-11-29 21:36:00Hit Highlighting/Summarization product for SQL Server Full-Text Search
Updated: 2012-11-29 02:02:00Home Syndication Log in Loading spatial data and cleansing-converting with SQL Server 2012 Hit Highlighting Summarization product for SQL Server Full-Text Search I've often asked about add-ins for SQL Server Full-Text Search feature . And the most requested feature for FTS has long been some way to accomodate hit highlighting . Recently , I've come across a beta for a product that does just this , along with document summarization formats for display , ThinkHighlight by Interactive Thoughts The add-in is implemented as a single SQLCLR assembly that exposes a pair of UDFs , HitHighlightContext and HitHighlight . The first UDF prepares a context . You only have to do this once per query , so this appears to be a nice optimization . The HitHighlight one is used to produce a column of outputSQL Contest – Win USD 300 Worth Gift – Cartoon Contest is Back
Updated: 2012-11-29 01:30:10
There are two excellent contests and we have lots of winning to do this year end. 1) Win USD 25 Amazon Gift Cards (10 Units) This is very simple, you just have to download SQL Server DB Optimizer. That’s it! There are only two conditions: You must have a valid email address. As USD 25 [...]Speaking - SQL Saturday 173, Washington DC
Updated: 2012-11-28 19:14:00Samples from SQLServerDays now posted on SQLskills website
Updated: 2012-11-28 18:41:00Returned from SQLServerDays in Belgium last week. Had a wonderful time, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks! Samples/demos are posted on SQLskills website in the quot;Resources" section. Enjoy! I've been rather remiss on my blogging lately, but I've acquired some interesting things to blog about in the interim and should be starting up again in earnest something this week... Bob @bobbeauchHow To Download Free Sessions From PASS
Updated: 2012-11-28 15:02:00Visual Studio 2012 Update 1 now available for download
Updated: 2012-11-28 08:59:00An update on using Rosetta Stone: Studio now isn't very useful and is not great value as an add-on option
Updated: 2012-11-28 08:20:00SQL SERVER – Auto Recovery File Settings in SSMS – SQL in Sixty Seconds #034 – Video
Updated: 2012-11-28 01:30:03Every developer once in a while facing an unfortunate situation where they have not yet saved the work and their SQL Server Management Studio crashes. Well, you can minimize the loss by optimizing auto recovery settings. In this video we can see how to set the auto recovery settings. Go to SSMS >> Tools >> [...]New Article: Stairway to SSIS 10!
Updated: 2012-11-28 00:49:47How come the Hourglass? Why database applications slow down
Updated: 2012-11-28 00:00:00It is frustrating when you hit 'submit' and you get the hourglass big-time. Is it the database to blame? It could be, but there are other suspects that should be considered. Feodor describes where, in the long route, to and fro', that a data request makes before returning, that things can get snarled up.Sample Code for the SSIS Book
Updated: 2012-11-27 18:53:00Windows Azure Virtual Machines - Make Sure You Follow the Documentation
Updated: 2012-11-27 15:55:22
THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web Welcome to SQLblog.com The SQL Server blog spot on the web Sign in in Buck Woody Entire Site Search Home Blogs Downloads Opml Buck Woody Carpe Datum Windows Azure Virtual Machines Make Sure You Follow the Documentation To create a Windows Azure Infrastructure-as-a-Service Virtual Machine you have several options . You can simply select an image from a Gallery which includes Windows or Linux operating systems , or even a Windows Server with pre-installed software like SQL . Server One of the advantages to Windows Azure Virtual Machines is that it is stored in a standard Hyper-V format with the base hard-disk as a VHD . That means you can move a Virtual Machine from on-premises to Windows Azure , and then move it back again . You can even use a simpleSQL SERVER – Shard No More – An Innovative Look at Distributed Peer-to-peer SQL Database
Updated: 2012-11-27 01:30:39There is no doubt that SQL databases play an important role in modern applications. In an ideal world, a single database can handle hundreds of incoming connections from multiple clients and scale to accommodate the related transactions. However the world is not ideal and databases are often a cause of major headaches when applications need [...]SQL SERVER – Sends backups to a Network Folder, FTP Server, Dropbox, Google Drive or Amazon S3
Updated: 2012-11-26 01:30:28Let me tell you about one of the most useful SQL tools that every DBA should use – it is SQLBackupAndFTP. I have been using this tool since 2009 – and it is the first program I install on a SQL server. Download a free version, 1 minute configuration and your daily backups are safe [...]Data Warehouse Workshop
Updated: 2012-11-25 14:52:02BI Beginner: Excel 2013 Power View Maps
Updated: 2012-11-25 01:54:00
If you know how to use Excel, you can be productive in minutes with the new features of Excel 2013. Don’t be intimidated. Follow these simple steps and produce something snazzy! The Excel file used in this example comes from the following SQL Server query which was run against the AdventureWorks2012 database: SELECT Purchasing . Vendor . Name , Person . Address . City , Person . StateProvince . Name AS State FROM Purchasing . Vendor INNER JOIN Person . BusinessEntityAddress ON Purchasing . Vendor...(read more)SQL SERVER – Find Weekend and Weekdays from Datetime in SQL Server 2012
Updated: 2012-11-25 01:30:31
Yesterday we had very first SQL Bangalore User Group meeting and I was asked following question right after the session. “How do we know if today is a weekend or weekday using SQL Server Functions?” Well, I assume most of us are using SQL Server 2012 so I will suggest following solution. I am using [...]SQL SERVER – Weekly Series – Memory Lane – #004
Updated: 2012-11-24 01:30:42
Here is the list of curetted articles of SQLAuthority.com across all these years. Instead of just listing all the articles I have selected a few of my most favorite articles and have listed them here with additional notes below it. Let me know which one of the following is your favorite article from memory lane. [...]Kids don’t mark their own homework
Updated: 2012-11-23 13:38:49
THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web Welcome to SQLblog.com The SQL Server blog spot on the web Sign in in SSIS Junkie Entire Site Search Home Blogs Downloads Opml SSIS Junkie This is the blog of Jamie Thomson , a freelance SQL Server developer in London Kids don’t mark their own homework During a discussion at work today in regard to doing some thorough acceptance testing of the system that I currently work on the topic of who should actually do the testing came up . I remarked that I didn’t think that I as the developer should be doing acceptance testing and a colleague , Russ Taylor , agreed with me and then came out with this little : pearler Kids don’t mark their own homework Maybe its a common turn of phrase but I had never heard it before and , to me , it sums up very succinctly mySQLAuthority News – Android Efficiency Tips and Tricks – Personal Technology Tip #003
Updated: 2012-11-23 01:30:19
I use my phone for lots of things. I use it mainly to replace my tablet – I can e-mail, take and edit photos, and do almost everything I can do on a laptop with this phone. And I am sure that there are many of you out there just like me. I personally have [...]SQL SERVER – Removing Leading Zeros From Column in Table – Part 2
Updated: 2012-11-22 01:30:18
Earlier I wrote a blog post about Remvoing Leading Zeros from Column In Table. It was a great co-incident that my friend Madhivanan (no need of introduction for him) also post a similar article over on BeyondRelational.com. I strongly suggest to read his blog as well as he has suggested some cool solutions to the [...]Reading the tea leaves from Windows Azure support
Updated: 2012-11-21 22:13:00Genetic Considerations in User Interface Design
Updated: 2012-11-21 16:50:00Skype support and dead parrot sketches
Updated: 2012-11-21 09:56:00SQL SERVER – Display Datetime in Specific Format – SQL in Sixty Seconds #033 – Video
Updated: 2012-11-21 01:30:05A very common requirement of developers is to format datetime to their specific need. Every geographic location has different need of the date formats. Some countries follow the standard of mm/dd/yy and some countries as dd/mm/yy. The need of developer changes as geographic location changes. In SQL Server there are various functions to aid this [...]BI Beginner: Why to Use Excel 2013 Now
Updated: 2012-11-20 22:59:31
Most corporations and many individuals are slow to adopt new versions of Microsoft Office, particularly if the upgrade to the previous version was very recent. Excel 2013 is a special case and offers significant productivity enhancements. If you do business intelligence work or otherwise make your living with Excel, adding (notice I didn’t say upgrading to) Excel 2013 now makes a lot of sense. The Power View feature in Excel 2013 (Office Professional version) is a completely sufficient reason to...(read more)Answers to “What source control system do you use?” (and some winners)
Updated: 2012-11-20 22:37:00sp_ssiscatalog v1.0.1.0 now available for download
Updated: 2012-11-20 21:42:09
THE SQL Server Blog Spot on the Web Welcome to SQLblog.com The SQL Server blog spot on the web Sign in in SSIS Junkie Entire Site Search Home Blogs Downloads Opml SSIS Junkie This is the blog of Jamie Thomson , a freelance SQL Server developer in London sp_ssiscatalog v1.0.1.0 now available for download 13 days ago I wrote a blog post entitled Introducing sp_ssiscatalog v1.0.0.0 in which I first made mention of sp_ssiscatalog , an open source stored procedure intended to make it easy to query the SSIS Catalog . I have been working on some enhancements since then and hence v1.0.1.0 is now available for download from Codeplex What’s new in this release This release includes the following : enhancements execution_id now gets returned in a call to EXEC dbo sp_ssiscatalog operation_type exec'SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 Cumulative Update #1 is available!
Updated: 2012-11-20 20:17:00SQL SERVER – Using RAND() in User Defined Functions (UDF)
Updated: 2012-11-20 01:30:33Here is the question I received in email. “Pinal, I am writing a function where we need to generate random password. While writing T-SQL I faced following issue. Everytime I tried to use RAND() function in my User Defined Function I am getting following error: Msg 443, Level 16, State 1, Procedure RandFn, Line 7 [...]Handling Backups for Rapid Resilience
Updated: 2012-11-20 00:00:00The backup and restore system in SQL Server hasn't changed a great deal over the years despite a huge growth in the typical size of databases. When disaster strikes, and an important service is taken offline while a restore is performed, there is often time to reflect on whether it might be possible to design databases for a more rapid recovery of the most critical parts of a database application.Free Webinar - Using Enterprise Data Integration Dashboards
Updated: 2012-11-20 00:00:00SQL SERVER – Removing Leading Zeros From Column in Table
Updated: 2012-11-19 01:30:54Some questions surprises me and make me write code which I have never explored before. Today was similar experience as well. I have always received the question regarding how to reserve leading zeroes in SQL Server while displaying them on the SSMS or another application. I have written articles on this subject over here. SQL [...]SQLAuthority News – Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 Released (SP1)
Updated: 2012-11-18 01:30:06Last week, I was attending SQLPASS 2012 and I had great fun attending the event. During the event long awaited SQL Serer 2012 Service Pack 1 was released. I am pretty excited with SP1 as new service packs are cumulative updates and upgrade all editions and service levels of SQL Server 2012 to SP1. This [...]SQL SERVER – Weekly Series – Memory Lane – #003
Updated: 2012-11-17 01:30:46
Here is the list of curetted articles of SQLAuthority.com across all these years. Instead of just listing all the articles I have selected a few of my most favorite articles and have listed them here with additional notes below it. Let me know which one of the following is your favorite article from memory lane. [...]SQL SERVER – Retrieving Random Rows from Table Using NEWID()
Updated: 2012-11-16 01:30:44
I have previously written about how to get random rows from SQL Server. SQL SERVER – Generate A Single Random Number for Range of Rows of Any Table – Very interesting Question from Reader SQL SERVER – Random Number Generator Script – SQL Query However, I have not blogged about following trick before. Let me share the [...]SQL SERVER – Concurrency Basics – Guest Post by Vinod Kumar
Updated: 2012-11-15 01:30:31This guest post is by Vinod Kumar. Vinod Kumar has worked with SQL Server extensively since joining the industry over a decade ago. Working on various versions from SQL Server 7.0, Oracle 7.3 and other database technologies – he now works with the Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) as a Technology Architect. Let us read the blog [...]Database Deployment: The Bits - Copying Data Out
Updated: 2012-11-15 00:00:00Occasionally, when deploying a database, you need to copy data out to file from all the tables in a database. Phil shows how to do it, and illustrates its use by copying an entire database from one server to another.SQL SERVER – Rename Columnname or Tablename – SQL in Sixty Seconds #032 – Video
Updated: 2012-11-14 01:30:21We all make mistakes at some point of time and we all change our opinion. There are quite a lot of people in the world who have changed their name after they have grown up. Some corrected their parent’s mistake and some create new mistake. Well, databases are not protected from such incidents. There are [...]SQLAuthority News – Happy Deepavali and Happy New Year
Updated: 2012-11-13 01:30:57
Diwali or Deepavali is popularly known as the festival of lights. It literally means “array of light” or “row of lamps“. Today we build a small clay maps and fill it with oil and light it up. The significance of lighting the lamp is the triumph of good over evil. I work every single day in a [...]SQL SERVER – Get Free Books on While Learning SQL Server 2012 Error Handling
Updated: 2012-11-12 01:30:36Fans of this blog are aware that I have recently released my new books SQL Server Functions and SQL Server 2012 Queries. The books are available in market in limited edition but you can avail them for free on Wednesday Nov 14, 2012. Not only they are free but you can additionally learn SQL Server [...]SQL SERVER – Changing Default Installation Path for SQL Server
Updated: 2012-11-11 02:59:41
Earlier I wrote a blog post about SQL SERVER – Move Database Files MDF and LDF to Another Location and in the blog post we discussed how we can change the location of the MDF and LDF files after database is already created. I had mentioned that we will discuss how to change the default location [...]SQL SERVER – Beginning New Weekly Series – Memory Lane – #002
Updated: 2012-11-10 01:30:11Here is the list of curetted articles of SQLAuthority.com across all these years. Instead of just listing all the articles I have selected a few of my most favorite articles and have listed them here with additional notes below it. Let me know which one of the following is your favorite article from memory lane. [...]SQLAuthority News – #SQLPASS 2012 Book Signing Photos
Updated: 2012-11-09 01:30:23.jpg)
I am at SQLPASS 2012 and the event is going great. Here are few of the random photos and random news. We had participated in three different book signing event today. SQL Queries 2012 Joes 2 Pros Book 1 Launch and Book Signing SQL 2012 Functions Book Launch at Embarcadero SQL Backup and Recovery Book [...]SQLAuthority News – Learning, Community and Book Signing at #SQLPASS 2012
Updated: 2012-11-08 01:30:44
SQLPASS event is going excellent we are having great great fun! We are having book signing events and the response is overwhelmingly positive. I am glad that all of you love our books and I totally appreciate your support. Rick and I both are feeling very motivated to write more books in future. Here is [...]SQLAuthority News – 2 New Books – FREE Books and Book Signing at #SQLPASS 2012
Updated: 2012-11-07 01:30:02As an author the most interesting task is to participate in Book Signing Events. If you are at SQLPASS – we are going to have a lot of book signing events. Here is the good news! MY NEW BOOKS ARE OUT! SQL 2012 Functions Limited Edition This book is a very special edition book. Our [...]SQLAuthority News – #SQLPASS 2012 Schedule – Where can You Find Me
Updated: 2012-11-06 01:30:34
Yesterday I wrote about my memory lane with SQLPASS. It has been a fantastic experience and I am very confident that this year the same excellent experience is going to be repeated. Before I start for #SQLPASS every year, I plan where I want to be and what I will be doing. As I travel [...]Database Deployment: The Bits - Getting Data In
Updated: 2012-11-05 00:00:00Quite often, the database developer or tester is faced with having to load data into a newly created database. What could be simpler? Quite a lot of things, it seems.