Wednesday Quest: Plenty O’Betas and Product Releases

Spotlight on SQL Server That's right! An all new version 8.0 of Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise is now GA and updated trials are live on the website. Some cool stuff therein: • Support for SQL Server 2011 (Denali) - Spotlight can now be used to monitor SQL Server 2011 databases (Denali CTP1 and CTP2 releases). • Project Lucy integration - Use Project Lucy to analyze the performance of your database and compare your experience with everyone else who uses the service. • VMware memory diagnostics - Analyze virtual memory using charts similar to that used to analyze virtual CPU. We also … [Read more...]

New Releases in the Toad Family of Tools

Toad Extension for Visual Studio 1.2 is now live. You can access it HERE. Key new features in Toad Extension for Visual Studio v1.2: Deployment Scripts: the pre- and post-deployment scripts of TFS are now supported. XML Columns: supports tables with XML data type columns. Nested Tables: supports tables with up to two levels of nested table type columns. Synonyms: synonyms can now be imported into your DB project Source Navigation: You can now use F12 navigation to find the definition of items in the code editor. Stored Procedures: generate Oracle stored procedures that … [Read more...]

Wednesday Quest: Toad and Policy-Based Management

Did you know that Toad for SQL Server has some nice features for users of policy-based management (PBM)? Importing Policies For example, Toad can import policies into a PBM server, so that you don’t have to manually create them every time.  You can import policies that you have exported from other servers, and you can also import the Microsoft Best Practice Policies.  (Read about the concept HERE).  The Microsoft policies are a great place to start learning what you can do with PBM, by simply importing them and inspecting their various configurations.  They are installed by default and … [Read more...]

Available Online – SQL Server Training Videos

Interested in my various performance tuning and troubleshooting videos about SQL Server?  These videos feature my good buddies (and uber-SQL Server experts) Brent Ozar (blog | twitter) and Buck Woody (blog | twitter).  View these insight-packed training videos from our SQL Server training events originally presented on March 3 and July 21 of 2010:HERE. You can watch the videos now at the URL above or order a DVD, shipped free of charge in the USA and Canada, HERE. Enjoy! -Kev ~~~ Twitter at kekline More content on my Blog … [Read more...]

Toad for Sybase Beta and Webcast Now Available

The Toad for Sybase webcast is now available on-demand.  Don't have Toad for Sybase?  Get it HERE while it's a free beta. There are two ways to access the webcast: 1. Quest.com - requires a username/password and gets tracked 2. ToadWorld - for quick viewing Go with option two if you don't wanna be tracked.  Lot's more Toad for Sybase goodies HERE. Enjoy! -Kev Twitter at kekline More content at http://KevinEKline.com … [Read more...]

Toad for SQL Gets 5 Diamonds from SQL Server Magazine

The Toad for SQL Server review that was recently conducted for SQL Server Magazine was published online – and we got 5 out of 5 diamonds! This is an improvement from the 4.5/5 stars Michael Campbell gave the product in a 2009 review. The review is very positive, with Michael citing the product’s highly customizable management and development solution, and writes that it “one-ups SSMS by including server, schema, and data comparison tools, a log reader, and a wide assortment of other options, capabilities, and utilities.” See the full review below or by clicking the link here: Toad for … [Read more...]

Wednesday Quest: Power GUI Integration

Two tools that I really like are PowerGUI, a tool to take all the hard work out of PowerShell scripting, available in both free and paid versions from Quest Software.  You can also get PowerGUI extensions for Visual Studio for free from CodePlex. Another tool I really like is PowerWF.  PowerWF is a really cool visual workflow builder that creates PowerShell scripts for you.  Turns out that it integrates with PowerGUI! This video shows 2 different ways that PowerWF Workflows can be run from within Quest Software's PowerGUI tool. Watch the Video - Download PowerWF Enjoy! -Kev … [Read more...]

Wednesday Quest: Exciting New Community for Users of Toad for SQL Server

Join the Toad for SQL Server Community! I was just bragging about how Toad for SQL Server keeps getting better.  In that post, I also pointed out a lot of great resources you can put to work immediately on improving your skills with this great tool.  (Incidentally, there's a freeware version without all of the features, but it's still quite useful.  And you can always use the beta product, if you want all of the features and many new features that are undergoing community testing.) One of the reasons that Toad is so good is that it's always been a community-driven product.  Back when I … [Read more...]

Wednesday Quest: New Product Training and Documentation

Product documentation and product training are two areas where our customers consistently press us to improve...and one we take if very seriously. Bold Claims One of my favorite tools in the Quest Software toolbox for SQL Server (and Oracle) DBAs is called Foglight Performance Analysis, or more commonly, PA.  This product can do things that no other tool or amount of customized scripts can ever reproduce.  I am dead serious about this claim. To find out more, navigate to www.quest.com/foglight-performance-analysis-for-sql-server and click on "Key Product Documents".  You'll then be taken … [Read more...]

Integrating Workload Replays into Database Change Management

I would like to make you aware of a recently written paper by Bert Scalzo.  The paper focuses on how DBAs can rely on the Toad and Benchmark Factory to perform database workload replays, ensuring that changes to the databases do not degrade the user experience. White Paper: Integrating Workload Replays into Database Change Management I encourage you to read the paper and make workload replay a part of your database change management practices.  As I’ve been saying for years, if you don’t have quantitative evidence of what normal is for your database, how can you know what is … [Read more...]