I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Cephas Lin, of Microsoft, last year at the SQL Saturday in Indianapolis and then later at the PASS Summit in the fall. Cephas has been writing content for SQL Server 2012 Always On. Cephas has recently published his first whitepaper, a migration guide to SQL Server AlwaysOn. Read it and then pass along any feedback: HERE Enjoy, -Kev -Follow me on Twitter! … [Read more...]
Review the New Migration Guide to SQL Server 2012 Always On
Filed Under: Administration, Challenges, Databases, On-Line Resources, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: High Availability, SQL Server 2012, White Paper
Two TechNet Radio Sessions You Don’t Want to Miss
I was recently honored to speak on TechNet Radio in two separate sessions about BigData & Hadoop and cloud databases (specifically SQL Azure). The show debuted on the TechNet homepage under “Today’s News” and on the TechNet Edge homepage. In each of these shows, I did what I like to do for all the parties I attend - bring a friend. To make my life easier, I simply reposted the verbiage that TechNet used, rather that to write my own. About the BigData/Hadoop video: Microsoft SQL Server MVP Kevin Kline and Vice President of Database Development at Quest Software Guy Harrison (blog | … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Architecture, BigData, Cloud, Databases, NoSQL, On-Line Resources, SQL Server, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post, Video Tagged With: Azure, BigData, cloud computing, Crowdsourcing, DBA, Developer, Hadoop, NoSQL, Quest Software, SQL Server 2012, Video
‘Backup Completed’ is NOT an Error Message
If you're like me, you like for things to be semantically reliable. Huh? Said another way, I like for things to mean what they say and say what they mean. Here are a few examples of I get annoyed by failed sematics - when a footpath is used almost entirely by cyclists, when an escalator is merely stairs, or when a restroom has a huge crowd and long lines. (No rest to be had in that room). So you can bet that I get a little prickly when the "Error Log" is used to post messages that something completed successfully. Really? I came here to this error log looking for, wait for it, ... … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Databases, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: Backup & Recovery, DBA, SQL Server 2012
New White Paper: SQL Server Extended Events and Notifications
Download the new white paper: How to Use SQL Server’s Extended Events and Notifications to Proactively Resolve Performance Issues SQL Server comes with a wide array of tools for monitoring your environment. There are logs and traces that provide information when errors occur, but these are often used passively to react to events that have already occurred. There's PerfMon, and Profiler, and loads of Dynamic Management Views to check. But where to look? As database administrators (DBA), we need to monitor our environments proactively and create solutions as issues arise. In this white … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Challenges, Cool Technologies, Databases, On-Line Resources, Performance, SQL Server, SQLMag, Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Best Practices, DBA, Internals, Monitoring, SQL Server 2008 R2
The Expert’s Conference (TEC) – For AD, SharePoint, Exchange, PowerShell and Other Admins
What is TEC? The Expert's Conference (TEC) is a multi-day event featuring five co-located Microsoft educational conferences at the San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina April 29-May 2. It's pretty - see! The event includes advanced 400-level training on Microsoft Directory & Identity (including Active Directory), Exchange Server, SharePoint, Virtualization (Microsoft Hyper-V) & Workspace Management, and PowerShell Deep Dives. There are lots of great activities for Quest and Microsoft customers and partners. In addition, there's a Quest Software Day, with User Groups … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Cloud, Conferences, Professional Development, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post, Virtualization Tagged With: Active Directory, PowerShell, Virtualization
New on SQLMag Tool Time Blog – Update to FineBuild
Recall back in January 2011 that I profiled the cool tool, FineBuild for SQL Server, which helps you configure and quickly deploy installations of SQL Server. Not only does FineBuild help you install a new SQL Server using the settings and configuration options you desire, it goes a few steps further by ensuring that any additional programs, tools, and utilities are also installed. Ed Vassie, the creator of FineBuild, has revised and improved the tools since I last wrote about it. Ed has naturally added a number of bug fixes and documentation improvements. Several new features... [READ … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Tips & Tricks, Tool Time Tagged With: CodePlex, DBA, SQLMag, Tools, Tools & Scripts
Must-Have Resources – SQL Server Backup & Recovery
One of the things that drives me crazy as I'm getting older is that my brain is losing the capacity to differentiate version numbers. As I speak travel around speaking with customers and at conferences, I find my self saying things like "I can't recall if this problem was fixed in SQL Server 2000 or 2005. But you don't have to worry about that any more." Or things like "That feature was added in SQL Server 2008 R2, eh, or was that version 6.5. DOH!" followed by a loud slapping sound as I whap my palm into my forehead. The Internet doesn't forget either. Recommendations that were once … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Challenges, Databases, On-Line Resources, Presentations, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Tips & Tricks, Video Tagged With: Backup & Recovery, DBA, Quest Software, SQL Server 2008 R2, Video
Simplifying CSV Data Loads
Data files containing comma separated values, or CSV, are some of the most common data formats used for data representation and storage outside the database. When it comes to loading CSV data into the database, many options exist, however, few make it as simple as CSVexpress, powered by expressor software. I recently visited www.csvexpress.com to check out just how simple it could get. In short, CSVexpress offers a repeatable and quick way to load any CSV file into SQL Server (or any other database). For those whose data quality is not as pristine as it should be, CSVexpress also offers … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Cool Technologies, Databases, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Tips & Tricks Tagged With: Data Cleansing, Data Quality, DBA, ETL, Master Data Management, SQL Server 2008
Troubleshooting Repeated Login Failures on SQL Server
I’d recently experienced a situation where I was getting repeated login failures to a SQL Server where I knew that I had the correct user name and password. Each time, I’d get error 18456 in response. "Login failed for user '<user_name>'. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18456)". The challenge when troubleshooting this error message is that you may have a problem with SQL Server or you may have a problem with Active Directory or Kerberos, if you’re using one of those authentication technologies. A False Trail When times are good, and you’re able to make a connection, you … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Challenges, Databases, On-Line Resources, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post, Tips & Tricks Tagged With: MVP, SQL Server 2008 R2, Troubleshooting
New on “Database Trends & Applications”
In last month's column, "2012 Might Really Be the End of the World as We Know It," I described a number of major developments in the IT industry that are likely to disrupt the life of database professionals everywhere. I categorize those four disruptors - virtualization, cloud computing, solid state drives (SSD), and advanced multi-core CPUs - into two broad groups. I'm going to continue an analysis of these disruptive technologies in inverse order. Today, let's discuss SSDs. [READ MORE ON DATABASE TRENDS & APPLICATIONS ] … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, Challenges, Cool Technologies, Databases, IO, Opinion, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, Virtualization Tagged With: Best Practices, Career, DBA, DBTA, Developer, FutureWatch, Goals, Virtualization
