Microsoft SQL Server Tips & Tricks
Tips and Tricks for the SQL Server Enthusiast
SQL Server 7.0 support to end on 11 Jan 2011
For additional details check the link below:...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 12/16/2010
SQL Server 2008 Best Practices Analyzer (SQL BPA) - Video
The SQL Server Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) gathers data from Microsoft Windows and SQL Server...
Author: Balmukund Date: 12/13/2010
Unable to connect to SQL , “Error executing extended stored procedure: Invalid Parameter (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 22001”
Issue When we try to connect to a SQL instance from SQL server Management studio we get the...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 11/12/2010
RESTORE DATABASE fails while trying to restore password protected backup set from SSMS
ISSUE: I’m trying to restore a database backup from SSSMS-UI, however it fails in an initial...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 11/02/2010
SQL Server Backup Simulator
We at SQL Server support team, continue to invest our time in writing tools and utilities which can...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 10/27/2010
Troubleshooting specific Login Failed error messages
A recent discussion on the #sqlhelp hashtag on Twitter got me researching into this issue. The error...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 10/27/2010
SQL Server 2008 service fails to start, after applying Service Pack 1
Recently, I worked on an interesting case where customer after upgrading an instance of SQL Server...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 10/27/2010
Troubleshooting tempdb growth due to Version Store usage
Troubleshooting tempdb growth due to Version Store usage Recently I worked on an issue where the...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 10/13/2010
Scan Count meaning in SET STATISTICS IO output: Part 2
In my last blog post, I had explained what Scan Count means and how it is calculated for a query...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 09/29/2010
Sometimes Replication Monitor shows number of Undistributed Transactions as a very high number, but replication itself works properly.
An overview of the inner working of a replication monitor We might see large number of Pending...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 09/17/2010
Upgrade to SQL 2008 from 2005 (cluster) fails with The cluster group 'SQL GROUP' could not be moved from node 'NODENAME1' to node 'null' , 0x8007139F
Problem We try to upgrade to SQL 2008 from SQL 2005 in a cluster setup and it fails on the Active...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 09/16/2010
Upgrade from SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2008 R2 might fail with the error “Wait on the Database Engine Recovery Handle Failed”
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION ================ · During upgrade from SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2008...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 09/16/2010
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Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 09/15/2010
SCAN COUNT meaning in SET STATISTICS IO output
What does the Scan Count output in the SET STATISTICS IO output actually mean? I have seen multiple...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 09/14/2010
Troubleshooting Error 511 using XEvents
Now that we have XEvents in SQL Server 2008 and above, some of the issues that required us to...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 09/09/2010
OPEN SYMMETRIC KEY command prevents query plan caching
This was quite an interesting issue. We started troubleshooting a SQL Server blocking problem due to...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 09/07/2010
HOW TO IDENTIFY COMPRESSED TABLES BEFORE RESTORING/MIGRATING DATABASE to any edition other than Enterprise Edition of SQL Server 2008
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION =================== While trying to migrate the database from sql2008 enterprise...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 09/03/2010
PRB: SQL Server Browser service does not start due to Winsock Monitoring Software
IssueDuring an upgrade from SQL 2005 to SQL 2008 Express, the SQL Browser service failed to start,...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 08/31/2010
INF: SQL Security - Restricting access to public on server/database objects, its implications and ownership chains
INF: SQL Security - Restricting access to public on server/database objects, its implications and...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 08/31/2010
TRANSACTION LOG BACKUP and RESTORE SEQUENCE: Myths & Truths
In a recent issue with a customer, I came across a strange SQL belief (or say a DBA Myth) regarding...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 08/26/2010
The hidden gems among DMVs: sys.dm_os_sys_memory
I have always been a big fan of troubleshooting SQL Server performance issues with the help of DMVs....
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 08/25/2010
While Installing SQL 2005 Express Edition we hit the error -- The SQL Server System Configuration Checker cannot be executed due to WMI configuration on the machine Error:2147749896 (0x80041008)
Symptoms: Application Popup Error: =========================== The SQL Server System Configuration...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 06/29/2010
How to set Soft-NUMA for SQL Server 2008 R2
This is probably one of the murky topics of SQL Server. Add to this equation, hardware NUMA and the...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 06/28/2010
Can I listen to you Mr. MSDTC?
MSDTC unlike on earlier version of Windows, support multiple instances on Windows 2008. You can...
Author: sequelguy Date: 06/04/2010
SQL Server 2008 R2 setup fails on Windows 7 with the error: Version's parameters must be greater than or equal to zero
Symptom: While installing SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM in a Windows 7 box, noticed an error message: SQL...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 05/31/2010
The bcp utility fails to export the data:
Scenario SQL Server 2000 bcp utility fails to export data with the below error message:...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 05/31/2010
INF: Permissions required for SQL Server Service account to use SSL certificate
In this blog, we will discuss a scenario which is common across the SQL Server environment using...
Author: Nikesh Mhatre Date: 05/28/2010
Installing Client tools for SQL 2008 doesn’t populate the SMO in the SQL Assemblies folder
Recently I encountered this issue. Customer was trying to install SMO by using the following switch...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 05/28/2010
Backup Software fails to take System State backup if SQL server VSS writer Service is running
This blog describes a very simple but tricky issue. A Backup software was unable to take system...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 05/28/2010
Unable to see the properties of DTC in the Component Services
After Preparing and Installing SQL Server 2008 Cluster on a Windows 2008 Server Cluster from the...
Author: sequelguy Date: 05/27/2010
A query in SQL Server Management studio could fail with Error: "An error occurred while executing batch. Error message is: The file exists
Below is one of the scenarios, I recently witnessed where a query was failing when executed from...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 05/27/2010
Monotonically increasing clustered index keys can cause LATCH contention
In this post, I shall explain why monotonically increasing or decreasing clustered index key columns...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 05/27/2010
GUID vs INT Debate
I recently read a blog post on what was better using GUIDs or Integer values. This is been an age...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 05/27/2010
SQL Server Performance Dashboard Reports in SSMS – Introduction, Install, DateDiff error & Modified for SQL 2008
SQL Server Performance Dashboard Reports in SSMS – Introduction, Install, DateDiff error &...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 05/27/2010
SQL Express 2005 Setup Failure
ISSUE: You have SQL 2005 SP2 Express Edition or any of earlier version of SQL Express and you decide...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 05/26/2010
INF: New SQL Server features in SQL Server 2008 R2 –Part 2
Continued from...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 05/12/2010
INF: New SQL Server features in SQL Server 2008 R2 – Part 1
SQL Server 2008 R2 expands on the value delivered in SQL Server 2008 by providing a wealth of new...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 05/12/2010
SQL 2008 R2 CTP3 Upgrade directly to RTM.
“We’re getting questions on whether folks can upgrade directly from CTP3 to RTM. The recommended and...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 05/12/2010
Incorrect BufferCount data transfer option can lead to OOM condition
SQL Server Books Online holds information on a variety of topics concerning the product which can...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 05/06/2010
How to “REGENERATE DEK” with a different certificate on Encrypted Mirrored database
As part of Encryption Key management in SQL Server 2008 Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 04/30/2010
SQL Server Agent cannot start because the instance of the Server Instance is not the expected Instance
Problem: SQL Server Agent cannot start because the instance of the Server Instance is not the...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 04/30/2010
SQL Server 2008 & SQL Server 2008 R2 clustering FAQ’s:
- Can I use SQL 2008 slipstreamed installer to install SQL Server 2008 failover cluster? Yes....
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 04/30/2010
Unable to install Service Pack 1 for SQL Server 2008.
Issue : The Service Pack 1 installation on SQL Server 2008 fails with the following errors :...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 04/30/2010
Unable to open excel files using a cscript in SQL Server Jobs
· Disclaimer : Microsoft does not currently recommend, and does not support, Automation of Microsoft...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 04/29/2010
Unable to configure Logshipping
Problem Description: ================ You may notice that when you configure logshipping in SQL...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 04/29/2010
How to install Clustered SQL Server 2008 on Windows 2008 Cluster using Hyper-V (Guest Clustering) Part – 2
Thanks for overwhelming response of part 1 of the series. As a part of this series, we have created...
Author: Balmukund Date: 04/28/2010
How to move Publication database and Distribution database to a different location
Consider a scenario where we have set up a transactional replication between two servers and you...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 04/26/2010
How to restore database backup (Full and Transaction logs) after regenerating Database Encryption Key (KEY) with a new certificate having no impact on Log sequence number (LSN) chain.
It’s a very common scenario where customers have their database encrypted and hold multiple...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 04/26/2010
Network Binding Order Rule Warning in SQL Server 2008 Cluster Setup Explained
Network Binding Order Rule Warning in SQL Server 2008 Cluster Setup Explained This blog present some...
Author: AmruthaVarshiniJ Date: 04/22/2010