31Oct 2012 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

Microsoft Surface Update

Surface
Let’s talk some more about the basic keyboard. I’m really surprised at how well it works. But, it’s absolutely going to take some getting used to. Here’s some typing I did as a test to see where I missed keys, etc.; Once upon a midngith dreary while I pondered weak and weary over many a curious and quaint piece of forgotten lore while I nodded nearly napping suddnely there cane a tappig as if someone were gentlay wrappig, wrapping at my chamber door, only this and nothing more, S Four score and seve yars ago our forefathers vrought brough t brought forth on thi cnotentit a new nation conceived in liberty and dedid]cated to the propisiion that all men are created equal. You really do have to look at what…
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28Oct 2012 by Grant Fritchey 5 Comments

Microsoft Surface

Surface
I'm going to do with this what I should have done with the Piece Of Fruit (POF), blog about the experience. Getting the silly thing required several phone calls and a car trip, but I wanted it. Out of the box. It turned on. Yay! The first thing it wants is a Live login. No problem. I have two, my professional one and the one I use for all my personal stuff. Ooohh, which to use? All the fun stuff, Xbox, Music, is on the home account. But, I've set up Skydrive and all the more interesting technical stuff on the other. Crud. I decide to start with the professional account. Everything sets up nicely and I find myself looking at the all new Windows 8 interface. I've never been shy…
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26Oct 2012 by Grant Fritchey 6 Comments

Scary Reading List for Halloween

Misc
I know I focus on community, SQL Server, professional development and process. But you need to do other stuff occasionally too. For example, I've long been a fan of horror stories (and science fiction/speculative fiction and some historical novels and history books and... I like to read, OK?). I received this link because I guess I have Scary in the name. It's a pretty good list of scary books. I've read 12 of the 13 books listed (and I just added Blindness to my Kindle so I'll have all 13 done). Now, I wouldn't make anyone read The Castle Otranto or Mysteries of Udolpho unless, like me, you're completist nerds. However, the rest of the books really should be read, especially if you are a horror fan. But, I can…
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22Oct 2012 by Grant Fritchey 4 Comments

Clustered Indexes Have Statistics Too

SQL Server, T-SQL
It may seem obvious, but I've heard more than one person suggest to me that statistics on a clustered index just don't matter. That if the clustered index can satisfy a given query, it's going to get selected. That just didn't make any sense to me, but I haven't seen anyone set up a test that shows how it might work one way or the other. Here you go. First, I'm going to create a table and load it up with data. I'm intentionally using strings because I don't want to confuse the ease of management of integers within indexes. I also went for one column that would have a very attractive set of statistics and one that would have a very ugly set. Also, because we're only dealing with…
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17Oct 2012 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

SQL In The City: Seattle

PASS, Redgate Software
If you missed all the great speakers on the five city tour of SQL in the City, don't despair. Many of the same people will be back at SQL in the City in Seattle. It's scheduled on Monday before the PASS Summit proper starts, so if you're looking to get your learn on early and you can't sign up for a pre-con, this is a great, free, opportunity to pick up some additional instruction. Check out the list of speakers. It's going to be an event worth attending. I've seen the early drafts of the feedback forms from the prior five events. People really seem to enjoy this slightly different approach. In short, Red Gate puts on a heck of a show. During the five city tour, I was able…
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16Oct 2012 by Grant Fritchey 6 Comments

RML Utilities and SQL Server 2012

T-SQL
I'm working through some code that I haven't touched recently and I'm running it for the first time on a SQL Server 2012 server. The code is a way to load information into the RML utilities and I started hitting errors. First, I hit an error that my server couldn't be connected to, but thanks to Erin Stellato (blog|twitter), I was able to quickly fix that. Then I hit this: Number of processors: 2 Active proc mask: 0x00000003 Architecture: 9 Page size: 4096 Highest node: 0 Package mask: 0x00000001 Processor(s): 0x00000001 Function units: Separated Package mask: 0x00000002 Processor(s): 0x00000002 Function units: Separated Processors: 0x00000003 assigned to Numa node: 0 -Ic:\performancetuning\rml.trc -oc:\bu -SDOJO\RANDORI Using language id (LCID): 1024 [English_United States.1252] for character formatting with NLS: 0x00060101 and Defined: 0x00060101 Attempting to…
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15Oct 2012 by Grant Fritchey 6 Comments

Why Tune Queries?

PASS, T-SQL
It's just a query against the database. If things are running slow, buy some more memory, a faster CPU or get a few more disks. Right? Seriously, tuning queries is just a pain and there's no clear evidence that writing them correctly or tuning them has a major impact. Right? Yeah, I'm being facetious. I've spent a considerable portion of my career  trying to make T-SQL code run faster. The fact is, throwing moneyhardware at the performance problem can fix it in many instances. At least temporarily. But let's face it, you're constantly changing the code. There are new queries, changes to old queries, it's always changing. The code is probably the most volatile aspect of a database system because it is the easiest to change. So, you may think…
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