04Apr 2008 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

Sequel or Ess Cue Ell

Misc
It's Friday, why not a goofy post. What kind of DBA are you? Do you pronounce the bit at the beginning of SQL Server 2008 as a word, sequel, or as three letters, ess cue ell? I'm a sequel kind of guy myself for most everyday conversation. I do occasionally break it down when I need really specific clarity, but those events are rare. Anyone else?  And after you answer it here, go over to SSC and answer the question there too.
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02Apr 2008 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

SCOM Solution

Tools
I had posted a problem I was having with SCOM below. I got a good answer to the problem in the Microsoft discussion group. It was a silly little thing. The "SQL" alias inside the object needed a reference placed within the Management Pack definition. I've still go so much to learn about this tool.
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01Apr 2008 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

Performance Studio

Tools
I just found out about some new functionality coming out in SQL Server 2008 called Performance Studio. It's actually largely a framework around which you can build performance monitoring routines for an entire enterprise. This sounds terrific. I'm going to dig into a bit and make it my presentation for the Heroes {Community} Launch event at SNESSUG next week. Here's a Technet webcast on the topic. Here's a very nice blog entry over at SQLTeam (I suppose I should ad them to my blog roll) discussing the function of the Data Collector, the foundation for this new framework. Performance Studio only works with 2008 systems though, so that's something to take into account. Although I see an interview with Brad McGehee that says it's not enterprise ready. Another something to take…
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01Apr 2008 by Grant Fritchey 4 Comments

SQL Data Generator

Tools
I just received word from Rachel Hawley over at RedGate that SQL Data Generator has been released. I've been using the beta over the last few months and I've found it incredibly useful for setting up tests and playing around with my database designs, seeing how different data loads will be distributed through the indexes, etc. It's quick to use but fairly powerful and flexible and, frankly, pretty inexpensive. I strongly recommend it.
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01Apr 2008 by Grant Fritchey 8 Comments

SCOM Problem

Tools
I'm stuck. I posted this last week on the Microsoft SCOM newsgroup, but I'm not getting any responses. On the off chance that the 5 people a day who read this site might know the answer, here's the question as posted: I'm sure this is something fundamental and simple, but I'm honestly stuck. I'm attempting to capture a new Performance Counter, Plan Cache, Cache Hit Ratio, Object Plans & SQL Plans. When I lay it out to create it, I get the attached error. I'm assuming based on the "Unknown alias" and the fact that I'm in a custom management pack, something is amiss with the Management Pack. What? Any help at all would be appreciated. Date: 3/28/2008 11:29:55 AM Application: System Center Operations Manager 2007 Application Version: 6.0.6246.0 Severity:…
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28Mar 2008 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

New SCOM Book

Tools
I got a new SCOM book in the mail yesterday, System Center Operations Manager Unleashed. It's friggin' huge. I've just started reading through it and it looks pretty good. So far, it's much more thorough than the only other book available for SCOM, Mastering System Center Operations Manager 2007. I'm going to ready through more of it before I post a review to Amazon. I think I'll write up a review for the PASS book reviews too. Hey, if you have time on your hands, get on over there, request a book and write up your own review.
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28Mar 2008 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

SQL Server 2008 Free Instance

Uncategorized
If you don't want to risk blowing up your laptop (like I did) and you're not interested in setting up and maintaining a virtual server, but you still want to test SQL Server 2008. Then, PASS (Professional Association of SQL Server Users), Dell & MaximumASP have a solution. Just go to SQL Server Beta. You can set up a private instance and it will persist between sessions.
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25Mar 2008 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

SCOM As a Code Source

Tools
A friend has had an article posted over on SQL Server Central that's worth a read. Scott Abrants outlines the type of code that SCOM uses for SQL Server auditing and how you can leverage that outside of SCOM for other work you may be doing. As noted in the comments, it's also worth taking a look at how Microsoft set up it's rules and monitors as a method for setting up your own.
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21Mar 2008 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Top vs. Max

T-SQL
The company I work for has a very well defined need for versioned data. In a lot of instances, we don't do updates, we do inserts. That means that you have to have mechanisms for storing the data that enables you to pull out the latest version of all the data or a particular version of all the data, or the data at a particular moment in time, regardless of version.  That means maintaining a version table and a series of inserts into various tables. Some tables will have pretty much a new row for each version, some tables may only have one or two versions out of a chain. With the help of a very smart Microsoft consultant, Bill Sulcius, we have a mechanism that works very well. However,…
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