March 2008 - Posts

• When All Else Fails, SSIS Scripting to the Rescue

  Background I'm working on an SSIS package that FTPs files from heterogeneous sources to Windows servers. I currently have three types of servers in the mix: Windows, Unix, and iSeries. When I first started this phase of the project, I tested the SSIS Read More... Posted Saturday, March 29, 2008 12:01 AM by andyleonard | 0 Comments Filed under: SSIS, SQL Server 2008

• ETL and SSIS Questions and Answers

  I've started a community website for ETL and SSIS: AndyETL.com . My hope is the site will become an additional repository for ETL and SSIS information. :{> Andy Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it! Read More... Posted Friday, March 28, 2008 1:23 AM by andyleonard | 2 Comments Filed under: SSIS, Developer Community, ETL

• OT: User Quote Of The Day

  "It's a good thing I executed virus.exe when I did because right after that the company's entire network went down." :{> Andy Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it! Read More... Posted Wednesday, March 19, 2008 4:53 PM by andyleonard | 1 Comments Filed under: I-Am-Such-A-Geek

• MetaPost: Windows Live Translator

  Thanks to the smart people at Microsoft Research you can now have your blog posts and web pages translated into several languages - how cool! Andrew Duthie - aka .Net DevHammer - posted about this new Live functionality on his blog : This is a pretty Read More... Posted Tuesday, March 18, 2008 1:18 PM by andyleonard | 0 Comments Filed under: Developer Community, utilities, I-Am-Such-A-Geek

• Happy Pi Day!

  Happy Pi Day Everyone! ... at least in the US datetime format... :{> Andy Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it! Read More... Posted Friday, March 14, 2008 1:59 PM by andyleonard | 9 Comments Filed under: measurement, I-Am-Such-A-Geek

• Applying SQL Server Service Packs and HotFixes

  Some notes about the SQL Server Service Pack Installation Engine. I like it - a lot. The new engine goes to great lengths to prevent my having to bounce a physical server to apply a service pack. No matter how you slice it, it takes less time to stop Read More... Posted Friday, March 14, 2008 10:24 AM by andyleonard | 3 Comments Filed under: SQL Server, Support, Service Packs

• New Features Announced In SQL Server 2008

  Buck Woody , Microsoft SQL Server Program Manager, recently posted a list of enhancements in the works for SQL Server 2008 RTM in the SQL Server MVP newsgroup. The usual suspects were included in the list: Policy-Based Management (formerly DMF), Resource Read More... Posted Thursday, March 13, 2008 7:23 AM by andyleonard | 1 Comments Filed under: Database Developer, DBA, SQL Server 2008, SSMS

• SSIS 2008 Data Profiling Task

  Jamie Thomson has posted a great series on the SSIS 2008 Data Profiling Task . The Data Profiling Task allows developers to quickly assess key statistics about data in a database table. When I say "statistics" I mean things like column value and length Read More... Posted Thursday, March 13, 2008 12:01 AM by andyleonard | 2 Comments Filed under: SSIS, database developers, SQL Server 2008, Business Intelligence, Data Profiing Task

• SQL Server Management Studio Standard Reports

  Buck Woody has a great series going on SQL Server ManagementStudio Standard Reports . The SQL Server team did a great job developing these insightful and intuitive reports. I often show them to customers and during presentations and the response is always Read More... Posted Wednesday, March 12, 2008 12:01 AM by andyleonard | 0 Comments Filed under: SQL Server, Reporting Services, Support, utilities, Microsoft

• Microsoft Announces SQL Server Data Services (SSDS)!

  Cool things are coming out of Mix08 ! There's even something there for we database people: SQL Server Data Services . From Neil Hutson's blog : SSDS you can think of as a structured data store in the cloud(building block service), which is accessed using Read More... Posted Wednesday, March 05, 2008 3:08 PM by andyleonard | 3 Comments Filed under: Database Developer, software developers, SQL Server, Visual Studio, SSDS, SQL Server Data Service