November 2009 - Posts

• Virtual PC and Virtual Server hotfixes and updates

  Many of you use Virtual PC and Virtual Server, but not many people are aware of some new hotfixes and security updates released in 2009. Before getting to those, the latest versions of those two products are Virtual PC 2007 Service Pack 1 and Virtual Read More... Posted Sunday, November 29, 2009 1:31 PM by John Paul Cook | 0 Comments

• White elephant gift exchange for DBAs

  In the holiday season, white elephant gift exchanges are somewhat popular in the workplace. This is a really great definition from Wikipedia : "the term white elephant refers to a gift whose maintenance cost exceeds its usefulness." Now that definitely Read More... Posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 9:30 PM by John Paul Cook | 1 Comments

• Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder

  The Windows 7 Problem Steps Recorder is yet another reason to upgrade to Windows 7. It records what the user actually did, not what the user claims to have done. I used it to record the attached session of running an invalid T-SQL query in SSMS. When Read More... Posted Saturday, November 21, 2009 4:16 PM by John Paul Cook | 0 Comments Attachment(s): div0.zip

• SQL Risk and Health Assessment Program (SQLRAP)

  The SQL Server Riadk and Health Assessment Program, otherwise known as SQLRAP, isn't well known. It hasn't been blogged about much. Today I'm analyzing SQLRAP output and developing a plan to implement changes it suggests. You can read more about the program Read More... Posted Thursday, November 19, 2009 12:47 PM by John Paul Cook | 0 Comments

• Script to determine cardinality for index analysis

  When reviewing a client's database, I suspected there might be indexes on low cardinality (i.e., low "uniqueness") columns. Typing COUNT ( DISTINCT colName )) became tedious quickly. Time for a script. Oops, wait, in deference to proponents of test driven Read More... Posted Thursday, November 19, 2009 8:32 AM by John Paul Cook | 6 Comments

• Script to compare actual data length to column width

  A quick review of a customer database revealed many inappropriate maximum lengths on character columns. When dealing with fixed width columns, grossly oversized columns negatively impact performance because fewer rows fit into a page, which means more Read More... Posted Thursday, November 12, 2009 2:33 PM by John Paul Cook | 1 Comments

• Minimally Logged Deletes - please vote!

  I posted a suggestion for a minimally logged delete feature on Connect: https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=509341 . There is a legitimate need for minimal logging of deletes. Just because deletes need to be able Read More... Posted Monday, November 09, 2009 2:24 PM by John Paul Cook | 2 Comments

• Bill of Materials – Computing Component Totals

  Previous posts have shown how to do a parts explosion and a where used query. Another common query needed for Bill of Materials is a list of quantities required for all components in an assembly. The indented parts explosion is easily modified to produce Read More... Posted Saturday, November 07, 2009 4:48 PM by John Paul Cook | 1 Comments Filed under: Bill of Materials

• Bill of Materials – The Basics

  After having several people at SQL PASS ask me to explain what a Bill of Materials is, it seemed like a good idea for a blog post. A Bill of Materials, otherwise known as a BOM (don’t read this aloud in an airport lounge), is a listing of all of the components Read More... Posted Friday, November 06, 2009 6:23 PM by John Paul Cook | 5 Comments Filed under: Bill of Materials

• ADO.NET team wants to hear from you - survey open through November 13

  The ADO.NET team has a survey and they want your input. Don't delay - the survey is open only through November 13. Read more about the survey and get the link for it by going here: http://blogs.msdn.com/adonet/archive/2009/11/01/the-ado-net-providers-team-wants-to-hear-your-opinion.aspx Read More... Posted Thursday, November 05, 2009 10:51 AM by John Paul Cook | 0 Comments

• Hierarchyid data type and AdventureWorks2008 BillOfMaterials table

  AdventureWorks2008 uses the hierarchyid data type in a updated version of the HumanResources.Employee table, but not in the Production.BillOfMaterials table. Michael Coles provides the code for a clever CTE to create Production.HierBillOfMaterials from Read More... Posted Sunday, November 01, 2009 12:07 AM by John Paul Cook | 0 Comments Filed under: Bill of Materials Attachment(s): CreateHierBillOfMaterials.zip