Search results matching tag 'SQL Server 2012'

SQL Server 2012 RTM Cumulative Update #8 is available!

AaronBertrand — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:12:00 GMT

The SQL Server team has released CU #8 for SQL Server 2012 RTM.

KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2844205
Build # is 11.0.2410
This build has 6 fixes

Relevant for builds 11.0.2100 -> 11.0.2409. Do not attempt to install on SQL Server 2012 SP1 (any build >= 11.0.3000) or any previous version.

StreamInsight: More Than Just an API

Roman Schindlauer — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 09:24:14 GMT

If you're evaluating StreamInsight you should know that it's more than just an API for writing streaming queries. Included with the StreamInsight installation are powerful tools that allow you to manage, monitor, tune, and troubleshoot your streaming data applications. These tools range from diagnostic methods and properties built into the API to a full graphical debugging application.

To read more, see the TechNet Wiki article, StreamInsight: More Than Just an API.

Regards,

The StreamInsight Team

SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 Cumulative Update #4 is available!

AaronBertrand — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 16:56:00 GMT

The SQL Server team has released CU #4 for Service Pack 1.

KB article: KB #2833645
Build # is 11.0.3368
This build has 39 fixes by my count.

For more information about this cumulative update, see the following posts:

SQL Release Services Blog : Cumulative Update #4 for SQL Server 2012 SP1

SQLOS Team Blog : Enhancements to SQL Server Backup to Cloud in SQL Server 2012 SP1 CU4

KB #2792921 : Description of new features in Cumulative Update 4 for SQL Server 2012 SP1

Relevant for builds 11.0.3000 -> 11.0.3367. Do not attempt to install on SQL Server 2012 RTM (any build < 11.0.3000) or any previous version.

Enhancements to SQL Server Backup to Cloud in SQL Server 2012 SP1 CU4

SQLOS Team — Fri, 31 May 2013 20:11:00 GMT

Cumulative Update 4 for SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 includes enhancements to improve the SQL Server Backup and Restore to Cloud user experience. The enhancements include performance improvements, cleaning up invalid blobs when backups fail or are interrupted, and PowerShell support.

To request this update, see this knowledgebase article.

Performance Improvements:

Performance improvements include faster return of restore metadata operations. The affected operations include:

RESTORE HEADERONLY
RESTORE FILELISTONLY
RESTORE LABELONLY

Cleaning up invalid blobs after an interrupted or failed backup:

If backup operation fails, it may result in an incomplete or invalid blob.SQL Server Backup to URL process attempts to cleanup cleaning blobs that result from a failed backup. However, if the backup fails due to prolonged or sustained network connectivity failure, backup to URL process may not be able gain access to the blob and the blob may remain orphaned. In such cases, you have to manually release the lease and delete the blob. This topic has the details on how.

PowerShell Support:

This cumulative update also includes PowerShell support for the backup to cloud feature with changes to existing cmdlets and 4 new cmdlets. Following is a brief overview of the changes and sample syntax.

For more information and code examples, see the following topics:

Use PowerShell to Backup Multiple Databases to Windows Azure Blob Storage Service

SQL Server Backup and Restore to Windows Azure Blob Storage Service

Existing cmdlet changes:

The Backup-SqLDatabase, and Restore-SqlDatabase cmdlets have new parameters to support creating a SQL Server backup to or restore from a Windows Azure Storage Container. The following are the new parameters:

BackupContainer:

Using this parameter you can specify the URL of the container as the location for your backup files and let the Backup to URL process generate the file names. Alternatively you can use the BackupFile parameter to specify both the location and the name of the file. You can also use this parameter to set locations for a folder on a disk backup device. This parameter can be useful when backing up multiple databases in a given instance.

SqlCredential:

This parameter allows you to specify the SQL Credential name of object that stores the Windows Azure Storage authentication information.

Sample Syntax:

This command backs up all databases on the server instance 'Computer\Instance' to the Windows Azure Blob storage container using the BackupContainer parameter.

Get-ChildItem SQLSERVER:\SQL\Computer\Instance\Databases | Backup-SqlDatabase –BackupContainer "https://storageaccountname.blob.core.windows.net/containername" -SqlCredential "SQLCredentialName"

This command creates a full backup of the database 'MyDB'. It uses the BackupFile parameter to specify the location (URL) and the backup file name. The SqlCredential parameter is used to specify the name of the SQL Server credential.

Backup-SqlDatabase –ServerInstance "Computer\Instance" –Database –"MyDB" -BackupFile "https://storageaccountname.blob.core.windows.net/containername/MyDB.bak" -SqlCredential "SQLCredentialName"

This command restores the full database 'MyDB' from the file on the Windows Azure Blob storage service to a SQL Server instance.

Restore-SqlDatabase -ServerInstance Computer\Instance -Database MyDB -BackupFile "https://mystorageaccountname.blob.core.windows.net/container/MyDB.bak" -SqlCredential "mySqlCredential"

New cmdlets:

New-SQLCredential

The New-SqlCredential cmdlet creates a new SQL Server Credential object. The SQL Server credential is required when backing up to or restoring from the Windows Azure storage service, and is used to store the Windows Azure storage account name and access key information.

Sample Syntax:

This command creates SQL Credential “mysqlcredential” on the current instance of SQL Server.

New-SqlCredential – name "mysqlcredential" –Identity "storageAccount" –secret “storageAccessKey”

Set-SqlCredential

You can set the Identity and password properties for a SQL Credential object using this cmdlet. This cmdlet supports the two following modes of operation:

By specifying the path or location of the credential including the credential name using the –path parameter.

By passing a Smo.Credential object to the object using the –InputObject.

Sample Syntax:

This command sets the identity of MySqlCredential to ‘mystorageaccount’.

Set-SqlCredential -Path "SQLSERVER:\SQL\Computer\Instance\Credentials\MySqlCredential" –Identity "mystorageaccount"

This command retrieves the credential object from the Get-Credential cmdlet and then pipes it to the Set-Sql Credential cmdlet to set the identity of mySqLCrendential to ‘mystorageaccount’.

$cred = Get-SqlCredential -Name MySqlCredential

$cred | Set-SqlCredential –Identity "mystorageaccount"

Get-SqlCredential

The Get-SqlCredential returns the SQL credential object. This cmdlet supports the following modes of operation:

By specifying the name of the SQL credential and the path of the instance.

By specifying the name of the SQL Credential and the server object.

Sample Syntax:

This command returns the credential object.

Get-SqlCredential –Name "mycredential"

Remove-SqlCredential

The Remove-SqlCredential cmdlet deletes a SQL Server credential object. This cmdlet supports the following two modes of operation:

By specifying the path or location of the credential and the credential name using the –path parameter.

By passing a Smo.Credential object to the object using the –InputObject parameter.

Sample Syntax:

The command retrieves the credential object from the Get-Credential cmdlet and then pipes it to the Remove-Sql Credential cmdlet to delete the SQL Credential ‘MySqlCredential’.

$cred = Get-SqlCredential -Name "MySqlCredential"

$cred | Remove-SqlCredential

This blog post is about the changes that were made in the Cumulative Update 4 for SQL Server 2012 SP1 release and assumes some amount of familiarity with SQL Server native backup to cloud functionality released in SQL Server 2012 SP1 CU2. For information on SQL Server Backup and Restore to Cloud, see the following articles:

SQL Server Backup and Restore to Cloud Simplified

Getting Started Tutorial

Originally posted at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlosteam/

Hear the SQL Server 2012 story on DotNetRocks

KKline — Fri, 31 May 2013 15:32:00 GMT

I was privileged to have a chat with my buddies over at www.dotnetrocks.com, Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell, episode number 876 (876!). Listen to the most popular internet audio talk show for .NET developers! Here's the abstract:

Carl and Richard talk to Kevin Kline about the latest features in SQL Server 2012. The conversation starts out talking about the new features that developers will love, like windowing - no need for cursors anymore, you can request a window of records from a set and move easily window-to-window. Kevin also talks about the new column store index that is especially useful with repeating data. There's also a discussion on the role of SQL Server in an increasingly NoSQL world, along with cool new technologies like Hadoop, Cassandra and Hekaton. Kevin closes with an offer of some free tools at SQL Sentry, including Plan Explorer, a tool to help you understand the query plans that SQL Server makes from your queries. Check it out!

Let me know what you think. Thanks,

-Kevin

- Follow me on Twitter!

- Google Author

Use TPC Database Benchmarks to Save Money

KKline — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:47:00 GMT

Last month, I began a series of articles describing database application benchmarking. In the first article, I told you about different ways that you can construct your own database application benchmark. However, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The Transaction Processing Council (www.tpc.org) has already created a large number of database benchmarks that are extremely useful and informative.

I also described last month how the TPC provides several different types of benchmark tests. For example the TPC-C and TPC-E benchmarks are extremely useful for measuring transaction throughput. On the other hand, the TPC – H benchmark is useful for measuring business intelligence workloads.

Today, I would like to give you a primer on how to read the benchmark reports that are published by the major database and hardware vendors. You never know when a vendor will publish a new benchmark. There’s no set schedule for them to publish their test findings. Of course, you can always look for new advertisements from many of the vendors. But that’s very imprecise. I prefer to find out if there are new results on my own and so I typically start at http://tpc.org/information/results.asp. There, I’ll check to see if my favorite hardware or database vendors have published any new test results.... read more ...

Many thanks,

-Kevin

- Follow me on Twitter!

- Google Author

Read the New TPC Database Benchmarking Series

KKline — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:17:00 GMT

Let's talk about database application benchmarking.

This is a skill set which, in my opinion, is one of the major differentiators between a journeyman-level DBA and a true master of the trade. In this article published in my monthly column at Database Trends & Applications magazine, I'll give you a brief introduction to TPC benchmarks and, in future articles, I'll be telling you how to extract specific pieces of valuable information from the published benchmark results.

But let's get started with an overview … read more.

Many thanks,

-Kevin

- Follow me on Twitter!
- Google Author

SQL Server 2012 Cumulative Update #7 is available!

AaronBertrand — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:45:00 GMT

The SQL Server team has released CU #7 for SQL Server 2012 RTM.

KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2823247
Build # is 11.0.2405
This build has 17 fixes

Relevant for builds 11.0.2100 -> 11.0.2404. Do not attempt to install on SQL Server 2012 SP1 (any build >= 11.0.3000) or any previous version.

PASS Business Analytics Conference (BAC) Recap

KKline — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:15:00 GMT

The PASS Business Analytics Conference (PASS BAC) is PASS' first foray into an event that is dedicated to business intelligence, big data, data visualization, and business analytics. And it totally makes sense for PASS to move in this direction, over and above the flagship community work centered on database management and application development. Why? Because business analytics is all about how to apply the data being collected and managed by all of those developers and DBAs. And, at the end of the day, how we use and apply our data is really the nexus of its value. That's what matters to business. You can read the speech from the standing president, Bill Graziano (Twitter | Blog), or watch it online at the PASS website.

The day one highlight, introduced by the SQL Server team's best presenter - Amir Netz (Twitter), is the release of a new BI data visualization tool called Project “GeoFlow” for Excel. GeoFlow is a 3D visualization and storytelling tool that helps you map, explore and interact with both geographic and chronological data for visualizing data which is difficult to identify in traditional 2D tables and charts. With GeoFlow, you can plot up to a million rows of data in 3D on Bing Maps, see data changes over time and share findings through appealing screenshots and cinematic, guided video tours of the data. It's really something you have to see to understand – check out the video demo and screenshots below. You can also download and try it out firsthand today. It’s an entirely new way to experience and share insights – one you’ll probably enjoy. For more information on GeoFlow, check out the Excel team’s blog and visit the BI website.

The highlight for me, aside from connecting with so many friends and colleagues in the exhibit hall at the SQL Sentry booth, was the day 2 keynote address by Dr. Steve Levitt of Freakonomics fame. Freakonomics is both a brilliant blog and the number one business book in America. His insights are well documented in a variety of places, not just in his own channels, but also in places such as TEDtalks. I'm also really enjoying his new website, https://www.freakonomicsexperiments.com/.

Steve presented an outstanding keynote, full of funny anecdotes and insights into the world of data analytics and interpretation. A couple of his comments really resonated with me which are worth repeating. In one story, he pointed out how some of the greatest insights came from corporate data which was collected incidentally or coincidentally. The data that help provide the greatest and most valuable revelations were from data that was basically a corporate afterthought. Another revelation - he's only now starting to make much use of relational databases. He primarily uses spreadsheets, flat files, and the Stata statistical analysis tool. Another insight, which I've known and proselytized as "the Fresh Pair of Eyes" approach, is that it really helps him to gain insights in a problem by knowing as little about the problem as possible. As it turns out, if you know the industry or the challenge at the core of the problem, you make a lot of assumptions that limit your means of interpreting data. By knowing nothing or next to nothing about a particular problem, you can ask the questions that insiders never ask. Here's an example (not from the keynote though) - let's say you're an energy company CEO. You might spend a lot of time thinking about how to accommodate the expected huge increase in energy consumption due to lots of people driving electric cars. You might tell your data analysts to figure out when and how to ensure peak electrical usage is available at the times when consumers are recharging their electric vehicles. But a fresh pair of eyes would point out that electric cars, in their present form, are a huge energy boondoggle compared to hybrid and plain ol' cheap, high-mileage models like the Honda Civic. Consumers will never recoup their investment in a high-priced, all-electric car compared to a cheap, gas sipping model.

At the heart of his presentation is the fact that data is meaningless when it doesn't answer important questions! Many times, data professionals spend so much time devising elegant SQL statements and clever user-interfaces that they forget about using a fresh pair of eyes when they look at business questions. Our session, Operational Excellence for the BI Pro, focused on the trails and travails of successfully implementing and growing the footprint of a business intelligence project.

In addition, we had a fun and very informative panel discussion breakfast on Thursday of the PASS BAC. At right is a picture of Nick Harshbarger, Justin Randal, and me prior to the session. The audience was very engaged and, despite having no slides, there was a whole lot of wisdom goin' on. The panel included Chris Webb (Twitter | Blog), Craig Utley, Jen Stirrup (Twitter | Blog), Paul Turley (Blog), and Stacia Misner (Twitter | Blog). I served as the moderator and facilitator of the session. We recorded the session, with a little HD Flip camera, and although I haven't checked out the file yet, we're hopeful we can post it or at least a transcript soon.

Do you have a "fresh eyes" story? I'd love to hear it! Post a comment here!

Many thanks,

-Kevin

-Follow me on Twitter!
- Google Author

The All-New 'Database Lifecycle Management" is available on MSDN

KKline — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 10:51:00 GMT

The initial release of Database Lifecycle Management is now available on MSDN.

The site is something called "curated content". This means it's a single consolidated location to look up lots of disparate articles and content, all in one easy to search location. This “curated content view” contains the best content, video, and community-centric information from Microsoft, including topics like:

SQL Server Data Tools

· Get started with sample projects, code samples

· Video demos by Gert Drapers (blog)

· Script common data portability tasks using Sqlpackage.exe

· Link to the SSDT team blog

SQL Server Management Studio

· Manage SQL Database using SSMS

· Backup and restore w/ SQL Azure

· Migrate local databases to Azure

· Video demo of hybrid scenarios by Gert Drapers (blog)

Windows Azure SQL Database

· SQL Database backup and restore

· Import/export SQL Database

· Windows Azure training kit

· Connection management and troubleshooting connections

Enjoy,

-Kevin

-Follow me on Twitter!
- Google Author