SQL Server 2008 introduced a new feature that had the potential to be very useful, the ability to color colour-code a query window in SSMS to represent the server that was being connected to. This was configured using the properties of a server in the Registered Servers pane: Unfortunately this feature was made less than useful, dangerous ...

I have been on a SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse (aka PDW) training course this week and was interested to learn that you can't (yet) use SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) against PDW, instead they ship a 3rd party tool called Nexus Chameleon. This was a bit of a disappointment at the beginning of the week (I'd prefer parity across SQL Server ...

SQL Server Denali CTP1 has hit the streets! I’ve been lucky enough to have been playing with it for a couple of weeks (thank you to those responsible – you know who you are) and that means I can now start talking publicly about some of the cool stuff I’ve learnt about this next version of SQL Server. In this blog post I’m quickly going to cover ...

This is a useful little tip that I discovered today. If SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) ever crashes on you for whatever reason then there is a chance that you’ll lose whatever queries you had open at the time of the crash. Sometimes when you re-open SSMS it will ask you if you want to re-open any files that you recover but for some reason it ...

I'm working on a PowerShell script to show me the trending durations of my backup activities. The first thing I need is the data, so I looked at the Standard Reports in SQL Server Management Studio, and found a report that suited my needs, so I pulled out the script that it runs and modified it to this T-SQL Script. A few words here - you need ...

Most data professionals I’ve met work in two modes: we plan for our day, and we react to the situations around us. I’m staring at my list of things that I need to do today right now, which is my planned work. Of course, I have no idea how much of that will really get done – it’s optimistic to be sure. On the other hand I have several systems I ...

SQL Server contains many “Wizards. Wizards are simply programs that collect information based on user choices. The Wizard’s screens explain each step and the choices on that screen. Based on those answers collected from the user, the Wizard performs some task. What could possibly be wrong with helping a user this way? Well, plenty. Wizards hide ...

I have scripts that re-create my databases for testing and development purposes. But sometimes I want to take the data from a set of tables and move it as well – I could use SSIS, or a SELECT INTO statement, but what if I want to “re-set” the data to a point in time? In other words, load it with some “base data”? I thought this might be a good ...