Just a bit hacked

The site got hacked and I’ve taken my sweet time and getting things back up. Hopefully, after a little bit of cleanup things will be back to normal. Sorry for the downtime.

Get your bookmarks into shape

This isn’t a SQL related post, but it’s helpful so I’m going to post it. This post assumes that you are using Firefox and your bookmarks have gotten out of control. It’s time that we do a little cleanup. The first thing you need to do is download an add-on called Xmarks. That piece of [...]

Added my first Microsoft Connect Ticket for SQL Server

Seems that I’m having SQL Server 2008 installs fail on computers that have Visual Studio 2008 with SP1. We’ll see if anyone can reproduce it. https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/535434/system-configuration-checker-doesnt-catch-that-visual-studio-needs-sp1-applied-before-install

Performance Counters Missing

We’ve been running SQL Server 2000 x86 on Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 for some time. While there have been a few issues here and there, monitoring SQL related counters can be troublesome whether you are local or remote. If you are local to the server when you open up performance monitor you will receive [...]

SQL University

Jorge Segarra is onto something pretty cool. Head on over to SQL University and check it out. I’m going to run through it myself in the coming weeks because everyone should be trying to polish up on the SQL.

Links for 092509

http://midnightdba.itbookworm.com/midnightdba/blog/post/How-do-you-keep-track.aspx Staying on Track can be hard, Jen McCown outlines a few ideas of how to keep up with tasks. http://www.red-gate.com/specials/ebooks/protecting_sqlserver_data.htm?utm_source=simpletalk&utm_medium=email&utm_content=ProtectingDataN20090921&utm_campaign=SQLtoolbelt Another free ebook from redgate. John Magnabosco talks about securing SQL Server Data. http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/tarad/archive/2009/08/31/DefragmentingRebuilding-Indexes-in-SQL-server-2005-and-2008.aspx Tara Kizer gives a new script for backups. http://sqlblog.com/blogs/linchi_shea/archive/2009/09/21/the-transact-sql-prime-directive.aspx Linchi Shea gives us a vision, or at least some good [...]

Setting up your server

While the Microsoft reference may say that you should keep the operating system the same, it seems hard to believe that there aren’t situations where one would decide to bypass this recommendation. If you are sitting on Windows 2003 x86 with SQL Server 2000 x86 and you have the option to go to Windows 2008 [...]

Upgrading your Plan

After reading through the SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Technical Reference Guide, you should have a good idea about which direction you want to move forward. The upgrade path and upgrade method will help you modify your plan so that you have the best chance to succeed. Depending on your environment, your choices may already be [...]

SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Fact Finding Mission

Due to constraints such as budgets, staff, and overhead it may only be feasible for a shop to move from SQL Server 2000 to 2005 instead of going straight to SQL Server 2008. There are plenty of resources on the internet that cover the advantages and pitfalls that one might encounter during the leap of [...]

Upgrading from SQL Server 2000 to 2005

This is part one in a series of upgrading from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005. The first question I want to address is why would you want to upgrade in the first place. It’s important to know why you are doing something if you are going to be able to truly understand what [...]