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The Importance of Validating Backups

Paul Randal from SQLServerCentral.com

You may think that if your database has backed up without errors, that it's going to restore without errors. Think again, says Paul Randal. More »

SQL Database Management Survey

Press Release from Red-Gate

Win one of two $50 Amazon vouchers by entering our database management survey. We’re finding out more about how SQL database professionals are doing backup and recovery, using cloud services and more. Answer the short survey for a chance to win. More »

Why is that SQL Server Instance under stress?

Additional Articles from SimpleTalk

There are several reliable indications, using SQL Queries, of what is causing SQL Server performance problems. Some of these are fairly obvious, but others aren't. Grant shows how you can get clues from any SQL Server as to the cause of stress. More »

From the SQLServerCentral Blogs - Max Text Replication Size – When you might have to care about this number !

AnupWarrier from SQLServerCentral.com

One of the advanced Server level options for SQL Server is Max Text Replication Size and this is really not a common... More »

Security is a problem in technology. Whether it's technological misconfiguration, social engineering, or brute force attacks, we see a constant stream of headlines about security issues. The situation is not likely to change anytime soon as security isn't seen as a priority by many companies. If that's the case, then is there anything that can be done to improve security?

Security expert Dan Kaminsky says that we need a fundamental change in the way we write code. By rewriting the way that code is developers, rewriting the rules, we can reduce the vulnerabilities in our applications. One theory is that our languages and the coding techniques used are making it entirely too easy for vulnerabilities to creep into code.

It's an interesting theory, especially these days when it seems so many of our applications are under attack. I suspect that we have lots of poor habits ingrained in many developers. People are loathe to change and they like to continue working in ways that have worked for them. However the world of security in software changes constantly. What might have made you a very effective and productive developer five years ago might make you a liability today.

I believe that we need to somehow build new coding methods, but even more importantly I think people that provide sample code and framework need to do so in a way that showcases best practices and good habits from a security perspective. That includes presenters, who should never show security issues, even if it's for the sake of simplicity. Raise the bar and your audience will come along with you.

Steve Jones 

The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

• Watch the Windows Media Podcast - 19.3MB WMV
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• Listen to the MP3 Audio Podcast - 3.5MB MP3

The podcast feeds are available at sqlservercentral.mevio.com. Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there. Overall RSS Feed: or now on iTunes!

Today's podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

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Steve Jones from SQLServerCentral.com

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Today's Question:

How many Extended Event packages were shipped with SQL Server 2008 R2 that can be used within user-defined event sessions?

By Jason Brimhall

Think you know the answer? Click here, and find out if you are right.

This question is worth 1 point in this category: Extended Events. We keep track of your score to give you bragging rights against your peers.

We'd love to give you credit for your own question and answer. To submit a QOD, simply log in to Contribution Center.

SQL Server 2012 Query Performance Tuning

SQL Server 2012 Query Performance Tuning leads you through understanding the causes of poor performance, how to identify them, and how to fix them. You’ll learn to be proactive in establishing performance baselines using tools like Performance Monitor and Extended Events. You’ll learn to recognize bottlenecks and defuse them before the phone rings. You’ll learn some quick solutions too, but emphasis is on designing for performance and getting it right, and upon heading off trouble before it occurs. Delight your users. Silence that ringing phone. Put the principles and lessons from SQL Server 2012 Query Performance Tuning into practice today.

Get your copy from Amazon today.

Which command will provide the total CPU time and total amount of disk reads and writes for a process?

By Naseer Ahmad

Answer: sp_who2

Explanation: By executing sp_who2 we can get the detail of the process. sp_who does not include that information.

Ref: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/transactsql/thread/aa06e533-ef6a-494a-9f9b-df3b29b73d85

» Discuss this question and answer on the forums

SQL Backup and Restore

A DBA's tasks, from day-to-day, are rarely constant; with one exception: the need to ensure each and every day that any database in their charge can be restored and recovered, in the event of error of disaster. In this book, you'll discover how to perform each of these backup and restore operations using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), basic T-SQL scripts and Red Gate's SQL Backup tool.

Get it from Amazon in print  or download the ebook for free from Red Gate. 

Backup Database Size calculation Report - Monthwise

Sourav Mukherjee from SQLServerCentral.com

The script helps to calculate the size of the backup of the databases monthwise. This will help to understand the database growth rate from the backup file if we do not have any data collection utility to find the exact details of the DATA File growth. More »

Here's a few of the new posts today on the forums. To see more, visit the forums.

SQL Server 2005 : Administering

Is there any way to cancel redo logs in mirror server ? - Hello, Safety = FULL. No witness. Principal goes down, and there's a long redo queue in mirror and will take long time to...

select query - i need a select query for below. there is 3 date colums in a table. how to find out the greatest value...

SQL Server 2005 : Backups

Third Party Backup Technologies - Hello, I am looking at implementing a third party technology to allow me to compress and encrypt backups of databases in...

SQL Server 2005 : SQL Server 2005 General Discussion

Degree of parallelism in SQL Server - I have a question on Degree of Parallelism. I basically want to know the best practice or guidelines to set...

SQL Server 2005 : SQL Server 2005 Integration Services

Multiple Source to Multiple Destination package - Hi Guys, Thanks for advance,I have one requirement like multiple source to mutiple destination in same package. Requirement description : 1. I...

SQL Server 2005 : T-SQL (SS2K5)

Unexpected Result of Select Statement: Shubham Saxena - Hi Friends, I am getting unexpected result:Please Explain deeply. SELECT CAST(643 AS VARCHAR(1)) select Cast(45 as char(1)) Result: * why i am getting result as...

sql server Data Matrix. - I have Table A , and table B . table A holds the about the class of a product and table B...

SQL Server 2008 : SQL Server 2008 - General

Group By - question - I have a question which is probably really basic but can't work it out for the life of me so...

Update Query - USE [tempdb] CREATE TABLE [dbo].[hubCustomer]( [CustVid] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL, [CustSourceGid] [nvarchar](30) NULL ) INSERT INTO HUBCustomer SELECT '103' UNION ALL SELECT '105' UNION ALL ...

Provider:TCP Provider, error:0 - An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host - I am getting the below error from .net application code. I am using VS2008 with MS SQLServer Express 2005. A connection...

Select product depend upon date - Hai, Product Date -------------------------------------------------------- pd0 2012-08-11 18:45:55.780 Pd1 2012-08-11 18:55:17.020 pd2 2012-08-11 19:06:58.623 pd3 2012-08-18 12:00:01.193 pd4 2012-08-25 12:13:04.077 pd5

can i set ISOLATION LEVEL at user level ? - Hi All, is it possible to set a default isolation level for a user? because, when i am giving permission for a...

SQL ReTry Logic - Hello All , I have a process where I need to restore a reporting database but sometimes there are reports running...

Data replication between view and table within same database - Is it possible to do transaction replication of data from view into table in same database. I have final view...

Insert A List OF Data To sql - I write bellow query For Insert Data but I want my Store Procedure take A List OF Data and insert...

Upgrade 2008 r2 express w advanced tools to developer - I would like to upgrade my free 2008 r2 with advanced tools to the 2008 r2 developer edition. I understand...

SQL Server Best Practices - Hi All, Let me start by saying that I know that I'm opening up a can of worms here. My company...

SQL DB Administration - I inherited a small SQL Server DB which then morphed into a larger DB. I am not a DBA and have...

An Indexing Discussion - Don't have a problem as such apart from a poorly indexed db. Thought I would open up a discussion and...

How frequently should an update stats job run - Hi All, Hope all is well. Currently I am updating statistics on specific tables (identified them based on modified rows) daily at...

A Cross Tab query, sort of.... - Hi Experts, It's Friday afternoon here in NZ and I'm looking at some code, that works fine, thinking "there's got to...

Intresting Question need answer ASAP - Write the shortest code that produces results as 1 without using any numbers in the select statement. using sql

Trace to catch Temdb Blow out - Hi we have something running that is causing tempdb to take all availible space (100 gig)and we can't figure out what...

SSIS V's Jitterbit - We have a couple of in-house servers running Jitterbit along side SQL Server 2008 R2 and was wondering if anyone...

SQL Server 2008 : T-SQL (SS2K8)

How to filter condition by column? - Hi SQL Gurus, I have a below table with column names ACCOUNT, QTR1, QTR2, QTR3, QTR4 ACCOUNT QTR1 QTR2 QTR3 QTR4 ------------------------------- Opex 20...

NEED HELP IN PIVOT - I HAVE below TABLE with colum names proposer,approver,designation PROPOSER APPROVER DESIGNATION ---------------------------------- kiran ARUN CFO kiran kranthi HOD kiran PHANI CEO kiran SANGEET...

SQL query eliminating rows problem - Hi all! I am trying to solve an issue and wondered if you could help, I'm relatively new to t-SQL and...

OPTIMIZE FOR UNKNOWN (parameter sniffing problem) - Hi, I recently read this post [url]http://sqlinthewild.co.za/index.php/2007/11/27/parameter-sniffing/[/url] and not sure I got the "juice"... If I have a SP with 4 parameters...

MERGE vs IF EXISTS with INSERT UPDATE - Hi, SQL Server has the MERGE statement and some people advise to use it instead of IF EXISTS with INSERT / UPDATE... Is...

SQL Server 2008 : SQL Server Newbies

How Do You Keep The "Pieces" Of A Complex Statement "Organized" - I just finished a complex SQL statement; and, yes, I know there are even more complex ones. When I am faced...

Creating Trigger To Update Total On 'Parent' Table - Hi, I have two Table, [b]Order[/b] and [b]OrderDetail[/b] [code="sql"] Create Table [Order] ( OrderID BigInt Identity(1,1) Primary Key, OrderTotal Decimal(22,2) Not Null ) Create Table [OrderDetail] ( ...

SQL Server 2008 : Security (SS2K8)

Table designer using new DOMAIN\User schema instead of dbo when creating new tables - I have recently created 2 new SQL 2008 instances. One on a new VM and the other on an existing...

SQL Server 2008 : SQL Server 2008 Administration

Table/Index Storage - Hi All I have a table with just one Index on it (Clustered) I checked the storage of the table by...

rebuild index - Today I am trying to trouble shoot a slow query which uses multiple cte in the query. I spent most of...

SQLServerCentral.com : Anything that is NOT about SQL!

Are the posted questions getting worse? - Is it me, or are the posted questions getting worse these days? I just read a post by someone apparently in...

Data Warehousing : Integration Services

Created package on one server, how to use it in another server ? - Hi all, Maybe this is a trivial question, but I am relatively new to SSIS. I created a SSIS package in...