This is just a quickie post to answer a question on how to loop through multiple servers in SSIS.  There are a lot of options I’m not going to go into here due to lack of time.   If someone expresses interest I’ll try to do a more detailed post later. Read more

Happy Halloween! Are you looking for the perfect treat for your SQL Server costume?

Well, if so – I have the treat for you, today Apress releases a new book that provides a cover all book of wisdom on SQL Server.  The book is described as:

Expert SQL Server Practices…

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Getting closer, 6 days to Summit 2012! Today, I just have to give kudos out to Magenic, my current employer. You may have seen my #Meme15 post a while back on why I like my job. That post was about Magenic. Well, in this post, I wanted to talk about…

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Happy Halloween everyone!

I’m stoked that the SQL PASS Summit is just one week from now! You are already registered, have your flights and hotel booked, and amped, right? The sessions are going to be incredible. The camaraderie will be life-changing. The weather might be damp! Plus, House of… Read more

Let’s talk some more about the basic keyboard. I’m really surprised at how well it works. But, it’s absolutely going to take some getting used to. Here’s some typing I did as a test to see where I missed keys, etc.;

Once upon a midngith dreary while I pondered weak…

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Obviously the title of this post is an exercise in bad grammar, but it’s a little catchy.  Well, maybe not, but a post needs a title.

But let’s get to the point.  Turns out a few days ago Kalen Delaney (Blog | @SQLQueen) got a letter from Operation… Read more

Actually I’m not sure if anyone still believes this anymore. If you read the BOL description carefully it states that truncate de-allocates the pages rather than deleting the rows – meaning only the de-allocations are logged – resulting in far fewer log records. Incidentally this is also why the truncate… Read more

I finally pulled my finger out and took the last exam of the MCSE SQL Server 2012 – Data Platform certification last week and passed with a score of 876 which is pretty respectable in my opinion

The exam consisted of 3 sections:

1 – 6 Scenario based questions

2…

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Oh, dear! One more week until this year’s PASS Summit.  If you haven’t registered yet, you’re really cutting it close.  It’s really easy to do, click on the banner below and enter some information about you and your finances – invest in your career by just typing in a… Read more

Seven days, one full week, until opening night at Summit 2012. Getting excited yet? In my first post of the series where I discussed my first Summit, I mentioned that I also spoke at that conference. In 2007, I was accepted to speak on the fairly new XML Data Type…

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SQL Server 2012 has many new Business Intelligence (BI) features and enhancements.  Here are my top 12, in order of importance:

1. Power View.  A fun, visual, and powerful drag-and-drop ad-hoc reporting tool.  It is a web-based end-user BI tool based on Silverlight.  See SQL Server 2012 (“Denali”): Power…

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This post is part of a blog series which focuses on translating compatibility views in SQL Server to their respective dynamic management objects.  You can find a list of all of the deprecated views in the introduction post.

The compatibility view sysindexkeys returns information on the key and… Read more

Why do some things have to be so hard?

I have been asking myself that question for the better part of two weeks as I wrestle with SSIS 2008 R2 and getting data out of Oracle and into SQL Server.

It’s like the shell game, only with drivers.

Like, go…

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I love the SQL Community because it usually is a great environment to connect, share and learn. With that said, I am noticing that we can do a much better job with helping the people who share, learn how to share better.  For every single, Grant Fritchey, Thomas LaRock Read more

Thanks to all who attended my webinar last Thursday on Building Dynamic Cube Reports.  You can find my code

Recording:

http://pragmaticworks.com/LearningCenter/FreeTrainingWebinars/WebinarDetails.aspx?ResourceId=470

Code:

http://sdrv.ms/RqxbcF

There are several reports in here that step you through the changes I made throughout the webinar.

Also, look for my upcoming SSRS Master Classes that will… Read more

Still 18 days to go for my session on Transaction Log Internals for Chennai SQL Server User Group (17-Nov).

While seeing below two worlds best presentations on this topics, I wonder what more I could add for my one hour session.

1. Paul Randals Transaction Log Internals Maintenance (MCM Readiness Videos)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/gg313762.aspx Read more

Management Studio is great tool with almost everything you need right at your fingertips.  Notice I said "almost".  I like to customize the toolbars to meet my needs of doing work every day.  Because being a DBA means you're busy all day long, and you don't have time to hunt…

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Here are a couple of quick database and table level queries that I have found useful lately.

How many rows in each table of a database?

The first temptation with this one was to use something like sp_MSforeachtable with a count(*), until I recalled that the catalog view sys.indexes has… Read more

Last Friday, pretty much on impulse, I decided to go to the Microsoft Store in the Park Meadows Mall in Lone Tree, Colorado at 8AM to see what kind of line they had for the new Microsoft Surface RT. This is a relatively new, attractive mall that is only… Read more

Eight days to go. So after going to my first conference, I was surprised that I did not know more about PASS at the local or national level. I had been involved with the Minnesota SQL Server User group from early on. However, the conference highlighted this national organization. When…

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