I like to know what’s on the drives that are supposed to be dedicated to data and log files. So I run a quick check of sys.master_files:

SELECT LEFT(physical_name, 1) as Drive,
SUM(size)*8/1024 as SizeMb
FROM sys.master_files
GROUP BY LEFT(physical_name, 1)
ORDER BY Drive;

And then I compare the numbers… Read more

Copy / Paste formatted text is a nightmare in WordPress.  I’m singling out WordPress because I use it, and, from what I can see, every blog site has this issue.  If you have a SQL Script (again, singled out because that’s what I use), and copy / paste from SSMS… Read more

Starting with SQL Server 2005 all tables are grouped into schemas. While creating a table if the schema name is not specified it is created in the default schema of the user creating it. you can use ALTER SCHEMA command to move tables between schemas.

For example, if I… Read more

In the same vein as Steve Jones’ series on Customizing SSMS this is a fairly basic trick, but one that not everyone appears to know.

A fairly standard layout of SSMS looks like this.

If you drill down, to say the table list, you can left-click and drag a table… Read more

sys.dm_db_persisted_sku_features (Introduced in SQL Server 2008) DMV (Dynamic Management View), described by BOL as follows: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-in/library/cc280724.aspx

Some features of the SQL Server Database Engine change the way that Database Engine stores information in the database files. These features are restricted to specific editions of SQL Server. A database that contains… Read more

As I mentioned in the introductory post, in the Introduction to SQL Server Security session for Pragmatic Work’s Training on the T’s, I received a large number of questions that there wasn’t time to answer.  Instead of just a re-cap of all of the questions, instead I’ve opted… Read more

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This post is inspired by Andy Warren’s ( b | t ) “Books On The Desk” post.

I’ve got plenty of SQL Server books at home (physical and Kindle versions). But if I’m not in the mood of reading a tech book but itching to read anyway, I’d… Read more

Welcome to this Friday’s reblog summary post.  The aim of these posts is to bring some old posts that newer readers may not have seen back to the forefront.  As with many technology blogs, just because a post is old, doesn’t mean it doesn’t still have value.

Some posts from… Read more

Like many SQL Server DBAs I run into a problem at work or get an idea in my head then scour the internet to see if someone else had the same thing so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel.  Some DBAs stop at that point, I don’t.  I grab… Read more

I’ve been using Windows 8 almost exclusively for about 3 weeks. I got a new desktop a couple months back, which has only had Windows 8 installed on it. My new laptop arrived about 4 weeks ago and a week later I finally abandoned my Macbook Air and moved fulltime… Read more

It’s not uncommon to get frustrated about something at work and send out an email blasting whatever person or group has caused you the frustration. It rarely ends well. It’s usually not very effective in generating the change, and it doesn’t do much to build your reputation as someone that… Read more

I'm speaking at two user groups next week.

Tuesday - Midlands PASS - May 14

I'll be giving a presentation on PowerShell to help folks get started and to further along those who are already on the path. This will be very similar to the presentation I gave at… Read more

by Steve Bolton

                It may set a SQLServerCentral record for the thickest alphabet soup of acronyms ever crammed into a single title, but this post neatly wraps up numerous alternative means of accessing SQL Server Data Mining (SSDM) programmatically. In four previous posts in the series of amateur self-tutorials on… Read more

I’m trying to improve.

That’s at just about everything too. I know I don’t know enough or have enough skills to always get things done in an efficient manner, so I’m trying to learn more. One way is by reading, a lot. I’ve read a number of management and leadership… Read more

Data cleansing can be done via SSIS as well as Data Quality Services (DQS) and Master Data Services (MDS).  The lines are a bit blurred when talking about data cleansing using SSIS, DQS and MDS.  In what product should data be cleaned?  To give examples: having to convert a… Read more

Inventory allows anyone to quickly and easily assess any environment. For few servers, answering  Inventory questions might not be so difficult.  But if you’re managing ‘N’ number of SQL Server instances then its going to be tedious job and you’re going to need an organized system for tracking this kind… Read more

In my last post, I demonstrated how to mount a database with missing NDF files. In the end, we still have issues removing tables created over missing files, the files are taken offline. Be cautious of taking files offline since there is no (official) way to bring it back… Read more

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One of the tools that Red Gate Software makes is SQL Source Control. It’s a plug in to SSMS that allows you to hook your database up to version control. I’ve used it a few times in the past in conjunction with Subversion to demo the product. However I hadn’t… Read more