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

To identify default data and log directories in SQL Server 2012 you can use SERVERPROPERTY() function. In SQL Server 2012 two new parameters are added to SERVERPROPERTY() function namely, InstanceDefaultDataPath and InstanceDefaultLogPath which returns the default data and log directories respectively.

It can be used as below:

SELECT [Default Data… Read more

By default SQL Server listens on TCP port number 1433, and for named instances TCP port is dynamically configured. There are several options available to get the listening port for SQL Server Instance.

Here are a few methods which we can use to get this information.

Method 1: SQL… Read more

There are two different command you can use to check if you are running 32-bit or 64-bit version of SQL Server.

Using @@VERSION:

You can user @@VERSION system variable to determine edition and architecture of SQL Server as below:

SELECT @@VERSION

Result Set:

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (SP1) – 11.0.3000.0… Read more

Both Clustered and Nonclustered Indexes have same physical structure in SQL Server. Both are stored as a B-Tree structure in SQL Server.

Below are some characteristics of Clustered Indexes and Nonclustered Indexes in SQL Server.

Clustered Index:

1. The leaf node of a Clustered Index contains data pages of the… Read more

To import data from an Excel file to SQL Server you can use SQL Server Import and Export Wizard. You can also import Excel data using T-SQL OPENROWSET function. OPENROWSET function can be used to import data from and OLEDB data source.

For this example I have created a… Read more

Last time I posted about How you can add date/time to output file name, in which I used xp_cmdshell to execute the BCP/SQLCMD command using TSQL, which means we need to have xp_cmdshell server feature enabled for that solution work. There is a workaround available to that solution when… Read more

You can export data from SQL Server using BCP command for SQLCMD utility. However, these utilities does not support dynamic file names when exporting data. For generating dynamic file names you can use solution provided below. In the examples below I have appended date/time to exported files. You can modify… Read more

SQL Server Management Studio does not allow you to save changes to a table which require table re-creation such as changing data type for a column. When you perform such changes you will run into following error message:

Here, I have tried changing data type for 'Name' column from NVARCHAR(50)… Read more

There are different options available when you want to execute a .sql script file on a server. You can open the script file in SQL Server Management Studio and execute it, or you can use SQLCMD to execute a script from command line. However, when you have large number of… Read more

When you create a new database in SQL Server without explicitly specifying database file locations, SQL Server created files in default location. This default location is configured when installing SQL Server.

If you need to change this default location once SQL Server is installed, you can change this in server… Read more

You can start/stop SQL Server services using Services Console or SQL Server Configuration Manager. You can also perform these operation using command line in Windows. For this you must run command prompt with Administrative privileges.

Method 1: Start/Stop SQL Server using NET command:

You can start/stop SQL Server from command… Read more

To rename an object in SQL Server you can use sp_rename system stored procedure or you can do this via Object Explorer in SQL Server Management Studio.

Method 1: To rename an object using SQL Server Management Studio:

Step 1. Right Click on the object in Object Explorer and select… Read more

Finding database creation time is simple if database has not been detached from server. You can find database creation time using below methods.

Using sp_helpdb:

You can find the creation time of database using sp_hepldb system procedure.

EXEC sp_helpdb 'SqlAndMe'

GO

This will return database creation time along with other… Read more

SQL Server error logs can fill up quickly, and when you are troubleshooting something you may need to go through huge log. However you can cycle the error log to manage the amount of log you need to go through. When you cycle error log the current log file is… Read more

Earlier on my blog I posted about how you can attach a database using T-SQL when no log file is available. You can catch that here. In this post we will see how it can be attached using GUI.

To attach a database with no .ldf file, follow below… Read more

In SQL Server you can enable a Trace Flag at session (effective for current session only) level and global level. If you are not sure which Trace Flags have been enabled you can use DBCC TRACESTATUS() command to get a list of enabled Trace Flags.

DBCC TRACESTATUS() takes two arguments… Read more

You can use WITH CHECKSUM option to perform checksum when backup is created. When used this verifies each page for checksum and torn page.

You can use it in a BACKUP command as below:

BACKUP DATABASE [SqlAndMe]

TO DISK = N'C:\SqlAndMe.bak'

WITH CHECKSUM

GO

Once the backup is created… Read more

Each login in SQL Server has a default database associated with it. When you login to SQL Server context is set to default database for login. This is set when login is created and it can be changed by using ALTER LOGIN command.

If for some reason the default… Read more

You can avoid executing a function when NULL values are passed as parameters. To achieve this you need to create function with RETURNS NULL ON NULL INPUT, this option introduced in SQL Server 2005.

You can use this while creating a function as below:

USE [SqlAndMe]

GO

CREATE Read more