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  • SQL SERVER – A Puzzle – Illusion – Confusion – April Fools’ Day

    - by pinaldave
    Today is April 1st and just like every other year, I like to bring something interesting and light for the day. Atleast there should be days in every one’s life when they should feel easy. Here is a quick puzzle for you and I believe it will make you feel extremely smart if you can figure out the result behind the same. Run following in SQL Server Management Studio and observe the output: SELECT 30.0/(-2.0)/5.0; SELECT 30.0/-2.0/5.0; Here are few questions for you: 1) What will be the result of above two queries? 2) Why? If you think you can figure out the result without executing them – I encourage you to execute BOTH of them in SSMS and see if they give you same result or different result. Well, now I am waiting for your answer here – why? I often post similar things on my facebook page http://facebook.com/SQLAuth – you are welcome to play with me there. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Puzzle, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – CTRL+SHIFT+] Shortcut to Select Code Between Two Parenthesis

    - by pinaldave
    Every weekend brings creative ideas and accidents brings best unknown secrets in front of us. Just a day while working with complex SQL Server code in SSMS I came across very interesting shortcut which I have never used before and instantly fell in love with it. It is totally possible that you are familiar with this but for me it was the first time and I was surprised that I did know know this short cut so far. Shortcut key is CTRL+SHIFT+]. This key can be very useful when dealing with multiple subqueries, CTE or query with multiple parentheses. When exercised this shortcut key it selects T-SQL code between two parentheses. Let us see the examples to understand the same. In each of the examples I have put the cursor at the position displayed and pressed CTRL+SHIFT+] and it has selected the code between two corresponding parentheses. Cursor position 1 Cursor position 2 Cursor position 3 If you are a developer and have to code with complex queries, you will totally appreciate that this feature can save so much of the time for development. I often remember my experience as a developer when I have lost a lot of hours to just balance parentheses. As I said yesterday I found this shortcut accidently. How many of you were aware of this feature? Is there any other useful feature you would like to share with us? Please leave a comment and if I have not covered it earlier, I will share it due credit on this blog. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: SQL Shortcut

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  • SQLAuthority News – Community Tech Days – December 11, 2010

    - by pinaldave
    Community Tech Days are very close on December 11. The venue details are as following: H K Hall, H K College Campus, Near Handloom House, Opp. Natraj Cinema, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad – 380009 Click here to Registration for the event. Please read the announcement details here. I will be speaking on following session. Best Database Practice for SharePoint Server This session will be very unique. I will be starting with a bit pessimistic talk about how one cannot many things in SQL Server when SharePoint Server is installed. I will go over in the details for the reasons for the same. Right after this 5 minutes I am going to show few things to attendees which they can apply right away to their database and instantly get the performance. I am going to share the easy scripts with them online right away and if they run the same on their SharePoint Database, they will get the performance right out of the box right away – I Promise! This is the same session I presented at SharePoint Conference and I have received excellent feedback on the same subject. Join us! Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)   Filed under: MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – Create Primary Key with Specific Name when Creating Table

    - by pinaldave
    It is interesting how sometimes the documentation of simple concepts is not available online. I had received email from one of the reader where he has asked how to create Primary key with a specific name when creating the table itself. He said, he knows the method where he can create the table and then apply the primary key with specific name. The attached code was as follows: CREATE TABLE [dbo].[TestTable]( [ID] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL, [FirstName] [varchar](100) NULL) GO ALTER TABLE [dbo].[TestTable] ADD  CONSTRAINT [PK_TestTable] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ([ID] ASC) GO He wanted to know if we can create Primary Key as part of the table name as well, and also give it a name at the same time. Though it would look very normal to all experienced developers, it can be still confusing to many. Here is the quick code that functions as the above code in one single statement. CREATE TABLE [dbo].[TestTable]( [ID] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL, [FirstName] [varchar](100) NULL CONSTRAINT [PK_TestTable] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ([ID] ASC) ) GO Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, Readers Question, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Constraint and Keys, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – Index Created on View not Used Often – Limitation of the View 12

    - by pinaldave
    I have previously written on the subject SQL SERVER – The Limitations of the Views – Eleven and more…. This was indeed a very popular series and I had received lots of feedback on that topic. Today we are going to discuss something very interesting as well. During my recent performance tuning seminar in Hyderabad, I presented on the subject of Views. During the seminar, one of the attendees asked a question: We create a table and create a View on the top of it. On the same view, if we create Index, when querying View, will that index be used? The answer is NOT Always! (There is only one specific condition when it will be used. We will write about that later in the next post). Let us see the test case for the same. In our script we will do following: USE tempdb GO IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.views WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[SampleView]')) DROP VIEW [dbo].[SampleView] GO IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[mySampleTable]') AND TYPE IN (N'U')) DROP TABLE [dbo].[mySampleTable] GO -- Create SampleTable CREATE TABLE mySampleTable (ID1 INT, ID2 INT, SomeData VARCHAR(100)) INSERT INTO mySampleTable (ID1,ID2,SomeData) SELECT TOP 100000 ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY o1.name), ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY o2.name), o2.name FROM sys.all_objects o1 CROSS JOIN sys.all_objects o2 GO -- Create View CREATE VIEW SampleView WITH SCHEMABINDING AS SELECT ID1,ID2,SomeData FROM dbo.mySampleTable GO -- Create Index on View CREATE UNIQUE CLUSTERED INDEX [IX_ViewSample] ON [dbo].[SampleView] ( ID2 ASC ) GO -- Select from view SELECT ID1,ID2,SomeData FROM SampleView GO Let us check the execution plan for the last SELECT statement. You can see from the execution plan. That even though we are querying View and the View has index, it is not really using that index. In the next post, we will see the significance of this View and where it can be helpful. Meanwhile, I encourage you to read my View series: SQL SERVER – The Limitations of the Views – Eleven and more…. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Training, SQL View, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – Enable Identity Insert – Import Expert Wizard

    - by pinaldave
    I recently got email from old friend who told me that when he tries to execute SSIS package it fails with some identity error. After some debugging and opening his package we figure out that he has following issue. Let us see what kind of set up he had on his package. Source Table with Identity column Destination Table with Identity column Following checkbox was disabled in Import Expert Wizard (as per the image below) What did we do is we enabled the checkbox described as above and we fixed the problem he was having due to insertion in identity column. The reason he was facing this error because his destination table had IDENTITY property which will not allow any  insert from user. This value is automatically generated by system when new values are inserted in the table. However, when user manually tries to insert value in the table, it stops them and throws an error. As we enabled the checkbox “Enable Identity Insert”, this feature allowed the values to be insert in the identity field and this way from source database exact identity values were moved to destination table. Let me know if this blog post was easy to understand. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com), Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Utility, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQLAuthority News – Public Training Classes In Hyderabad 12-14 May – SQL and 10-11 May SharePoint

    - by pinaldave
    There were lots of request about providing more details for the blog post through email address specified in the article SQLAuthority News – Public Training Classes In Hyderabad 12-14 May – Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008 Query Optimization & Performance Tuning. Here is the complete brochure of the course. There are two different courses are offered by Solid Quality Mentors 1) Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008 Query Optimization & Performance Tuning – Pinal Dave Date: May 12-14, 2010 Price: Rs. 14,000/person for 3 days Discount Code: ‘SQLAuthority.com‘ Effective Price: Rs. 11,000/person for 3 days 2) SharePoint 2010 – Joy Rathnayake Date: May 10-11, 2010 Price: Rs. 11,000/person for 3 days Discount Code: ‘SQLAuthority.com’ Effective Price: Rs. 8,000/person for 3 days Download the complete PDF brochure. Additionally there is special program of SolidQ India Insider. I will provide the details for the same very soon. Please do send me email if you need any additional details. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Training, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – Difference Between GRANT and WITH GRANT

    - by pinaldave
    This was very interesting question recently asked me to during my session at TechMela Nepal. The question is what is the difference between GRANT and WITH GRANT when giving permissions to user. Let us first see syntax for the same. GRANT: USE master; GRANT VIEW ANY DATABASE TO username; GO WITH GRANT: USE master; GRANT VIEW ANY DATABASE TO username WITH GRANT OPTION; GO The difference between both of this option is very simple. In case of only GRANT – username can not grant the same permission to other users. In case, of the option of WITH GRANT – username will be able to give the permission it has received to other users. This is very basic definition of the subject. I would like to request my readers to come up with working script to prove this scenario. If can submit your script to me by email (pinal ‘at’ sqlauthority.com) or in comment field. Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Security, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: SQL Permissions

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  • SQL SERVER – Solution – Challenge – Puzzle – Usage of FAST Hint

    - by pinaldave
    Earlier I had posted quick puzzle and I had received wonderful response to the same from Brad Schulz. Today we will go over the solution. The puzzle was posted here: SQL SERVER – Challenge – Puzzle – Usage of FAST Hint The question was in what condition the hint FAST will be useful. In the response to this puzzle blog post here is what SQL Server Expert Brad Schulz has pointed me to his blog post where he explain how FAST hint can be useful. I strongly recommend to read his blog post over here. With the permission of the Brad, I am reproducing following queries here. He has come up with example where FAST hint improves the performance. USE AdventureWorks GO DECLARE @DesiredDateAtMidnight DATETIME = '20010709' DECLARE @NextDateAtMidnight DATETIME = DATEADD(DAY,1,@DesiredDateAtMidnight) -- Query without FAST SELECT OrderID=h.SalesOrderID ,h.OrderDate ,h.TerritoryID ,TerritoryName=t.Name ,c.CardType ,c.CardNumber ,CardExpire=RIGHT(STR(100+ExpMonth),2)+'/'+STR(ExpYear,4) ,h.TotalDue FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader h LEFT JOIN Sales.SalesTerritory t ON h.TerritoryID=t.TerritoryID LEFT JOIN Sales.CreditCard c ON h.CreditCardID=c.CreditCardID WHERE OrderDate>=@DesiredDateAtMidnight AND OrderDate<@NextDateAtMidnight ORDER BY h.SalesOrderID; -- Query with FAST(10) SELECT OrderID=h.SalesOrderID ,h.OrderDate ,h.TerritoryID ,TerritoryName=t.Name ,c.CardType ,c.CardNumber ,CardExpire=RIGHT(STR(100+ExpMonth),2)+'/'+STR(ExpYear,4) ,h.TotalDue FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader h LEFT JOIN Sales.SalesTerritory t ON h.TerritoryID=t.TerritoryID LEFT JOIN Sales.CreditCard c ON h.CreditCardID=c.CreditCardID WHERE OrderDate>=@DesiredDateAtMidnight AND OrderDate<@NextDateAtMidnight ORDER BY h.SalesOrderID OPTION(FAST 10) Now when you check the execution plan for the same, you will find following visible difference. You will find query with FAST returns results with much lower cost. Thank you Brad for excellent post and teaching us something. I request all of you to read original blog post written by Brad for much more information. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, Readers Contribution, Readers Question, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Puzzle, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – Fastest Way to Restore the Database

    - by pinaldave
    A few days ago, I received following email: “Pinal, We are in an emergency situation. We have a large database of around 80+ GB and its backup is of 50+ GB in size. We need to restore this database ASAP and use it; however, restoring the database takes forever. Do you think a compressed backup would solve our problem? Any other ideas you got?” First of all, the asker has already answered his own question. Yes; I have seen that if you are using a compressed backup, it takes lesser time when you try to restore a database. I have previously blogged about the same subject. Here are the links to those blog posts: SQL SERVER – Data and Page Compressions – Data Storage and IO Improvement SQL SERVER – 2008 – Introduction to Row Compression SQL SERVER – 2008 – Introduction to New Feature of Backup Compression However, if your database is very large that it still takes a few minutes to restore the database even though you use any of the features listed above, then it will really take some time to restore the database. If there is urgency and there is no time you can spare for restoring the database, then you can use the wonderful tool developed by Idera called virtual database. This tool restores a certain database in just a few seconds so it will readily be available for usage. I have in depth written my experience with this tool in the article here SQL SERVER – Retrieve and Explore Database Backup without Restoring Database – Idera virtual database. Let me know your experience in this scenario. Have you ever needed your database backup restored very quickly, what did you do in that scenario. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, Readers Question, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Backup and Restore, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQLAuthority News – Download Whitepaper – Understanding and Controlling Parallel Query Processing in SQL Server

    - by pinaldave
    My recently article SQL SERVER – Reducing CXPACKET Wait Stats for High Transactional Database has received many good comments regarding MAXDOP 1 and MAXDOP 0. I really enjoyed reading the comments as the comments are received from industry leaders and gurus. I was further researching on the subject and I end up on following white paper written by Microsoft. Understanding and Controlling Parallel Query Processing in SQL Server Data warehousing and general reporting applications tend to be CPU intensive because they need to read and process a large number of rows. To facilitate quick data processing for queries that touch a large amount of data, Microsoft SQL Server exploits the power of multiple logical processors to provide parallel query processing operations such as parallel scans. Through extensive testing, we have learned that, for most large queries that are executed in a parallel fashion, SQL Server can deliver linear or nearly linear response time speedup as the number of logical processors increases. However, some queries in high parallelism scenarios perform suboptimally. There are also some parallelism issues that can occur in a multi-user parallel query workload. This white paper describes parallel performance problems you might encounter when you run such queries and workloads, and it explains why these issues occur. In addition, it presents how data warehouse developers can detect these issues, and how they can work around them or mitigate them. To review the document, please download the Understanding and Controlling Parallel Query Processing in SQL Server Word document. Note: Above abstract has been taken from here. The real question is what does the parallel queries has made life of DBA much simpler or is it looked at with potential issue related to degradation of the performance? Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL White Papers, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – What is Page Life Expectancy (PLE) Counter

    - by pinaldave
    During performance tuning consultation there are plenty of counters and values, I often come across. Today we will quickly talk about Page Life Expectancy counter, which is commonly known as PLE as well. You can find the value of the PLE by running following query. SELECT [object_name], [counter_name], [cntr_value] FROM sys.dm_os_performance_counters WHERE [object_name] LIKE '%Manager%' AND [counter_name] = 'Page life expectancy' The recommended value of the PLE counter is 300 seconds. I have seen on busy system this value to be as low as even 45 seconds and on unused system as high as 1250 seconds. Page Life Expectancy is number of seconds a page will stay in the buffer pool without references. In simple words, if your page stays longer in the buffer pool (area of the memory cache) your PLE is higher, leading to higher performance as every time request comes there are chances it may find its data in the cache itself instead of going to hard drive to read the data. Now check your system and post back what is this counter value for you during various time of the day. Is this counter any way relates to performance issues for your system? Note: There are various other counters which are important to discuss during the performance tuning and this counter is not everything. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQLAuthority News – Whitepaper – SQL Azure vs. SQL Server

    - by pinaldave
    SQL Server and SQL Azure are two Microsoft Products which goes almost together. There are plenty of misconceptions about SQL Azure. I have seen enough developers not planning for SQL Azure because they are not sure what exactly they are getting into. Some are confused thinking Azure is not powerful enough. I disagree and strongly urge all of you to read following white paper written and published by Microsoft. SQL Azure vs. SQL Server by Dinakar Nethi, Niraj Nagrani SQL Azure Database is a cloud-based relational database service from Microsoft. SQL Azure provides relational database functionality as a utility service. Cloud-based database solutions such as SQL Azure can provide many benefits, including rapid provisioning, cost-effective scalability, high availability, and reduced management overhead. This paper compares SQL Azure Database with SQL Server in terms of logical administration vs. physical administration, provisioning, Transact-SQL support, data storage, SSIS, along with other features and capabilities. The content of this white paper is as following: Similarities and Differences Logical Administration vs. Physical Administration Provisioning Transact-SQL Support Features and Types Key Benefits of the Service Self-Managing High Availability Scalability Familiar Development Model Relational Data Model The above summary text is taken from white paper itself. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL White Papers, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology Tagged: SQL Azure

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  • SQLAuthority News – Free eBook Download – Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

    - by pinaldave
    Microsoft Press has published FREE eBook on the most awaiting release of SQL Server 2008 R2. The book is written by Ross Mistry and Stacia Misner. Ross is my personal friend and one of the most active book writer in SQL Server Domain. When I see his name on any book, I am sure that it will be high quality and easy to read book. The details about the book is here: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, by Ross Mistry and Stacia Misner The book contains 10 chapters and 216 pages. PART I   Database Administration CHAPTER 1   SQL Server 2008 R2 Editions and Enhancements CHAPTER 2   Multi-Server Administration CHAPTER 3   Data-Tier Applications CHAPTER 4   High Availability and Virtualization Enhancements CHAPTER 5   Consolidation and Monitoring PART II   Business Intelligence Development CHAPTER 6   Scalable Data Warehousing CHAPTER 7   Master Data Services CHAPTER 8   Complex Event Processing with StreamInsight CHAPTER 9   Reporting Services Enhancements CHAPTER 10   Self-Service Analysis with PowerPivot More detail about the book is listed here. You can download the ebook in XPS format here and in PDF format here. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Business Intelligence, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Download, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – Difference Between ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE and WITH NO_WAIT during ALTER DATABASE

    - by pinaldave
    Today, we are going to discuss about something very simple, but quite commonly confused two options of ALTER DATABASE. The first one is ALTER DATABASE …ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE and the second one is WITH NO_WAIT. Many people think they are the same or are not sure of the difference between these two options. Before we continue our explaination, let us go through the explanation given by Book On Line. ROLLBACK AFTER integer [SECONDS] | ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE Specifies whether to roll back after a specified number of seconds or immediately. NO_WAIT Specifies that if the requested database state or option change cannot complete immediately without waiting for transactions to commit or roll back on their own, then the request will fail. If you have understood the difference by now, there is no need to proceed further. If you are still confused, continue with the rest of the post. There is one big difference between ROLLBACK and NO_WAIT. In case incomplete Transaction ALTER DATABASE … ROLLBACK rollbacks those incomplete transaction immediately, where as ALTER DATABASE … NO_WAIT will terminate and rollback the transaction of ALTER DATABASE … NO_WAIT itself. I think it can be clearly explained with the help of the following images. Option 1: ALTER DATABASE … ROLLBACK Connection 1 – Simulating some operation using WAITFOR DELAY WAITFOR DELAY '1:00:00' Connection 2 ALTER DATABASE TestDb SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE; Option 2: ALTER DATABASE … NO_WAIT Connection 1 – Simulating some operation using WAITFOR DELAY WAITFOR DELAY '1:00:00' Connection 2 ALTER DATABASE TestDb SET SINGLE_USER WITH NO_WAIT; Let me know if this example was simple enough. Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Documentation, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQLAuthority News – Downloads Available for Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5

    - by pinaldave
    There are few downloads released for Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5. Here is quick lists of the same. Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 Service Pack 2 for Windows Desktop SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2 is an embedded database that allows developers to build robust applications for Windows desktops and mobile devices. The download contains the files for installing SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2 and Synchronization Services for ADO.NET version 1.0 SP1 on Windows desktop. Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 Service Pack 2 Server Tools SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP2 Server Tools Windows Installer (MSI) file installs replication components on the computer running the Internet Information Services (IIS) for synchronizing data with SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP. Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 Service Pack 2 Books Online SQL Server Compact 3.5 is a small footprint in-process database engine that allows developers to build robust applications for Windows Desktops and Mobile Devices. This download contains the Books Online for the SP2 version of SQL Server Compact 3.5. Note: The brief description below the download link is taken from respective download page. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Documentation, SQL Download, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – sp_describe_first_result_set New System Stored Procedure in SQL Server 2012

    - by pinaldave
    I might have said this earlier many times but I will say it again – SQL Server never stops to amaze me. Here is the example of it sp_describe_first_result_set. I stumbled upon it when I was looking for something else on BOL. This new system stored procedure did attract me to experiment with it. This SP does exactly what its names suggests – describes the first result set. Let us see very simple example of the same. Please note that this will work on only SQL Server 2012. EXEC sp_describe_first_result_set N'SELECT * FROM AdventureWorks.Sales.SalesOrderDetail', NULL, 1 GO Here is the partial resultset. Now let us take this simple example to next level and learn one more interesting detail about this function. First I will be creating a view and then we will use the same procedure over the view. USE AdventureWorks GO CREATE VIEW dbo.MyView AS SELECT [SalesOrderID] soi_v ,[SalesOrderDetailID] sodi_v ,[CarrierTrackingNumber] stn_v FROM [Sales].[SalesOrderDetail] GO Now let us execute above stored procedure with various options. You can notice I am changing the very last parameter which I am passing to the stored procedure.This option is known as for browse_information_mode. EXEC sp_describe_first_result_set N'SELECT soi_v soi, sodi_v sodi, stn_v stn FROM MyView', NULL, 0; GO EXEC sp_describe_first_result_set N'SELECT soi_v soi, sodi_v sodi, stn_v stn FROM MyView', NULL, 1; GO EXEC sp_describe_first_result_set N'SELECT soi_v soi, sodi_v sodi, stn_v stn FROM MyView', NULL, 2; GO Here is result of all the three queries together in single image for easier understanding regarding their difference. You can see that when BrowseMode is set to 1 the resultset describes the details of the original source database, schema as well source table. When BrowseMode is set to 2 the resulset describes the details of the view as the source database. I found it really really interesting that there exists system stored procedure which now describes the resultset of the output. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Stored Procedure, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – GUID vs INT – Your Opinion

    - by pinaldave
    I think the title is clear what I am going to write in your post. This is age old problem and I want to compile the list stating advantages and disadvantages of using GUID and INT as a Primary Key or Clustered Index or Both (the usual case). Let me start a list by suggesting one advantage and one disadvantage in each case. INT Advantage: Numeric values (and specifically integers) are better for performance when used in joins, indexes and conditions. Numeric values are easier to understand for application users if they are displayed. Disadvantage: If your table is large, it is quite possible it will run out of it and after some numeric value there will be no additional identity to use. GUID Advantage: Unique across the server. Disadvantage: String values are not as optimal as integer values for performance when used in joins, indexes and conditions. More storage space is required than INT. Please note that I am looking to create list of all the generic comparisons. There can be special cases where the stated information is incorrect, feel free to comment on the same. Please leave your opinion and advice in comment section. I will combine a final list and update this blog after a week. By listing your name in post, I will also give due credit. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Constraint and Keys, SQL Data Storage, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – SELECT TOP Shortcut in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

    - by pinaldave
    This is tool is pretty old, yet always comes as a handy tip. I had a great trip at TechEd in India. And, during one of my presentations, I was asked if there are any shortcuts to SELECT only TOP 100 records from SSMS. I immediately told him that if he explores the table in SSMS, he can just right click on it and SELECT TOP 1000 records. If he wanted only 100 records, then he could edit that 1000 to 100 by means of going to Options. Go to Options, then hover the mouse over the SQL Server Object Explorer, then proceed to Commands. Afterwards, change the Value for Select Top <n> Audit Records. After narrating the steps, he told me that he was not looking for the right click option; rather he was asking if there is any kind of keyboard shortcut for convenience’s sake. Actually, a keyboard shortcut is also possible. SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) lets you configure the settings you want using a shortcut. Here is how you can do it. Go to Options, then to Environment. Proceed to Keyboard, and from there, configure your T-SQL with the desired keyword. Now, open SSMS New Query Window, and then click and type in any table name.  After that, just hit the shortcut you just made earlier. Doing this should display TOP 100 records in the Result window. I am sure this trick is quite old, but it is still helpful to many. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Add-On, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – Difference Between DATETIME and DATETIME2 – WITH GETDATE

    - by pinaldave
    Earlier I wrote blog post SQL SERVER – Difference Between GETDATE and SYSDATETIME which inspired me to write SQL SERVER – Difference Between DATETIME and DATETIME2. Now earlier two blog post inspired me to write this blog post (and 4 emails and 3 reads from readers). I previously populated DATETIME and DATETIME2 field with SYSDATETIME, which gave me very different behavior as SYSDATETIME was rounded up/down for the DATETIME datatype. I just ran the same experiment but instead of populating SYSDATETIME in this script I will be using GETDATE function. DECLARE @Intveral INT SET @Intveral = 10000 CREATE TABLE #TimeTable (FirstDate DATETIME, LastDate DATETIME2) WHILE (@Intveral > 0) BEGIN INSERT #TimeTable (FirstDate, LastDate) VALUES (GETDATE(), GETDATE()) SET @Intveral = @Intveral - 1 END GO SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT FirstDate) D_FirstDate, COUNT(DISTINCT LastDate) D_LastDate FROM #TimeTable GO SELECT DISTINCT a.FirstDate, b.LastDate FROM #TimeTable a INNER JOIN #TimeTable b ON a.FirstDate = b.LastDate GO SELECT * FROM #TimeTable GO DROP TABLE #TimeTable GO Let us run above script and observe the results. You will find that the values of GETDATE which is populated in both the columns FirstDate and LastDate are very much same. This is because GETDATE is of datatype DATETIME and the precision of the GETDATE is smaller than DATETIME2 there is no rounding happening. In other word, this experiment is pointless. I have included this as I got 4 emails and 3 twitter questions on this subject. If your datatype of variable is smaller than column datatype there is no manipulation of data, if data type of variable is larger than column datatype the data is rounded. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://www.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL DateTime, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – Find Most Expensive Queries Using DMV

    - by pinaldave
    The title of this post is what I can express here for this quick blog post. I was asked in recent query tuning consultation project, if I can share my script which I use to figure out which is the most expensive queries are running on SQL Server. This script is very basic and very simple, there are many different versions are available online. This basic script does do the job which I expect to do – find out the most expensive queries on SQL Server Box. SELECT TOP 10 SUBSTRING(qt.TEXT, (qs.statement_start_offset/2)+1, ((CASE qs.statement_end_offset WHEN -1 THEN DATALENGTH(qt.TEXT) ELSE qs.statement_end_offset END - qs.statement_start_offset)/2)+1), qs.execution_count, qs.total_logical_reads, qs.last_logical_reads, qs.total_logical_writes, qs.last_logical_writes, qs.total_worker_time, qs.last_worker_time, qs.total_elapsed_time/1000000 total_elapsed_time_in_S, qs.last_elapsed_time/1000000 last_elapsed_time_in_S, qs.last_execution_time, qp.query_plan FROM sys.dm_exec_query_stats qs CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(qs.sql_handle) qt CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_query_plan(qs.plan_handle) qp ORDER BY qs.total_logical_reads DESC -- logical reads -- ORDER BY qs.total_logical_writes DESC -- logical writes -- ORDER BY qs.total_worker_time DESC -- CPU time You can change the ORDER BY clause to order this table with different parameters. I invite my reader to share their scripts. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology Tagged: SQL DMV

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  • SQLAuthority News – Best Complements – DBA Survivor: Become a Rock Star DBA

    - by pinaldave
    Today’s blog post is about the biggest complement I have ever received. I am very very happy and would like to share my feelings with you. Thomas Larock (Blog | Twitter) (known as SQLRockstar) keeps the excellent ranking of the blogger in SQL Server Arena. I am big fan of this list and have been referring lots of people. I was in the msdb database since the very first day of the ranking. Two days ago, I noticed that I am promoted to Model Database. I often receive complements about my blog but this is the biggest complement I have ever received. I have taken the snapshot of the same and listed here. Thomas is a SQL Server MVP and Board of Directors for the Professional Association for SQL Server. He is the author of DBA Survivor: Become a Rock Star DBA. The book is designed to give a junior to mid-level DBA a better understanding of what skills are needed in order to survive (and thrive) in their career. This book is currently not available in India, I am waiting for someone traveling from USA to bring the copy for me. I am very eager to read the book and promise to share the book review with all of you once I am done reading. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – Get All the Information of Database using sys.databases

    - by pinaldave
    Earlier I wrote blog article SQL SERVER – Finding Last Backup Time for All Database. In the response of this article I have received very interesting script from SQL Server Expert Matteo as a comment in the blog. He has written script using sys.databases which provides plenty of the information about database. I suggest you can run this on your database and know unknown of your databases as well. SELECT database_id, CONVERT(VARCHAR(25), DB.name) AS dbName, CONVERT(VARCHAR(10), DATABASEPROPERTYEX(name, 'status')) AS [Status], state_desc, (SELECT COUNT(1) FROM sys.master_files WHERE DB_NAME(database_id) = DB.name AND type_desc = 'rows') AS DataFiles, (SELECT SUM((size*8)/1024) FROM sys.master_files WHERE DB_NAME(database_id) = DB.name AND type_desc = 'rows') AS [Data MB], (SELECT COUNT(1) FROM sys.master_files WHERE DB_NAME(database_id) = DB.name AND type_desc = 'log') AS LogFiles, (SELECT SUM((size*8)/1024) FROM sys.master_files WHERE DB_NAME(database_id) = DB.name AND type_desc = 'log') AS [Log MB], user_access_desc AS [User access], recovery_model_desc AS [Recovery model], CASE compatibility_level WHEN 60 THEN '60 (SQL Server 6.0)' WHEN 65 THEN '65 (SQL Server 6.5)' WHEN 70 THEN '70 (SQL Server 7.0)' WHEN 80 THEN '80 (SQL Server 2000)' WHEN 90 THEN '90 (SQL Server 2005)' WHEN 100 THEN '100 (SQL Server 2008)' END AS [compatibility level], CONVERT(VARCHAR(20), create_date, 103) + ' ' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(20), create_date, 108) AS [Creation date], -- last backup ISNULL((SELECT TOP 1 CASE TYPE WHEN 'D' THEN 'Full' WHEN 'I' THEN 'Differential' WHEN 'L' THEN 'Transaction log' END + ' – ' + LTRIM(ISNULL(STR(ABS(DATEDIFF(DAY, GETDATE(),Backup_finish_date))) + ' days ago', 'NEVER')) + ' – ' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(20), backup_start_date, 103) + ' ' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(20), backup_start_date, 108) + ' – ' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(20), backup_finish_date, 103) + ' ' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(20), backup_finish_date, 108) + ' (' + CAST(DATEDIFF(second, BK.backup_start_date, BK.backup_finish_date) AS VARCHAR(4)) + ' ' + 'seconds)' FROM msdb..backupset BK WHERE BK.database_name = DB.name ORDER BY backup_set_id DESC),'-') AS [Last backup], CASE WHEN is_fulltext_enabled = 1 THEN 'Fulltext enabled' ELSE '' END AS [fulltext], CASE WHEN is_auto_close_on = 1 THEN 'autoclose' ELSE '' END AS [autoclose], page_verify_option_desc AS [page verify option], CASE WHEN is_read_only = 1 THEN 'read only' ELSE '' END AS [read only], CASE WHEN is_auto_shrink_on = 1 THEN 'autoshrink' ELSE '' END AS [autoshrink], CASE WHEN is_auto_create_stats_on = 1 THEN 'auto create statistics' ELSE '' END AS [auto create statistics], CASE WHEN is_auto_update_stats_on = 1 THEN 'auto update statistics' ELSE '' END AS [auto update statistics], CASE WHEN is_in_standby = 1 THEN 'standby' ELSE '' END AS [standby], CASE WHEN is_cleanly_shutdown = 1 THEN 'cleanly shutdown' ELSE '' END AS [cleanly shutdown] FROM sys.databases DB ORDER BY dbName, [Last backup] DESC, NAME Please let me know if you find this information useful. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, Readers Contribution, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQLAuthority News – Happy Deepavali and Happy News Year

    - by pinaldave
    Diwali or Deepavali is popularly known as the festival of lights. It literally means “array of light” or “row of lamps“. Today we build a small clay maps and fill it with oil and light it up. The significance of lighting the lamp is the triumph of good over evil. I work every single day in a year but today I am spending my time with family and little one. I make sure that my daughter is aware of our culture and she learns to celebrate the festival with the same passion and values which I have. Every year on this day, I do not write a long blog post but rather write a small post with various SQL Tips and Tricks. After reading them you should quickly get back to your friends and family – it is the most important festival day. Here are a few tips and tricks: Take regular full backup of your database Avoid cursors if they can be replaced by set based process Keep your index maintenance script handy and execute them at intervals Consider Solid State Drive (SDD) for crucial database and tempdb placement Update statistics for OLTP transactions at intervals I guess that’s it for today. If you still have more time to learn. Here are few things you should consider. Get FREE Books by Sign up for tomorrow’s webcast by Rick Morelan Watch SQL in Sixty Seconds Series – FREE SQL Learning Read my earlier 2300+ articles Well, I am sure that will keep you busy for the rest of the day! Happy Diwali to All of You! Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: About Me, Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – Precision of SMALLDATETIME – A 1 Minute Precision

    - by pinaldave
    I am myself surprised that I am writing this post today. I am going to present one of the very known facts of SQL Server SMALLDATETIME datatype. Even though this is a very well-known datatype, many a time, I have seen developers getting confused with precision of the SMALLDATETIME datatype. The precision of the datatype SMALLDATETIME is 1 minute. It discards the seconds by rounding up or rounding down any seconds greater than zero. Let us see the following example DECLARE @varSDate AS SMALLDATETIME SET @varSDate = '1900-01-01 12:12:01' SELECT @varSDate C_SDT SET @varSDate = '1900-01-01 12:12:29' SELECT @varSDate C_SDT SET @varSDate = '1900-01-01 12:12:30' SELECT @varSDate C_SDT SET @varSDate = '1900-01-01 12:12:59' SELECT @varSDate C_SDT Following is the result of the above script and note that any value between 0 (zero) and 59 is converted up or down. The part that confuses the developers is the value of the seconds in the display. I think if it is not maintained or recorded, it should not be displayed as well. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL DateTime, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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