Grumpy Old DBA

Don't always believe your system procs - they may lie !

GrumpyOldDBA — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:47:00 GMT

It's sometimes interesting how a simple thing can catch you out! I have a set of routines which handle the process of restoring copies of databases on other servers, it also supports full blown log shipping but has various other functionality. Generally...(read more)

If you have Enterprise Servers you should read this blog

GrumpyOldDBA — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:56:00 GMT

I feel that a DBA should have a good working understanding of the underlying server that SQL Server sits upon and the storage system(s) that it connects to, otherwise you may not know if you're being spun a yarn when you're trying to understand...(read more)

Print vs Select - security through obscurity ?

GrumpyOldDBA — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:09:00 GMT

Now here's an interesting snippet which I'm sure will provoke a few " ... and you didn't know that! " comments. I wanted to take the output from a stored procedure into a table using the insert into mytable exec proc; command but...(read more)

Detach a database and take out a cluster.

GrumpyOldDBA — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:44:00 GMT

During testing I managed to take my SQL 2008 cluster offline by simply detaching a database. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189128.aspx explaining the background. When you detach a database the ntfs file permissions go to the account that...(read more)

Index Rebuild Observations

GrumpyOldDBA — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:38:37 GMT

As part of a series of migration tests carrying out an all index rebuild on a user database has been used to compare relative performance. As the application is a true 7 x 24, there are no maintenance windows so index rebuilds are very intrusive and elicit...(read more)

Setting Environment variables

GrumpyOldDBA — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:44:29 GMT

Now you may well ask what on earth windows server environment variables have to do with SQL Server, and it's a fair question and only relevant in certain circumstances. I'm currently running a series of replay profiler traces on a server, I need...(read more)

Well there's a thing

GrumpyOldDBA — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:40:00 GMT

Just noticed this post from the PSS Team http://blogs.msdn.com/psssql/archive/2009/10/26/reduce-locking-and-other-needs-when-updating-data-better-performance.aspx never knew you could do double assignment x = y = z....(read more)

Greenwash and ROI

GrumpyOldDBA — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:48:56 GMT

First up let's make clear I do support most things green, or greener, however I feel that so much is talked green but misses critical information, e.g. the point of it in the first place. I was reading about the usual sucess story of how virtualisation...(read more)

When does 2+2 != 4 ?

GrumpyOldDBA — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:57:00 GMT

Disclaimer: Results and observations are from a specific series of tests using sql 2008 enterprise on windows 2008 enterprise. I've been working on a series of benchmarking tests for an application with the aim of showing scaling of the storage for...(read more)

Windows 2008 build fun and games.

GrumpyOldDBA — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:59:11 GMT

I run a number of test servers at home, these are technically PCs running a server o/s, these currently number 6. I generally build these myself with a base spec of supporting 8GB ram in 4 slots, a minimum of a dual core proc and at least one x16 pci...(read more)

Build Your Own Cluster

GrumpyOldDBA — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:44:00 GMT

In case you've all missed this you can now build a real cluster with just three machines http://blogs.msdn.com/clustering/archive/2009/05/14/9613924.aspx Windows 2008 Storage Server is now available for msdn and technet download, as the man says now's...(read more)

Storage – The Final Frontier

GrumpyOldDBA — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:53:00 GMT

This is the presentation for the UK SSUG that I gave the other night. The link below is a pdf of all the slides and the script / notes that I wrote to go with each slide. I’ve not edited this for style or anything – this is as I worked out what...(read more)

Parallel Worlds or slipped reality?

GrumpyOldDBA — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:35:00 GMT

I’ve been planning a post on the subject of parallelism for some considerable time but the inability to be able to present reproducible tests for illustration had been a major concern. Things change however, I picked up on an interesting post http...(read more)

How to determine that hardware DEP is available and configured on your computer

GrumpyOldDBA — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:39:00 GMT

Well here we are again with another post I’d been saving up until I resolved the images issue. DEP and how it affects memory on your SQL Server!!! Microsoft KB: 912923 MICROSOFT KB: 875352 ===========================================...(read more)

x64 Memory Problems

GrumpyOldDBA — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:33:00 GMT

( I’m hopeful that Livewriter will enable me to publish a blog post which includes screen shots as this one has a large number! ) Please READ everything and the documentation with the download before you install this I’ve blogged about memory issues...(read more)