The Premiers

Madagascar - We need your Help!

ThePremiers — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:46:00 GMT

I don't often blog about our team initiatives, but here's one which is very important and we need the most help with.

It's like that famous slogan... "every little helps" ;-)

Local Software Engineer to race through tropical rainforest on a bicycle

15 PFEs of Microsoft are pedalling a massive 420km across Madagascar to raise funds for the charity Computer Aid International by participating in the Madagascar Cycle Challenge (27th September – 5th October).

The grueling bike ride will take them across one of the most ecologically rich and unique countries on the planet, racing on tarmac roads and dusty red-earth off road trails. Far away from the modern comforts of daily life, this will be an unforgettable experience, which is also helping Computer Aid International deliver refurbished computers to schools in the area.

Madagascar is the 4th largest island in the world, located in the Indian Ocean, 400km west of Mozambique on the coast of Africa. Famous for its evergreen rainforests, Madagascar has a diverse animal, plant and aquatic life, said to rival the Amazon in its diversity.

During the 5 day cycle challenge the 15 will take time out to visit a rural school in the village of Isaingy, where Microsoft engineers are helping to deploy 10 computers donated by the Digital Pipeline, a charity which champions the refurbishment and redeployment of donated PCs to serve the educational needs of communities in the developing world.

The Microsoft team’s goal is to raise over £40,000 (€50,000) in sponsorship monies; enough to fully equip 15 schools in Madagascar with a purpose built Computer Lab.

To help this initiative you can refer to:

http://www.justgiving.com/msmadagascar

- Beatrice Nicolini -

SQL Server 2005 (64-Bit) Multi-Instance Installations

ThePremiers — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:38:00 GMT

When you start Installing a SQL Server 2005 (64-Bit) Multi-Instance Farm environment, you may encounter this particular error message during the Installation process itself. Your first SQL Server 2005 ‘Default’ Instance would be successfully installed and then patched upto Service Pack 2. However, when your second ‘Named’ Instance was started – this specific error message might be displayed during the SQL Server 2005 Database Services Installation process : [Microsoft][SQL Native Client][SQL Server]Password validation failed. The Password does not meet Windows Policy requirements because it is too short. To continue, correct the problem, and then run SQL Server Setup again. Launch script file C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.4\MSSQL\Install\instmsdb.sql

The reason that this error message occurs is because your Windows Server 2003 GPO (Group Policy) may be stipulating a password which is greater than 8 characters and this particular password "Yukon90_" (located in the instmsdb.sql file) is only 8 characters in size :

create certificate [##MS_AgentSigningCertificate##] encryption by password = 'Yukon90_' with subject = 'MS_AgentSigningCertificate'

A workaround solution has been discovered, in relation to this Microsoft KB (Knowledge Base) Article : Error message in the SQL Server Errorlog file after you upgrade SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005 on a server that is running Windows Server 2003: "Unable to update password policy" – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936892/en-us.Which provides us with the information that this Trace Flag (-T4606) can be used to bypass the Windows Server 2003 Local GPO Password Policy requirements for a SQL Server 2005 Installation. This Trace Flag is added into the Windows Server 2003 System Registry before any subsequent Instances of SQL Server 2005 (whether that be 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 etc) commence, it’s entered into this Registry Key Hive : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.X\MSSQLServer\Parameters

Where the ‘x’ represents the actual numerical increment to the SQL Server 2005 Multi-Instance Environment.

Using BDF_Set_Key.exe

In order for this Registry Key entry to become consistent with any subsequent SQL Server 2005 Instances, a specific executable has been created which will provide us with some continuity here. This BDF_Set_Key.exe will need to be placed into the <Root_Installation_Path>\SQL Setup folder and executed (double-clicked) from this location before the next Installation (2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th etc) of SQL Server 2005 – which will in essence add this Trace Flag (-T4606) into the System Registry to the appropriate position. For example:

During the First SQL Server 2005 (64-Bit) Installation Process as a ‘Default Instance’ –
Database Services would be Installed into the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\BINN folder
Analysis Services would be Installed into the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server \MSSQL.2\OLAP\BIN folder
Reporting Services would be Installed into the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.3\Reporting Services\Report Server\BIN folder
Second SQL Server 2005 Installation as a ‘Named Instance’ –
Database Services would then be Installed into this C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.4\MSSQL\BINN folder

Therefore this Trace Flag (-T4606) would then be added to this System Registry Hive : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.4\MSSQLServer\Parameters

When you execute this BDF_Set_Key.exe, a Windows NT Command Window will ‘pop-up' - along with this Dialogue Box :

You can verify that this Trace Flag has been successfully added into the Windows Server 2003 System Registry by checking the output “BDF_Set_Key.log” file, which will be positioned in the same folder structure (<Root_Installation_Path>\SQL Setup) from where this BDF_Set_Key.exe file was launched.

Using BDF_Del_Key.exe

Once your next SQL Server 2005 Installation has completed successfully and received the Service Pack 2, this System Registry Key can then be removed from the Hive using this ‘BDF_Del_Key.exe’ executable file. The file should also be in this position <Root_Installation_Path>\SQL Setup folder and executed (double-clicked) from there. When this file is run, as before a Windows NT Command Window will ‘pop-up' along with this dialogue box :

You can verify that this Trace Flag has been successfully removed from the Windows Server 2003 System Registry by checking the output “BDF_Del_Key.log” file, which will be positioned in the same folder structure (<Root_Installation_Path>\SQL Setup) from where this BDF_Del_Key.exe file was launched.

These BDF_Set_Key.exe and BDF_Del_Key.exe files have been attached to this Web posting as "BDF_Keys.zip". There is also an MSDN forum posting here : Re: SP1 install problem with password - http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/showpost.aspx?postid=2238519&siteid=1&sb=0&d=1&at=7&ft=11&tf=0&pageid=0

Thank you,

Gareth Ford

Premier Field Engineer - Microsoft | Services | Mob:+44(0)7791 191780 | 0870 501 0800 (Technical support UK only) http://www.microsoft.com/uk/support http://www.microsoft.co.uk/premierpeople/ Microsoft Limited (company number 01624297) is a company registered in England and Wales whose registered office is at Microsoft Campus, Thames Valley Park, Reading. RG6 1WG

Blog: http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/thepremiers/ People Talk, I deliver

SQL Server 2008 - Performance Studio

ThePremiers — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:11:00 GMT

I've been looking at this new feature of SQL Server 2008 in order to demo it to customers, and I have to say it's pretty cool ! Along with Resource Governor and compression, it's one of my favourite new features and a good reason to consider an upgrade. Performance Studio builds on the concept of the Database Reports in SQL Server 2005 and the Performance Dashboard introduced in SQL Server 2005 SP2. Like it's predecessors, it's built on top of standard DMV's but with one crucial advantage... data is historical and is persisted across service restarts. Previously, you had to roll your own code in order to persist DMV data, now SQL Server 2008 gives you it straight out the box.

Setting it up is easy... expand the 'Management' folder and then right-click 'Data Collection' then 'Configure Management Data Warehouse'. This opens a wizard which guides you through the configuration of the Management Data Warehouse (MDW). Select the 'Create or Upgrade a Management Data Warehouse' option and enter your server details. You can either configure a new database or use an existing one in order to collect the performance data.

Once the MDW has been configured, run through the wizard again and select the 'Set up Data Collection' option. At this point you need to also ensure that SQL Server Agent is running or else the performance counters will not be uploaded to the database. Also, SQL Server Integration Services is required to manage collections. There are 3 new database roles in the MDW database: MDW Admin, MDW Writer, MDW Reader. It's a good idea to restrict access to this database, especially if you are collecting sensitive data. Performance Studio will only collect data against SQL Server 2008 databases, so unfortunately you can't use it to monitor older versions of SQL Server. MSDB is used to store the log entries, Agent jobs and SSIS packages.

When creating the MDW, plan for data growth of up to 250 - 500 MB a day, depending on your query plans and consider running an archive job to aggregate summary data before SQL Server runs it's purge job after 14 days. Regarding performance overhead, Microsoft detected approximately 3 - 4% increase in CPU performance on it's TPC-C tests, which is fairly low overhead.

Performance Studio comes with 3 built-in Collection Sets: Disk Usage Collection Set, Query Activity Collection Set and Server Activity Collection Set. The Disk Usage Collection Set collects data every 6 hours and retains it for a default of 730 days. It gathers data and log disk usage and plots them over time. This gives a nice visual view of data file growth over time.

The Query Activity Collection Set uploads query activity every 15 minutes and retains it for 14 days. It caches active sessions and requests from DMV's every 10 seconds. It uses dm_exec_query_stats and uploads the 3 most "interesting" queries and any queries where the query plan has changed. What constitutes an interesting query, I have no idea :-) These can then be viewed graphically based on CPU, Duration, Total I/O, Physical Reads or Logical Writes. You can drill-down into the reports to show the query text, query plan, showplan and any missing indexes identified that could improve the query execution.

The Server Activity Collection Set may turn out to be the most useful performance tuning weapon. Data is uploaded every 15 minutes to the MDW and is collected every 10/60 seconds depending on the particular counter. This data is retained for 14 days before being purged. It collects data on Server CPU usage, Memory, Waitstats, Disk I/O and Network Usage, amongst others. Again, you can click through these reports for detailed information.

In addition to the built-in functionality, you can also create your own collection sets, however be careful doing this or you may end up collecting huge amounts of data, particularly if you run a SQL Trace collection. However, if you do want to run a Profiler collection, set up a trace in Profiler, select "Export" then "Script trace definition for SQL Trace Collection Set" option. This will then script out the XML trace definition for you which can then be executed against your SQL Server system... pretty cool !

For more information, see the following Webcast. It's well worth taking a look !

https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032349947&CountryCode=US

Cheers,

Rob Carrol

PFE SQL Server

Microsoft UK

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Feature Pack RC0, June 2008

ThePremiers — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:22:00 GMT

The Report Builder in the Feb CTP was a preview and doesn’t ship in the RTM box. However, Report Builder 2.0 is in the RC0 Feature Pack from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=089A9DAD-E2DF-43E9-9CD8-C06320520B40&displaylang=en

CU# 8 for SQL Server 2005 SP2 Released

ThePremiers — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:52:00 GMT

Today (6/16/2008) we shipped the eighth Cumulative Update for SQL Server 2005 SP2 On Time. This CU represents· 50 Resolved Issues· 39 Unique Customer Requests All teams across SQL and CSS deserve kudos for their continued success in shipping Cumulative Update releases. We continue to make improvements to the CU process and we appreciate your feedback; please look for CU#9 announcement soon! As per POR, this CU is not released as a public download, but as a hotfix download to http://hotfix. The associated cumulative KB article has also been published, whereby customers are directed to contact CSS to get the CU build. Customers can also obtain the hotfix package through the new self service feature by clicking on the “Hotfix Download Available” button found at the top of the KB article. Public KB Article

Itay Braun Premier Field Engineer - SQL Server and BI Microsoft Services - UKE-Mail: itayb@microsoft.com Mobile: +44-796-928-9996 Blog: http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/thepremiers/Veni Vidi Fixit

SQL 2008 OpsDay - Data and Backup Compression

ThePremiers — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:49:00 GMT

Hi all,

Just wanted to thank all the attendees that participated to yesterday's event on SQL Server 2008 in TVP - Reading.

We've received great feedback on the content of the day, and I really hope everybody went back home (for some of you I heard it was quite a long way!) sure that SQL Server 2008 is a great product full of new features and enhancements which are just what you need for your business activities.

I want to follow-up some questions which I've received during the event, and leave some links to review if you want to further learn about Data and Backup Compression.

Questions:

"Data compression is an enterprise only feature. Is it possible though to restore compressed backup on standard?"

Though creating compressed backups is supported only in SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition and later, every SQL Server 2008 or later edition can restore a compressed backup.

"Are there some guidelines to tune performances of backup compression"?

Yes, one interesting article from Technet and from SQL CAT:

Tuning the Performance of Backup Compression in SQL Server 2008

http://sqlcat.com/technicalnotes/archive/2008/04/21/tuning-the-performance-of-backup-compression-in-sql-server-2008.aspx

How to: Use Resource Governor to Limit CPU Usage by Backup Compression (Transact-SQL)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc280384(SQL.100).aspx

Useful information:

Reducing Database Size by Using Vardecimal Storage Format

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb508963.aspx

Creating Compressed Tables and Indexes

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc280449(SQL.100).aspx

SQL Server Storage Engine - Data Compression Series

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlserverstorageengine/archive/tags/Data+Compression/default.aspx

Backup Compression (SQL Server)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb964719(SQL.100).aspx

SQL Server 2008: Backup Compression

http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/paul/2007/09/20/SQLServer2008BackupCompression.aspx

SQL Server 2008: Backup Compression CPU Cost

http://www.sqlskills.com/blogs/paul/2008/01/09/SQLServer2008BackupCompressionCPUCost.aspx

Download the last CTP

https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/content/content.aspx?ContentID=5395

For any additional question, please contact myself directly at beatrice.nicolini@microsoft.com and read my blog at http://blogs.technet.com/beatrice.

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Plenty of FREE SQL 2008 stuff from JumpStart Event

ThePremiers — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:46:00 GMT

JumpStart 2008 is an event held in Seattle in February.

All the content delivered there is now available for everyone (after a quick registration).

http://sqlserver2008jumpstart.microsofttraining.com/content/DownloadMaterial.asp?CcpSubsiteID=69&section=Overview

Here are some examples of what's waiting for you there:

OS01 - Executive Update - Winning Business Today and Tomorrow
Play session View PowerPoint

OS02 - SQL Server 2008: The Data Platform for Software + Services
Play session   View PowerPoint

OS03 - Mission-Critical Applications
Play session   View PowerPoint

OS04 - Manageability
Play session   View PowerPoint

OS05 - Pervasive Business Intelligence
Play session   View PowerPoint

OS06 - Next Generation Data Applications
Play session   View PowerPoint

OS07 - SQL Server Team Unplugged Discussion Panel
Play session   View PowerPoint

OS08 - SQL Server Powered By Dell & AMD
Play session   View PowerPoint

DBIS01 - Database Infrastructure and Scalability - Overview
Play session   View PowerPoint

DBIS02-1 - Availability Enhancements - Part 1
Play session   View PowerPoint

DBIS02-2 - Availability Enhancements - Part 2
Play session   View PowerPoint

DBIS03-1 - Security Enhancements - Part 1
Play session   View PowerPoint

DBIS03-2 - Security Enhancements - Part 2
Play session   View PowerPoint

DBIS04 - Policy-based Management and Multi-Server Administration - Part 1
Play session   View PowerPoint

DBIS05 - Resource Management and Troubleshooting Enhancements
Play session   View PowerPoint

DBIS06-1 - Features That Need Managing - Part 1A
Play session   View PowerPoint

DBIS06-2 - Features That Need Managing - Part 1B
Play session   View PowerPoint

DBIS07 - Features That Need Managing - Part 2
Play session   View PowerPoint

DBIS08-1 - Scalability Enhancements - Part 1
Play session   View PowerPoint

DBIS08-2 - Scalability Enhancements - Part 2
Play session   View PowerPoint

DBIS09 - Query Optimizer Enhancements
Play session   View PowerPoint

Enjoy,

Itay Braun Premier Field Engineer - SQL Server and BI Microsoft Services - UK

E-Mail: itayb@microsoft.com Mobile: +44-796-928-9996 Blog: http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/thepremiers/

Veni Vidi Fixit

Operations Day for SQL Server 2008 (Open for Premier customers only)

ThePremiers — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:56:00 GMT

Dear Premier, I am pleased to announce that Premier Field Engineering (PFE) are hosting an Operations Day for SQL Server 2008. The day will provide customers with a wealth of technical information covering a wide range of issues relevant to SQL Server 2008 database administrators. When? 9am on Thursday 5^th June 2008 Where?Microsoft Campus (Chicago 1) – Thames Valley Park – Reading – Berkshire. RG6 1WG. Please find a customer ready copy of the agenda attached to this e-mail. Places will be allotted on a first come first served basis. The registration process is as follows:

Please speak with your Technical Account Manager (TAM) if you wish to attend

If you have any questions or concerns then please contact the event organiser, Gareth Ford garethf@microsoft.com. Thank you.

Gareth Ford

People Talk, I deliver

Announcing Microsoft SQL SERVER DATA SERVICES

ThePremiers — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:50:00 GMT

Customers can use Microsoft SSDS to store virtually any amount of data in the Cloud. They can query and modify data as required by the specific business scenarios. Microsoft SSDS supports standards-based REST and SOAP interfaces designed to work with any Internet-development toolkit. The primary wire format is XML. The data has flexible schema which can be modified dynamically by the application. The data is provided with high availability and reliability virtually anywhere, anytime.

Target Customers:

· Businesses looking to reduce their capital and operational cost of storing and managing high-volume data off-premise.

· Developers and partners hosting data-intensive and mashup type applications with minimal infrastructure investments in security, availability and manageability.

· Customers building collaborative applications on large or shared data sets.

Benefits and Features:

· Application Agility for quick deployment

o Internet standard protocols and Interfaces (REST, SOAP).

o Flexible data model with no schema required.

o Simple text base query model.

o Easy to program to from any programming environment.

· On-Demand Scalability

o Easy to store. modify and access data. Pay as you grow model.

o Scales easily as data grows.

o Web services for provisioning, deployment, and monitoring.

· Business-Ready SLA

o Built on robust Microsoft SQL Server database and Windows server technologies.

o Store and manage multiple copies of the data for reliability and availability.

o Back up data stored in each data cluster. Geo-redundant data copies to ensure business continuity.

o Secure data access to help provide business confidentiality and privacy.

For Additional Information please go to:

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/dataservices/default.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/dataservices/faq.mspx

Announcing the new CUE website for SQL Server 2008 - You must check this out!!

ThePremiers — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:05:00 GMT

We’re announcing the launch of the new SQL Server 2008 CUE website. SQL Server 2008 is the third product to be migrated to the new Consistent User Experience (CUE) framework and CSP publishing platform and another great leap forward in driving consistency across all STB product sites.

The CUE framework was designed to “bring it all together” for our customers and provides a number of customer-focused enhancements including consistent navigation and content, improved discoverability, and greater integration with other sites in the MS web ecosystem. The new SQL Server 2008 site integrates these improvements and starts to take CUE to the next level with a greater focus on page visuals and deeper linking to related SQL content on the Tech & DevCenters. (Note that the new site does not replace the existing product site, which will continue to support our sales efforts for SQL Server 2005.)

Cheers,

Itay Braun Premier Field Engineer - SQL Server Microsoft Services - UK

E-Mail: itayb@microsoft.com Mobile: +44-796-928-9996 Blog: http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/thepremiers/

Veni Vidi Fixit

Announcing the TechNet and MSDN Roadshow (Free of charge)

ThePremiers — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:59:00 GMT

Now the roadshow is coming to a city near you

Following the 2008 Launch event in Birmingham on 19^th March, TechNet will be going out on the road.

The roadshow will be heavy on demos and light on PowerPoint. We'll look at various scenarios, such as managing Windows Server 2008 and how Windows Server 2008 works alongside Windows Vista.

You'll have the opportunity to meet the Microsoft Community, our user groups and Most Valued Professionals, as well as experts with top technical information and real-world scenarios.

Places really are limited due to a high number of pre-registrations so register today

- Cardiff, 22 April 2008
- London, 24 April 2008
- Manchester, 30 April 2008
- Glasgow, 12 May 2008
- Newcastle, 15 May 2008

To register go to the Heroes Happen Here website or call us on 0870 166 6620

Calling all developers……

Now the roadshow is coming to a city near you

This is your opportunity to meet the MSDN team and find out all about the latest developer tools and technologies from Microsoft.

The MSDN Roadshow is a series of full day, demo-heavy events where you can find out more about Visual Studio 2008 and future Microsoft technologies. It's also your opportunity to meet the MSDN team and discover the latest developer tools.

Now that Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework V3.5 have been launched, the MSDN Roadshow will also focus on other products of interest for .NET developers. We'll look at Silverlight, ASP.NET, ADO.NET and Visual Studio Team Suite to create sessions that are all about code, not PowerPoint.

Places are limited so register today

- Cardiff, 21 April 2008
- London, 25 April 2008
- Manchester, 1 May 2008
- Glasgow, 13 May 2008
- Newcastle, 16 May 2008

Enjoy

Itay Braun Premier Field Engineer - SQL Server Microsoft Services - UK

E-Mail: itayb@microsoft.com Mobile: +44-796-928-9996 Blog: http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/thepremiers/

Veni Vidi Fixit

What is the latest cumulative update/ build for SQL Server?

ThePremiers — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:12:00 GMT

I got this question a lot. Here is my answer (last Updated 2008-02-28):

Microsoft Links

Cumulative list of the hotfixes that are available for SQL Server 2000 SP4

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894905

Latest build reported is 8.00.2249 but the external links below list latest build 8.00.2265 along with link to KB.

The SQL Server 2005 builds that were released after SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 was released

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937137

External Links

http://www.sqlsecurity.com/FAQs/SQLServerVersionDatabase/tabid/63/Default.aspx

Microsoft SQL Server 2008, 2005, 2000 and 7.0 Builds

http://sqlserverbuilds.blogspot.com/

http://www.aspfaq.com/SQL2000Builds.asp