ISSUE: I’m trying to restore a database backup from SSSMS-UI, however it fails in an initial stage with below error TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio ------------------------------ Specified cast is not valid. (SqlManagerUI) ----...

We at SQL Server support team, continue to invest our time in writing tools and utilities which can aid you in troubleshooting SQL Server issues. SQL Server Backup Simulator is one such tool which will help you while troubleshooting issues in taking backup...

A recent discussion on the #sqlhelp hashtag on Twitter got me researching into this issue. The error message was: 2010-10-19 02:56:59.380 Logon Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 11 . 2010-10-19 02:56:59.380 Logon Login failed for user <Server name>...

Recently, I worked on an interesting case where customer after upgrading an instance of SQL Server 2008 with SP1, the SQL server 2008 services and resources went into a stopped and failed state respectively. The services might appear to come online briefly...

Troubleshooting tempdb growth due to Version Store usage Recently I worked on an issue where the tempdb database version store cleanup was not occurring. I created a small repro to demonstrate the behavior. My tempdb has been showing the version...

In my last blog post , I had explained what Scan Count means and how it is calculated for a query executed on a table. I had illustrated a few examples based on seeks/scans done on Clustered Indexes of a table. This time I shall expand this to clustered...

An overview of the inner working of a replication monitor We might see large number of Pending transactions on one of the Publisher in P2P replication. But when we check the Replication Monitor for second server (Subscriber) it might show a small...

Problem We try to upgrade to SQL 2008 from SQL 2005 in a cluster setup and it fails on the Active node with the following error: From the Summary.txt There was an error during the SQL Server upgrade operation. Setup failed to move the failover...

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION ================ · During upgrade from SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2008 R2 we might encounter an error as shown below Wait on the Database Engine Recovery Handle Failed. Check the SQL Server error log for potential...

What does the Scan Count output in the SET STATISTICS IO output actually mean? I have seen multiple posts on the web regarding confusions and theories around this. As per Books Online , Scan Count is: Number of index or table scans performed. ...

Now that we have XEvents in SQL Server 2008 and above, some of the issues that required us to capture SQL Server dumps or Profiler traces while reproducing an issue are passé. Move over DumpTrigger and Profiler, XEvents is here to replace you!...

This was quite an interesting issue. We started troubleshooting a SQL Server blocking problem due to COMPILE lock blocking. The KB Article: Description of SQL Server blocking caused by compile locks explains why COMPILE lock blocking is encountered on...

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION =================== While trying to migrate the database from sql2008 enterprise to standard you get the following error: TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio ------------------------------ Restore failed...

Issue During an upgrade from SQL 2005 to SQL 2008 Express, the SQL Browser service failed to start, thus causing the upgrade to fail. We saw the following errors being reported in detail.txt 2010-07-23 18:49:17 SQLBrowser: SQL Server Browser Install...

INF: SQL Security - Restricting access to public on server/database objects, its implications and ownership chains There are times when you need to harden the security of your SQL Server and prevent the public/guest users from having access to certain...

In a recent issue with a customer, I came across a strange SQL belief (or say a DBA Myth) regarding SQL Server Transaction Logs Backup/Restore. Let me explain you what was the scenario and then let’s try attempting to break the myth with quick testing...

I have always been a big fan of troubleshooting SQL Server performance issues with the help of DMVs. Not only does this allow me to track down the culprit without the help of any external tools/EXEs but it also gives a sysadmin an unbridled sense of power...

Symptoms: Application Popup Error: =========================== The SQL Server System Configuration Checker cannot be executed due to WMI configuration on the machine <Computer Name> Error:2147749896 (0x80041008). [Environment]...

This is probably one of the murky topics of SQL Server. Add to this equation, hardware NUMA and the CPU Mask values can be a tough one to determine. Books Online has an article on how to configure Soft-NUMA for a SQL Server 2008 R2 instance. Rob Dorr...

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION ================ While performing Restore Database task in SQL 2000 from Enterprise Manager it may hang or appears hung at times . H owever you may not find any specific errors in the SQL server error log, application log...

MSDTC unlike on earlier version of Windows, support multiple instances on Windows 2008. You can create a Clustered MSDTC resource in each Cluster Group. The below link gives you more information understanding MSDTC resources in Windows 2008 Failover...

Symptom: While installing SQL Server 2008 R2 RTM in a Windows 7 box, noticed an error message: SQL Server Setup has encountered the following error: Version's parameters must be greater than or equal to zero. This error occurs after...

Scenario SQL Server 2000 bcp utility fails to export data with the below error message: Operating-system error: There is no OS level error DB_LIBRARY error: Specified server name attribute could not be found Cause You...

In this blog, we will discuss a scenario which is common across the SQL Server environment using certificates. With the help of another security expert, we were able to find an additional permission required for SQL service account (Non Sys admin) to...