May, 2010

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...

Recently I encountered this issue. Customer was trying to install SMO by using the following switch in the setup command line for SQL 2008: /FEATURES=SNAC_SDK However, the installation didn’t cache the SMO dll’s in the c:\program...

This blog describes a very simple but tricky issue. A Backup software was unable to take system state back up. The issue was narrowed down to a situation where the SQL Server VSS writer service fails to connect to a non existing SQL instance. When we...

After Preparing and Installing SQL Server 2008 Cluster on a Windows 2008 Server Cluster from the "Advanced" option in the Landing Page, we are unable to see the properties of one of the Instances of DTC in the Component Services UI. It appears blank with...

Below is one of the scenarios, I recently witnessed where a query was failing when executed from SSMS (SQL 2008) on windows client machine. There is no local SQL installation on the machine and had registered a remote SQL Server instance. When tried to...

In this post, I shall explain why monotonically increasing or decreasing clustered index key columns can create hot spots for your index pages with the help of an example. A hot spot is simply an active portion of the table which is accessed more frequently...

I recently read a blog post on what was better using GUIDs or Integer values. This is been an age long debate and there are advocates in both camps stressing on the disadvantages of the other. Well both implementations have their advantages and disadvantages...

SQL Server Performance Dashboard Reports in SSMS – Introduction, Install, DateDiff error & Modified for SQL 2008 Many of you seasoned DBA’s out there would have heard about the SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard Reports and used...

ISSUE: You have SQL 2005 SP2 Express Edition or any of earlier version of SQL Express and you decide to apply SP3 to SQL Express edition. You download the http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=3181842a-4090-4431-acdd-9a1c832e65a6&displaylang...

Continued from http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlserverfaq/archive/2010/05/13/inf-new-sql-server-features-in-sql-server-2008-r2-part-1.aspx There are a host of enhancements that come as a part of SQL Server 2008 R2. I have outlined some more features below...

SQL Server 2008 R2 expands on the value delivered in SQL Server 2008 by providing a wealth of new features and capabilities that can benefit your entire organization. Many of these features are already documented in SQL Server Books Online at http://msdn...

“ We’re getting questions on whether folks can upgrade directly from CTP3 to RTM. The recommended and supported approach is to uninstall CTP3 and install the final release version when it is available. We apologise for any conflicting information you...

SQL Server Books Online holds information on a variety of topics concerning the product which can overwhelm any user. Today, I shall demystify two parameter options for the most commonly automated DBA activity: Database Backups. SQL Server database backups...