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  • My experience working with Teradata SQL Assistant

    - by Kevin Shyr
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/LifeLongTechie/archive/2014/05/28/my-experience-working-with-teradata-sql-assistant.aspx To this date, I still haven't figure out how to "toggle" between my query windows. It seems like unless I click on that "new" button on top, whatever SQL I generate from right-click just overrides the current SQL in the window. I'm probably missing a "generate new sql in new window" setting The default Teradata SQL Assistant doesn't execute just the SQL query I highlighted. There is a setting I have to change first. I'm not really happy that the SQL assistant and SQL admin are different app. Still trying to get used to the fact that I can't quickly look up a table's keys/relationships while writing query. I have to switch between windows. LOVE the execution plan / explanation. I think that part is better done than MS SQL in some ways. The error messages can be better. I feel that Teradata .NET provider sends smaller query command over than others. I don't have any hard data to support my claim. One of my query in SSRS was passing multi-valued parameters to another query, and got error "Teradata 3577 row size or sort key size overflow". The search on this error says the solution is to cast result column into smaller data type, but I found that the problem was that the parameter passed into the where clause could not be too large. I wish Teradata SQL Assistant would remember the window size I just adjusted to. Every time I execute the query, the result set, query, and exec log auto re-adjust back to the default size. In SSMS, if I adjust the result set area to be smaller, it would stay like that if I execute query in the same window.

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  • value types in the vm

    - by john.rose
    value types in the vm p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Times} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 14.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Times} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Times} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 15.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Times} p.p5 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Courier} p.p6 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Courier; min-height: 17.0px} p.p7 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Times; min-height: 18.0px} p.p8 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; text-indent: -36.0px; font: 14.0px Times; min-height: 18.0px} p.p9 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Times; min-height: 18.0px} p.p10 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 12.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Times; color: #000000} li.li1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Times} li.li7 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Times; min-height: 18.0px} span.s1 {font: 14.0px Courier} span.s2 {color: #000000} span.s3 {font: 14.0px Courier; color: #000000} ol.ol1 {list-style-type: decimal} Or, enduring values for a changing world. Introduction A value type is a data type which, generally speaking, is designed for being passed by value in and out of methods, and stored by value in data structures. The only value types which the Java language directly supports are the eight primitive types. Java indirectly and approximately supports value types, if they are implemented in terms of classes. For example, both Integer and String may be viewed as value types, especially if their usage is restricted to avoid operations appropriate to Object. In this note, we propose a definition of value types in terms of a design pattern for Java classes, accompanied by a set of usage restrictions. We also sketch the relation of such value types to tuple types (which are a JVM-level notion), and point out JVM optimizations that can apply to value types. This note is a thought experiment to extend the JVM’s performance model in support of value types. The demonstration has two phases.  Initially the extension can simply use design patterns, within the current bytecode architecture, and in today’s Java language. But if the performance model is to be realized in practice, it will probably require new JVM bytecode features, changes to the Java language, or both.  We will look at a few possibilities for these new features. An Axiom of Value In the context of the JVM, a value type is a data type equipped with construction, assignment, and equality operations, and a set of typed components, such that, whenever two variables of the value type produce equal corresponding values for their components, the values of the two variables cannot be distinguished by any JVM operation. Here are some corollaries: A value type is immutable, since otherwise a copy could be constructed and the original could be modified in one of its components, allowing the copies to be distinguished. Changing the component of a value type requires construction of a new value. The equals and hashCode operations are strictly component-wise. If a value type is represented by a JVM reference, that reference cannot be successfully synchronized on, and cannot be usefully compared for reference equality. A value type can be viewed in terms of what it doesn’t do. We can say that a value type omits all value-unsafe operations, which could violate the constraints on value types.  These operations, which are ordinarily allowed for Java object types, are pointer equality comparison (the acmp instruction), synchronization (the monitor instructions), all the wait and notify methods of class Object, and non-trivial finalize methods. The clone method is also value-unsafe, although for value types it could be treated as the identity function. Finally, and most importantly, any side effect on an object (however visible) also counts as an value-unsafe operation. A value type may have methods, but such methods must not change the components of the value. It is reasonable and useful to define methods like toString, equals, and hashCode on value types, and also methods which are specifically valuable to users of the value type. Representations of Value Value types have two natural representations in the JVM, unboxed and boxed. An unboxed value consists of the components, as simple variables. For example, the complex number x=(1+2i), in rectangular coordinate form, may be represented in unboxed form by the following pair of variables: /*Complex x = Complex.valueOf(1.0, 2.0):*/ double x_re = 1.0, x_im = 2.0; These variables might be locals, parameters, or fields. Their association as components of a single value is not defined to the JVM. Here is a sample computation which computes the norm of the difference between two complex numbers: double distance(/*Complex x:*/ double x_re, double x_im,         /*Complex y:*/ double y_re, double y_im) {     /*Complex z = x.minus(y):*/     double z_re = x_re - y_re, z_im = x_im - y_im;     /*return z.abs():*/     return Math.sqrt(z_re*z_re + z_im*z_im); } A boxed representation groups component values under a single object reference. The reference is to a ‘wrapper class’ that carries the component values in its fields. (A primitive type can naturally be equated with a trivial value type with just one component of that type. In that view, the wrapper class Integer can serve as a boxed representation of value type int.) The unboxed representation of complex numbers is practical for many uses, but it fails to cover several major use cases: return values, array elements, and generic APIs. The two components of a complex number cannot be directly returned from a Java function, since Java does not support multiple return values. The same story applies to array elements: Java has no ’array of structs’ feature. (Double-length arrays are a possible workaround for complex numbers, but not for value types with heterogeneous components.) By generic APIs I mean both those which use generic types, like Arrays.asList and those which have special case support for primitive types, like String.valueOf and PrintStream.println. Those APIs do not support unboxed values, and offer some problems to boxed values. Any ’real’ JVM type should have a story for returns, arrays, and API interoperability. The basic problem here is that value types fall between primitive types and object types. Value types are clearly more complex than primitive types, and object types are slightly too complicated. Objects are a little bit dangerous to use as value carriers, since object references can be compared for pointer equality, and can be synchronized on. Also, as many Java programmers have observed, there is often a performance cost to using wrapper objects, even on modern JVMs. Even so, wrapper classes are a good starting point for talking about value types. If there were a set of structural rules and restrictions which would prevent value-unsafe operations on value types, wrapper classes would provide a good notation for defining value types. This note attempts to define such rules and restrictions. Let’s Start Coding Now it is time to look at some real code. Here is a definition, written in Java, of a complex number value type. @ValueSafe public final class Complex implements java.io.Serializable {     // immutable component structure:     public final double re, im;     private Complex(double re, double im) {         this.re = re; this.im = im;     }     // interoperability methods:     public String toString() { return "Complex("+re+","+im+")"; }     public List<Double> asList() { return Arrays.asList(re, im); }     public boolean equals(Complex c) {         return re == c.re && im == c.im;     }     public boolean equals(@ValueSafe Object x) {         return x instanceof Complex && equals((Complex) x);     }     public int hashCode() {         return 31*Double.valueOf(re).hashCode()                 + Double.valueOf(im).hashCode();     }     // factory methods:     public static Complex valueOf(double re, double im) {         return new Complex(re, im);     }     public Complex changeRe(double re2) { return valueOf(re2, im); }     public Complex changeIm(double im2) { return valueOf(re, im2); }     public static Complex cast(@ValueSafe Object x) {         return x == null ? ZERO : (Complex) x;     }     // utility methods and constants:     public Complex plus(Complex c)  { return new Complex(re+c.re, im+c.im); }     public Complex minus(Complex c) { return new Complex(re-c.re, im-c.im); }     public double abs() { return Math.sqrt(re*re + im*im); }     public static final Complex PI = valueOf(Math.PI, 0.0);     public static final Complex ZERO = valueOf(0.0, 0.0); } This is not a minimal definition, because it includes some utility methods and other optional parts.  The essential elements are as follows: The class is marked as a value type with an annotation. The class is final, because it does not make sense to create subclasses of value types. The fields of the class are all non-private and final.  (I.e., the type is immutable and structurally transparent.) From the supertype Object, all public non-final methods are overridden. The constructor is private. Beyond these bare essentials, we can observe the following features in this example, which are likely to be typical of all value types: One or more factory methods are responsible for value creation, including a component-wise valueOf method. There are utility methods for complex arithmetic and instance creation, such as plus and changeIm. There are static utility constants, such as PI. The type is serializable, using the default mechanisms. There are methods for converting to and from dynamically typed references, such as asList and cast. The Rules In order to use value types properly, the programmer must avoid value-unsafe operations.  A helpful Java compiler should issue errors (or at least warnings) for code which provably applies value-unsafe operations, and should issue warnings for code which might be correct but does not provably avoid value-unsafe operations.  No such compilers exist today, but to simplify our account here, we will pretend that they do exist. A value-safe type is any class, interface, or type parameter marked with the @ValueSafe annotation, or any subtype of a value-safe type.  If a value-safe class is marked final, it is in fact a value type.  All other value-safe classes must be abstract.  The non-static fields of a value class must be non-public and final, and all its constructors must be private. Under the above rules, a standard interface could be helpful to define value types like Complex.  Here is an example: @ValueSafe public interface ValueType extends java.io.Serializable {     // All methods listed here must get redefined.     // Definitions must be value-safe, which means     // they may depend on component values only.     List<? extends Object> asList();     int hashCode();     boolean equals(@ValueSafe Object c);     String toString(); } //@ValueSafe inherited from supertype: public final class Complex implements ValueType { … The main advantage of such a conventional interface is that (unlike an annotation) it is reified in the runtime type system.  It could appear as an element type or parameter bound, for facilities which are designed to work on value types only.  More broadly, it might assist the JVM to perform dynamic enforcement of the rules for value types. Besides types, the annotation @ValueSafe can mark fields, parameters, local variables, and methods.  (This is redundant when the type is also value-safe, but may be useful when the type is Object or another supertype of a value type.)  Working forward from these annotations, an expression E is defined as value-safe if it satisfies one or more of the following: The type of E is a value-safe type. E names a field, parameter, or local variable whose declaration is marked @ValueSafe. E is a call to a method whose declaration is marked @ValueSafe. E is an assignment to a value-safe variable, field reference, or array reference. E is a cast to a value-safe type from a value-safe expression. E is a conditional expression E0 ? E1 : E2, and both E1 and E2 are value-safe. Assignments to value-safe expressions and initializations of value-safe names must take their values from value-safe expressions. A value-safe expression may not be the subject of a value-unsafe operation.  In particular, it cannot be synchronized on, nor can it be compared with the “==” operator, not even with a null or with another value-safe type. In a program where all of these rules are followed, no value-type value will be subject to a value-unsafe operation.  Thus, the prime axiom of value types will be satisfied, that no two value type will be distinguishable as long as their component values are equal. More Code To illustrate these rules, here are some usage examples for Complex: Complex pi = Complex.valueOf(Math.PI, 0); Complex zero = pi.changeRe(0);  //zero = pi; zero.re = 0; ValueType vtype = pi; @SuppressWarnings("value-unsafe")   Object obj = pi; @ValueSafe Object obj2 = pi; obj2 = new Object();  // ok List<Complex> clist = new ArrayList<Complex>(); clist.add(pi);  // (ok assuming List.add param is @ValueSafe) List<ValueType> vlist = new ArrayList<ValueType>(); vlist.add(pi);  // (ok) List<Object> olist = new ArrayList<Object>(); olist.add(pi);  // warning: "value-unsafe" boolean z = pi.equals(zero); boolean z1 = (pi == zero);  // error: reference comparison on value type boolean z2 = (pi == null);  // error: reference comparison on value type boolean z3 = (pi == obj2);  // error: reference comparison on value type synchronized (pi) { }  // error: synch of value, unpredictable result synchronized (obj2) { }  // unpredictable result Complex qq = pi; qq = null;  // possible NPE; warning: “null-unsafe" qq = (Complex) obj;  // warning: “null-unsafe" qq = Complex.cast(obj);  // OK @SuppressWarnings("null-unsafe")   Complex empty = null;  // possible NPE qq = empty;  // possible NPE (null pollution) The Payoffs It follows from this that either the JVM or the java compiler can replace boxed value-type values with unboxed ones, without affecting normal computations.  Fields and variables of value types can be split into their unboxed components.  Non-static methods on value types can be transformed into static methods which take the components as value parameters. Some common questions arise around this point in any discussion of value types. Why burden the programmer with all these extra rules?  Why not detect programs automagically and perform unboxing transparently?  The answer is that it is easy to break the rules accidently unless they are agreed to by the programmer and enforced.  Automatic unboxing optimizations are tantalizing but (so far) unreachable ideal.  In the current state of the art, it is possible exhibit benchmarks in which automatic unboxing provides the desired effects, but it is not possible to provide a JVM with a performance model that assures the programmer when unboxing will occur.  This is why I’m writing this note, to enlist help from, and provide assurances to, the programmer.  Basically, I’m shooting for a good set of user-supplied “pragmas” to frame the desired optimization. Again, the important thing is that the unboxing must be done reliably, or else programmers will have no reason to work with the extra complexity of the value-safety rules.  There must be a reasonably stable performance model, wherein using a value type has approximately the same performance characteristics as writing the unboxed components as separate Java variables. There are some rough corners to the present scheme.  Since Java fields and array elements are initialized to null, value-type computations which incorporate uninitialized variables can produce null pointer exceptions.  One workaround for this is to require such variables to be null-tested, and the result replaced with a suitable all-zero value of the value type.  That is what the “cast” method does above. Generically typed APIs like List<T> will continue to manipulate boxed values always, at least until we figure out how to do reification of generic type instances.  Use of such APIs will elicit warnings until their type parameters (and/or relevant members) are annotated or typed as value-safe.  Retrofitting List<T> is likely to expose flaws in the present scheme, which we will need to engineer around.  Here are a couple of first approaches: public interface java.util.List<@ValueSafe T> extends Collection<T> { … public interface java.util.List<T extends Object|ValueType> extends Collection<T> { … (The second approach would require disjunctive types, in which value-safety is “contagious” from the constituent types.) With more transformations, the return value types of methods can also be unboxed.  This may require significant bytecode-level transformations, and would work best in the presence of a bytecode representation for multiple value groups, which I have proposed elsewhere under the title “Tuples in the VM”. But for starters, the JVM can apply this transformation under the covers, to internally compiled methods.  This would give a way to express multiple return values and structured return values, which is a significant pain-point for Java programmers, especially those who work with low-level structure types favored by modern vector and graphics processors.  The lack of multiple return values has a strong distorting effect on many Java APIs. Even if the JVM fails to unbox a value, there is still potential benefit to the value type.  Clustered computing systems something have copy operations (serialization or something similar) which apply implicitly to command operands.  When copying JVM objects, it is extremely helpful to know when an object’s identity is important or not.  If an object reference is a copied operand, the system may have to create a proxy handle which points back to the original object, so that side effects are visible.  Proxies must be managed carefully, and this can be expensive.  On the other hand, value types are exactly those types which a JVM can “copy and forget” with no downside. Array types are crucial to bulk data interfaces.  (As data sizes and rates increase, bulk data becomes more important than scalar data, so arrays are definitely accompanying us into the future of computing.)  Value types are very helpful for adding structure to bulk data, so a successful value type mechanism will make it easier for us to express richer forms of bulk data. Unboxing arrays (i.e., arrays containing unboxed values) will provide better cache and memory density, and more direct data movement within clustered or heterogeneous computing systems.  They require the deepest transformations, relative to today’s JVM.  There is an impedance mismatch between value-type arrays and Java’s covariant array typing, so compromises will need to be struck with existing Java semantics.  It is probably worth the effort, since arrays of unboxed value types are inherently more memory-efficient than standard Java arrays, which rely on dependent pointer chains. It may be sufficient to extend the “value-safe” concept to array declarations, and allow low-level transformations to change value-safe array declarations from the standard boxed form into an unboxed tuple-based form.  Such value-safe arrays would not be convertible to Object[] arrays.  Certain connection points, such as Arrays.copyOf and System.arraycopy might need additional input/output combinations, to allow smooth conversion between arrays with boxed and unboxed elements. Alternatively, the correct solution may have to wait until we have enough reification of generic types, and enough operator overloading, to enable an overhaul of Java arrays. Implicit Method Definitions The example of class Complex above may be unattractively complex.  I believe most or all of the elements of the example class are required by the logic of value types. If this is true, a programmer who writes a value type will have to write lots of error-prone boilerplate code.  On the other hand, I think nearly all of the code (except for the domain-specific parts like plus and minus) can be implicitly generated. Java has a rule for implicitly defining a class’s constructor, if no it defines no constructors explicitly.  Likewise, there are rules for providing default access modifiers for interface members.  Because of the highly regular structure of value types, it might be reasonable to perform similar implicit transformations on value types.  Here’s an example of a “highly implicit” definition of a complex number type: public class Complex implements ValueType {  // implicitly final     public double re, im;  // implicitly public final     //implicit methods are defined elementwise from te fields:     //  toString, asList, equals(2), hashCode, valueOf, cast     //optionally, explicit methods (plus, abs, etc.) would go here } In other words, with the right defaults, a simple value type definition can be a one-liner.  The observant reader will have noticed the similarities (and suitable differences) between the explicit methods above and the corresponding methods for List<T>. Another way to abbreviate such a class would be to make an annotation the primary trigger of the functionality, and to add the interface(s) implicitly: public @ValueType class Complex { … // implicitly final, implements ValueType (But to me it seems better to communicate the “magic” via an interface, even if it is rooted in an annotation.) Implicitly Defined Value Types So far we have been working with nominal value types, which is to say that the sequence of typed components is associated with a name and additional methods that convey the intention of the programmer.  A simple ordered pair of floating point numbers can be variously interpreted as (to name a few possibilities) a rectangular or polar complex number or Cartesian point.  The name and the methods convey the intended meaning. But what if we need a truly simple ordered pair of floating point numbers, without any further conceptual baggage?  Perhaps we are writing a method (like “divideAndRemainder”) which naturally returns a pair of numbers instead of a single number.  Wrapping the pair of numbers in a nominal type (like “QuotientAndRemainder”) makes as little sense as wrapping a single return value in a nominal type (like “Quotient”).  What we need here are structural value types commonly known as tuples. For the present discussion, let us assign a conventional, JVM-friendly name to tuples, roughly as follows: public class java.lang.tuple.$DD extends java.lang.tuple.Tuple {      double $1, $2; } Here the component names are fixed and all the required methods are defined implicitly.  The supertype is an abstract class which has suitable shared declarations.  The name itself mentions a JVM-style method parameter descriptor, which may be “cracked” to determine the number and types of the component fields. The odd thing about such a tuple type (and structural types in general) is it must be instantiated lazily, in response to linkage requests from one or more classes that need it.  The JVM and/or its class loaders must be prepared to spin a tuple type on demand, given a simple name reference, $xyz, where the xyz is cracked into a series of component types.  (Specifics of naming and name mangling need some tasteful engineering.) Tuples also seem to demand, even more than nominal types, some support from the language.  (This is probably because notations for non-nominal types work best as combinations of punctuation and type names, rather than named constructors like Function3 or Tuple2.)  At a minimum, languages with tuples usually (I think) have some sort of simple bracket notation for creating tuples, and a corresponding pattern-matching syntax (or “destructuring bind”) for taking tuples apart, at least when they are parameter lists.  Designing such a syntax is no simple thing, because it ought to play well with nominal value types, and also with pre-existing Java features, such as method parameter lists, implicit conversions, generic types, and reflection.  That is a task for another day. Other Use Cases Besides complex numbers and simple tuples there are many use cases for value types.  Many tuple-like types have natural value-type representations. These include rational numbers, point locations and pixel colors, and various kinds of dates and addresses. Other types have a variable-length ‘tail’ of internal values. The most common example of this is String, which is (mathematically) a sequence of UTF-16 character values. Similarly, bit vectors, multiple-precision numbers, and polynomials are composed of sequences of values. Such types include, in their representation, a reference to a variable-sized data structure (often an array) which (somehow) represents the sequence of values. The value type may also include ’header’ information. Variable-sized values often have a length distribution which favors short lengths. In that case, the design of the value type can make the first few values in the sequence be direct ’header’ fields of the value type. In the common case where the header is enough to represent the whole value, the tail can be a shared null value, or even just a null reference. Note that the tail need not be an immutable object, as long as the header type encapsulates it well enough. This is the case with String, where the tail is a mutable (but never mutated) character array. Field types and their order must be a globally visible part of the API.  The structure of the value type must be transparent enough to have a globally consistent unboxed representation, so that all callers and callees agree about the type and order of components  that appear as parameters, return types, and array elements.  This is a trade-off between efficiency and encapsulation, which is forced on us when we remove an indirection enjoyed by boxed representations.  A JVM-only transformation would not care about such visibility, but a bytecode transformation would need to take care that (say) the components of complex numbers would not get swapped after a redefinition of Complex and a partial recompile.  Perhaps constant pool references to value types need to declare the field order as assumed by each API user. This brings up the delicate status of private fields in a value type.  It must always be possible to load, store, and copy value types as coordinated groups, and the JVM performs those movements by moving individual scalar values between locals and stack.  If a component field is not public, what is to prevent hostile code from plucking it out of the tuple using a rogue aload or astore instruction?  Nothing but the verifier, so we may need to give it more smarts, so that it treats value types as inseparable groups of stack slots or locals (something like long or double). My initial thought was to make the fields always public, which would make the security problem moot.  But public is not always the right answer; consider the case of String, where the underlying mutable character array must be encapsulated to prevent security holes.  I believe we can win back both sides of the tradeoff, by training the verifier never to split up the components in an unboxed value.  Just as the verifier encapsulates the two halves of a 64-bit primitive, it can encapsulate the the header and body of an unboxed String, so that no code other than that of class String itself can take apart the values. Similar to String, we could build an efficient multi-precision decimal type along these lines: public final class DecimalValue extends ValueType {     protected final long header;     protected private final BigInteger digits;     public DecimalValue valueOf(int value, int scale) {         assert(scale >= 0);         return new DecimalValue(((long)value << 32) + scale, null);     }     public DecimalValue valueOf(long value, int scale) {         if (value == (int) value)             return valueOf((int)value, scale);         return new DecimalValue(-scale, new BigInteger(value));     } } Values of this type would be passed between methods as two machine words. Small values (those with a significand which fits into 32 bits) would be represented without any heap data at all, unless the DecimalValue itself were boxed. (Note the tension between encapsulation and unboxing in this case.  It would be better if the header and digits fields were private, but depending on where the unboxing information must “leak”, it is probably safer to make a public revelation of the internal structure.) Note that, although an array of Complex can be faked with a double-length array of double, there is no easy way to fake an array of unboxed DecimalValues.  (Either an array of boxed values or a transposed pair of homogeneous arrays would be reasonable fallbacks, in a current JVM.)  Getting the full benefit of unboxing and arrays will require some new JVM magic. Although the JVM emphasizes portability, system dependent code will benefit from using machine-level types larger than 64 bits.  For example, the back end of a linear algebra package might benefit from value types like Float4 which map to stock vector types.  This is probably only worthwhile if the unboxing arrays can be packed with such values. More Daydreams A more finely-divided design for dynamic enforcement of value safety could feature separate marker interfaces for each invariant.  An empty marker interface Unsynchronizable could cause suitable exceptions for monitor instructions on objects in marked classes.  More radically, a Interchangeable marker interface could cause JVM primitives that are sensitive to object identity to raise exceptions; the strangest result would be that the acmp instruction would have to be specified as raising an exception. @ValueSafe public interface ValueType extends java.io.Serializable,         Unsynchronizable, Interchangeable { … public class Complex implements ValueType {     // inherits Serializable, Unsynchronizable, Interchangeable, @ValueSafe     … It seems possible that Integer and the other wrapper types could be retro-fitted as value-safe types.  This is a major change, since wrapper objects would be unsynchronizable and their references interchangeable.  It is likely that code which violates value-safety for wrapper types exists but is uncommon.  It is less plausible to retro-fit String, since the prominent operation String.intern is often used with value-unsafe code. We should also reconsider the distinction between boxed and unboxed values in code.  The design presented above obscures that distinction.  As another thought experiment, we could imagine making a first class distinction in the type system between boxed and unboxed representations.  Since only primitive types are named with a lower-case initial letter, we could define that the capitalized version of a value type name always refers to the boxed representation, while the initial lower-case variant always refers to boxed.  For example: complex pi = complex.valueOf(Math.PI, 0); Complex boxPi = pi;  // convert to boxed myList.add(boxPi); complex z = myList.get(0);  // unbox Such a convention could perhaps absorb the current difference between int and Integer, double and Double. It might also allow the programmer to express a helpful distinction among array types. As said above, array types are crucial to bulk data interfaces, but are limited in the JVM.  Extending arrays beyond the present limitations is worth thinking about; for example, the Maxine JVM implementation has a hybrid object/array type.  Something like this which can also accommodate value type components seems worthwhile.  On the other hand, does it make sense for value types to contain short arrays?  And why should random-access arrays be the end of our design process, when bulk data is often sequentially accessed, and it might make sense to have heterogeneous streams of data as the natural “jumbo” data structure.  These considerations must wait for another day and another note. More Work It seems to me that a good sequence for introducing such value types would be as follows: Add the value-safety restrictions to an experimental version of javac. Code some sample applications with value types, including Complex and DecimalValue. Create an experimental JVM which internally unboxes value types but does not require new bytecodes to do so.  Ensure the feasibility of the performance model for the sample applications. Add tuple-like bytecodes (with or without generic type reification) to a major revision of the JVM, and teach the Java compiler to switch in the new bytecodes without code changes. A staggered roll-out like this would decouple language changes from bytecode changes, which is always a convenient thing. A similar investigation should be applied (concurrently) to array types.  In this case, it seems to me that the starting point is in the JVM: Add an experimental unboxing array data structure to a production JVM, perhaps along the lines of Maxine hybrids.  No bytecode or language support is required at first; everything can be done with encapsulated unsafe operations and/or method handles. Create an experimental JVM which internally unboxes value types but does not require new bytecodes to do so.  Ensure the feasibility of the performance model for the sample applications. Add tuple-like bytecodes (with or without generic type reification) to a major revision of the JVM, and teach the Java compiler to switch in the new bytecodes without code changes. That’s enough musing me for now.  Back to work!

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  • New T-SQL Features in SQL Server 2011

    - by Divya Agrawal
    SQL Server 2011 (or Denali) CTP is now available and can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=6a04f16f-f6be-4f92-9c92-f7e5677d91f9&displaylang=en SQL Server 2011 has several major enhancements including a new look for SSMS. SSMS is now   similar to Visual Studio   with greatly improved Intellisense support. This article we will focus on the T-SQL Enhancements in SQL Server 2011. The main [...]

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  • Slow (to none) performance on SQL 2005 after attaching SQL 2000 database

    - by ploft
    Issue: Using the detach/attach SQL database from a SQL 2000 SP4 instance to a much beefier SQL 2005 SP2 server. Run reindex, reorganize and update statistics a couple of times, but without any success. Queries on SQL 2000 took about 1-2 sec. to complete, now the same queries take 2-3 min on the SQL 2005 (and even 2008 - tested it there also). Have looked at the execution plans and the overall percent matches or are alike on each server.

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  • SQL Server Express 2008 R2 Installation error at Windows 7

    - by Shai Sherman
    Hello, I created install script that will install SQL Server 2008 R2 on windows XP SP3, windows vista and windows 7. One of the command that i used in the installation is for silent installation of SQL Server 2008 R2. When i install it on windows XP everything works just fine but when i try to install it on Windows 7 i get an error. What am I doing wrong? Here is the command line that i use: "Setup.exe /ConfigurationFile=Mysetup.ini" Mysetup.ini file: -------------------------------------Start of ini file --------------------------------- ;SQL SERVER 2008 R2 Configuration File ;Version 1.0, 5 May 2010 ; [SQLSERVER2008] ; Specify the Instance ID for the SQL Server features you have specified. SQL Server directory structure, registry structure, and service names will reflect the instance ID of the SQL Server instance. INSTANCEID="MSSQLSERVER" ; Specifies a Setup work flow, like INSTALL, UNINSTALL, or UPGRADE. This is a required parameter. ACTION="Install" ; Specifies features to install, uninstall, or upgrade. The list of top-level features include SQL, AS, RS, IS, and Tools. The SQL feature will install the database engine, replication, and full-text. The Tools feature will install Management Tools, Books online, Business Intelligence Development Studio, and other shared components. FEATURES=SQLENGINE ; Displays the command line parameters usage HELP="False" ; Specifies that the detailed Setup log should be piped to the console. INDICATEPROGRESS="False" ; Setup will not display any user interface. QUIET="False" ; Setup will display progress only without any user interaction. QUIETSIMPLE="True" ; Specifies that Setup should install into WOW64. This command line argument is not supported on an IA64 or a 32-bit system. ;X86="False" ; Specifies the path to the installation media folder where setup.exe is located. ;MEDIASOURCE="z:\" ; Detailed help for command line argument ENU has not been defined yet. ENU="True" ; Parameter that controls the user interface behavior. Valid values are Normal for the full UI, and AutoAdvance for a simplied UI. ; UIMODE="Normal" ; Specify if errors can be reported to Microsoft to improve future SQL Server releases. Specify 1 or True to enable and 0 or False to disable this feature. ERRORREPORTING="False" ; Specify the root installation directory for native shared components. ;INSTALLSHAREDDIR="D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server" ; Specify the root installation directory for the WOW64 shared components. ;INSTALLSHAREDWOWDIR="D:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server" ; Specify the installation directory. ;INSTANCEDIR="D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server" ; Specify that SQL Server feature usage data can be collected and sent to Microsoft. Specify 1 or True to enable and 0 or False to disable this feature. SQMREPORTING="False" ; Specify a default or named instance. MSSQLSERVER is the default instance for non-Express editions and SQLExpress for Express editions. This parameter is required when installing the SQL Server Database Engine (SQL), Analysis Services (AS), or Reporting Services (RS). INSTANCENAME="SQLEXPRESS" SECURITYMODE=SQL SAPWD=SystemAdmin ; Agent account name AGTSVCACCOUNT="NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE" ; Auto-start service after installation. AGTSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Manual" ; Startup type for Integration Services. ;ISSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Automatic" ; Account for Integration Services: Domain\User or system account. ;ISSVCACCOUNT="NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService" ; Controls the service startup type setting after the service has been created. ;ASSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Automatic" ; The collation to be used by Analysis Services. ;ASCOLLATION="Latin1_General_CI_AS" ; The location for the Analysis Services data files. ;ASDATADIR="Data" ; The location for the Analysis Services log files. ;ASLOGDIR="Log" ; The location for the Analysis Services backup files. ;ASBACKUPDIR="Backup" ; The location for the Analysis Services temporary files. ;ASTEMPDIR="Temp" ; The location for the Analysis Services configuration files. ;ASCONFIGDIR="Config" ; Specifies whether or not the MSOLAP provider is allowed to run in process. ;ASPROVIDERMSOLAP="1" ; A port number used to connect to the SharePoint Central Administration web application. ;FARMADMINPORT="0" ; Startup type for the SQL Server service. SQLSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Automatic" ; Level to enable FILESTREAM feature at (0, 1, 2 or 3). FILESTREAMLEVEL="0" ; Set to "1" to enable RANU for SQL Server Express. ENABLERANU="1" ; Specifies a Windows collation or an SQL collation to use for the Database Engine. SQLCOLLATION="SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS" ; Account for SQL Server service: Domain\User or system account. SQLSVCACCOUNT="NT Authority\System" ; Default directory for the Database Engine user databases. ;SQLUSERDBDIR="K:\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data" ; Default directory for the Database Engine user database logs. ;SQLUSERDBLOGDIR="L:\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data\Logs" ; Directory for Database Engine TempDB files. ;SQLTEMPDBDIR="T:\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data" ; Directory for the Database Engine TempDB log files. ;SQLTEMPDBLOGDIR="T:\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL\Data\Logs" ; Provision current user as a Database Engine system administrator for SQL Server 2008 R2 Express. ADDCURRENTUSERASSQLADMIN="True" ; Specify 0 to disable or 1 to enable the TCP/IP protocol. TCPENABLED="1" ; Specify 0 to disable or 1 to enable the Named Pipes protocol. NPENABLED="0" ; Startup type for Browser Service. BROWSERSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Automatic" ; Specifies how the startup mode of the report server NT service. When ; Manual - Service startup is manual mode (default). ; Automatic - Service startup is automatic mode. ; Disabled - Service is disabled ;RSSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Automatic" ; Specifies which mode report server is installed in. ; Default value: “FilesOnly” ;RSINSTALLMODE="FilesOnlyMode" ; Accept SQL Server 2008 R2 license terms IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS="TRUE" ;setup.exe /CONFIGURATIONFILE=Mysetup.ini /INDICATEPROGRESS --------------------------- End of ini file ------------------------------------- And i get this error: 2010-08-31 18:05:53 Slp: Error result: -2068119551 2010-08-31 18:05:53 Slp: Result facility code: 1211 2010-08-31 18:05:53 Slp: Result error code: 1 2010-08-31 18:05:53 Slp: Sco: Attempting to create base registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, machine 2010-08-31 18:05:53 Slp: Sco: Attempting to open registry subkey 2010-08-31 18:05:53 Slp: Sco: Attempting to open registry subkey Software\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\DW\Installed 2010-08-31 18:05:53 Slp: Sco: Attempting to get registry value DW0200 2010-08-31 18:05:53 Slp: Submitted 1 of 1 failures to the Watson data repository What the meaning of this? What do i need to do to fix that problem? Here is the Summary file: Overall summary: Final result: SQL Server installation failed. To continue, investigate the reason for the failure, correct the problem, uninstall SQL Server, and then rerun SQL Server Setup. Exit code (Decimal): -2068119551 Exit facility code: 1211 Exit error code: 1 Exit message: SQL Server installation failed. To continue, investigate the reason for the failure, correct the problem, uninstall SQL Server, and then rerun SQL Server Setup. Start time: 2010-08-31 18:03:44 End time: 2010-08-31 18:05:51 Requested action: Install Log with failure: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20100831_180236\Detail.txt Exception help link: http%3a%2f%2fgo.microsoft.com%2ffwlink%3fLinkId%3d20476%26ProdName%3dMicrosoft%2bSQL%2bServer%26EvtSrc%3dsetup.rll%26EvtID%3d50000%26ProdVer%3d10.50.1600.1%26EvtType%3d0x6121810A%400xC24842DB Machine Properties: Machine name: NVR Machine processor count: 2 OS version: Windows 7 OS service pack: OS region: United States OS language: English (United States) OS architecture: x86 Process architecture: 32 Bit OS clustered: No Product features discovered: Product Instance Instance ID Feature Language Edition Version Clustered Package properties: Description: SQL Server Database Services 2008 R2 ProductName: SQL Server 2008 R2 Type: RTM Version: 10 SPLevel: 0 Installation location: C:\Disk1\setupsql\x86\setup\ Installation edition: EXPRESS User Input Settings: ACTION: Install ADDCURRENTUSERASSQLADMIN: True AGTSVCACCOUNT: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE AGTSVCPASSWORD: * AGTSVCSTARTUPTYPE: Disabled ASBACKUPDIR: Backup ASCOLLATION: Latin1_General_CI_AS ASCONFIGDIR: Config ASDATADIR: Data ASDOMAINGROUP: ASLOGDIR: Log ASPROVIDERMSOLAP: 1 ASSVCACCOUNT: ASSVCPASSWORD: * ASSVCSTARTUPTYPE: Automatic ASSYSADMINACCOUNTS: ASTEMPDIR: Temp BROWSERSVCSTARTUPTYPE: Automatic CONFIGURATIONFILE: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20100831_180236\ConfigurationFile.ini CUSOURCE: ENABLERANU: True ENU: True ERRORREPORTING: False FARMACCOUNT: FARMADMINPORT: 0 FARMPASSWORD: * FEATURES: SQLENGINE FILESTREAMLEVEL: 0 FILESTREAMSHARENAME: FTSVCACCOUNT: FTSVCPASSWORD: * HELP: False IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS: True INDICATEPROGRESS: False INSTALLSHAREDDIR: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\ INSTALLSHAREDWOWDIR: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\ INSTALLSQLDATADIR: INSTANCEDIR: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\ INSTANCEID: MSSQLSERVER INSTANCENAME: SQLEXPRESS ISSVCACCOUNT: NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService ISSVCPASSWORD: * ISSVCSTARTUPTYPE: Automatic NPENABLED: 0 PASSPHRASE: * PCUSOURCE: PID: * QUIET: False QUIETSIMPLE: True ROLE: AllFeatures_WithDefaults RSINSTALLMODE: FilesOnlyMode RSSVCACCOUNT: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE RSSVCPASSWORD: * RSSVCSTARTUPTYPE: Automatic SAPWD: * SECURITYMODE: SQL SQLBACKUPDIR: SQLCOLLATION: SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS SQLSVCACCOUNT: NT Authority\System SQLSVCPASSWORD: * SQLSVCSTARTUPTYPE: Automatic SQLSYSADMINACCOUNTS: SQLTEMPDBDIR: SQLTEMPDBLOGDIR: SQLUSERDBDIR: SQLUSERDBLOGDIR: SQMREPORTING: False TCPENABLED: 1 UIMODE: AutoAdvance X86: False Configuration file: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20100831_180236\ConfigurationFile.ini Detailed results: Feature: Database Engine Services Status: Failed: see logs for details MSI status: Passed Configuration status: Failed: see details below Configuration error code: 0x0A2FBD17@1211@1 Configuration error description: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. Configuration log: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20100831_180236\Detail.txt Rules with failures: Global rules: Scenario specific rules: Rules report file: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\20100831_180236\SystemConfigurationCheck_Report.htm What should I do and why does this problem occur? Thanks , Shai.

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  • More than 100,000 articles !

    - by developerit
    In one month, we already got more than 100,000, and we continue to crawl! We plan on hitting 250,000 total articles next month. Due to the large amount of data we are gathering, we are planning on updating our SQL stored procedure to improve performance. We may be migrating to SQL Server 2008 Entreprise, as we are currently running on SQL Server 2005 Express Edition… We are at 400 Mb of data, getting more and more close to the 2 Gb limit. Stay tune for more info and browse daily fresh articles about web development.

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  • An XEvent a Day (20 of 31) – Mapping Extended Events to SQL Trace

    - by Jonathan Kehayias
    One of the biggest problems that I had with getting into Extended Events was mapping the Events available in Extended Events to the Events that I knew from SQL Trace. With so many Events to choose from in Extended Events, and a different organization of the Events, it is really easy to get lost when trying to find things. Add to this the fact that Event names don’t match up to Trace Event names in SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2, and not all of the Events from Trace are implemented in SQL Server 2008...(read more)

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  • Comparing Standard Editions of SQL Server

    - by RickHeiges
    Recently, I've been speaking with customers about upgrading SQL Server. At times, some customers have a lot of Standard Edition SQL Server 2005 / 2008 / 2008R2 in their organization and they want to see the features they get when upgrading to SQL Server 2012. Last week, I sent out some tweets to the #sqlhelp hashtag to see if someone has already put together a document or blog post about comparing the Standard Editions. I was unable to discover anything out there that really focuses just on Standard...(read more)

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  • T-SQL Tuesday #006: "What About BLOB?"

    - by Mike C
    Invitation for T-SQL Tuesday #006: "What About BLOB?" It's getting warm outside just in time for the May T-SQL Tuesday blog party. I’ll be your host this month--and the secret word for this T-SQL Tuesday is "Large Object (LOB) Data" . What’s T-SQL Tuesday? About 6 months ago Adam Machanic (Twitter: @AdamMachanic ) decided to throw a worldwide blog party. Every month Adam picks a host to post the topic and the rules. Everyone who wants to participate publishes a blog entry on the topic of the day,...(read more)

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  • SQL Server Driver for PHP 2.0 CTP adds PHP's PDO style data access for SQL Server

    - by The Official Microsoft IIS Site
    Today at DrupalCon SF 2010, we are reaching an important milestone by releasing a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the new SQL Server Driver for PHP 2.0 , which includes support for PHP Data Objects (PDO). Alongside our efforts, the Commerce Guys , a company providing ecommerce solutions with Drupal, is also presenting a beta version of Drupal 7 running on SQL Server using this new PDO Application Programming Interfaces (API) in the SQL Server Driver for PHP 2.0. Providing a PDO driver in SQL...(read more)

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  • Migrating SQL Server Compact Edition (SQL CE) database to SQL Server using Web Matrix

    - by Harish Ranganathan
    One of the things that is keeping us busy is the Web Camps we are delivering across 5 cities.  If you are a reader of this blog, and also attended one of these web camps, there is a good chance that you have seen me since I was there in all the places, so far.  The topics that we cover include Visual Studio 2010 SP1, SQL CE, ASP.NET MVC & HTML5.  Whenever I talk about SQL CE, the immediate response is that, people are wow that Microsoft has shipped a FREE compact edition database, which is an embedded database that can be x-copy deployed.  If you think, well didn’t Microsoft ship SQL Express which is FREE?  The difference is that, SQL Express runs as a service in the machine (if you open SQL Configuration Manager, you can notice that SQL Express is running as a service along with your SQL Server Engine (if you have installed ).  This makes it that, even if you are willing to use SQL Express when you deploy your application, it needs to be installed on the production machine (hosting provider) and it needs to run as a service.  Many hosters don’t allow such services to run on their space. SQL CE comes as a x-Copy deploy-able database with just a few DLLs required to run it on the machine and they don’t even need to be installed in GAC on the production machine.  In fact, if you have Visual Studio 2010 SP1 installed, you can use the “Add Deployable Dependencies” option in Project-Properties and it would detect that SQL CE is something you would probably want to add as a deploy-able dependency for your project.  With that, it bundles the required DLLs as a part of the “_bin_deployableAssemblies” folder.  So your project can be x-Copy deployed and just works fine. However, SQL CE has the limit of 4GB storage space.  Real world applications often require more than just 4GB of data storage and it often turns out that people would like to use SQL CE for development/ramp up stages but would like to migrate to full fledged SQL Server after a while.  So, its only natural that the question arises “How do I move my SQL CE database to SQL Server”  And honestly, it doesn’t come across as a straight forward support.  I was talking to Ambrish Mishra (PM in SQL CE Team, Hyderabad) since I got this question in almost all the places where we talked about SQL CE.   He was kind enough to demonstrate how this can be accomplished using Web Matrix.  Open Web Matrix (Web Matrix can be installed for free from www.microsoft.com/web) and click on “Site from Template” Click on the “Bakery” template (since by default it uses a SQL CE database and has all the required sample data) and click “Ok”. In the project, you can navigate to the Database tab and will be able to find that the Bakery site uses a SQL CE database “bakery.sdf” Select the “bakery.sdf” and you will be able to see the “Migrate” button on the top right Once you click on the “Migrate” button, you will notice that the popup wizard opens up and by default is configured for SQL Express.  You can edit the same to point to your local SQL Server instance, or a remote server. Upon filling in the Server Name, Username and Password, when you click “Ok”, couple of things happen.  1. The database is migrated to SQL Server (local or remote – subject to permissions on remote server).   You can open up SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the server to verify that the “bakery” database exists under “Databases” node. 2. You can also notice that in Web Matrix, when you navigate to the “Files” tab and open up the web.config file, connection string now points to the SQL Server instance (yes, the Migrate button was smart enough to make this change too ) And there it is, your SQL Server Compact Edition database, now migrated to SQL Server!! In a future post, I would explain the steps involved when using Visual Studio. Cheers !!!

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  • Connectivity with SQL Server Express 2008 r2 and SQL Server 2000 on same machine

    - by Jim R
    At first glance this may same a duplicate of Installing both SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2008 on the same machine, but it is not. I have SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2008 R2 installed on the same machine and working fine. My problem lies with connecting to the 2008 R2 server from a remote machine. My connectivity needs to be TCP. The legacy installation or SQL 2000 uses the default port of 1433. The named instance is by default configured to use 'Shared Memory' and is working fine. When I configured the 2008 R2 server to use 1433 (I did not think that thru) the service refused to start becasue 1433 was already in use by the legacy SQL 2000 default instance. Doh! What I want to do is have both servers available simultaneously via TCP. both servers need not be on the same port, put if I cannot run them on the same port, then how do I configure the clients? Is there not some kind of proxy available that can monitor the 1433 port and pass the request thru to the correct SQL instance by name? Is this capability built into SQL server already? Thanks, Jim

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  • Advantages of SQL Backup Pro

    - by Grant Fritchey
    Getting backups of your databases in place is a fundamental issue for protection of the business. Yes, I said business, not data, not databases, but business. Because of a lack of good, tested, backups, companies have gone completely out of business or suffered traumatic financial loss. That’s just a simple fact (outlined with a few examples here). So you want to get backups right. That’s a big part of why we make Red Gate SQL Backup Pro work the way it does. Yes, you could just use native backups, but you’ll be missing a few advantages that we provide over and above what you get out of the box from Microsoft. Let’s talk about them. Guidance If you’re a hard-core DBA with 20+ years of experience on every version of SQL Server and several other data platforms besides, you may already know what you need in order to get a set of tested backups in place. But, if you’re not, maybe a little help would be a good thing. To set up backups for your servers, we supply a wizard that will step you through the entire process. It will also act to guide you down good paths. For example, if your databases are in Full Recovery, you should set up transaction log backups to run on a regular basis. When you choose a transaction log backup from the Backup Type you’ll see that only those databases that are in Full Recovery will be listed: This makes it very easy to be sure you have a log backup set up for all the databases you should and none of the databases where you won’t be able to. There are other examples of guidance throughout the product. If you have the responsibility of managing backups but very little knowledge or time, we can help you out. Throughout the software you’ll notice little green question marks. You can see two in the screen above and more in each of the screens in other topics below this one. Clicking on these will open a window with additional information about the topic in question which should help to guide you through some of the tougher decisions you may have to make while setting up your backup jobs. Here’s an example: Backup Copies As a part of the wizard you can choose to make a copy of your backup on your network. This process runs as part of the Red Gate SQL Backup engine. It will copy your backup, after completing the backup so it doesn’t cause any additional blocking or resource use within the backup process, to the network location you define. Creating a copy acts as a mechanism of protection for your backups. You can then backup that copy or do other things with it, all without affecting the original backup file. This requires either an additional backup or additional scripting to get it done within the native Microsoft backup engine. Offsite Storage Red Gate offers you the ability to immediately copy your backup to the cloud as a further, off-site, protection of your backups. It’s a service we provide and expose through the Backup wizard. Your backup will complete first, just like with the network backup copy, then an asynchronous process will copy that backup to cloud storage. Again, this is built right into the wizard or even the command line calls to SQL Backup, so it’s part a single process within your system. With native backup you would need to write additional scripts, possibly outside of T-SQL, to make this happen. Before you can use this with your backups you’ll need to do a little setup, but it’s built right into the product to get this done. You’ll be directed to the web site for our hosted storage where you can set up an account. Compression If you have SQL Server 2008 Enterprise, or you’re on SQL Server 2008R2 or greater and you have a Standard or Enterprise license, then you have backup compression. It’s built right in and works well. But, if you need even more compression then you might want to consider Red Gate SQL Backup Pro. We offer four levels of compression within the product. This means you can get a little compression faster, or you can just sacrifice some CPU time and get even more compression. You decide. For just a simple example I backed up AdventureWorks2012 using both methods of compression. The resulting file from native was 53mb. Our file was 33mb. That’s a file that is smaller by 38%, not a small number when we start talking gigabytes. We even provide guidance here to help you determine which level of compression would be right for you and your system: So for this test, if you wanted maximum compression with minimum CPU use you’d probably want to go with Level 2 which gets you almost as much compression as Level 3 but will use fewer resources. And that compression is still better than the native one by 10%. Restore Testing Backups are vital. But, a backup is just a file until you restore it. How do you know that you can restore that backup? Of course, you’ll use CHECKSUM to validate that what was read from disk during the backup process is what gets written to the backup file. You’ll also use VERIFYONLY to check that the backup header and the checksums on the backup file are valid. But, this doesn’t do a complete test of the backup. The only complete test is a restore. So, what you really need is a process that tests your backups. This is something you’ll have to schedule separately from your backups, but we provide a couple of mechanisms to help you out here. First, when you create a backup schedule, all done through our wizard which gives you as much guidance as you get when running backups, you get the option of creating a reminder to create a job to test your restores. You can enable this or disable it as you choose when creating your scheduled backups. Once you’re ready to schedule test restores for your databases, we have a wizard for this as well. After you choose the databases and restores you want to test, all configurable for automation, you get to decide if you’re going to restore to a specified copy or to the original database: If you’re doing your tests on a new server (probably the best choice) you can just overwrite the original database if it’s there. If not, you may want to create a new database each time you test your restores. Another part of validating your backups is ensuring that they can pass consistency checks. So we have DBCC built right into the process. You can even decide how you want DBCC run, which error messages to include, limit or add to the checks being run. With this you could offload some DBCC checks from your production system so that you only run the physical checks on your production box, but run the full check on this backup. That makes backup testing not just a general safety process, but a performance enhancer as well: Finally, assuming the tests pass, you can delete the database, leave it in place, or delete it regardless of the tests passing. All this is automated and scheduled through the SQL Agent job on your servers. Running your databases through this process will ensure that you don’t just have backups, but that you have tested backups. Single Point of Management If you have more than one server to maintain, getting backups setup could be a tedious process. But, with Red Gate SQL Backup Pro you can connect to multiple servers and then manage all your databases and all your servers backups from a single location. You’ll be able to see what is scheduled, what has run successfully and what has failed, all from a single interface without having to connect to different servers. Log Shipping Wizard If you want to set up log shipping as part of a disaster recovery process, it can frequently be a pain to get configured correctly. We supply a wizard that will walk you through every step of the process including setting up alerts so you’ll know should your log shipping fail. Summary You want to get your backups right. As outlined above, Red Gate SQL Backup Pro will absolutely help you there. We supply a number of processes and functionalities above and beyond what you get with SQL Server native. Plus, with our guidance, hints and reminders, you will get your backups set up in a way that protects your business.

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  • SQL Server (2012 Enterprise) Browser service failing

    - by Watki02
    SQL Server (2012 Enterprise) Browser service failing I have a problem as described below: I have an instance of SQL Server 2012 Enterprise (thanks to MSDN) for local development on my PC. I try to start SQL server Browser Service from SQL Server Configuration Manager and it takes a long time to fail, then fails with: The request failed or the service did not respond in a timely fashion. Consult the event log or other applicable error logs for details. I checked event logs and found these errors in this order (all within the same 1-second time frame): The SQL Server Browser service port is unavailable for listening, or invalid. The SQL Server Browser service was unable to establish SQL instance and connectivity discovery. The SQL Server Browser is enabling SQL instance and connectivity discovery support. The SQL Server Browser service was unable to establish Analysis Services discovery. The SQL Server Browser service has started. The SQL Server Browser service has shutdown. I checked firewall rules and both port 1433 (TCP) and 1434 (UDP) are wide open, just as well - the programs and service binary had been "allowed through windows firewall". I started the "Analysis Services" service by hand and it works fine. Browser still won't start. Some History: Installed SQL 2008 R2 express advanced Installed SQL2012 Express advanced Uninstalled SQL 2008 R2 express advanced Installed 2012 SSDT and lots of features with Express install Installed a unique instance of SQL 2012 Enterprise with all features Uninstalled SSDT and reinstalled SSDT with Enterprise (solved a different problem) Uninstalled SQL 2012 Express Uninstalled SQL 2012 Enterprise Removed anything with "SQL" in the name from Control panel "Programs and features" Installed SQL 2012 Enterprise without Analysis services (This is where I noticed SQL Browser service was failing to start even on the install) Added the feature of Analysis Services (and everything else) via the installer (Browser continued to fail to start on the install) ======================== Other interesting facts: opening a command window with administrator and trying to run sqlbrowser.exe manually yielded: Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601] Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Windows\system32cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Shared C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Sharedsqlbrowser.exe -c SQLBrowser: starting up in console mode SQLBrowser: starting up SSRP redirection service SQLBrowser: failed starting SSRP redirection services -- shutting down. SQLBrowser: starting up OLAP redirection service SQLBrowser: Stopping the OLAP redirector C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Shared As I try to repair the install it errors out saying The following error has occurred: Service 'SQLBrowser' start request failed. Click 'Retry' to retry the failed action, or click 'Cancel' to cancel this action and continue setup. For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkID=20476&ProdName=Microsoft%20SQL%20Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=11.0.2100.60&EvtType=0x4F9BEA51%25400xD3BEBD98%25401211%25401 Clicking retry fails every time. When clicking cancel I get: The following error has occurred: SQL Server Browser configuration for feature 'SQL_Browser_Redist_SqlBrowser_Cpu32' was cancelled by user after a previous installation failure. The last attempted step: Starting the SQL Server Browser service 'SQLBrowser', and waiting for up to '900' seconds for the process to complete. . For help, click: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink?LinkID=20476&ProdName=Microsoft%20SQL%20Server&EvtSrc=setup.rll&EvtID=50000&ProdVer=11.0.2100.60&EvtType=0x4F9BEA51%25400xD3BEBD98%25401211%25401 When I go to uninstall the SQL Browser from "Programs and Features", it complains: Error opening installation log file. Verify that the specified log file location exists and is writable. Is there any way I can fix this short of re-imaging my computer and reinstalling from scratch? A possible approach would be to somehow really uninstall everything and delete all files related to SQL... is that a good idea, and how do I do that?

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  • New T-SQL Functionality in SQL Server 2008

    - by ejohnson2010
    In my most recent posts I have looked at a few of the new features offered in T-SQL in SQL Server 2008. In this post, I want to take a closer look at some of the smaller additions, but additions that are likely to pack a big punch in terms of efficiency. First let’s talk a little about compound operators. This is a concept that has been around in programming languages for a long time, but has just now found its way into T-SQL. For example, the += operator will add the values to the current variable...(read more)

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  • Security updates for all supported versions of SQL Server

    - by AaronBertrand
    It's patch Tuesday! [ UPDATE June 19 : Please see my follow-up post about this security update.] Today Microsoft released a security bulletin covering several issues that could potentially affect SQL Server; these exploits include remote code execution, denial of service, information disclosure and elevation of privilege. You should test these patches on all machines running SQL Server, including those running only client tools (e.g. Management Studio or Management Studio Express). The updates affect...(read more)

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  • Thoughts on Nexus in SQL Server PDW

    - by jamiet
    I have been on a SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse (aka PDW) training course this week and was interested to learn that you can't (yet) use SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) against PDW, instead they ship a 3rd party tool called Nexus Chameleon. This was a bit of a disappointment at the beginning of the week (I'd prefer parity across SQL Server editions) but actually, having used Nexus for 3 days, I'm rather getting used to it. Some of it is a bit clunky (e.g. everything goes via an ODBC DSN) but once you get into using it its the epitome of "it just works". For example, over the past few years I have come to rely on intellisense in SSMS and have learnt to cope with its nuances. There is no intellisense in Nexus but you know what....I don't really miss it that much. In a sense its a breath of fresh air not having to hope that you've crossed the line into that will it work/won't it work grey area with SSMS intellisense. And I don't end up with writing @@CONNECTIONS instead of FROM anymore (anyone else suffer from this?) :) Moreover, Nexus is a standalone tool. Its not a bunch of features shoehorned into something else (Visual Studio). Another thing I like about Nexus is that you can actually do something with your resultset client-side. Take a look at the screenshots below:   You can see Nexus allows you to group a resultest by a column or set of columns. Nice touch. I know that many people have submitted Connect requests asking for the ability to do similar things in SSMS that would mean we don't have to copy resultsets into Excel (I know I have) - Nexus is a step in that direction. Its refreshing to use a tool that just gets out of the way yet still has some really useful features. How ironic that it gets shipped inside an edition of SQL Server! If I had the option of using Nexus in my day job I suspect that over time I would probably gravitate back to SSMS because as yet I haven’t really stretched Nexus’ capabilities, overall SSMS *does* have more features and up until now I've never really had any objections to it ... but its been an interesting awakening into the nuances that plague SSMS. Anyone else used Nexus? Any thoughts on it? @Jamiet

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  • My favourite feature of SQL 2008 R2

    - by Rob Farley
    Interestingly, my favourite new feature of SQL Server 2008 R2 isn’t any of the obvious things.  You may have read my recent posts about how much I like some of the new Reporting Services features, such as the map control. Or you may have seen my presentation at SQLBits V on StreamInsight, which I think has great potential to change the way many applications handle data (by allowing easier querying of data before it even reaches the database). Next week the Adelaide SQL Server User Group has...(read more)

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  • Migrating data from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005

    - by Muhammad Kashif Nadeem
    I have to migrate existing data which is in SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005. The schema of two databases is different. For Example Locations table in SS2000 is split into two tables and has different columns. This is one time activity. After successful migration I don't need old db anymore. What is the best way to transfer data from one SQL Server to another having different schemas? I can write stored procedures to fetch data from SQL Server 2000 and insert/update tables in SQL Server 2005. What about SSIS? I don't have any experience with this and is this better to create package of SSIS because I don't need this again and need to learn it first. Thanks.

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  • SharePoint 2010 – SQL Server has an unsupported version 10.0.2531.0

    - by Jeff Widmer
    I am trying to perform a database attach upgrade to SharePoint Foundation 2010. At this point I am trying to attach the content database to a Web application by using Windows Powershell: Mount-SPContentDatabase -Name <DatabaseName> -DatabaseServer <ServerName> -WebApplication <URL> [-Updateuserexperience] I am following the directions from this TechNet article: Attach databases and upgrade to SharePoint Foundation 2010.  When I go to mount the content database I am receiving this error: Mount-SPContentDatabase : Could not connect to [DATABASE_SERVER] using integrated security: SQL server at [DATABASE_SERVER] has an unsupported version 10.0.2531.0. Please refer to “http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=165761” for information on the minimum required SQL Server versions and how to download them. At first this did not make sense because the default SharePoint Foundation 2010 website was running just fine.  But then I realized that the default SharePoint Foundation site runs off of SQL Server Express and that I had just installed SQL Server Web Edition (since the database is greater than 4GB) and restored the database to this version of SQL Server. Checking the documentation link above I see that SharePoint Server 2010 requires a 64-bit edition of SQL Server with the minimum required SQL Server versions as follows: SQL Server 2008 Express Edition Service Pack 1, version number 10.0.2531 SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 cumulative update package 3, version number 9.00.4220.00 SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 cumulative update package 2, version number 10.00.2714.00 The version of SQL Server 2008 Web Edition with Service Pack 1 (the version I installed on this machine) is 10.0.2531.0. SELECT @@VERSION: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (SP1) - 10.0.2531.0 (X64)   Mar 29 2009 10:11:52   Copyright (c) 1988-2008 Microsoft Corporation  Web Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.1 <X64> (Build 7600: ) (VM) But I had to read the article several times since the minimum version number for SQL Server Express is 10.0.2531.0.  At first I thought I was good with the version of SQL Server 2008 Web that I had installed, also 10.0.2531.0.  But then I read further to see that there is a cumulative update (hotfix) for SQL Server 2008 SP1 (NOT the Express edition) that is required for SharePoint 2010 and will bump the version number to 10.0.2714.00. So the solution was to install the Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 on my SQL Server 2008 Web Edition to allow SharePoint 2010 to work with SQL Server 2008 (other than the SQL Server 2008 Express version). SELECT @@VERSION (After installing Cumulative update package 2): Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (SP1) - 10.0.2714.0 (X64)   May 14 2009 16:08:52   Copyright (c) 1988-2008 Microsoft Corporation  Web Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.1 <X64> (Build 7600: ) (VM)

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  • The perils of double-dash comments [T-SQL]

    - by jamiet
    I was checking my Twitter feed on my way in to work this morning and was alerted to an interesting blog post by Valentino Vranken that highlights a problem regarding the OLE DB Source in SSIS. In short, using double-dash comments in SQL statements within the OLE DB Source can cause unexpected results. It really is quite an important read if you’re developing SSIS packages so head over to SSIS OLE DB Source, Parameters And Comments: A Dangerous Mix! and be educated. Note that the problem is solved in SSIS2012 and Valentino explains exactly why. If reading Valentino’s post has switched your brain into “learn mode” perhaps also check out my post SSIS: SELECT *... or select from a dropdown in an OLE DB Source component? which highlights another issue to be aware of when using the OLE DB Source. As I was reading Valentino’s post I was reminded of a slidedeck by Chris Adkin entitled T-SQL Coding Guidelines where he recommends never using double-dash comments: That’s good advice! @Jamiet

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  • SSIS: Building SQL databases on-the-fly using concatenated SQL scripts

    - by DrJohn
    Over the years I have developed many techniques which help automate the whole SQL Server build process. In my current process, where I need to build entire OLAP data marts on-the-fly, I make regular use of a simple but very effective mechanism to concatenate all the SQL Scripts together from my SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio) projects. This proves invaluable because in two clicks I can redeploy an entire SQL Server database with all tables, views, stored procedures etc. Indeed, I can also use the concatenated SQL scripts with SSIS to build SQL Server databases on-the-fly. You may be surprised to learn that I often redeploy the database several times per day, or even several times per hour, during the development process. This is because the deployment errors are logged and you can quickly see where SQL Scripts have object dependency errors. For example, after changing a table structure you may have forgotten to change any related views. The deployment log immediately points out all the objects which failed to build so you can fix and redeploy the database very quickly. The alternative approach (i.e. doing changes in the database directly using the SSMS UI) would require you to check all dependent objects before making changes. The chances are that you will miss something and wonder why your app returns the wrong data – a common problem caused by changing a table without re-creating dependent views. Using SQL Projects in SSMS A great many developers fail to make use of SQL Projects in SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio). To me they are invaluable way of organizing your SQL Scripts. The screenshot below shows a typical SSMS solution made up of several projects – one project for tables, another for views etc. The key point is that the projects naturally fall into the right order in file system because of the project name. The number in the folder or file name ensures that the projects the SQL scripts are concatenated together in the order that they need to be executed. Hence the script filenames start with 100, 110 etc. Concatenating SQL Scripts To concatenate the SQL Scripts together into one file, I use notepad.exe to create a simple batch file (see example screenshot) which uses the TYPE command to write the content of the SQL Script files into a combined file. As the SQL Scripts are in several folders, I simply use several TYPE command multiple times and append the output together. If you are unfamiliar with batch files, you may not know that the angled bracket (>) means write output of the program into a file. Two angled brackets (>>) means append output of this program into a file. So the command-line DIR > filelist.txt would write the content of the DIR command into a file called filelist.txt. In the example shown above, the concatenated file is called SB_DDS.sql If, like me you place the concatenated file under source code control, then the source code control system will change the file's attribute to "read-only" which in turn would cause the TYPE command to fail. The ATTRIB command can be used to remove the read-only flag. Using SQLCmd to execute the concatenated file Now that the SQL Scripts are all in one big file, we can execute the script against a database using SQLCmd using another batch file as shown below: SQLCmd has numerous options, but the script shown above simply executes the SS_DDS.sql file against the SB_DDS_DB database on the local machine and logs the errors to a file called SB_DDS.log. So after executing the batch file you can simply check the error log to see if your database built without a hitch. If you have errors, then simply fix the source files, re-create the concatenated file and re-run the SQLCmd to rebuild the database. This two click operation allows you to quickly identify and fix errors in your entire database definition.Using SSIS to execute the concatenated file To execute the concatenated SQL script using SSIS, you simply drop an Execute SQL task into your package and set the database connection as normal and then select File Connection as the SQLSourceType (as shown below). Create a file connection to your concatenated SQL script and you are ready to go.   Tips and TricksAdd a new-line at end of every fileThe most common problem encountered with this approach is that the GO statement on the last line of one file is placed on the same line as the comment at the top of the next file by the TYPE command. The easy fix to this is to ensure all your files have a new-line at the end.Remove all USE database statementsThe SQLCmd identifies which database the script should be run against.  So you should remove all USE database commands from your scripts - otherwise you may get unintentional side effects!!Do the Create Database separatelyIf you are using SSIS to create the database as well as create the objects and populate the database, then invoke the CREATE DATABASE command against the master database using a separate package before calling the package that executes the concatenated SQL script.    

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  • How to create SQL Server Express DB from SQL Server DB

    - by jeff
    I have a SQL Server 2008 DB. I want to extract SOME tables (and associated schema, constraints, indexes, etc) and create a SQL Server Express DB. It isn't a sync of the target, we stomp on it. We ONLY need to do this in the file system (not across the wire). We are not fond of the synchronization stuff and at this point don't know how to run SSIS. We are a C# shop and a little code is ok. Like using the C# bulk import stuff, but that won't create the schema. Suggestions?

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  • SQL Server 2008 Restore from Backup fails with error 3241 'cannot process this media family'

    - by pearcewg
    I am attempting to backup a database from a SQL Server instance on one machine and restore it to another, and I am encountering the frequently discovered 'SQL Server cannot process this media family' error. Each of my instances are SQL Server 2008, but with different patch levels Restore: 10.0.2531.0 Backup: 10.0.1600.22 ((SQL_PreRelease).080709-1414 ) The restore DB is express. Not sure about the backup version. The backup version is on a virtual private server. The restore is on my development box. When I restore to a different database on the source (backup) server, it restores fine. Lots of stuff on google about this issue, some on stackoverflow about this issue, but nothing which is this exact situation. Any thoughts? It should be straightforward to do a backup and restore from one machine to another (having done this thousands of times in with SQL 6.5,7,2000,2005). Any ideas how to restore a database in this situation, which gives this error when attempting to restore? PARTIAL RESOLUTION: When I restored to a different box, running SQL 2008 Express on Windows Server 2003, all worked well. It just wouldn't work on the Windows 7 box. Not sure why. If anyone else has a similar experience, please let me know (there are many similar issues in different forums out there).

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  • SQL Server Master class winner

    - by Testas
     The winner of the SQL Server MasterClass competition courtesy of the UK SQL Server User Group and SQL Server Magazine!    Steve Hindmarsh     There is still time to register for the seminar yourself at:  www.regonline.co.uk/kimtrippsql     More information about the seminar     Where: Radisson Edwardian Heathrow Hotel, London  When: Thursday 17th June 2010  This one-day MasterClass will focus on many of the top issues companies face when implementing and maintaining a SQL Server-based solution. In the case where a company has no dedicated DBA, IT managers sometimes struggle to keep the data tier performing well and the data available. This can be especially troublesome when the development team is unfamiliar with the affect application design choices have on database performance. The Microsoft SQL Server MasterClass 2010 is presented by Paul S. Randal and Kimberly L. Tripp, two of the most experienced and respected people in the SQL Server world. Together they have over 30 years combined experience working with SQL Server in the field, and on the SQL Server product team itself. This is a unique opportunity to hear them present at a UK event which will: Debunk many of the ingrained misconceptions around SQL Server's behaviour    Show you disaster recovery techniques critical to preserving your company's life-blood - the data    Explain how a common application design pattern can wreak havoc in the database Walk through the top-10 points to follow around operations and maintenance for a well-performing and available data tier! Please Note: Agenda may be subject to change  Sessions Abstracts  KEYNOTE: Bridging the Gap Between Development and Production    Applications are commonly developed with little regard for how design choices will affect performance in production. This is often because developers don't realize the implications of their design on how SQL Server will be able to handle a high workload (e.g. blocking, fragmentation) and/or because there's no full-time trained DBA that can recognize production problems and help educate developers. The keynote sets the stage for the rest of the day. Discussing some of the issues that can arise, explaining how some can be avoided and highlighting some of the features in SQL 2008 that can help developers and DBAs make better use of SQL Server, and troubleshoot when things go wrong.   SESSION ONE: SQL Server Mythbusters  It's amazing how many myths and misconceptions have sprung up and persisted over the years about SQL Server - after many years helping people out on forums, newsgroups, and customer engagements, Paul and Kimberly have heard it all. Are there really non-logged operations? Can interrupting shrinks or rebuilds cause corruption? Can you override the server's MAXDOP setting? Will the server always do a table-scan to get a row count? Many myths lead to poor design choices and inappropriate maintenance practices so these are just a few of many, many myths that Paul and Kimberly will debunk in this fast-paced session on how SQL Server operates and should be managed and maintained.   SESSION TWO: Database Recovery Techniques Demo-Fest  Even if a company has a disaster recovery strategy in place, they need to practice to make sure that the plan will work when a disaster does strike. In this fast-paced demo session Paul and Kimberly will repeatedly do nasty things to databases and then show how they are recovered - demonstrating many techniques that can be used in production for disaster recovery. Not for the faint-hearted!   SESSION THREE: GUIDs: Use, Abuse, and How To Move Forward   Since the addition of the GUID (Microsoft’s implementation of the UUID), my life as a consultant and "tuner" has been busy. I’ve seen databases designed with GUID keys run fairly well with small workloads but completely fall over and fail because they just cannot scale. And, I know why GUIDs are chosen - it simplifies the handling of parent/child rows in your batches so you can reduce round-trips or avoid dealing with identity values. And, yes, sometimes it's even for distributed databases and/or security that GUIDs are chosen. I'm not entirely against ever using a GUID but overusing and abusing GUIDs just has to be stopped! Please, please, please let me give you better solutions and explanations on how to deal with your parent/child rows, round-trips and clustering keys!   SESSION 4: Essential Database Maintenance  In this session, Paul and Kimberly will run you through their top-ten database maintenance recommendations, with a lot of tips and tricks along the way. These are distilled from almost 30 years combined experience working with SQL Server customers and are geared towards making your databases more performant, more available, and more easily managed (to save you time!). Everything in this session will be practical and applicable to a wide variety of databases. Topics covered include: backups, shrinks, fragmentation, statistics, and much more! Focus will be on 2005 but we'll explain some of the key differences for 2000 and 2008 as well. Speaker Biographies     Kimberley L. Tripp Paul and Kimberly are a husband-and-wife team who own and run SQLskills.com, a world-renowned SQL Server consulting and training company. They are both SQL Server MVPs and Microsoft Regional Directors, with over 30 years of combined experience on SQL Server. Paul worked on the SQL Server team for nine years in development and management roles, writing many of the DBCC commands, and ultimately with responsibility for core Storage Engine for SQL Server 2008. Paul writes extensively on his blog (SQLskills.com/blogs/Paul) and for TechNet Magazine, for which he is also a Contributing Editor. Kimberly worked on the SQL Server team in the early 1990s as a tester and writer before leaving to found SQLskills and embrace her passion for teaching and consulting. Kimberly has been a staple at worldwide conferences since she first presented at TechEd in 1996, and she blogs at SQLskills.com/blogs/Kimberly. They have written Microsoft whitepapers and books for SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008, and are regular, top-rated presenters worldwide on database maintenance, high availability, disaster recovery, performance tuning, and SQL Server internals. Together they teach the SQL MCM certification and throughout Microsoft.In their spare time, they like to find frogfish in remote corners of the world.   Speaker Testimonials  "To call them good trainers is an epic understatement. They know how to deliver technical material in ways that illustrate it well. I had to stop Paul at one point and ask him how long it took to build a particular slide because the animations were so good at conveying a hard-to-describe process." "These are not beginner presenters, and they put an extreme amount of preparation and attention to detail into everything that they do. Completely, utterly professional." "When it comes to the instructors themselves, Kimberly and Paul simply have no equal. Not only are they both ultimate authorities, but they have endless enthusiasm about the material, and spot on delivery. If either ever got tired they never showed it, even after going all day and all week. We witnessed countless demos over the course of the week, some extremely involved, multi-step processes, and I can’t recall one that didn’t go the way it was supposed to." "You might think that with this extreme level of skill comes extreme levels of egotism and lack of patience. Nothing could be further from the truth. ... They simply know how to teach, and are approachable, humble, and patient." "The experience Paul and Kimberly have had with real live customers yields a lot more information and things to watch out for than you'd ever get from documentation alone." “Kimberly, I just wanted to send you an email to let you know how awesome you are! I have applied some of your indexing strategies to our website’s homegrown CMS and we are experiencing a significant performance increase. WOW....amazing tips delivered in an exciting way!  Thanks again” 

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