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• SQL SERVER – Convert Seconds to Hour : Minute : Seconds Format

  - by Pinal Dave

  Here is another question I received via email. “Hi Pinal, I have a unique requirement. We measure time spent on any webpage in measure of seconds. I recently have to build a report over it and I did few summations based on group of web pages. Now my manager wants to convert the time, which is in seconds to the format Hour : Minute : Seconds. I researched online and found a solution on stackoverflow for converting seconds to the Minute : Seconds but could not find a solution for Hour : Minute : Seconds. Would you please help?” Of course the logic is very simple. Here is the script for your need. DECLARE @TimeinSecond INT SET @TimeinSecond = 86399 -- Change the seconds SELECT RIGHT('0' + CAST(@TimeinSecond / 3600 AS VARCHAR),2) + ':' + RIGHT('0' + CAST((@TimeinSecond / 60) % 60 AS VARCHAR),2)  + ':' + RIGHT('0' + CAST(@TimeinSecond % 60 AS VARCHAR),2) Here is the screenshot of the resolution: Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL DateTime, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL

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• SQL SERVER 2012 Editions – Highlights of The Cloud-Ready Information Platform

  - by pinaldave

  Microsoft has just announced SQL Server 2012 Editions information on official SQL Server 2012 site. SQL Server 2012 will be available in three main editions: Enterprise Business Intelligence Standard The other editions are Web, Developer and Express. Here is the salient features of each of the edition: Enterprise Advanced high availability with AlwaysOn High performance data warehousing with ColumnStore Maximum virtualization (with Software Assurance) Inclusive of Business Intelligence edition’s capabilities Business Intelligence Rapid data discovery with Power View Corporate and scalable reporting and analytics Data Quality Services and Master Data Services Inclusive of the Standard edition’s capabilities Standard Standard continues to offer basic database, reporting and analytics capabilities There is comparison chart of various other aspect of the above editions. Please refer here. Additionally SQL Server 2012 licensing is also explained here. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Business Intelligence, Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

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• SQLAuthority News – Windows Azure Training Kit Updated October 2012

  - by pinaldave

  Microsoft has recently released the updated to Windows Azure Training Kit. Earlier this month they have updated the kit and included quite a lot of things. Now the training kit contains 47 hands-on labs, 24 demos and 38 presentations. The best part is that the kit is now available to download in two different formats 1) Full Package (324.5 MB) and 2) Web Installer (2.4 MB). The full package enables you to download all of the hands-on labs and presentations to your local machine. The Web Installer allows you to select and download just the specific hands-on labs and presentations that you need. This Windows Azure Training Kit contains Hands on Labs, Presentations and Videos and Demos. I encourage all of you to try this out as well. The Kit also contains details about Samples and Tools. The training kit is the most authoritative learning resource on Windows Azure. You can download the Windows Azure Training Kit from here. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Azure, SQL Download, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Check If Column Exists in SQL Server Table

  - by Pinal Dave

  A very frequent task among SQL developers is to check if any specific column exists in the database table or not. Based on the output developers perform various tasks. Here are couple of simple tricks which you can use to check if column exists in your database table or not. Method 1 IF EXISTS(SELECT * FROM sys.columns WHERE Name = N'columnName' AND OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID(N'tableName')) BEGIN PRINT 'Your Column Exists' END   For AdventureWorks sample database IF EXISTS(SELECT * FROM sys.columns WHERE Name = N'Name' AND OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID(N'[HumanResources].[Department]')) BEGIN PRINT 'Your Column Exists' END   Method 2 IF COL_LENGTH('table_name','column_name') IS NOT NULL BEGIN PRINT 'Your Column Exists' END For AdventureWorks sample database IF COL_LENGTH('[HumanResources].[Department]','Name') IS NOT NULL BEGIN PRINT 'Your Column Exists' END Method 3 IF EXISTS( SELECT TOP 1 * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE [TABLE_NAME] = 'TableName' AND [COLUMN_NAME] = 'ColumnName' AND [TABLE_SCHEMA] = 'SchemaName') BEGIN PRINT 'Your Column Exists' END For AdventureWorks sample database IF EXISTS( SELECT TOP 1 * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE [TABLE_NAME] = 'Department' AND [COLUMN_NAME] = 'Name' AND [TABLE_SCHEMA] = 'HumanResources') BEGIN PRINT 'Your Column Exists' END Let me know if you know any other method to find if Column Exists in SQL Server Table. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Enable PowerPivot Plugin in Excel

  - by pinaldave

  Recently I had interesting experience at one conference. My PowerPivot plugin got disabled and I had no clue how to enable the same. After while, I figured out how to enable the same. Once I got back from the event, I searched online and realize that many other people online are facing the same problem. Here is how I solved the problem. When I started Excel it did not load PowerPivot plugin. I found in option>> Add in the plug in to be disabled. I enabled the plugin and it worked very well. Let us see that with images. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: PowerPivot

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• SQL SERVER – Detect Virtual Log Files (VLF) in LDF

  - by pinaldave

  In one of the recent training engagements, I was asked if it true that there are multiple small log files in the large log file (LDF). I found this question very interesting as the answer is yes. Multiple small Virtual Log Files commonly known as VLFs together make an LDF file. The writing of the VLF is sequential and resulting in the writing of the LDF file is sequential as well. This leads to another talk that one does not need more than one log file in most cases. However, in short, you can use following DBCC command to know how many Virtual Log Files or VLFs are present in your log file. DBCC LOGINFO You can find the result of above query to something as displayed in following image. You can see the column which is marked as 2 which means it is active VLF and the one with 0 which is inactive VLF. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Retrieving Random Rows from Table Using NEWID()

  - by pinaldave

  I have previously written about how to get random rows from SQL Server. SQL SERVER – Generate A Single Random Number for Range of Rows of Any Table – Very interesting Question from Reader SQL SERVER – Random Number Generator Script – SQL Query However, I have not blogged about following trick before. Let me share the trick here as well. You can generate random scripts using following methods as well. USE AdventureWorks2012 GO -- Method 1 SELECT TOP 100 * FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail ORDER BY NEWID() GO -- Method 2 SELECT TOP 100 * FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail ORDER BY CHECKSUM(NEWID()) GO You will notice that using NEWID() in the ORDER BY will return random rows in the result set. How many of you knew this trick? You can run above script multiple times and it will give random rows every single time. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)   Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Function, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Merge Two Columns into a Single Column

  - by Pinal Dave

  Here is a question which I have received from user yesterday. Hi Pinal, I want to build queries in SQL server that merge two columns of the table If I have two columns like, Column1 | Column2 1                5 2                6 3                7 4                8 I want to output like, Column1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 It is a good question. Here is how we can do achieve the task. I am making the assumption that both the columns have different data and there is no duplicate. USE TempDB GO CREATE TABLE TestTable (Col1 INT, Col2 INT) GO INSERT INTO TestTable (Col1, Col2) SELECT 1, 5 UNION ALL SELECT 2, 6 UNION ALL SELECT 3, 7 UNION ALL SELECT 4, 8 GO SELECT Col1 FROM TestTable UNION SELECT Col2 FROM TestTable GO DROP TABLE TestTable GO Here is the original table. Here is the result table. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL

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• Auto showing tips and closing popup when lost focus

  - by darkwindkey

  I have two elements: a TextBox, and a Popup, where the popup contains a tree view to show some tips according to text of TextBox. When the textBox got the KeyDown Event, the KeyDown directly executes pup.IsOpen=true to show the popup tips. However, I also want to show the popup tips when the mouse on clicking the TextBox, and auto closing the popups when the mouse click on any place (besides the TextBox and the TreeView in Popup). I have tried some cases but do not works fine. Case1: Add pup.IsOpen=true; in TextBox.PreviewMouseUp, the popup will stay opening, even if I click any other place in the window. Case2: Add pup.IsOpen=true in TextBox.PreviewMouseDown, the popup tips only shows on keep clicking the Mouse. Case3: Using CheckBox with Binding IsChecked to Popup.IsOpen works fine. but the tips is listed according to the content of the TextBox, therefore the checkbox is not editable for user... Here is my code now: <Window x:Class="popUpTesting.MainWindow" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525"> <Grid> <TextBox Name="SearchBox" HorizontalAlignment="Center" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="TextBox" VerticalAlignment="Center" KeyDown="SearchBox_KeyDown" PreviewMouseUp="SearchBox_PreviewMouseUp" /> <Popup Placement="Bottom" AllowsTransparency="True" PopupAnimation="Fade" StaysOpen="false" x:Name="pup" PlacementTarget="{Binding ElementName=SearchBox}" IsOpen="False" > <Grid> <TreeView HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="200" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="200"> <TreeViewItem Header="A"> <TreeViewItem Header="A1"/> </TreeViewItem> <TreeViewItem Header="B"></TreeViewItem> <TreeViewItem Header="C"></TreeViewItem> <TreeViewItem Header="D"></TreeViewItem> </TreeView> </Grid> </Popup> </Grid> </Window> and the event functions: private void SearchBox_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e) { pup.IsOpen = true; } private void SearchBox_PreviewMouseUp(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e) { pup.IsOpen = true; }

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• Make your TSQL easier to read during a presentation

  - by Jonathan Allen

  SQL Server Management Studio 2012 has some neat settings that you can use to help your presentations at a SQL event better for the attendees if you are willing to spend a few minutes making some settings changes. Historically, I have been reluctant to make changes to my SSMS settings as it is such a tedious process and it’s not 100% clear that what you think you are changing is actually what gets changed. With SSMS 2012 this has become a lot easier and a lot less risky. In any session that involves TSQL there is a trade off between the speaker having all the code on screen and the attendees being able to read any of what is on screen. You (the speaker) might be able to read this when you are working on the code but plenty of your audience wont be able to make head or tail of it. SSMS 2012 has a zoom facility that can help: but don’t go nuts … Having the font too big means you will be scrolling a lot and the code will again be rendered unreadable. There is more though but you need to take a deep breath and open the Tools menu and delve into the SSMS options. In previous versions of SSMS this is a deep, dark and scary place where changing values can be obscure and sometimes catastrophic to the UI when you get back to the code editor. First things first, we set out as a good DBA and save our current (and presumably acceptable) SSMS configuration. From the import and Export Settings you can set up a file to hold all of the settings that you currently have. The wizard will open and ask you to pick an option. This time around choose to export settings. hit next and next again and then name your settings profile in the final step of the wizard and then click Finish. Once this is done then you can change whatever you like and always get back to this configuration in a couple of clicks. So what can you change to make for a good experience? Well there are plenty of things that can be altered but don’t go too mad and change too many things without taking a look at the results for every item on the list above you can change font, size, weight, colour, background colour etc. etc. but consider what you are trying to achieve and take it slowly. I have seen presenters with their settings set to have a yellow highlight and black font rather than the default pale blue background and slightly darker font so to achieve that select Text Editor and then select “Selected Text” in the Display Items listbox. As you change things the Sample area give you an idea of what effect you are going to have. Black and yellow is the colour combination with the highest contrast – that’s why bees and wasps# are that colour. What next? how about increasing the default font for your demo scripts? This means that any script you open and any new ones that you start will take on this font. No more zooming (or forgetting to) in the middle of sessions. now don’t forget to save this profile – follow the same steps as above but give the profile a different name, something like PresentationBigFontHighContrast might be appropriate. Once you are done making changes, export the settings once more and then go into the Import Export wizard and import settings from the first profile you created. Everything will be back to normal. Now making changes to suit your environment can be done very easily and with confidence. * – and warning tape and safety signs and so forth – Health and Safety officers simply copy nature!

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• Create a Bootable Ubuntu 9.10 USB Flash Drive

  - by Trevor Bekolay

  The Ubuntu Live CD isn’t just useful for trying out Ubuntu before you install it, you can also use it to maintain and repair your Windows PC. Even if you have no intention of installing Linux, every Windows user should have a bootable Ubuntu USB drive on hand in case something goes wrong in Windows. Creating a bootable USB flash drive is surprisingly easy with a small self-contained application called UNetbootin. It will even download Ubuntu for you! Note: Ubuntu will take up approximately 700 MB on your flash drive, so choose a flash drive with at least 1 GB of free space, formatted as FAT32. This process should not remove any existing files on the flash drive, but to be safe you should backup the files on your flash drive. Put Ubuntu on your flash drive UNetbootin doesn’t require installation; just download the application and run it. Select Ubuntu from the Distribution drop-down box, then 9.10_Live from the Version drop-down box. If you have a 64-bit machine, then select 9.10_Live_x64 for the Version. At the bottom of the screen, select the drive letter that corresponds to the USB drive that you want to put Ubuntu on. If you select USB Drive in the Type drop-down box, the only drive letters available will be USB flash drives. Click OK and UNetbootin will start doing its thing. First it will download the Ubuntu Live CD. Then, it will copy the files from the Ubuntu Live CD to your flash drive. The amount of time it takes will vary depending on your Internet speed, an when it’s done, click on Exit. You’re not planning on installing Ubuntu right now, so there’s no need to reboot. If you look at the USB drive now, you should see a bunch of new files and folders. If you had files on the drive before, they should still be present. You’re now ready to boot your computer into Ubuntu 9.10! How to boot into Ubuntu When the time comes that you have to boot into Ubuntu, or if you just want to test and make sure that your flash drive works properly, you will have to set your computer to boot off of the flash drive. The steps to do this will vary depending on your BIOS – which varies depending on your motherboard. To get detailed instructions on changing how your computer boots, search for your motherboard’s manual (or your laptop’s manual for a laptop). For general instructions, which will suffice for 99% of you, read on. Find the important keyboard keys When your computer boots up, a bunch of words and numbers flash across the screen, usually to be ignored. This time, you need to scan the boot-up screen for a few key words with some associated keys: Boot menu and Setup. Typically, these will show up at the bottom of the screen. If your BIOS has a Boot Menu, then read on. Otherwise, skip to the Hard: Using Setup section. Easy: Using the Boot Menu If your BIOS offers a Boot Menu, then during the boot-up process, press the button associated with the Boot Menu. In our case, this is ESC. Our example Boot Menu doesn’t have the ability to boot from USB, but your Boot Menu should have some options, such as USB-CDROM, USB-HDD, USB-FLOPPY, and others. Try the options that start with USB until you find one that works. Don’t worry if it doesn’t work – you can just restart and try again. Using the Boot Menu does not change the normal boot order on your system, so the next time you start up your computer it will boot from the hard drive as normal. Hard: Using Setup If your BIOS doesn’t offer a Boot Menu, then you will have to change the boot order in Setup. Note: There are some options in BIOS Setup that can affect the stability of your machine. Take care to only change the boot order options. Press the button associated with Setup. In our case, this is F2. If your BIOS Setup has a Boot tab, then switch to it and change the order such that one of the USB options occurs first. There may be several USB options, such as USB-CDROM, USB-HDD, USB-FLOPPY, and others; try them out to see which one works for you. If your BIOS does not have a boot tab, boot order is commonly found in Advanced CMOS Options. Note that this changes the boot order permanently until you change it back. If you plan on only plugging in a bootable flash drive when you want to boot from it, then you could leave the boot order as it is, but you may find it easier to switch the order back to the previous order when you reboot from Ubuntu. Booting into Ubuntu If you set the right boot option, then you should be greeted with the UNetbootin screen. Press enter to start Ubuntu with the default options, or wait 10 seconds for this to happen automatically. Ubuntu will start loading. It should go straight to the desktop with no need for a username or password. And that’s it! From this live desktop session, you can try out Ubuntu, and even install software that is not included in the live CD. Installed software will only last for the duration of your session – the next time you start up the live CD it will be back to its original state. Download UNetbootin from sourceforge.net Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Create a Bootable Ubuntu USB Flash Drive the Easy WayReset Your Ubuntu Password Easily from the Live CDHow-To Geek on Lifehacker: Control Your Computer with Shortcuts & Speed Up Vista SetupHow To Setup a USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 7Speed up Your Windows Vista Computer with ReadyBoost TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 PCmover Professional New Stinger from McAfee Helps Remove ‘FakeAlert’ Threats Google Apps Marketplace: Tools & Services For Google Apps Users Get News Quick and Precise With Newser Scan for Viruses in Ubuntu using ClamAV Replace Your Windows Task Manager With System Explorer Create Talking Photos using Fotobabble

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• SQL SERVER – Developer Training Resources and Summary Roundup

  - by pinaldave

  It is always pleasure for any author when other renowned authors in the industry write about you. Earlier I wrote a five part blog series on Developer Training and I have received a phenomenal response to the series. I have received plenty of comments, questions and feedback. I thought it would be nice to sum up the whole series as well answer a few of the questions received. Quick Recap Developer Training - Importance and Significance - Part 1 In this part we discussed the importance of training in the real world. The most important and valuable resource any company is its employee. Employees who have been well-trained will be better at their jobs and produce a better product.  An employee who is well trained obviously knows more about their job and all the technical aspects. I have a very high opinion about training employees and it is the most important task. Developer Training – Employee Morals and Ethics – Part 2 In this part we discussed the most crucial components of training. Often employees are expecting the company to pay for their training and the company expresses no interest in training the employee. Quite often training expenses are the real issue for both the employee and employer. There are companies that pay for 100% of the expenses and there are employees who opt for training on their own expense during their personal time. Training is often looked at as vacation by employee and employers and we need to change this mind-set. One of the ways is to report back the learning to your manager and implement newly learned knowledge in day-to-day work. Developer Training – Difficult Questions and Alternative Perspective - Part 3 This part was the most difficult to write as I tried to address a few difficult questions and answers. Training is such a sensitive issue that many developers when not receiving chance for training think about leaving the organization. The manager often feels pressure to accommodate every single employee for training even though his training budget is limited. It is indeed the responsibility of the developer to get maximum advantage from the training. Training immediately helps organizations but stays as a part of an employee’s knowledge forever. Developer Training – Various Options for Developer Training – Part 4 In this part I tried to explore a few methods and options for training. The generic feedback I received on this blog post was short and I should have explored each of the subject of the training in details. I believe there are two big buckets of training 1) Instructor Lead Training and 2) Self Lead Training. The common element between both the methods is “learning material”. Learning material can be of any format – videos, books, paper notes or just a plain black board. Instructor-led training is a very effective mode but not possible every single time. During the course of the developer’s career, one has to learn lots of new technology and it is almost impossible to have a quality trainer available on that subject at that time. Books are most effective and proven methods, however, it always helps if someone explains the concepts of the book with a demonstration. In recent times I have started to believe in online trainings which leads to a hybrid experience. Online trainings take the best part of the books and the best part of the instructor-led training and gives effective training in a matter of hours. Developer Training – A Conclusive Summary- Part 5 In this part, I shared what I was continuously thinking about developer training. There is no better teacher than oneself. There is no better motivation than a personal desire to learn new technology. Honestly there is nothing more personal learning. That “change is the only constant” and “adapt & overcome” are the essential lessons of life. One cannot stop the learning and resist the change. In the IT industry “ego of knowing all” and the “resistance to change” are the most challenging issues. Once someone overcomes them, life is much easier. I believe that proper and appropriate high quality training can help to address the burning issues. Opinion of Friends I invited a few of my friends to express their opinion about developer training and here are their opinions. I am listing them here in the order of the blog post publishing date. Nakul Vachhrajani - Developer Trainings-Importance, Benefits, Tips and follow-up Nakul’s sums of many of the concepts which are complementary to my blog posts. Nakul addresses the burning question of developer training with different angles. I am personally very impressed by his following statement - “Being skilled does not mean having just a stack of certifications, but it also means having an understanding about the internals of the products that you are working on – and using that knowledge to improve the efficiency & productivity at the workplace in turn resulting in better products, better consulting abilities and a happier self.” Nakul also suggests the online training options of Pluralsight. Vinod Kumar - Training–a necessity or bonus Vinod Kumar comes up with excellent follow up on developer training. Vinod is known for his inspirational writing about SQL Server. Vinod starts with a story of a student who is extremely eager to learn the wisdom of life from a monk but the monk does not accept him as a disciple for a long time. The conversation between student and monk is indeed an essence of all learning. We all want to learn quickly and be successful but the most important thing in life is to have the right attitude towards learning and more so towards life. The blog post end with a very important thought about how to avoid the famous excuse – “I don’t have enough time.” Ritesh Shah - Training – useful or useless? Ritesh brings up very important concept related to training. Ritesh in his meticulous style explains why training is an important and lifelong process. Training must not stop at any age but should continue forever. The moment training stops, progress stops along with. Paras Doshi - Professional Development Resource Paras is known for his to–the-point writing, and has summarized the five part series very precisely. He read the five part series and created a digest summary of the blog post. If you are in a rush and have no time to read my five series – I suggest you read his blog post. Training Resources I am often asked what the best resources for learning new technology are. This is the most difficult question EVER. There are plenty of good training resources available. When it is about training our needs are different, our preference of learning is different and we all have an opinion. Additionally, we all are located in different geographic locations worldwide and there is no way one solution will fit all. However, let me list a few of the training resources which I have built so far and you can consume them if you find it relevant to your need. SQL Server Books SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers SQL Wait Stats SQL Programming Joes 2 Pros SQL Server Video Tutorials SQL Server Questions and Answers SQL Server Performance: Indexing Basics SQL Server Performance: Introduction to Query Tuning SQL in Sixty Seconds Series of Sixty Seconds Learning Video on YouTube Trust me worldwide web is very big and there are plenty of high quality learning materials available worldwide – trainer-led as well online. I suggest you explore various options and make the best choice for yourself. Remember, training is your personal journey and it should never stop. Are you ready? Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Developer Training, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Use an Ubuntu Live CD to Securely Wipe Your PC’s Hard Drive

  - by Trevor Bekolay

  Deleting files or quickly formatting a drive isn’t enough for sensitive personal information. We’ll show you how to get rid of it for good using a Ubuntu Live CD. When you delete a file in Windows, Ubuntu, or any other operating system, it doesn’t actually destroy the data stored on your hard drive, it just marks that data as “deleted.” If you overwrite it later, then that data is generally unrecoverable, but if the operating system don’t happen to overwrite it, then your data is still stored on your hard drive, recoverable by anyone who has the right software. By securely delete files or entire hard drives, your data will be gone for good. Note: Modern hard drives are extremely sophisticated, as are the experts who recover data for a living. There is no guarantee that the methods covered in this article will make your data completely unrecoverable; however, they will make your data unrecoverable to the majority of recovery methods, and all methods that are readily available to the general public. Shred individual files Most of the data stored on your hard drive is harmless, and doesn’t reveal anything about you. If there are just a few files that you know you don’t want someone else to see, then the easiest way to get rid of them is a built-in Linux utility called shred. Open a terminal window by clicking on Applications at the top-left of the screen, then expanding the Accessories menu and clicking on Terminal. Navigate to the file that you want to delete using cd to change directories and ls to list the files and folders in the current directory. As an example, we’ve got a file called BankInfo.txt on a Windows NTFS-formatted hard drive. We want to delete it securely, so we’ll call shred by entering the following in the terminal window: shred <file> which is, in our example: shred BankInfo.txt Notice that our BankInfo.txt file still exists, even though we’ve shredded it. A quick look at the contents of BankInfo.txt make it obvious that the file has indeed been securely overwritten. We can use some command-line arguments to make shred delete the file from the hard drive as well. We can also be extra-careful about the shredding process by upping the number of times shred overwrites the original file. To do this, in the terminal, type in: shred –remove –iterations=<num> <file> By default, shred overwrites the file 25 times. We’ll double this, giving us the following command: shred –remove –iterations=50 BankInfo.txt BankInfo.txt has now been securely wiped on the physical disk, and also no longer shows up in the directory listing. Repeat this process for any sensitive files on your hard drive! Wipe entire hard drives If you’re disposing of an old hard drive, or giving it to someone else, then you might instead want to wipe your entire hard drive. shred can be invoked on hard drives, but on modern file systems, the shred process may be reversible. We’ll use the program wipe to securely delete all of the data on a hard drive. Unlike shred, wipe is not included in Ubuntu by default, so we have to install it. Open up the Synaptic Package Manager by clicking on System in the top-left corner of the screen, then expanding the Administration folder and clicking on Synaptic Package Manager. wipe is part of the Universe repository, which is not enabled by default. We’ll enable it by clicking on Settings > Repositories in the Synaptic Package Manager window. Check the checkbox next to “Community-maintained Open Source software (universe)”. Click Close. You’ll need to reload Synaptic’s package list. Click on the Reload button in the main Synaptic Package Manager window. Once the package list has been reloaded, the text over the search field will change to “Rebuilding search index”. Wait until it reads “Quick search,” and then type “wipe” into the search field. The wipe package should come up, along with some other packages that perform similar functions. Click on the checkbox to the left of the label “wipe” and select “Mark for Installation”. Click on the Apply button to start the installation process. Click the Apply button on the Summary window that pops up. Once the installation is done, click the Close button and close the Synaptic Package Manager window. Open a terminal window by clicking on Applications in the top-left of the screen, then Accessories > Terminal. You need to figure our the correct hard drive to wipe. If you wipe the wrong hard drive, that data will not be recoverable, so exercise caution! In the terminal window, type in: sudo fdisk -l A list of your hard drives will show up. A few factors will help you identify the right hard drive. One is the file system, found in the System column of  the list – Windows hard drives are usually formatted as NTFS (which shows up as HPFS/NTFS). Another good identifier is the size of the hard drive, which appears after its identifier (highlighted in the following screenshot). In our case, the hard drive we want to wipe is only around 1 GB large, and is formatted as NTFS. We make a note of the label found under the the Device column heading. If you have multiple partitions on this hard drive, then there will be more than one device in this list. The wipe developers recommend wiping each partition separately. To start the wiping process, type the following into the terminal: sudo wipe <device label> In our case, this is: sudo wipe /dev/sda1 Again, exercise caution – this is the point of no return! Your hard drive will be completely wiped. It may take some time to complete, depending on the size of the drive you’re wiping. Conclusion If you have sensitive information on your hard drive – and chances are you probably do – then it’s a good idea to securely delete sensitive files before you give away or dispose of your hard drive. The most secure way to delete your data is with a few swings of a hammer, but shred and wipe from a Ubuntu Live CD is a good alternative! Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Reset Your Ubuntu Password Easily from the Live CDScan a Windows PC for Viruses from a Ubuntu Live CDRecover Deleted Files on an NTFS Hard Drive from a Ubuntu Live CDCreate a Bootable Ubuntu 9.10 USB Flash DriveCreate a Bootable Ubuntu USB Flash Drive the Easy Way TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Office 2010 Product Guides Google Maps Place marks – Pizza, Guns or Strip Clubs Monitor Applications With Kiwi LocPDF is a Visual PDF Search Tool Download Free iPad Wallpapers at iPad Decor Get Your Delicious Bookmarks In Firefox’s Awesome Bar

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• Change or Reset Windows Password from a Ubuntu Live CD

  - by Trevor Bekolay

  If you can’t log in even after trying your twelve passwords, or you’ve inherited a computer complete with password-protected profiles, worry not – you don’t have to do a fresh install of Windows. We’ll show you how to change or reset your Windows password from a Ubuntu Live CD. This method works for all of the NT-based version of Windows – anything from Windows 2000 and later, basically. And yes, that includes Windows 7. You’ll need a Ubuntu 9.10 Live CD, or a bootable Ubuntu 9.10 Flash Drive. If you don’t have one, or have forgotten how to boot from the flash drive, check out our article on creating a bootable Ubuntu 9.10 flash drive. The program that lets us manipulate Windows passwords is called chntpw. The steps to install it are different in 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Ubuntu. Installation: 32-bit Open up Synaptic Package Manager by clicking on System at the top of the screen, expanding the Administration section, and clicking on Synaptic Package Manager. chntpw is found in the universe repository. Repositories are a way for Ubuntu to group software together so that users are able to choose if they want to use only completely open source software maintained by Ubuntu developers, or branch out and use software with different licenses and maintainers. To enable software from the universe repository, click on Settings > Repositories in the Synaptic window. Add a checkmark beside the box labeled “Community-maintained Open Source software (universe)” and then click close. When you change the repositories you are selecting software from, you have to reload the list of available software. In the main Synaptic window, click on the Reload button. The software lists will be downloaded. Once downloaded, Synaptic must rebuild its search index. The label over the text field by the Search button will read “Rebuilding search index.” When it reads “Quick search,” type chntpw in the text field. The package will show up in the list. Click on the checkbox near the chntpw name. Click on Mark for Installation. chntpw won’t actually be installed until you apply the changes you’ve made, so click on the Apply button in the Synaptic window now. You will be prompted to accept the changes. Click Apply. The changes should be applied quickly. When they’re done, click Close. chntpw is now installed! You can close Synaptic Package Manager. Skip to the section titled Using chntpw to reset your password. Installation: 64-bit The version of chntpw available in Ubuntu’s universe repository will not work properly on a 64-bit machine. Fortunately, a patched version exists in Debian’s Unstable branch, so let’s download it from there and install it manually. Open Firefox. Whether it’s your preferred browser or not, it’s very readily accessible in the Ubuntu Live CD environment, so it will be the easiest to use. There’s a shortcut to Firefox in the top panel. Navigate to http://packages.debian.org/sid/amd64/chntpw/download and download the latest version of chntpw for 64-bit machines. Note: In most cases it would be best to add the Debian Unstable branch to a package manager, but since the Live CD environment will revert to its original state once you reboot, it’ll be faster to just download the .deb file. Save the .deb file to the default location. You can close Firefox if desired. Open a terminal window by clicking on Applications at the top-left of the screen, expanding the Accessories folder, and clicking on Terminal. In the terminal window, enter the following text, hitting enter after each line: cd Downloadssudo dpkg –i chntpw* chntpw will now be installed. Using chntpw to reset your password Before running chntpw, you will have to mount the hard drive that contains your Windows installation. In most cases, Ubuntu 9.10 makes this simple. Click on Places at the top-left of the screen. If your Windows drive is easily identifiable – usually by its size – then left click on it. If it is not obvious, then click on Computer and check out each hard drive until you find the correct one. The correct hard drive will have the WINDOWS folder in it. When you find it, make a note of the drive’s label that appears in the menu bar of the file browser. If you don’t already have one open, start a terminal window by going to Applications > Accessories > Terminal. In the terminal window, enter the commands cd /medials pressing enter after each line. You should see one or more strings of text appear; one of those strings should correspond with the string that appeared in the title bar of the file browser earlier. Change to that directory by entering the command cd <hard drive label> Since the hard drive label will be very annoying to type in, you can use a shortcut by typing in the first few letters or numbers of the drive label (capitalization matters) and pressing the Tab key. It will automatically complete the rest of the string (if those first few letters or numbers are unique). We want to switch to a certain Windows directory. Enter the command: cd WINDOWS/system32/config/ Again, you can use tab-completion to speed up entering this command. To change or reset the administrator password, enter: sudo chntpw SAM SAM is the file that contains your Windows registry. You will see some text appear, including a list of all of the users on your system. At the bottom of the terminal window, you should see a prompt that begins with “User Edit Menu:” and offers four choices. We recommend that you clear the password to blank (you can always set a new password in Windows once you log in). To do this, enter “1” and then “y” to confirm. If you would like to change the password instead, enter “2”, then your desired password, and finally “y” to confirm. If you would like to reset or change the password of a user other than the administrator, enter: sudo chntpw –u <username> SAM From here, you can follow the same steps as before: enter “1” to reset the password to blank, or “2” to change it to a value you provide. And that’s it! Conclusion chntpw is a very useful utility provided for free by the open source community. It may make you think twice about how secure the Windows login system is, but knowing how to use chntpw can save your tail if your memory fails you two or eight times! Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Reset Your Ubuntu Password Easily from the Live CDChange Your Forgotten Windows Password with the Linux System Rescue CDHow to Create and Use a Password Reset Disk in Windows Vista & Windows 7Reset Your Forgotten Password the Easy Way Using the Ultimate Boot CD for WindowsHow to install Spotify in Ubuntu 9.10 using Wine TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Add a Custom Title in IE using Spybot or Spyware Blaster When You Need to Hail a Taxi in NYC Live Map of Marine Traffic NoSquint Remembers Site Specific Zoom Levels (Firefox) New Firefox release 3.6.3 fixes 1 Critical bug Dark Side of the Moon (8-bit)

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• SQL SERVER – A Quick Look at Logging and Ideas around Logging

  - by pinaldave

  This blog post is written in response to the T-SQL Tuesday post on Logging. When someone talks about logging, personally I get lots of ideas about it. I have seen logging as a very generic term. Let me ask you this question first before I continue writing about logging. What is the first thing comes to your mind when you hear word “Logging”? Now ask the same question to the guy standing next to you. I am pretty confident that you will get  a different answer from different people. I decided to do this activity and asked 5 SQL Server person the same question. Question: What is the first thing comes to your mind when you hear the word “Logging”? Strange enough I got a different answer every single time. Let me just list what answer I got from my friends. Let us go over them one by one. Output Clause The very first person replied output clause. Pretty interesting answer to start with. I see what exactly he was thinking. SQL Server 2005 has introduced a new OUTPUT clause. OUTPUT clause has access to inserted and deleted tables (virtual tables) just like triggers. OUTPUT clause can be used to return values to client clause. OUTPUT clause can be used with INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE to identify the actual rows affected by these statements. Here are some references for Output Clause: OUTPUT Clause Example and Explanation with INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE Reasons for Using Output Clause – Quiz Tips from the SQL Joes 2 Pros Development Series – Output Clause in Simple Examples Error Logs I was expecting someone to mention Error logs when it is about logging. The error log is the most looked place when there is any error either with the application or there is an error with the operating system. I have kept the policy to check my server’s error log every day. The reason is simple – enough time in my career I have figured out that when I am looking at error logs I find something which I was not expecting. There are cases, when I noticed errors in the error log and I fixed them before end user notices it. Other common practices I always tell my DBA friends to do is that when any error happens they should find relevant entries in the error logs and document the same. It is quite possible that they will see the same error in the error log  and able to fix the error based on the knowledge base which they have created. There can be many different kinds of error log files exists in SQL Server as well – 1) SQL Server Error Logs 2) Windows Event Log 3) SQL Server Agent Log 4) SQL Server Profile Log 5) SQL Server Setup Log etc. Here are some references for Error Logs: Recycle Error Log – Create New Log file without Server Restart SQL Error Messages Change Data Capture I got surprised with this answer. I think more than the answer I was surprised by the person who had answered me this one. I always thought he was expert in HTML, JavaScript but I guess, one should never assume about others. Indeed one of the cool logging feature is Change Data Capture. Change Data Capture records INSERTs, UPDATEs, and DELETEs applied to SQL Server tables, and makes a record available of what changed, where, and when, in simple relational ‘change tables’ rather than in an esoteric chopped salad of XML. These change tables contain columns that reflect the column structure of the source table you have chosen to track, along with the metadata needed to understand the changes that have been made. Here are some references for Change Data Capture: Introduction to Change Data Capture (CDC) in SQL Server 2008 Tuning the Performance of Change Data Capture in SQL Server 2008 Download Script of Change Data Capture (CDC) CDC and TRUNCATE – Cannot truncate table because it is published for replication or enabled for Change Data Capture Dynamic Management View (DMV) I like this answer. If asked I would have not come up with DMV right away but in the spirit of the original question, I think DMV does log the data. DMV logs or stores or records the various data and activity on the SQL Server. Dynamic management views return server state information that can be used to monitor the health of a server instance, diagnose problems, and tune performance. One can get plethero of information from DMVs – High Availability Status, Query Executions Details, SQL Server Resources Status etc. Here are some references for Dynamic Management View (DMV): SQL SERVER – Denali – DMV Enhancement – sys.dm_exec_query_stats – New Columns DMV – sys.dm_os_windows_info – Information about Operating System DMV – sys.dm_os_wait_stats Explanation – Wait Type – Day 3 of 28 DMV sys.dm_exec_describe_first_result_set_for_object – Describes the First Result Metadata for the Module Transaction Log Impact Detection Using DMV – dm_tran_database_transactions Log Files I almost flipped with this final answer from my friend. This should be probably the first answer. Yes, indeed log file logs the SQL Server activities. One can write infinite things about log file. SQL Server uses log file with the extension .ldf to manage transactions and maintain database integrity. Log file ensures that valid data is written out to database and system is in a consistent state. Log files are extremely useful in case of the database failures as with the help of full backup file database can be brought in the desired state (point in time recovery is also possible). SQL Server database has three recovery models – 1) Simple, 2) Full and 3) Bulk Logged. Each of the model uses the .ldf file for performing various activities. It is very important to take the backup of the log files (along with full backup) as one never knows when backup of the log file come into the action and save the day! How to Stop Growing Log File Too Big Reduce the Virtual Log Files (VLFs) from LDF file Log File Growing for Model Database – model Database Log File Grew Too Big master Database Log File Grew Too Big SHRINKFILE and TRUNCATE Log File in SQL Server 2008 Can I just say I loved this month’s T-SQL Tuesday Question. It really provoked very interesting conversation around me. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Optimization, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Anyone got SEO tips for Ruby on Rails

  - by Gargamel

  Can anyone recommend some RoR plugins and/or general sage that will help me with SEO?

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• SQL SERVER – 2011 – Wait Type – Day 25 of 28

  - by pinaldave

  Since the beginning of the series, I have been getting the following question again and again: “What are the changes in SQL Server 2011 – Denali with respect to Wait Types?” SQL Server 2011 – Denali is yet to be released, and making statements on the subject will be inappropriate. Denali CTP1 has been released so I suggest that all of you download the same and experiment on it. I quickly compared the wait stats of SQL Server 2008 R2 and Denali (CTP1) and found the following changes: Wait Types Exists in SQL Server 2008 R2 and Not Exists in SQL Server 2011 “Denali” SOS_RESERVEDMEMBLOCKLIST SOS_LOCALALLOCATORLIST QUERY_WAIT_ERRHDL_SERVICE QUERY_ERRHDL_SERVICE_DONE XE_PACKAGE_LOCK_BACKOFF Wait Types Exists in SQL Server 2011 and Not Exists in SQL Server 2008 SLEEP_MASTERMDREADY SOS_MEMORY_TOPLEVELBLOCKALLOCATOR SOS_PHYS_PAGE_CACHE FILESTREAM_WORKITEM_QUEUE FILESTREAM_FILE_OBJECT FILESTREAM_FCB FILESTREAM_CACHE XE_CALLBACK_LIST PWAIT_MD_RELATION_CACHE PWAIT_MD_SERVER_CACHE PWAIT_MD_LOGIN_STATS DISPATCHER_PRIORITY_QUEUE_SEMAPHORE FT_PROPERTYLIST_CACHE SECURITY_KEYRING_RWLOCK BROKER_TRANSMISSION_WORK BROKER_TRANSMISSION_OBJECT BROKER_TRANSMISSION_TABLE BROKER_DISPATCHER BROKER_FORWARDER UCS_MANAGER UCS_TRANSPORT UCS_MEMORY_NOTIFICATION UCS_ENDPOINT_CHANGE UCS_TRANSPORT_STREAM_CHANGE QUERY_TASK_ENQUEUE_MUTEX DBCC_SCALE_OUT_EXPR_CACHE PWAIT_ALL_COMPONENTS_INITIALIZED PREEMPTIVE_SP_SERVER_DIAGNOSTICS SP_SERVER_DIAGNOSTICS_SLEEP SP_SERVER_DIAGNOSTICS_INIT_MUTEX AM_INDBUILD_ALLOCATION QRY_PARALLEL_THREAD_MUTEX FT_MASTER_MERGE_COORDINATOR PWAIT_RESOURCE_SEMAPHORE_FT_PARALLEL_QUERY_SYNC REDO_THREAD_PENDING_WORK REDO_THREAD_SYNC COUNTRECOVERYMGR HADR_DB_COMMAND HADR_TRANSPORT_SESSION HADR_CLUSAPI_CALL PWAIT_HADR_CHANGE_NOTIFIER_TERMINATION_SYNC PWAIT_HADR_ACTION_COMPLETED PWAIT_HADR_OFFLINE_COMPLETED PWAIT_HADR_ONLINE_COMPLETED PWAIT_HADR_FORCEFAILOVER_COMPLETED PWAIT_HADR_WORKITEM_COMPLETED HADR_WORK_POOL HADR_WORK_QUEUE HADR_LOGCAPTURE_SYNC LOGPOOL_CACHESIZE LOGPOOL_FREEPOOLS LOGPOOL_REPLACEMENTSET LOGPOOL_CONSUMERSET LOGPOOL_MGRSET LOGPOOL_CONSUMER LOGPOOLREFCOUNTEDOBJECT_REFDONE HADR_SYNC_COMMIT HADR_AG_MUTEX PWAIT_SECURITY_CACHE_INVALIDATION PWAIT_HADR_SERVER_READY_CONNECTIONS HADR_FILESTREAM_MANAGER HADR_FILESTREAM_BLOCK_FLUSH HADR_FILESTREAM_IOMGR XDES_HISTORY XDES_SNAPSHOT HADR_FILESTREAM_IOMGR_IOCOMPLETION UCS_SESSION_REGISTRATION ENABLE_EMPTY_VERSIONING HADR_DB_OP_START_SYNC HADR_DB_OP_COMPLETION_SYNC HADR_LOGPROGRESS_SYNC HADR_TRANSPORT_DBRLIST HADR_FAILOVER_PARTNER XDESTSVERMGR GHOSTCLEANUPSYNCMGR HADR_AR_UNLOAD_COMPLETED HADR_PARTNER_SYNC HADR_DBSTATECHANGE_SYNC We already know that Wait Types and Wait Stats are going to be the next big thing in the next version of SQL Server. So now I am eagerly waiting to dig deeper in the wait stats. Read all the post in the Wait Types and Queue series. Note: The information presented here is from my experience and there is no way that I claim it to be accurate. I suggest reading Book OnLine for further clarification. All the discussion of Wait Stats in this blog is generic and varies from system to system. It is recommended that you test this on a development server before implementing it to a production server. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Wait Stats, SQL Wait Types, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Generate Report for Index Physical Statistics – SSMS

  - by pinaldave

  Few days ago, I wrote about SQL SERVER – Out of the Box – Activity and Performance Reports from SSSMS (Link). A user asked me a question regarding if we can use similar reports to get the detail about Indexes. Yes, it is possible to do the same. There are similar type of reports are available at Database level, just like those available at the Server Instance level. You can right click on Database name and click Reports. Under Standard Reports, you will find following reports. Disk Usage Disk Usage by Top Tables Disk Usage by Table Disk Usage by Partition Backup and Restore Events All Transactions All Blocking Transactions Top Transactions by Age Top Transactions by Blocked Transactions Count Top Transactions by Locks Count Resource Locking Statistics by Objects Object Execute Statistics Database Consistency history Index Usage Statistics Index Physical Statistics Schema Change history User Statistics Select the Reports with name Index Physical Statistics. Once click, a report containing all the index names along with other information related to index will be visible, e.g. Index Type and number of partitions. One column that caught my interest was Operation Recommended. In some place, it suggested that index needs to be rebuilt. It is also possible to click and expand the column of partitions and see additional details about index as well. DBA and Developers who just want to have idea about how your index is and its physical statistics can use this tool. Click to Enlarge Note: Please note that I will rebuild my indexes just because this report is recommending it. There are many other parameters you need to consider before rebuilding indexes. However, this tool gives you the accurate stats of your index and it can be right away exported to Excel or PDF writing by clicking on the report. Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Index, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Utility, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Four Posts on Removing the Bookmark Lookup – Key Lookup

  - by pinaldave

  In recent times I have observed that not many people have proper understanding of what is bookmark lookup or key lookup. Increasing numbers of the questions tells me that this is something developers are encountering every single day but have no idea how to deal with it. I have previously written three articles on this subject. I want to point all of you looking for further information on the same post. SQL SERVER – Query Optimization – Remove Bookmark Lookup – Remove RID Lookup – Remove Key Lookup SQL SERVER – Query Optimization – Remove Bookmark Lookup – Remove RID Lookup – Remove Key Lookup – Part 2 SQL SERVER – Query Optimization – Remove Bookmark Lookup – Remove RID Lookup – Remove Key Lookup – Part 3 SQL SERVER – Interesting Observation – Execution Plan and Results of Aggregate Concatenation Queries In one of my recent class we had in depth conversation about what are the alternative of creating covering indexes to remove the bookmark lookup. I really want to this question open to all of you and see what community thinks about the same. Is there any other way then creating covering index or included index to remove his expensive keylookup? Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Backup and Restore, SQL Index, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

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• SQLAuthority News – Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP4

  - by pinaldave

  If you are still using SQL Server 2005 – I suggest that you consider migrating to later version of the SQL Server 2008/2008 R2. Due to any reason, you wanted to continue using SQL Server 2005, I suggest that you take a look at the Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP4. There are many different tools and features available in pack, which can be very handy and can solve issues. Microsoft ADOMD.NET Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0 Microsoft OLEDB Provider for DB2 Microsoft SQL Server Management Pack for MOM 2005 Microsoft SQL Server 2000 PivotTable Services Microsoft SQL Server 2000 DTS Designer Components Microsoft SQL Server Native Client Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services 9.0 OLE DB Provider Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Backward Compatibility Components Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Command Line Query Utility Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Datamining Viewer Controls Microsoft SQL Server 2005 JDBC Driver Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Management Objects Collection Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Notification Services Client Components Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Upgrade Advisor Microsoft .NET Data Provider for mySAP Business Suite, Preview Version Reporting Add-In for Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Microsoft Exception Message Box Data Mining Managed Plug-in Algorithm API for SQL Server 2005 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Data Mining Add-ins for Microsoft Office 2007 SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard Reports SQL Server 2005 Best Practices Analyzer Download Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP4 Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Documentation, SQL Download, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Service Pack, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Subquery or Join – Various Options – SQL Server Engine knows the Best

  - by pinaldave

  This is followup post of my earlier article SQL SERVER – Convert IN to EXISTS – Performance Talk, after reading all the comments I have received I felt that I could write more on the same subject to clear few things out. First let us run following four queries, all of them are giving exactly same resultset. USE AdventureWorks GO -- use of = SELECT * FROM HumanResources.Employee E WHERE E.EmployeeID = ( SELECT EA.EmployeeID FROM HumanResources.EmployeeAddress EA WHERE EA.EmployeeID = E.EmployeeID) GO -- use of in SELECT * FROM HumanResources.Employee E WHERE E.EmployeeID IN ( SELECT EA.EmployeeID FROM HumanResources.EmployeeAddress EA WHERE EA.EmployeeID = E.EmployeeID) GO -- use of exists SELECT * FROM HumanResources.Employee E WHERE EXISTS ( SELECT EA.EmployeeID FROM HumanResources.EmployeeAddress EA WHERE EA.EmployeeID = E.EmployeeID) GO -- Use of Join SELECT * FROM HumanResources.Employee E INNER JOIN HumanResources.EmployeeAddress EA ON E.EmployeeID = EA.EmployeeID GO Let us compare the execution plan of the queries listed above. Click on image to see larger image. It is quite clear from the execution plan that in case of IN, EXISTS and JOIN SQL Server Engines is smart enough to figure out what is the best optimal plan of Merge Join for the same query and execute the same. However, in the case of use of Equal (=) Operator, SQL Server is forced to use Nested Loop and test each result of the inner query and compare to outer query, leading to cut the performance. Please note that here I no mean suggesting that Nested Loop is bad or Merge Join is better. This can very well vary on your machine and amount of resources available on your computer. When I see Equal (=) operator used in query like above, I usually recommend to see if user can use IN or EXISTS or JOIN. As I said, this can very much vary on different system. What is your take in above query? I believe SQL Server Engines is usually pretty smart to figure out what is ideal execution plan and use it. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Joins, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Subquery or Join – Various Options – SQL Server Engine Knows the Best – Part 2

  - by pinaldave

  This blog post is part 2 of the earlier written article SQL SERVER – Subquery or Join – Various Options – SQL Server Engine knows the Best by Paulo R. Pereira. Paulo has left excellent comment to earlier article once again proving the point that SQL Server Engine is smart enough to figure out the best plan itself and uses the same for the query. Let us go over his comment as he has posted. “I think IN or EXISTS is the best choice, because there is a little difference between ‘Merge Join’ of query with JOIN (Inner Join) and the others options (Left Semi Join), and JOIN can give more results than IN or EXISTS if the relationship is 1:0..N and not 1:0..1. And if I try use NOT IN and NOT EXISTS the query plan is different from LEFT JOIN too (Left Anti Semi Join vs. Left Outer Join + Filter). So, I found a case where EXISTS has a different query plan than IN or ANY/SOME:” USE AdventureWorks GO -- use of SOME SELECT * FROM HumanResources.Employee E WHERE E.EmployeeID = SOME ( SELECT EA.EmployeeID FROM HumanResources.EmployeeAddress EA UNION ALL SELECT EA.EmployeeID FROM HumanResources.EmployeeDepartmentHistory EA ) -- use of IN SELECT * FROM HumanResources.Employee E WHERE E.EmployeeID IN ( SELECT EA.EmployeeID FROM HumanResources.EmployeeAddress EA UNION ALL SELECT EA.EmployeeID FROM HumanResources.EmployeeDepartmentHistory EA ) -- use of EXISTS SELECT * FROM HumanResources.Employee E WHERE EXISTS ( SELECT EA.EmployeeID FROM HumanResources.EmployeeAddress EA UNION ALL SELECT EA.EmployeeID FROM HumanResources.EmployeeDepartmentHistory EA ) When looked into execution plan of the queries listed above indeed we do get different plans for queries and SQL Server Engines creates the best (least cost) plan for each query. Click on image to see larger images. Thanks Paulo for your wonderful contribution. Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, Readers Contribution, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Joins, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• How to Upgrade Your Netbook to Windows 7 Home Premium

  - by Matthew Guay

  Would you like more features and flash in Windows on your netbook?  Here’s how you can easily upgrade your netbook to Windows 7 Home Premium the easy way. Most new netbooks today ship with Windows 7 Starter, which is the cheapest edition of Windows 7.  It is fine for many computing tasks, and will run all your favorite programs great, but it lacks many customization, multimedia, and business features found in higher editions.  Here we’ll show you how you can quickly upgrade your netbook to more full-featured edition of Windows 7 using Windows Anytime Upgrade.  Also, if you want to upgrade your laptop or desktop to another edition of Windows 7, say Professional, you can follow these same steps to upgrade it, too. Please note: This is only for computers already running Windows 7.  If your netbook is running XP or Vista, you will have to run a traditional upgrade to install Windows 7. Upgrade Advisor First, let’s make sure your netbook can support the extra features, such as Aero Glass, in Windows 7 Home Premium.  Most modern netbooks that ship with Windows 7 Starter can run the advanced features in Windows 7 Home Premium, but let’s check just in case.  Download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor (link below), and install as normal. Once it’s installed, run it and click Start Check.   Make sure you’re connected to the internet before you run the check, or otherwise you may see this error message.  If you see it, click Ok and then connect to the internet and start the check again. It will now scan all of your programs and hardware to make sure they’re compatible with Windows 7.  Since you’re already running Windows 7 Starter, it will also tell you if your computer will support the features in other editions of Windows 7. After a few moments, the Upgrade Advisor will show you want it found.  Here we see that our netbook, a Samsung N150, can be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate. We also see that we had one issue, but this was because a driver we had installed was not recognized.  Click “See all system requirements” to see what your netbook can do with the new edition. This shows you which of the requirements, including support for Windows Aero, your netbook meets.  Here our netbook supports Aero, so we’re ready to go upgrade. For more, check out our article on how to make sure your computer can run Windows 7 with Upgrade Advisor. Upgrade with Anytime Upgrade Now, we’re ready to upgrade our netbook to Windows 7 Home Premium.  Enter “Anytime Upgrade” in the Start menu search,and select Windows Anytime Upgrade. Windows Anytime Upgrade lets you upgrade using product key you already have or one you purchase during the upgrade process.  And, it installs without any downloads or Windows disks, so it works great even for netbooks without DVD drives. Anytime Upgrades are cheaper than a standard upgrade, and for a limited time, select retailers in the US are offering Anytime Upgrades to Windows 7 Home Premium for only $49.99 if purchased with a new netbook.  If you already have a netbook running Windows 7 Starter, you can either purchase an Anytime Upgrade package at a retail store or purchase a key online during the upgrade process for $79.95.  Or, if you have a standard Windows 7 product key (full or upgrade), you can use it in Anytime upgrade.  This is especially nice if you can purchase Windows 7 cheaper through your school, university, or office. Purchase an upgrade online To purchase an upgrade online, click “Go online to choose the edition of Windows 7 that’s best for you”.   Here you can see a comparison of the features of each edition of Windows 7.  Note that you can upgrade to either Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate.  We chose home Premium because it has most of the features that home users want, including Media Center and Aero Glass effects.  Also note that the price of each upgrade is cheaper than the respective upgrade from Windows XP or Vista.  Click buy under the edition you want.   Enter your billing information, then your payment information.  Once you confirm your purchase, you will directly be taken to the Upgrade screen.  Make sure to save your receipt, as you will need the product key if you ever need to reinstall Windows on your computer. Upgrade with an existing product key If you purchased an Anytime Upgrade kit from a retailer, or already have a Full or Upgrade key for another edition of Windows 7, choose “Enter an upgrade key”. Enter your product key, and click Next.  If you purchased an Anytime Upgrade kit, the product key will be located on the inside of the case on a yellow sticker. The key will be verified as a valid key, and Anytime Upgrade will automatically choose the correct edition of Windows 7 based on your product key.  Click Next when this is finished. Continuing the Upgrade process Whether you entered a key or purchased a key online, the process is the same from here on.  Click “I accept” to accept the license agreement. Now, you’re ready to install your upgrade.  Make sure to save all open files and close any programs, and then click Upgrade. The upgrade only takes about 10 minutes in our experience but your mileage may vary.  Any available Microsoft updates, including ones for Office, Security Essentials, and other products, will be installed before the upgrade takes place. After a couple minutes, your computer will automatically reboot and finish the installation.  It will then reboot once more, and your computer will be ready to use!  Welcome to your new edition of Windows 7! Here’s a before and after shot of our desktop.  When you do an Anytime Upgrade, all of your programs, files, and settings will be just as they were before you upgraded.  The only change we noticed was that our pinned taskbar icons were slightly rearranged to the default order of Internet Explorer, Explorer, and Media Player.  Here’s a shot of our desktop before the upgrade.  Notice that all of our pinned programs and desktop icons are still there, as well as our taskbar customization (we are using small icons on the taskbar instead of the default large icons). Before, with the Windows 7 Starter background and the Aero Basic theme: And after, with Aero Glass and the more colorful default Windows 7 background.   All of the features of Windows 7 Home Premium are now ready to use.  The Aero theme was activate by default, but you can now customize your netbook theme, background, and more with the Personalization pane.  To open it, right-click on your desktop and select Personalize. You can also now use Windows Media Center, and can play-back DVD movies using an external drive. One of our favorite tools, the Snipping Tool, is also now available for easy screenshots and clips. Activating you new edition of Windows 7 You will still need to activate your new edition of Windows 7.  To do this right away, open the start menu, right-click on Computer, and select Properties.   Scroll to the bottom, and click “Activate Windows Now”. Make sure you’re connected to the internet, and then select “Activate Windows online now”. Activation may take a few minutes, depending on your internet connection speed. When it is done, the Activation wizard will let you know that Windows is activated and genuine.  Your upgrade is all finished! Conclusion Windows Anytime Upgrade makes it easy, and somewhat cheaper, to upgrade to another edition of Windows 7.  It’s useful for desktop and laptop owners who want to upgrade to Professional or Ultimate, but many more netbook owners will want to upgrade from Starter to Home Premium or another edition.  Links Download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Windows Team Blog: Anytime Upgrade Special with new PC purchase Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips How To Upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 Home Premium EditionAnother Blog You Should Subscribe ToMysticgeek Blog: Turn Vista Home Premium Into Ultimate (Part 3) – Shadow CopyUpgrade Ubuntu from Breezy to DapperHow to Upgrade the Windows 7 RC to RTM (Final Release) TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Get Your Delicious Bookmarks In Firefox’s Awesome Bar Manage Photos Across Different Social Sites With Dropico Test Drive Windows 7 Online Download Wallpapers From National Geographic Site Spyware Blaster v4.3 Yes, it’s Patch Tuesday

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• SQLAuthority News – A Successful Performance Tuning Seminar at Pune – Dec 4-5, 2010

  - by pinaldave

  This is report to my third of very successful seminar event on SQL Server Performance Tuning. SQL Server Performance Tuning Seminar in Colombo was oversubscribed with total of 35 attendees. You can read the details over here SQLAuthority News – SQL Server Performance Optimizations Seminar – Grand Success – Colombo, Sri Lanka – Oct 4 – 5, 2010. SQL Server Performance Tuning Seminar in Hyderabad was oversubscribed with total of 25 attendees. You can read the details over here SQL SERVER – A Successful Performance Tuning Seminar – Hyderabad – Nov 27-28, 2010. The same Seminar was offered in Pune on December 4,-5, 2010. We had another successful seminar with lots of performance talk. This seminar was attended by 30 attendees. The best part of the seminar was that along with the our agenda, we have talked about following very interesting concepts. Deadlocks Detection and Removal Dynamic SQL and Inline Code SQL Optimizations Multiple OR conditions and performance tuning Dynamic Search Condition Building and Improvement Memory Cache and Improvement Bottleneck Detections – Memory, CPU and IO Beginning Performance Tuning on Production Parametrization Improving already Super Fast Queries Convenience vs. Performance Proper way to create Indexes Hints and Disadvantages I had great time doing the seminar and sharing my performance tricks with all. The highlight of this seminar was I have explained the attendees, how I begin doing performance tuning when I go for Performance Tuning Consultations.   Pinal Dave at SQL Performance Tuning Seminar SQL Server Performance Tuning Seminar Pinal Dave at SQL Performance Tuning Seminar Pinal Dave at SQL Performance Tuning Seminar SQL Server Performance Tuning Seminar SQL Server Performance Tuning Seminar This seminar series are 100% demo oriented and no usual PowerPoint talk. They are created from my experiences of various organizations for performance tuning. I am not planning any more seminar this year as it was great but I am booked currently for next 60 days at various performance tuning engagements. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Training, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Standard Reports from SQL Server Management Studio – SQL in Sixty Seconds #016 – Video

  - by pinaldave

  SQL Server management Studio 2012 is wonderful tool and has many different features. Many times, an average user does not use them as they are not aware about these features. Today, we will learn one such feature. SSMS comes with many inbuilt performance and activity reports, but we do not use it to the full potential. Connect to SQL Server Node >> Right Click on it >> Go to Reports >> Click on Standard Reports >> Pick Any Report. Please note that some of the reports can be IO intensive and not suggested to run during business hours! More on Standard Reports: SQL SERVER – Out of the Box – Activity and Performance Reports from SSSMS SQL SERVER – Generate Report for Index Physical Statistics – SSMS SQL SERVER – Configure Management Data Collection in Quick Steps I encourage you to submit your ideas for SQL in Sixty Seconds. We will try to accommodate as many as we can. If we like your idea we promise to share with you educational material. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Database, Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL in Sixty Seconds, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology, Video

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