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• SQL SERVER – Importance of User Without Login

  - by pinaldave

  Some questions are very open ended and it is very hard to come up with exact requirements. Here is one question I was asked in recent User Group Meeting. Question: “In recent version of SQL Server we can create user without login. What is the use of it?” Great question indeed. Let me first attempt to answer this question but after reading my answer I need your help. I want you to help him as well with adding more value to it. Answer: Let us visualize a scenario. An application has lots of different operations and many of them are very sensitive operations. The common practice was to do give application specific role which has more permissions and access level. When a regular user login (not system admin), he/she might have very restrictive permissions. The application itself had a user name and password which means applications can directly login into the database and perform the operation. Developers were well aware of the username and password as it was embedded in the application. When developer leaves the organization or when the password was changed, the part of the application had to be changed where the same username and passwords were used. Additionally, developers were able to use the same username and password and login directly to the same application. In earlier version of SQL Server there were application roles. The same is later on replaced by “User without Login”. Now let us recreate the above scenario using this new “User without Login”. In this case, User will have to login using their own credentials into SQL Server. This means that the user who is logged in will have his/her own username and password. Once the login is done in SQL Server, the user will be able to use the application. Now the database should have another User without Login which has all the necessary permissions and rights to execute various operations. Now, Application will be able to execute the script by impersonating “user without login – with more permissions”. Here there is assumed that user login does not have enough permissions and another user (without login) there are more rights. If a user knows how the application is using the database and their various operations, he can switch the context to user without login making him enable for doing further modification. Make sure to explicitly DENY view definition permission on the database. This will make things further difficult for user as he will have to know exact details to get additional permissions. If a user is System Admin all the details which I just mentioned in above three paragraphs does not apply as admin always have access to everything. Additionally, the method describes above is just one of the architecture and if someone is attempting to damage the system, they will still be able to figure out a workaround. You will have to put further auditing and policy based management to prevent such incidents and accidents. I guess this is my answer. I read it multiple times but I still feel that I am missing something. There should be more to this concept than what I have just described. I have merely described one scenario but there will be many more scenarios where this situation will be useful. Now is your turn to help – please leave a comment with the additional suggestion where exactly “User without Login” will be useful as well did I miss anything when I described above scenario. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Security, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – How to Get SQL Server Restart Notification?

  - by Pinal Dave

  Few days back my friend called me to know if there is any tool which can be used to get restart notification about SQL in their environment. I told that SQL Server can do it by itself with some configurations. He was happy and surprised to know that he need not spend any extra money. In SQL Server, we can configure stored procedure(s) to run at start-up of SQL Server. This blog would give steps to achieve how to achieve it. There are many situations where this feature can be used. Below are few. Logging SQL Server startup timings Modify data in some table during startup (i.e. table in tempdb) Sending notification about SQL start. Step 1 – Enable ‘scan for startup procs’ This can be done either using T-SQL or User Interface of Management Studio. EXEC sys.sp_configure N'Show Advanced Options', N'1' GO RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE GO EXEC sys.sp_configure N'scan for startup procs', N'1' GO RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE GO Below is the interface to change the setting. We need to go to “Server” > “Properties” and use “Advanced” tab. “Scan for Startup Procs” is the parameter under “Miscellaneous” section as shown below. We need to make value as “True” and hit OK. Step 2 – Create stored procedure It’s important to note that the procedure is executed after recovery is finished for ALL databases. Here is a sample stored procedure. You can use your own logic in the procedure. CREATE PROCEDURE SQLStartupProc AS BEGIN CREATE TABLE ##ThisTableShouldAlwaysExists (AnyColumn INT) END Step 3 – Set Procedure to run at startup We need to use sp_procoption to mark the procedure to run at startup. Here is the code to let SQL know that this is startup proc. sp_procoption 'SQLStartupProc', 'startup', 'true' This can be used only for procedures in master database. Msg 15398, Level 11, State 1, Procedure sp_procoption, Line 89 Only objects in the master database owned by dbo can have the startup setting changed. We also need to remember that such procedure should not have any input/output parameter. Here is the error which would be raised. Msg 15399, Level 11, State 1, Procedure sp_procoption, Line 107 Could not change startup option because this option is restricted to objects that have no parameters. Verification Here is the query to find which procedures is marked as startup procedures. SELECT name FROM sys.objects WHERE OBJECTPROPERTY(OBJECT_ID, 'ExecIsStartup') = 1 Once this is done, I have restarted SQL instance and here is what we would see in SQL ERRORLOG Launched startup procedure 'SQLStartupProc'. This confirms that stored procedure is executed. You can also notice that this is done after all databases are recovered. Recovery is complete. This is an informational message only. No user action is required. After few days my friend again called me and asked – I want to turn this OFF? Use comments section and post the answer for him.  Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Utility, T SQL

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• Big Data – ClustrixDB – Extreme Scale SQL Database with Real-time Analytics, Releases Software Download – NewSQL

  - by Pinal Dave

  There are so many things to learn and there is so little time we all have. As we have little time we need to be selective to learn whatever we learn. I believe I know quite a lot of things in SQL but I still do not know what is around SQL. I have started to learn about NewSQL recently. If you wonder what is NewSQL I encourage all of you to read my blog post about NewSQL over here Big Data – Buzz Words: What is NewSQL – Day 10 of 21. NewSQL databases are quickly becoming popular – providing the scale of NoSQL with the SQL features and transactions. As a part of learning NewSQL database, I have recently started to learn about ClustrixDB. ClustrixDB has been the most mature NewSQL database used by some of the largest internet sites in the world for over 3 years, with extensive SQL support. In addition to scale, it provides fast real-time analytics by bringing massively parallel processing (MPP), available only in warehousing databases, to the transactional database. The reason I am more intrigued about learning ClustrixDB is their recent announcement on Oct 31. ClustrixDB was only available as an appliance, but now with their software release on Oct 31, everyone can use it. It is now available as forever free for up to 12 cores with community support, and there is a 45 day trial for unlimited cluster sizes. With the forever free world, I am indeed interested in ClustrixDB now. I know that few of the leading eCommerce sites in the world uses them for their transactional database. Here are few of the details I have quickly noted for ClustrixDB. ClustrixDB allows user to: Scale by simply adding nodes to the cluster with a single command Run billions of transactions a day Run fast real-time analytics Achieve high-availability with recovery from node failure Manages itself Easily migrate from MySQL as it is nearly plug-and-play compatible, use MySQL drivers, tools and replication. While I was going through the documentation I realized that ClustrixDB also has extensive support for SQL features including complex queries involving joins on a dozen or more tables, aggregates, sorts, sub-queries. It also supports stored procedures, triggers, foreign keys, partitioned and temporary tables, and fully online schema changes. It is indeed a very matured product and SQL solution. Indeed Clusterix sound very promising solution, I decided to dig a bit deeper to understand who are current customers of the Clustrix as they exist in the industry for quite a few years. Their client list is indeed very interesting and here is my quick research about them. Twoo.com – Europe’s largest social discovery (dating) site runs 4.4 Billion Transactions a day with table sizes over a Terabyte, on a 168 core cluster. EngageBDR – Top 3 in the online advertising category uses ClustrixDB to serve 6.9 billion ads a day through real-time bidding platform. Their reports went from 4 hours to 15 seconds. NoMoreRack – Top 2 fastest growing e-commerce company in US used ClustrixDB for high availability and fast growth through Amazon cloud. MakeMyTrip – India’s leading travel site runs on ClustrixDB with two clusters running as multi-master in Chennai and Bangalore. Many enterprises such as AOL, CSC, Rakuten, Symantec use ClustrixDB when their applications need scale. I must accept that I am impressed with the information I have learned so far and now is the time to do some hand’s on experience with their product. I want to learn this technology so in future when it is about NewSQL, I know what I am talking about. Read more why Clustrix explains why you ClustrixDB might be the right database for you. Download ClustrixDB with me today and install it on your machine so in future when we discuss the technical aspects of it, we all are on the same page. The software can be downloaded here. Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)Filed under: Big Data, MySQL, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL Tagged: Clustrix

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• SQLAuthority News – Live Virtual Classroom New Trend in Technology

  - by nupurdave

  This blog post is by Nupur Dave, who is housewife and works from home. Changing times and a super busy lifestyle have rendered most of us powerless when it comes to doing what we love to do. I feel that a man never ceases to learn and his sole aim is to seek knowledge, and keep growing. However, our tight schedules and packed calendars mean that we really have to struggle to take some time out and follow the path towards learning. Like all working professionals with a family to take care of, I hardly found time to pursue my interests. However, it was getting increasingly important for me to upgrade my skills, not only for my personal quest for knowledge but to also substantiate my professional standing. When I came to know about Koenig Live Virtual Classroom from friends, it piqued my interest. I felt like it was the answer to all my concerns. Without wasting a single minute, I contacted Koenig for a demo class. Here are some of the highlights of Koenig LVC which instantly struck a chord in me: Online Training – Koenig offers 1-on-1 Online Training with the instructor at the other end. Doesn’t matter where I am sitting, in my office or at home, I can connect to my trainer from anywhere. Flexible Timings – The most comfortable part is you get to choose the time that suits you best. Economical -  No need to travel a thousand miles, the experts are right here on your computer screen. So no extra cost of travel, lodging and meals. 24X7 Lab Access: This is again a great feature that proved to be very beneficial in gaining a practical understanding of the subject. Powered by a data center, this facility offers students much to look forward to. 300+ Full Time Certified Experts: Be assured that you are learning from the best people in the industry. Customized Courses: Course material and training delivery is completely customized to suit your specific requirements. Official Courseware: The instructor teaches from official courseware of the vendor, depending on which course you have applied for – be it Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle or any other certification. Take Exam from Anywhere: Post completion of your IT training, you can take your certification exam from anywhere. Again, no need to travel a thousand miles to earn certified status. No Pre-Recorded Sessions: For those who still need clarification, it will be a live online classroom with trainers instructing you in real time. So you won’t get any surprises of getting pre-recorded sessions in place of your live instructor. Koenig’s Live Virtual Classroom methodology greatly exceeded my expectations. The instructor was highly skilled and very professional. I had concerns about the quality of AV on the computer screen, and whether I’ll be able to understand each topic in detail. However, the quality of video and sound, and the learning methodology used was impeccable. If you’re also facing time crunch and other commitment issues which are getting in the way of your professional development, LVC is the best solution to learn and grow. To know more about Student Experiences and Feedback of Koenig LVC, you can view their Testimonials. Reference: Nupur Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: SQL Authority

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• SQL SERVER – Unable to DELETE Project in Data Quality Projects (DQS)

  - by pinaldave

  Here is the email which made me write this blog post. When I write a blog post I write keeping in mind that if the developer is not familiar with the concept he will attempt this on the development server. If due to any reason you attempt it on any other server than your personal server, developer should make sure to have complete confidence on his own expertise and understand the risk behind it.  Well, let us read the email which I received. I have modified it a bit to remove information related to organizational and individual. “I just read your blog post on Beginning DQS. I went ahead and followed every single screenshot and it worked fine. I was able to execute the DQS project successfully. However, the same blog post got me in trouble – a serious trouble. After first successful deployment I went ahead and created a few of my own knowledge base and projects. I played around a bit and then decided to get back to real work. Now we had deployed DQS on production server only, so experiment on production server. Now, when I got back to my work, I forgot to close all the windows. My manager found the window open and have seen my test projects. He has asked me to delete my experiments immediately and have said words which I cannot write to you. Here is the problem. I am not able to delete the project which I have created earlier. I am able to open it and play with it but the delete option is disabled and grayed out (see attached image). Now I believe there is nothing wrong with this project as it was just a test project. Would you please write to my manager that it is not harmful to leave that project there as it is? It is also not using any resources. I think he will believe you.” As I said this kind of email makes me uncomfortable. I do not want someone to execute anything on production server. I often write notes and disclaimer on my post when something is dangerous to execute on production server. However, if someone is not expert with SQL Server and attempts something new on production server, I think the major issue is here with the person (admin) who gave new developer permission to production server. This has to be carefully avoided. Here was my response to the individual. “I cannot write to your manager anything as he has not asked me anything. Honestly I believe he is correct in his behavior as you should have not executed anything on the production server without prior approval and testing on the development server. Any R&D must be done on local box or development box. I suggest you request your manager to prevent access to users who does not need access. If he is a good manager, he might have already implemented by now recent event. I also see your screenshot. Here is the issue: While you were playing with project, you might have closed the project half the way, without completing it. Due to the same reason it is locked. You can open and continue from the same place where you have left the project. If you do not need the project any more. Right click on it, click on unlock the project. This will enable the DELETE option and now you can delete the project. Next time, be safe out there. It may be dangerous to have admin access to production server when not needed.“ I have yet not heard from him but I believe he will take my words positively. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Data Quality Services, DQS

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• SQL SERVER – Curious Case of Disappearing Rows – ON UPDATE CASCADE and ON DELETE CASCADE – T-SQL Example – Part 2 of 2

  - by pinaldave

  Yesterday I wrote a real world story of how a friend who thought they have an issue with intrusion or virus whereas the issue was really in the code. I strongly suggest you read my earlier blog post Curious Case of Disappearing Rows – ON UPDATE CASCADE and ON DELETE CASCADE – Part 1 of 2 before continuing this blog post as this is second part of the first blog post. Let me reproduce the simple scenario in T-SQL. Building Sample Data USE [TestDB] GO -- Creating Table Products CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Products]( [ProductID] [int] NOT NULL, [ProductDesc] [varchar](50) NOT NULL, CONSTRAINT [PK_Products] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ( [ProductID] ASC )) ON [PRIMARY] GO -- Creating Table ProductDetails CREATE TABLE [dbo].[ProductDetails]( [ProductDetailID] [int] NOT NULL, [ProductID] [int] NOT NULL, [Total] [int] NOT NULL, CONSTRAINT [PK_ProductDetails] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ( [ProductDetailID] ASC )) ON [PRIMARY] GO ALTER TABLE [dbo].[ProductDetails] WITH CHECK ADD CONSTRAINT [FK_ProductDetails_Products] FOREIGN KEY([ProductID]) REFERENCES [dbo].[Products] ([ProductID]) ON UPDATE CASCADE ON DELETE CASCADE GO -- Insert Data into Table USE TestDB GO INSERT INTO Products (ProductID, ProductDesc) SELECT 1, 'Bike' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'Car' UNION ALL SELECT 3, 'Books' GO INSERT INTO ProductDetails ([ProductDetailID],[ProductID],[Total]) SELECT 1, 1, 200 UNION ALL SELECT 2, 1, 100 UNION ALL SELECT 3, 1, 111 UNION ALL SELECT 4, 2, 200 UNION ALL SELECT 5, 3, 100 UNION ALL SELECT 6, 3, 100 UNION ALL SELECT 7, 3, 200 GO Select Data from Tables -- Selecting Data SELECT * FROM Products SELECT * FROM ProductDetails GO Delete Data from Products Table -- Deleting Data DELETE FROM Products WHERE ProductID = 1 GO Select Data from Tables Again -- Selecting Data SELECT * FROM Products SELECT * FROM ProductDetails GO Clean up Data -- Clean up DROP TABLE ProductDetails DROP TABLE Products GO My friend was confused as there was no delete was firing over ProductsDetails Table still there was a delete happening. The reason was because there is a foreign key created between Products and ProductsDetails Table with the keywords ON DELETE CASCADE. Due to ON DELETE CASCADE whenever is specified when the data from Table A is deleted and if it is referenced in another table using foreign key it will be deleted as well. Workaround 1: Design Changes – 3 Tables Change the design to have more than two tables. Create One Product Mater Table with all the products. It should historically store all the products list in it. No products should be ever removed from it. Add another table called Current Product and it should contain only the table which should be visible in the product catalogue. Another table should be called as ProductHistory table. There should be no use of CASCADE keyword among them. Workaround 2: Design Changes - Column IsVisible You can keep the same two tables. 1) Products and 2) ProductsDetails. Add a column with BIT datatype to it and name it as a IsVisible. Now change your application code to display the catalogue based on this column. There should be no need to delete anything. Workaround 3: Bad Advices (Bad advises begins here) The reason I have said bad advices because these are going to be bad advices for sure. You should make necessary design changes and not use poor workarounds which can damage the system and database integrity further. Here are the examples 1) Do not delete the data – well, this is not a real solution but can give time to implement design changes. 2) Do not have ON CASCADE DELETE – in this case, you will have entry in productsdetails which will have no corresponding product id and later on there will be lots of confusion. 3) Duplicate Data – you can have all the data of the product table move to the product details table and repeat them at each row. Now remove CASCADE code. This will let you delete the product table rows without any issue. There are so many things wrong this suggestion, that I will not even start here. (Bad advises ends here)  Well, did I miss anything? Please help me with your suggestions. 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 – Retrieve and Explore Database Backup without Restoring Database – Idera virtual databas

  - by pinaldave

  I recently downloaded Idera’s SQL virtual database, and tested it. There are a few things about this tool which caught my attention. My Scenario It is quite common in real life that sometimes observing or retrieving older data is necessary; however, it had changed as time passed by. The full database backup was 40 GB in size, and, to restore it on our production server, it usually takes around 16 to 22 minutes, depending on the load server that is usually present. This range in time varies from one server to another as per the configuration of the computer. Some other issues we used to have are the following: When we try to restore a large 40-GB database, we needed at least that much space on our production server. Once in a while, we even had to make changes in the restored database, and use the said changed and restored database for our purpose, making it more time-consuming. My Solution I have heard a lot about the Idera’s SQL virtual database tool.. Well, right after we started to test this tool, we found out that it really delivers what it promises. Using this software was very easy and we were able to restore our database from backup in less than 2 minutes, sparing us from the usual longer time of 16–22 minutes. The needful was finished in a total of 10 minutes. Another interesting observation is that there is no need to have an additional space for restoring the database. For complete database restoration, the single additional MB on the drive is not required anymore. We can use the database in the same way as our regular database, and there is no need for any additional configuration and setup. Let us look at the most relevant points of this product based on my initial experience: Quick restoration of the database backup No additional space required for database restoration virtual database has no physical .MDF or .LDF The database which is restored is, in fact, the backup file converted in the virtual database. DDL and DML queries can be executed against this virtually restored database. Regular backup operation can be implemented against virtual database, creating a physical .bak file that can be used for future use. There was no observed degradation in performance on the original database as well the restored virtual database. Additional T-SQL queries can be let off on the virtual database. Well, this summarizes my quick review. And, as I was saying, I am very impressed with the product and I plan to explore it more. There are many features that I have noticed in this tool, which I think can be very useful if properly understood. I had taken a few screenshots using my demo database afterwards. Let us see what other things this tool can do besides the mentioned activities. I am surprised with its performance so I want to know how exactly this feature works, specifically in the matter of why it does not create any additional files and yet, it still allows update on the virtually restored database. I guess I will have to send an e-mail to the developers of Idera and try to figure this out from them. I think this tool is very useful, and it delivers a high level of performance way more than what I expected. Soon, I will write a review for additional uses of SQL virtual database.. If you are using SQL virtual database in your production environment, I am eager to learn more about it and your experience while using it. The ‘Virtual’ Part of virtual database When I set out to test this software, I thought virtual database had something to do with Hyper-V or visualization. In fact, the virtual database is a kind of database which shows up in your SQL Server Management Studio without actually restoring or even creating it. This tool creates a database in SSMS from the backup of the same database. The backup, however, works virtually the same way as original database. Potential Usage of virtual database: As soon as I described this tool to my teammate, I think his very first reaction was, “hey, if we have this then there is no need for log shipping.” I find his comment very interesting as log shipping is something where logs are moved to another server. In fact, there are no updates on the database from log; I would rather compare it with Snapshot Replication. In fact, whatever we use, snapshot replicated database can be similarly used and configured with virtual database. I totally believe that we can use it for reporting purpose. In fact, after this database was configured, I think the uses of this tool are unlimited. I will have to spend some more time studying it and will get back to you. Click on images to see larger images. virtual database Console Harddrive Space before virtual database Setup Attach Full Backup Screen Backup on Harddrive Attach Full Backup Screen with Settings virtual database Setup – less than 60 sec virtual database Setup – Online Harddrive Space after virtual database Setup Point in Time Recovery Option – Timeline View virtual database Summary No Performance Difference between Regular DB vs Virtual DB Please note that all SQL Server MVP gets free license of this software. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com), Idera (virtual database) Filed under: Database, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Add-On, SQL Authority, SQL Backup and Restore, SQL Data Storage, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Utility, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Idera

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• SQL SERVER – 2008 – Introduction to Snapshot Database – Restore From Snapshot

  - by pinaldave

  Snapshot database is one of the most interesting concepts that I have used at some places recently. Here is a quick definition of the subject from Book On Line: A Database Snapshot is a read-only, static view of a database (the source database). Multiple snapshots can exist on a source database and can always reside on the same server instance as the database. Each database snapshot is consistent, in terms of transactions, with the source database as of the moment of the snapshot’s creation. A snapshot persists until it is explicitly dropped by the database owner. If you do not know how Snapshot database work, here is a quick note on the subject. However, please refer to the official description on Book-on-Line for accuracy. Snapshot database is a read-only database created from an original database called the “source database”. This database operates at page level. When Snapshot database is created, it is produced on sparse files; in fact, it does not occupy any space (or occupies very little space) in the Operating System. When any data page is modified in the source database, that data page is copied to Snapshot database, making the sparse file size increases. When an unmodified data page is read in the Snapshot database, it actually reads the pages of the original database. In other words, the changes that happen in the source database are reflected in the Snapshot database. Let us see a simple example of Snapshot. In the following exercise, we will do a few operations. Please note that this script is for demo purposes only- there are a few considerations of CPU, DISK I/O and memory, which will be discussed in the future posts. Create Snapshot Delete Data from Original DB Restore Data from Snapshot First, let us create the first Snapshot database and observe the sparse file details. USE master GO -- Create Regular Database CREATE DATABASE RegularDB GO USE RegularDB GO -- Populate Regular Database with Sample Table CREATE TABLE FirstTable (ID INT, Value VARCHAR(10)) INSERT INTO FirstTable VALUES(1, 'First'); INSERT INTO FirstTable VALUES(2, 'Second'); INSERT INTO FirstTable VALUES(3, 'Third'); GO -- Create Snapshot Database CREATE DATABASE SnapshotDB ON (Name ='RegularDB', FileName='c:\SSDB.ss1') AS SNAPSHOT OF RegularDB; GO -- Select from Regular and Snapshot Database SELECT * FROM RegularDB.dbo.FirstTable; SELECT * FROM SnapshotDB.dbo.FirstTable; GO Now let us see the resultset for the same. Now let us do delete something from the Original DB and check the same details we checked before. -- Delete from Regular Database DELETE FROM RegularDB.dbo.FirstTable; GO -- Select from Regular and Snapshot Database SELECT * FROM RegularDB.dbo.FirstTable; SELECT * FROM SnapshotDB.dbo.FirstTable; GO When we check the details of sparse file created by Snapshot database, we will find some interesting details. The details of Regular DB remain the same. It clearly shows that when we delete data from Regular/Source DB, it copies the data pages to Snapshot database. This is the reason why the size of the snapshot DB is increased. Now let us take this small exercise to  the next level and restore our deleted data from Snapshot DB to Original Source DB. -- Restore Data from Snapshot Database USE master GO RESTORE DATABASE RegularDB FROM DATABASE_SNAPSHOT = 'SnapshotDB'; GO -- Select from Regular and Snapshot Database SELECT * FROM RegularDB.dbo.FirstTable; SELECT * FROM SnapshotDB.dbo.FirstTable; GO -- Clean up DROP DATABASE [SnapshotDB]; DROP DATABASE [RegularDB]; GO Now let us check the details of the select statement and we can see that we are successful able to restore the database from Snapshot Database. We can clearly see that this is a very useful feature in case you would encounter a good business that needs it. I would like to request the readers to suggest more details if they are using this feature in their business. Also, let me know if you think it can be potentially used to achieve any tasks. Complete Script of the afore- mentioned operation for easy reference is as follows: USE master GO -- Create Regular Database CREATE DATABASE RegularDB GO USE RegularDB GO -- Populate Regular Database with Sample Table CREATE TABLE FirstTable (ID INT, Value VARCHAR(10)) INSERT INTO FirstTable VALUES(1, 'First'); INSERT INTO FirstTable VALUES(2, 'Second'); INSERT INTO FirstTable VALUES(3, 'Third'); GO -- Create Snapshot Database CREATE DATABASE SnapshotDB ON (Name ='RegularDB', FileName='c:\SSDB.ss1') AS SNAPSHOT OF RegularDB; GO -- Select from Regular and Snapshot Database SELECT * FROM RegularDB.dbo.FirstTable; SELECT * FROM SnapshotDB.dbo.FirstTable; GO -- Delete from Regular Database DELETE FROM RegularDB.dbo.FirstTable; GO -- Select from Regular and Snapshot Database SELECT * FROM RegularDB.dbo.FirstTable; SELECT * FROM SnapshotDB.dbo.FirstTable; GO -- Restore Data from Snapshot Database USE master GO RESTORE DATABASE RegularDB FROM DATABASE_SNAPSHOT = 'SnapshotDB'; GO -- Select from Regular and Snapshot Database SELECT * FROM RegularDB.dbo.FirstTable; SELECT * FROM SnapshotDB.dbo.FirstTable; GO -- Clean up DROP DATABASE [SnapshotDB]; DROP DATABASE [RegularDB]; GO Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Backup and Restore, SQL Data Storage, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Beginning SQL Server: One Step at a Time – SQL Server Magazine

  - by pinaldave

  I am glad to announce that along with SQLAuthority.com, I will be blogging on the prominent site of SQL Server Magazine. My very first blog post there is already live; read here: Beginning SQL Server: One Step at a Time. My association with SQL Server Magazine has been quite long, I have written nearly 7 to 8 SQL Server articles for the print magazine and it has been a great experience. I used to stay in the United States at that time. I moved back to India for good, and during this process, I had put everything on hold for a while. Just like many things, “temporary” things become “permanent” – coming back to SQLMag was on hold for long time. Well, this New Year, things have changed – once again, I am back with my online presence at SQLMag.com. Everybody is a beginner at every task or activity at some point of his/her life: spelling words for the first time; learning how to drive for the first time, etc. No one is perfect at the start of any task, but every human is different. As time passes, we all develop our interests and begin to study our subject of interest. Most of us dream to get a job in the area of our study – however things change as time passes. I recently read somewhere online (I could not find the link again while writing this one) that all the successful people in various areas have never studied in the area in which they are successful. After going through a formal learning process of what we love, we refuse to stop learning, and we finally stop changing career and focus areas. We move, we dare and we progress. IT field is similar to our life. New IT professionals come to this field every day. There are two types of beginners – a) those who are associated with IT field but not familiar with other technologies, and b) those who are absolutely new to the IT field. Learning a new technology is always exciting and overwhelming for enthusiasts. I am working with database (in particular) for SQL Server for more than 7 years but I am still overwhelmed with so many things to learn. I continue to learn and I do not think that I should ever stop doing so. Just like everybody, I want to be in the race and get ahead in learning the technology. For the same, I am always looking for good guidance. I always try to find a good article, blog or book chapter, which can teach me what I really want to learn at this stage in my career and can be immensely helpful. Quite often, I prefer to read the material where the author does not judge me or assume my understanding. I like to read new concepts like a child, who takes his/her first steps of learning without any prior knowledge. Keeping my personal philosophy and preference in mind, I will be blogging on SQL Server Magazine site. I will be blogging on the beginners stuff. I will be blogging for them, who really want to start and make a mark in this area. I will be blogging for all those who have an extreme passion for learning. I am happy that this is a good start for this year. One of my resolutions is to help every beginner. It is totally possible that in future they all will grow and find the same article quite ‘easy‘ – well when that happens, it indicates the success of the article and material! Well, I encourage everybody to read my SQL Server Magazine blog – I will be blogging there frequently on various topics. To begin, we will be talking about performance tuning, and I assure that I will not shy away from other multiple areas. Read my SQL Server Magazine Blog: Beginning SQL Server: One Step at a Time I think the title says it all. Do leave your comments and feedback to indicate your preference of subject and interest. I am going to continue writing on subject, and the aim is of course to help grow in this field. Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Optimization, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Signal Wait Time Introduction with Simple Example – Wait Type – Day 2 of 28

  - by pinaldave

  In this post, let’s delve a bit more in depth regarding wait stats. The very first question: when do the wait stats occur? Here is the simple answer. When SQL Server is executing any task, and if for any reason it has to wait for resources to execute the task, this wait is recorded by SQL Server with the reason for the delay. Later on we can analyze these wait stats to understand the reason the task was delayed and maybe we can eliminate the wait for SQL Server. It is not always possible to remove the wait type 100%, but there are few suggestions that can help. Before we continue learning about wait types and wait stats, we need to understand three important milestones of the query life-cycle. Running - a query which is being executed on a CPU is called a running query. This query is responsible for CPU time. Runnable – a query which is ready to execute and waiting for its turn to run is called a runnable query. This query is responsible for Signal Wait time. (In other words, the query is ready to run but CPU is servicing another query). Suspended – a query which is waiting due to any reason (to know the reason, we are learning wait stats) to be converted to runnable is suspended query. This query is responsible for wait time. (In other words, this is the time we are trying to reduce). In simple words, query execution time is a summation of the query Executing CPU Time (Running) + Query Wait Time (Suspended) + Query Signal Wait Time (Runnable). Again, it may be possible a query goes to all these stats multiple times. Let us try to understand the whole thing with a simple analogy of a taxi and a passenger. Two friends, Tom and Danny, go to the mall together. When they leave the mall, they decide to take a taxi. Tom and Danny both stand in the line waiting for their turn to get into the taxi. This is the Signal Wait Time as they are ready to get into the taxi but the taxis are currently serving other customer and they have to wait for their turn. In other word they are in a runnable state. Now when it is their turn to get into the taxi, the taxi driver informs them he does not take credit cards and only cash is accepted. Neither Tom nor Danny have enough cash, they both cannot get into the vehicle. Tom waits outside in the queue and Danny goes to ATM to fetch the cash. During this time the taxi cannot wait, they have to let other passengers get into the taxi. As Tom and Danny both are outside in the queue, this is the Query Wait Time and they are in the suspended state. They cannot do anything till they get the cash. Once Danny gets the cash, they are both standing in the line again, creating one more Signal Wait Time. This time when their turn comes they can pay the taxi driver in cash and reach their destination. The time taken for the taxi to get from the mall to the destination is running time (CPU time) and the taxi is running. I hope this analogy is bit clear with the wait stats. You can check the Signalwait stats using following query of Glenn Berry. -- Signal Waits for instance SELECT CAST(100.0 * SUM(signal_wait_time_ms) / SUM (wait_time_ms) AS NUMERIC(20,2)) AS [%signal (cpu) waits], CAST(100.0 * SUM(wait_time_ms - signal_wait_time_ms) / SUM (wait_time_ms) AS NUMERIC(20,2)) AS [%resource waits] FROM sys.dm_os_wait_stats OPTION (RECOMPILE); Higher the Signal wait stats are not good for the system. Very high value indicates CPU pressure. In my experience, when systems are running smooth and without any glitch the Signal wait stat is lower than 20%. Again, this number can be debated (and it is from my experience and is not documented anywhere). In other words, lower is better and higher is not good for the system. In future articles we will discuss in detail the various wait types and wait stats and their resolution. Read all the post in the Wait Types and Queue series. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL DMV, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Wait Stats, SQL Wait Types, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Enumerations in Relational Database – Best Practice

  - by pinaldave

  Marko Parkkola This article has been submitted by Marko Parkkola, Data systems designer at Saarionen Oy, Finland. Marko is excellent developer and always thinking at next level. You can read his earlier comment which created very interesting discussion here: SQL SERVER- IF EXISTS(Select null from table) vs IF EXISTS(Select 1 from table). I must express my special thanks to Marko for sending this best practice for Enumerations in Relational Database. He has really wrote excellent piece here and welcome comments here. Enumerations in Relational Database This is a subject which is very basic thing in relational databases but often not very well understood and sometimes badly implemented. There are of course many ways to do this but I concentrate only two cases, one which is “the right way” and one which is definitely wrong way. The concept Let’s say we have table Person in our database. Person has properties/fields like Firstname, Lastname, Birthday and so on. Then there’s a field that tells person’s marital status and let’s name it the same way; MaritalStatus. Now MaritalStatus is an enumeration. In C# I would definitely make it an enumeration with values likes Single, InRelationship, Married, Divorced. Now here comes the problem, SQL doesn’t have enumerations. The wrong way This is, in my opinion, absolutely the wrong way to do this. It has one upside though; you’ll see the enumeration’s description instantly when you do simple SELECT query and you don’t have to deal with mysterious values. There’s plenty of downsides too and one would be database fragmentation. Consider this (I’ve left all indexes and constraints out of the query on purpose). CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Person] ( [Firstname] NVARCHAR(100), [Lastname] NVARCHAR(100), [Birthday] datetime, [MaritalStatus] NVARCHAR(10) ) You have nvarchar(20) field in the table that tells the marital status. Obvious problem with this is that what if you create a new value which doesn’t fit into 20 characters? You’ll have to come and alter the table. There are other problems also but I’ll leave those for the reader to think about. The correct way Here’s how I’ve done this in many projects. This model still has one problem but it can be alleviated in the application layer or with CHECK constraints if you like. First I will create a namespace table which tells the name of the enumeration. I will add one row to it too. I’ll write all the indexes and constraints here too. CREATE TABLE [CodeNamespace] ( [Id] INT IDENTITY(1, 1), [Name] NVARCHAR(100) NOT NULL, CONSTRAINT [PK_CodeNamespace] PRIMARY KEY ([Id]), CONSTRAINT [IXQ_CodeNamespace_Name] UNIQUE NONCLUSTERED ([Name]) ) GO INSERT INTO [CodeNamespace] SELECT 'MaritalStatus' GO Then I create a table that holds the actual values and which reference to namespace table in order to group the values under different namespaces. I’ll add couple of rows here too. CREATE TABLE [CodeValue] ( [CodeNamespaceId] INT NOT NULL, [Value] INT NOT NULL, [Description] NVARCHAR(100) NOT NULL, [OrderBy] INT, CONSTRAINT [PK_CodeValue] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ([CodeNamespaceId], [Value]), CONSTRAINT [FK_CodeValue_CodeNamespace] FOREIGN KEY ([CodeNamespaceId]) REFERENCES [CodeNamespace] ([Id]) ) GO -- 1 is the 'MaritalStatus' namespace INSERT INTO [CodeValue] SELECT 1, 1, 'Single', 1 INSERT INTO [CodeValue] SELECT 1, 2, 'In relationship', 2 INSERT INTO [CodeValue] SELECT 1, 3, 'Married', 3 INSERT INTO [CodeValue] SELECT 1, 4, 'Divorced', 4 GO Now there’s four columns in CodeValue table. CodeNamespaceId tells under which namespace values belongs to. Value tells the enumeration value which is used in Person table (I’ll show how this is done below). Description tells what the value means. You can use this, for example, column in UI’s combo box. OrderBy tells if the values needs to be ordered in some way when displayed in the UI. And here’s the Person table again now with correct columns. I’ll add one row here to show how enumerations are to be used. CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Person] ( [Firstname] NVARCHAR(100), [Lastname] NVARCHAR(100), [Birthday] datetime, [MaritalStatus] INT ) GO INSERT INTO [Person] SELECT 'Marko', 'Parkkola', '1977-03-04', 3 GO Now I said earlier that there is one problem with this. MaritalStatus column doesn’t have any database enforced relationship to the CodeValue table so you can enter any value you like into this field. I’ve solved this problem in the application layer by selecting all the values from the CodeValue table and put them into a combobox / dropdownlist (with Value field as value and Description as text) so the end user can’t enter any illegal values; and of course I’ll check the entered value in data access layer also. I said in the “The wrong way” section that there is one benefit to it. In fact, you can have the same benefit here by using a simple view, which I schema bound so you can even index it if you like. CREATE VIEW [dbo].[Person_v] WITH SCHEMABINDING AS SELECT p.[Firstname], p.[Lastname], p.[BirthDay], c.[Description] MaritalStatus FROM [dbo].[Person] p JOIN [dbo].[CodeValue] c ON p.[MaritalStatus] = c.[Value] JOIN [dbo].[CodeNamespace] n ON n.[Id] = c.[CodeNamespaceId] AND n.[Name] = 'MaritalStatus' GO -- Select from View SELECT * FROM [dbo].[Person_v] GO This is excellent write up byMarko Parkkola. Do you have this kind of design setup at your organization? Let us know your opinion. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Best Practices, Database, DBA, Readers Contribution, Software Development, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Documentation, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Single Wait Time Introduction with Simple Example – Wait Type – Day 2 of 28

  - by pinaldave

  In this post, let’s delve a bit more in depth regarding wait stats. The very first question: when do the wait stats occur? Here is the simple answer. When SQL Server is executing any task, and if for any reason it has to wait for resources to execute the task, this wait is recorded by SQL Server with the reason for the delay. Later on we can analyze these wait stats to understand the reason the task was delayed and maybe we can eliminate the wait for SQL Server. It is not always possible to remove the wait type 100%, but there are few suggestions that can help. Before we continue learning about wait types and wait stats, we need to understand three important milestones of the query life-cycle. Running - a query which is being executed on a CPU is called a running query. This query is responsible for CPU time. Runnable – a query which is ready to execute and waiting for its turn to run is called a runnable query. This query is responsible for Single Wait time. (In other words, the query is ready to run but CPU is servicing another query). Suspended – a query which is waiting due to any reason (to know the reason, we are learning wait stats) to be converted to runnable is suspended query. This query is responsible for wait time. (In other words, this is the time we are trying to reduce). In simple words, query execution time is a summation of the query Executing CPU Time (Running) + Query Wait Time (Suspended) + Query Single Wait Time (Runnable). Again, it may be possible a query goes to all these stats multiple times. Let us try to understand the whole thing with a simple analogy of a taxi and a passenger. Two friends, Tom and Danny, go to the mall together. When they leave the mall, they decide to take a taxi. Tom and Danny both stand in the line waiting for their turn to get into the taxi. This is the Signal Wait Time as they are ready to get into the taxi but the taxis are currently serving other customer and they have to wait for their turn. In other word they are in a runnable state. Now when it is their turn to get into the taxi, the taxi driver informs them he does not take credit cards and only cash is accepted. Neither Tom nor Danny have enough cash, they both cannot get into the vehicle. Tom waits outside in the queue and Danny goes to ATM to fetch the cash. During this time the taxi cannot wait, they have to let other passengers get into the taxi. As Tom and Danny both are outside in the queue, this is the Query Wait Time and they are in the suspended state. They cannot do anything till they get the cash. Once Danny gets the cash, they are both standing in the line again, creating one more Single Wait Time. This time when their turn comes they can pay the taxi driver in cash and reach their destination. The time taken for the taxi to get from the mall to the destination is running time (CPU time) and the taxi is running. I hope this analogy is bit clear with the wait stats. You can check the single wait stats using following query of Glenn Berry. -- Signal Waits for instance SELECT CAST(100.0 * SUM(signal_wait_time_ms) / SUM (wait_time_ms) AS NUMERIC(20,2)) AS [%signal (cpu) waits], CAST(100.0 * SUM(wait_time_ms - signal_wait_time_ms) / SUM (wait_time_ms) AS NUMERIC(20,2)) AS [%resource waits] FROM sys.dm_os_wait_stats OPTION (RECOMPILE); Higher the single wait stats are not good for the system. Very high value indicates CPU pressure. In my experience, when systems are running smooth and without any glitch the single wait stat is lower than 20%. Again, this number can be debated (and it is from my experience and is not documented anywhere). In other words, lower is better and higher is not good for the system. In future articles we will discuss in detail the various wait types and wait stats and their resolution. Read all the post in the Wait Types and Queue series. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL DMV, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Wait Stats, SQL Wait Types, T SQL, Technology

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• SQLAuthority News – Author Visit Review – TechMela Nepal – March 29-30, 2010

  - by pinaldave

  I was very fortunate to attend TechMela at Kathmandu, Nepal on 29th and 30th of March 2010. I would like to thank Allen Bailochan Tuladhar from Microsoft MDP Nepal for inviting me. Allen is a person with seemingly infinite energy and unlimited passion for Microsoft Technology. If you get an opportunity to spend just one hour with him, you will surely be more enthusiastic with regards to Microsoft Technology. And, I was lucky enough that I was able to spend about a total of 9 days with him in Kathmandu, working along with him in the Tech Community. TechMela Nepal Pinal at TechMela, Nepal TechMela is considered as one of the biggest events in Nepal, having been organized by Microsoft MDP Nepal. This event was attended by around 500 students and hundreds of Tech professionals. The event was handled very professionally and at very large scale. Every minor detail was properly planned and obviously thought out well. There were around 50+ volunteers from MS MDP who were monitoring this event systematically to make sure the event would run as smooth as planned. Attendees in Geek T-Shirts During this event, I was delighted to meet David Lim of Microsoft Singapore. He is very passionate in working for Microsoft Technology, as well as building deep relations with the Community. I was fortunate to spend my entire afternoon with him during the sight-seeing trip. We discussed various MS technologies and their community’s adoption as well as the way how each of us can be a part of the community activity. He also delivered excellent keynotes at the event. I must say that this is one of the most enjoyable keynotes I have ever attended. It was interesting and interactive, and I must say that I had the 70s feelings with all the fonts and graphics. I still remember him saying, “Yeah, I was a student and I know you.” Allen Tuladhar, David Lim, Pinal Dave and Guests After the keynote, everybody cheered when Allen came on stage to talk about the event and to introduce the agenda for the next two days. I must say that Allen is one of the most well-known people in Nepal. I was impressed with his popularity, and to prove this, when he got on the stage he had to wait for a long full minute before he was able to greet “Welcome” while the attendees were clapping and cheering. Technology Panelist at Techmela Kathmandu, Nepal This event was blessed with the top-of-the-top officials of various IT industries, Nepal ministries and the US Embassy. All the prominent personalities were present for panel discussion on the stage. The talk was done on various subjects. Also, the energy level which was set by Allen really echoed in the audience as they asked certain questions on different global as well local IT-related questions. The panel discussion really was discussion instead of usual monologue of one person. Pinal Dave presenting at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal This was a two-day event and my session was on either of the day. I had a great participation from the audience on both days. The place where the event was organized had a capacity of around 500+ audience. Both of my sessions were heavily attended and volunteers did a fabulous job helping the attendees find empty seats or arrange some additional seats. I was overwhelmed with the interaction I have received in the large hall. Attendees were not so shy to express their thoughts, so both the sessions were followed up by top notch one-on-one conversations for a couple of hours. Pinal Dave presenting at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Pinal Dave presenting at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal There are many questions that I have received during the event, and many of them can be interesting for all of us here so I will write detailed blog posts on these subjects. I also tried to participate in the gaming activities held at the event, but I felt I was kind of lost even if I was only playing for the very first minutes. This made me realize that I am really getting old for video games. Allen presenting at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Allen’s session on Digital Photography was very impressive as he demonstrated so many features of the Windows Live Product that at one point I felt he is MVP for Windows Live. In fact, he demonstrated how all the Microsoft products work together to give users an excellent desktop experience; no wonder he is an MVP for Windows Desktop Experience. Pinal Dave presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Any event has two common dilemmas – food and logistics. However, this event had excellent food and state-of-the-art organization. I was very glad that this two-day event turned out to be one of the most successful events in Nepal. I also noticed that almost all attendees rate their experience as beyond expectation and truly exceptional. Pinal Dave and Allen Bailochan Tuladhar If you ever get invited by Allen in any of his event, I strongly suggest that you drop all your plans and scheduled stuff, and accept his invitation. For sure, the event will be a very memorable one and would be your once-in-a-lifetime experience. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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• SQLAuthority News – Author Visit Review – TechMela Nepal – March 29-30, 2010

  - by pinaldave

  I was very fortunate to attend TechMela at Kathmandu, Nepal on 29th and 30th of March 2010. I would like to thank Allen Bailochan Tuladhar from Microsoft MDP Nepal for inviting me. Allen is a person with seemingly infinite energy and unlimited passion for Microsoft Technology. If you get an opportunity to spend just one hour with him, you will surely be more enthusiastic with regards to Microsoft Technology. And, I was lucky enough that I was able to spend about a total of 9 days with him in Kathmandu, working along with him in the Tech Community. TechMela Nepal Pinal at TechMela, Nepal TechMela is considered as one of the biggest events in Nepal, having been organized by Microsoft MDP Nepal. This event was attended by around 500 students and hundreds of Tech professionals. The event was handled very professionally and at very large scale. Every minor detail was properly planned and obviously thought out well. There were around 50+ volunteers from MS MDP who were monitoring this event systematically to make sure the event would run as smooth as planned. Attendees in Geek T-Shirts During this event, I was delighted to meet David Lim of Microsoft Singapore. He is very passionate in working for Microsoft Technology, as well as building deep relations with the Community. I was fortunate to spend my entire afternoon with him during the sight-seeing trip. We discussed various MS technologies and their community’s adoption as well as the way how each of us can be a part of the community activity. He also delivered excellent keynotes at the event. I must say that this is one of the most enjoyable keynotes I have ever attended. It was interesting and interactive, and I must say that I had the 70s feelings with all the fonts and graphics. I still remember him saying, “Yeah, I was a student and I know you.” Allen Tuladhar, David Lim, Pinal Dave and Guests After the keynote, everybody cheered when Allen came on stage to talk about the event and to introduce the agenda for the next two days. I must say that Allen is one of the most well-known people in Nepal. I was impressed with his popularity, and to prove this, when he got on the stage he had to wait for a long full minute before he was able to greet “Welcome” while the attendees were clapping and cheering. Technology Panelist at Techmela Kathmandu, Nepal This event was blessed with the top-of-the-top officials of various IT industries, Nepal ministries and the US Embassy. All the prominent personalities were present for panel discussion on the stage. The talk was done on various subjects. Also, the energy level which was set by Allen really echoed in the audience as they asked certain questions on different global as well local IT-related questions. The panel discussion really was discussion instead of usual monologue of one person. Pinal Dave presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal This was a two-day event and my session was on either of the day. I had a great participation from the audience on both days. The place where the event was organized had a capacity of around 500+ audience. Both of my sessions were heavily attended and volunteers did a fabulous job helping the attendees find empty seats or arrange some additional seats. I was overwhelmed with the interaction I have received in the large hall. Attendees were not so shy to express their thoughts, so both the sessions were followed up by top notch one-on-one conversations for a couple of hours. Pinal Dave presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Pinal Dave presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Pinal Dave presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal There are many questions that I have received during the event, and many of them can be interesting for all of us here so I will write detailed blog posts on these subjects. I also tried to participate in the gaming activities held at the event, but I felt I was kind of lost even if I was only playing for the very first minutes. This made me realize that I am really getting old for video games. Allen presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Allen’s session on Digital Photography was very impressive as he demonstrated so many features of the Windows Live Product that at one point I felt he is MVP for Windows Live. In fact, he demonstrated how all the Microsoft products work together to give users an excellent desktop experience; no wonder he is an MVP for Windows Desktop Experience. Pinal Dave presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Any event has two common dilemmas – food and logistics. However, this event had excellent food and state-of-the-art organization. I was very glad that this two-day event turned out to be one of the most successful events in Nepal. I also noticed that almost all attendees rate their experience as beyond expectation and truly exceptional. Pinal Dave and Allen Bailochan Tuladhar If you ever get invited by Allen in any of his event, I strongly suggest that you drop all your plans and scheduled stuff, and accept his invitation. For sure, the event will be a very memorable one and would be your once-in-a-lifetime experience. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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• Developer’s Life – Summary of Superhero Articles

  - by Pinal Dave

  Earlier this year, I wrote an article series where I talked about developer’s life and compared it with Superhero. I have got amazing response to this series and I have been receiving quite a lots of email suggesting that I should write more blog post about them. Currently I am not planning to write more blog post but I will soon continue another series. In this blog post, I have summarized the entire series. Let me know if you want me to write about any superhero. I will see what I can do about that hero. Developer’s Life – Every Developer is a Captain America Captain America was first created as a comic book character in the 1940’s as a way to boost morale during World War II.  Aimed at a children’s audience, his legacy faded away when the war ended.  However, he has recently has a major reboot to become a popular movie character that deals with modern issues. Developer’s Life – Every Developer is the Incredible Hulk The Incredible Hulk is possibly one of the scariest superheroes out there.  All superheroes are meant to be “out of this world” and awe-inspiring, but I think most people will agree with I say The Hulk takes this to the next level.  He is the result of an industrial accident, which is scary enough in it’s own right.  Plus, when mild-mannered Bruce Banner is angered, he goes completely out-of-control and transforms into a destructive monster that he cannot control and has no memories of. Developer’s Life – Every Developer is a Wonder Woman We have focused a lot lately on this “superhero series.”  I love fantasy books and movies, and I feel like there is a lot to be learned from them.  As I am writing this series, though, I have noticed that every super hero I write about is a man.  So today, I would like to talk about the major female super hero – Wonder Woman. Developer’s Life – Every Developer is a Harry Potter Harry Potter might not be a superhero in the traditional sense, but I believe he still has a lot to teach us and show us about life as a developer.  If you have been living under a rock for the last 17 years, you might not know that Harry Potter is the main character in an extremely popular series of books and movies documenting the education and tribulation of a young wizard (and his friends). Developer’s Life – Every Developer is Like Transformers Transformers may not be superheroes – they don’t wear capes, they don’t have amazing powers outside of their size and folding ability, they’re not even human (technically).  Part of their enduring popularity is that while we are enjoying over-the-top movies, we are learning about good leadership and strong personal skills. Developer’s Life – Every Developer is a Iron Man Iron Man is another superhero who is not naturally “super,” but relies on his brain (and money) to turn him into a fighting machine.  While traditional superheroes are still popular, a three-movie franchise and incorporation into the new Avengers series shows that Iron Man is popular enough on his own. Developer’s Life – Every Developer is a Sherlock Holmes I have been thinking a lot about how developers are like super heroes, and I have written two blog posts now comparing them to Spiderman and Superman.  I have a lot of love and respect for developers, and I hope that they are enjoying these articles, and others are learning a little bit about the profession.  There is another fictional character who, while not technically asuper hero, is very powerful, and I also think stands as a good example of a developer. That character is Sherlock Holmes.  Sherlock Holmes is a British detective, first made popular at the turn of the 19thcentury by author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  The original Sherlock Holmes was a brilliant detective who could solve the most mind-boggling crime through simple observations and deduction. Developer’s Life – Every Developer is a Chhota Bheem Chhota Bheem is a cartoon character that is extremely popular where I live.  He is my daughter’s favorite characters.  I like to say that children love Chhota Bheem more than their parents – it is lucky for us he is not real!  Children love Chhota Bheem because he is the absolute “good guy.”  He is smart, loyal, and strong.  He and his friends live in Dholakpur and fight off their many enemies – and always win – in every episode.  In each episode, they learn something about friendship, bravery, and being kind to others.  Chhota Bheem is a good role model for children, and I think that he is a good role model for developers are well. Developer’s Life – Every Developer is a Batman Batman is one of the darkest superheroes in the fantasy canon.  He does not come to his powers through any sort of magical coincidence or radioactive insect, but through a lot of psychological scarring caused by witnessing the death of his parents.  Despite his dark back story, he possesses a lot of admirable abilities that I feel bear comparison to developers. Developer’s Life – Every Developer is a Superman I enjoyed comparing developers to Spiderman so much, that I have decided to continue the trend and encourage some of my favorite people (developers) with another favorite superhero – Superman.  Superman is probably the most famous superhero – and one of the most inspiring. Developer’s Life – Every Developer is a Spiderman I have to admit, Spiderman is my favorite superhero.  The most recent movie recently was released in theaters, so it has been at the front of my mind for some time. Spiderman was my favorite superhero even before the latest movie came out, but of course I took my whole family to see the movie as soon as I could!  Every one of us loved it, including my daughter.  We all left the movie thinking how great it would be to be Spiderman.  So, with that in mind, I started thinking about how we are like Spiderman in our everyday lives, especially developers. I would like to know which Superhero is your favorite hero! Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL Tagged: Developer, Superhero

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• SQLAuthority News – A Successful Community TechDays at Ahmedabad – December 11, 2010

  - by pinaldave

  We recently had one of the best community events in Ahmedabad. We were fortunate that we had SQL Experts from around the world to have presented at this event. This gathering was very special because besides Jacob Sebastian and myself, we had two other speakers traveling all the way from Florida (Rushabh Mehta) and Bangalore (Vinod Kumar).There were a total of nearly 170 attendees and the event was blast. Here are the details of the event. Pinal Dave Presenting at Community Tech Days On the day of the event, it seemed to be the coldest day in Ahmedabad but I was glad to see hundreds of people waiting for the doors to be opened some hours before. We started the day with hot coffee and cookies. Yes, food first; and it was right after my keynote. I could clearly see that the coffee did some magic right away; the hall was almost full after the coffee break. Jacob Sebastian Presenting at Community Tech Days Jacob Sebastian, an SQL Server MVP and a close friend of mine, had an unusual job of surprising everybody with an innovative topic accompanied with lots of question-and-answer portions. That’s definitely one thing to love Jacob, that is, the novelty of the subject. His presentation was entitled “Best Database Practices for the .Net”; it really created magic on the crowd. Pinal Dave Presenting at Community Tech Days Next to Jacob Sebastian, I presented “Best Database Practices for the SharePoint”. It was really fun to present Database with the perspective of the database itself. The main highlight of my presentation was when I talked about how one can speed up the database performance by 40% for SharePoint in just 40 seconds. It was fun because the most important thing was to convince people to use the recommendation as soon as they walk out of the session. It was really amusing and the response of the participants was remarkable. Pinal Dave Presenting at Community Tech Days My session was followed by the most-awaited session of the day: that of Rushabh Mehta. He is an international BI expert who traveled all the way from Florida to present “Self Service BI” session. This session was funny and truly interesting. In fact, no one knew BI could be this much entertaining and fascinating. Rushabh has an appealing style of presenting the session; he instantly got very much interaction from the audience. Rushabh Mehta Presenting at Community Tech Days We had a networking lunch break in-between, when we talked about many various topics. It is always interesting to get in touch with the Community and feel a part of it. I had a wonderful time during the break. Vinod Kumar Presenting at Community Tech Days After lunch was apparently the most difficult session for the presenter as during this time, many people started to fall sleep and get dizzy. This spot was requested by Microsoft SQL Server Evangelist Vinod Kumar himself. During our discussion he suggested that if he gets this slot he would make sure people are up and more interactive than during the morning session. Just like always, this session was one of the best sessions ever. Vinod is true to his word as he presented the subject of “Time Management for Developer”. This session was the biggest hit in the event because the subject was instilled in the mind of every participant. Vinod Kumar Presenting at Community Tech Days Vinod’s session was followed by his own small session. Due to “insistent public demand”, he presented an interesting subject, “Tricks and Tips of SQL Server“. In 20 minutes he has done another awesome job and all attendees wanted more of the tricks. Just as usual he promised to do that next time for us. Vinod’s session was succeeded by Prabhjot Singh Bakshi’s session. He presented an appealing Silverlight concept. Just the same, he did a great job and people cheered him. Prabhjot Presenting at Community Tech Days We had a special invited speaker, Dhananjay Kumar, traveling all the way from Pune. He always supports our cause to help the Community in empowering participants. He presented the topic about Win7 Mobile and SharePoint integration. This was something many did not even expect to be possible. Kudos to Dhananjay for doing a great job. Dhananjay Kumar Presenting at Community Tech Days All in all, this event was one of the best in the Community Tech Days series in Ahmedabad. We were fortunate that legends from the all over the world were present here to present to the Community. I’d say never underestimate the power of the Community and its influence over the direction of the technology. Vinod Kumar Presenting trophy to Pinal Dave Vinod Kumar Presenting trophy to Pinal Dave This event was a very special gathering to me personally because of your support to the vibrant Community. The following awards were won for last year’s performance: Ahmedabad SQL Server User Group (President: Jacob Sebastian; Leader: Pinal Dave) – Best Tier 2 User Group Best Development Community Individual Contributor – Pinal Dave Speakers I was very glad to receive the award for our entire Community. Attendees at Community Tech Days I want to say thanks to Rushabh Mehta, Vinod Kumar and Dhananjay Kumar for visiting the city and presenting various technology topics in Community Tech Days. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: MVP, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Database Dynamic Caching by Automatic SQL Server Performance Acceleration

  - by pinaldave

  My second look at SafePeak’s new version (2.1) revealed to me few additional interesting features. For those of you who hadn’t read my previous reviews SafePeak and not familiar with it, here is a quick brief: SafePeak is in business of accelerating performance of SQL Server applications, as well as their scalability, without making code changes to the applications or to the databases. SafePeak performs database dynamic caching, by caching in memory result sets of queries and stored procedures while keeping all those cache correct and up to date. Cached queries are retrieved from the SafePeak RAM in microsecond speed and not send to the SQL Server. The application gets much faster results (100-500 micro seconds), the load on the SQL Server is reduced (less CPU and IO) and the application or the infrastructure gets better scalability. SafePeak solution is hosted either within your cloud servers, hosted servers or your enterprise servers, as part of the application architecture. Connection of the application is done via change of connection strings or adding reroute line in the c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file on all application servers. For those who would like to learn more on SafePeak architecture and how it works, I suggest to read this vendor’s webpage: SafePeak Architecture. More interesting new features in SafePeak 2.1 In my previous review of SafePeak new I covered the first 4 things I noticed in the new SafePeak (check out my article “SQLAuthority News – SafePeak Releases a Major Update: SafePeak version 2.1 for SQL Server Performance Acceleration”): Cache setup and fine-tuning – a critical part for getting good caching results Database templates Choosing which database to cache Monitoring and analysis options by SafePeak Since then I had a chance to play with SafePeak some more and here is what I found. 5. Analysis of SQL Performance (present and history): In SafePeak v.2.1 the tools for understanding of performance became more comprehensive. Every 15 minutes SafePeak creates and updates various performance statistics. Each query (or a procedure execute) that arrives to SafePeak gets a SQL pattern, and after it is used again there are statistics for such pattern. An important part of this product is that it understands the dependencies of every pattern (list of tables, views, user defined functions and procs). From this understanding SafePeak creates important analysis information on performance of every object: response time from the database, response time from SafePeak cache, average response time, percent of traffic and break down of behavior. One of the interesting things this behavior column shows is how often the object is actually pdated. The break down analysis allows knowing the above information for: queries and procedures, tables, views, databases and even instances level. The data is show now on all arriving queries, both read queries (that can be cached), but also any types of updates like DMLs, DDLs, DCLs, and even session settings queries. The stats are being updated every 15 minutes and SafePeak dashboard allows going back in time and investigating what happened within any time frame. 6. Logon trigger, for making sure nothing corrupts SafePeak cache data If you have an application with many parts, many servers many possible locations that can actually update the database, or the SQL Server is accessible to many DBAs or software engineers, each can access some database directly and do some changes without going thru SafePeak – this can create a potential corruption of the data stored in SafePeak cache. To make sure SafePeak cache is correct it needs to get all updates to arrive to SafePeak, and if a DBA will access the database directly and do some changes, for example, then SafePeak will simply not know about it and will not clean SafePeak cache. In the new version, SafePeak brought a new feature called “Logon Trigger” to solve the above challenge. By special click of a button SafePeak can deploy a special server logon trigger (with a CLR object) on your SQL Server that actually monitors all connections and informs SafePeak on any connection that is coming not from SafePeak. In SafePeak dashboard there is an interface that allows to control which logins can be ignored based on login names and IPs, while the rest will invoke cache cleanup of SafePeak and actually locks SafePeak cache until this connection will not be closed. Important to note, that this does not interrupt any logins, only informs SafePeak on such connection. On the Dashboard screen in SafePeak you will be able to see those connections and then decide what to do with them. Configuration of this feature in SafePeak dashboard can be done here: Settings -> SQL instances management -> click on instance -> Logon Trigger tab. Other features: 7. User management ability to grant permissions to someone without changing its configuration and only use SafePeak as performance analysis tool. 8. Better reports for analysis of performance using 15 minute resolution charts. 9. Caching of client cursors 10. Support for IPv6 Summary SafePeak is a great SQL Server performance acceleration solution for users who want immediate results for sites with performance, scalability and peak spikes challenges. Especially if your apps are packaged or 3rd party, since no code changes are done. SafePeak can significantly increase response times, by reducing network roundtrip to the database, decreasing CPU resource usage, eliminating I/O and storage access. SafePeak team provides a free fully functional trial www.safepeak.com/download and actually provides a one-on-one assistance during such trial. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: About Me, Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Utility, T SQL, Technology

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• Developer Training – A Conclusive Summary- Part 5

  - by pinaldave

  Developer Training - Importance and Significance - Part 1 Developer Training – Employee Morals and Ethics – Part 2 Developer Training – Difficult Questions and Alternative Perspective - Part 3 Developer Training – Various Options for Developer Training – Part 4 Developer Training – A Conclusive Summary- Part 5 We have now reached the end of our series about developer training.  I hope you have come away thinking that training is the best way to advance in your company and that you are looking for training opportunities right now.  If you’re still not convinced here are a few things to keep in mind:  Training benefits the employer and the employee. A well trained employee is a happy employee, and a happy employee is more efficient and productive. Training an employee might be expensive, but it is less expensive than hiring a new person. Whether you are looking at him from the employee’s or the company’s point of view, there are always advantages to training. A Broader View This series is definitely written for Developer Training but it is not limited to developers only. There are IT Pro, System Admins, DBAs as well many other technology professionals; this article series is for all professionals in the world. The concepts and take away will remain common across all the platform and regardless of technology affiliation. Pass the Knowledge If I have to pick one advise which is extremely important related to training, I will pick – pass the knowledge. Once you have decided in favor of training, there is more to it than simply showing up and staying awake.  It is always a good idea to take notes – at the very least it will help you stay awake, but they will often serve as a good way to remember your training when you go back to work.  You can also use them to pass your new knowledge on to fellow employees, which can be very fun and rewarding. Right Place, Right Time and Right Training There are so many ways to get developer training.  In-person and on the job training is easy to come by and is the most usual type of training, but don’t overlook my favorite type of training: On Demand.  Being able to learn at your own pace, own place and on your own time will make training a realistic goal for almost every employee. I can think of nothing more important in life than furthering your education.  Especially when you work in a field that is constantly changing – like technology.  Whether you like it or not, training is incredibly important.  That is why I feel it is so important to receive training.  And because there are so many different training formats – live, online, through books, through people – I am certain that we all can find a way to be trained that best suits our goals and personalities. The Teacher Within If you think of anyone who is a master of the technology field or an incredibly successful developer (the obvious examples that spring to mind are Steve Jobs or Bill Gates), you will also find a teacher.  Both these individuals spent their lives developing better technology, but also educating other developers and the public about how to use these technologies and how it can change your life for the better.  I think that we all should strive to be like these wonderful teachers.  We might not be able to change the world, but we can certainly change a few lives around us. Even if we never turn into trainers ourselves , being trained as a student can be a good exercise.  We learn a lot and become better employees – and it would not be a stretch to say that this makes us better individuals, as well. Final Say I think learning and growing in your chosen field is not only a good idea, career-wise, but can be fun, too!  I for one never feel more alive than when I am learning about something I am really passionate about.  I think my job title – technology evangelist – explains how enthusiastic I am about this subject.  But please don’t think that I am thinking of this as someone who wants to train and educate others (although this is also one of my passions).  I am also a passionate student.  I enjoy learning new things and am always on the lookout for new ways to learn and new people to learn from. 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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• SQL SERVER – Simple Example of Snapshot Isolation – Reduce the Blocking Transactions

  - by pinaldave

  To learn any technology and move to a more advanced level, it is very important to understand the fundamentals of the subject first. Today, we will be talking about something which has been quite introduced a long time ago but not properly explored when it comes to the isolation level. Snapshot Isolation was introduced in SQL Server in 2005. However, the reality is that there are still many software shops which are using the SQL Server 2000, and therefore cannot be able to maintain the Snapshot Isolation. Many software shops have upgraded to the later version of the SQL Server, but their respective developers have not spend enough time to upgrade themselves with the latest technology. “It works!” is a very common answer of many when they are asked about utilizing the new technology, instead of backward compatibility commands. In one of the recent consultation project, I had same experience when developers have “heard about it” but have no idea about snapshot isolation. They were thinking it is the same as Snapshot Replication – which is plain wrong. This is the same demo I am including here which I have created for them. In Snapshot Isolation, the updated row versions for each transaction are maintained in TempDB. Once a transaction has begun, it ignores all the newer rows inserted or updated in the table. Let us examine this example which shows the simple demonstration. This transaction works on optimistic concurrency model. Since reading a certain transaction does not block writing transaction, it also does not block the reading transaction, which reduced the blocking. First, enable database to work with Snapshot Isolation. Additionally, check the existing values in the table from HumanResources.Shift. ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION ON GO SELECT ModifiedDate FROM HumanResources.Shift GO Now, we will need two different sessions to prove this example. First Session: Set Transaction level isolation to snapshot and begin the transaction. Update the column “ModifiedDate” to today’s date. -- Session 1 SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL SNAPSHOT BEGIN TRAN UPDATE HumanResources.Shift SET ModifiedDate = GETDATE() GO Please note that we have not yet been committed to the transaction. Now, open the second session and run the following “SELECT” statement. Then, check the values of the table. Please pay attention on setting the Isolation level for the second one as “Snapshot” at the same time when we already start the transaction using BEGIN TRAN. -- Session 2 SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL SNAPSHOT BEGIN TRAN SELECT ModifiedDate FROM HumanResources.Shift GO You will notice that the values in the table are still original values. They have not been modified yet. Once again, go back to session 1 and begin the transaction. -- Session 1 COMMIT After that, go back to Session 2 and see the values of the table. -- Session 2 SELECT ModifiedDate FROM HumanResources.Shift GO You will notice that the values are yet not changed and they are still the same old values which were there right in the beginning of the session. Now, let us commit the transaction in the session 2. Once committed, run the same SELECT statement once more and see what the result is. -- Session 2 COMMIT SELECT ModifiedDate FROM HumanResources.Shift GO You will notice that it now reflects the new updated value. I hope that this example is clear enough as it would give you good idea how the Snapshot Isolation level works. There is much more to write about an extra level, READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT, which we will be discussing in another post soon. If you wish to use this transaction’s Isolation level in your production database, I would appreciate your comments about their performance on your servers. I have included here the complete script used in this example for your quick reference. ALTER DATABASE AdventureWorks SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION ON GO SELECT ModifiedDate FROM HumanResources.Shift GO -- Session 1 SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL SNAPSHOT BEGIN TRAN UPDATE HumanResources.Shift SET ModifiedDate = GETDATE() GO -- Session 2 SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL SNAPSHOT BEGIN TRAN SELECT ModifiedDate FROM HumanResources.Shift GO -- Session 1 COMMIT -- Session 2 SELECT ModifiedDate FROM HumanResources.Shift GO -- Session 2 COMMIT SELECT ModifiedDate FROM HumanResources.Shift GO Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: Transaction Isolation

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• Developer Training – Various Options for Maximum Benefit – Part 4

  - by pinaldave

  Developer Training - Importance and Significance - Part 1 Developer Training – Employee Morals and Ethics – Part 2 Developer Training – Difficult Questions and Alternative Perspective - Part 3 Developer Training – Various Options for Developer Training – Part 4 Developer Training – A Conclusive Summary- Part 5 If you have been reading this series, by now you are aware of all the pros and cons that can come along with training.  We’ve asked and answered hard questions, and investigated them “whys” and “hows” of training.  Now it is time to talk about all the different kinds of training that are out there! On Job Training The most common type of training is on the job training.  Everyone receives this kind of education – even experts who come in to consult have to be taught where the printer, pens, and copy machines are.  If you are thinking about more concrete topics, though, on the job training can be some of the easiest to come across.  Picture this: someone in the company whom you really admire is hard at work on a project.  You come up to them and ask to help them out – if they are a busy developer, the odds are that they will say “yes, please!”   If you phrase your question as an offer of help, you can receive training without ever putting someone in the awkward position of acting as a mentor.  However, some people may want the task of being a mentor.  It can never hurt to ask.  Most people will be more than willing to pass their knowledge along. Extreme Programming If your company and coworkers are willing, you can even investigate Extreme Programming.  This is a type of programming that allows small teams to quickly develop code and products that are released with almost immediate user feedback.  You can find more information at http://www.extremeprogramming.org/.  If this is something your company could use, suggest it to your supervisor.  Even if they say no, it will make it clear that you are a go-getter who is interested in new and exciting projects.  If the answer is yes, then you have the opportunity to get some of the best on the job training around. In Person Training Click on Image to Enlarge When you say the word “training,” most people’s minds go back to the classroom, an image they are familiar with.  While training doesn’t always have to be in a traditional setting, because it is so familiar it can also be the most valuable type of training.  There are many ways to get training through a live instructor.  Some companies may be willing to send a representative to you, where employees will get training, sometimes food and coffee, and a live instructor who can answer questions immediately.  Sometimes these trainers are also able to do consultations at the same time, which can invaluable to a company.  If you are the one to asks your supervisor for a training session that can also be turned into a consultation, you may stick in their minds as an incredibly dedicated employee.  If you can’t find a representative, local colleges can also be a good resource for free or cheap classes – or they may have representatives coming who are willing to take on a few more students. Benefits of On Demand Developer Training Of course, you can often get the best of all these types of training with online or On Demand training.  You can get the benefit of a live instructor who is willing to answer questions (although in this case, usually through e-mail or other online venues), there are often real-world examples to follow along – like on the job training – and best of all you can learn whenever you have the time or need.  Did a problem with your server come up at midnight when all your supervisors are safe at home and probably in bed?  No problem!  On Demand training is especially useful if you need to slow down, pause, or rewind a training session.  Not even a real-life instructor can do that! When I was writing this blog post, I felt that each of the subject, which I have covered can be blog posts of itself. However, I wanted to keep the the blog post concise and so touch based on three major training aspects 1) On Job Training 2) In Person Training and 3) Online training. Here is the question for you – is there any other kind of training methods available, which are effective and one should consider it? If yes, what are those, I may write a follow up blog post on the same subject next week. 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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• SQL SERVER – Spatial Database Queries – What About BLOB – T-SQL Tuesday #006

  - by pinaldave

  Michael Coles is one of the most interesting book authors I have ever met. He has a flair of writing complex stuff in a simple language. There are a very few people like that.  I really enjoyed reading his recent book, Expert SQL Server 2008 Encryption. I strongly suggest taking a look at it. This blog is written in response to T-SQL Tuesday #006: “What About BLOB? by Michael Coles. Spatial Database is my favorite subject. Since I did my TechEd India 2010 presentation, I have enjoyed this subject a lot. Before I continue this blog post, there are a few other blog posts, so I suggest you read them.  To help build the environment run the queries, I am going to present them in this single blog post. SQL SERVER – What is Spatial Database? – Developing with SQL Server Spatial and Deep Dive into Spatial Indexing This blog post explains the basics of Spatial Database and also provides a good introduction to Indexing concept. SQL SERVER – World Shapefile Download and Upload to Database – Spatial Database This blog post will enable you with how to load the shape file into database. SQL SERVER – Spatial Database Definition and Research Documents This blog post links to the white paper about Spatial Database written by Microsoft experts. SQL SERVER – Introduction to Spatial Coordinate Systems: Flat Maps for a Round Planet This blog post links to the white paper explaining coordinate system, as written by Microsoft experts. After reading the above listed blog posts, I am very confident that you are ready to run the following script. Once you create a database using the World Shapefile, as mentioned in the second link above,you can display the image of India just like the following. Please note that this is not an accurate political map. The boundary of this map has many errors and it is just a representation. You can run the following query to generate the map of India from the database spatial which you have created after following the instructions here. USE Spatial GO -- India Map SELECT [CountryName] ,[BorderAsGeometry] ,[Border] FROM [Spatial].[dbo].[Countries] WHERE Countryname = 'India' GO Now, let us find the longitude and latitude of the two major IT cities of India, Hyderabad and Bangalore. I find their values as the following: the values of longitude-latitude for Bangalore is 77.5833300000 13.0000000000; for Hyderabad, longitude-latitude is 78.4675900000 17.4531200000. Now, let us try to put these values on the India Map and see their location. -- Bangalore DECLARE @GeoLocation GEOGRAPHY SET @GeoLocation = GEOGRAPHY::STPointFromText('POINT(77.5833300000 13.0000000000)',4326).STBuffer(20000); -- Hyderabad DECLARE @GeoLocation1 GEOGRAPHY SET @GeoLocation1 = GEOGRAPHY::STPointFromText('POINT(78.4675900000 17.4531200000)',4326).STBuffer(20000); -- Bangalore and Hyderabad on Map of India SELECT name, [GeoLocation] FROM [IndiaGeoNames] I WHERE I.[GeoLocation].STDistance(@GeoLocation) <= 0 UNION ALL SELECT name, [GeoLocation] FROM [IndiaGeoNames] I WHERE I.[GeoLocation].STDistance(@GeoLocation1) <= 0 UNION ALL SELECT '',[Border] FROM [Spatial].[dbo].[Countries] WHERE Countryname = 'India' GO Now let us quickly draw a straight line between them. DECLARE @GeoLocation GEOGRAPHY SET @GeoLocation = GEOGRAPHY::STPointFromText('POINT(78.4675900000 17.4531200000)',4326).STBuffer(10000); DECLARE @GeoLocation1 GEOGRAPHY SET @GeoLocation1 = GEOGRAPHY::STPointFromText('POINT(77.5833300000 13.0000000000)',4326).STBuffer(10000); DECLARE @GeoLocation2 GEOGRAPHY SET @GeoLocation2 = GEOGRAPHY::STGeomFromText('LINESTRING(78.4675900000 17.4531200000, 77.5833300000 13.0000000000)',4326) SELECT name, [GeoLocation] FROM [IndiaGeoNames] I WHERE I.[GeoLocation].STDistance(@GeoLocation) <= 0 UNION ALL SELECT name, [GeoLocation] FROM [IndiaGeoNames] I1 WHERE I1.[GeoLocation].STDistance(@GeoLocation1) <= 0 UNION ALL SELECT '' name, @GeoLocation2 UNION ALL SELECT '',[Border] FROM [Spatial].[dbo].[Countries] WHERE Countryname = 'India' GO Let us use the distance function of the spatial database and find the straight line distance between this two cities. -- Distance Between Hyderabad and Bangalore DECLARE @GeoLocation GEOGRAPHY SET @GeoLocation = GEOGRAPHY::STPointFromText('POINT(78.4675900000 17.4531200000)',4326) DECLARE @GeoLocation1 GEOGRAPHY SET @GeoLocation1 = GEOGRAPHY::STPointFromText('POINT(77.5833300000 13.0000000000)',4326) SELECT @GeoLocation.STDistance(@GeoLocation1)/1000 'KM'; GO The result of above query is as displayed in following image. As per SQL Server, the distance between these two cities is 501 KM, but according to what I know, the distance between those two cities is around 562 KM by road. However, please note that roads are not straight and they have lots of turns, whereas this is a straight-line distance. What would be more accurate is the distance between these two cities by air travel. When we look at the air travel distance between Bangalore and Hyderabad, the total distance covered is 495 KM, which is very close to what SQL Server has estimated, which is 501 KM. Bravo! SQL Server has accurately provided the distance between two of the cities. SQL Server Spatial Database can be very useful simply because it is very easy to use, as demonstrated above. I appreciate your comments, so let me know what your thoughts and opinions about this are. 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 Tagged: Spatial Database

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• SQL SERVER – Disabled Index and Update Statistics

  - by pinaldave

  When we try to update the statistics, it throws an error as if the clustered index is disabled. Now let us enable the clustered index only and attempt to update the statistics of the table right after that. Have you ever come across the situation where a conversation never gets over and it continues even though original point of discussion has passed. I am facing the same situation in the case of Disabled Index. Here is the link to original conversations. SQL SERVER – Disable Clustered Index and Data Insert – Reader had a issue here with Disabled Index SQL SERVER – Understanding ALTER INDEX ALL REBUILD with Disabled Clustered Index – Reader asked the effect of Rebuilding Indexes The same reader asked me today – “I understood what the disabled indexes do; what is their effect on statistics. Is it true that even though indexes are disabled, they continue updating the statistics?“ The answer is very interesting: If you have disabled clustered index, you will be not able to update the statistics at all for any index. If you have enabled clustered index and disabled non clustered index when you update the statistics of the table, it automatically updates the statistics of the ALL (disabled and enabled – both) the indexes on the table. If you are not satisfied with the answer, let us go over a simple example. I have written necessary comments in the code itself to have a clear idea. USE tempdb GO -- Drop Table if Exists IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[TableName]') AND type IN (N'U')) DROP TABLE [dbo].[TableName] GO -- Create Table CREATE TABLE [dbo].[TableName]( [ID] [int] NOT NULL, [FirstCol] [varchar](50) NULL ) GO -- Insert Some data INSERT INTO TableName SELECT 1, 'First' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'Second' UNION ALL SELECT 3, 'Third' UNION ALL SELECT 4, 'Fourth' UNION ALL SELECT 5, 'Five' GO -- Create Clustered Index ALTER TABLE [TableName] ADD CONSTRAINT [PK_TableName] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ([ID] ASC) GO -- Create Nonclustered Index CREATE UNIQUE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [IX_NonClustered_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] ([FirstCol] ASC) GO -- Check that all the indexes are enabled SELECT OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID), Name, type_desc, is_disabled FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) = 'TableName' GO Now let us update the statistics of the table and check the statistics update date. -- Update the stats of table UPDATE STATISTICS TableName WITH FULLSCAN GO -- Check Statistics Last Updated Datetime SELECT name AS index_name, STATS_DATE(OBJECT_ID, index_id) AS StatsUpdated FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID('TableName') GO Now let us disable the indexes and check if they are disabled using sys.indexes. -- Disable Indexes -- Disable Nonclustered Index ALTER INDEX [IX_NonClustered_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] DISABLE GO -- Disable Clustered Index ALTER INDEX [PK_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] DISABLE GO -- Check that all the indexes are disabled SELECT OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID), Name, type_desc, is_disabled FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) = 'TableName' GO Let us try to update the statistics of the table. -- Update the stats of table UPDATE STATISTICS TableName WITH FULLSCAN GO /* -- Above operation should thrown following error Msg 1974, Level 16, State 1, Line 1 Cannot perform the specified operation on table 'TableName' because its clustered index 'PK_TableName' is disabled. */ When we try to update the statistics it throws an error as it clustered index is disabled. Now let us enable the clustered index only and attempt to update the statistics of the table right after that. -- Now let us rebuild clustered index only ALTER INDEX [PK_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] REBUILD GO -- Check that all the indexes status SELECT OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID), Name, type_desc, is_disabled FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) = 'TableName' GO -- Check Statistics Last Updated Datetime SELECT name AS index_name, STATS_DATE(OBJECT_ID, index_id) AS StatsUpdated FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID('TableName') GO -- Update the stats of table UPDATE STATISTICS TableName WITH FULLSCAN GO -- Check Statistics Last Updated Datetime SELECT name AS index_name, STATS_DATE(OBJECT_ID, index_id) AS StatsUpdated FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID('TableName') GO We can clearly see that even though the nonclustered index is disabled it is also updated. If you do not need a nonclustered index, I suggest you to drop it as keeping them disabled is an overhead on your system. This is because every time the statistics are updated for system all the statistics for disabled indexesare also updated. -- Clean up DROP TABLE [TableName] GO The complete script is given below for easy reference. USE tempdb GO -- Drop Table if Exists IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.objects WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[TableName]') AND type IN (N'U')) DROP TABLE [dbo].[TableName] GO -- Create Table CREATE TABLE [dbo].[TableName]( [ID] [int] NOT NULL, [FirstCol] [varchar](50) NULL ) GO -- Insert Some data INSERT INTO TableName SELECT 1, 'First' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'Second' UNION ALL SELECT 3, 'Third' UNION ALL SELECT 4, 'Fourth' UNION ALL SELECT 5, 'Five' GO -- Create Clustered Index ALTER TABLE [TableName] ADD CONSTRAINT [PK_TableName] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED ([ID] ASC) GO -- Create Nonclustered Index CREATE UNIQUE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [IX_NonClustered_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] ([FirstCol] ASC) GO -- Check that all the indexes are enabled SELECT OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID), Name, type_desc, is_disabled FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) = 'TableName' GO -- Update the stats of table UPDATE STATISTICS TableName WITH FULLSCAN GO -- Check Statistics Last Updated Datetime SELECT name AS index_name, STATS_DATE(OBJECT_ID, index_id) AS StatsUpdated FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID('TableName') GO -- Disable Indexes -- Disable Nonclustered Index ALTER INDEX [IX_NonClustered_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] DISABLE GO -- Disable Clustered Index ALTER INDEX [PK_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] DISABLE GO -- Check that all the indexes are disabled SELECT OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID), Name, type_desc, is_disabled FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) = 'TableName' GO -- Update the stats of table UPDATE STATISTICS TableName WITH FULLSCAN GO /* -- Above operation should thrown following error Msg 1974, Level 16, State 1, Line 1 Cannot perform the specified operation on table 'TableName' because its clustered index 'PK_TableName' is disabled. */ -- Now let us rebuild clustered index only ALTER INDEX [PK_TableName] ON [dbo].[TableName] REBUILD GO -- Check that all the indexes status SELECT OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID), Name, type_desc, is_disabled FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) = 'TableName' GO -- Check Statistics Last Updated Datetime SELECT name AS index_name, STATS_DATE(OBJECT_ID, index_id) AS StatsUpdated FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID('TableName') GO -- Update the stats of table UPDATE STATISTICS TableName WITH FULLSCAN GO -- Check Statistics Last Updated Datetime SELECT name AS index_name, STATS_DATE(OBJECT_ID, index_id) AS StatsUpdated FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID('TableName') GO -- Clean up DROP TABLE [TableName] GO Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Index, SQL Optimization, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: SQL Statistics

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• SQLAuthority News – Don’t Be Afraid To Fool The World – Video by John Sonmez

  - by Pinal Dave

  Sometime some words and statements grabs your attention and it is hard to stop thinking about that after a while. Something similar happened a few days ago when I read the twitter statement of my friend and Pluralsight author John Sonmez. He twitted few days ago very interesting statement. “I don’t know a single successful person, who doesn’t deep down think that have the world fooled. #fooltheworld” by John Sonmez. When I read it, I was extremely intrigued by this statement. I read it many times, I shared with my family and I just could not stop interpreting this statement. It was indeed fun to read it again and again and there are so many different meanings one can take away from the statement. I know John very well, he is a  wonderful person and have very positive energy for the life. I just had to request him to build a video around it. Right after 5 days of my request, John created a wonderful video around this subject. I watched it multiple times as it was a wonderful video. I am not going to write about what was in the video much as I suggest you to watch the video itself. Here is one of the personal stories I want to share which is absolutely relevant to this video. I think my story 100% resonant the story of John. A Real Story from My Past Three years ago, I submitted a session in one of the SharePoint conference as a SQL Server session. My session was accepted and I prepared it very well. I put more than 2 month’s time to prepare for the session and I was very excited to present the session. I reached to the event place traveling thousands of the miles and I was very much excited to present the session. However, there was a little mixed up in the session. There were multiple session which were similar to my session title. One of the other speakers also had proposed a database related session and was selected. When the material went to print the printing team got confused and by mistake swapped the sessions. The other speaker got Performance with SQL Server session and I had received Performance with SharePoint session. IT was indeed a big mixed up but now that is how it was in the event guide and it was marketed the same way everything in the event. A Big Mix Up I had to talk with the event organizer and we come to the conclusion that we all had good intention but things just got mixed up and now was the time when “The show must go on“. I had a great amount of hesitation to go and present the session as I had personally never worked with Sharepoint so close in my life and my session abstracted talked about SharePoint tricks in depth. Two hours before the session I took the help of one of my friend and installed the SharePoint on my box. He showed me a few things here and there but it was never a good enough time to learn everything which I wanted to learn. The Moments of Confidence I was very scared and nervous to go on the stage as a SharePoint was not something I felt comfortable. However, I decided to go on stage with confidence as a SharePoint expert. Though I did not know SharePoint at the best, I had confidence that whatever I know is correct and I will not misguide people. I had no intention to fool people but I had no intention to accept that I am a fool and you all wasted your time and money to dedicate your time to attend my session. I decided to be honest but at the same time decided to take the session beyond my expertise. The sixty minutes of the session went very fine and I was able to manage all the difficult question at a satisfactory level. When the session was over my feeling was that I would have not presented or talked any different if I had more knowledge of the SharePoint at that time. I think it was one of my best sessions and it was reflected in the session feedback as well. I was the best speaker across all the track and my session had highest ranking. I was delighted and I learned a very valuable lesson. I must go beyond my limits and knowledge. I must aim higher and work harder. I should not lie but I should have confidence that I have a good heart and I put 100% in my efforts.  Lessions Learned Since this incident I have learned a lot about SharePoint and I am now a regular speaker at various SharePoint conferences along with SQL Server sessions. I am motivated and I am not afraid. I know people have lots of expectation from me but I have learned not to judge myself before I do my best. I leave the judgement of my efforts to my audience. I do not take the burden of the feedback on me, even though I know my audience have expected from me. I know what I know and I put my best. I must go out, if I fail, I learn from my mistake but I must keep my progress trajectory very high. As John said in the video, sometime success is not something we can achieve 100% but we can keep on going near to it. As long as we do not lose our focus from our goal and do not deviate from our progress path, we are doing things right. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)  Filed under: About Me, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• SQLAuthority News – Meeting with Allen Bailochan Tuladhar – An Unlimited Experience

  - by pinaldave

  Allen  Tuladhar I recently came back from my 9-day trip in Nepal and I must say that this is one of the best trips I had in my lifetime. Allen Bailochan Tuladhar is a wonderful person and an extreme enthusiast for Microsoft Technology. Allen is the Chief Executive Officer of Unlimited Technologies Pvt Ltd., Country Manager of Microsoft MDP Nepal, the Member Secretary of Nepali Language in Information Technology, and member of the Steering Committee of the Government of Nepal. He is the person who keeps the Nepal’s Tech Community constantly motivating and taking it to the next level. I have met Allen for many times before, but this was the first time I was with him in Kathmandu, Nepal. I was very impressed with the amount of the work he does in the community. During my 9 days of stay, every single day was a new lesson for me. I was amazed and overwhelmed with the many things he does every single day. Not only he does he work closely with Government of Nepal ministry, but he is also the most known person in the Student Community. His expertise in the technical subject matter is not limited to one technology; rather, I have seen him actively engaging himself in  discussions of various tech topics. Allen presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Allen is currently active in working out to localize Windows and Office and incorporate it using the Nepali language. I was able to witness and experience how the localization works, as well as the procedure on how to do such. If you know the whole localization process, you must have realized how big and daunting of a process it is. I was glad that I became a part of it. Prominent Personality of Nepal on Panel Discussion Another great opportunity I had when I was at Allen’s office is that I have learned how the radio technology talk show works. Nepali Radio station has the weekly program in their local language, in which MS technology is discussed and industry leaders are invited to talk about their experience with the technology. I found the program so interesting because it has so much variety in terms of technology subjects. Well, my understanding of Nepali language is limited but I did understand quite a bit. Ravi, Nutan, Pinal, Gandip I got the chance to meet lots of Database Professionals as well. People in Nepal are very polite even though they are very strong in their technology fundamentals. I had in-depth discussion regarding High Availability scenarios, as well Query Tuning. Database professionals from the leading financial sectors of Nepal wanted me to visit their Data Center and help them out with a few advances. In no time, Allen organized a visit for me. He sent me a Nepali-speaking expert from his own organization to accompany me in overcoming any difficulties while I was on my way helping this financial district. Pinal (SQLAuthority) and Deependra (Unlimited) When I was going to Nepal, I was really not sure if I would be able to stay busy for 9 days straight in Community-related activity. However, on the 9th day I realize that I can still stay here for more than 9 days because in every single day, I feel enthusiastic enough to do something new. Allen Bailochan Tuladhar Even though I was working  very hard every day, I hardly had the chance to work with and talk to him one-on-one for the first few days. One of the evenings, Allen invited me to his home and we discussed about his future ideas. I was really surprised to see how much a man can do for his technical community and for his country. When I asked Allen’s wife and daughter if they ever think it’s getting too much with regards to Allen putting tough efforts to the community, their answer was something I did not expect. I found out that Allen’s wife manages all the back office and logistics of the community events and his daughter manages the websites. I felt that they do not have any complain,  and instead, their whole family is in this activity as deeply as it can get, which I thought is a very good thing. Pinal and Allen I want to end this post with an interesting story that happened during our lunch hour at one of the Nepali restaurants. While we were having our lunch and having some chitchat, Allen suddenly stood up and called several people walking along the pavement. He introduced them all to me as Microsoft Student Partners. He asked all of them to order their favorite dish and called the waiter to inform that he will pick up their tab. Figuring out the question written on my face, he just said one sentence: “They are all future technology professionals who are going to make all of us proud.” I guess I have a lot of things to learn. Hats off to Allen! Pinal and Allen at Microsoft MDP Unlimited Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: MVP, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, T SQL, Technology

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• SQL SERVER – Solution to Puzzle – Simulate LEAD() and LAG() without Using SQL Server 2012 Analytic Function

  - by pinaldave

  Earlier I wrote a series on SQL Server Analytic Functions of SQL Server 2012. During the series to keep the learning maximum and having fun, we had few puzzles. One of the puzzle was simulating LEAD() and LAG() without using SQL Server 2012 Analytic Function. Please read the puzzle here first before reading the solution : Write T-SQL Self Join Without Using LEAD and LAG. When I was originally wrote the puzzle I had done small blunder and the question was a bit confusing which I corrected later on but wrote a follow up blog post on over here where I describe the give-away. Quick Recap: Generate following results without using SQL Server 2012 analytic functions. I had received so many valid answers. Some answers were similar to other and some were very innovative. Some answers were very adaptive and some did not work when I changed where condition. After selecting all the valid answer, I put them in table and ran RANDOM function on the same and selected winners. Here are the valid answers. No Joins and No Analytic Functions Excellent Solution by Geri Reshef – Winner of SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers (India | USA) WITH T1 AS (SELECT Row_Number() OVER(ORDER BY SalesOrderDetailID) N, s.SalesOrderID, s.SalesOrderDetailID, s.OrderQty FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail s WHERE SalesOrderID IN (43670, 43669, 43667, 43663)) SELECT SalesOrderID,SalesOrderDetailID,OrderQty, CASE WHEN N%2=1 THEN MAX(CASE WHEN N%2=0 THEN SalesOrderDetailID END) OVER (Partition BY (N+1)/2) ELSE MAX(CASE WHEN N%2=1 THEN SalesOrderDetailID END) OVER (Partition BY N/2) END LeadVal, CASE WHEN N%2=1 THEN MAX(CASE WHEN N%2=0 THEN SalesOrderDetailID END) OVER (Partition BY N/2) ELSE MAX(CASE WHEN N%2=1 THEN SalesOrderDetailID END) OVER (Partition BY (N+1)/2) END LagVal FROM T1 ORDER BY SalesOrderID, SalesOrderDetailID, OrderQty; GO No Analytic Function and Early Bird Excellent Solution by DHall – Winner of Pluralsight 30 days Subscription -- a query to emulate LEAD() and LAG() ;WITH s AS ( SELECT 1 AS ldOffset, -- equiv to 2nd param of LEAD 1 AS lgOffset, -- equiv to 2nd param of LAG NULL AS ldDefVal, -- equiv to 3rd param of LEAD NULL AS lgDefVal, -- equiv to 3rd param of LAG ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY SalesOrderDetailID) AS row, SalesOrderID, SalesOrderDetailID, OrderQty FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail WHERE SalesOrderID IN (43670, 43669, 43667, 43663) ) SELECT s.SalesOrderID, s.SalesOrderDetailID, s.OrderQty, ISNULL( sLd.SalesOrderDetailID, s.ldDefVal) AS LeadValue, ISNULL( sLg.SalesOrderDetailID, s.lgDefVal) AS LagValue FROM s LEFT OUTER JOIN s AS sLd ON s.row = sLd.row - s.ldOffset LEFT OUTER JOIN s AS sLg ON s.row = sLg.row + s.lgOffset ORDER BY s.SalesOrderID, s.SalesOrderDetailID, s.OrderQty No Analytic Function and Partition By Excellent Solution by DHall – Winner of Pluralsight 30 days Subscription /* a query to emulate LEAD() and LAG() */ ;WITH s AS ( SELECT 1 AS LeadOffset, /* equiv to 2nd param of LEAD */ 1 AS LagOffset, /* equiv to 2nd param of LAG */ NULL AS LeadDefVal, /* equiv to 3rd param of LEAD */ NULL AS LagDefVal, /* equiv to 3rd param of LAG */ /* Try changing the values of the 4 integer values above to see their effect on the results */ /* The values given above of 0, 0, null and null behave the same as the default 2nd and 3rd parameters to LEAD() and LAG() */ ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY SalesOrderDetailID) AS row, SalesOrderID, SalesOrderDetailID, OrderQty FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail WHERE SalesOrderID IN (43670, 43669, 43667, 43663) ) SELECT s.SalesOrderID, s.SalesOrderDetailID, s.OrderQty, ISNULL( sLead.SalesOrderDetailID, s.LeadDefVal) AS LeadValue, ISNULL( sLag.SalesOrderDetailID, s.LagDefVal) AS LagValue FROM s LEFT OUTER JOIN s AS sLead ON s.row = sLead.row - s.LeadOffset /* Try commenting out this next line when LeadOffset != 0 */ AND s.SalesOrderID = sLead.SalesOrderID /* The additional join criteria on SalesOrderID above is equivalent to PARTITION BY SalesOrderID in the OVER clause of the LEAD() function */ LEFT OUTER JOIN s AS sLag ON s.row = sLag.row + s.LagOffset /* Try commenting out this next line when LagOffset != 0 */ AND s.SalesOrderID = sLag.SalesOrderID /* The additional join criteria on SalesOrderID above is equivalent to PARTITION BY SalesOrderID in the OVER clause of the LAG() function */ ORDER BY s.SalesOrderID, s.SalesOrderDetailID, s.OrderQty No Analytic Function and CTE Usage Excellent Solution by Pravin Patel - Winner of SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers (India | USA) --CTE based solution ; WITH cteMain AS ( SELECT SalesOrderID, SalesOrderDetailID, OrderQty, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY SalesOrderDetailID) AS sn FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail WHERE SalesOrderID IN (43670, 43669, 43667, 43663) ) SELECT m.SalesOrderID, m.SalesOrderDetailID, m.OrderQty, sLead.SalesOrderDetailID AS leadvalue, sLeg.SalesOrderDetailID AS leagvalue FROM cteMain AS m LEFT OUTER JOIN cteMain AS sLead ON sLead.sn = m.sn+1 LEFT OUTER JOIN cteMain AS sLeg ON sLeg.sn = m.sn-1 ORDER BY m.SalesOrderID, m.SalesOrderDetailID, m.OrderQty No Analytic Function and Co-Related Subquery Usage Excellent Solution by Pravin Patel – Winner of SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers (India | USA) -- Co-Related subquery SELECT m.SalesOrderID, m.SalesOrderDetailID, m.OrderQty, ( SELECT MIN(SalesOrderDetailID) FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail AS l WHERE l.SalesOrderID IN (43670, 43669, 43667, 43663) AND l.SalesOrderID >= m.SalesOrderID AND l.SalesOrderDetailID > m.SalesOrderDetailID ) AS lead, ( SELECT MAX(SalesOrderDetailID) FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail AS l WHERE l.SalesOrderID IN (43670, 43669, 43667, 43663) AND l.SalesOrderID <= m.SalesOrderID AND l.SalesOrderDetailID < m.SalesOrderDetailID ) AS leag FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail AS m WHERE m.SalesOrderID IN (43670, 43669, 43667, 43663) ORDER BY m.SalesOrderID, m.SalesOrderDetailID, m.OrderQty This was one of the most interesting Puzzle on this blog. Giveaway Winners will get following giveaways. Geri Reshef and Pravin Patel SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers (India | USA) DHall Pluralsight 30 days Subscription Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, Readers Contribution, Readers Question, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Function, SQL Puzzle, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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