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  • SQLAuthority News – Microsoft Whitepaper – AlwaysOn Solution Guide: Offloading Read-Only Workloads to Secondary Replicas

    - by pinaldave
    SQL Server 2012 has many interesting features but the most talked feature is AlwaysOn. Performance tuning is always a hot topic. I see lots of need of the same and lots of business around it. However, many times when people talk about performance tuning they think of it as a either query tuning, performance tuning, or server tuning. All are valid points, but performance tuning expert usually understands the business workload and business logic before making suggestions. For example, if performance tuning expert analysis workload and realize that there are plenty of reports as well read only queries on the server they can for sure consider alternate options for the same. If read only data is not required real time or it can accept the data which is delayed a bit it makes sense to divide the workload. A secondary replica of the original data which can serve all the read only queries and report is a good idea in most of the cases where there is plenty of workload which is not dependent on the real time data. SQL Server 2012 has introduced the feature of AlwaysOn which can very well fit in this scenario and provide a solution in Read-Only Workloads. Microsoft has recently announced a white paper which is based on absolutely the same subject. I recommend it to read for every SQL Enthusiast who is are going to implement a solution to offload read-only workloads to secondary replicas. Download white paper AlwaysOn Solution Guide: Offloading Read-Only Workloads to Secondary Replicas Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Backup and Restore, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: AlwaysOn

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  • MySQL – Grouping by Multiple Columns to Single Column as A String

    - by Pinal Dave
    In this post titled SQL SERVER – Grouping by Multiple Columns to Single Column as A String we have seen how to group multiple column data in comma separate values in a single row grouping by another column by using FOR XML clause. In this post we will see how we can produce the same result using the GROUP_CONCAT function in MySQL. Let us create the following table and data. CREATE TABLE TestTable (ID INT, Col VARCHAR(4)); INSERT INTO TestTable (ID, Col) SELECT 1, 'A' UNION ALL SELECT 1, 'B' UNION ALL SELECT 1, 'C' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'A' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'B' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'C' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'D' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'E'; Now to generate csv values of the column col for each ID, use the following code SELECT ID, GROUP_CONCAT(col) AS CSV FROM TestTable GROUP BY ID; The result is ID CSV 1 A,B,C 2 A,B,C,D,E You can also change the delimiters. For example instead of comma, if you want to have a pipe symbol (|), use the following SELECT ID, REPLACE(GROUP_CONCAT(col),',','|') AS CSV FROM TestTable GROUP BY ID; The result is ID CSV 1 A|B|C 2 A|B|C|D|E MySQL makes this very simple with its support of GROUP_CONCAT function. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL

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  • SQLAuthority News – #SQLPASS 2012 Schedule – Where can You Find Me

    - by pinaldave
    Yesterday I wrote about my memory lane with SQLPASS. It has been a fantastic experience and I am very confident that this year the same excellent experience is going to be repeated. Before I start for #SQLPASS every year, I plan where I want to be and what I will be doing. As I travel from India to attend this event (22+ hours flying time and door to door travel time around 36 hours), it is very crucial that I plan things in advance. This year here is my quick note where I will be during the SQLPASS event. If you can stop with me, I would like to meet you, shake your hand and will archive memories as a photograph. Tuesday, November 6, 2012 6:30pm-8:00pm PASS Summit 2012 Welcome Reception Wednesday, November 7, 2012 12pm-1pm – Book Signing at Exhibit Hall Joes Pros booth#117 (FREE BOOK) 5:30pm-6:30pm – Idera Reception at Fox Sports Grill 7pm-8pm - Embarcadero Booth Book Signing (FREE BOOK) 8pm onwards – Exhibitor Reception Thursday, November 8, 2012 12pm-1pm - Embarcadero Booth Book Signing (FREE BOOK) 7pm-10pm - Community Appreciation Party Friday, November 9, 2012 12pm-1pm - Joes 2 Pros Book Signing at Exhibit Hall Joes Pros booth#117 11:30pm-1pm - Birds of a Feather Luncheon Rest of the Time! Exhibition Hall Joes 2 Pros Booth #117. Stop by for the goodies! Lots of people have already sent me email asking if we can meet for a cup of coffee to discuss SQL. Absolutely! I like cafe mocha with skim milk and whip cream and I do not get tired of it. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL PASS, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – What is the Maximum Relational Database Size Supported by Single Instance?

    - by Pinal Dave
    I often get asked following question? “How much data SQL Server can handle?” Every single time when I get this question – I ask back following question - “How much data your storage system can handle?” The reason I ask this question back is because in reality for enterprise systems the limitation of storage is no more an issue. The Matter of the fact most of the database is now a days limited by the size of the storage system. SQL Server is enterprise system and it is very mature product. Even though if you still want to know what is the actual limit here is the answer. SQL Server 2008R2, 2012 and 2014 have maximum capacity of 524 PB (Petabyte) in the Enterprise, BI and Standard edition. SQL Server Express has a limitation of 10 GB due to its nature. I guess, now when you look at my question it will make sense that it is all depending on the size of your storage system. I personally believe at this point of time 524 PB is quite a huge data, but we never know after 10 years when we read this blog post, we all may think what was I thinking actually. 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 – Grouping by Multiple Columns to Single Column as A String

    - by pinaldave
    One of the most common questions I receive in email is how to group multiple column data in comma separate values in a single row grouping by another column. I have previously blogged about it in following two blog posts. However, both aren’t addressing the following exact problem. Comma Separated Values (CSV) from Table Column Comma Separated Values (CSV) from Table Column – Part 2 The question comes in many different formats but in following image I am demonstrating the same question in simple words. This is the most popular question on my Facebook page as well. (Example) Here is the sample script to build the sample dataset. CREATE TABLE TestTable (ID INT, Col VARCHAR(4)) GO INSERT INTO TestTable (ID, Col) SELECT 1, 'A' UNION ALL SELECT 1, 'B' UNION ALL SELECT 1, 'C' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'A' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'B' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'C' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'D' UNION ALL SELECT 2, 'E' GO SELECT * FROM TestTable GO Here is the solution which will build an answer to the above question. -- Get CSV values SELECT t.ID, STUFF( (SELECT ',' + s.Col FROM TestTable s WHERE s.ID = t.ID FOR XML PATH('')),1,1,'') AS CSV FROM TestTable AS t GROUP BY t.ID GO I hope this is an easy solution. I am going to point to this blog post in the future for all the similar questions. Final Clean Up Act -- Clean up DROP TABLE TestTable GO Here is the question back to you - Is there any better way to write above script? Please leave a comment and I will write a separate blog post with due credit. 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: SQL XML

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  • SQL SERVER – Storing Variable Values in Temporary Array or Temporary List

    - by pinaldave
    SQL Server does not support arrays or a dynamic length storage mechanism like list. Absolutely there are some clever workarounds and few extra-ordinary solutions but everybody can;t come up with such solution. Additionally, sometime the requirements are very simple that doing extraordinary coding is not required. Here is the simple case. Let us say here are the values: a, 10, 20, c, 30, d. Now the requirement is to store them in a array or list. It is very easy to do the same in C# or C. However, there is no quick way to do the same in SQL Server. Every single time when I get such requirement, I create a table variable and store the values in the table variables. Here is the example: For SQL Server 2012: DECLARE @ListofIDs TABLE(IDs VARCHAR(100)); INSERT INTO @ListofIDs VALUES('a'),('10'),('20'),('c'),('30'),('d'); SELECT IDs FROM @ListofIDs; GO When executed above script it will give following resultset. Above script will work in SQL Server 2012 only for SQL Server 2008 and earlier version run following code. DECLARE @ListofIDs TABLE(IDs VARCHAR(100), ID INT IDENTITY(1,1)); INSERT INTO @ListofIDs SELECT 'a' UNION ALL SELECT '10' UNION ALL SELECT '20' UNION ALL SELECT 'c' UNION ALL SELECT '30' UNION ALL SELECT 'd'; SELECT IDs FROM @ListofIDs; GO Now in this case, I have to convert numbers to varchars because I have to store mix datatypes in a single column. Additionally, this quick solution does not give any features of arrays (like inserting values in between as well accessing values using array index). Well, do you ever have to store temporary multiple values in SQL Server – if the count of values are dynamic and datatype is not specified early how will you about storing values which can be used later in the programming. 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 – A Puzzle Part 2 – Fun with SEQUENCE in SQL Server 2012 – Guess the Next Value

    - by pinaldave
    Before continuing this blog post – please read the first part of the SEQUENCE Puzzle here A Puzzle – Fun with SEQUENCE in SQL Server 2012 – Guess the Next Value. Where we played a simple guessing game about predicting next value. The answers the of puzzle is shared on the blog posts as a comment. Now here is the next puzzle based on yesterday’s puzzle. First execute the script which I have written here. The only difference between yesterday’s script is that I have removed the MINVALUE as 1 from the syntax. Now guess what will be the next value as requested in the query. USE TempDB GO -- Create sequence CREATE SEQUENCE dbo.SequenceID AS BIGINT START WITH 3 INCREMENT BY 1 MAXVALUE 5 CYCLE NO CACHE; GO -- Following will return 3 SELECT next value FOR dbo.SequenceID; -- Following will return 4 SELECT next value FOR dbo.SequenceID; -- Following will return 5 SELECT next value FOR dbo.SequenceID; -- Following will return which number SELECT next value FOR dbo.SequenceID; -- Clean up DROP SEQUENCE dbo.SequenceID; GO Above script gave me following resultset. 3 is the starting value and 5 is the maximum value. Once Sequence reaches to maximum value what happens? and WHY? I (kindly) suggest you try to attempt to answer this question without running this code in SQL Server 2012. I am very confident that irrespective of SQL Server version you are running you will have great learning. I will follow up of the answer in comments below. Recently my friend Vinod Kumar wrote excellent blog post on SQL Server 2012: Using SEQUENCE, you can head over there for learning sequence in details. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Puzzle, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL – Download FREE Book – Data Access for HighlyScalable Solutions: Using SQL, NoSQL, and Polyglot Persistence

    - by Pinal Dave
    Recently I was preparing for Big Data and I ended up on very interesting read for everybody. This is created by Microsoft and it is indeed a fantastic read as per my opinion. It took me some time to read this entire book but it was worth reading this as it tried to answer two of the very interesting questions related to muscle. Here is the abstract from the book: Organizations seeking to use a NoSQL database are therefore faced with a twofold challenge: • Which NoSQL database(s) best meet(s) the needs of the organization? • How does an organization integrate a NoSQL database into its solutions? As I keep on reading the book, I find it very interesting and informative. I suggest if you have time this weekend, download the book and read it. This guide focuses on the most common types of NoSQL database currently available, describes the situations for which they are most suited, and shows examples of how you might incorporate them into a business application. The guide summarizes the experiences of a fictitious organization named Adventure Works, who implemented a solution that comprised an assortment of different databases. Download Data Access for HighlyScalable Solutions:  Using SQL, NoSQL,  and Polyglot Persistence While we are talking about Big Data and NoSQL do not forget to check out my tomorrow’s blog as I am going to talk about the same subject and it will be very interesting. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Big Data, NoSQL, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL

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  • SQL SERVER – SELECT INTO with FileGroup or Partitionis Not Possible

    - by Pinal Dave
    The other day, I received an email from user and after a long time before I answer the question, I had to check the answer online. Here is the question - I want to create a new table based from old table, but when I execute following script it gives me an error. Is there anything I am missing in my syntax? SELECT *  INTO NewTableName ON MyFileGroup FROM MyOldTableName I faintly remember that this was not possible in earlier version of SQL Server but I was not sure if this feature was added in the recent versions or not. I quickly tried few syntaxes and referred online documentation and learned that it is still not possible in the latest version of SQL Server. The alternative is to just go ahead and change the default filegroup of any new table with following script. Though, I do not like change the default filegroup for new tables. It is possible that when I have changed the default filegroup some other code executes behind the scene by automated system or my colleague, it will be also created on new filegroup. ALTER DATABASE DatabaseName MODIFY FILEGROUP NameofFileGroup DEFAULT The reason this feature is not supported is that SELCT INTO is minimally logged operation. I seriously hope that some day in the future this feature get added in. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL Tagged: Filegroup

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  • SQL SERVER – Get Schema Name from Object ID using OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME

    - by pinaldave
    Sometime a simple solution have even simpler solutions but we often do not practice it as we do not see value in it or find it useful. Well, today’s blog post is also about something which I have seen not practiced much in codes. We are so much comfortable with alternative usage that we do not feel like switching how we query the data. I was going over forums and I noticed that at one place user has used following code to get Schema Name from ObjectID. USE AdventureWorks2012 GO SELECT s.name AS SchemaName, t.name AS TableName, s.schema_id, t.OBJECT_ID FROM sys.Tables t INNER JOIN sys.schemas s ON s.schema_id = t.schema_id WHERE t.name = OBJECT_NAME(46623209) GO Before I continue let me say I do not see anything wrong with this script. It is just fine and one of the way to get SchemaName from Object ID. However, I have been using function OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME to get the schema name. If I have to write the same code from the beginning I would have written the same code as following. SELECT OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(46623209) AS SchemaName, t.name AS TableName, t.schema_id, t.OBJECT_ID FROM sys.tables t WHERE t.name = OBJECT_NAME(46623209) GO Now, both of the above code give you exact same result. If you remove the WHERE condition it will give you information of all the tables of the database. Now the question is which one is better – honestly – it is not about one is better than other. Use the one which you prefer to use. I prefer to use second one as it requires less typing. Let me ask you the same question to you – which method to get schema name do yo use? and Why? Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL System Table, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL SERVER – Excel Losing Decimal Values When Value Pasted from SSMS ResultSet

    - by pinaldave
    No! It is not a SQL Server Issue or SSMS issue. It is how things work. There is a simple trick to resolve this issue. It is very common when users are coping the resultset to Excel, the floating point or decimals are missed. The solution is very much simple and it requires a small adjustment in the Excel. By default Excel is very smart and when it detects the value which is getting pasted is numeric it changes the column format to accommodate that. Now as Zero which are training any digit after decimal points have no value, Excel automatically hides it. To prevent this to happen user has to convert columns to text format so it can preserve the formatting. Here is how you can do it. Select the corner between A and 1 and Right Click on it. It will select complete spreadsheet. If you want to change the format of any column you can select an individual column the same way. In the menu Click on Format Cells… It will bring up the following menu. Here by default the selected column will be General, change that to Text. It will change the format of all the cells to Text. Now once again paste the values from SSMS to the Excel. This time it will preserve the decimal values from SSMS. Solved! Any other trick you do you know to preserve the decimal values? Leave a comment please. 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, Technology Tagged: Excel

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  • SQLAuthority News – Download Whitepaper – Power View Infrastructure Configuration and Installation: Step-by-Step and Scripts

    - by pinaldave
    Power View, a feature of SQL Server 2012 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Edition, is an interactive data exploration, visualization, and presentation experience. It provides intuitive ad-hoc reporting for business users such as data analysts, business decision makers, and information workers. Microsoft has recently released very interesting whitepaper which covers a sample scenario that validates the connectivity of the Power View reports to both PowerPivot workbooks and tabular models. This white paper talks about following important concepts about Power View: Understanding the hardware and software requirements and their download locations Installing and configuring the required infrastructure when Power View and its data models are on the same computer and on different computer Installing and configuring a computer used for client access to Power View reports, models, Sharepoint 2012 and Power View in a workgroup Configuring single sign-on access for double-hop scenarios with and without Kerberos You can download the whitepaper from here. This whitepaper talks about many interesting scenarios. It would be really interesting to know if you are using Power View in your production environment. If yes, would you please share your experience over here. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Download, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL White Papers, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQL – What is the latest Version of NuoDB? – A Quick Contest to Get Amazon Gift Cards

    - by Pinal Dave
    We had a great contest earlier last week - What ACID stands in the Database? – Contest to Win 24 Amazon Gift Cards and Joes 2 Pros 2012 Kit. It has received quite a few responses. Just like any other contest, not everyone was winner. The kind folks at NuoDB decided to give another chance to everyone who have not won in the last contest. This means if you have missed to take part in the earlier contest or if you have taken part and not won, you still have one more chance to win Amazon Gift Card. Here is the quick contest: You just have to go and download NuoDB. The first 10 people who will download the NuoDB will get 10 – USD 10 cards. Remaining everyone will be entered into a lucky draw of Amazon Gift cards of USD 50. Winners will be announced in next 24 hours. Bonus Round: If you have entered in the contest above, you can also enter to win latest Beginning SSRS Joes 2 Pros book. You just have to leave a comment over here with your experience about your experience with NuoDB and what is the latest version of the product. Here are few of the blog post I wrote earlier on that subject: Part 1 – Install NuoDB in 90 Seconds Part 2 – Manage NuoDB Installation Part 3 – Explore NuoDB Database Part 4 – Migrate from SQL Server to NuoDB Part 5 - NuoDB and Third Party Explorer – SQuirreL SQL Client, SQL Workbench/J and DbVisualizer Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL

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  • MySQL – Introduction to CONCAT and CONCAT_WS functions

    - by Pinal Dave
    MySQL supports two types of concatenation functions. They are CONCAT and CONCAT_WS CONCAT function just concats all the argument values as such SELECT CONCAT('Television','Mobile','Furniture'); The above code returns the following TelevisionMobileFurniture If you want to concatenate them with a comma, either you need to specify the comma at the end of each value, or pass comma as an argument along with the values SELECT CONCAT('Television,','Mobile,','Furniture'); SELECT CONCAT('Television',',','Mobile',',','Furniture'); Both the above return the following Television,Mobile,Furniture However you can omit the extra work by using CONCAT_WS function. It stands for Concatenate with separator. This is very similar to CONCAT function, but accepts separator as the first argument. SELECT CONCAT_WS(',','Television','Mobile','Furniture'); The result is Television,Mobile,Furniture If you want pipeline as a separator, you can use SELECT CONCAT_WS('|','Television','Mobile','Furniture'); The result is Television|Mobile|Furniture So CONCAT_WS is very flexible in concatenating values along with separate. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: MySQL, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL

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  • SQL SERVER – Using RAND() in User Defined Functions (UDF)

    - by pinaldave
    Here is the question I received in email. “Pinal, I am writing a function where we need to generate random password. While writing T-SQL I faced following issue. Everytime I tried to use RAND() function in my User Defined Function I am getting following error: Msg 443, Level 16, State 1, Procedure RandFn, Line 7 Invalid use of a side-effecting operator ‘rand’ within a function. Here is the simplified T-SQL code of the function which I am using: CREATE FUNCTION RandFn() RETURNS INT AS BEGIN DECLARE @rndValue INT SET @rndValue = RAND() RETURN @rndValue END GO I must use UDF so is there any workaround to use RAND function in UDF.” Here is the workaround how RAND() can be used in UDF. The scope of the blog post is not to discuss the advantages or disadvantages of the function or random function here but just to show how RAND() function can be used in UDF. RAND() function is directly not allowed to use in the UDF so we have to find alternate way to use the same function. This can be achieved by creating a VIEW which is using RAND() function and use the same VIEW in the UDF. Here is the step by step instructions. Create a VIEW using RAND function. CREATE VIEW rndView AS SELECT RAND() rndResult GO Create a UDF using the same VIEW. CREATE FUNCTION RandFn() RETURNS DECIMAL(18,18) AS BEGIN DECLARE @rndValue DECIMAL(18,18) SELECT @rndValue = rndResult FROM rndView RETURN @rndValue END GO Now execute the UDF and it will just work fine and return random result. SELECT dbo.RandFn() GO In T-SQL world, I have noticed that there are more than one solution to every problem. Is there any better solution to this question? Please post that question as a comment and I will include it with due credit. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Function, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: technology

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  • SQL SERVER – Caption the Cartoon Contest – Last 2 Days

    - by pinaldave
    Developer’s life is very interesting, we often want to start my day early at a job so we can go home early. However, the day never comes as the life of the developer is always about working late hours. If the developer goes to the office early – there are good chances that his co-workers will come late. Additionally, I am confident that there will be always something urgent for developers or DBA to solve right at the time they are ready to go home. This is the life of the developers!  Here is the interesting story of a DBA who was about to go to the home. He had to take his girlfriend to a movie and dinner in 30 minutes. However, his manager asks him to fix the performance related issues with their production server. In normal case, he had only two choices a) Job or b) Girlfriend. Well, our super hero DBA decided to use efficient tools and improve the performance of the production server in merely 30 minutes. When he was done, his manager was absolutely surprised by his efficiency and accuracy of the work. He asked him following question - Here is the contest – you need to guess what was the answer of our Super Hero DBA. If you guess the answer correct you may win Star Wars R2-D2 Inflatable Remote Controlled device. Additionally, if you Download DB Optimizer before Dec 8, 2012 – you will be eligible for USD 25 Amazon Gift Card (there are total 10 such awards). Please do not leave comments in this thread – to participate in the contest – please leave a comment here in the original contest page. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Puzzle, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • My first time in the gambling industry

    - by sfrj
    I am a Java enterprise developer with almost 3 years of professional experience. Soon i am going to have a face to face interview with a company in the gambling industry. I already did successfully a phone screening and now for the personal interview i suppose they will ask me about some kind of white board problem or system design task. I think i am in the right place to ask about this, and would appreciate a lot if someone would give me some tips or share something related to his own experience. The things i am more interested in regarding my interview are: What are the most common challenges for programmers, in this industry? Any idea or suggestion on a white board problem they may ask me? Could you point me to some links where i can find information on the topic or sample problems in this industry?. I personally find this question very interesting not just for me. Also i think, the given answers can help also others in a similar situation. Just what i want to say whit this last comment is: Please avoid, answers like: www.google.com and so on...

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  • SQL SERVER – Fix Visual Studio Error : Connections to SQL Server files (.mdf) require SQL Server Express 2005 to function properly. Please verify the installation of the component or download from the URL

    - by pinaldave
    In one of the virtual environment while I was trying to add SQL Server Database (.mdf) file to asp.net project I encountered following error: Connections to SQL Server files (.mdf) require SQL Server Express 2005 to function properly. Please verify the installation of the component or download from the URL:  For a long time I am using SQL Server 2012 but this error was a bit interesting to me. I realize that there should not be any need of the SQL Server 2005 installation. I quickly figured out that I can remove this error if I do as mentioned below: Open Microsoft Visual Studio Select Tools >> Options >> Database Tools >> Data Connections Enter the name of an installed instance in “SQL Server Instance Name” field. Click OK If you do not know the instance name, you can follow either of the options. 1) Use the command line sqlcmd utility 2) Using SQL Server Management Studio Is there any other way to resolve this error? Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Error Messages, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: sqlcmd, Visual Studio

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  • SQL SERVER – FIX ERROR – Cannot connect to . Login failed. The login is from an untrusted domain and cannot be used with Windows authentication. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18452)

    - by pinaldave
    Just a day ago, I was doing small attempting to connect to my local SQL Server using IP 127.0.0.1. The IP is of my local machine and SQL Server is installed on the local box as well. However, whenever I try to connect to the server it gave me following strange error. Cannot connect to 127.0.0.1. Login failed. The login is from an untrusted domain and cannot be used with Windows authentication. (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 18452) The reason was indeed strange as I was trying to connect from local box to local box and it said my login was from an untrusted domain. As my system is not part of any domain, this was really confusing to me. Another thing was that I have been always able to connect always using 127.0.0.1 to SQL Server and this was a bit strange to me. I started to think what did I change since it  last time I connected to SQL Server. Suddenly I remembered that I had modified my computer’s host file for some other purpose. Solution: I opened my host file and immediately added entry like 127.0.0.1 localhost. Once I added it I was able to reconnect to SQL Server as usual. The location of the host file is C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc. You will find file with the name hosts in it, make sure to open it with notepad. If you are part of a domain and your organization is using active directory, make sure that your account is added properly to active directory as well have proper security permissions to execute the task. Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Error Messages, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • Easily digestible UI tips for developers

    - by David
    What are some key UI design tips that every developer should know? While there are a number of UI resources for developers (for example, Joel Spolsky's User Interface Design for Programmers), I'm interested in more of a bullet list that can be communicated in 1 to 2 pages. I'm interested in more tactical, day-to-day UI tips, as opposed to overarching UI design goals that would be covered in a UI design meeting (presumably attended by at least one person with a good UI sense). A collection of these tips might cover about 80% of the cases that an everyday programmer would come across.

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  • SQLAuthority News – SQLPASS Nov 8-11, 2010-Seattle – An Alternative Look at Experience

    - by pinaldave
    I recently attended most prestigious SQL Server event SQLPASS between Nov 8-11, 2010 at Seattle. I have only one expression for the event - Best Summit Ever This year the summit was at its best. Instead of writing about my usual routine or the event, I am going to write about the interesting things I did and how I felt about it! Best Summit Ever Trip to Seattle! This was my second trip to Seattle this year and the journey is always long. Here is the travel stats on how long it takes to get to Seattle: 24 hours official air time 36 hours total travel time (connection waits and airport commute) Every time I travel to USA I gain a day and when I travel back to home, I lose a day. However, the total traveling time is around 3 days. The journey is long and very exhausting. However, it is all worth it when you’re attending an event like SQLPASS. Here are few things I carry when I travel for a long journey: Dry Snack packs – I like to have some good Indian Dry Snacks along with me in my backpack so I can have my own snack when I want Amazon Kindle – Loaded with 80+ books A physical book – This is usually a very easy to read book I do not watch movies on the plane and usually spend my time reading something quick and easy. If I can go to sleep, I go for it. I prefer to not to spend time in conversation with the guy sitting next to me because usually I end up listening to their biography, which I cannot blog about. Sheraton Seattle SQLPASS In any case, I love to go to Seattle as the city is great and has everything a brilliant metropolis has to offer. The new Light Train is extremely convenient, and I can take it directly from the airport to the city center. My hotel, the Sheraton, was only few meters (in the USA people count in blocks – 3 blocks) away from the train station. This time I saved USD 40 each round trip due to the Light Train. Sessions I attended! Well, I really wanted to attend most of the sessions but there was great dilemma of which ones to choose. There were many, many sessions to be attended and at any given time there was more than one good session being presented. I had decided to attend sessions in area performance tuning and I attended quite a few sessions this year, compared to what I was able to do last year. Here are few names of the speakers whose sessions I attended (please note, following great speakers are not listed in any order. I loved them and I enjoyed their sessions): Conor Cunningham Rushabh Mehta Buck Woody Brent Ozar Jonathan Kehayias Chris Leonard Bob Ward Grant Fritchey I had great fun attending their sessions. The sessions were meaningful and enlightening. It is hard to rate any session but I have found that the insights learned in Conor Cunningham’s sessions are the highlight of the PASS Summit. Rushabh Mehta at Keynote SQLPASS   Bucky Woody and Brent Ozar I always like the sessions where the speaker is much closer to the audience and has real world experience. I think speakers who have worked in the real world deliver the best content and most useful information. Sessions I did not like! Indeed there were few sessions I did not like it and I am not going to name them here. However, there were strong reasons I did not like their sessions, and here is why: Sessions were all theory and had no real world connections. All technical questions ended with confusing answers (lots of “I will get back to you on it,” “it depends,” “let us take this offline” and many more…) “I am God” kind of attitude in the speakers For example, I attended a session of one very well known speaker who is a specialist for one particular area. I was bit late for the session and was surprised to see that in a room that could hold 350 people there were only 30 attendees. After sitting there for 15 minutes, I realized why lots of people left. Very soon I found I preferred to stare out the window instead of listening to that particular speaker. One on One Talk! Many times people ask me what I really like about PASS. I always say the experience of meeting SQL legends and spending time with them one on one and LEARNING! Here is the quick list of the people I met during this event and spent more than 30 minutes with each of them talking about various subjects: Pinal Dave and Brad Shulz Pinal Dave and Rushabh Mehta Michael Coles and Pinal Dave Rushabh Mehta – It is always pleasure to meet with him. He is a man with lots of energy and a passion for community. He recently told me that he really wanted to turn PASS into resource for learning for every SQL Server Developer and Administrator in the world. I had great in-depth discussion regarding how a single person can contribute to a community. Michael Coles – I consider him my best friend. It is always fun to meet him. He is funny and very knowledgeable. I think there are very few people who are as expert as he is in encryption and spatial databases. Worth meeting him every single time. Glenn Berry – A real friend of everybody. He is very a simple person and very true to his heart. I think there is not a single person in whole community who does not like him. He is a friends of all and everybody likes him very much. I once again had time to sit with him and learn so much from him. As he is known as Dr. DMV, I can be his nurse in the area of DMV. Brad Schulz – I always wanted to meet him but never got chance until today. I had great time meeting him in person and we have spent considerable amount of time together discussing various T-SQL tricks and tips. I do not know where he comes up with all the different ideas but I enjoy reading his blog and sharing his wisdom with me. Jonathan Kehayias – He is drill sergeant in US army. If you get the impression that he is a giant with very strong personality – you are wrong. He is very kind and soft spoken DBA with strong performance tuning skills. I asked him how he has kept his two jobs separate and I got very good answer – just work hard and have passion for what you do. I attended his sessions and his presentation style is very unique.  I feel like he is speaking in a language I understand. Louis Davidson – I had never had a chance to sit with him and talk about technology before. He has so much wisdom and he is very kind. During the dinner, I had talked with him for long time and without hesitation he started to draw a schema for me on the menu. It was a wonderful experience to learn from a master at the dinner table. He explained to me the real and practical differences between third normal form and forth normal form. Honestly I did not know earlier, but now I do. Erland Sommarskog – This man needs no introduction, he is very well known and very clear in conveying his ideas. I learned a lot from him during the course of year. Every time I meet him, I learn something new and this time was no exception. Joe Webb – Joey is all about community and people, we had interesting conversation about community, MVP and how one can be helpful to community without losing passion for long time. It is always pleasant to talk to him and of course, I had fun time. Ross Mistry – I call him my brother many times because he indeed looks like my cousin. He provided me lots of insight of how one can write book and how he keeps his books simple to appeal to all the readers. A wonderful person and great friend. Ola Hallgren - I did not know he was coming to the summit. I had great time meeting him and had a wonderful conversation with him regarding his scripts and future community activities. Blythe Morrow – She used to be integrated part of SQL Server Community and PASS HQ. It was wonderful to meet her again and re-connect. She is wonderful person and I had a great time talking to her. Solid Quality Mentors – It is difficult to decide who to mention here. Instead of writing all the names, I am going to include a photo of our meeting. I had great fun meeting various members of our global branches. This year I was sitting with my Spanish speaking friends and had great fun as Javier Loria from Solid Quality translated lots of things for me. Party, Party and Parties Every evening there were various parties. I did attend almost all of them. Every party had different theme but the goal of all the parties the same – networking. Here are the few parties where I had lots of fun: Dell Reception Party Exhibitor Party Solid Quality Fun Party Red Gate Friends Party MVP Dinner Microsoft Party MVP Dinner Quest Party Gameworks PASS Party Volunteer Party at Garage Solid Quality Mentors (10 Members out of 120) They were all great networking opportunities and lots of fun. I really had great time meeting people at the various parties. There were few people everywhere – well, I will say I am among them – who hopped parties. NDA – Not Decided Agenda During the event there were few meetings marked “NDA.” Someone asked me “why are these things NDA?”  My response was simple: because they are not sure themselves. NDA stands for Not Decided Agenda. Toys, Giveaways and Luggage I admit, I was like child in Gameworks and was playing to win soft toys. I was doing it for my daughter. I must thank all of the people who gave me their cards to try my luck. I won 4 soft-toys for my daughter and it was fun. Also, thanks to Angel who did a final toy swap with me to get the desired toy for my daughter. I also collected ducks from Idera, as my daughter really loves them. Solid Quality Booth Each of the exhibitors was giving away something and I got so much stuff that my luggage got quite a bit bigger when I returned. Best Exhibitor Idera had SQLDoctor (a real magician and fun guy) to promote their new tool SQLDoctor. I really had a great time participating in the magic myself. At one point, the magician made my watch disappear.  I have seen better magic before, but this time it caught me unexpectedly and I was taken by surprise. I won many ducks again. The Common Question I heard the following common questions: I have seen you somewhere – who are you? – I am Pinal Dave. I did not know that Pinal is your first name and Dave is your last name, how do you pronounce your last name again? – Da-way How old are you? – I am as old as I can be. Are you an Indian because you look like one? – I did not answer this one. Where are you from? This question was usually asked after looking at my badge which says India. So did you really fly from India? – Yes, because I have seasickness so I do not prefer the sea journey. How long was the journey? – 24/36/12 (air travel time/total travel time/time zone difference) Why do you write on SQLAuthority.com? – Because I want to. I remember your daughter looks like you. – Is this even a question? Of course, she is daddy’s little girl. There were so many other questions, I will have to write another blog post about it. SQLPASS Again, Best Summit Ever! Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: About Me, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, T SQL, Technology Tagged: SQLPASS

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  • SQLAuthority News – Job Interviewing the Right Way (and for the Right Reasons) – Guest Post by Feodor Georgiev

    - by pinaldave
    Feodor Georgiev is a SQL Server database specialist with extensive experience of thinking both within and outside the box. He has wide experience of different systems and solutions in the fields of architecture, scalability, performance, etc. Feodor has experience with SQL Server 2000 and later versions, and is certified in SQL Server 2008. Feodor has written excellent article on Job Interviewing the Right Way. Here is his article in his own language. A while back I was thinking to start a blog post series on interviewing and employing IT personnel. At that time I had just read the ‘Smart and gets things done’ book (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/06/05.html) and I was hyped up on some debatable topics regarding finding and employing the best people in the branch. I have no problem with hiring the best of the best; it’s just the definition of ‘the best of the best’ that makes things a bit more complicated. One of the fundamental books one can read on the topic of interviewing is the one mentioned above. If you have not read it, then you must do so; not because it contains the ultimate truth, and not because it gives the answers to most questions on the subject, but because the book contains an extensive set of questions about interviewing and employing people. Of course, a big part of these questions have different answers, depending on location, culture, available funds and so on. (What works in the US may not necessarily work in the Nordic countries or India, or it may work in a different way). The only thing that is valid regardless of any external factor is this: curiosity. In my belief there are two kinds of people – curious and not-so-curious; regardless of profession. Think about it – professional success is directly proportional to the individual’s curiosity + time of active experience in the field. (I say ‘active experience’ because vacations and any distractions do not count as experience :)  ) So, curiosity is the factor which will distinguish a good employee from the not-so-good one. But let’s shift our attention to something else for now: a few tips and tricks for successful interviews. Tip and trick #1: get your priorities straight. Your status usually dictates your priorities; for example, if the person looking for a job has just relocated to a new country, they might tend to ignore some of their priorities and overload others. In other words, setting priorities straight means to define the personal criteria by which the interview process is lead. For example, similar to the following questions can help define the criteria for someone looking for a job: How badly do I need a (any) job? Is it more important to work in a clean and quiet environment or is it important to get paid well (or both, if possible)? And so on… Furthermore, before going to the interview, the candidate should have a list of priorities, sorted by the most importance: e.g. I want a quiet environment, x amount of money, great helping boss, a desk next to a window and so on. Also it is a good idea to be prepared and know which factors can be compromised and to what extent. Tip and trick #2: the interview is a two-way street. A job candidate should not forget that the interview process is not a one-way street. What I mean by this is that while the employer is interviewing the potential candidate, the job seeker should not miss the chance to interview the employer. Usually, the employer and the candidate will meet for an interview and talk about a variety of topics. In a quality interview the candidate will be presented to key members of the team and will have the opportunity to ask them questions. By asking the right questions both parties will define their opinion about each other. For example, if the candidate talks to one of the potential bosses during the interview process and they notice that the potential manager has a hard time formulating a question, then it is up to the candidate to decide whether working with such person is a red flag for them. There are as many interview processes out there as there are companies and each one is different. Some bigger companies and corporates can afford pre-selection processes, 3 or even 4 stages of interviews, small companies usually settle with one interview. Some companies even give cognitive tests on the interview. Why not? In his book Joel suggests that a good candidate should be pampered and spoiled beyond belief with a week-long vacation in New York, fancy hotels, food and who knows what. For all I can imagine, an interview might even take place at the top of the Eifel tower (right, Mr. Joel, right?) I doubt, however, that this is the optimal way to capture the attention of a good employee. The ‘curiosity’ topic What I have learned so far in my professional experience is that opinions can be subjective. Plus, opinions on technology subjects can also be subjective. According to Joel, only hiring the best of the best is worth it. If you ask me, there is no such thing as best of the best, simply because human nature (well, aside from some physical limitations, like putting your pants on through your head :) ) has no boundaries. And why would it have boundaries? I have seen many curious and interesting people, naturally good at technology, though uninterested in it as one  can possibly be; I have also seen plenty of people interested in technology, who (in an ideal world) should have stayed far from it. At any rate, all of this sums up at the end to the ‘supply and demand’ factor. The interview process big-bang boils down to this: If there is a mutual benefit for both the employer and the potential employee to work together, then it all sorts out nicely. If there is no benefit, then it is much harder to get to a common place. Tip and trick #3: word-of-mouth is worth a thousand words Here I would just mention that the best thing a job candidate can get during the interview process is access to future team members or other employees of the new company. Nowadays the world has become quite small and everyone knows everyone. Look at LinkedIn, look at other professional networks and you will realize how small the world really is. Knowing people is a good way to become more approachable and to approach them. Tip and trick #4: Be confident. It is true that for some people confidence is as natural as breathing and others have to work hard to express it. Confidence is, however, a key factor in convincing the other side (potential employer or employee) that there is a great chance for success by working together. But it cannot get you very far if it’s not backed up by talent, curiosity and knowledge. Tip and trick #5: The right reasons What really bothers me in Sweden (and I am sure that there are similar situations in other countries) is that there is a tendency to fill quotas and to filter out candidates by criteria different from their skill and knowledge. In job ads I see quite often the phrases ‘positive thinker’, ‘team player’ and many similar hints about personality features. So my guess here is that discrimination has evolved to a new level. Let me clear up the definition of discrimination: ‘unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice’. And prejudice is the ‘partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation’. In other words, there is not much difference whether a job candidate is filtered out by race, gender or by personality features – it is all a bad habit. And in reality, there is no proven correlation between the technology knowledge paired with skills and the personal features (gender, race, age, optimism). It is true that a significantly greater number of Darwin awards were given to men than to women, but I am sure that somewhere there is a paper or theory explaining the genetics behind this. J This topic actually brings to mind one of my favorite work related stories. A while back I was working for a big company with many teams involved in their processes. One of the teams was occupying 2 rooms – one had the team members and was full of light, colorful posters, chit-chats and giggles, whereas the other room was dark, lighted only by a single monitor with a quiet person in front of it. Later on I realized that the ‘dark room’ person was the guru and the ultimate problem-solving-brain who did not like the chats and giggles and hence was in a separate room. In reality, all severe problems which the chatty and cheerful team members could not solve and all emergencies were directed to ‘the dark room’. And thus all worked out well. The moral of the story: Personality has nothing to do with technology knowledge and skills. End of story. Summary: I’d like to stress the fact that there is no ultimately perfect candidate for a job, and there is no such thing as ‘best-of-the-best’. From my personal experience, the main criteria by which I measure people (co-workers and bosses) is the curiosity factor; I know from experience that the more curious and inventive a person is, the better chances there are for great achievements in their field. Related stories: (for extra credit) 1) Get your priorities straight. A while back as a consultant I was working for a few days at a time at different offices and for different clients, and so I was able to compare and analyze the work environments. There were two different places which I compared and recently I asked a friend of mine the following question: “Which one would you prefer as a work environment: a noisy office full of people, or a quiet office full of faulty smells because the office is rarely cleaned?” My friend was puzzled for a while, thought about it and said: “Hmm, you are talking about two different kinds of pollution… I will probably choose the second, since I can clean the workplace myself a bit…” 2) The interview is a two-way street. One time, during a job interview, I met a potential boss that had a hard time phrasing a question. At that particular time it was clear to me that I would not have liked to work under this person. According to my work religion, the properly asked question contains at least half of the answer. And if I work with someone who cannot ask a question… then I’d be doing double or triple work. At another interview, after the technical part with the team leader of the department, I was introduced to one of the team members and we were left alone for 5 minutes. I immediately jumped on the occasion and asked the blunt question: ‘What have you learned here for the past year and how do you like your job?’ The team member looked at me and said ‘Nothing really. I like playing with my cats at home, so I am out of here at 5pm and I don’t have time for much.’ I was disappointed at the time and I did not take the job offer. I wasn’t that shocked a few months later when the company went bankrupt. 3) The right reasons to take a job: personality check. A while back I was asked to serve as a job reference for a coworker. I agreed, and after some weeks I got a phone call from the company where my colleague was applying for a job. The conversation started with the manager’s question about my colleague’s personality and about their social skills. (You can probably guess what my internal reaction was… J ) So, after 30 minutes of pouring common sense into the interviewer’s head, we finally agreed on the fact that a shy or quiet personality has nothing to do with work skills and knowledge. Some years down the road my former colleague is taking the manager’s position as the manager is demoted to a different department. Reference: Feodor Georgiev, Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, Readers Contribution, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • Recommended standard steps/tips for configuring an IIS vps

    - by Truegilly
    Hello, I am a seasoned web developer, but have poor server admin skills. I have an .NET MVC site that I will be soon uploading to an IIS VPS. I just wanted to ask if anyone can recommend any steps or tips for initially configuring an IIS VPS, or perhaps some do’s and dont’s to make it more secure and overcome any issues im sure to run into. Any response is most appreciated. truegilly ;)

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