SimonS' SQL Server Stuff

Almost 200 visitors

My blog has moved to sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons
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Today has broken my record for visitors, not quite getting to 200, which I'm quite chuffed at given the amount of effort I put in.

I have been looking back at some old posts and was trying to see if any had received more than 1000 web visits i.e. not rss and was suprised to see that my post on user defined function performance has top 3300 views thats about 4 times more than the average post. Just goes to show what people are interested in.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Almost 200 visitors

Virtual Server SQL Server Cluster

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So you want to setup a cluster on your laptop. well before getting the men in white costs to come and pick you up I will let you read this post http://sqladvice.com/blogs/repeatableread/archive/2005/08/01/4273.aspx on how to do it with VMware.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Virtual Server SQL Server Cluster

Precise and Deterministic Dates

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If you want to include a date literal i.e. '1 oct 2005' in an indexed view then it needs to be converted to a precise deterministic date.

BOL does include the information you need to do this but it's not obvious.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Precise and Deterministic Dates

Great features in Management Studio

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I am continuing to find great features in SQL Server 2005. The latest is the log viewer. You now have the power to display logs from SQL Server, Event log, Database Mail and SQL Agent all in on view, merged based on time.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Great features in Management Studio

Best PDC Freebies

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It was almost 2 months ago that I was fortunate to go to the PDC. As always there was much being given away, ranging from pens to tablet pcs with lots of t-shirts to boot.

Of those that I picked up, good was the luggage tag from AMD but the best so far has to be from MaximumASP. They gave out floppy frisbies, providing hours of fun in the park. The great thing is that unlike normal frisbies where you occasionally catch it awkwardly, these are soft and never hurt :)

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Best PDC Freebies

BI Blog focused on Analysis services

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Browsing around and found Chris's blog http://spaces.msn.com/members/cwebbbi/Blog/cns!1pi7ETChsJ1un_2s41jm9Iyg!350.entry

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/BI Blog focused on Analysis services

T-SQL and CLR types for return value do not match

If you've been playing building serious applications with SQL Server and its CLR integrtation you may have come across error 6551 or 6552. These relate to types not matching up between the function/type/procedure... declaration in TSQL to that in your CLR code.

The basics are that certain TSQL types map to certain SQLCLR types.

What can get annoying (if you didn't read the manual like me!) is that you may create your CLR code and TSQL code and can't for love nor money find whats wrong. You've got 1 parameter that is a CLR SqlString and your TSQL is declared as a varchar. Surely they are the same.

Well they could be but they're not. SQLCLR requires the use of the unicode data types nchar and nvarchar.

For a mapping of the types look for "SQL Server Data Types and Their .NET Framework Equivalents" in BOL

So if you're getting error 6551 or 6552 check to see if you have your chars declared properly as nvarchar or nchar.

Microsoft search performance counters missing

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I have come across this a number of times before and always found it very annoying.

When running performance monitor you can look at counters for the performance of the Microsoft Search engine MSSearch, which is what full text uses.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Microsoft search performance counters missing

SQLCMD in SQL 2005 to delete lots of data in batches

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So we've all come across the need to delete 10 million records. however we all no that this won't be quick and will result in a large log file and as we get nearer deleting the 10 millionth row the process is going very slowly.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/SQLCMD in SQL 2005 to delete lots of data in batches

Integration Services Peformance

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You've created you first SSIS package and performance sucks. Well all might not be lost, if the performance you are referring to is the one when run in debug mode in the Visual Studio IDE by pressing F5 then yes it is likely to not be the best.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Integration Services Peformance

Setting the error output on a SSIS Component

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If you've used SSIS you must have used data flows and probably come across the error output of components.

As it's name suggest it contains the rows that fail. However by default (most if not all components) are setup to fail when an error occurs, to alter this behaviour you go in to the settings for the error output and for each column define what should happen. You can say for each column whether an error should fail the component, be ignored or redirect the row. This also applys to truncations (trying to put too much data in a buffer column).

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Setting the error output on a SSIS Component