May 2007 - Posts

Too Dim or not Too Dim

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No i'm not talking about a new Harry Enfield sketch about a posh bloke that's a bit thick, I 'm talking about tables in a warehouse.

Many people insist on naming tables DimCustomer, Dim Product etc and FactOrderLine. What is the purpose of this, especially in a UDM model where tables can easily be dimensions and facts. What happens then, should it be DimFactOrder or should it be FactDimOrder, sounds like something from a Chinese menu.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Too Dim or not Too Dim

posted Friday, May 18, 2007 5:54 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

SSIS - Viewing packages in Management Studio

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Its odd how you often find things out by accident.

Yesterday I was copying a dts package into a folder on my server and for some reason the drop didn't drop. When I then switched to management studio and XP finally decided to drop the file it did it in the management studio work space.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/SSIS - Viewing packages in Management Studio

posted Friday, May 11, 2007 8:32 AM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

First impressions of Office 2007 - Excel

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I've been using Excel 2007 for about a month now and am I am strarting to love it.

Ok so I suffered from the "Where the hell do I find option x" syndrome due to the new ribbon bar, but, as I had heard before, this is a short term issue, you will eventually understand how the options are configured and be able to find things very easily.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/First impressions of Office 2007 - Excel

posted Thursday, May 31, 2007 8:08 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

SSIS : Datareader destinations cause my packages to hang

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I've often used data reader destinations as means of dumping data from a data flow, because it doesn't need configuring. However I always noticed that the package would hang for a while before completing.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/SSIS : Datareader destinations cause my packages to hang

posted Thursday, May 31, 2007 7:14 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

Restoring and Attaching is a one way street

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Many people often ask how they can us a database in SQL 2000 that they have attached or restored to SQL2005.

Unfortunately this is a one way street, once upgraded the only way of using a database in a previous version is to copy the schema and data manually. You can't restore or attach a database even if the compatibility has been kept at the previous version.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Restoring and Attaching is a one way street

posted Saturday, May 26, 2007 10:39 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

How to access SQL Server when you've forget the password

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There is a little known feature of SQL Server 2005 is that when you start SQL Server in single user mode local administrators of the server have sysadmin access to the sql server.

You may feel this a security concern, but if a user can get local admin of your server, and restart your service then having sysadmin access to your SQL Server is the least of your problems.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/How to access SQL Server when you've forget the password

posted Tuesday, May 22, 2007 11:28 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

SSAS - AverageOfChildren only applies to the time dimension

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I've just spent a morning trying to figure out why my average measure doesn't average but sums.

I guess I should have googled straight away. In doing so I found this forum post http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=548837&SiteID=17

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/SSAS - AverageOfChildren only applies to the time dimension

posted Monday, May 21, 2007 12:08 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

Irish Microsoft Conference

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I am doing my first speaking event outside of the UK. The guys organising the Irish Microsoft Technology Conference kindly invited me to speak.

Following on from and combing some previous sessions I've done I will talking about Service Broker and how it can be used to achieve asynchronous processing to greatly improve your systems.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Irish Microsoft Conference

posted Friday, May 18, 2007 2:38 AM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

How many indexes do you have that aren't used?

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If you run this sql on a sql 2005 box then you will see which indexes aren't used in queries compared with the number of times they are updated.

select object_name(s.object_id) , *

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/How many indexes do you have that aren't used?

posted Wednesday, May 16, 2007 5:02 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

Presentation Skills A-Z

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Thanks to Donald for pointing out this great training onhow to do presentations.

My presentations will never be the same again

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Presentation Skills A-Z

posted Wednesday, May 16, 2007 1:39 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

SSIS - Parallel processing

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I remember seeing a very early CTP of Yukon and the new DTS. I was very exceited to see a parallel property on the loop container which would allow the contents of the container to be executed in parallel.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/SSIS - Parallel processing

posted Tuesday, May 15, 2007 8:34 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

SQL Compare is public beta

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The latest version of SQL Compare is now in public beta. You can read more here http://www.red-gate.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?t=4836.

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posted Tuesday, May 15, 2007 6:26 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

Fancy taking the pill?

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