Tools (RSS)

Data Data everywhere even when you think its gone

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The biggest problem I have faced in IT over the last decade has been loss of data.

I have had the problem at work where servers have crashed and lost data, more often than not due to failure of disks. I have also personally felt the pain in a hard disk losing its partition information, and frequently my wife's laptop dying and windows not being able to boot.

Whilst many businesses have been aware of the criticality of data for a while, data is becoming more critical to everyone. Many people don’t have address books anymore, and if they do, do they contain mobiles, IM addresses, email address etc. If you lose data the inconvenience and the pain is often great.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Data Data everywhere even when you think its gone

posted Sunday, August 12, 2007 7:09 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

SSIS - Viewing packages in Management Studio

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The full version of this post can be found here., http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/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

Add-ins for Management Studio

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This is one of the popular requests, unfortunately its not going to be in Katmai. A number of people have done it through Redgate being the major guys. However I came across Seans post about his snapshot Addin  ( I would love to see the code Sean)

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Add-ins for Management Studio

posted Tuesday, July 17, 2007 12:39 AM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

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

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The full version of this post can be found here., http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/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

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

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The full version of this post can be found here., http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/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

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.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/SQL Compare is public beta

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

Katmai - Group Policy for SQL Server

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The full version of this post can be found here., http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Katmai - Group Policy for SQL Server
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If you've worked in a large AD shop you will have come across Group Policy. A means by which you can make sure each component in a domain has the same settings, behaves the same way, has the same security. This is essential when managing a large server estate.

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Katmai - Group Policy for SQL Server

posted Wednesday, May 09, 2007 7:05 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

Limit a sql script to only run with SQLCMD turned on

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The full version of this post can be found here., http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Limit a sql script to only run with SQLCMD turned on
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I really like SQLCMDso much so that most of my deployment scripts use SQLCMD. Its got some great features such as

:on error exit. Forcing your script to exit when an error occurs.
or
:r <filename> to read the contents of a file

... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Limit a sql script to only run with SQLCMD turned on

posted Monday, April 23, 2007 8:50 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

Raw file reader has been updated

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The full version of this post can be found here., http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Raw file reader has been updated
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My raw file reader has now been updated, the following are the changes from the previous version

  • Column headers can be included if more than one column is selected.
  • Context menu to copy data from the grid
  • Can read a package for raw files and will load each one of them
  • Will remember the last 10 packages read used
  • Option to change the file extensions associated with raw files (thanks Julian)
  • Fixed some spelling mistakes
  • Application is now an MDI application allowing for multiple raw files to be opened at once
  • Rawfile detail windows can be cacaded, tiled as with all MDI windows
  • Enable application for ClickOnce deployment

    • I am working on the following,

    ... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Raw file reader has been updated

    posted Wednesday, January 17, 2007 12:43 AM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

    SSIS Rawfile viewer - now available

    My blog has moved to sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons
    The full version of this post can be found here., http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/SSIS Rawfile viewer - now available
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    If you've used SSIS in anger you will have come across Raw files. Unfortunately when you store data in a raw file it is in accesible. There is no tool available to view the data,

    Until now.

    ... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/SSIS Rawfile viewer - now available

    posted Thursday, January 11, 2007 11:58 AM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

    SSIS - Raw file reader utility

    My blog has moved to sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons
    The full version of this post can be found here., http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/SSIS - Raw file reader utility
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    I have put together a little utility to read raw files. Before I finish it off I would like some feeback.

    The current feature set is;

    • Read any SSIS Raw file
    • Results displayed in a grid
    • Columns automatically resized
    • Order of columns can be changed
    • The results can be ordered by clicking on the column headings
    • You can choose which columns to display (will improve performance for large files)
    • Data can be copied from the results grid using CTRL+C
    • Any set of cells can be copied from the results grid by using the CTRL key
    • Column headers can be included or excluded from the copied data
    • Will remember the last 10 files used
    • Reading of data can be automatic when the columns are read or the data can be read manually once you have selected the columns you want
    • Column selection mechanism is similiar to that in SSIS components
    • Notification when the currently loaded raw file has changed i.e. package is rerun
    • Opton to automatically reload file when file changes
    • Sizeable window to maximise viewing of data in the grid.

    You can download it here SQL Server 2005 Integration Services Raw file reader

    ... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/SSIS - Raw file reader utility

    posted Monday, January 08, 2007 12:30 AM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

    The best RSS and NNTP reader is now Free

    My blog has moved to sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons
    The full version of this post can be found here., http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/The best RSS and NNTP reader is now Free
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    Jetbrains have announced that Omea is going open source. This is going to involve a steps before it will be available including releasing 2.2, moving to VS2005, changing the source control and moving the build to TeamCity.

    ... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/The best RSS and NNTP reader is now Free

    posted Monday, December 11, 2006 4:54 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments

    Custom reports in SQL 2005 SP2

    My blog has moved to sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons
    The full version of this post can be found here., http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Custom reports in SQL 2005 SP2
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    You may have come across the fact that in SP2 you can deploy custom reports that are accessible in management studio. This reports can be run from any context in the object explorer tree.

    Whilst I think this is really interesting, I haven't played with it much, but Anthony has read his blog post on how to configure a report to run in management studio

    ... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Custom reports in SQL 2005 SP2

    posted Thursday, November 16, 2006 1:07 AM by SimonSabin with 1 Comments

    Do you think SSMS is slow?

    My blog has moved to sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons
    The full version of this post can be found here., http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Do you think SSMS is slow?
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    Well there are a few reasons for some slowness.

    One of them is when you display the details of a job. SSMS executes sp_helpjob which returns ALL jobs, even though your only displaying ONE.

    ... To read the complete version of this post go here, http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/Do you think SSMS is slow?

    posted Monday, September 18, 2006 11:35 PM by SimonSabin with 0 Comments