SQL Server Reporter -- Single Source for the Latest SQL Server Jobs and Info http://www.sqlserverreporter.com Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:25:46 -0500 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.sqlserverreporter.com/logo.jpg http://www.sqlserverreporter.com Feed provided by SQL Server Reporter -- Single Source for the Latest SQL Server Jobs and Info. http://www.sqlserverreporter.com/newsreader.php?newsid=6494 I was working this weekend with a fairly simple Excel spreadsheet, and I had to decompose one cell in it out to three columns in a SQL Server table. There are tools within SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) that should be able to do that, but I just couldnt find my way around them properly. Im not as familiar with SSIS as I would like to be its just not my day-to-day tool. ... Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sqlserverreporter.com/newsreader.php?newsid=6462 SQL Server 2008 R2 added a much requested feature: Unicode compression. It addresses the need to compress Unicode strings. It is implemented as part of ROW compression, which was added in SQL 2008. That is; if ROW compression (on SQL 2008 R2) is enabled on a table that contains NCHAR / NVARCHAR datatypes, then the Unicode compression algorithm will kick in for each individual Unicode column. ... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sqlserverreporter.com/newsreader.php?newsid=6468 Author: Thomas Kejser Reviewers: Juergen Thomas, Sanjay Mishra, Stuart Ozer, Lubor Kollar, Kevin Cox, Kun Cheng In this blog, we will provide additional details on a well-hidden feature in SQL Server 2008 partition-level locking. But before we illustrate the feature, heres a bit of background about lock escalation and lock granularities. Background SQL Server has a lock manager that tracks which database objects are locked. ... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sqlserverreporter.com/newsreader.php?newsid=6457 Author: Kun ChengReviewers: Peter Carlin, Mike Ruthruff, Thomas Kejser, Nicholas DritsasXML data type is usually used to store semi-structured data with great flexibility and query capabilities. Its a good choice for developing platform agnostic applications to separate storage of complex data from processing at application layer, which understands the complex data relationship. ... Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sqlserverreporter.com/newsreader.php?newsid=6452 Michael J Swart posted a SQL query on his blog that produced a rendition of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, in the spatial results tab of SQL Server Management Studio when executed. But, when everyone rushed over in anxious anticipation, some folks could execute the query but couldn't see the picture on their 64-bit editions. Here's why... It's an obscure problem with rendering spatially invalid results that surfaced around SP1 timeframe. ... Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sqlserverreporter.com/newsreader.php?newsid=6431 In version 2.0 of PowerShell, you can now use a direct command-let (get-Counter) to get at the Performance Monitor counters. For instance, to show the current value of the Processor Percent Time, use this command:  Get-Counter 'Processor(*)% Processor Time'    The interesting part of get-Counter is that you can add a parameter at the end to keep sampling:  Get-Counter 'Processor(*)% Processor Time' - Continuous    ... Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sqlserverreporter.com/newsreader.php?newsid=6427 If you want to get started right away using tools like SSMS against SQL Azure, you are in luck. It turns out that the SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP release includes SSMS Express package for 32 and 64 bit systems. Check out the Tools Only section on...(read more)[Image] Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sqlserverreporter.com/newsreader.php?newsid=6428 Ward Beattie, one of our developers, has published a nice script thatallows you to get sysadmin privilege to your local SQL Server Express instance.Obviously, you need to have administrative rights on your machine or access toan account that does. ... Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sqlserverreporter.com/newsreader.php?newsid=6438 I have received numerous questions about 'foreign pages' so I have put this post together to answer the questions. The SQL Server buffer pool goes through three (3) distinct states. Initial / Ramp-up This state is established during buffer pool initialization and only transitions once committed buffers reaches the target. ... Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sqlserverreporter.com/newsreader.php?newsid=6432 If youre holding a special event, such as a SQL Saturday or a user group, one of the challenges is to get speakers for the event. Now, the best speakers come from the community people who use the product day-in, day-out. They have a wealth of expertise, and many of them are really great presenters. But from time to time you might want to get a Microsoft person to speak at your group or event. ... Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500