SQL Server News & Information tsql, performance tuning, industry trends, & bad jokes
tsql, performance tuning, industry trends, & bad jokes
This site is maintained by Jason Massie. He has 10 years experience as a DBA and has specialized in performance tuning for the last five. He was recognized by Microsoft as a SQL Server MVP. Jason has spoken at the Professional Association of SQL Server Conference, the North Texas SQL Server Users Group, SQL Connections and TechED. He has worked at Terremark (formerly Data Return) for nearly a decade.
You can contact him at jason@statisticsio.com or 469.569.5965
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It seems like there is a lot of negative feedback for the SQL MCM\MCA certs. I tend to agree. I have taken all of the SQL tests since 7.0 and participated in the SQL 2008 test development process. I really just do it for fun. Yah, that’s how I roll. My boss does not put much value in those certs nor does the industry as far I can tell. Initially, I was happy to hear about the MCM but then I realized it would never happen for me.
It looks like they outsourced most of the teachers. Great industry renowned people with great kung fu but not the guys with access to the source or designed the architecture. In some cases, they teach better (They do it for a living) but in other cases it may be better to have it straight from the horse’s mouth. On top of that, Greg Low says most people don't pass the first time around. Imagine spending 21 long days and 18.5 large for a 50%-100% chance of failing.
I have recently been put in a position where I have to manage Oracle DBA's and, after looking at the OCM cert, it requires 3 weeks of class time, ~$9k, about 4 tests and a lab test. The expensive classroom time can be split up over time. The OCM holds some good street cred too.
What is the solution? Copy Oracle. It won’t be the first time :)
Here are a few posts:http://www.sqlservercentral.com/blogs/steve_jones/archive/2008/12/01/rangers-to-masters.aspxhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/blogs/tim_mitchell/archive/2008/11/29/microsoft-certified-master-program-is-this-the-answer-to-certification-woes.aspx
I am in a what feels like a whirl wind tour of the globe so content may be light this week. Jetlagged in Denmark right now and should seriously be asleep. I have some interesting topics in the works but until then I have "suggested reading" at several places.
FriendFeed:
http://friendfeed.com/statisticsio
Google Reader Shared Items:
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/09956560379006770135
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1013730310&ref=profile
Google reader is probably the most SQL focused link. The others have google reader shares + stuff. If you are reading this, chances are you will find what I find cool at least slightly interesting as well.
I just read a post from the other side of the fence by powershell admin. Here is an excerpt:
"
I wish I were kidding. The SQL team is clearly not only talking to other teams which have done a great job of working with PowerShell - System Center, Exchange, etc - they don’t even seem to know that these other teams exist within Microsoft. Right on campus. Just down the road. Go eat lunch with them for heaven’s sake. Order a side of clues.
My understanding, and I would consider myself a ps-n00b, is that the SQL team created a provider so you could access the SQL structure as a file system. The add-pssnapin functionality is a valid point but you can work around that my loading the SQL powershell provider into the normal powershell. The case sensitivity point has been fixed in rc0 as far as I can tell. Also new in RC0 is the Invoke-PolicyEvaluation cmdlet. I have not had a chance with it yet though.
You can read the entire article here and join in on the conversation if you wish. My post on SQL 2008 powershell is here.
The big news of the week was the HH{H} launch. A lot of marketing fluff. Not just from MS but from vendors trying to ride the wave. That said, I think the rest of the year is going to be really exciting technology wise.
There are some good webcasts at the virtual event site through the slick but slightly buggy silver light interface. Check it out.
The MS SQL site got a facelift. I suspect it will replace the original site soon. Props to ThePremiers for breaking it.
Dan reports the return of the tsql debugger, object search and the new activity monitor. He demo'd these features and the other manageability features at the launch event.
SQL Server 2008 is setting records. Most impressively in loading 1TB+ in 30 minutes with SSIS. Read it on the SQLPerf site here and here, the SQLCAT site, Erin's blog, and Denis's blog.
Peter has the scoop about issues with SQL Server 2008 and leap year. Whoops :) Good thing they didn't launch today.
Linchi comments on the intel hexacore procs that should hit Q3-4.
Derek C drops knowledge on the SQL Server 2008 performance data collector.
This might be HAWTALTA to some but I consistently here people complaining about the speed of SQLWB. Jeff posts links to resources.
Bonnie posts the 2008 version of samples on codeplex. Direct dl here. Details here.
Check out this very detailed post on SNAC for the horse's mouth.
Andy has a no nonsense post on sparse columns.
I should have mentioned this last week. Simon did a great job in detailing full text in SQL Server 2008 in a series of posts. Start here.
Have a great weekend!
I have two complaints about the documentation. Incomplete BOL and little info on the myriad of trace flags that is growing with every other QFE.
From my understanding, the documentation for SQL 2005 was locked down in April of 2005 and the product went RTM in November of 2005. They obviously had more important things to do which is understandable. The code base for BOL was already over 100MB. They have updated it a couple times and another update is due with SP2 so hopefully it will be better.
My big complaint is the lack of documentation on the DMV’s. For example, sys.dm_os_memory_clerks and sys.dm_os_memory_objects are documented but a type definition table would spectacular. See sys.dm_os_wait_stats for an example. Slava, what is up?
After SQL Server SP3, a lot of hotfixes had to be enabled with traceflags and very few of them were documented to the degree that T1118 was. This makes troubleshoot difficult. It is also not clear what trace flags have carried over from 2000. I have heard from reliable source that T1118 has but what about the post sp3 stats trace flags?
I would also like some documentation on the internals of resource_semaphores because of an issues I have been arm wrestling but I am not sure if that would be relavant to most.