Microsoft SQL Server Tips & Tricks
Tips and Tricks for the SQL Server Enthusiast
SQL Server Management studio issues
What will happen if the indispensible SSMS crashes or worse just hangs? A lot of fretting!! (For the...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 05/05/2009
The installation of client tools in sql 2005 fails with error 1722
Recently we encountered an issue while installation of client tools in sql 2005, so I would like to...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 05/05/2009
UPDATE Statements May Fail To Replicate If Not Executed As Singleton Updates
What is Deferred Update? If any column that is part of a unique constraint is updated, then SQL...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 04/30/2009
Reporting Services 2005 installation option is grayed out
Consider a scenario when during the installation of SQL Reporting Services 2005 the option to choose...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 04/28/2009
Is SQLVDI.DLL functioning properly?
Every once in a while I see VDI backups failing and questions being asked as to whether the...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 04/28/2009
INFORMATIONAL: SHEDDING LIGHT on VSS & VDI Backups in SQL Server
Right, ever heard or wondered about snapshot backups in SQL Server? You might have come across the...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 04/28/2009
configure distribution wizard does not appear while trying to configure Distribution in SQL 2005
Recently we encountered a case wherein distribution wizard was not appearing when we try to...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 04/23/2009
SQL server2000 IA64 Setup on a cluster may fail with an unexpected error
Consider the scenario where SQL server 2000 IA 64 setup on a SQL server cluster fails with the...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 04/22/2009
Unable to upgrade from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005
Problem: In place upgrade from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005 may fail with the following...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 04/22/2009
Performance of a Query on Computed Column can degrade in Sql 2005 with the increase in complexity of function in computed column
With Sql server 2000 and 2005 computed columns can be use to improve the performance of queries...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 04/14/2009
Orphaned Users with Database Mirroring and Log Shipping
Let’s start with a little background on how SQL Server logins and Database users actually work. A...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 04/13/2009
How to find out which database was backed up by which maintenance plan
When you backup your database in SQL Server 2000 using a maintenance plan, the information is logged...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 04/13/2009
SETTING THE APPLICATION ROLE CAN CAUSE IS_MEMBER TO return NULL
In the simplest terms an application role is one which allows access to a database through an...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 04/13/2009
Changing the schema of an article from DBO to UserDefinedSchema will be reverted back to DBO
Consider a scenario where one wants to change the Destination Object Owner schema of all the...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 04/03/2009
SQL Server 2005 SP2 setup might fail with the error Error 29528: The setup has encountered an unexpected error while Updating security settings on HTTP services
Few days back I worked on a case where the sql server SP2 setup was failing to install with an Error...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 04/02/2009
Setting up Database mirroring in SQL Server 2008 using T-SQL when the database is encrypted using Transparent Data Encryption.
Consider the following Scenario, You are using SQL Server 2008 Enterprise edition RTM or higher...
Author: sequelguy Date: 03/31/2009
How do we implement encryption and hashing in SQL server?
Part2 In the part1 we discussed the basic difference between encryption and hashing. So now let’s...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 03/30/2009
Can’t understand the difference between hashing and encryption?
When I first looked at encryption and hashing I found it to be the same. It was confusing. So...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 03/30/2009
Transaction Log Shipping Status Report for monitor server will not pull up information if alias is used for monitor server
While using Logshipping, if a servername for monitor is used which is other than the @@servername...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 03/26/2009
INFORMATIONAL: FULL TEXT SEARCH ENGINE & FULL TEXT INDEX POPULATION INTERNALS
Well I’ve looked around in our blog and it pained me to see there were no posts on Full Text Search;...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 03/24/2009
How to list all the installed SQL Server on the Server using TSQL
The SQL Server instances are independent and do not know each other. The method is to query the...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 03/20/2009
SQL Server 2005 Setup Failing to Install on Cluster when we use an underscore in the virtual cluster name
Setup is always known to have a mind of its own; this blog is meant to demystify this process. We...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 03/18/2009
What should we do when the sql server performance counters are missing
Performance Monitor Counters has always been the "Bread and Butter" for System Engineers and...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 03/17/2009
Unable to create Maintenance Plans or DBMail Fails after service pack/Hotfix is applied on SQL Server 2005 fail over cluster instance running on Windows 2008 cluster
We have seen a couple of cases, wherein we are unable to create maintenance plan or DBMail Fails...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 03/16/2009
BCP Field terminator character changing automatically
The Field Terminator specified in the BCP command changes to a different character than specified....
Author: sequelguy Date: 03/11/2009
HOW TO DETECT SQL SERVER INSTANCES / FEATURES INSTALLED ON A MACHINE
Have you ever wondered if there is a programmatic way to detect all the SQL server instances and...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 03/07/2009
HOW TO MANAGE SQL SERVER 2000 Services USING WMI
There are quite a few blog posts out there to manage SQL Server 2005 services using the...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 03/06/2009
Default database role members are not scripted when we use the "Generate Script Wizard"
The default database role members are not scripted when we use the "Generate Script Wizard" Cause...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 03/04/2009
SQL SERVER 2000 CLUSTER FAILS TO COME ONLINE ON CLUSTER AFTER APPLYING SECURITY PATCH oN WINDOWS SERVER
We have observed a number of cases where Sql Server resource fails to come online on Windows 2000...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 03/02/2009
Error:The connection does not support enlisting in distributed transaction.
When we use the Microsoft OLEDB provider for DB2 from the Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 03/01/2009
Part – 2 : SQL Server 2005 Patch Fails to install with an error "Unable to install Windows Installer MSP file"
Environment : è Windows Server 2003 SP2 x64 è SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition SP2 x86 Build...
Author: sequelguy Date: 02/27/2009
How to backup SQL Server databases to a mapped drive
While taking backups for SQL Server databases onto a mapped drive you might get the following error:...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 02/27/2009
Sql Server Resource Fails to come online on Cluster with Error Error Locating Server/Instance Specified [xFFFFFFFF]
As mentioned in my previous posts if the sql server fails to come online we need to start...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 02/23/2009
HOW TO CREATE A BASIC CLR FUNCTION TO EXECUTE AS A SP IN SQL SERVER
The objective of this article is to help understand and create a CLR function to be executed as an...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 02/20/2009
How to change the collation of all the existing objects at once inside a database after upgrading to SQL 2005?
Consider the following the scenario Scenario : SQL Server 2000...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 02/20/2009
FAILED TO DROP Full TEXT Catalog ON A DATABASE after upgrading to sql server 2005
Consider the following scenario where you upgraded a database from sql server 2000 to sql server...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 02/19/2009
Cumulative update 10 fails to install on sql server 2005 sp2 WITH operating system error 3
While applying Cumulative Update 10 on a sql server 2005 SP2, the update may fail to install after...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 02/18/2009
SQL SERVER 2005 INSTANCE FAILING TO INSTALL AFTER TRYING TO REINSTALL WITH ERROR 1603
Many times we need to reinstall a sql server instance due to number of reason. Whenever you...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 02/11/2009
How to reapply SQL 2000 SP4 to update all the 13 scripts
Due to any issue, you may want to rerun SQL 2000 SP4 upgrade. SQL 2000 Service Packs are cumulative....
Author: sequelguy Date: 01/30/2009
Part – 1 : SQL Server 2005 Patch Fails to install with an error "Unable to install Windows Installer MSP file"
We have seen several issues where installation of Service Pack/Hotfix/GDR/CU fails to install on one...
Author: sequelguy Date: 01/30/2009
Queries May Appear to Run Slow on SQL SERVER COMPACT EDITION v3.1 Database
While running your application on SQL CE v3.1 databases you may observe slowness in the performance...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 01/18/2009
SQL SERVER 2005 RESOURCE FAILS TO COME ONLINE ON CLUSTER AFTER CHANGING THE SAN DRIVE TO ADD MORE DISK SPACE
We have observed a number of issue now where in clustered instance of sql server 2005 fails to come...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 01/13/2009
DTS PACKAGE THAT EXPORTS RESULTS TO EXISTING EXCEL WORKBOOK APPENDS THE DATA INSTEAD OF OVERWRITING
We have observed a common issue which is faced by many of our customers who export the result...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 01/12/2009
SQL SERVER 2000 CLuster FAILS TO COME ONLINE ON OTHER NODE
Recently I encountered a case wherein clustered instance of sql server 2000 fails to come online on...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 01/11/2009
SQL SERVER 2005 SP3 Install Fails with Error 1612: Unable to install Windows Installer MSP file
I've seen a couple issues where SQL 2005 SP3 setup failed with below error for database engine and...
Author: Parikshit Savjani Date: 01/09/2009
Issue with constraints on the subscriber in Merge Replication
We have configured Merge replication in SQL Server and we have the replicated constraint's name on...
Author: sequelguy Date: 01/05/2009
Why Do I see more threads per SPID in sysprocesses than MAXDOP?
Most of the Customers using sql server 2000,2005 and 2008 have this doubt in their mind when using...
Author: sequelguy Date: 01/05/2009
Log Reader Agent Fails with the Error “The Log Reader Agent failed to construct a replicated command from log sequence number (LSN)”
Recently we encountered a case where in the Log Reader Agent fails to run and the following error is...
Author: sequelguy Date: 12/30/2008