Kevin Remde's IT Pro Weblog
Yep… I haven’t been blogging much lately. But I’m still here.
“What’s up, Kevin?”
Well… last weekend after celebrating Thanksgiving here with my in-laws, I and the whole family flew out to San Francisco to celebrate my brother Carl’s wedding. He married a lovely woman (Danielle) and we couldn’t be more happy for the two of them. The picture above is me with my wife and kids, along with Carl and Danielle. And we all enjoyed the long weekend doing the usual touristy things around San Francisco.
See?
And this week I’m currently in Des Moines doing a TechNet Event for the folks here.
So that answers one of your questions. The other question is:
“Kevin… what’s going on with the graphics on your blog? The pictures are not showing up!”
Yeah.. well… the site I'm using to host my images has had some difficulties lately. So please be patient… hopefully the pictures will be back soon. OR I’ll have to find a different location for the photos. (I’d use MSN Spaces, but I don’t like the manual upload and then linking to them in the blog post. I really LOVE how BlogJet just automatically connects to an FTP server and uploads them for me.)
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 037
This question was asked at our event TODAY in Des Moines, IA.
“Can the SQL Server 2005 Database Engine Tuning Advisor (DTA) aslo tune databses running on SQL 2000?”
Short answer. YES!
And in fact, something I didn’t mention at the event, but is also quite useful in the new tool; the new Database Engine Tuning Advisor (DTA) can also tune against MULTPLE databases at a time. So you’re not limited to, oh, ONE database as you were in the SQL 2000 version of the tool (Index Tuning Wizard).
Here’s a screenshot I saved that shows I’ve connected to that SQL 2000 instance, and have even selected multiple databases to tune.
(click it to see the enlarged screen capture)
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Got an IT question? Give me a comment, or contact me.
If you haven’t seen this yet, you really need to. It’s fantastic!
And if you don’t speak Korean, it’s okay. The text of the video is printed below the video.
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 036
Credit for this one goes to Chris Avis, who had this asked of him in an event recently…
“With ‘instant file initialization’, what is it really doing?”
Here’s a document that describes it well.
From the document:
In SQL Server 2005, data files can be initialized instantaneously. This allows for fast execution of the previously mentioned file operations. Instant file initialization reclaims used disk space without filling that space with zeros. Instead, disk content is overwritten as new data is written to the files. Log files cannot be initialized instantaneously.
Interestingly – Instant File Initialization requires that the SQL Server 2005 be running on either Windows XP or Windows Server 2003.
Here is a “best of” Q&A from our webcast we did today on an overview of DNS. This was part 8 of the 12 part Windows Server 2003 Administration series I delivered earlier this year.
BIG THANKS to Mr. Bryan von Axelson for helping out as our sole Q&A person today. As you see below, he did a great job of finding answers to some tough questions.
Additional resources for this session are also available HERE.
“Mr Remde did the win 2003 server series few months ago, is this the same series or material??”
Same part #8 session, only longer! I was unable to get through the 3rd demo when I only had an hour for that content last time. This time you got the full session in all of its glory!
“Can you refer me to the past webcasts on shadow copy and ASR?”
Yes indeed. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/events/windows2003srv/tnt4-04-links-7.mspx
“Will Kevin discuss the scenarios where reverse lookup zones are required?”
We didn’t really address that in the session, but here is some information on DNS Reverse Lookup that might help - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/ServerHelp/edf68cca-86f1-4b89-8e44-79f768963e95.mspx
“So does it do the same thing without recursion checked or does it directly go to the root servers?”
Without recursion checked it will NOT go to the root servers. It will also not use any configured forwarders.
Here’s a really good troubleshooting document:http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/ServerHelp/e42d510a-443d-4c31-96da-f66a67a89d86.mspx
“Why is the _msdcs zone delegated to the same DNS server in Server 2003?”
This Microsoft-specific sub-domain allows location of domain controllers that have Windows Server 2003–specific roles in the domain, as well as the location by globally unique identifier (GUID) when a domain has been renamed. Check out - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/08eb226b-0192-4c05-b919-c9311bafae35.mspx
“Poll question states: ‘With recursion enabled, where does your local DNS server first look when it receives a query for an external URL?’. If recursion is not enabled will it go to the local cache or Internet root servers first?”
No - DNS process recursion can be enabled or disabled. - This means the processes of trying to satisfy a query is repeated until a solution is found. This is enabled by default causing DNS servers to contact other servers to resolve queries. If recursion is disabled, it will not look to the root servers or any external server or forwarder. It will only return results for what it knows and is locally authoritative for.
“I understand the functionality of the zone, but what doesn't make sense is that if you look under the contoso.com zone, you see that the _msdcs has been delegated, but the delegation is to a zone that exists on the same server, which is viewable just about the contoso.com zone in the GUI. Why is that done?”
This Microsoft-specific subdomain allows location of domain controllers that have Windows Server 2003–specific roles in the domain, as well as the location by globally unique identifier (GUID) when a domain has been renamed. - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/08eb226b-0192-4c05-b919-c9311bafae35.mspx
“Where was that datacenter photo taken! I've never seen such a thick mesh of cat5!!!”
Love it!
“Is there anyway to get the SOA serial number to follow the more conventional YYYYMMDDNN Year,Month,Day,Version numbering?”
I am not finding anything on making it more conventional - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/Operations/f800ced0-617e-4a20-a00e-9d44a4fad1ca.mspx
“Will secure updates work with non-windows workstation?”
Depends on the settings in the Access Control List (ACL). See http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/c4291308-ab72-49bb-88f6-4aa56fa21661.mspx
“If getting AD and DNS communication errors 4004 and 4015 on a reverse lookup zone, Ad is functioning correctly, can you force the removal of the zone in AD?”
I wasn’t able to find the answer to this. I did see several people online have asked the same question. If you are reading this and you’re the person who asked this, please email me directly, and I’ll see what more I can find for you. Or if someone else reading this wants to share their solution for this, please add a comment!
“When setting up a split DNS (local and Internet for the same name space), you set up the local DNS to forward but how do you answer ‘Do not use recursion for this domain’?”
I don’t think I understand this question. You’re setting up an internal DNS Server for your AD domain, maybe corp.contoso.com, where contoso.com is an externally known and managed DNS namespace. So internally on your DNS server you probably have it set up with a forwarder to some external DNS Server. Recursion shouldn’t be a problem, because queries that are internal will be resolved right away. All others will be sent to the forwarded DNS Server for that server to be responsible for finding an answer.
If I don’t get it, please comment or email me.
Cheers!
Yep… another day, another webcast!
I’m presenting this “TechNet Webcast: Technical Overview of DNS in Windows Server 2003” today.
Here are some resources relating to this session’s topic. I hope you find them useful, and that you are either joining me live for the webcast, or will be viewing it at some later date.
Kevin
“Deploying DNS”
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/all/deployguide/en-us/dnsbd_dns_overview.asp
“How DNS Works”http://www.microsoft.com/Resources/Documentation/windowsserv/2003/all/techref/en-us/w2k3tr_dns_how.asp
“How DNS Query Works”http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/sag_DNS_und_HowDnsWorks.asp
“DNS Domain Names”http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/sag_DNS_und_DomainNames.asp
“DNS Requirements for Installing Active Directory”http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/sag_dns_und_dcpromo_requirements.asp
“Understanding Zones and Zone Transfers”http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/sag_DNS_und_ZoneTransfers.asp
“Active Directory Integration”
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/sag_DNS_und_ActiveDirIntegration.asp
“DNS Overview – Server Features”
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/sag_DNS_ovr_ServerFeatures.asp
MSDN – Platform SDK – Active Directory Partitions
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/ad/ad/application_directory_partitions.asp
“Delegating Zones”
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/sag_DNS_imp_DelegatingZones.asp
“Dynamic Updates”
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/sag_DNS_und_DynamicUpdates.asp
“Understanding Aging and Scavenging”http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/enterprise/proddocs/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/windowsserv/2003/enterprise/proddocs/en-us/sag_DNS_und_AgingScavenging.asp
“Using Server Debug Logging Options”
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/sag_DNS_imp_UsingLoggingOptions.asp
Microsoft TechNethttp://www.microsoft.com/technet
Official Series Resource Pagehttp://www.microsoft.com/technet/tnt4–04
Free Windows Server 2003 Virtual Labs:http://www.microsoft.com/technet/traincert/virtuallab/windowsserver2003.mspx
Windows Server 2003 Evaluation kit:http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/trial/evalkit.mspx
Windows Server 2003 Training and Events:http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/training/default.mspx
New and improved Microsoft Events page:
http://www.microsoft.com/events
“Ever wanted to test Microsoft's newest software in a sandbox environment? Wouldn't it be great to be able to test new servers immediately, without formatting hard drives or dedicating one or more computers to the project? Now you can, with the TechNet Virtual Labs.”
For those of you not already aware of these, I wanted to bring them to your attention. And for you who have used them in the past, you might want to know that the address to get to them has changed. It is now http://www.microsoft.com/technet/virtuallab.
We have self-paced, fully installed labs in each of these eight areas:
Hmm… I haven’t worked with LCS yet and don’t know much about it. I’m gonna have to check that one out, too.
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 035
“What is the max number of filegroups supported as part of a single database?”
Well… it’s a nice big binary number: 111111111111111 (or 32,767 for you decimal lovers).
The answer is found here.
Earlier Today I delivered a webcast (content number ADD-03) on considerations for planning a complex AD design. I thought I’d post some of the Q&A here, and maybe expand on some of the answers also.
Thanks again to Blain Barton, Chris Avis, and Rob Westover, for helping out in a pinch to handle Q&A for all of us.
Also, if you’re interested, here is the Resource Document I put together for this webcast.
“Cross Forest GPO's, can I use local resources in forest #2 with a forest #1 GPO's? Should the users from forest #1 have ACL & Share permissions so they can access the resources instead of having them access the resources back on Forest #1 and across a WAN connection. Looking for some advice.”
Re: GPOs working cross-forest… this is not possible. Group Policy is defined in a domain, and is applicable to domain member machines and users at the site, domain, OU, or sub-OU levels. If you want Group Policy objects to exist or be applied in other forests, you can back them up from where they have been created and then IMPORT them into pre-existing or newly created Group Policy objects in the other forest.
As for your ACL question… well, that’s the beauty of Forest trusts. As long as Forest 2 trusts Forest 1, your users in Forest 1 can be granted access to resources in Forest 2.
I am not sure if that answers all of your question. If you have more, please contact me here or email me.
“I have a site without a DC. How can I force a client at that site to logon through a particular DC?”
If you have defined your site links properly, then the user should login using the path to the nearest (least cost path) DC. However, as one of my Q&A helpers pointed out, there are situations where you can, for example, tell Outlook to contact a particular GC…
“In some situations, you may notice excessive network traffic when Microsoft Outlook attempts to contact the global catalog server. This article describes how to configure Outlook to a specific global catalog server or to the closest global catalog server. Note If the global catalog server and the Exchange Server computer are in the same site as the Outlook client, you do not need to make this registry setting. The normal referral mechanism provides the best performance. Check out: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;319206”
“Do you recommend to create a site corresponding a VLAN where there is no DC at remote site for a group of 20 users (20 users have a different VLAN or network ID)?”
You should at least apply Global Catalog caching, but I would make every attempt to have a DC in each site - purely for authentication reasons. The latency caused by authentication traffic just becomes too burdensome.
“Is there a source for these numbers being presented?”
Check this blog entry for the resources supporting the numbers presented.
“Can you briefly explain what is a schema master? We have not run into any usage of that particular term. We run a single domain.”
The domain controller that holds the schema master role is the only domain controller that can perform write operations to the directory schema. Schema updates are replicated from the schema master to all other domain controllers in the forest.
“what happens when the needed bandwidth grows to exceed the allotted bandwidth”
Traffic slows down to levels below desired targets
“Which Performance monitors should i use to analyze AD replication traffic?”
Start Here --> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/technologies/activedirectory/maintain/opsguide/part1/adogd02.mspx
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 034
The following question was asked at a Recent “Best of SQL Server 2005 Launch” TechNet Event in Kansas City (Overland Park Kansas, actually. Had a lovely time there, thank you! …and although it was a bit of a dive, the Karaoke at the Red Balloon was a lot of fun!)
“DDL Triggers… Do you have to delete them to get rid of them? Can you simply disable and later re-enable them?”
Glad you asked, because I didn’t know, and now I do. Yes, that would certainly make sense. And indeed, it’s as simple as using the Transact SQL (T-SQL) commands DISABLE TRIGGER and ENABLE TRIGGER. Here’s some DDL Trigger sample code from the Books Online…
CREATE TRIGGER safety ON DATABASE FOR DROP_TABLE, ALTER_TABLE AS PRINT 'You must disable Trigger "safety" to drop or alter tables!' ROLLBACK;GODISABLE TRIGGER safety ON DATABASE;GOENABLE TRIGGER safety ON DATABASE;GO
The same holds true (though the syntax is different) for DML Triggers as well.
(NOTE: You’ll need to have SQL Server 2005 Books Online installed for the TRIGGER links above to work. I highly recommend it! It’s FREE!)
Resource Page for
TechNet Webcast: Successfully Implementing a Complex Active Directory Design (Level 200)
Here are some resources relating to the TechNet webcast topic presented on November 21, 2005. I hope you find them useful.
This session’s Content Resource Page
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/ADD-03
Planning and Implementing Federated Forests in Windows Server2003
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/technologies/activedirectory/fedffin2.mspx
Service Administrator Scopt of Authority
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/2f956712-68b6-48de-8d2f-d2e22dffbb44.mspx
Autonomy vs. Isolation
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/e638db7d-ae87-45b2-beba-ec5815876ca2.mspx
Determining the Number of Forests Required
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/0c1cfacb-ff12-466f-81c6-9d29c7c2c427.mspx
Forest Design Models
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/0e40afb5-4504-4990-b579-052abe6bc599.mspx
Mapping Design Requirements to Forest Design Models
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/056cc631-3c06-4f2a-842c-2a8dc49078ff.mspx
Reviewing the Domain Models
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/7928a6f2-3a50-4a4a-a349-ef8523798061.mspx
Windows 2000 Domain Architecture: Design Alternatives
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/technologies/activedirectory/plan/w2kdomar.mspx
Single Domain Model
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/0d2a5ac5-1b41-4b2f-8c02-ea9d2ee8e29f.mspx
Regional Domain Model
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/2b92c3d9-e89a-43c0-a10d-f5f134c9db03.mspx
Using the Organizational Domain Forest Model
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/782d4351-ba53-4576-9f8c-3d2b576816a3.mspx
Determining the Number of Domains Required
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/d390f147-22bc-4ce3-8967-e65d969bc40b.mspx
Overview of Designing a Site Topology
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/786fa311-b6ea-40c0-ad8d-8f09a441622e.mspx
Planning Forest Root Domain Controller Replacement
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/beb34f73-cf1a-4146-9497-2e54ec59e614.mspx
Planning Regional Domain Controller Replacement
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/05db0f72-0e18-453b-b294-49cfc8f9d6d2.mspx
Planning a Global Catalog Server Replacement
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/0e4d2466-68e8-40d8-8c72-099f8bc259ff.mspx
Planning Operations Master Role Replacement
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/edeba401-7f51-4717-91bd-ddb1dca8a327.mspxCreating a Site Design
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/072996eb-c3c8-4426-acc1-65cf8edb9fbe.mspx
Connecting Sites with Site Links
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/2048f9f3-f272-4fba-afbf-63bde19e1837.mspxDetermining the Cost
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/ac7aa369-16c4-49ab-b985-0225ae6261f8.mspx
Determining the Schedule
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/0af81e7f-7ab6-4099-8c02-0a4d59b0e755.mspx
Determining the Interval
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/4c9a255a-80bd-4fa5-bcc3-7019ab387faf.mspx
LIVE and IN PERSON TechNet Events
http://www.technetevents.com
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 033
“I heard somewhere that you now can replicate some table schema changes during replication. Is this true?”
Yes indeed! From the Books Online:…
If you make the following schema changes to a published article, they are propagated, by default, to Microsoft SQL Server Subscribers:
You can use replication stored procedures to specify whether these schema changes are replicated. The stored procedure that you use depends on the type of publication.
The full books online article is found HERE.
(NOTE: You’ll need to have SQL Server 2005 Books Online installed for that link to work. I highly recommend it! It’s FREE!)
I just now saw on Jeff Alexander’s blog that Virtual Server 2005 R2 has RTM’d (Released To Manufacturing). It’s shipped!
The announcement was made at IT Forum in Barcelona. Here’s the Press Release that followed this annoucement, and here’s the Virtual Server 2005 R2 web page.
Just one more reason, Nancy*, that we need to replace our home “server” with a 64 bit box.
* Nancy is my lovely wife as well as my better financial conscience.
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 032
“I want to program against and/or use table and database configuration information. Is there a way to access the metadata associated with those? Could I add my own metadata or comments into that area?”
This gentleman was looking for manipulating and using hidden information. He suggested that if it wasn’t available, it should be, perhaps in the form of a hidden column of data for each table.
I don’t know the answer to how programmable Metadata information is. (If someone else knows, please add it as a comment to this blog posting!)
However, you do have visibility to object metadata in SQL Server 2005 – although in fact, it’s much more tightly secured now. You won’t have the ability to access metadata about objects to which you haven’t been given permissions on.
For a description of Metadata Visibility, see the SQL Server 2005 Books Online “Metadata Visibility Configuration”
Today finds me sitting in a hotel room in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It’s getting cold outside, so sitting in here doing work in a quiet location is quite enjoyable. And as you see from the number of blog posts I’ve made today, I’ve been quite productive.
One of my tasks today was also to work on an RSS talk I’m going to give to anyone on my team who wants to listen. I volunteered to lead some informal internal training on the subject, since the multiple and powerful uses of RSS is a subject I’m passionate about.
In fact, check out what the weather is doing outside my hotel room now(click to enlarge).
In doing some research on blog reading tools options for my attendees, I did a search for “blog reader online”, and found this very useful list of Web-Based, PC-Based, and multi-platform news readers, complete with mini-summaries of each one. Thank you, Haiko Hebig!
Personally, I use SharpReader. I like being able to set up my subscriptions in a folder heirarchy that lets me view and work with either individual blogs or sources, or higher level folders (and all items contained within). I might start playing with Bloglines, though… or some other online reader, mainly because I would like to have the same list and view of read/unread items whether at my desk, on my mobile phone, or any other Internet-connected computer.
What do you use? How did you receive this post? And how are you reading it now – on the blog directly, or via some reader?
Yeah! I know a lot of people have been waiting for this.
(Not me, however.. I don’t yet have a Media Center. <sigh> They are so cool…)
Previously, if you wanted HDTV to play or be recorded through your Media Center, it had to come from an over-the-air HDTV broadcast.
Today, however, Microsoft and CableLabs have agreed to enable sending HDTV over the Cable to the PC… so future versions of Media Center PCs will be able to record High Def that comes in via Cable. Sweet!
“When are you gonna get YOUR Media Center, Kevin?”
Well… that was actually one of the hurdles I was waiting for them to overcome. Others are my kid’s braces, my kid’s college educations, a replacement TV for the TV we got as wedding gift 21 years ago (It’s as old as our marriage, and even more beat up!)… Oh… and a 64 Bit Server to support my home Exchange 12 installation… At this rate, I figure I’ll be able to buy a new family entertainment room setup probably sometime after 2017 and only slightly before the next ice age.
Do you own a Media Center? What do you think of this news?
I’ve posted the entire TechNet Webcast schedule, complete with breakdowns by topic or product/technology, as well as full descriptions, as an article HERE.
[Shameless Plug Alert]
Also, I’m delivering a couple of these. On December 20th I’ll be talking about using Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 for Active Directory manangement. And on December 21st I’m covering the Management and Administration of SQL Server 2005.
And on December 22nd I’ll be doin all of my Christmas shopping. Ho Ho Ho.
See you there!
Eileen Brown has posted on her weblog the news coming out of IT Forum this week that the next version of Microsoft Exchange Server – “Exchange 12” – will only be available for 64 bit platforms. (Yes, she said “only”.)
The official Press Release is here, outlining the 64–bit announcement as well as other great announcements that Bob Muglia made in his keynote speech.
Other of my team have blogged this, too:
Now… let’s discuss…
Here’s what I think, right now. I’m not sure. I'm still "on the fence" about how the public will react to this news. Yes, it's great for Enterprise customers. They will absolutely love it.
But small-to-mid-sized business is still quite skeptical about having to buy new hardware "just for the support of new software". In this case I wonder if we're not just encouraging the notion that Exchange 2003 is "good enough" for a long time to come.
What do you think?
The folks at AnandTech have posted their first looks at the XBOX 360 – from the INSIDE!
Yep. They tore apart one of these babies, and have posted a bunch of photos and discussion on the various innerworkings.
Makes for a fun, interesting, geeky read.
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 031
We got 31 flavors of tidbits for ya…
“I’d like some more information on the requirements for online defragmentation and indexing.”
Well, first of all… The new online index operations are only available in the Enterprise edition of SQL Server 2005.
The SQL Server 2005 Books Online has a great section on the requirments for performing Online Index Operations.
From the manual…(And if you have the books online already installed, clicking on this link will bring you right to the correct topic: ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v9/MS.SQLSVR.v9.en/udb9/html/d82942e0-4a86-4b34-a65f-9f143ebe85ce.htm)
When you perform online index operations, the following guidelines apply:
The following table shows the index operations that can be performed online and the indexes that are excluded from these online operations. Additional restrictions are also included….
See the books online for the table, plus some additional considerations of Disk Space, Performance, and Transaction Log loads.
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 030
30 tidbits. The bit “3 oh”. Our list is not a young list anymore.
This tidbit as a result of really good questions (aka questions I didn’t have a sufficient answer for or that I wanted to research more thoroughly) at our TechNet Events in Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tennessee. (Which reminds me… I had a great time down there! The people I met and worked with were so nice and friendly! Thanks for making this northern boy feel right at home!)
“You say that you can manage SQL Databases and even SQL 7 and SQL 2000 Servers with the SQL Server 2005 Management Studio. But what can’t you do to or with those databases or servers?”
Well… I have to correct myself on that one. At the time the plan was to be able to manage SQL 7 databases with the Management Studio. That changed before RTM. Currently only SQL 2000 and newer database servers can be managed using the Management Studio.
Note that this doesn’t mean you can’t still run SQL 7 and replicate or otherwise interact with your new 2005 databases.
That question is bigger than I can really address here… Your absolutely best source of answers to your specific questions of will-this-or-that-work-in-SQL-2005 is the books online.
“But Kevin… Don’t I need to buy SQL Server 2005 to get the books online?”
No! You can get a free, full, stand-alone downloadable and installable copy of the documentation! Click HERE for the download page.
beta
Yes indeed… your PC can be more secure and healthy.
The Windows Live Safety Center is a place where anyone can quickly tune up their PC. There are three “Service Centers” where you can
your PC. There is also an online community forming there as well.
NOTE: This is a service still in BETA, but it’s well worth your time to check it out.
SQL Server 2005 Tidbit 029
Another tidbit? It’s been awhile!
FAR too long. My apologies.
This tidbit is about a new flexible security feature in SQL Server 2005: SQL Server Agent Proxies.
In the past, if you wanted a job to have access to some secured subsystem, you had to basically give that job rights as the sa user, or some other account that you created specifically for all agent job steps. So the job had all-or-nothing access.
In SQL 2005, the SQL Server agent has access to some subsystems that it didn’t have access to before, such as SQL Server Integration Services, and Analysis Services.
But the big benefit in 2005 is that you can create or use Windows accounts or groups (but preferably accounts) that you specify, and then proxy those for the sake of agent jobs and those special protected tasks.
This question was asked recently of our team, and it was just interesting enough of a question to see if someone reading this blog might like to play with this scenario on their own.
Yes.. you are finally being encouraged to “try this at home”.
Here’s the question: Can you create a virtual machine Windows Server 2003 guest being hosted in a Windows XP Virtual PC installation, and make the host XP machine a member of a domain running on the Windows 2003 Server?
Hint: Some have suggested to use a loopback adapter installed on the XP machine as the common link between them… although I don’t see why the physical adapter on on the XP machine wouldn’t work just as well.
It was discussed by a few people who said it couldn’t be done, but I’m not so sure. And before I tried it I thought I’d toss it out here and see if someone wants to give it a whirl and share their experience with us.
Yes indeed… It has been announced that Windows AntiSpyware…
This is VERY good news. The AntiSpyware beta is being downloaded by 3 million new users per month… and has over 18 million active customers. It’s recieved great reviews, also. I’m using it as my only AntiSpyware at home, and that includes a family laptop that gets serious digital abuse by two teenage boys.