Max degree of parallelism is an advanced configuration option in SQL Server about which many question have been asked and much written. In this blog entry I hope to offer some insight and certainty as to what this option does and how it should be used...

SQL Server Reporting Services: How to do an aggregate, SUM(Field), and display it as a % of the total for a Table or Matrix column To do this we have to take advantage of the fact that the SUM function, and indeed all aggregate functions, have an optional...

You’ve been really proud of your nice new multi processor box, its got eight processors and some serious grunt. Everyone has been really pleased with the system’s lightening responsiveness and the big boss thinks you’re a super computer guru – looks like...

I’ve been asked many times if Microsoft provide a tool for converting legacy Crystal Reports to SQL Server Reporting Services. The answer is no. However I do know someone who does. Hitachi Consulting has an RDL generator that will generate RDL from...

Seen this? You’ve got a nice new sparkling multi processor box, packed with ‘go-faster’ chips but the performance isn’t much better than your old one or two processor box. You take a look at the processor usage, either through task manager or Performance...

Cool new OVER Clause (Transact-SQL) in SQL Server 2005 to circumvent the not so efficient correlated subquery. Imagine a table: create table grades( StudentID int not null ,StudentName varchar(10) not null ,Subject varchar(10) not null ,Score int...

Reposted 10/1/06 to include in 'free tools' category I'm constantly asked "what's Microsoft doing about metadata and do we have a solution." In the old days (SQl 2000 and 7), Microsoft provided Meta Data Services, a platform designed to help tools...

SQL Server has long been criticised for not having an UPSERT command, well now in SQL 2005 we have some good news, we have two new TSQL set operators that give us the complex insert/update logic that constitute an UPSERT. These are INTERSECT and EXCEPT...

After some positive comments arising from my High Availability post I’ve decided to Blog on DR earlier than I had intended. I hadn’t intended to blog on DR for a while because it’s a difficult subject and I was hoping it might get easier if I left it...

After my recent SQL 2k5 BI session, here at TVP Reading, I had an enquiry asking for more info regarding the SAP provider I showed in the list of providers available to SQL Server Integration Services . The best public information I can find is @ http...

Edited 20/9/05 to correct typos As Paul Flessner says in his letter http://www.microsoft.com/sql/2005/productinfo/letter.mspx Database Mirroring won't make it in the RTM (Release To Manufacturing) release for SQL 2005. It will be there for people to...

I guess now the pressure is off to release the product we'll see more useful samples comming out of corp; here's a link to the latest December update: http://msdn.microsoft.com/sql/downloads/samples/default.aspx

Overview The Feature Pack is a collection of standalone install packages that provide additional value for SQL Server 2005. It includes: Latest versions of redistributable components for SQL Server 2005 Latest versions of add-on providers...

New SQL Server 2005 Technical Overview blogcasts from the States Demo 1-1 Using Object Explorer http://www.microsoft.com/winme/0509/25037/SQL-01_Demo1.asx Demo 2-1 Using Queries and Scripts http://www.microsoft.com/winme/0509/25037/SQL-01_Demo2-1.asx...

Sometimes I hear the comment that someone can’t get their application to scale above 50 – 100 users; above a certain number of users there is a sudden ceiling in scalability. So often I have found this to be a problem with nothing more than SQL Server...

These courses rarely come to Europe - so if you're interested be quick! From the blurb:- We would like to invite you to attend the upcoming SAP Customer Workshop about How Microsoft Runs SAP. The same session will be held in Munich on February 7...

Following on from a presentation 'First Look at SQL Server Integeration Services' to some MVPs here at TVP Reading, I am responding to the a question I was asked, 'how does SQL Server's fuzzy logic work'. I was meant to explain how the confidence and...

I'm grateful to Chris Hayes for this top tip. Reporting Services doesn't like you using data fields in its headers and footers - here are two ways to work around the problem Add a parameter to the report without a prompt (so the user doesn’t...

Many things have changed with SQL 2005, correspondingly we have to change the way we think about troubleshooting performance problems. The most significant change is the advent of the new Dynamic Management Views (DMV), these are going to take some getting...

Edited 21st Sept 05 to include picture of herbarium sheet. In my article 'Business Intelligence (BI): The way it is without the blah blah' , I mention that I was aware of some exiting research using the SQL Server OLAP engine, the results of which...

At a recent Technet presentation, someone came up to me and asked me if I could post my Fuzzy Logic sample package to my Blog. I confess I haven't got round to wrapping it all up, but now it looks like I'm off the hook as one has been supplied with the...

Okay so these tools aren ' t totally free but I didn ' t really have anywhere else to categorise them. Anyway I ' m sure I ' ve seen advertisements that boast "you can get a ‘free’ toy with every packet of some breakfast cereal". Well these tools are...

Here's a little self publicity for gig I'll be doing in December: To register please go to https://msevents-eu.microsoft.com/cui/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-GB&eventid=118761637 05 December 2005 18:30 - 05 December 2005 21:00 (GMT) GMT, London...

It is with sadness that I have to announce that I am changing jobs and moving back into my old role as a Product Specialist, working with our Enterprise customers in a pre-sales capacity. Alas, I won’t have as much time to blog now, but I’ll do my best...

We’ve all been waiting a long time for SQL Server 20005 and not everyone has been able to get the betas to get an early look. Well now anyone can get their hands on the beta 2 of SQL Server 2005 Express edition. The Express edition, what’s that? We never...