There's Something about SQL!

SQL Server Support, Failover Clustering and Virtualization

2009-05-22T12:47:00Z

On May 19th, Microsoft has updated the Support Policy for Microsoft SQL Server products that are running in a hardware virtualization environment, which you can find at the following link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956893/en-us

The main update is related to guest failover clustering, therefore when you create a SQL Server failover cluster inside a virtual machine where the nodes are running as a virtual machine.

In particular:

Guest Failover Clustering is supported for SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 in a virtual machine for Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, and SVVP certified configurations provided both of the following requirements are met:

The Operating System running in the virtual machine (the “Guest Operating System”) is Windows Server 2008 or higher

The virtualization environment meets the requirements of Windows 2008 Failover Clustering as documented at The Microsoft Support Policy for Windows Server 2008 Failover Clusters, as documented in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
943984 The Microsoft Support Policy for Windows Server 2008 Failover Clusters

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Whitepaper - Disk Partition Alignment Best Practices for SQL Server

2009-05-20T10:09:00Z

I've blogged some time ago about Microsoft recommendations for maximizing the performances of your disks subsystem for a SQL Server implementation:

SQL Server - Speed up your Disks!

http://blogs.technet.com/beatrice/archive/2008/06/09/sql-server-speed-up-your-disks.aspx

Collection of SQL Server Storage Best Practices

http://blogs.technet.com/beatrice/archive/2008/04/07/collection-of-sql-server-storage-best-practices.aspx

Finally there's available directly from the SQL CAT Team a new whitepaper stating which are the Microsoft guidelines concerning disk partition alignment.

"Disk partition alignment is a powerful tool for improving SQL Server performance. Configuring optimal disk performance is often viewed as much art as science. A best practice that is essential yet often overlooked is disk partition alignment. Windows Server 2008 attempts to align new partitions out-of-the-box, yet disk partition alignment remains a relevant technology for partitions created on prior versions of Windows.

This paper documents performance for aligned and nonaligned storage and why nonaligned partitions can negatively impact I/O performance; it explains disk partition alignment for storage configured on Windows Server 2003, including analysis, diagnosis, and remediation; and it describes how Windows Server 2008 attempts to remedy challenges related to partition alignment for new partitions yet does not correct the configuration of preexisting partitions.

The following topics are also included: background information, implementation, vendor considerations, two essential correlations, valid starting partition offsets, and the simple protocol to align partitions, define file allocation unit size, and assign drive letters. It includes results from tests that show how partition alignment can affect performance for SQL Server 2008"

You can find it here:

http://sqlcat.com/whitepapers/archive/2009/05/11/disk-partition-alignment-best-practices-for-sql-server.aspx

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Old MPS Reports Dismissed - New Version Ready!

2009-05-19T10:17:00Z

A new version of MPS Reports has been released late April, at the following link:

Microsoft Product Support Reports

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=CEBF3C7C-7CA5-408F-88B7-F9C79B7306C0&displaylang=en

Amongst the main differences:

With the new MPS reports, there is only one download, based on your system architecture (x86 or x64).
The supported Operating Systems for the new tool are Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
There are some prerequisites for running the new tool:

Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
Windows Powershell 1.0
Windows Installer 3.1
Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0

For specific information for running the new version, you can refer to this article form the

Ask The Performance Team:

Two Minute Drill: The New MPS Reports

http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2009/05/01/two-minute-drill-the-new-mps-reports.aspx

If instead you prefer the old school way, and still like to run the old versions, refer to Tristank blog:

Old MPSReports

http://blogs.technet.com/tristank/archive/2009/05/12/old-mpsreports.aspx

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Troubleshooting Performance Problems in SQL Server 2008

2009-04-15T09:50:00Z

A new great whitepaper to bookmark amongst your favourites:

Troubleshooting Performance Problems in SQL Server 2008

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd672789.aspx

This documentation provides step-by-step guidelines for diagnosing and troubleshooting common performance problems by using publicly available tools such as:

SQL Server Profiler
System Monitor (in the Windows Server 2003 operating system) or Performance Monitor (in the Windows Vista operating system and Windows Server 2008), also known as Perfmon
Dynamic management views (sometimes referred to as DMVs)
SQL Server Extended Events (Extended Events) and the data collector, which are new in SQL Server 2008.

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Download SQL Server 2008 SP1

2009-04-11T11:11:00Z

SQL Server 2008 SP1 final version has been released.

It contains all the announced great new features that we were all looking forward to, especially the slipstream and uninstall ones, which could save a lot of time (and headhackes) at installation time.

So just to recap, new features are:

Slipstream - You are now able to integrate the base installation with service packs (or Hotfixes) and install in a single step.
Service Pack Uninstall - You are now able to uninstall only the Service Pack (without removing the whole instance)
Report Builder 2.0 Click Once capability

A very good read to have before installing, is an article from CSS SQl Server Engineer which clears up a lot of questions which you might already have in your mind:

SQL Server 2008 SP1 and Cumulative Updates Explained.....

http://blogs.msdn.com/psssql/archive/2009/04/09/sql-server-2008-sp1-and-cumulative-updates-explained.aspx

SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is now available at the following URL : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=66ab3dbb-bf3e-4f46-9559-ccc6a4f9dc19

Enjoy!

- Beatrice Nicolini -

I' back to Italy... and I'm loving IT!

2009-04-11T10:53:00Z

Well well, long time without posting once again.

This time I have a good enough reason… which is my relocation back to… La Dolce Vita.

Yes, exactly, I am back in Italy, back to Milan, back to the place I grown up and where I have all of my family!

Working in Microsoft UK has been an amazing professional and personal experience. Great work, great people… not such a great weather :-) … but now I have a new brilliant challenge to start and I am very looking forward to it!

So you guess, I haven't left the family. I am still working in Microsoft, same role as a SQL server Premier Field Engineer. Just a bit more of sun, of good food and red wine.

Blogging is going on, hopefully with more and more posting … so stay tuned!

-Beatrice Nicolini-

SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) CTP

2009-02-24T13:16:00Z

Just woke up ready to celebrate my birthday (do not try to ask a woman how old she is :-P) and discovered the CTP version of SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is now available. Hum, well, I will check it out but definitely not today I am afraid as I have other plans in mind... :-)!

With this release, there are significant investments to ease deployment and management of Service Packs:

Slipstream - You are now able to integrate the base installation with service packs (or Hotfixes) and install in a single step.
Service Pack Uninstall - You are now able to uninstall only the Service Pack (without removing the whole instance)
Report Builder 2.0 Click Once capability

To download please refer to: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6f26fc45-f0ca-49cf-a6ee-840c7e8bb8af&displaylang=en

Additional info: Microsoft SQL Server Release Services - http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlreleaseservices/archive/2009/02/23/sql-server-2008-service-pack-1-sp1-ctp.aspx

- Beatrice Nicolini -

SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 is not successfully updated when you try to install or to uninstall a security update

2009-02-19T13:50:00Z

If you recently found yourself in installing latest SQL Server 2005 Security Update (you did installed it right?):

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-004 – Important

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS09-004.mspx

..and had a look to the known issues page...

You might have had a heart attack (as I did at first) in seeing the following:

SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 is not successfully updated when you try to install or to uninstall a security update

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957008

"When you try to install a security update for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is not successfully updated. This issue occurs because the rollback process for the security updates incorrectly removes the SQL Server 2005 service accounts from the respective local SQL Server service groups. "

You can guess my reaction when immediately I thought: "oh my, so not just this but all previous SQL Server 2005 SP2 Security Updates which I've applied were not successful" :-S!!!

Ok now, did I scare you off? :-)

You can just relax as the title and the description are a bit misleading. Nothing too bad out there (and in fact, title and description are in the process of being updated...)

This issue triggers if and only if for any reason the rollback process is started.

If the build was installed successfully without a rollback (which you can check by verifying the build number), then the security update was installed correctly.

If you check at the end of the process your instance build number (anyway, it is best practice to do so :)) and it matches the Security Update build number - then you are safe.

- Beatrice Nicolini -

DBCC DBREINDEX (aka INDEX REBUILD in 2005) and Statistics Update

2009-02-13T20:09:00Z

So - today I've been made this question.

"I have a DB, AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS option OFF (very bad idea, anyway :-)), I rebuild my indexes every week. I do not have major changes in my database. As update statistics with fullscan is a side effect of DBCC DBREINDEX (aka INDEX REBUILD in 2005), can I say all my statistics are fine and up to date?"

Well... No :-(

In fact, statistics created from DBCC DBREINDEX (aka INDEX REBUILD in 2005) are only statistics over indexed columns. Statistics over non-indexed column (the ones named something like _WA_sys) are not managed from these operations. Therefore, if you want these to be up to date you need to turn AUTO_UPDATE_SATTISTICS ON or to schedule their management in other way.

More info can be found at:

Is statistics over non-indexed columns updated by index rebuild?

http://sqlblog.com/blogs/tibor_karaszi/archive/2007/08/09/is-statistics-over-non-indexed-columns-updated-by-index-rebuild.aspx

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-004 – Important

2009-02-11T13:30:00Z

For your joy (and especially for the joy of my customer :)) yesterday Microsoft has released a new Security Bulletin for SQL Server:

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-004 – Important

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS09-004.mspx

This update is marked as important, which stands for: “A vulnerability whose exploitation could result in compromise of the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of users data, or of the integrity or availability of processing resources”.

Systems with SQL Server 7.0 Service Pack 4, SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3, and SQL Server 2008 are not affected by this issue.

This update will take your implementations at the following build levels:

- SQL 2005 SP2: 3077 (GDR) or 3310 (QFE).

Please note the security update is not included in CU11, which is on build 3301.

Next cumulative update for SQL Server 2005 (ie, CU 12 ETA mid Feb) will include this GDR.

- SQL Server 2000 SP4: 2282 (QFE).

For future reference, The Severity Rating System defines the following levels for vulnerabilities:

Rating	Definition
Critical	A vulnerability whose exploitation could allow the propagation of an Internet worm without user action.
Important	A vulnerability whose exploitation could result in compromise of the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of users data, or of the integrity or availability of processing resources.
Moderate	Exploitability is mitigated to a significant degree by factors such as default configuration, auditing, or difficulty of exploitation.
Low	A vulnerability whose exploitation is extremely difficult, or whose impact is minimal.

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Best Practices for installing SQL Server service packs, hotfixes, cumulative updates

2009-02-10T12:15:00Z

There isn't much information around (other than the readme for service packs) on which are the best practices on installing Service Packs, Cumulative Updates, Hotfixes on SQL Server installation.

...well till today really :-)

This is nothing official from Microsoft but still the following are the best practices recommended from my PFE colleague Uttam (which has kindly agreed for me to copy in my blog without any copyright request :) - Txs Uttam) .

Best practices for installing service packs, cumulative updates and hotfixes for SQL Server

Test on a test/dev SQL Server first and only after you have confirmed that all applications are working as expected then install it on a production SQL Server.
Review the Readme for Service Pack/cumulative update/hotfix. Any concerns/recommendations will be found in the readme.
Run DBCC CHECKDB on ALL databases (user and system databases) and ensure that there were no errors reported.
Backup ALL databases (user and system databases) and full-text catalogs (if applicable). This is NOT required but highly recommended.
Stop Monitoring and Anti-virus services
Make sure you have the proper permissions to install (administrative privilege on server/cluster node)
The below points are for clustered SQL Server instance

Make sure ALL SQL resources come online on ALL cluster nodes
Make sure that ALL disk resources (even the ones that not being used by SQL Server) are online and not in failed state.
Verify that there are no dependencies other than those created by the SQL Server setup on any SQL Server cluster resources.
Run MPSRPT_SQL.exe on all cluster nodes (not required but recommended)
Make sure all remote desktop connections are closed. You can connect to the node (you are running the setup from) using remote desktop connections but you should disconnect any remote connections to other cluster nodes.

- Beatrice Nicolini & the real contributor :-) - Uttam Parui -

W-Tech 2009 - London, 3rd February 2009!

2009-01-28T18:52:00Z

Next week I am going to present at this year's W-Tech event, which is due to be in London next week, at the Savoy Place.

I am already working an my slide deck, and the title myself and my colleagues from Microsoft have been given is pretty exciting:

Having fun and being a technical professional

"Can working as a female technical professional be challenging and fun? Come and meet some of Microsoft's female engineers and hear about how they are climbing the career ladder working in an exciting, dynamic and diverse working environment"

If you are a woman (sorry, men not allowed for once :)) and you are interested in starting\going back to a career in IT, you should not miss this event!

More info:

Abstract:

BCS and womenintechnology are bringing women, whatever stage of their career, including those looking to get their career back on track, and employers together for the premier networking event of 2009.

Meet with some of the smartest IT professionals, the biggest recruiters in IT, attend career development workshops, revamp and submit your cv, prepare yourself for that next interview or promotion.

This is a fantastic opportunity to hear from high profile women in the industry already succeeding and achieving, you could be one of them?

Agenda:

http://www.wtech-event.co.uk/eventproa.php

More Info:

http://www.wtech-event.co.uk/

Registration:

https://forms.bcs.org/w-tech/prog/index.php

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Are you based in Manchester? Two upcoming FREE SQL events for your agenda!

2009-01-22T14:02:00Z

If you are based in Manchester or nearby, there are two interesting FREE SQL Server events planned in town!

5th February: UK SQL Server Usergroup

Agenda has still to be confirmed, and will be posted here: http://www.sqlserverfaq.com/events/147/Manchester-SQL-User-Group-Meeting.aspx

28th March: SQL Bits IV

Agenda (once again) has still to be confirmed, but keep the website monitored for all upcoming news:

http://sqlbits.com/

Both cases - remember to register as soon as possible! Places are limited.

- Beatrice Nicolini -

FREE e-book: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008

2009-01-15T16:13:00Z

A great opportunity to download (for FREE :-))

Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008

by Peter DeBetta, Greg Low, and Mark Whitehorn

Learn about major new features in SQL Server 2008 including security, administration, and performance.

Chapter 1: Security and Administration

Chapter 2: Performance

Chapter 3: Type System

Chapter 4: Programmability

Chapter 5: Storage

Chapter 6: Enhancements for High Availability

Chapter 7: Business Intelligence Enhancements

All you need is to sign in with your passport account, download and enjoy!

Link is: http://csna01.libredigital.com/?urss1q2we6

- Beatrice Nicolini -

How To - Proactively Know Upcoming SQL Server CUs and SPs

2009-01-13T18:44:00Z

Umh, it has been a long time since my last post. I must admit, I've had brilliant holidays (relax and skiing) followed by a very bad flue, which summed up with all the XMas parties of 2008 makes 3 weeks without any post on my professional blog :-).

Well, if anybody out there had missed me, here I am back on track :-P

So - just a tip for today.

A RSS feed you should consider subscribing to if you want to be always up to date with the upcoming SQL Service Pack or Cumulative Updates.

All you have to do is go to

Microsoft SQL Server Release Services

and subscribe!

Enjoy!

- Beatrice Nicolini -