There's Something about SQL! : Various

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

beatrice — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:53:00 GMT

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-

Madagascar - We need your Help!

beatrice — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:42:00 GMT

I don't often blog about our team initiatives, but here's one which is very important and we need the most help with.

It's like that famous slogan... "every little helps" ;-)

Local Software Engineer to race through tropical rainforest on a bicycle

15 PFEs of Microsoft are pedalling a massive 420km across Madagascar to raise funds for the charity Computer Aid International by participating in the Madagascar Cycle Challenge (27th September – 5th October).

The grueling bike ride will take them across one of the most ecologically rich and unique countries on the planet, racing on tarmac roads and dusty red-earth off road trails. Far away from the modern comforts of daily life, this will be an unforgettable experience, which is also helping Computer Aid International deliver refurbished computers to schools in the area.

Madagascar is the 4th largest island in the world, located in the Indian Ocean, 400km west of Mozambique on the coast of Africa. Famous for its evergreen rainforests, Madagascar has a diverse animal, plant and aquatic life, said to rival the Amazon in its diversity.

During the 5 day cycle challenge the 15 will take time out to visit a rural school in the village of Isaingy, where Microsoft engineers are helping to deploy 10 computers donated by the Digital Pipeline, a charity which champions the refurbishment and redeployment of donated PCs to serve the educational needs of communities in the developing world.

The Microsoft team’s goal is to raise over £40,000 (€50,000) in sponsorship monies; enough to fully equip 15 schools in Madagascar with a purpose built Computer Lab.

To help this initiative you can refer to:

http://www.justgiving.com/msmadagascar

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Self-Service Hotfixes

beatrice — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:03:00 GMT

Microsoft has recently introduced a new process to receive Hotfixes which I thought useful for everybody to know about.

Up to now, customers had to call CSS to obtain any of these fixes, while Premier customers were already able to download them through the Microsoft Premier Online (MPO) system.

From now on, all customers are able to download Hotfixes directly from the Microsoft site. For each KB article describing the Hotfix, you will see a new link at the top of the window which allows you to view and request the fix.

Bob Ward (a SQL Server Senior Escalation Engineer at Microsoft) just posted about this new system, and you can find more details at: http://blogs.msdn.com/psssql/archive/2008/04/25/sql-server-2005-sp3-and-self-service-hotfixes.aspx

As Bob underlines "We've just made these changes so there are more tweaks to this system. For example, not every individual hotfix article has this new link and there may be some issues with localized languages".

- Beatrice Nicolini -

Microsoft Product Support Lifecycle and SQL Server

beatrice — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 12:44:00 GMT

Understand Microsoft Support Lifecycle is essential to minimize the risk of security exploits or loss of support.

Some resources you might find useful to understand it better are:

1 .http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/ (to understand the general rules on which the Lifecycle is based on)

If you want things to be easier, just go to

2.1 http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifesupsps (to understand the lifecycle of supported Service Packs) or to:

2.2 http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifeselect (it allows you to Select a product family to view support lifecycle information for products in that family)

Things to remember:

Product Support Lifecycle lasts generally 10 years (5 years of Mainstream + 5 Years of Extended). For products that are annually released, Mainstream Support lasts 3 years.
The differences between the 2 phases are highlighted in the following table:

Both the Mainstream Support and Extended Support phases require the product’s supported service pack be installed to continue to receive support (including security updates).
Service Pack support ends either 12 months after the next service pack releases or at the end of the product's support lifecycle, whichever comes first.

SQL Server Support Lifecycle Highlights:

SQL Server MSDE users using Windows Vista are encouraged to Upgrade to SLQ Express (View)
SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 3a Mainstream Support will Expire on the 10th July, 2007
SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 0 Mainstream Support will Expire on the 10th July, 2007

There's Something About... Books on Line (BOL)

beatrice — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 12:29:00 GMT

A really interesting article I've found this week is called "Carpe Datum", and it talks about the SQL Server Books on Line.

Buck Woody, a Technical Writer in the SQL Product Group, gives ourselves an overview of how the BOL are created and answers to a lot of questions I've always had in my mind.

SQL Server BOL current version (which have over 58,000 pages of content) is refreshed several times a year, an the author himself suggest to constantly download the latest version.

At http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/results.aspx?pocId=E49D77BF-D5AE-4EC6-9DFA-D7A19DBA995E&freetext=Books%20Online&DisplayLang=en you'll find the complete list of BOL related to SQL Server.

And if you find any mistake, or just want to give your feedback, hit the “feedback” button on the web or in the local help client... or just post a comment on Buck's blog :) !

Preparing for DST changes in 2007

beatrice — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 15:20:00 GMT

In August of 2005 the United States Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which changes the dates of both the start and end of daylight saving time (DST) from 2007.

While the change in daylight saving time applies to U.S. and Canada, it may have an impact also on customers who interact or integrate with systems that are based in North America or rely on such date/time for calculations.
Windows Client, windows Server, Windows Mobile, Sharepoint Services, Exchange Server and Office Outlook are some of the Microsoft Products which will be affected by the DTS changes.

Updates to these products are being developed and tested. Depending on the particular product or scenario, these updates will be released through Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS), Hotfixes incorporated in Knowledge Base articles, Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), and the Microsoft Download Center.

What you can do in the meanwhile to prepare your business for the change:

1. Check the Microsoft site: Preparing for daylight saving time changes in 2007

2. Participate on Microsoft Support WebCast: Deploying Microsoft Windows 2000 updates for daylight saving time changes for worldwide use, which is specifically focused on Microsoft Windows 2000. It talks about the registry changes and the time zones that are being updated. This WebCast also tells how to confirm that the updates have been applied, and then provides information about testing and rollback procedure.