I've submitted a couple of sessions for SQLBits IV 

You can see the sessions that have been submitted so far by going here -Submitted Sessions

---

-

Source Click Here.

I've just release a new version of Internals Viewer available here.

This release has a few bug fixes in it and also the Decode and Find tool window has been added, which I'll explain below.

I've also created some documentation on the CodePlex site. It covers the basic functionality of the add-in as is available here.

The Decode and Find window was available in Version 1 of Internals Viewer. It allows a value to be encoded to a particular type and then searched for in the Page Viewer.

To open it click the icon on the Page Viewer toolbar button:

It will also give a breakdown of how certain types are structured, for example smalldatetime:

In this version it's an SSMS tool window, so it can be docked or tabbed, just like the Find and Replace window.

In the latest release the Decode and Find window will automatically link to the active Page Viewer window, and can also be used if no Page Viewer is active.

Source Click Here.

When I was a lad and starting out in work an learning about servers and disks I was told of large corporations that regularly replaced storage drives to mitigate against failures.

They would start after x years of buying new storage and start replacing drives. They would, by the time they reached 3 or 4 years have replaced all the drives and be looking to cycle through again.

Things have moved on greatly since I heard this story and wondered if anyone does this, given the proliferation of SANs and often the complete replacement culture I've seen in many places.

The other thing I often find in small places is the lack of spare drives being used in RAID arrays. Whilst I can understand that if, you have spare drives somewhere close, you actively monitor the drives. However in the event of a failure over the weekend a spare can save you in the even you are running a less resilient RAID array or are unlucky.

Do people think that with RAID 10 that the likelihood of getting 2 drive failures in the same mirrored pair is really rare and so don't need spares.

I've created a quick survey if you would like to participate. Its only got two questions so should take you less time that it has for you to read this post.

 

If the survey doesn't appear above Click Here to take survey Cheers

 

---

-

Source Click Here.

Pop quiz.

Your database is in bulk logged mode. You do a transaction log backup.

Can you restore the log to a point in time between the main backup and the log backup?

Scroll down for the answer

 

 

 

Answer:  It depends

If you don't have any bulk logged operations then you can however the second you have a bulk logged operation you are stuffed, and you have to restore the whole log. So if someone has put a little SELECT INTO statement of a SSIS package that does BULK insert you won't be able to do point in time recovery.

So the lesson learnt is, only switch to BULK logged mode when you don't want to do point in time recovery.

 

---

-

Source Click Here.

set nocount on select space ( 7 - len ( replicate ( char ( 42 ), no )))+ replicate ( char ( 42 ), no * 2 - 1 ) from ( select top 5 row_number () over ( order by name ) as no from sysobjects ) as t union all select space ( 5 )+ replicate ( char ( 124 ), 3 ) union all select cast ( 0x4861707079204E65772059656172 as varchar ( 100 ))...(read more)

Source Click Here.

Yeah I know it's a silly title but I decided to up my testing by mirroring the database that I populate, that way I can create havoc on two servers at the same time and get a feel for how mirroring might be of use to me in the future, or not. One slight struggle was that I didn't really have enough SQL 2005 enterprise class servers to use, in this instance I couldn't see any value in using a collection of PC's and/or laptops, so all the Servers are pretty hefty x64 boxes. What did...(read more)

Source Click Here.

As a slightly seasonal touch of lightness I though I'd just do a comparison of DAS and SAN storage Item DAS SAN Basic Storage Cost Good Hideously expensive Ease of Use Simple How many storage engineers and system administrators does it take to change a lun ? Performance Monitoring Easy Almost Impossible Ability to modify configuration Easy Most " automatic/dynamic " so largely not. Actual Performance Predictable Who knows Expandability Pretty simple Expensive e.g. how much for a tray of disks ??...(read more)

Source Click Here.