April 2008 - Posts

• (local) Times out in SQL Server 2005

  Embarrassingly enough, since SQL Server 2005 came out, I've made myself get in the habit of typing localhost instead of (local) because (local) seemed to time out on my laptop. I never really cared enough to research why localhost worked for my server name but (local) did not. In SQL Server 2000, I had written tons of DTS packages to communicate to (local) and once converted, they timed out for some mysterious reason. Well finally curiosity took me and I did some research.  It turns out (as many of you already know) that localhost uses the TCP/IP protocol to communicate with SQL Server and (local) communicates over Named Pipes. This is not really a big deal until SQL Server 2005. In SQL Server 2005, Microsoft changed the behavior of the instance of SQL Server to not listen to Named Pipes by default. Thus, causing your SSIS or DTS packages to now time out. You can turn this on quickly in the SQL Server Configuration Manager as shown below. Simply flick the Disabled text to Enabled and you're ready to roll! It will require a stop and start of the SQL Server instance after enabling.   Brian Knight Posted Apr 25 2008, 11:28 PM by Brian Knight with 2 comment(s) Filed under: SSIS

• MVP Summit Event Party Video of Bayer White

  I just got back from the annual MVP summit and had a great time in Seattle. One item that I'd love to share that should be under NDA was the party :). At the party, they had a large karaoke rock band setup. Connected Systems MVP and friend Bayer White got up and sang a good southern song, "Gimmie Three Steps". There's a quick video recorded on the cell phone below. Sorry for the poor quality. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf9_1nNXn1w Posted Apr 20 2008, 04:22 PM by Brian Knight with no comments

• SQL Saturday Rapidly Approaching

  SQL Saturday Jacksonville is only a month away on 5/3 at UNF! We’d like to spend a moment of your time asking for your help promoting this free event. It’s not often that Jacksonville gets an event this size dedicated to SQL Server. So far, we have about 175 attendees and it’s growing every day. Please help us fill the seats by sending this email to your friends or co-workers or blog about it. The complete schedule is now posted here: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/schedule.aspx and registration and lunch are free on the http://www.sqlsaturday.com website. In addition to 36 sessions and 28 speakers, we have hundreds of prizes to giveaway throughout the day and some great networking opportunities.   If you’re coming in from out of town, Our primary hotel for the event will the Embassy Suites Jacksonville. Call the hotel directly to register and ask for the event rate of $89/night (includes Internet access), it will be under Pragmatic Works, or if you register online use group code PGW. If you have problems getting a room please email webmaster@sqlsaturday.com. Want to go all out and really make a weekend of it? JSSUG is also sponsoring a one day Performance Tuning Seminar on May 2nd by well known SQL Server trainer Andy Warren for only $99. If you're looking for more than just simple tips, this is the seminar for you! Find out indexes really work, how to parameterize and reuse plans correctly, identify missing and under used indexes, and more. Posted Apr 02 2008, 11:06 AM by Brian Knight with no comments

• New Laptops with Solid State Drives

  For a geek, nothing brings back that feeling that we had when we were 7 years old running out of our rooms on Christmas day to see what Santa brought much like getting a new PC or laptop. Recently I purchased a Latitude D830 from Dell. The laptop is normal enough but the main difference is the hard drive. I splurged this time and purchased the solid state drive (SSD) upgrade, which caps out now at 64 GB. For those new to SDD, it's essentially a hard drive technology with no moving parts and resembles a flash drive that you use in your camera. Because it has no moving parts, it's strangely quiet and the battery lasts an amazing 6-8 hours. Most importantly, it's fast. Boot times are about 4-8 seconds once you see the Windows logo. Applications like Outlook and Excel open in about 1.5 seconds. For a DBA, queries that used to take 30 seconds on my old laptop, now take 5 seconds. According to manufactors, you should see about 150% boost on write performance. I'm seeing this easily so far. With every pro there is a con. With SDD technology, it's new and expensive. The upgrade retailed at $800, although it was heavily discounted. The most you can order presently is 64 GB, which for a developer with virtual pc's may be tough. This technology is getting cheaper fast though and larger drives are coming. Samsung just announced a 300 GB drive to be released (at about a $2,000 price tag recently). The drive size is my biggest gripe so far but it's easily upgradable later.  I've been so spoiled by the new drive technology that I'll find it hard to buy anything else than a laptop with SDD.  Brian Knight   Posted Apr 02 2008, 11:05 AM by Brian Knight with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Solid State Drives