Introduction
A couple of years a go I wrote an article about monitoring the version store. With SQL Server 2017 a new DMV has been added to make this easier.
Continue reading
Introduction
Whilst reading Itzik Ben Gan’s excellent book on T-SQL I came across the COMPRESS and DECOMPRESS functions. These could be quite useful for some situations that I have, so decided to have a closer look. Continue reading
Background
I know, I know – I should be using Extended Events instead of Profiler, but I still have a soft spot for Profiler. Profiler is deprecated and in theory could vanish with little warning – it certainly isn’t having the enhancements that Extended Events is getting.
One of these enhancements has just arrived in SSMS 17.3 and has provided further temptation to abandon Profiler – an easy to launch XEvent Profiler interface, with basic functionality. Continue reading
Background
In the past I’ve used the ‘add existing package’ option, when opening an existing SSIS package within SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT). That was before the appearance of the SSISDB and the Integration Services Catalog. This option doesn’t work, when your dtsx package is within the SSISDB and the solution for this is quite simple – just not where I had been looking. Continue reading
Introduction
SQL 2016 has introduced support for JSON data. The nature of JSON data means that an indexing strategy isn’t as obvious. This article details my initial work, testing various methods for accessing the JSON data. Continue reading
Background
Recently I had to write an SSIS package that would import a series of csv files that had different numbers of columns within them. One file might have 15 columns, another 17 and another have something different again. Continue reading
This article first appeared on SQL Server Central on 30 Dec 2015.
Frequently there are questions relating to transactions posted on various forums and although the questions show a basic misunderstanding of this aspect of SQL Server, sometimes the answers show some misunderstanding also.
I initially started an article about nested transactions, because that is one of the areas that appear to cause the most confusion (and I wanted to make sure I understood it too). However, in looking into this I have also investigated other areas related to explicit transactions where I believe some simple examples could help to clarify.
This article will look at the various properties and usage of explicit transactions, as well as some behaviours that are frequently misunderstood.
Continue reading
Background
In a previous article I showed how to detect if Instant File Initialization (IFI) has been set.
If IFI isn’t set and is required then the following steps are needed (this example uses Server 2012 R2).
![[url=http://www.cartoonbucket.com/cartoons/road-runner-teasing-wile-e-coyote/][img]http://www.cartoonbucket.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Road-Runner-Teasing-Wile-E.Coyote-600x489.jpg[/img][/url]](https://sqlrambling.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/road-runner-teasing-wile-e-coyote.jpg?w=900)
Background
When SQL Server extends data or log files it fills the newly-acquired space with zeroes, to overwrite any data that may have been there beforehand. This action takes place when a database is created, restored, files are extended or added.
This can take a long time, depending upon the amount of space being initialised. This is one good reason for sizing your file requirements accurately and choosing when to make any extensions, rather than having the system perform them when the system is probably busy and holding up any number of processes.
Recently I’ve been making a lot of use of the OUTPUT option for insert and update actions. From this work I’ve already posted about the behaviour of IDENTITY and suchlike.
Now I have looked at the behaviour of OUTPUT within the MERGE command.
Continue reading
Notes on SQL 