Anitha Ramakrishnan's technical weblog

List of resources for SQL Server

anitha ramakrishnan — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 04:49:38 +0000

Every now and then I come across resources that I either chance upon or hear from an expert in the SQL Server community and turn out to be extremely helpful in giving me ideas that I can implement and improve processes/technology and resolving problems I face.
I compiled a list of links that I check regularly.
1. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/data_otaku/
2. http://www.tpc.org/default.asp
3. http://monitor.red-gate.com/
4. http://ola.hallengren.com/

This blog would not be complete without links that are intended for fun:
1. http://thedailywtf.com/
2. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci942103,00.html

Tagged: SQL Server resources

Enforcing database security

anitha ramakrishnan — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 03:59:59 +0000

At the monthly North Texas SQL Server user group meetup in June, Bryan C Smith gave us a gripping presentation on best practices that can be applied to SQL Server databases and database applications.It was so fascinating I could not wait to get back and implement them on our servers. Coincidentally, the very next morning, I chanced upon a SQL Server error log with these messages:
2011-05-31 18:41:37.35 Logon Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8. 2011-05-31 18:41:37.35 Logon Login failed for user 'sa'. Reason: Password did not match that for the login provided. [CLIENT: XX.XXX.XX.XX] 2011-05-31 18:41:37.63 Logon Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8. 2011-05-31 18:41:37.63 Logon Login failed for user 'sa'. Reason: Password did not match that for the login provided. [CLIENT: XX.XXX.XX.XX]

I immediately grew suspicious because I use Windows authentication to login, although the server allows mixed mode of authentication. Bryan pointed out , during the presentation , that if you must use SQL authentication:

I disabled the ‘sa’ account. Please make sure you create a user account that has equal privileges as the ‘sa’ account prior to disabling the ‘sa’ account. I was determined to ward off any more threats to this server. I changed login auditing to audit both failed and successful logins. Interestingly enough, the error log soon shows persistent activity on the server
2011-06-12 05:02:39.92 Logon Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 5. 2011-06-12 05:02:39.92 Logon Login failed for user 'sa1'. Reason: Could not find a login matching the name provided. [CLIENT: XXX.XXX.XX.XX] 2011-06-12 05:02:39.95 Logon Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 5. 2011-06-12 05:02:39.95 Logon Login failed for user 'sa2'. Reason: Could not find a login matching the name provided. [CLIENT: XXX.XXX.XX.XX] ... 2011-06-12 05:08:19.67 Logon Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 8. 2011-06-12 05:08:19.67 Logon Login failed for user 'sa'. Reason: Password did not match that for the login provided. [CLIENT: XX.XXX.XX.XXX] 2011-06-12 05:10:14.41 Logon Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 5. 2011-06-12 05:10:14.41 Logon Login failed for user 'sa2'. Reason: Could not find a login matching the name provided. [CLIENT: XXX.XXX.XX.XX] 2011-06-12 05:10:14.41 Logon Error: 18456, Severity: 14, State: 5. 2011-06-12 05:10:14.41 Logon Login failed for user 'sa2'. Reason: Could not find a login matching the name provided. [CLIENT: XXX.XXX.XX.XX]

Time stamp of each record indicates brute force by automated bots. It was time to take further action.Bryan Smith to the rescue. I implemented another best practice in his list which states

When I changed the default port number and restarted SQL Server, it made a huge impact. The error log has not once logged the sa login activity with the 18456 error number.
I did not save the world. This is just a stepping stone into the world of application protection and security. Nonetheless, I am a happy camper.

Filed under: Security, SQL Server Tagged: best practices, security, sql server

Database Monitoring tool : Ignite8

anitha ramakrishnan — Mon, 30 May 2011 07:30:15 +0000

I have been evaluating database monitoring for a couple of months now. When the Spotlight tool from Quest stopped functioning one morning, with the error that the license had expired, I grabbed the opportunity to widen my search for a tool that I could compare and contrast with Spotlight. I had heard about Ignite Free at the SQL Saturday event this year and decide to give them a try. I was soon sent a trial key for Ignite 8 a month and I was impressed very much by the access to wait stats and the trend reports for the last hour, the last 24 hour, the last week and so on. I liked the fact that I did not have to install this tool on the server I was going to monitor. It had a web interface which meant I could open one browser tab for Ignite while also accessing other browser tabs . The tech team was kind enough to walk-through of the tool adding elaborate details and guiding me through the each step in options and schedules and alerts.
The wait stats provided descriptive explanation to each of the wait stats for the queries. This was my first experience at performance tuning with help from reports on top wait stats for single SQL query and typical day of wait.

The tool explains if a developer should take action for a poor query performance or if a database administrator should look into why the query is using up a particular resource. The current/trend reports displays memory paging rates, disk queue lengths, CPU usage, I/O physical read and write rates. Alerts can be set for locking problems and sent via email.
The interface was very user friendly for a novice like myself. The price was , unfortunately, a bit too much to be considered for purchase this year. Hopefully things will change next year. The tool. Or me.

Filed under: Database monitoring, SQL Server Tagged: database monitoring, Ignite database monitoring tool, Ignite for SQL Server

Operational monitoring and diagnostics tool for SQL Server

anitha ramakrishnan — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:21:12 +0000

I received a free license from Quest software to install their diagnostics tool called Spotlight on SQL Enterprise.

In the above image, the tool is connected to another machine that runs SQL Server, from the machine it was installed on. It can monitor resource contention, overhead and performance on multiple machines. The visual representation makes it easier to understand the activities and issues quickly. In addition to SQL Server, the tool also tracks OS health. The Spotlight report viewer displays graphical representation of the database growth, deadlock list, server alarm report, SQL Server or OS health report, depending on a date range selected by the user. I look forward to using the wait-stat analysis and adding my reviews on it.

Filed under: SQL Server Tagged: diagnostics, performance monitoring, SQL Server 2008

SSMS add-in called SSMS Tools Pack

anitha ramakrishnan — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 06:48:56 +0000

I watch the MidnightDBA(blog | twitter) show Friday nights and I want to take this opportunity to thank them for providing the directions and guidance on database development and administration, on the show and at the user group meetings.

In one of their shows, they mentioned an add-in for SSMS called SSMS Tools Pack and that it is free. I have been using it ever since I first heard about it that night, and it has proved to be very handy and anyone I show it to, wants to try it too. My favorite things in the SSMS tool pack are
1.The snippets options which helps ease redundancy in writing repeated CRUD statements.

2. This option has saved me lots of time while deploying SQL scripts.

3. I find it useful to test my scripts on the development database and the QA database.

4. I have been developing my own custom scripts to administer SQL Server 2008 databases in development and QA.

Thanks Mladen Prajdić for building SSMS Tools Pack and sharing it with us.

Tagged: SQL Server 2008, SSMS Tools Pack

Creating reports using Report Builder 2.0

anitha ramakrishnan — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 05:54:59 +0000

Finally, my attempt at Report Builder 2.0 was successful. The reports Builder utility to build reports using Chart and Table controls has a lot of potential in the future.
The Report Builder wizard tries to connect to the ReportServer setup using Reporting Services Configuration tool.

The wizard then gives you the option to connect to a data source. I have a shared data source built earlier that I want to use in this report.

Next, the wizard brings up the option to either select tables/views/storedprocedures. I select the “Edit as Text” option, so I can use custom queries for my reports.

After selecting how the columns will be grouped and arranged in the report, the report will presented to you in Design mode. One of the properties in the report noteworthy is the AutoRefresh property , which allows you to set how often you want to refresh the report.

The report can be deployed to the ReportServer using the File->Save As option.

Filed under: SQL Server, SQL Server Reporting Services Tagged: Report Builder 2.0, SQL Server 2008

Improving the visibility of the website

anitha ramakrishnan — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 04:04:14 +0000

Maintaining a website requires not just designing and developing web pages , but making it available to a broader audience. Gaining feedback anytime surpasses a popularity contest win. Comments, likes, dislikes inspires the blogger to outdo themselves and get stronger in providing a better user experience.
http://vodpod.com/watch/5220572-improving-the-visibility-of-websites

SQLSaturday Dallas 2011

anitha ramakrishnan — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 03:23:27 +0000

I just registered for the SQLServer community’s most coveted event in Dallas that is scheduled for April 2 2011.
Here’s the link to the site : http://www.sqlsaturday.com/63/eventhome.aspx
Last year’s event was truly educational and fun. The organizing team did an excellent job and so did the volunteers. There was a wide range of topics and was sufficiently broad to cater to all levels of the database professional community.

Add a new column to an Excel worksheet using Excel VBA

anitha ramakrishnan — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 05:25:53 +0000

My latest challenge was to import csv files to SQL Server 2008. The input file was not completely formatted in a way that the SQL Server would recognize. So, I decided to add an additional column to the Excel file as an intermediary process which would help the import process easily transfer data from the csv file into the database. As part of the excel VBA application I was building, I first calculated the last column and the last row in the active worksheet. And then looped through the rows in the column to fill them with values.
Workbooks.Open (SourcefilePath) 'open the selected file For Each wsSheet In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets wsSheet.Activate 'activate the worksheet isSheetEmpty = Application.WorksheetFunction.CountA(wsSheet.Cells) = 0 If isSheetEmpty >= 0 Then 'if the sheet does not contain text, ignore the sheet and skip to the next sheet
lastColumn = FindLastColumn 'call to the function that returns the last column value lastRow = FindLastRow
Dim i As Integer Dim r As Integer r = lastColumn + 1 For i = r To r For j = 2 To lastRow Cells(j, r) = wsSheet.Name Next Next Next wsSheet
Function FindLastColumn() As Integer 'courtesy of http://www.ozgrid.com/VBA/ExcelRanges.htm 'returns the integer value of the last column used in the worksheet If WorksheetFunction.CountA(wsSheet.Cells) > 0 Then 'Search for any entry, by searching backwards by Columns. lastColumn = Cells.Find(What:="*", After:=[A1], _ SearchOrder:=xlByColumns, _ SearchDirection:=xlPrevious).Column End If FindLastColumn = lastColumn End Function
Function FindLastRow() As Integer 'returns the integer value of the last row used in the worksheet If WorksheetFunction.CountA(wsSheet.Cells) > 0 Then 'Search for any entry, by searching backwards by Rows. lastRow = Cells.Find(What:="*", After:=[A1], _ SearchOrder:=xlByRows, _ SearchDirection:=xlPrevious).Row End If FindLastRow = lastRow End Function

String Concatenation in T-SQL

anitha ramakrishnan — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:13:31 +0000

My task was to concatenate all the tags (descriptions) attached to a particular item on a single row, when grouped by the item. The item list table has a list of items. The Item_Tag_Map table maps each tag to an item. The tag list contains a list of all tags.

SELECT [ItemId]
, STUFF ((
SELECT ‘, ‘ + tgl.TagName
FROM Item_Tag_Map itm
join TagList tgl on tgl.TagID = btm.TagID
WHERE (ItemID = ItemList.ItemID)
FOR XML PATH (”)
), 1, 1, ”) AS ‘Tags’
FROM [ItemList]

The result of this query look like this
ItemID Tags
———————
1 Laptops, Desktops, Netbooks, PDA
2 Desktops, Netbooks
3 Laptops, PDA
4 NULL
5 PDA