Strate SQL

Made it to PASS Summit Registration 11 Minutes Late

Jason — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:48:00 GMT

Well, I made it here to Seattle. Extremely late mind you.

I got to the airport with time to spare. And for a guy that missed a flight to Cancun once, that's always a great feat. I did manage to find a couple stow aways while heading to the gate.

Darryl the Digi-Gnome and SQL Fred will be traveling with me to the PASS Summit. The other guy isn't really SQL Fred - he doesn't have a name. He's just a replacement for another Digi-Gnome that jumped from a hotel balcony a while back on someone else's trip.

If you followed my Twitter at all today it should be evident that my flight was less that spectacular. The mechanics had an issue with the airplane that they attempt to fix. A latch wasn't latching properly. After the flight was officially delayed and it became clear that no end was insight they found a new plane for us to take. After finding out that the latch that wasn't latching was on a toilet I actually wanted a new plane.

The end result though is that I arrived in Seattle at 6 PM. I headed to the hotel and got in line behind someone that appeared to be arguing about a four dollar difference between the charge they were paying and the online booking charge they expected. Maybe I'm too passive but that would not have bothered me.

After waiting in line, dropping off my bag, and heading to the convention center the registration for the PASS Summit was closed. It was 7:11 PM and the stern guard said, Registration is closed, grr!" (Sad Face) She didn't actually growl but I think she wanted to.

So I walked back to the hotel (7 blocks, drr) and found out that Darryl was waiting for me. Yeah, he was eating my Skittles.

And SQL Fred had taken over the bed and the music player...

On the upside I am in Seattle and ready for tomorrow, minus the registration requirement. Hopefully I'll get to reconnect with some of the people I've met in the past year on some of my projects. And I better find something better to do after the conference tomorrow night than stop in McDonalds on my walk back to the hotel. Bleh!

Reposted from StrateSQL

Upgrading to SQL Server 2008

Jason — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:32:00 GMT

Check out Jason Massie's top 10 Reasons to Upgrade to SQL Server 2008. These are probably an instant classic.

Don't Forget To Vote

Jason — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:41:00 GMT

Voting in the Minnesota SQL Server Usergroup elections ends on November 17, 6 PM. Members that haven't voted yet should make it a priority. There are 6 people running for 5 board positions, they are:

Jason Strate (your truly)
Mark Vaillancourt
Dan English
Eric Strom
Thomas Walker
Aaron Drinkwine

Help set the direction for the user group for the next year.

Say what?! DB Pro 2008 installation didn't work?

Jason — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:40:00 GMT

I'm sitting around tonight trying to reverse engineer a database with Database Professional 2008 and I get this unexpected error. (they're all unexpected, aren't they)

---------------------------

Microsoft Visual Studio

---------------------------

Could not load file or assembly 'System.Data.SqlServerCe, Version=3.5.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

---------------------------

But since I didn't read the instructions I didn't know what the problem was. Fortunately I found the answer; which also mentioned reading Gert's blog.

Long story short I had to install Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 Service Pack 1 and Synchronization Services for ADO.NET version 1.0 Service Pack 1 for Windows Desktop.

PASS Next Week & Certifications

Jason — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:43:00 GMT

Are you going to be at PASS next week? You can follow my comments on twitter @h4ppyd4y.

If you are going to be there, are you taking any exams? PASS has a great special and discount for taking the exams. As of today the first 100 for free is still open. Get the details.

Also, PASS has it's own twitter @sqlpass and tag #pass.

Three Free Exam Vouchers

Jason — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:40:00 GMT

Hopefully that I got your attention!

Microsoft is offering three free exam vouchers for the first 3,000 people that take the 70-113 exam. This is theWindows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring exam.

Myself, I'm going to hit the books a bit and see how much I can learn on Active Directory in the next few weeks and maybe find out I am TS material here. Not likely, but I'll give it a go.

Keep in mind, this offer expires on Dec 17. So register before all of your buddies find out.

If anyone in the Twin Cities area is interested in forming a short lived study group on this, please let me know.

Heading out of Seattle (aka Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Database Development Certification)

Jason — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:20:00 GMT

I still have an hour and a half until I catch my flight out of Seattle. Me and the red-eye are sharing a journey tonight because I tend to fail at waking up for anything between 4 and 6 AM and I still want to have a Saturday. I'm just wrapping up my week after working on the upcoming 70-433 exam, Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Database Development. The preparation for the exam can be found at the Microsoft Learning site. This is the fourth exam I've worked on this year and I'm pretty excited about this test after the group that I worked with on it out here.

The only unfortunate thing that happend this week is that I wasn't able to join any of the session chats from the SSWUG SQL Server Virtual Conference. If you are reading this now and thinking that you missed out... you haven't. ALL of the events are still available online and on-demand. Go ahead register now and you can still get all of the content that was presented. Anyone with questions can feel free to send them over and I'll answer them back and post the questions online in an Q&A post for each of my sessions.

I'll also be posting each of the DMVs that I used in the DMV session with some expanded notes on each one. I'm just amazed some days at the information I am able to get at the tip of my fingers.

SQL Server Virtual Conference This Week - Nov 5, 6, and 7!

Jason — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:15:00 GMT

Online event this upcoming week...

SSWUG.org presents the SQL Server Virtual Conference Designed to bring useful technical sessions to your desktop along with the ability to interact with speakers and exhibitors in a lively forum where your questions will be answered during presentations or post-session.

Registration for the 3 day event is only $100, all inclusive.
vConference Alumni, those who have attended any prior SSWUG.ORG Virtual Conferences, save $10 on this and future conferences!
See what we're planning for the all new sessions. Click here.

We're excited to present our 3rd SQL Server Virtual Conference, held with the same successful approach as the previous SQL Server Virtual Conferences.

Here’s some of the great content we’re putting together for you

    * Be prepared for SQL Server 2008 and know why you should upgrade
    * Overcome SAN Technology challenges to make your disk systems faster
    * Learn about new T-SQL Enhancements
    * Dive into Merge and Transactional Replication
    * High Availability and how to achieve it
    * Outstanding Sponsorship Opportunities - Be a sponsor!

Our surveys reveal that 86% of attendees gained knowledge they could use immediately, and 86% said they would recommend a SSWUG.org Virtual Conference in the future.

Group registrations are also available at a discount. Get the group registration form here and contact Member Services at members@sswug.org for direct streaming options.

For a preview of this event, check out the following link from one of my sessions.

SQL Server 2008 Community Launch Event Tomorrow (10/24/2008)

Jason — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 20:17:00 GMT

Check out this event from SSWUG:

We're working to bring you real-world information about how to get started with SQL Server 2008, tips about new features and functionality and much more. Stephen Wynkoop, Chris Shaw, Jason Strate have joined together to present key sessions to get you started.

Introductory comments: Stephen Wynkoop. Find out about upcoming releases of SQL Server, how the release cycles work and other tidbits.

SQL Server 2008 Features Overview: Chris Shaw. In this session, find out about what features are coming, how they apply to your work and thoughts on the application of the new features.

What's New in SSIS 2008: Jason Strate. Learn about new features, functionality and tips for the new SQL Server Integration Services for SQL Server 2008.

Interview: Stephen Wynkoop, Jason Strate. Thoughts about features, functionality, what may be coming, implementation thoughts and more.

Closing Thoughts: Stephen Wynkoop. Some directions to go to start learning, finding out about more features, getting started with your own installation, test and use of SQL Server 2008.

This event is open to everyone at no cost.

Friday, October 24 2008, beginning at 9:00AM PST.

http://www.vconferenceonline.com/sswug/sqlf/sql2008.asp

Upgrade Issues When 'sa' Renamed

Jason — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:30:00 GMT

I've not done recommended changing the sa account name at a client for quite a while. Since the account can be disabled there isn't any good reason to rename it that I've been able to come up with.

But if you do and plan to upgrade to SQL Server 2008, beware of the following...

http://blogs.msdn.com/psssql/archive/2008/09/10/upgrade-for-sql-server-2008-can-fail-if-you-have-renamed-the-sa-account.aspx

SQL Server 2008 Certifications

Jason — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:17:00 GMT

The following SQL Server 2008 exams today:

070-432: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Installation and Maintenance (MCTS)
070-448: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Business Intelligence Development and Maintenance (MCTS)

Or maybe yesterday. But they are there now - test on!

Also, I got my results and passed 070-432 for the MCTS.

SQL Server 2008 Books Online Update

Jason — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:32:00 GMT

Microsoft has updated SQL Server 2008 Books Online. Keep up to date on the greatest story since SQL Server 2005 Books Online...

The SQL Server Experience

Jason — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:00:00 GMT

A whole big cut-n-paste:

Microsoft Announces SQL Server 2008 Experience
Microsoft continues the momentum of SQL Server 2008 with new resources for global customers and partners.
Editor’s note: the Web site referenced below will not be live until 8:00 a.m. PDT, Sept. 29.
REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 26, 2008
What: On Monday, Sept. 29, Microsoft is launching the SQL Server 2008 Experience online at http://www.SQLServerExperience.com. With more than 500 short videos in 11 different languages, the SQL Server 2008 Experience is a Web site that helps Microsoft’s global customers and partners learn more about SQL Server 2008, Microsoft’s recently released data management and business intelligence platform. SQL Server 2008 provides a trusted, productive and intelligent data platform for business-critical applications. The launch of the SQL Server 2008 Experience kicks off a worldwide readiness outreach that will reach over 350,000 customers, partners and community members through in-person events over the next year.
Visitors to the SQL Server 2008 Experience can expect the following:
•
Brief interviews with the SQL Server Engineering team, providing a behind-the-scenes view of the many technologies in SQL Server 2008
•
Guidance on a wide range of topics such as business intelligence, compliance, upgrades and application development, including videos from customers showing how SQL Server 2008 is helping them be more successful. Customers that will be featured include Xerox Corp., Baltika Breweries and DriveCam Inc.
•
Great deals on SQL Server 2008 books, courses and exams offered by Microsoft Learning
When: Sept. 29, 2008, at 8 a.m. PDT
Where: Online at http://www.SQLServerExperience.com
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.

Actually, the whole thing sound pretty compelling. Maybe I should keep score how many of the 500 clips I watch. Game on!

SQL Server 2008 Cumulative Update 1

Jason — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:45:00 GMT

If you hadn't heard the first cumulative update to SQL Server 2008 came out this week. Some of the items that were fixed seem to be a bit annoying:

FIX: When you query through a view that uses the ORDER BY clause in SQL Server 2008, the result is still returned in random order

Or down right painful

FIX: Cluster upgrade to SQL Server 2008 fails when SQL Server 2005 cluster nodes have different installed features

And some make me wonder what the person was working on

FIX: Error message when you run an INSERT statement in SQL Server: "Cannot insert an explicit value into a timestamp column"

If you hadn't heard, patching SQL Server 2008 is new and difference as well. Bob Ward at Microsoft put together a post that outlines the changes to patching SQL Server 2008.

Remove All Non-Numeric Characters From A String

Jason — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:48:00 GMT

I completely lack creativity today but thought this link on removing non-numeric characters was kind of cool.

Oh... Also... I am a big fan of Captain Varchar(MAX) and the Pagelatch Posse. The greatest thing about the cartoons is that the more you know about SQL the funnier they are. The TRY/CATCH in politics is pretty funny as well... even though I don't quite agree.

•	Brief interviews with the SQL Server Engineering team, providing a behind-the-scenes view of the many technologies in SQL Server 2008
•	Guidance on a wide range of topics such as business intelligence, compliance, upgrades and application development, including videos from customers showing how SQL Server 2008 is helping them be more successful. Customers that will be featured include Xerox Corp., Baltika Breweries and DriveCam Inc.
•	Great deals on SQL Server 2008 books, courses and exams offered by Microsoft Learning