Category: MS SQL 2012

There’s no significance to this one being number one 🙂 its just the one I’ve just been thinking about 🙂 I may now have built this up a bit more than is warranted, so hope your not expecting too much from my number one performance rule. Oh, Ok then, here goes …

“All numbers in stored-procedures should be in single quotes”.

Even if they are defined as INT they could potentially force a VARCHAR to be converted to INT.

Consider WHERE SomeColumn = 42. Conversion precedency means VARCHAR’s will always be converted to INT’s never the other way around. The one numeric value above (42) could cause a million rows in the column (“SomeColumn”) to have to be converted to INT to be tested. Significantly affecting performance.

Consider WHERE SomeColumn = ’42’. “SomeColumn” is either numeric or non-numeric. If its INT then just one value (the ’42’ in the where clause) has to be converted to INT (taking no time at all). If “SomeColumn” is VARCHAR then there is no conversion.

Based on the work of GS, here is my script to create a Job that collects wait stats every 15 minutes.

--CreateJob_DBA_CollectWaitStats.sql

USE [msdb]
GO

IF  EXISTS (SELECT job_id FROM msdb.dbo.sysjobs_view WHERE name = N'DBA_CollectWaitStats')
EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_delete_job @job_name=N'DBA_CollectWaitStats', @delete_unused_schedule=1
GO

USE [msdb]
GO

BEGIN TRANSACTION
DECLARE @ReturnCode INT
SELECT @ReturnCode = 0
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT name FROM msdb.dbo.syscategories WHERE name=N'Database Maintenance' AND category_class=1)
BEGIN
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_category @class=N'JOB', @type=N'LOCAL', @name=N'Database Maintenance'
IF (@@ERROR  0 OR @ReturnCode  0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
END

declare 
	@today varchar(50) = (select convert(varchar, getdate(), 112)),
	@nextweek varchar(50) = (select convert(varchar, getdate()+8, 112)),
	@dbname varchar(50) = 'master' --<<<<<>>>>>>>>

DECLARE @jobId BINARY(16)
EXEC @ReturnCode =  msdb.dbo.sp_add_job @job_name=N'DBA_CollectWaitStats', 
		@enabled=1, 
		@notify_level_eventlog=0, 
		@notify_level_email=0, 
		@notify_level_netsend=0, 
		@notify_level_page=0, 
		@delete_level=0, 
		@description=N'Collects wait stats for performance tuning.', 
		@category_name=N'Database Maintenance', 
		@owner_login_name=N'sa', @job_id = @jobId OUTPUT
IF (@@ERROR  0 OR @ReturnCode  0) GOTO QuitWithRollback

EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobstep @job_id=@jobId, @step_name=N'Create the table', 
		@step_id=1, 
		@cmdexec_success_code=0, 
		@on_success_action=3, 
		@on_success_step_id=0, 
		@on_fail_action=3, 
		@on_fail_step_id=0, 
		@retry_attempts=0, 
		@retry_interval=0, 
		@os_run_priority=0, @subsystem=N'TSQL', 
		@command=N'create table [dbo].[WaitStats] 
(
	WaitType nvarchar(60) not null,
	NumberOfWaits bigint not null,
	SignalWaitTime bigint not null,
	ResourceWaitTime bigint not null,
	SampleTime datetime not null
)', 
		@database_name=@dbname, 
		@flags=0
IF (@@ERROR  0 OR @ReturnCode  0) GOTO QuitWithRollback

EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobstep @job_id=@jobId, @step_name=N'Collect current waits', 
		@step_id=2, 
		@cmdexec_success_code=0, 
		@on_success_action=1, 
		@on_success_step_id=0, 
		@on_fail_action=2, 
		@on_fail_step_id=0, 
		@retry_attempts=0, 
		@retry_interval=0, 
		@os_run_priority=0, @subsystem=N'TSQL', 
		@command=N'INSERT INTO [dbo].[WaitStats]
SELECT  wait_type as WaitType,
        waiting_tasks_count AS NumberOfWaits,
        signal_wait_time_ms AS SignalWaitTime,
        wait_time_ms - signal_wait_time_ms AS ResourceWaitTime,
        GETDATE() AS SampleTime
FROM    sys.dm_os_wait_stats
WHERE [wait_type] NOT IN (
	N''BROKER_EVENTHANDLER'', N''BROKER_RECEIVE_WAITFOR'',
	N''BROKER_TASK_STOP'', N''BROKER_TO_FLUSH'',
	N''BROKER_TRANSMITTER'', N''CHECKPOINT_QUEUE'',
	N''CHKPT'', N''CLR_AUTO_EVENT'',
	N''CLR_MANUAL_EVENT'', N''CLR_SEMAPHORE'',
	N''DBMIRROR_DBM_EVENT'', N''DBMIRROR_EVENTS_QUEUE'',
	N''DBMIRROR_WORKER_QUEUE'', N''DBMIRRORING_CMD'',
	N''DIRTY_PAGE_POLL'', N''DISPATCHER_QUEUE_SEMAPHORE'',
	N''EXECSYNC'', N''FSAGENT'',
	N''FT_IFTS_SCHEDULER_IDLE_WAIT'', N''FT_IFTSHC_MUTEX'',
	N''HADR_CLUSAPI_CALL'', N''HADR_FILESTREAM_IOMGR_IOCOMPLETION'',
	N''HADR_LOGCAPTURE_WAIT'', N''HADR_NOTIFICATION_DEQUEUE'',
	N''HADR_TIMER_TASK'', N''HADR_WORK_QUEUE'',
	N''KSOURCE_WAKEUP'', N''LAZYWRITER_SLEEP'',
	N''LOGMGR_QUEUE'', N''MEMORY_ALLOCATION_EXT'',
	N''ONDEMAND_TASK_QUEUE'',
	N''PREEMPTIVE_XE_GETTARGETSTATE'',
	N''PWAIT_ALL_COMPONENTS_INITIALIZED'',
	N''PWAIT_DIRECTLOGCONSUMER_GETNEXT'',
	N''QDS_PERSIST_TASK_MAIN_LOOP_SLEEP'', N''QDS_ASYNC_QUEUE'',
	N''QDS_CLEANUP_STALE_QUERIES_TASK_MAIN_LOOP_SLEEP'',
	N''QDS_SHUTDOWN_QUEUE'',
	N''REQUEST_FOR_DEADLOCK_SEARCH'', N''RESOURCE_QUEUE'',
	N''SERVER_IDLE_CHECK'', N''SLEEP_BPOOL_FLUSH'',
	N''SLEEP_DBSTARTUP'', N''SLEEP_DCOMSTARTUP'',
	N''SLEEP_MASTERDBREADY'', N''SLEEP_MASTERMDREADY'',
	N''SLEEP_MASTERUPGRADED'', N''SLEEP_MSDBSTARTUP'',
	N''SLEEP_SYSTEMTASK'', N''SLEEP_TASK'',
	N''SLEEP_TEMPDBSTARTUP'', N''SNI_HTTP_ACCEPT'',
	N''SP_SERVER_DIAGNOSTICS_SLEEP'', N''SQLTRACE_BUFFER_FLUSH'',
	N''SQLTRACE_INCREMENTAL_FLUSH_SLEEP'',
	N''SQLTRACE_WAIT_ENTRIES'', N''WAIT_FOR_RESULTS'',
	N''WAITFOR'', N''WAITFOR_TASKSHUTDOWN'',
	N''WAIT_XTP_RECOVERY'',
	N''WAIT_XTP_HOST_WAIT'', N''WAIT_XTP_OFFLINE_CKPT_NEW_LOG'',
	N''WAIT_XTP_CKPT_CLOSE'', N''XE_DISPATCHER_JOIN'',
	N''XE_DISPATCHER_WAIT'', N''XE_TIMER_EVENT'')
AND	[waiting_tasks_count] > 0

', 
		@database_name=@dbname,
		@flags=0
IF (@@ERROR  0 OR @ReturnCode  0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_update_job @job_id = @jobId, @start_step_id = 1
IF (@@ERROR  0 OR @ReturnCode  0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobschedule @job_id=@jobId, @name=N'Every 15 mins for a week', 
		@enabled=1, 
		@freq_type=4, 
		@freq_interval=1, 
		@freq_subday_type=4, 
		@freq_subday_interval=15, 
		@freq_relative_interval=0, 
		@freq_recurrence_factor=0, 
		@active_start_date=@today, 
		@active_end_date=@nextweek, 
		@active_start_time=100, 
		@active_end_time=235959, 
		@schedule_uid=N'5b0842fe-8f80-44e9-8a09-aac6ce5c2b2e'
IF (@@ERROR  0 OR @ReturnCode  0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobserver @job_id = @jobId, @server_name = N'(local)'
IF (@@ERROR  0 OR @ReturnCode  0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
COMMIT TRANSACTION
GOTO EndSave
QuitWithRollback:
    IF (@@TRANCOUNT > 0) ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
EndSave:

GO

In a SQL deadlock graph the direction of the arrows is an interesting thing.

With my mechanistic head on, I am imagining it as …

1. Spid-a requested a lock, and then got a lock (a two-way trip)
2. Spid-b requested a lock, and then got a lock (arrow ends-up pointing at spid)
3. Spid-a requested a lock, and is waiting (a one-way thing)
4. Spid-b requested a lock, and is waiting (arrow pointing away from spid)

To Capture a Deadlock Graph using Profiler (NB: with SQL 2008 and above you can also use an extended-event).

• File / New trace
• Connection details
• Use Template / Blank
• Events Selection / Locks ..1) DeadlockGraph 2) Lock:Deadlock 3) Lock:Deadlock Chain
• Event Extraction Settings / Save Deadlock XML events seperately / (somefilename)
• Each deadlock in a distinct file
• All Deadlocks
• Run
• (wait)
• File / Export / Extract SQL Server Events / Extract deadlock Events / (somefilename2)

I was unable to cobble together some Powershell code that I could execute within a job-step to check our linked-servers were working.

So I resorted to making the best of the built-in, but flawed, “SP_testlinkedserver” (Its a flawed procedure as if a link fails, it crashes, slowly).

The code below, when ran in a job-step overnight, will dynamically create one job for each linked-server on the box. The job(s) will then run and email the “DBA” operator every linked-server that fails, before deleting themselves.

-- testlinkedservers.sql

-- get list of all linked servers on this box

	CREATE TABLE #temp (
		srv_name varchar(MAX), 
		srv_providername varchar(MAX), 
		srv_product varchar(MAX), 
		srv_datasource varchar(MAX), 
		srv_providerstring varchar(MAX), 
		srv_location varchar(MAX), 
		srv_cat varchar(MAX))
	INSERT INTO #temp EXEC sp_linkedservers
	DELETE FROM #temp WHERE srv_name LIKE 'LOGSHIP%'
	DELETE FROM #temp WHERE srv_name = @@SERVERNAME

-- loop

	DECLARE @name VARCHAR(MAX), @cmd VARCHAR(MAX), @run VARCHAR(MAX)
	WHILE (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM #temp) > 0
	BEGIN
	SELECT TOP 1 @name = srv_name FROM #temp

	-- create the job code

	SET @cmd = 'BEGIN TRANSACTION
	DECLARE @jobId BINARY(16)
	SELECT @jobId = job_id FROM msdb.dbo.sysjobs WHERE (name = N''DBA - LinkedServerTest ' + @name + ''')
	IF (@jobId IS NULL)
	BEGIN
	EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_job @job_name=N''DBA - LinkedServerTest ' + @name + ''', 
		@enabled=1, 
		@notify_level_eventlog=2, 
		@notify_level_email=2, 
		@notify_level_netsend=0, 
		@notify_level_page=0, 
		@delete_level=3, 
		@description=N''No description available.'', 
		@category_name=N''[Uncategorized (Local)]'', 
		@owner_login_name=N''sa'', 
		@notify_email_operator_name=N''DBA'', 
		@job_id = @jobId OUTPUT
	END

	-- create the job-step code

	IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM msdb.dbo.sysjobsteps WHERE job_id = @jobId AND step_id = 1)
	EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobstep @job_id=@jobId, @step_name=N''one'', 
		@step_id=1, 
		@cmdexec_success_code=0, 
		@on_success_action=1, 
		@on_success_step_id=0,
		@on_fail_action=2, 
		@on_fail_step_id=0, 
		@retry_attempts=0, 
		@retry_interval=0, 
		@os_run_priority=0, @subsystem=N''TSQL'', 
		@command=N''sp_testlinkedserver [' + @name + ']'', 
		@database_name=N''master'', 
		@flags=0;

	-- create instantiation code

	EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobserver @job_id = @jobId, @server_name = N''(local)''

	COMMIT TRANSACTION'

	-- create the job

	EXEC(@cmd)

	-- run the job

	SET @run = 'EXECUTE msdb.dbo.sp_start_job ''DBA - LinkedServerTest ' + @name + ''''
	EXEC(@run)

        -- move to next row in loop

	DELETE FROM #temp WHERE srv_name = @name
	END

.

After a virtualization issue caused an unscheduled rebooted of production, I found the DR (log-shipping) monitor incorrectly reporting issues.

It seems the linked-server was no longer working, as @@servername returned NULL on Prod.

On Production SP_AddServer failed as the servername was in sys.servers – but not with server_id 0 (as needed for @@servername).

Removing the incorrect entry with SP_DropServer failed as there were remote- connections using it. And SP_DropRemoteLogin failed as there was not a remote users called NULL.

The fix was to remove log-shipping first using the GUI, which was only partially successful. Then manually, by deleting jobs from prod and DR, and truncating system-tables in MSDB starting log_shipping~ (on both servers).

Once log-shipping was cleaned off both machines I could use … EXEC SP_DropServer ‘ProdServer’, ‘droplogins’ followed by EXEC SP_AddServer ‘ProdServer’, LOCAL successfully. Now the server-name was correctly at the top of sys.servers the only task left was to schedule a reboot so Select @@ServerName would pick-up the new value.

After which I could re-configure log-shipping.

Diff restores have to happen directly after a full restore, and will fail if a full backup was taken between the two being restored.

I wanted to move about 50 databases on a Sharepoint server off the C-drive
(yes I know).

Sadly the only place I could move both datafiles and logfiles to was the D-Drive
(I know, I know).

Here’s the code I wrote to help me …

--move_db.sql

-- to move a user-database to different-drives on the same-server

USE [master]
GO

-- backup

	DECLARE @dbname VARCHAR(max) = 'SomeDatabaseName' -- database name

	DECLARE @backup_cmd VARCHAR(MAX) = 'BACKUP DATABASE ['+ @dbname + ']
	TO DISK = N''\\SomeNetworkShare\SomeServerName_' + @dbname + '.bak''
	WITH INIT, COMPRESSION, STATS = 1;'

	SELECT (@backup_cmd)
	--EXEC (@backup_cmd)


-- kill connections

	DECLARE @kill_cmd VARCHAR(MAX) = 'DECLARE @kill varchar(8000) = '''';
	SELECT @kill=@kill+''kill ''+convert(varchar(5),spid)+'';'' from master..sysprocesses 
	WHERE dbid=db_id(''' + @dbname + ''') and spid>50;
	EXEC (@kill);'

	SELECT (@kill_cmd)
	--EXEC (@kill_cmd)

-- restore

	DECLARE @restore_cmd VARCHAR(MAX) = 'RESTORE DATABASE [' + @dbname + ']
	FROM DISK = N''\\SomeNetworkShare\SomeServerName_' + @dbname + '.bak''
	WITH FILE = 1,  
	MOVE N''' + @dbname + ''' TO N''D:\SQL_Data\' + @dbname + '.mdf'',
	MOVE N''' + @dbname + '_log'' TO N''D:\SQL_Log\' + @dbname + '_log.ldf'',
	REPLACE,  STATS = 1;'

	SELECT (@restore_cmd)
	--EXEC (@restore_cmd)

To get a quick estimate of the full backup size of our user databases – for planning – I ran this across production and pasted ‘database_name’ and ‘reserved’ into a spreadsheet.

EXECUTE master.sys.sp_MSforeachdb 'USE [?]; if db_id()>4 EXEC sp_spaceused'

I tend to paste this (below) into SSMS keyboard shortcuts under Ctrl+F1 so I can instantly see what’s going on. 

EXEC [master].[dbo].[sp_WhoIsActive] @get_outer_command=1, @get_plans=1, @get_additional_info = 1, @get_task_info = 2, @output_column_list = '[dd%][session_id][block%][sql_text][login_name][CPU%][wait_info][tasks][tran_log%][database%][Program%][percent%][host%][reads%][writes%][sql_command][query_plan][locks][%]'

When it’s too slow 🙂 I use a “lite” version under Crtl+3

EXEC [master].[dbo].[sp_WhoIsActive] @get_additional_info = 1, @output_column_list = '[dd%][session_id][block%][sql_text][sql_command][login_name][CPU%][wait_info][tasks][tran_log%][database%][Program%][percent%][host%][reads%][writes%][query_plan][locks][%]'

Sadly I could not find out.

Going forward – To capture deletes on a table I set-up a regular ‘after delete’ trigger with some extra columns to hold system functions.

This allowed me to capture the date/time, PC-Name and login that originated deletes. Here is my working lab …

--lab_trigger_deletes.sql

--create table to be monitored and add some data
	CREATE TABLE t1 (c1 INT, c2 int)
	INSERT INTO t1 VALUES (1,7), (2,8), (3,9)

-- create audit table
	CREATE TABLE t1_audit (c1 INT, c2 INT, c3 DATETIME, c4 SYSNAME, c5 SYSNAME, c6 SYSNAME)

-- check contents of both tables
	SELECT * from t1
	SELECT * FROM t1_audit

-- create trigger
	CREATE TRIGGER trg_ItemDelete 
	ON dbo.t1 
	AFTER DELETE 
	AS
	INSERT INTO dbo.t1_audit(c1, c2, c3, c4, c5, c6)
			SELECT d.c1, d.c2, GETDATE(), HOST_NAME(), SUSER_SNAME(), ORIGINAL_LOGIN()
			FROM Deleted d

-- delete a row (firing the trigger)
	DELETE FROM t1 WHERE c1 = 2

-- check contents of both tables again
	SELECT * from t1
	SELECT * FROM t1_audit

-- tidy up
	IF OBJECT_ID ('trg_ItemDelete', 'TR') IS NOT NULL DROP TRIGGER trg_ItemDelete;
   	drop TABLE t1
	drop TABLE t1_audit

I noticed a jump in logfile size the other day and was wondering how to predict a autogrowth event.

I know old data is truncated after a log-backup but that’s internal and not normally visable.

I came up with this to run across production …

--LogSpace.sql
-- To help find near-full logfiles that may autogrow soon.

-- create table to hold raw data
CREATE TABLE #temp (DBName varchar(100), SizeMB int, UsedPct float, [STATUS] bit)

-- populate table
INSERT #temp EXEC('DBCC SQLPERF(logspace)')

-- output
SELECT DBName, SizeMB, UsedPct FROM #temp --WHERE UsedPct > 90 -- 90% full

-- clean-up
DROP TABLE #temp

These days I use a SQL Job called ‘DBA – index maint’.

Whenever I have an index change to make I paste the script into a new step, name that step with today’s date, change the ‘start step’ to that step, and schedule it to run once overnight.

This gives me a history and outcome, along-side the exact action.

This was fixed by re-installing SQL Safe. Bonus – Here is a working restore command with move

EXEC [master].[dbo].[xp_ss_restore] 
	@database = 'SomeDatabase',
	@filename = 'J:\backups\SomeDatabase.BAK', 
	@backuptype = 'Full',
	@withmove = 'SomeDatabase_data "J:\sql_data\SomeDatabase_data.mdf"',
	@withmove = 'SomeDatabase_log "J:\sql_log\SomeDatabase_log.ldf"',
	@recoverymode = 'recovery',
	@replace = '1';

As part of my management of our MDW I wrote this to help compress the user-table in the database.

SELECT 'ALTER TABLE ' + s.name + '.' + t.name + ' REBUILD PARTITION = ALL WITH (DATA_COMPRESSION = PAGE)' 
FROM sys.tables AS t
INNER JOIN sys.schemas AS s
ON t.[schema_id] = s.[schema_id]

On my Reporting Server I created the SQL Job ‘DBA – Restore MyDatabase’ with two steps 1) Restore MyDatabase, and 2) Add Users.

Step 2 just de-orphaned some user accounts EG:-

EXEC sp_change_users_login 'Auto_Fix', 'uidServerLink';

Step 1 contained this code …

-- Restore

	EXECUTE [master].[dbo].[DatabaseRestore] 
		@dbName = 'MyDatabase',
		@SourceServer = 'MySourceServer',
		@backupPath = 'M:\Backups'


-- Change recovery model

	ALTER DATABASE MyDatabase set recovery SIMPLE

https://richardbriansmith.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/diff-backup-restore-part-1/

https://richardbriansmith.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/diff-backup-restore-part-2/

On the Production Server I created the Job ‘DBA – Backup/Restore MyDatabase’ with two steps 1) Backup MyDatabase, and 2) Restore MyDatabase.

Step 2 just started the Restore job on the Reporting server (detailed in “Part 3”)

Step 1 needed to check that no random backups had happened in the last 24 hours before starting a Diff Backup …

-- If its Friday or the LSN's do not match - do a FULL backup

	DECLARE @DBName VARCHAR(100) = 'MyDatabase' --<< Database Name
	IF (SELECT DATEPART(dw, GETDATE())) = 6	--<< = Friday
	OR (SELECT MAX(differential_base_lsn)
	    FROM [MyProdServer].[master].[sys].[master_files]
	    WHERE [name] LIKE '%' + @DBName + '%')
	    !=
	   (SELECT MAX(differential_base_lsn)
	    FROM [MyReportServer].[master].[sys].[master_files]
	    WHERE [name] LIKE '%' + @DBName + '%')

	BEGIN
		SELECT 'We can only do a FULL backup'
		EXECUTE [master].[dbo].[DatabaseBackup] 
			@Databases = @DBName,
			@Directory = N'\\MyReportServer\backups', 
			@BackupType = 'FULL', 
			@CleanupTime = 1, --<< ONE HOUR
			@CleanupMode = 'BEFORE_BACKUP',
			@Compress = 'Y',
			@CheckSum = 'Y',
			@LogToTable = 'Y'
	END

-- Else do a DIFF backup

	ELSE
	BEGIN
		SELECT 'we can do a diff backup' 
		EXECUTE [master].[dbo].[DatabaseBackup] 
			@Databases = @DBName,
			@Directory = N'\\MyReportServer\backups', 
			@BackupType = 'DIFF',
			@CleanupTime = 168, --<< ONE WEEK
			@CleanupMode = 'BEFORE_BACKUP',
			@Compress = 'Y',
			@CheckSum = 'Y',
			@LogToTable = 'Y'
	END

https://richardbriansmith.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/diff-backup-restore-part-3/

https://richardbriansmith.wordpress.com/2015/10/02/diff-backup-restore-part-1/

To run a SQL-Job on the same Server use …

EXECUTE msdb.dbo.sp_start_job 'JobName'

To run a SQL-Job on another Server use …

EXECUTE [ServerName].msdb.dbo.sp_start_job 'JobName'

(assuming LinkedServers etc are already set-up)

** Update ** I had an issue where the remote job-name could not be found. The cause (I saw in sys.servers) was that I had used the wrong version of SSMS to create the link. The fix was to amend a working scripted-out link.

After exhausting all the usual methods to get a database out of ‘Recovery Pending’ mode, I deleted it then reattached the mdf file.

(NB: I made a copy of mdf file first, but did not need it).

This is the logical conclusion of my reset_tempdb and reset_model scripts. It show all of the file sizes and autogrowth settings in the current instance and the code to change them.

The suggested sizes (128 MB for Logfiles and 256 MB for Datafiles) are reasonable for Model, but should probably be amended for other databases dependent on current size and autogrowth history.

--autogrowth_all.sql

-- get current settings & create commands to change them
select	db.Name, case mf.[Type] when 0 then 'DATA' else 'LOG' end [FileType],
	convert(varchar(50), size*8/1024) + ' MB' [CurrentSize], 
	case mf.is_percent_growth 
		when 1 then convert(varchar(50), growth) + ' %' 
		when 0 then convert(varchar(50), growth*8/1024) + ' MB' end [AutoGrowth],
	'ALTER DATABASE [' + db.Name + '] MODIFY FILE (NAME = N''' + mf.Name + ''', SIZE = ' +        case mf.[type] when 0 then '256' else '128' end + 'MB);' [ReSizeCommand],
	'ALTER DATABASE [' + db.Name + '] MODIFY FILE (NAME = N''' + mf.Name + ''', FILEGROWTH = ' +  case mf.[type] when 0 then '256' else '128' end + 'MB);' [AutogrowthCommand]
from [master].[sys].[master_files] mf
join [master].[sys].[databases] db 
on mf.database_id = db.database_id
order by mf.database_id, mf.[type];

Here’s another one of my global changes. This one sets-up ‘Model’, which is the template for all databases created in the future.

-- AutogrowthDefault.sql

-- first examine the current settings
select Name, size*8/1024 [SizeMB], case is_percent_growth 
	when 1 then convert(varchar(50), growth) + ' %' 
	when 0 then convert(varchar(50), growth*8/1024) + ' MB' end AutoGrowth
from master.sys.master_files
where db_name(database_id) = 'Model'
order by [type];

----set Initial-Size to best-practice
ALTER DATABASE [model] MODIFY FILE (NAME = N'modeldev', SIZE = 256MB);
ALTER DATABASE [model] MODIFY FILE (NAME = N'modellog', SIZE = 128MB);

---- set Autogrowth to best-practice
ALTER DATABASE [model] MODIFY FILE (NAME = N'modeldev', FILEGROWTH = 256MB);
ALTER DATABASE [model] MODIFY FILE (NAME = N'modellog', FILEGROWTH = 128MB);

Here is another one of those best practice settings I run against new-to-me servers …

EXEC sp_MSForEachDB 'ALTER DATABASE [?] SET PAGE_VERIFY CHECKSUM  WITH NO_WAIT';

On SQL2005 it errors saying you cannot change tempdb but that’s fine.

STATISTICS is metadata that indicates to the query-optimizer how many rows it needs to read to get a representative sample of all (relevant) data in a table.

Indexes that return a smaller number of rows are not used for the current query.

When I scripted out the “DROP and CREATE” options (on SQL2008R2) for a SQL job I found it only worked once as it created a GUID that fails next time it runs (as it already existed).

To fix this I replaced [@job_id=N’blah blah blah’] in [sp_delete_job] with [@job_name=N’blah blah’] including the actual job name pasted from [sp_add_job].

Also I modified the script to work in additionally with SQL 2000 and SQL 2005 by …

– in [sp_delete_job] commenting out [–, @delete_unused_schedule=1]

– duplicating [sp_add_job] with the first one proceeded by [IF @@version LIKE ‘%2000%’; BEGIN] and no [@notify_email_operator_name]

– and the second one proceeded by [END; ELSE]

To easily see which SQL Process relates to which Instance of SQL Server – In Windows Task Manager / Processes
– right-click on one of the ‘sqlservr.exe’ names
– and select ‘Open file location’.

By examining the path to the file that opens I was able to distinguish the particular instance that this executable related to.

--autoshrink.sql

-- list databases where autoshrink is ON
select *
from sys.databases
where is_auto_shrink_on != 0

-- make script to turn autoshrink OFF
SELECT 'ALTER DATABASE [' + name + '] SET AUTO_SHRINK OFF WITH NO_WAIT'
FROM sys.databases
WHERE database_id > 4
and is_auto_shrink_on != 0

To stop the import of ‘already there’ data (twice) I needed to empty every table. Its a very, very good idea to back up your databases before using this code. It empties a whole database in one go!

-- empty database
use SomeDatabaseName -- ** change to subject database first & *** CHECK SERVER NAME **
go
EXEC sp_MSForEachTable 'TRUNCATE TABLE [?]'

Here’s my mod to Aaron Lowe’s @Vendoran script to get rid of untrusted foreign keys and constraints …

--fix_untrusted_keys.sql

SELECT 'ALTER TABLE [' + s.name + '].[' + o.name + '] WITH CHECK CHECK CONSTRAINT [' + i.name + ']' AS keyname
from sys.foreign_keys i
INNER JOIN sys.objects o ON i.parent_object_id = o.object_id
INNER JOIN sys.schemas s ON o.schema_id = s.schema_id
WHERE i.is_not_trusted = 1 AND i.is_not_for_replication = 0

Notification emails telling a DBA that something failed are all-well-an-good, but if you don’t get any emails, how can you be sure the notification system is working?

The simplest solutions are often the best. I’ve taken to scheduling an 8am job (on every SQL Server that runs jobs) called ‘Notification Heartbeat’ that contains just an empty step. It’s own notification configuration is set to email the ‘DBA’ operator every time it succeeds.

Of course, I then have an Outlook rule that moves them (all with ‘Heartbeat’ in the subject), to the ‘DBA’ folder so I dont have to read them every day.

Now when my morning inbox is suspiciously empty – I have a way to verify that the Notification system was tested end-to-end at 8am.

NOTE: I used to try combining the notification-test with actual working Jobs like Backups, but this is simpler and the message value is clearer.

When trying to uninstall Oracle Client (from a Windows server) the standalone deinstall tool couldn’t remove the file “oci.dll”.

To remove it (without rebooting) I tried to manually delete the file. The error message indicated which Windows service I had to stop. (IE: First it was locked by “SQL Server” then when I’d stopped that “VMWare Tools”, then DCOM, then COM+.

After stopping all the locking services in order – I was able to delete the file.
Lastly I restarted all the services I’d stopped 😉