Database Consultant

I didn’t know what to make of the error message “Date spin detected”. Until I noticed a SQL job scheduled every 10 seconds!

The overhead of executing a job so often is very high. Naughty developers!

A much better solution would be for the SQL job to call a stored-procedure, and the sp to include a While loop containing a “wait 10” instruction.

The best script I’ve found to Reorganize/Rebuild indexes and Update Stats can be found on this web-page …
http://ola.hallengren.com/

Leading on from my script to list databases set to Simple recovery-mode, I found changing them to Full was not as easy as just changing the sys.databases flag from ‘3’ to ‘1’ (not allowed).

I had a requirement to change a whole server full of databases, but due to our ‘smart’ backup software (that on discovering new Full recovery-mode databases would immediately want to take full backups), had to stagger the changes to one-an-hour – so the (production) box wouldn’t slow to a crawl.

Here’s the job-step …

--capture name of one simple database
declare @name varchar(50)
select @name = [name] from sys.databases where recovery_model = 3 and [name] not in ('master', 'msdb', 'tempdb')
-- 1 = Full, 3 = Simple

--change it to full
declare @cmd varchar(200)
set @cmd = 'alter database ' + @name + ' set recovery full'
exec (@cmd)

My all-time favorite script is this cross-tab script showing the latest backups of all databases on the current box …

--lastbackups.sql
select sdb.name,
max(case bst.[type] when 'D' then convert(varchar(16), bst.backup_finish_date, 120) end) last_full_backup,
max(case bst.[type] when 'I' then convert(varchar(16), bst.backup_finish_date, 120) end) last_diff_backup,
max(case bst.[type] when 'L' then convert(varchar(16), bst.backup_finish_date, 120) end) last_log_backup,
case sdb.[status]
when '0' then 'Full'
when '4' then 'Bulk-logged'
when '8' then 'Simple'
when '16' then 'Full'
when '24' then 'Simple'
when '32' then 'Restoring'
when '528' then 'Off_line'
when '536' then 'Off_line'
when '1048' then 'Read_only'
when '2072' then 'Restricted User'
when '65536' then 'Full'
when '65544' then 'Simple'
when '2098176' then 'Standby / Read-Only'
when '4194328' then 'Simple'
when '4259848' then 'Simple'
when '1073741840' then 'Full'
when '1073807360' then 'ShutDown'
else '' end db_status, sdb.[status]
from master..sysdatabases sdb
left join msdb..backupset bst on bst.database_name = sdb.name
where sdb.name != 'tempdb'
group by sdb.name, sdb.[status]
--order by sdb.name
order by max(bst.backup_finish_date) -- nulls at top
--order by sdb.[status]

Here’s a great script I use when manually resizing datafiles. It lists the percentage of free space and suggest a new size that would have 60% free.

--freespace.sql
SET NOCOUNT ON

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#DBSTATS') IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
   DROP TABLE #DBSTATS
END

CREATE TABLE #DBSTATS (
   [dbname]   sysname,
   lname    sysname,
   usage    varchar(20),
   [size]   decimal(9, 2) NULL ,
   [used]   decimal(9, 2) NULL
)

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#temp_log') IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
   DROP TABLE #temp_log
END

CREATE TABLE #temp_log
(
   DBName          sysname,
   LogSize         real,
   LogSpaceUsed    real,
   Status          int
)

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#temp_sfs') IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
   DROP TABLE #temp_sfs
END

CREATE TABLE #temp_sfs
(
   fileid          int,
   filegroup       int,
   totalextents    int,
   usedextents     int,
   name            varchar(1024),
   filename        varchar(1024)
)

DECLARE @dbname sysname
       ,@sql varchar(8000)

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#temp_db') IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
    DROP TABLE #temp_db
END

SELECT name INTO #temp_db
   FROM master.dbo.sysdatabases
   WHERE DATABASEPROPERTY(name,'IsOffline') = 0
   AND has_dbaccess(name) = 1
   ORDER BY name

WHILE (1 = 1)
BEGIN
   SET @dbname = NULL

   SELECT TOP 1 @dbname = name
   FROM #temp_db
   ORDER BY name

   IF @dbname IS NULL
      GOTO _NEXT

   SET @sql = ' USE [' + @dbname + '] 

      TRUNCATE TABLE #temp_sfs

      INSERT INTO #temp_sfs
         EXECUTE(''DBCC SHOWFILESTATS'')

      INSERT INTO #DBSTATS (dbname, lname, usage, [size], [used])
         SELECT db_name(), name, ''Data''
         , totalextents * 64.0 / 1024.0
         , usedextents * 64.0 / 1024.0
         FROM #temp_sfs

      INSERT INTO #DBSTATS (dbname, lname, usage, [size], [used])
         SELECT db_name(), name, ''Log'', null, null
         FROM sysfiles
         WHERE status & 0x40 = 0x40'

    EXEC(@sql)

    DELETE FROM #temp_db WHERE name = @dbname
END

_NEXT:

INSERT INTO #Temp_Log
   EXECUTE ('DBCC SQLPERF(LOGSPACE)')

--select * from #Temp_Log

UPDATE #DBSTATS
   SET SIZE = B.LogSize
   , USED = LogSize * LogSpaceUsed / 100
FROM #DBSTATS A
INNER JOIN #Temp_Log B
    ON (A.DBNAME = B.DBNAME)AND(A.Usage = 'LOG')

SELECT dbname AS [database name],
   lname AS [file name],
   usage,
   [size] AS [space allocated (MB)],
   [size]*1.6 as 'plus 60% (MB)',
-- used AS[space used (MB)],
-- [size] - used  AS [free space (MB)],
-- cast(used/[size]*100 AS numeric(9,2)) AS [space used %],
   cast(100-(used/[size]*100) AS numeric(9,2)) AS [free space %]
FROM #DBSTATS
ORDER BY [free space %] --dbname, usage

DROP TABLE #DBSTATS
DROP TABLE #temp_db
DROP TABLE #temp_sfs
DROP TABLE #temp_log

SET NOCOUNT OFF

--service_accounts.sql

-- return sql-server-service-account used by the default-instance
DECLARE @serviceaccount varchar(100)
EXECUTE master.dbo.xp_instance_regread
N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
N'SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesMSSQLSERVER',
N'ObjectName',
@ServiceAccount OUTPUT,
N'no_output'
SELECT @Serviceaccount ServiceAccount_DefaultInstance

-- ditto for named-instance
DECLARE @serviceaccount2 varchar(100)
exec master.dbo.xp_instance_regread
N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
N'SystemCurrentControlSetServicesMSSQL$sqlins01', -- edit
N'ObjectName',
@ServiceAccount2 OUTPUT,
'no_output'
SELECT @Serviceaccount2 ServiceAccount_NamedInstance

-- and for named-agent
DECLARE @agentaccount varchar(100)
EXECUTE master.dbo.xp_instance_regread
N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
N'SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicessqlagent$sqlins01', --edit
N'ObjectName',
@agentaccount OUTPUT,
N'no_output'
select @agentaccount ServiceAccount_NamedAagent

Our ‘check indexes’ job was failing occasionally with an error like …

Msg 7999, Level 16, State 40, Line 1 Could not find any index named ‘index_name’ for table ‘table_name’.

I tried to just exclude the named index, but a few days later another one appeared. The fix was to dig into the SP and add a condition to the statement …

...
insert into #indexlist
            select name
	    from sysindexes
	    where name not like '_WA%'
	    and indid not in (0,255)
	    and [root] is not null
	    and id = @tab_id
...

When developing using temp tables here’s a good line to drop them if they exist.

IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb.dbo.#indexes','U') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE dbo.[#indexes]

To download a backup from an FTP site then delete the original …

C:pathcorecmd.exe -s -O -site site -d /path/latestbackup.bak -p c:ftp -delsrc -log c:logfile.log

-s = silent

-O = overwrite

-site = pre configured connection details within coreftp gui

-d = path to ftp site

-p = local destination

-delsrc = delete source after successful download

-log = record a logfile

******** UPDATE Dec 2012 ********

I found that this utility was the only way I could find to script/schedule FTPS uploads & downloads. Here’s more working examples …

“C:Program Files (x86)CoreFTPcorecmd.exe” -s -OS -site thirdpartyname -u “E:DBAthirdpartynamesomefilename_2012*.txt” -p “/export files/” -log E:DBAthirdpartynamelogfile.log

“C:Program Files (x86)CoreFTPcorecmd.exe” -s -OS -site thirdpartyname -d “/Client imports/somefilename_*.txt” -p \mylocalsqlserverdbathirdpartyname -log \mylocalsqlserverdbathirdpartynamelogfile.log

Note:-
– The use of double quotes so the utility isn’t confused by spaces in the path.
– The -OS switch which means copy everything except what’s already copied.
– The use of wild-cards with -OS to simplify management of file-names containing dates.
– the use of -u for uploading, and -d for downloads.

To create or alter a stored procedure that contains references to data on remote servers you need to connect using an account that can access all the data.

That is, to successfully alter a sp that includes links to 2 remote servers, connect (in SSMS) using an account that is common in the ‘Linked Servers’ configuration. Test this by drilling down through ‘Linked Servers’ to see both lots of tables.

In a technical sense of course 🙂

Here’s the code – very handy before a restore …

DECLARE processes CURSOR FOR
  select spid from sysprocesses where dbid=(select dbid from sysdatabases where name='AdventureWorks') and status in ('runnable','sleeping')
DECLARE @processid int   -- spid of active processes

OPEN processes --open the cursor
 FETCH FROM processes INTO @processid
 WHILE (@@FETCH_STATUS = 0)
  --cycle through the list and kill each spid
 BEGIN 
  Print @processid
  Print 'killed'
  Exec ('
  kill '+@processid+'
  ')
 FETCH FROM processes INTO @processid
 END -- END OF WHILE (@@FETCH_STATUS = 0) 
CLOSE processes
DEALLOCATE processes

— simple_mode.sql
— script to list Simple-recovery-mode databases

declare @ver varchar(50)
set @ver = (select @@version)

— SQL 2000
if @ver like ‘%2000%’
select name from sysdatabases where status = ’24’ — simple, excluding tempdb

— SQL 2005/8
else
select name simple_mode from sys.databases where recovery_model = 3 — (3=Simple 1=Full)

The easy way to calculate what size of datafile would have 40% free …
– using the GUI choose Tasks / Shrink / Files
– if the percentage free is less than 40%
– find the last numeric value on the page. EG: “MB (Minimum is 998 MB)”
– multiply this value by 1.6. EG: 1593
– resize the datafile to 1593 or better, IE: 1600 MB

(btw, on this subject – my best-practice is to adjust the increment-size so there is about one ‘autogrowth’ each week).

To find out the Windows Server Name that is currently running the live node use

begin try
exec xp_cmdshell 'ping -a localhost'
end try

begin catch
exec sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1 reconfigure -- to show the advanced options
exec sp_configure xp_cmdshell, 1 reconfigure -- to enable the command-shell
exec xp_cmdshell 'ping -a localhost' -- run a dos-command
exec sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell', 0 reconfigure -- to disable the command-shell
exec sp_configure 'show advanced options', 0 reconfigure  -- to hide the advanced options
end catch