SSIS session in Auckland by Patrick

We had a really interesting session with Patrick of Pragmatic Works yesterday on the topic "Introduction to SSIS".

He has covered the following basic aspects of SSIS

• Opening BIDS environment with a -NOSPLASH
• Creating a small package with some package requirements -- Control flow, Data flow, Event Handler, package explorer
• Deplying the created package
• Scheduling a package

Here are my takeways from this session

Tip 1

You can use -NOSPLASH in the shortcut of the Visual studio icon to avoid the initial start up screen when you open Visual Studio

Tip 2

Data Connections can be created in two ways --

• Via the Data Source on the right hand side of the screen of the solution. If the data source is created this way, it can be used by all the packages in the project.
• Via the connection manager within the package itself. If this is used, the connections can be used only within that package.

Tip 3

Data Flow Taks can be created in two ways

• Via the Control flow tab -- by dragging the Data flow task from the toolbox
• Via the Data Flow Tab -- by just clikcing on the link available in this tab.
  

Tip 4

Always use OLEDB source instead of ADO.NET source for greater performance

Tip 5

In the OLEDB source tool always use SQL command instead of Table/view. Using the Table/View can slow down the SSIS package considerably.

Tip 6

When sql command in used, use the Preview button instead of the Parse Query button

Tip 7

You can use look up task and derived column task to redirect the un match rows to an error output.

Tip 8

If you use the row count task in the data flow tab that creates an unnamed variable, to name this varaible right click on the grey space on the control flow tab and name the variable.

Tip 9

You can right click on the control flow tab and click on the Package Configurations to configure the package. These configurations can be created as an XML file which can then be modified at deployment.

Tip 10

When you build a project and deploy, the package will be in the MSDB database of the sql server.

Tip 11

You can schedule an SSIS package using the SQL SERVER Agent or using dt exec command line.

Highlights of Visual Studio 2010 and Windows Azure Launch event

Today I have attended the Visual Studio 2010 and Windows Azure Launch event in Auckland. There were close to 1000 people for this event.

The first presentation on Visual Studio was done by Sam Guckenheimer. He took us through the Visual Studio product suite

• He explained how this product can now reduce time wastage in the SDLC,
• also how transparent the VS has become in terms of managing a project from a team perspective (using excel and sharepoint to monitor the team progress on a project)
• how the use of layer diagrams helps communicate the design intent and later helps check the implementation against the design.

The second presentation was done by David Chappell on Windows Azure platform which is the Microsoft Cloud Computing Technology.

He said that there are two broad categories for cloud computing -- Cloud Applications and Cloud Platform.

He covered on the cloud platform of Windows Azure. Windows Azure is a platform where you ask for an application to run (instead of a VM) and the application will control how many VMs to run etc. The Windows Azure platform recognises if an instance failed and restarts a new instance automatically.

He also mentioned about the SQL Azure which is basically Sql server and this needs the TDS (Tabular Data Stream) protocol

Also talked about the applications of Azure as follows:

• Apps that need massive scale
• Apps that need high reliability
• Apps with variable load
• Apps with a short or unpredictable lifetime
• Apps that do parallel processing
• Apps that must fail fast or scale fast
• Apps that don't fit well in an organisation's data centre
• Apps that can benefit from external storage

He also mentioend the differences between the various cloud platforms (Amazon web services, Google App Engine, Force.com) and whether they are competitors or not.

Tools for collecting SQL Server instances

Due to the proliferation of personal firewalls, inconsistent network library configurations, and multiple-instance support, SQL Server installations are becoming increasingly difficult to discover, assess, and maintain.

Peter Ward from WardyIT Solutions while presenting in the SQL Saturday event at Auckland last weekend has asked all of us the following question:

“Do you know how many instances are there in your network?”

Only two people in the entire room have raised their hands.

He mentioned about the following tools being available for collecting sql server instances in a network.

Sqlping from www.sqlsecurity.com

SQLPing 3.0 is a free tool available which performs both active and passive scans of your network in order to identify all of the SQL Server/MSDE installations in your enterprise.
SQLPing 3.0 is designed to remedy this problem by combining all known means of SQL Server/MSDE discovery into a single tool which can be used to ferret-out servers you never knew existed on your network so you can properly secure them. .NET Framework v2.0 Required.

You can find more information about SQLPING here

Microsoft assessment and planning toolkit (MAP Toolkit)

MAP Toolkit is a free tool from Microsoft that does a lot more than just scanning the network and identifying all instances of SQL Servers. Some of the features are outlined below.

• Secure, Agentless Discovery and Inventory
• Generate Automated, Network-wide Readiness Assessments
• Quickly Create Reports and Proposals
• Capitalise on Cross-Sell and Up-Sell Opportunities
• Shorten Your Presales Cycle, Increase Your Opportunities
• Accelerate Server and PC Migration Planning
• Leverage Virtualisation to Help Reduce Customers' Costs

For more information please click here

SQLIO
In the presentation Peter also briefly mentioned about SQLIO as a tool to measure SAN performance. I have googled for SQLIO and came up with the following.

SQLIO is a free utility from Microsoft that measures storage IO performance. The name "SQLIO" is horribly misleading, because it doesn't really have anything to do with SQL Server. There is a lot of information about SQLIO in the SQLServerpedia website

There may be lot of other tools out there. Please suggest me other tools if you can

SQL Server 2008 R2 Training Kit

SQL Server 2008 R2 Training Kit

New updated version of SQL Server 2008 R2 Training Kit is available for download from the microsoft site.

This has some hands on labs, tutorials, presentations, and videos.

Download from:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=fffaad6a-0153-4d41-b289-a3ed1d637c0d

Hope you will enjoy using this training kit.

Recap from SQL Saturday Auckland event -- 10th April 2010

This past weekend I have attended the SQL Saturday event in Auckland.

The turnout for this event was really good with close to 100 people attending including the organizers and presenters. Thanks to everyone that helped out to put on a very successful event.

Here is a list of the presenters and the topics presented. We had to cancel the main organizer’s (Dave Dustin) due to lack of time.

Session Title	My learning’s in brief
Analysis Services - Introduction to Business Intelligence with SQL 2008 Justin King	The demonstration was really good as he took us through the entire cycle of creating an SSAS project. Also covered the basics of terminology in his presentation.
What is LINQ – and what the heck is it doing to my database? Ivan Towlson	Didn’t know what LINQ was before and now I know what it is and what advantages we can have with it.
Database Index investigation with DMVs Leo Miller	Learnt a whole heap of stuff on DMVs from DMV concepts, DMV groups to how to use them. Very valuable session.
SQL Server Integration Services 2008 Ben Gracewood	Learnt about SSIS custom templates which was new to me even though I had worked on SSIS and didn’t know anything about them.
36 to 6 SQL Servers – Consolidation from the Trenches Peter Ward	Peter is a very good presenter and I am impressed with his presentation that analogy he gives are realy amazing. Learnt what consolidation is and why we need to consolidation.
Common Misconceptions about Clustering Leo Miller	Why clustering is done and what the actual misconceptions.
Data warehousing & BI on SQL Server 2008 Douglas Barrett	Learnt what’s new in SQL SERVER 2008 R2 in the data warehousing world.
Comparing SQL in large vs small environments James Stewart	Learnt about the various performance tools and monitoring models. Also the various types of alerts.
Training for SQL Server 2008 certification, and why it's worth it Amanda Jackson	I am planning on to do the Business Intelligence certification which was very clear in Amanda’s presentation. Also information about what is available in Microsoft Elearning portal.

The lunch was Pizzas and subway sandwiches which was delicious. We also had an afternoon tea of Giapo Gelato Ice cream.

During every session there were various prizes for the people who were asking questions and also at the end there were some prizes from the sponsors.

I will try to blog on each presentation in detail a bit later.

Disable report filter selection in a Pivot Table in Excel

I had to work on disabling a field (report filter) on a Pivot Table in Excel 2007. I googled a lot on this and there was no straight forward answer. Hence thought of sharing my solution with anyone who wants to do the same thing

Here is the code that I have used to achieve this

Right click on the sheet where there is a pivot table and click on View Code
Add the following code

Option Explicit
Private Sub Workbook_Open()DisableSectorSelectionEnd Sub
Sub DisableSectorSelection() Dim pt As PivotTable On Error Resume NextSet pt = Selection.PivotTableIf Not pt Is Nothing Then pt.PivotFields("Sector").EnableItemSelection = False
End Sub

Save and reopen the file.
The filter should not be disbaled on the worksheet.

The following features cannot be saved in macro-free workbooks

The following features cannot be saved in macro-free workbooks

VB Project

To save a file with these features, click no, and then choose a macro -
enabled file type in the file type list.

To continue saving as a macro freee workbook, click yes.

That was the error I was getting today when I wanted to write a macro in Excel 2007.

In order to make an Excel 2007 workbook macro enabled, you need to save the workbook as .xlsm rather than .xlsx That solves the problem of the macros not being enabled.

PowerPoint Show (*.pps) file copies as a PowerPoint (.ppt) file when downloaded from the internet

Today we had a probelm on our website, where when you try to download a PowerPoint Show (.pps) file, the file was downloading as a PowerPoint Presentation (.ppt) file instead of a .pps file.

I have done some research on google and found the following solution to my problem.

• In IIS Administrative Console snap-in, right-click the specific Web server where the .pps file is located, and then click Properties.
• Click the HTTP Headers tab.
• Click on Mime Types button in IIS 6.0
• Click the File Types button in older versions of IIS.
• Click New Type.
• In the Extension box, type .pps, and then in the Content type (MIME) box, type application/vnd.ms-pps.
• Click OK, and then restart IIS.

To know more click on the link from Microsoft

Checksum Vs. Hashbytes

What is Checksum?
Checksum is a function available in sql server 2005 and sql server 2008. It is intended to build a hash index based on an expression or column list.

Determining if two rows or expressions are equal can be a difficult and resource intensive process. This can be the case where the update was conditional based on all of the columns being equal or not for a specific row. Without checksums it is a long process of using innerjoins to identify the exact row to update in the update statements.

When is Checksum used?
When you need to compare the unique characteristics of an expression, columns or a table consider using the Checksum function.

When you have to update a row where many columns are compared to determine if the data is unique, use CHECKSUM function to build a unique value using checksum function and then compare the CHECKSUM values.



Example:

Hashbytes

What is hashbytes function?
HashBytes function was introduced in SQL server 2005 to simplify creating hashes in the database. It can convert values to MD2, MD4, MD5, SHA, or SHA1 formats.

When can you use a hash function?
Hash functions are a useful option to improve the efficiency of particular queries on large volumes of data. For example, on long strings of text, you can build a hash-index to perform efficient lookups or to speed up aggregate operations.


Differences between checksum and Hashbytes

Checksum	Hashbytes
Faster but can produce lot of duplicate values	Slower but efficient than checksum
Returns an int value	Returns a varbinary(8000)
Microsoft does NOT recommend using CHECKSUM for change detection purposes	Use Hashbytes for change detection purposes

Problem problems with Powerpoint

I had problems printing powerpoint slides this morning and here is an excerpt from an article on pptfaq.

Workaround

If you're willing to accept a slightly smaller slide image, you can print Notes Pages instead of Slides. Modify the Notes Master in your presentation:

• Choose File, Slide Setup and set Notes pages to print in the same orientation as your slide pages
• Choose View, Master, Notes Master
• Select and delete the notes text and any other text placeholders you don't want to appear on your slide printouts.
• Select and scale the slide image on the notes master to a larger size. NOT full page, but somewhat smaller. You'll need to find out what the trailing margin on your printer is and make the margins on both sides of your notes master at least that large.
• Print a trial notes page from one of your slides. It will probably be off center. Go back to the notes master and move the slide image accordingly. It'll probably take several trial printouts to get right, but once you've got it nailed down, you should be able to get printouts of just your slides, properly centered on your inkjet printouts.
  
• Once you've got it nailed, right click the slide image, choose Format and record the size and position of the slide image so you can use the same info in your other presentations.

Source: http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00097.htm

Password protect a workbook in Excel 2007

If you want to password protect your workbook in Excel 2007 the following are the steps that need to be followed.

• Click on the Office button on the top left hand corner of the workbook
• click on prepare
• choose restrict permission
• choose a pasword
• you may be asked to reenter the password

That's it your workbook is password protected.

Displaying powerpoint files on a website

I had trouble displaying powerpoint files on the website that I was working on. The problem was the link to the powerpoint file was a powerpoint 2007 show file (.ppsx). But when you clikc on the hyperlink, it was downloading with a .ppt extension

I have done some googling to resolve this problem and found that in order for links to PPTX/PPSX files to work, the two conditions must be met:

• The user must have PowerPoint 2007, the 2007 Viewer or an older version of PowerPoint with the compatibility pack installed so that they can open PPTX/PPSX files in the first place
• The web server configuration on your site must have the correct mediatype/MIME settings to serve PPTX/PPSX files as PowerPoint 2007 presentations.

The above is an extract from the article on pptfaq called Control how the browser opens powerpoint files

Disable accessing a hidden sheet in Excel workbook

I had a requirement today to not display the hidden worksheets in an excel workbook when you try to unhide sheets. Here are the steps I have taken to achieve this.

• Open the VBE (alt-f11)
• Go to the sheet that you want to disable in the unhide option
• View properties window
• Change Visible property to 2 -XlSheetVeryHidden.
• Save and close

Test the unhide option

Outlook meeting request response myth busted

In outlook when a meeting request is received from the organiser, I was under the impression that when I accept the request and choose do not sent response, then the meeting request at the organisers end gets updated that the request has been accepted but the organiser will not be sent an email. This is a myth. I am sure most of us are under this impression.

When you choose do not send a response, there is no way outlook updates the request at the organisers end. So if you want to let the organiser know that you have accepted then you need to send the reponse when you have accepted.

The credit for this learning today goes to Vanessa Taylor -- our Executive Assistant to the CEO.

Convert date to text in excel

If you have a date in a cell, when you try to use it as it is for example in concatenation, the date gets converted to a number and does not retain the date format.

In order to retain the date format and still be used as text -- the formula that can be used is TExt(datecell, "dd-mm-yyyy")

Reflections from CLoud Camp -- Auckland

I have attended a cloud camp that was held in Auckland on Feb 26th 2010. Here are some points sent by Ben the Cloud camp organiser.

I posted a roundup here giving my thoughts on the event. Thanks to all our sponsors who made the event possible - Gen-i, enStratus, Microsoft, salesforce, vmware, Intergen, the University of Auckland and Zendesk. Thanks also to Anne Bilek for doing a great job of helping to organise things on the ground.

Paul from Gen-i wrote an interesting post with his reflections on the event - you can read it here.

Similarly Ryan from Intergen wrote an interesting perspective here.

Finally Nigel from Microsoft filmed the Lightning Talk given by Darryl Burling - also well worth a look. click here to watch the vid.

Have you heard of Worldcard?

Worldcard is a bizcard recognition solution for iPhones. This uses a built-in camera in smartphone to capture bizcard images and has a powerful recognition function to turn business card information into contacts right away.

To know more about it.........

How to become an exceptional DBA?

Today I have attended the webinar by Brad McGehee titled 'How to become an Exceptional DBA' which was an inspirational talk about why and how you need to be exceptional. Following are the learnings from this webinar.

Characteristics of an Exceptional DBA:
Enjoy Technology, challenges, problem solving, eye for detail and embrace change, trustworthy, accept responsibility, maintain professionalism, dependable, manage time well, be patient, good listener and most of all self confident.


Honing your skills

• Having a 4 year degree differentiates you from the crowd and this degree need not be in IT or CS.
• Boosting your technical skills is a self taught process by attending seminars, conferences, code camps, online training etc.
• Mastering related technical skills like virtualisation, operating system, hardware, clustering
• Practical experience is the key to be an exceptional DBA.
• Mastering soft skills like people skills, teamwork skills, project management, leadership skills, time management, writing skills, speaking skills, knowledge of legal responsibilities. These can be done by volunteering.

Specialising as a DBA:

Choose one or more of the following:

• DBA Adminstrator
• DBA Developer
• DBA High Availability/Disaster Recovery
• DBA Database Designer/Architect
• DBA BI SSAS specialist
• DBA BI SSIS specialist
• DBA BI SSRS specialist
• DBA Trainer
• DBA Consultant

• Professional certification helps you differentiate from other DBAs
• Volunteer and participate in the SQL SERVER community. this is mainly to help yourself as participating develops your soft skills, make new contacts, increases your bdepth and breadth of knowledge, building your network etc.

Manage your internal brand

• Understand business goals of your company, and focus on how to help achieve them.
• Be a leader and take the intitiative.
• Accept responsibilty for your actions
• Have a "Get it done" attitude
• Don't abuse your power
• Actively participate and contribute in meetings
• Help others be successful
• Most importantly avoid office politics
• Be proactive by keeping all the stakeholders in the loop

Manage your online brand

• Seperate professional and personal online presence
• Don't post anything negative
• Online conducta and content should be professional, and

Last but not the least, you should take control of your career by deciding what you want from your career, set realsitic, short term goals in order to reach major milestones in your career plan. Most importantly follow through your goals.

Connecting to SQL Server via Windows PowerShell with SQL Server authentication

Here is a tip from MSSQLTIPS that shows you how to connect to powershell with sql server authentication.

Today I have attended the free webinar on T-SQL for SLQ Server from Pragmatic Works. This was a fantastic session by Patrick LeBlanc. Even though I had some experience in T-SQL I have learnt a few new things mostly the new features of SQL SERVER 2008. The recorded webinar can be viewed from the resources page and click on View Recording at the relevant webinar.

Interesting things I have learnt from this webinar are as follows:

• If you don't want to type the table names you can drag a table into the query window from the object explorer.
• If you don't want to type the field names you can expand the table and drag the columns folder into the query window from the object explorer and the list of fields of the table automatically appear in the query window.
  
  Set Identity_Insert On or OFF
  
• You can update an ID column by setting the above variable on for a specific column. But remember to set the value to Off once you have updated the ID column as this works for one table at a time.
  Example:
  SET Identity_Insert tablename ON
  Insert INTO (IDcolumn, field1, field2)
  Values(6,ssss,zzzz)
  SET Identity_Insert tablename OFF
  
  
• A very good description (illustration) of rather differnces between, Inner join, left outer join and right outer join.
• The use of output statement
• Grouping Sets feature of SQL SERVER 2008
  

Hope you also find this resource useful.