Using the script task in Management Studio

Today I was taking a back of a database and for the past two days this has become my regular activity. So I thought there should be some kind of recording option (like recording a macro in excel) so that I can just use the recorded action whenever I need to do the same task again and again.

So I tried to investigate and found this script button. So I thought I would investigate this. The following are the steps I followed to backup a database in the Management Studio.

• Right click the database that needs to be backed up.


• Click on Task -- Backup


• Choose the Backup options like how you choose normally.


• Before clicking Ok click on the Script option at the top and choose the option that you want from the 4 options available as shown below.

This has generated a nice script as shown below.

BACKUP
DATABASE [TEST] TO

DISK

= N'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Backup\TEST20110830.bak' WITH FORMAT, INIT, MEDIANAME = N'TEST', NAME = N'TEST-Full Database Backup', SKIP, NOREWIND, NOUNLOAD, STATS = 10
GO


This script can be used to do the same task again and again and also may be you can schedule this to be processed at a certain time every day.

Windows Firewall Settings on Windows 7

Today I had to access the Windows Firewall to check for blocking of a port. I am used to the command wscui.cpl from the Start -- Run screen of the Windows XP operating system. So I did the same thing on my Windows 7 screen. I was surprised to get the security centre where the Windows Firewall was not visible as shown below.



Luckily I saw the Control Panel Home link at the top and clicked on the link. Then I noticed the Windows Firewall as being a separate entity in the control Paenl and accessed this from there.

24 HOP -- September 7-8 2011

The registration for the much awaited 24 hours of PASS is now open. Here is an excerpt from the site.

Two Days of Free SQL Server Training!

Don't miss the best 24 hours of free, online SQL Server training in the industry with 24 Hours of PASS: Summit Preview September 7 and 8.

Join us for an exceptional lineup of SQL Server and BI experts, who will be presenting a sneak peek of their PASS Summit 2011 session topics in 24 live webcasts delivered directly to your computer.

Register here to attend these sessions.

Powershell for SQL Server : An Introduction -- Free webinar

A free webinar is being organised by Idera on Powershell for SQL Server.

Here is an excerpt from the site.

In this session, Microsoft MVP Aaron Nelson will discuss what PowerShell is and demonstrate how and why DBAs should use it. Aaron will step you through the basics of Windows PowerShell and provide you with some commonly used first scripts to help you get started. Register for the webcast today!

The date and time of this webinar is below:

Wednesday, August 10, 2011
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CST

What the password policy of sql server?

Yesterday I had a question in my mind as to what could be the sql server password policy. So I started hunting in the Help menu of the SSMS window. Here is how I found that.

• Click on Help from Sql Server Management Studio.


• Choose contents


• Then choose Security considerations for SQL Server


• Then choose the Password Policy as shown in the screenshot below.

Using Countif in Excel

I was using excel today and I wanted to count all the cells in a range only when there is a value greater than 2. So I started hunting for a funciton in excel and found the countif function.

Countif(range,criteria)

But when I started using it like this -- Countif(A1:A100,>2) it didn't work. It was coming up with an error.

So I tried Countif(A1:A100,">2"). This worked. So if we include the criteria in quotes then the formula worked.

I also noticed a sumif function that also works in a similar way. It populates the sum of all the cells in the range specified that satisfy the criteria given.

Webinar-- Best Practices for Sharepoint 2010 upgrade

Shared Squared is running a webinar on 26th July 2011. The topic is -- " Best Practices for SharePoint 2010 Upgrade and Configuration"

Here is an excerpt from the site

The webinar will include various demonstrations and discuss:

•Who should upgrade, why & when
•How to assess existing SharePoint deployments and identify upgrade risks and opportunities
•Specific tasks that need to be done to prepare for SharePoint 2010
•How to identify and upgrade existing 2007 customizations
•Best Practices for supporting parallel environments, migration & preserving the investment in your existing SharePoint deployment
•Avoiding Upgrade & Migration Pitfalls

You can register here

Adventure Works for SQL Server Denali CTP3

I came across this link on Codeplex this morning which will be helpful for learing Denali

Here is an excerpt from the site

This release is dedicated to the Adventure Works sample databases and related samples that ship for Microsoft SQL Server code-named "Denali", Community Technical Preview 3 (CTP3). This release uses the AdventureWorks2008R2 and AdventureWorksDWDenali sample databases. They have been upgraded to the "Denali" CTP3 version.

The only change to AdventureWorks2008R2 is the removal of the FILESTREAM dependency. The FILESTREAM properties have been removed from the Production.Document table. No additional schema or data changes have been made.

The only changes to AdventureWorksDWDenali are the additions of the FactProductInventory table, which contains inventory data, and more date data in the DimDate table to fill the years, 2001 to 2006.

These databases cannot be installed on any version of SQL Server other than SQL Server code-named "Denali" CTP3.

Powerpoint presentation tips

Today I was sitting in a demo presentation and learned a few tips that my colleague Mark Crosby shared.

Did you know that in the slide show mode of the powerpoint presentation if you want to jump to a particular slide, you can just put in the slide number and enter and you can go straight into that slide without coming out of the presentation mode. He also added that if you have the slides printed and numbered it will be easy for you to go to the respective slide if you know the number of the slide.

Another tip he shared is by pressing the 'B' key you can pause the presentation so that the audience concentrate on you rather than on the presentation. The screen turns black. You can resume the presentation by pressing the same 'B' key.

Pressing the 'W' key will make the screen white instead of black and resuming the presentation can be done by pressing the 'W' key again.

I thought these tips will be helpful for all you presenters out there....

Free TSQL Webcasts Start Next Week



In SSWUG.ORG’s “Writing T-SQL Queries and Code” webcast series, you will be able to learn how to write aggregate and crosstab queries, as well as how to use common table expressions to write recursive queries.

In three, in-depth sessions, Kathi Kellenberger, SQL Server Technology Specialist for Microsoft and author of Beginning T-SQL 2008, will teach beginning and experienced T-SQL programmers about writing code to ensure their applications are highly performing.

By the end of the series, you will be more familiar with T-SQL queries and know how to simplify your work through new and advanced features.

Learn more about the virtual webcast content and register today.

Adding Hyperlinks in Crystal Reports

Last week one of my colleagues asked whether there is a possibility to add hyperlinks in crystal reports. I thought that is a good question but felt that you could add and so started searching for an option in crystal reports. Here is what I found.

When you select a particular field for which you want to hyperlink and rightclick and choose the option format field. There is a tab called hyperlink and there are variety of options to add a hyperlink as shown below. As you can see the options to add a hyperlink are a link to a website, an email address, a file, current email field value and current website field value.

What is Google + ?

In the past one week I have heard this term Google+ so many times that it intrigued me to find out what exactly this is. I am sure some of you may have heard it too. So I resorted to Google and here is an excerpt from the cnet site.

For now, Google is quick to call Google+ a "project," and acknowledged that the social service still has "rough edges." However, it currently has a host of features to help people communicate over the Web with friends and family.

Google+ is designed around "Circles" that allow users to group people within their social sphere into different categories. Google says that the people you tend to meet up with on Saturday nights, for example, can be grouped into their own category, while parents can be placed into another. You can then decide to share only certain information with different Circles.

In addition, the social service includes a feature called Hangouts that lets you find others who are "hanging out" on the Web. If you decide to join a given hangout, you'll be able to engage in a video chat with the others there. Google+ also comes with an Instant Upload option that automatically uploads all photos and videos from your phone to your profile. From there, you can decide who to share that content with.



Read more:

Have you heard of Microsoft Dreams Park?

This morning I came across this web site by Microsoft called "Microsoft Dreamspark" They have training videos, reading material and provide microsoft professional tools free of cost for students to practice.

Please have a look and sign in and take advantage

SQL Disaster Recovery Event from SSWUG

Here are the event details from SSWUG.

Attend the Free SQL Disaster Recovery Event

SSWUG's free virtual expo will showcase several ways to prevent a SQL Server disaster and how to recover the database in the event of loss or damage. Through the in-depth sessions with some of the leading SQL Server experts in the information technology (IT) field, you will see many demonstrations and examples on anticipating and reducing the likelihood of a database tragedy. Learn more about the virtual expo content and register today.

Microsft outlook export option

A couple of days ago my manager asked whether there is a way to convert appointments recorded in outlook into a report so that the data need not be double handled.

I thought there should be some sort of an export option provided in outlook and started exploring the menus in outlook. Sure enouth there I found under the File menu an option called Import and Export as shown below.

I chose the export to file option as shown below.

I them chose the csv for windows option as shown below.

In the next screen I chose the calendar folder and specified the dates to export and the path and the file name. The csv file was exported with all the different fields.

Free SSAAS Expo again from SSWUG

SSWUG.ORG’s virtual expo will review various aspects of SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), which enables the server to be used for analytical processing and data mining.
Through our in-depth sessions with four of the leading experts in the information technology (IT) and business intelligence (BI) fields, you will see many demonstrations and examples on designing, creating and managing data from multiple sources.

By the end of theevent, you should have the tools and understanding needed to bring added functionality, automation and insight into your data.

Sessions will cover the following topics:
Common Mistakes with SSAS Cube Designs
SSAS Partitioning and Aggregation Strategies
Properly Using the SSAS Query Cache
Overcoming SSAS Implementation Issues
Building a Scalable SSAS Solution
Best Practices for Performance and Tuning Techniques

Click here to Register!

Free Webcast Series on Sharepint 2010 from SSWUG

SharePoint beginners and experts can benefit from attending SSWUG.ORG’s “SharePoint 2010 Basics” webcast series, which will delve into what you can do with the newest version of SharePoint and how the platform can benefit your business.

In four, in-depth sessions, Rebecca Isserman, SharePoint Server MVP and Consultant for Planet Technologies, will explain how to use the platform’s key features, create sample applications in the development environment, blend Silverlight applications with SharePoint and more.

By the end of the series, you will know about the various and available environments and tools you can use to develop a functional and optimized SharePoint project.

Click here to see the session schedule.

Click here to register.

Restore folder in Sharepoint

We heavily use a customised feature of Image Library on sharepoint 2007 which is our Intranet. One of the new users yesterday had deleted a whole folder from this library and wanted us to restore this. Now we have never done a restore onto the sharepoint.

So I started investigating the sharepoint settings as to how to solve this problem rather than looking at the backup to restore.

So this is what I found! a Recycle Bin in the Sharepoint. And there are the files from the folder that was deleted neatly sitting in there. Wow that's a learning for the day I thought.

So here is the path as to how I found the Recycle Bin.

• Click on the Image Ibrary on the intranet


• Click on site settings


• Click on Recycle Bin which is under Site Collection Administration as shown below.

Free MDX Webcast Series by SSWUG

Explore the basic functions of MDX and view many practical examples on using the query language in SSWUG's "Introduction to MDX" webcast series.

In three, in-depth sessions, Business Intelligence architect and MDX expert Bill Pearson will focus on the basic components of MDX, as well as provide information on crafting simple MDX expressions and queries that generate result sets.

Click here to see the Session dates

Click here to see the Session Schedule.

I think these sessions will be particularly useful for beginners.

ATBroker.exe

Last night when I tried to access my computer from home via Remote Desktop Connection an error came up as shown below.

This is the first time I have encountered with this error. Since I had lots of work to do I logged on to one of the servers and did my work thinking that the error will disappear when I access the actual machine in the morning. But to my surprise the error persisted when I switched on the monitor in the morning. So I tried the usual Ctrl+Alt+Delete. And there lies the familiar screen which made me relax as shown below.

So I chose the Start Task MAnager option and luckily got into the computer. But I am not sure why the error has come up. Have any of you had this error before? If so what did you do? And do you know why this error came up?