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Video: Moving SQL Server Data Files

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If you are like me, when you look at certain pieces of SQL Server documentation the sheer volume of information can be a little overwhelming.

ALTER DATABASE is one of those documents, due to the number of things that can be ALTERed.  The documentation has been improved since I was a young newbie DBA, but still…

Anyway, here is a simple video showing me moving a LOG file from my D drive to the C drive:

If you have comments or questions, please leave them on the video, or ping me on Twitter.

Thanks for watching!

Kevin3NF

IRL: Cannot Connect to SQL Server

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IRL #2 – Connectivity Issues

Problem: Application owner is trying connect to SQL Server to create a database, connection failed.  Error message suggests checking Instance Name and “Allow Remote Connections” option set to True.

Background: This client has a wide variety of SQL Servers in Prod, Test and Dev.  Many different versions and editions, quite a few coming from 3rd party vendors.  This was in a new test environment for an application already up and running in Prod.

Resolution Attempts:

  • Try to Connect via IP address – failed
  • Verify Instance name – verified
  • Verify “Allow Remote Connections” is set to 1/True – it is
  • Verify SQL Browser Service Running – discovered Set to Disabled
  • Verify TCP/IP network protocol enabled – discovered disabled

Solution:

  • Enable TCP/IP for Named Instance SQLEXPRESS03
  • Restart Instance
  • Set SQL Browser Service to Automatic and start
  • Test logon via UDL file – success

Lessons you can benefit from:

  • SQL Express default install only enables Shared memory connections
  • Error messages are not always going to give you complete information
  • Have a process for testing

This entire process took about 10 minutes, including the instance restart.  There are 3 other Express edition installs on this server.

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF

Your SQL Servers are misconfigured

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So are some of mine.

So are 90% of the servers I run across, especially in mid-size businesses ( <1000 employees, or 10-20 servers typically).

Its probably not your fault.

There are a bunch of instance level settings in SQL Server that need to be set that are specific to your environment and the workload you are going to run against it.  Most of the defaults that are in the SQL Server installer are set up to make sure the performance is acceptable on a very modest server.  Until version 2016, the installer had not changed much.

The problem is that in a large number of organizations, the person doing the installation of SQL Server is a Developer, or a SysAdmin running a script.   Both are great at their core jobs, but does either of them know what Cost Threshold for Parallelism is?  It is not in the installer…it has to be configured post install or left at a very old default number that most likely makes no sense for you.

Likewise, if you are running SQL Server installed from a script that came with a 3rd party software product, you very likely have the “safest” possible settings in place.

Some of the most common things I see everywhere:

  • Instant File Initialization not enabled
  • Cost Threshold for Parallelism not set correctly
  • MAXDOP set to 1 or ALL CPUs
  • MAX Memory left at default
  • MAX Memory left at default on a multi-instance server
  • Default file locations for system databases, or all
  • No maintenance processes

That is the short list.

Sales Pitch:  I will give you the first hour (one server) free to check on your configuration.  This involves me running a set of scripts, analyzing the results and sending back some recommendations.  Yes, I want to implement them for you as well.

Alternatively, a lighter weight version of this is the Constant Care offering from Brent Ozar Unlimited.  I can take his results and explain what they mean so that we can make intelligent decisions together.  We are not affiliated with Brent Ozar Unlimited, other than as part of the SQL Community.

Let’s talk.  Click HERE to set a meeting on my Calendar.

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF


Installing the ‘Ola Scripts’…quick and easy database maintenance

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I was recently in a conversation about the best way to go about setting up maintenance (Backups, Integrity Checks, Indexes and stats) for a group of SQL Servers, with minimal hassle, and easy to deploy to new servers.

The factors that came into play on this were:

  • Supportability
  • Cost
  • Ease of use

We discussed the following different options (I was not talking to a DBA, but a SQL Developer):

For this customer, in this environment, I decided to recommend Ola’s scripts.  The primary drivers were ease of installation and the amazing free support from the hundreds (thousands?) of DBAs that know and love them.  Myself included.

But I still have to prove my point to this client no matter what I recommend…so I made this video.

Enjoy:

Skip to 5:00 if you already have SQL Server installed…that first bit is just to show this on a clean instance 🙂

If you have any questions, feel free to comment on the video, or if you need specific help hit up #sqlhelp on Twitter.

Thanks for reading and watching!

Kevin3NF