Loads of SQL Server tips as well as all the latest SQL Server news brought to you by Brisbane's Leading SQL Server Consultants

Newsletter Issue #34
In this issue:

December WARDY IT Community Dinner
December SQL Server User Groups
DecryptSQL
Memory Supported by the Editions
BIDS Helper
Physical Storage Design
SQL Server Compact 3.5
Consistency Check on VLDB's
Updated SQL Server 2005 BOL
SQL Server Virtual DBA

Did you know?

Jeff Wharton was the overall Winner of the Speaker Idol at the Tech.Ed Developer Forum.

 

Kalen Delaney will be presenting in Sydney and Brisbane in February 2008.

Welcome to the November WARDY IT Solutions SQL Server Newsletter

 

In last month's newsletter I mentioned that a lot of the new features that people are excited about in SQL Server 2008 where not yet available. It is amazing what a difference a month can make as SQL Server 2008 CTP 5 (November 2007) has been released. With this release comes a vast array of new features such as the FILESTREAM Datatype, Spatial Data Storage, Methods and Indexing as well as Transparent Encryption. To download and see all these new features for yourself refer to here. Of special note is the fact that this CTP provides the first look at SQL Server 2008 Express Edition.

 

To find out more on how the release of SQL Server 2008 will affect your organisation, why not contact Brisbane's Leading SQL Server Consultants, WARDY IT Solutions?

 

If you are looking to gain a deeper understanding of the SQL Server internals to assist with administration and tuning then don't miss the opportunity to attend Kalen Delaney's 5 Day SQL Server Architecture, Internals and Optimisation course.

 

Kalen Delaney is the author of Inside SQL Server 7, Inside SQL Server 2000 and the series editor for the four part Inside SQL Server 2005 series. She is also a monthly author for the SQL Server Magazine.

 

Kalen will be presenting two courses while she is in Australia: one in Brisbane and one is Sydney. Brisbane's course will be held from the 18th to the 22nd of February 2008 and the Sydney course will be held from the 25th to the 29th of February 2008. For more details refer to here. Places for these two courses are strictly limited to provide you with an opportunity to learn from one of the world's leading trainers and mentors for SQL Server. So make sure you do not delay securing your booking ASAP by phoning 1300 WARDY IT (927 394).

 

 

Happy Reading

 

Peter Ward

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December WARDY IT Community Dinner

The WARDY IT Community Dinner is a casual event for IT professionals in South East Queensland. It is a fun way to meet new people and find out how other IT professionals are dealing with the challenges that we face every day. The December WARDY IT Dinner is being held on Monday the 17th of December at Mint Indian Gourmet, Fortitude Valley. Add this event to your Outlook Calendar.

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December SQL Server User Groups

This month at the Canberra and QLD SQL Server User Group, Catherine Eibner from Cybner Computer Solutions will demonstrate how to perform some of the common day-to-day tasks in SSIS as well as the pitfalls to be aware of to ensure that the DTS upgrade path is as painless as possible. For details of the Canberra meeting refer to here and for the Brisbane meeting refer to here.

 

For details of SQL Server User Group events in other Australian cities refer to the Australian SQL Server User Groups website.

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DecryptSQL

If you have ever been in the situation where a SQL Server Stored Procedure or Function has been encrypted and the original source has been lost then you will know that the definition of the stored procedure is unable to be returned. DecryptSQL is a utility that can be used in order to easily retrieve the definition of objects that have been created using the WITH ENCRYPTION option and may save you the task of re-creating the object from scratch. For more details about DecryptSQL refer to here.

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Memory Supported by the Editions

A question that is often asked by people, especially when they are looking at purchasing new hardware to run a nwe SQL Server instance, is 'What is the Memory Supported by the Editions of SQL Server 2005?'. The following article provides a matrix of these details that are broken down by edition. The article can be found here.

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BIDS Helper

BIDS Helper is a Visual Studio.Net add-in with features that extend and enhance the functionality of the SQL Server 2005 BI Development Studio (BIDS). The add-in includes some invaluable features such as the ability to easily delete unused aggregations in analysis services and list all of the expressions defined in an SSIS package. For more details and to download BIDS Helper refer to here.

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Physical Storage Design

Microsoft has released a great white paper that is designed to assist database architects and administrators with configuring Microsoft SQL Server 2005 systems for optimal I/O performance and space utilization. This white paper can be found here.

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SQL Server Compact 3.5

SQL Server Compact 3.5 introduces a host of new features including LINQ to SQL support, Microsoft Synchronization Services for ADO.NET and enhanced support for T-SQL statements. To take a look at the new features in SQL Server Compact 3.5 simply download it from here.

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Consistency Check on VLDB's

Often people do not run a consistency check on Very Large Databases (VLDB's) due to the resources required and the duration to run the checks. Paul Randal has put an article together on some of the approaches that are available to ensure that you are aware if there is an issue with your databases. This blog post can be found here.

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Updated SQL Server 2005 BOL

The September 2007 update to SQL Server 2005 Books Online (BOL) has been available online via MSDN for some time. The updated version of BOL is now available for download so make sure you download the latest version so you have access new material and fixes to documentation problems. The updated version of BOL can be downloaded from here.

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SQL Server Virtual DBA

Virtual DBA was recently featured at the Microsoft Enterprise Product Roadmap Event. To find out about more about our participation in this event refer to here .

 

Virtual DBA is a remote database administration service designed by WARDY IT Solutions to assist organisations with the management of Microsoft SQL Server. Our Virtual DBA service provides a cost effective solution to meet the day-to-day challenges of availability, performance and administration of Microsoft SQL Server databases. To find out more about the benefits of a Virtual DBA refer to here.

 

Something you may not know is that our Virtual DBA service can be utilised for phone and email support. So, if your organisation just needs someone that they can call on for advice then why not use a Virtual DBA?

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WARDY IT Solutions is a highly regarded IT Solutions provider specialising in Microsoft SQL Server.  You may not be aware though that WARDY IT Solutions is also a Microsoft Certified Partner and has an established relationship with numerous hardware and software vendors, enabling us to provide competitive pricing on your next hardware or software acquisition.  For more information on how WARDY IT Solutions can assist with your next acquisition email: contact@wardyit.com.