http://www.windowsitpro.com/authors/author/author/5327119/rsscomment/5327119en-USSun, 27 May 2012 06:15:28 GMTSun, 27 May 2012 06:15:28 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/technology-sexism-143189#commentsAnchorThu, 24 May 2012 11:17:52 GMT
The noise about sexism in IT never fails to surprise me. I appreciate your statement that you are not female, and therefore don't what it's like to be a female in a predominantly male environment. I am female, with 25 years experience in the programming/database design and administration tools in engineering and manufacturing companies. So yes, I have been in a minority through most of my career. However, I have experienced neither preferential treatment nor discrimination due to my gender. I have always been part of the team, with my skills, experience and advice considered by my colleagues and management in the same manner as my colleagues were considered. So based on my experience alone (understanding that it is the unique experience of a single individual), I ask myself whether there is actually rampant sexism inside the IT profession, or whether culture or other factors mostly external to IT makes my profession unattractive to a disporportiate number of women before they even get started. It would be interesting to hear from other women in the profession whether their experience is similar to mine, or whether they've experienced sexism directed toward them or their female colleagues.]]>stebbinsaThu, 24 May 2012 11:17:52 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/technology-sexism-143189#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/technology-sexism-143189#commentsAnchorThu, 24 May 2012 10:25:52 GMT
Ever attended a technical training class. Where's the women? Of 6 *public* technical classes I've attended recently, each with between 15 and 20 people, only 3 classes had *any* women. Women are quite common in the creative and management streams; rare as hen's teeth in deep technical subjects (e.g. Java programming). It's sad and has nothing to do with 'environments'; it's everything to do with early stage development.]]>Wibble IIThu, 24 May 2012 10:25:52 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/technology-sexism-143189#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/technology-sexism-143189#commentsAnchorThu, 24 May 2012 10:12:57 GMT
The technology aside, what you are describing in your first paragraph is true for a lot of areas. There are so many bright women everywhere who are noticed for being shiny stars. The reason for that is to get the same acclaim as men in business with mostly men you have to be better. And that doesn't apply just for women. A CEO or any other complexion then white, a female cop, an hispanic judge... Real equality comes when there are as many incompetent assholes in top position who are women, hispanic, muslim (etc etc) as white men. ]]>mrsbeataThu, 24 May 2012 10:12:57 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/technology-sexism-143189#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/technology-sexism-143189#commentsAnchorThu, 24 May 2012 10:00:45 GMT
"As a father with young girls, my wife and I have made a very conscious decision to limit the amount of television, advertising, and media exposure that my daughters (and son) receive so that they can understand the notion that female worth and value stems from external and outward beauty alone. " My DBA sister would want think you forgot a couple of words at the end of that sentence: "is nonsense".]]>swolterstorffThu, 24 May 2012 10:00:45 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/technology-sexism-143189#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/asp-net-mvc-localization#commentsAnchorSat, 19 May 2012 12:39:09 GMT
It is amazing how difficult it is to find well written and informative articles such as yours. I think this article deserves at least this one positive comment for its comprehensiveness.]]>Dimitris PantazopoulosSat, 19 May 2012 12:39:09 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/asp-net-mvc-localization#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/entity-framework/entity-framework-orms-142979#commentsAnchorFri, 04 May 2012 08:27:01 GMT
Great assessment on ORMs and useful information. Thank you.]]>Allen ConwayFri, 04 May 2012 08:27:01 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/entity-framework/entity-framework-orms-142979#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/microsoft-public-relations-problem-142933#commentsAnchorFri, 27 Apr 2012 07:53:25 GMT
The problem is that Microsoft positioned the company around Bill Gates. Now that Gates is no longer associated with Microsoft, the company must develop a new positioning strategy. . ]]>PR ManagerFri, 27 Apr 2012 07:53:25 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/microsoft-public-relations-problem-142933#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/microsoft-public-relations-problem-142933#commentsAnchorFri, 27 Apr 2012 07:52:44 GMT
The problem is that Microsoft positioned the company around Bill Gates. Now that Gates is no longer associated with Microsoft, the company must develop a new positioning strategy. . ]]>PR ManagerFri, 27 Apr 2012 07:52:44 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/microsoft-public-relations-problem-142933#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/microsoft-visual-studio-strategy-problems-142753#commentsAnchorSat, 07 Apr 2012 21:16:00 GMT
The VS strat in question is pushing VS (a tool that works well for developers) out on DBAs (SSMS), BI developers (BIDS/SSDT) and eventually to operations/IT folks - as the links above outlined. And, nothing with this strategy would really be problematic except for: a) non-devs get a 'hand me down' version of Visual Studio that isn't COMPATIBLE with various aspects of either the products/tools their working with or with other .NET/Visual Studio Components and b) devs who are ALSO BI developers or DBAs get the shaft additionally because the versioning/incompatibility problems go through the roof since MS seems to do an insanely crappy job of testing for cases where someone MIGHT have the latest version of VS and SQL Server on the same box (and I'm just talking SQL Server CLIENT/DEV tools - not the server/engine), and because cases where you have multiple 'flavors' of VS on your box (if you're wearing different 'hats') end up causing issues where profile/preference settings from one IDE/Environment don't work with the other very well - but you're STUCK with ONE profile for both 'versions' of VS and so on. --Mike]]>Michael K. CampbellSat, 07 Apr 2012 21:16:00 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/microsoft-visual-studio-strategy-problems-142753#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/microsoft-visual-studio-strategy-problems-142753#commentsAnchorThu, 05 Apr 2012 15:30:50 GMT
I dont see the point of this article titled "Microsoft's Visual Studio Strategy has Major Problems" Visual Studio is a software development IDE, not a DBA tool. SQL Server 2012 is BETA, not released product. SQL Server has its own development tools, Visual Studio is not SQL Server Management Studio, it is its own product. My experience uising Visual Studio is that it gets along just fine with SQL Server. ]]>gibsonrobertThu, 05 Apr 2012 15:30:50 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/microsoft-visual-studio-strategy-problems-142753#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/sql-server-database-corruptionndashpart-vii-backups-142594#commentsAnchorFri, 23 Mar 2012 01:46:46 GMT
Hi, You can use TF 3023 to automatically enable CHECKSUM for backups in case the 3rd party tools does not expose the option. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2656988 ]]>Vishal GajjarFri, 23 Mar 2012 01:46:46 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/sql-server-database-corruptionndashpart-vii-backups-142594#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/metro/microsoft-windows-8-metro-ui-142643#commentsAnchorThu, 22 Mar 2012 23:21:07 GMT
Thanks for confirming what I have been afraid of. I have used a Windows 7 tablet for over a year now (an EP121) and in spite of what the journalistic parrots have been saying for years, I think it works pretty well. The only significant thing that should have been improved to make Windows more suitable for touch tablets is the size of the strike area of many user controls: check-boxes, radio buttons, grid rows, etc. So all this time I have been afraid that Microsoft, pressured by the success of iOS, Android and the parrots, would compromise Windows to cater mainly for the current generation of resource and feature limited hardware at the bottom of the pile (i.e. phones and the lesser tablets) instead of recognizing that there are at least two entirely different markets here (plus the fact that most of the limitations that are used as excuses for those compromises are going away soon enough anyway). But no more: it is a fact now that, like Vista, Windows 8 will be another downgrade.]]>AlexFekkenThu, 22 Mar 2012 23:21:07 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/metro/microsoft-windows-8-metro-ui-142643#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/metro/microsoft-windows-8-metro-ui-142643#commentsAnchorThu, 22 Mar 2012 13:08:01 GMT
In the early 1990's I attended a meeting in San Francisco with Digital Equipment Corp. and Microsoft developers and managers on integrating DEC's networking with Microsoft's (the "glue" product was valled Pathworks). The meeting fell apart because of the Microsoft people. I followed one of them as he walked away and asked him about their lack of collaboration. His terse reply was "computer users must get used to having their environment dictated to them". I still manage a Microsoft shop and have placed my shared of calls for support over the years. But I don't know how I could possibly share my concerns with anyone at Microsoft who would listen about the obvious design flaws and just plain unresolved bugs in their software. It would seem their corporate culture is based on mediocre performance and marketing delusions. One can only wonder what they could accomplish if they ever learned to focus on excellence.]]>mflopezThu, 22 Mar 2012 13:08:01 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/metro/microsoft-windows-8-metro-ui-142643#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/sql-server-backups-141112#commentsAnchorTue, 06 Mar 2012 18:11:53 GMT
Jeffery, Thanks for taking the time to post the in-depth comments. I could have sworn that I 'updated' this post to provide a link to this post: http://www.sqlmag.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/breaking-backup-chain-redux-eating-crow-141459 But apparently I did NOT. Long story short: You are CORRECT and I was sadly completely wrong (to my ever-lasting shame). ]]>Michael K. CampbellTue, 06 Mar 2012 18:11:53 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/sql-server-backups-141112#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/sql-server-backups-141112#commentsAnchorThu, 23 Feb 2012 13:47:11 GMT
Sorry, previous comment did not take. This precedes the sample code above: Michael, I have to take issue with this posting. Contrary to your assertion, taking a full backup has absolutely no affect on the log chain. The log chain is a continuous string of log backups that can be followed by referencing the first_lsn and last_lsn values of the respective log backups in the msdb.dbo.backupset table. This chain transcends all full and differential backups, no matter how many are taken. Because of this feature, it is possible to restore a database to a point in time after the last full backup even if that last full backup is no longer available or is somehow unusable for a restore due to corruption, etc... Simply start the restore operation with a previous good full backup and continue with all tran log backups taken since that full backup. You'll have to restore a lot more tran log backup files, but at least restoration is still possible. As long as you have a continuous chain of good tran log backups taken since a good full backup, you have a fully recoverable situation no matter how many full backups were taken since that time. ]]>jeffreydjoyThu, 23 Feb 2012 13:47:11 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/sql-server-backups-141112#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/sql-server-backups-141112#commentsAnchorThu, 23 Feb 2012 13:45:28 GMT
Follow-up with sample code showing durability of the log chain over full backups: USE MASTER; CREATE DATABASE TestBackups ON (NAME = 'TestBackups_Data', FILENAME = 'c:\temp\TestBackups.mdf') LOG ON (NAME = 'TestBackups_Log', FILENAME = 'c:\temp\TestBackups.ldf'); go ALTER DATABASE TestBackups SET RECOVERY FULL; USE TestBackups; CREATE TABLE dbo.number( num int ); insert into dbo.number values( 1 ); -- Begin activity interspersed with backups USE master;BACKUP DATABASE TestBackups TO DISK = 'c:\temp\TestBackups_1.bak' WITH INIT; use TestBackups;insert into dbo.number values( 2 ); USE master;BACKUP LOG TestBackups TO DISK = 'c:\temp\TestBackups_2.trn' WITH INIT; use TestBackups;insert into dbo.number values( 3 ); USE master;BACKUP LOG TestBackups TO DISK = 'c:\temp\TestBackups_3.trn' WITH INIT; use TestBackups;insert into dbo.number values( 4 ); -- Take a second full backup which we will assume becomes unusable for a restore for some reason USE master;BACKUP DATABASE TestBackups TO DISK = 'c:\temp\TestBackups_4.bak' WITH INIT; use TestBackups;insert into dbo.number values( 5 ); USE master;BACKUP LOG TestBackups TO DISK = 'c:\temp\TestBackups_5.trn' WITH INIT; use TestBackups;insert into dbo.number values( 6 ); USE master;BACKUP LOG TestBackups TO DISK = 'c:\temp\TestBackups_6.trn' WITH INIT; use TestBackups;select 'Before Restore', num from dbo.number; USE master; RESTORE DATABASE TestBackups FROM DISK = 'c:\temp\TestBackups_1.bak' with norecovery; RESTORE LOG TestBackups FROM DISK = 'c:\temp\TestBackups_2.trn' with norecovery; RESTORE LOG TestBackups FROM DISK = 'c:\temp\TestBackups_3.trn' with norecovery; -- Skipping over full backup, TestBackups_4.bak. RESTORE LOG TestBackups FROM DISK = 'c:\temp\TestBackups_5.trn' with norecovery; RESTORE LOG TestBackups FROM DISK = 'c:\temp\TestBackups_6.trn' with recovery; use TestBackups;select 'After Restore', num from dbo.number; -- Cleanup USE MASTER;drop database TestBackups; ]]>jeffreydjoyThu, 23 Feb 2012 13:45:28 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/sql-server-backups-141112#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnetmvc/how-to-improve-seo-aspnet-mvc-141805#commentsAnchorMon, 09 Jan 2012 08:38:48 GMT
Nice article about how to issue 301's to eliminate dupe content. What about using the canonical meta link instead of redirects? http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/02/specify-your-canonical.html]]>sweeperqMon, 09 Jan 2012 08:38:48 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnetmvc/how-to-improve-seo-aspnet-mvc-141805#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/breaking-backup-chain-redux-eating-crow-141459#commentsAnchorWed, 30 Nov 2011 18:38:08 GMT
Mike - Kudos to you, first for taking the time to respond to your original post and secondly for acknowledging the fact that you made a mistake and for actually correcting it instead of just sweeping it under the rug. People use avenues like these as necessary tools in learning their trade and it's very important to ensure information is as accurate as possible. I for one will continue to read the blogs / articles posted here.]]>rxmooreWed, 30 Nov 2011 18:38:08 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/breaking-backup-chain-redux-eating-crow-141459#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/breaking-backup-chain-redux-eating-crow-141459#commentsAnchorWed, 30 Nov 2011 10:13:37 GMT
Like you, Michael, I've been working with SQL Server since the dawn of time. And like you, I've also been telling people NOT to break backup chains, in error! I wonder if this was the case at one time and I was simply promoting an concept that used to apply but was fixed with the SQL2005 release? In my dim recollections, it seems like I remember actually breaking a transaction log chain with a full backup - maybe it was in the SQL7 or SQL2K release? But a follow-on point to your excellent post, the ad hoc full database backup is as much a process problem as anything else. Under normal circumstances, our IT governance process shouldn't allow a full backup in the middle of the day. If a dev team needs a new copy of the database for whatever reason, they should be last night's full backup that was taken at the usual time. And if dev's have the privileges to take a full backup whenever they want without consulting with the DBA, well, then it's time to take away those privileges!]]>Kevin_KlineWed, 30 Nov 2011 10:13:37 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/breaking-backup-chain-redux-eating-crow-141459#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorMon, 28 Nov 2011 13:27:14 GMT
@rxmoore No worries on the cross post. I'm obviously pretty bummed that I've a) presented bad info here, b) carried along an INCORRECT understanding of the basics for so long. (I could swear I've been burned by t-log problems here in the past - and have, accordingly, always assumed that they were at risk of this issue. And so, this is just one of those cases where an incorrect assumption (on my part) can slowly blossom over time into almost paranoia - where I've always stayed SAFE by being a bit 'extra' cautious even though that extra caution wasn't warranted.) So, thanks a ton for calling me out on this - I really appreciate learning that I was wrong. (I just wish I had known BEFORE this post ;) ) Still trying to figure out the best way to salvage this post and the basics of this thought/cautionary-tale. --Mike]]>Michael K. CampbellMon, 28 Nov 2011 13:27:14 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorMon, 28 Nov 2011 13:07:41 GMT
I guess I have to applogize as well as my last post overlapped yours. I appreciate the fact that you tested out the scenarios and have come to the same conclusion. Thanks much for your update.]]>rxmooreMon, 28 Nov 2011 13:07:41 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorMon, 28 Nov 2011 13:03:16 GMT
I'm sorry, but I still have to disagree and point back to my original post. It doesn't matter that you have taken a 2nd full backup or several full backups nor does it matter if a 3rd party utility was used. It also has nothing to do with whether or not that backup has been lost. Any transaction logs taken after any subsequent full backup can still be applied to any previous full backup as if the other full backup(s) were never taken as long as all of the logs between the 1st full backup and the time you need to recover to still exist. The pertains to only transaction logs and can't be done using differential backups as those are directly tied to the previous non-copy only full backup. You can take Nightly full backups every night and hourly transaction log backups during the day and you could restore Sunday nights full backup and every hourly log through Friday and not have any issues with LSNs. The reference to Pauls blog is completely different as it's using nothing but full backups and differential backups. It has nothing to do with transaction logs and therefore the example doesn't apply to this scenario. I've also included an update from Pauls blog as noted below. [Edit: In the initial version of this post, the DBA's backup strategy included log backups. I went through a couple of versions of this post before settling on full + diffs, but I forgot to remove the reference to log backups. In the first comment, Mark House correctly points out that an accidental full backup doesn't prevent a DBA with a complete log backup chain from recovering to any point in time. Apologies for the confusion!] Please note that he is saying the exact same thing that I have already pointed out.]]>rxmooreMon, 28 Nov 2011 13:03:16 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorMon, 28 Nov 2011 12:53:29 GMT
Sigh. No sooner than had I posted my previous comment did I notice this disclaimer in Paul's post: [Edit: In the initial version of this post, the DBA's backup strategy included log backups. I went through a couple of versions of this post before settling on full + diffs, but I forgot to remove the reference to log backups. In the first comment, Mark House correctly points out that an accidental full backup doesn't prevent a DBA with a complete log backup chain from recovering to any point in time. Apologies for the confusion!] Which, frankly, is news to me - as I could swear I've been burned by this in the past (i.e., with transaction logs). Even worse is that I spent some decent time testing this out in two test environments to make sure that my statements about the use of log-files was correct. Sadly, I just tested that FULL/COPY_ONLY + TLOG backups worked - which was a moot point (as they'll always work). What I should have tested was whether they'd work WITHOUT the COPY_ONLY test going on. Or, stated differently, I was WRONG. So, I'll have to post a follow-up/correction. ]]>Michael K. CampbellMon, 28 Nov 2011 12:53:29 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorMon, 28 Nov 2011 12:37:04 GMT
Thanks for the comments everyone. I think I'll address them a bit more with a follow-up post - because this stuff IS confusing. And, the peril REALLY is there. The big thing that I think you are all missing is that you have to 'lose' access to that additional/secondary FULL backup. In my previous post about this problem the assumption was that some 3rd party backup solution was making this FULL (or differential) backup for you - and you didn't 'know' about it - or wouldn't remember it in a crisis. In which case, any log files applied after that backup was taken would NOT be able to be applied. Same thing in this case, IF you or a developer or SOMEONE/SOMETHING else takes a 'test' backup in the middle of the day and you NO LONGER have access to that file/backup, then you're dead in the water and you're NOT able to restore t-logs after that point until the next FULL/DIFFERENTIAL backup when the LSN is re-seeded and the backup chain is restarted. Again, a bit counter-intuitive - and I potentially (sadly) muddled that a bit with my diagram by NOT specifically calling out that the 2ndary backup has to be gone/missing. BUT, the key point is still the same: you can't apply T-Log backups to a FULL/DIFFERENTIAL backup after a non-COPY_ONLY backup has been made. (If you have access to that non-COPY_ONLY backup, then you're FINE as you can use it. BUT if it's GONE and you no longer have access to it, you'll be hating life.) Paul Randall covers a pretty technical example of this here: http://sqlskills.com/BLOGS/PAUL/post/BACKUP-WITH-COPY_ONLY-how-to-avoid-breaking-the-backup-chain.aspx I think I'll follow up in a day or so with a more simple example that readers can try for themselves in order to be able to better see this problem in action. Regards, --Mike]]>Michael K. CampbellMon, 28 Nov 2011 12:37:04 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorWed, 23 Nov 2011 22:17:32 GMT
Agree with rxmoore. I've tested that same solution and worked perfectly if you have only Full and Tlog backups. As long as you have the whole set of Tlogs you can restore with any of your full backups not necessarily the last one. I can assure this because I had to set many times mirroring accross datacenters on different continents for DBs around 500 GB which takes at least in my network a couple of days to copy... and I have copy a full backup and while it was being copied another full backup took place on the source instance... however I was able to restore everything using the 1st backup and all the tlogs that followed that.. and set the mirror.. all these without using the COPY_ONLY option in any case....]]>maximmunWed, 23 Nov 2011 22:17:32 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorWed, 23 Nov 2011 13:23:21 GMT
I did the same test as rxmoore and his is right. Your article is confusing, because otherwise we need to change our backup strategy for whole company.]]>BShimonov1Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:23:21 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorWed, 23 Nov 2011 09:37:52 GMT
This is the second article that you have posted that I've read that is confusing to me with regards to breaking the log chain. The copy_only backup feature is there to prevent the breaking of the chain between full backups and differential backups. Since the differential backup ties specifically to the last FULL backup. You can successfully restore transaction logs to any full backup as long as order is maintained. Please see the following example which works under any scenario where differentials aren't being used. 1. FULL backup 2. insert into a table 3. LOG backup 4. insert into a table 5. FULL backup 6. insert into a table 7. LOG backup I can restore either steps 1 & 3 & 7 (which is the log after the 2nd full backup) without any issue at all I can also restore steps 5 & 7 which brings me to the same state. The begins_log_chain value in msdb..backupset is only set to 1 for the 1st transaction log backup unless the recovery_model is changed. I'd like to know under what scenarios with the given example that the long chain would be broken that would prevent me from being able to restore the transation logs. The 1st pictured example leads one to believe that logs 3-5 couldn't be restored to the initial full backup which isn't the case.]]>rxmooreWed, 23 Nov 2011 09:37:52 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server-2008-r2/unused-secret-weapon-copy_only-backups-141323#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/net-framework-45-versioning-faces-problems-141160#commentsAnchorFri, 18 Nov 2011 02:40:48 GMT
Good article and thank your for raising the issue. During our development of EasyQuery library we encountered the problems even between version .NET 2.0 and .NET 4.0 (try to place into one folder two assemblies for different versions of CLR but which implements one namespace inside). The very mess was with .NET 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 as well: the same CLR but different versions of .NET Now again we will need to make difficult decisions : what target version will we need to set for our assemblies 4.0 or 4.5? What will be the consequences of each such decision?]]>korzhFri, 18 Nov 2011 02:40:48 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/net-framework-45-versioning-faces-problems-141160#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/burned-net-client-framework-140843#commentsAnchorMon, 07 Nov 2011 12:08:29 GMT
We wasted three hours of your day, sorry about that. ]]>svenkaMon, 07 Nov 2011 12:08:29 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/burned-net-client-framework-140843#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/net-framework-45-versioning-faces-problems-141160#commentsAnchorFri, 04 Nov 2011 08:45:19 GMT
Excellent points Micheal. I concur with your thoughts. Versioning concerns by management have already left my IT shop with a mixed bag of "MS SQL 2008" versus "MS SQL 2008 R2". In our corporate environment updates often fail due to security issues. The inability to verify version 4.5 assemblies were installed via version numbers will be a major headache for us. I see a future of me telling end users "Re-install v4.5 .NET Framework" using an "Administrator" user id to resolve application issues :-( ]]>John C. Lieurance, MSFri, 04 Nov 2011 08:45:19 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/net-framework-45-versioning-faces-problems-141160#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/net-framework-45-versioning-faces-problems-141160#commentsAnchorFri, 04 Nov 2011 04:57:17 GMT
Well constructed argument. Lets hope the marketing-oriented "product manager" gimp at Microsoft listens. Unfortunately it's probably all perceived as blah-blah-blah from engineers as the PM doesn't understand the issues. Wouldn't it be nice if we could claim damages from Microsoft for failing in their duty of care to their customers?]]>Wibble IIFri, 04 Nov 2011 04:57:17 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/net-framework-45-versioning-faces-problems-141160#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/net-framework-45-versioning-faces-problems-141160#commentsAnchorFri, 04 Nov 2011 03:40:18 GMT
Thanks for raising this issue early. I totally agree that this is an absurd proposal and, like you, seriously hope that MS reconsiders.]]>tonywhalenFri, 04 Nov 2011 03:40:18 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/net-framework-45-versioning-faces-problems-141160#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-azure-database/sql-azure-100-percent-availability-141070#commentsAnchorFri, 28 Oct 2011 14:12:35 GMT
@Roger_Jennings Great Question Roger. Ultimately, I just don't want to put all of my eggs in the same basket. Part of what I'm shooting for here in terms of achieving 100% uptime for my app is that I'm specifically NOT sticking with any one service provider. (i.e., I'll be hosting redundant apps with a number of different hosting providers. So, in the case of my SQL back-end, I don't want this hosted by a single provider either (even if we're talking different data centers).) Regards, --Mike]]>Michael K. CampbellFri, 28 Oct 2011 14:12:35 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-azure-database/sql-azure-100-percent-availability-141070#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-azure-database/sql-azure-100-percent-availability-141070#commentsAnchorFri, 28 Oct 2011 13:03:40 GMT
Michael, I'm curious why you didn't use SQL Azure Sync Services to update the secondary database in another Microsoft data cener. Cheers, --rj]]>Roger_JenningsFri, 28 Oct 2011 13:03:40 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-azure-database/sql-azure-100-percent-availability-141070#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/burned-net-client-framework-140843#commentsAnchorFri, 07 Oct 2011 03:34:14 GMT
Been there, done that, written the blog. http://philpursglove.blogspot.com/2010/08/data-does-not-exist-in-namespace.html When I have some free time (ha!), I'm going to go through all my Visual Studio templates, change them all to the full profile, and re-import them to Visual Studio.]]>bis4ppFri, 07 Oct 2011 03:34:14 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/burned-net-client-framework-140843#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/burned-net-client-framework-140843#commentsAnchorThu, 06 Oct 2011 22:46:16 GMT
Yes, I have encountered this and was banging my head against the desk until I found the one dinky toggle.]]>corderThu, 06 Oct 2011 22:46:16 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/burned-net-client-framework-140843#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/burned-net-client-framework-140843#commentsAnchorThu, 06 Oct 2011 20:18:05 GMT
Did you ever notice that when you point your finger at someone else, you always have three fingers pointed at yourself? (Try it)]]>djbaldwinThu, 06 Oct 2011 20:18:05 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/net-framework/burned-net-client-framework-140843#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/windowsserver8/windows-8-developers-140665#commentsAnchorThu, 22 Sep 2011 13:58:43 GMT
We have waited long before MS brings a web development tool i.e. Silverlight that has the same or better look and feel than Windows forms. It is superior and more consistent than ASP.net, ajax, java scripting, css etc.It would be major mistake of MS if it will not support Silverlight in Windows8 for both the desktop and tabletversion. Java scripting is no standard (every browser has its own implementation). The same is true for HTML5. So it downgrading to inferior technology. when you used html5+javascripting for development. Microsoft should actively support SL for mono and also that SL can be run on ARM processors with Windows-8! Henk]]>henkThu, 22 Sep 2011 13:58:43 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/windowsserver8/windows-8-developers-140665#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/windows-azure-platform2/microsoft-windows-azure-not-tried-140425#commentsAnchorFri, 02 Sep 2011 13:53:55 GMT
I'd recommend starting here: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/]]>BrianFri, 02 Sep 2011 13:53:55 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/windows-azure-platform2/microsoft-windows-azure-not-tried-140425#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/windows-azure-platform2/microsoft-windows-azure-not-tried-140425#commentsAnchorFri, 02 Sep 2011 09:35:26 GMT
Michael, Re "if you need worker and web roles, you'll need two distinct instances of Azure to pull that off," you can have multiple worker and web roles in single Azure instance. The maximum number of endpoints per instance was recently increased to 25. --rj]]>Roger_JenningsFri, 02 Sep 2011 09:35:26 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/windows-azure-platform2/microsoft-windows-azure-not-tried-140425#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/windows-azure-platform2/microsoft-windows-azure-not-tried-140425#commentsAnchorThu, 01 Sep 2011 15:40:32 GMT
Why is everyone ignoring the blue elephant in the room? No ever talks about the VERY high cost!! With Google being so cheap, It's really heard to persuade my bosses that we should stick with .net and MS. ]]>thundr51Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:40:32 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/windows-azure-platform2/microsoft-windows-azure-not-tried-140425#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/windows-azure-platform2/microsoft-windows-azure-not-tried-140425#commentsAnchorThu, 01 Sep 2011 13:07:15 GMT
Some dull T-SQL limitations are still specific to SQL Azure. For example you have no rights to create temp table, something often used in stored procedures. They are many security limitations. Why? I suspect that this is organized as a multi-tenants SQL Server, using clustering for some fail-ver protection. Microsoft should instead dedicate to its customer a full-fledge SQL Server virtual machine instead of a stripped down SQL. Their proposition is like going to cloud by giving up your wings! With proper free tools like YourSqlDba to automate database management and backups, SQL Server is not much work to manage. It is then not obvious to see which option is less costly.]]>Maurice PelchatThu, 01 Sep 2011 13:07:15 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/windows-azure-platform2/microsoft-windows-azure-not-tried-140425#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/c3/basics-key-mastering-software-development-140316#commentsAnchorThu, 01 Sep 2011 02:48:47 GMT
I like the "recipes" book too. It's better learn for examples, than digest a lot of theory pages, and this book is very useful indeed. Luigi]]>Luigi ZambettiThu, 01 Sep 2011 02:48:47 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/c3/basics-key-mastering-software-development-140316#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/toad-professional-5-0-for-sql-server#commentsAnchorMon, 15 Aug 2011 05:36:51 GMT
12]]>kevinMon, 15 Aug 2011 05:36:51 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/toad-professional-5-0-for-sql-server#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/product-review-red-gate-softwares-sql-prompt-51-136202#commentsAnchorThu, 04 Aug 2011 11:11:08 GMT
SQL Prompt is certainly superior to the native Intellisense in SSMS. In my opinion SoftTree's SQL Assistant is even better. It's formatting features are more complete, precise, and flexible. It also includes snippets, shortcuts, the ability to define templates for all sorts of standard sql statements and more. ]]>justin.randallThu, 04 Aug 2011 11:11:08 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/product-review-red-gate-softwares-sql-prompt-51-136202#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnetmvc/aspnet-mvc-seo-notfoundresults-139738#commentsAnchorThu, 07 Jul 2011 11:42:42 GMT
sasfa]]>Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:42:42 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnetmvc/aspnet-mvc-seo-notfoundresults-139738#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/database-development/sql-server-denali-developers-part-2-136343#commentsAnchorSun, 19 Jun 2011 08:48:27 GMT
Any feature which is brought into the database engine is great from a performance management ]]>sqlserver-dba.comSun, 19 Jun 2011 08:48:27 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/database-development/sql-server-denali-developers-part-2-136343#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server/why-is-sql-server-running-dbcc-checkdb-against-my-databases-at-server-startup-139458#commentsAnchorSat, 11 Jun 2011 18:01:44 GMT
Thanks for the great info Michael. It is interesting to know what SQL Server is doing upon startup.]]>Dave ClarkSat, 11 Jun 2011 18:01:44 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server/why-is-sql-server-running-dbcc-checkdb-against-my-databases-at-server-startup-139458#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server/t-sql-parameters-and-variables-basics-and-best-practices-139456#commentsAnchorThu, 26 May 2011 15:06:15 GMT
Thanks, I appreciate the "Declare Variables Late" suggestion. I have done it both ways and recently began exclusively declaring variables late in t-sql. I realized that it had no performance impact and wondered which practice was considered "best". I liked your reasoning.]]>John BakerThu, 26 May 2011 15:06:15 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server/t-sql-parameters-and-variables-basics-and-best-practices-139456#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server/semi-advanced-logging-options-for-sql-server-agent-jobs-139455#commentsAnchorThu, 19 May 2011 05:44:27 GMT
Great article.

In the environment at my workplace, for every job we’ve implemented an extra stemp which sends the information logged in the output file as an email attachment. The procedure is described here:

http://sqlserverdiaries.com/blog/index.php/2011/02/send-sql-server-agent-job-log-by-email/

Keep it up!

Reuben S.]]>anatlusThu, 19 May 2011 05:44:27 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server/semi-advanced-logging-options-for-sql-server-agent-jobs-139455#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server/semi-advanced-logging-options-for-sql-server-agent-jobs-139455#commentsAnchorMon, 09 May 2011 06:15:42 GMT
Great Post!

I’m new here :) and this is my first comment.
I also use the output file for a while now, and it helps a lot.

Since the servers I work with have dozens of Jobs, and it can be very frustrating to manually set the Output file one by one, I’ve wrote the code below to apply the changes to all of the jobs at once.

All you have to do is set the ’@PathName’ and execute the code.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------


/* Run Only Step 1 to view the Current Output Folder\files and and Desired */
-- Step 1
use msdb
Declare @PathName nvarchar(50)
set @PathName=’D:\Jobs_Output\’
select @PathName+REPLACE(name, ’ ’,’_’)+’_Step’+cast(Step_id as varchar(2))+’.txt’ as Output_Build,
js.output_file_name
,j.name, j.enabled, j.description,js.step_id,js.step_name,js.database_name
FROM msdb.dbo.sysjobs j
inner join sysjobsteps js
on j.job_id = js.job_id
/* Remove the remark from the Where if you want to apply to a specific Job */
--where j.name = ’Test_Job_DBA’

/* Run Step 2 to apply the changes */
-- Step 2

use msdb
Declare @PathName nvarchar(50)
set @PathName=’D:\Jobs_Output\’
Update sysjobsteps
set output_file_name = @PathName+REPLACE(name, ’ ’,’_’)+’_Step’+cast(Step_id as varchar(2))+’.txt’
FROM msdb.dbo.sysjobs j
inner join sysjobsteps js
on j.job_id = js.job_id
/* Remove the remark from the Where if you want to apply to a specific Job */
--where j.name = ’Test_Job_DBA’]]>GuyDMon, 09 May 2011 06:15:42 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/blog/practical-sql-server-45/sql-server/semi-advanced-logging-options-for-sql-server-agent-jobs-139455#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/web-development/ie9-leap-wrong-direction-135942#commentsAnchorThu, 21 Apr 2011 17:11:02 GMT
@SiliconDragon - not quite so. Every version since IE7 (2006) has been removable (i.e., not part of Windows Explorer) and even IE6 is upgradable. I’ve been running IE8 on an XP box for years. More generally, IE will remain relevant while it still has a significant share of the market. Although share is much reduced from a decade ago, it is still in the lead. Given that the growth rate of IE8 was actually almost as high as Chrome over the last couple of years (and higher the FF), I think IE still has some life in it.]]>CharlesThu, 21 Apr 2011 17:11:02 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/web-development/ie9-leap-wrong-direction-135942#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/web-development/ie9-leap-wrong-direction-135942#commentsAnchorThu, 21 Apr 2011 17:00:08 GMT
IE has become irrelevant since it’s tied to a specific platform. My current and previous companies have both removed IE from their list of supported browsers. FF4 is my current company’s suggested browser for Windows. I only use IE for regression/compatibility testing web pages, and Opera is my main browser with FF & Chrome running close 2nds. IE is the only one that’s not removable or upgradable, so it sees no airtime any more. And that from a former IE team member. /shrug]]>SiliconDragonThu, 21 Apr 2011 17:00:08 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/web-development/ie9-leap-wrong-direction-135942#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/web-development/ie9-leap-wrong-direction-135942#commentsAnchorThu, 21 Apr 2011 16:42:13 GMT
On-premise Windows will remain a cash cow for many years. But MS is moving away from 100% sale of licenses. Their cloud focus implies a mixed strategy. IE6 was the last non-removable version and was part of XP and Windows Server 2003. It is these OSs that will be supported until 2014, not IE6 per se. Many corporates feel 2014 is too soon to retire these OSs. So, no mixed message at all. MS is saying to corporates that it is time to move on. The IE team has been fairly honest about HTML5 in recent blogs. They effectively admit IE9 has a constrained implementation of HTML5. Their argument centres on interoperability for emerging specs. Several so-called HTML5 features are not in the W3C draft, but are separate submissions to the W3C. Which is preferable? Support for long lists of non-standardised functionality whose future is unclear or constrained implementation of emerging specs that have wide cross-browser support today and look certain to be included in future standards? The latter approach is less innovative. But which is better for web developers? Be careful. The day may come when web developers say if it renders in IE it will render anywhere. There is one way IE9 fractures the browser world. If you stack up a dozen animated layers using HTML5, you can see a big performance difference between IE9 and other browsers. Any web developer who wants this level of intensive graphics today is faced with a dilemma. It is only going to work acceptably well on IE9. Anyone stupid enough to believe that a set of Microsoft tests for an emerging spec that yield the best results for IE represents a dependable benchmark of standards compliance has only themselves to blame for being disappointed. Its like thinking Google Chrome is the fastest browser because it scores highest on Google’s V8 benchmark or Apple Safari has the best HTML5 implementation because other browsers stumble over Apples HTML5 showcase. Surely we not this naive! ]]>CharlesThu, 21 Apr 2011 16:42:13 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/web-development/ie9-leap-wrong-direction-135942#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/web-development/ie9-leap-wrong-direction-135942#commentsAnchorThu, 21 Apr 2011 14:30:53 GMT
Would you like some cheese with this wine? Word to the author "Developers" are always working a moving target. The announcement was targeting Developers. If you are a manager type get some frickin context will ya. Microsoft did not throw IE9 under the bus. rather they reached a point where they have a stable and sustainable browser that implements as many of the "standards" they could at this time. What is the alternative? Continue to use older versions while the Firefox’s and Chrome’s of the world continue to point fingers at what a screw up MS is? Anyone who is not at Windows Vista SP2 (a free upgrade from Vista) deserves to have their computer melted down as a result of surfing the Internet. Security costs money and anyone who is not willing top pay for it should go reap the benefits of their "choices" To quote the author "Personally, I don’t have much of a problem with the hype around each new release. Instead, what I’m getting tired of is the need to keep up with supporting the dead, bloated, bodies of past browsers like IE6, IE7, IE8, and now, amazingly, IE9". You ought to thank Microsoft for being so magnanimous. What would Firefox tell you if they had a problem in a previous version... "Upgrade?" What is the root of your objection. Some one has to pay for an OS to get a newer browser? They don’t cause they can use Firefox or Chrome and not pay a thing. If a user chooses to continue to use an OS that is over ten years old then they don’t need the gee wiz features to begin with. And if they do then they need to realize there is no free lunch in this world. Eventually you need to pay the piper. Don’t like the Microsoft tune? Buy a Mac...What you spent a lot of money on the hardware...Snap out of it. YOU STILL PAID MONEY. No one should blame Microsoft for making the browsing experience second to none in the windows environment. This time they are doing it AND complying with standards. Developers win and Users win. Whiners go home!]]>boydtwaThu, 21 Apr 2011 14:30:53 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/web-development/ie9-leap-wrong-direction-135942#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/tools-and-products/boost-coding-productivity-135801#commentsAnchorThu, 07 Apr 2011 20:45:44 GMT
Good intentions, but over-generalized. You should change your quote to: "Good developers write good code, but lazy developers write code that writes good code for them." Your discussion of templates is rather naive and woe to anyone who starts slapping templates into their app w/o fully realizing the implications and side-effects. But for general everyday-use code, templates are great time-savers, agreed.]]>SiliconDragonThu, 07 Apr 2011 20:45:44 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/tools-and-products/boost-coding-productivity-135801#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/database-development/examining-the-hype-around-nosql#commentsAnchorMon, 04 Apr 2011 17:15:53 GMT
I thinks this is the best article about SQL / NOSQL differences i’ve come across.]]>AndreMon, 04 Apr 2011 17:15:53 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/database-development/examining-the-hype-around-nosql#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/database-development/examining-the-hype-around-nosql#commentsAnchorMon, 04 Apr 2011 17:06:14 GMT
mmm. Well. Mysql views are not materialized. There are noe indexes in the views either. I guerss SQL or Oracle would be different. Also - many developers hate stored procs. It seems just wrong to put any logic into database layer.]]>AndreMon, 04 Apr 2011 17:06:14 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/database-development/examining-the-hype-around-nosql#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio-20102/visual-studio-2010-sp1-and-iis-express#commentsAnchorWed, 23 Mar 2011 14:46:59 GMT
Just as a quick FYI, Greg Low has posted about how VS 2010 SP1 BREAKS IntelliSense in SSMS:
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/greg_low/archive/2011/03/23/warning-don-t-apply-vs2010-sp1-yet-if-intellisense-in-ssms-matters-to-you.aspx

*Sigh*

(I didn’t notice this because I’m using Red Gate’s SQL Prompt.)]]>Michael K. CampbellWed, 23 Mar 2011 14:46:59 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio-20102/visual-studio-2010-sp1-and-iis-express#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnetmvc/using-ioc-with-structure-map-2-6-and-mvc-3-0#commentsAnchorThu, 03 Mar 2011 14:29:01 GMT
As an FYI, I finally figured out what I was missing in my sample app to get Setter Injection to work with Attributes.

Specifically, I was missing the step where I told my MVC application to use my custom ’SiteFilterProvider’ as the FilterAttributeFilterProvider for the application - which, in turn, was set up with IoC capabilities.

Brad Wilson’s blog post outlines the critical step where he modifies the Global.asax’s Application_Start() method here:
http://bradwilson.typepad.com/blog/2010/07/service-location-pt4-filters.html

I also had to bolster my custom SiteFilterProvider to provide two new overrides so that all of my different KINDS of filters/attributes we’re being correctly ’built up’ by Structure Map.

The Sample Application that I have provided is therefore fully functional - and contains all of these fixes/changes.

--Michael K. Campbell

]]>Michael K. CampbellThu, 03 Mar 2011 14:29:01 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnetmvc/using-ioc-with-structure-map-2-6-and-mvc-3-0#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/product-review/review-sql-defrag-manager-2-5#commentsAnchorTue, 25 Jan 2011 13:28:56 GMT
It’s been a while since the review/comments? Has anyone seen or heard about improved quality or lack thereof? Are the any other tools with similar functionality? Google search hasn’t been forthcoming, yet ;-)]]>TimTue, 25 Jan 2011 13:28:56 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/product-review/review-sql-defrag-manager-2-5#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnetmvc/asp-net-mvc-3-s-razor-view-engine-tips-tricks-and-potential-gotchas#commentsAnchorThu, 20 Jan 2011 17:14:16 GMT
"Specifically, the entry that looks like this:
is one you’ll probably want to leave alone".

Hmmm, looks like the critical text got swallowed somewhere...]]>PriestThu, 20 Jan 2011 17:14:16 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnetmvc/asp-net-mvc-3-s-razor-view-engine-tips-tricks-and-potential-gotchas#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/tools-and-products/great-free-tools-for-net-developers-and-it-pros#commentsAnchorFri, 07 Jan 2011 11:28:44 GMT
A very helpful list, thank you Michael!
I would like to also mention one tool that helps me to manage and develop on SQL Server: SQL Everywhere by Atlantis Interactive (www.tiny.by/vt45l there is a free version). It is a very productive IDE and Admin tool. A mini-review of it is here www.tiny.by/vz6o7 and a short compare with Toad is here www.tiny.by/bt1bi.
]]>Arthur ZubarevFri, 07 Jan 2011 11:28:44 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/tools-and-products/great-free-tools-for-net-developers-and-it-pros#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorTue, 07 Dec 2010 09:19:31 GMT
If anything is a failure, it is this article! Grow up and stop whining.]]>redfieldTue, 07 Dec 2010 09:19:31 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorTue, 07 Dec 2010 09:18:50 GMT
I agree with the other negative comments:
I would reccomend that the publisher remove this article and put Mr. Campbell on a short leash. This kind of nonsense will only serve to destroy any reputation you might have in the web industry.
--------
Please stop whining. We support all A list browsers and degrade gracefully. The whole idea of ’standards-compliant browsers’ is a joke - if you have ever read the spec’s in place when various browsers were released one finds that the spec’s are often vague and implementation details require subject to vendor interpretation. Many people confuse ’standards-compliant’ with whatever Firefox is shipping right now. Some developers seem to think that HTML5 is a specification and not a moving target anyway. If you want to see the sausage being made subscribe to the working groups email lists like: whatwg-request@lists.whatwg.org.
]]>redfieldTue, 07 Dec 2010 09:18:50 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorThu, 02 Dec 2010 17:00:31 GMT
I’m a web developer specialising in front-end development. Let me illustrate why standards matter...

I have a small job for one client to style some forms to match their customer’s styles. Styling for standards-compliant browsers took a couple of hours. Then testing it on the IEs, all three of them, takes another 6 hours to test, tweak, test, re-tweak, etc. Eventually I had to abandon using accessible HTML (e.g. fieldsets, legends) to placate IE6, 7 and 8.

I feel so embarrassed that with all my experience in this field, it still takes me a day to complete a simple task. I feel so embarrassed, I’m not going to bill for this time.

The bunch of incompetents at Microsoft have cost me half a day’s money.

People wonder why I utterly despise Microsoft. Being made to feel an idiot because of their complete intransigence and pig-headed determination to not fixing their broken code and directly costing me money are the root causes. Facing another 5 to 10 years of these delinquent browsers is also not a happy thought.

Standards exist for a reason. If IE9 lives up to the endless PR hype, I won’t need to test my code as I know if it works on one* standards-compliant browser, it’ll work on all of them.

*Of course I’ll test it on all the browsers.]]>Wibble IIThu, 02 Dec 2010 17:00:31 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorThu, 02 Dec 2010 15:45:43 GMT
If anything is a failure, it is this article!

Quote: [
Yes, it’s great that IE9 will be more standards compliant. But that doesn’t really mean anything if 2030 percent of the web is left using older versions of Internet Explorer (IE7 and IE8) that aren’t as compliant as IE9....]
So by that statement, you are sayng all browsers should stop evolving, because they will never achieve 100% market share anyway? Pure nonsense.

I would reccomend that the publisher remove this article and put Mr. Campbell on a short leash. This kind of nonsense will only serve to destroy any reputation you might have in the web industry.]]>MitchellThu, 02 Dec 2010 15:45:43 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorWed, 01 Dec 2010 23:17:59 GMT
[With proper punctuation restored, I hope]
Dear Mr. Campbell -
Your publisher should be ashamed of showcasing this nonsense as one its "Top Stories" on the magazine’s home page.
The body of your article offers zero support for its contentious title ("Why IE9 Is a Failure"). Instead, it only serves to explain why, with IE9, Microsoft is finally getting things right. What is your complaint? Also, why would you declare any software product a failure when it hasn’t even "shipped" (or released to web, as Microsoft now likes to say) yet?
I can’t decide if the title is just a lame grab at the reader’s attention, or if you set out from the beginning to write a "bash IE9" article and couldn’t find any ammo. Either way, it’s unprofessional.
The correct title for your article would be "Why I Hate IE6". And you are not alone. Many web developers, and certainly Microsoft itself, would like to see users upgrade past this version. But it was a worthy upgrade back in 2001, and any software that people continue to use nine years after its release must be decent in some way. And Microsoft is right to support a popular and successful software product for a few more years. Ironically, on the same day that while you are bemoaning the longevity of IE6, most other "tech news" outlets are reporting that it is finally on its way out the door. I guess you didn’t get that memo, or it didnt fit with your "things I don’t like about IE/Microsoft"-themed article.
And really, your only complaint about all versions of IE (6, 7, 8 and 9) is that, as a web developer, you have to support them so people can visit your websites. Yes, whining aside, if you want people to access your content, you have to support a diversity of browsers. How unfair life is...
Nine years from now, when the world has switched to standards-conforming browsers - including Microsoft with IE9 - you will wonder why you attached your name to this shameless troll-bait preemptive declaration of failure.
Jeremy]]>EllisWed, 01 Dec 2010 23:17:59 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorWed, 01 Dec 2010 23:08:39 GMT
It appears that your website "ate" most of my apostrophes and double-quotes.
Jeremy]]>EllisWed, 01 Dec 2010 23:08:39 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorWed, 01 Dec 2010 23:05:42 GMT
Dear Mr. Campbell -
Your publisher should be ashamed of showcasing this nonsense as one its "Top Stories" on the magazine’s home page.
The body of your article offers zero support for its contentious title (Why IE9 Is a Failure). Instead, it only serves to explain why, with IE9, Microsoft is finally getting things right. What is your complaint? Also, why would you declare any software product a failure when it hasnt even shipped (or released to web, as Microsoft now likes to say) yet?
I cant decide if the title is just a lame grab at the readers attention, or if you set out from the beginning to write a bash IE9 article and couldnt find any ammo. Either way, its unprofessional.
The correct title for your article would be Why I Hate IE6. And you are not alone. Many web developers, and certainly Microsoft itself, would like to see users upgrade past this version. But it was a worthy upgrade back in 2001, and any software that people continue to use nine years after its release must be decent in some way. And Microsoft is right to support a popular and successful software product for a few more years. Ironically, on the same day that you are bemoaning the longevity of IE6, most other tech news outlets are reporting that it is finally on its way out the door. I guess you didnt get that memo, or it didnt fit with your things I dont like about IE/Microsoft-themed article.
And really, your only complaint about all versions of IE (6, 7, 8 and 9) is that, as a web developer, you have to support them so people can visit your websites. Yes, whining aside, if you want people to access your content, you have to support a diversity of browsers. How unfair life is
Nine years from now, when the world has switched to standards-conforming browsers - including Microsoft with IE9 - you will wonder why you attached your name to this shameless troll-bait preemptive declaration of failure.
Jeremy
]]>EllisWed, 01 Dec 2010 23:05:42 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/internet-explorer3/why-ie9-is-a-failure#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorWed, 10 Nov 2010 19:26:11 GMT
As an update for anyone trying to get 2008 R2 to install while struggling through the issues I outlined:
A) Dan Jones from the SQL (Manageability) Team followed up with me and after a phone call where we discussed some of the ways that Microsoft is trying to address this complexity going forward, he went ahead and tried to reproduce my installation woes - but was unable to do so.
B) While building out a Virtual Machine for another task I bumped into the ’VS 2008 SP1’ rule failure again. That’s when I figured out: I had .NET 3.5 SP1 installed on my VM (and Workstation) but did NOT have Visual Studio 2008 SP1 installed. So, I’m a DUMMY in that regard (though, the Help > About screen in VS 2008 makes it really easy to assume you have VS 2008 SP1 installed when you only have .NET 3.5 SP1 installed instead.)
Then, for the issue with the installer complaining about SQL Server Express 2005 tools being installed, it turns out that this is a fairly common issue with 3rd party plug ins.

Davide Mauri covers the exact fix I needed here:
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/davide_mauri/archive/2010/05/04/sql-server-2008-r2-installation-and-the-phantom-of-sql-server-2005-express.aspx


(And I’ve let Dan/Microsoft know about this too - so hopefully that makes for easier installation/validation with Denali.)]]>Michael K. CampbellWed, 10 Nov 2010 19:26:11 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/confusing-high-availability-with-disaster-preparedness#commentsAnchorMon, 08 Nov 2010 13:40:19 GMT
@SURVANCE,

In terms of third party log reader agents, there really arent a lot of options today.

Once upon a time there was Lumigents Log Reader, Red Gate had their own, and some other vendors were out there as well. Kalen Delany touches on this a bit (and links to an article I wrote YEARS ago about this same ’eco-system’):
http://www.sqlmag.com/article/log-files/can-the-transaction-log-tell-us-what-happened-.aspx

But, basically once SQL Server 2005 arrived, it became just too hard for 3rd parties to keep up with all of the proprietary format/data/whatzit of the Transaction Log so most of these vendors dropped out or stopped trying to keep up.

To my knowledge that really only leaves two major/main offerings today.

First, is a built-in log reader within Quest’s LiteSpeed:
http://www.quest.com/litespeed-for-sql-server/

Along with ApexSQL’s offering as well:
http://www.apexsql.com/sql_tools_log.aspx

I haven’t worked with LiteSpeed in a while - but assume that it presents a very similar approach to what ApexSQL provides - in that it provides you with a UI that lets you examine the log file, then ’un-play’ and ’re-play’ transactions as needed.

--Mike





]]>Michael K. CampbellMon, 08 Nov 2010 13:40:19 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/confusing-high-availability-with-disaster-preparedness#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/confusing-high-availability-with-disaster-preparedness#commentsAnchorMon, 08 Nov 2010 12:50:39 GMT
Mike,

I read your article with great interest. I am glad to see those issues being discussed. In my experience, IT managers and execs often leave too many business-critical decisions to their technical staff.Consequently they do not have a clear idea of their vulnerabilities and level of risk.

I have just cleaned up, as best I could, a disaster such as you describe. A developer for a mortgage banking house thought he was connected to the development server when in fact he was connected to the production server. He updated a column of critical data to NULL. The problem was not noticed immediately so a lot of data changes took place after his mistake.

In your article, you mention third-party log readers but do not elaborate on that. this situation could have benefited from a good log reader. What tool would you recommend?
]]>SURVANCEMon, 08 Nov 2010 12:50:39 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/confusing-high-availability-with-disaster-preparedness#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorSun, 07 Nov 2010 11:18:48 GMT
Hi Michael,
"As [you’re] a long time member of the SSMS development team, I’d like to correct your statement..."

and point out that you appear to have missed the main point of the column entirely. I sugg3est you read it again, since I don’t have the time to explain the point bcz I just spent at least a week getting SSMS installed on my machine.

What a joke. By all the posts across the net it is obvious that MS has been aware of this particular problem for some time. Certainly enough time to have done something about it and spared me the frustration.

SMSS install failed repeatedly stating it found VS2008 on the machine and stated VS2008 SP1 was required to complete the install. Surprisingly, install failed even after repeated installs of VS2008 SP1.

In fact, install failed even after all Visual Studio products, and all SQL products were uninstalled along with all associated files using Revo Uninstaller in concert with add/remove.

What I gather from my experience is MS isn’t concerned whether I lose a week’s worth of time and productivity. I use MS products to solve problems and save time. Lately, and this is a perfect example, they cause problems and waste time.

The presence of VS208 on their machines indicates users affected by this issue are repeat customers. Is this really how MS treats its repeat customers?

So Michael K. Campbell, now that you are obviously personally aware of the problem, I’ll view it as your personal failure if the problem is still present at the next update.

Jed
]]>EastSun, 07 Nov 2010 11:18:48 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorSat, 30 Oct 2010 13:59:08 GMT
Bill,

Thanks for your feedback. The confusion around which reporting service control are based upon this thread:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlreportingservices/thread/b84eb724-28f4-422f-9896-e16e0100bdb9

And the key point here is that DIFFERENT versions were used in the development of 2008 vs 2008 R2 via some form of branching way back when.

Over and over again, this process of branching is the culprit that I’m complaining about. It leads to all sorts of very UGLY problems for people that just confuse them.

In the end, the details aren’t that important. What’s important is that your end-users are baffled by the fact that they can’t do what they expect to do - because of internal decisions made a long time ago ... which can’t seem to be resolved for another year or so when the NEXT version of the product(s) ship.

It’s that exact problem that I’m railing against in this article.

That, and to be honest? Most developers don’t have a CLUE what Report Builder is - it’s a tool built for analysts, not developers.

So, I don’t want to SOUND aggressive here. It’s just that I’d REALLY love it if the latest versions of Microsoft’s tools would just RUN on my system - and not cause these recurring, ugly, compatibility problems.

And I’m not alone. Go look at the #1 up-voted connect item right now. Yup, VS2010 and SSIS projects not being supported. People aren’t happy about this and there’s a very real sense in the comments for this issue (and others like it) that MS doesn’t listen or doesn’t care - or has become too big and bloated to do anything about people’s real concerns.
https://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/508552/ssis-vs2010-project-type

My beef is that I know you guys can do better. VS2008 and SQL Server 2008 were PERFECT. From SP1 to R2 things just regressed back to ’ugly’ though.

--Michael K. Campbell
]]>Michael K. CampbellSat, 30 Oct 2010 13:59:08 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorTue, 26 Oct 2010 10:53:22 GMT
Hi Michael,
As a long time member of the SSMS development team, I’d like to correct your statement that SQL Server 2008 R2 was built using the VS 2008 reporting services control. SSMS in R2 still uses the RS 2005 control with security fixes that were released in the VS 2008 timeframe, but it’s still the same control. If customers want to build custom reports for SSMS, they must use BIDS 2005. This is one reason why I’m porting various SSMS reports to use Reporting Services for R2. This way, you can design and run the manageability reports with Report Builder 3.0. I have a session at this year’s #sqlpass conference on this topic. I also have a series of blog posts at http://blogs.msdn.com/billramo taking about how to rebuild reports using Report Builder 3.0.
Thank you,
Bill Ramos, Principal Program Manager, SQL Server Manageability]]>RamosTue, 26 Oct 2010 10:53:22 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorSun, 24 Oct 2010 09:29:36 GMT
Maybe less important, but you can’t combine FSX with SQL Server at 64bit machine either. And there is no fix available (like at 32bit), and Microsoft has stated to me that no fix will be made (they refunded my FSX though..).
]]>VluttersSun, 24 Oct 2010 09:29:36 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorThu, 21 Oct 2010 18:42:53 GMT
I hear you. I keep database workbench pro around now. If you spend a lot of time in Management studio you’ll appreciate this program]]>fergusonThu, 21 Oct 2010 18:42:53 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorThu, 21 Oct 2010 16:41:12 GMT
Michael,

You’re observations are accurate and your article *should* turn some heads at Microsoft. Whenever I rebuild, my previous nightmares remind me to install SQL prior to VS and always avoid sql "express" (since I don’t normally develop with it).

It’s hard to fathom how Microsoft can continue to treat (in)compatibility between the various VS and SQL products as a non-issue.

Best wishes,
Stein]]>LanglieThu, 21 Oct 2010 16:41:12 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/why-can-t-sql-server-and-visual-studio-get-along-#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/mobile-development/windows-phone-7-better-for-developers-or-consumers-#commentsAnchorThu, 14 Oct 2010 04:05:36 GMT
Terrific article. Nicely describes Microsoft’s challenges.

The interesting issue is the browser. The other competition, iPhone/Pad and Android, have proper HTML5 browsers. The WinDog (dog & bone, phone) has a "hybrid IE7 and IE8 browser". Given that IE7 is the ugly younger sister of the hideous krone that is IE6, it doesn’t bode well. IE8 is barely better and doesn’t support any of the HTML5/CSS3 features that make make the competition work so well.

The other issue is simply that WinDog7 is so late to the party. All the others are on their second or fourth *real* version - WinDog is a version one product and will be for a long time yet. A service pack is never going to be the same as a full update.

Ballmer’s going to have to commit to enormous marketing spend to get anywhere here. He’s only got himself to blame.

As a developer, there’s no way I’m interested in developing for some niche product. All the smart developers are making a fortune out of Apple and to a lesser extent out of Android. WinDog... nah.]]>Wibble IIThu, 14 Oct 2010 04:05:36 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/mobile-development/windows-phone-7-better-for-developers-or-consumers-#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/mobile-development/windows-phone-7-better-for-developers-or-consumers-#commentsAnchorSun, 10 Oct 2010 05:20:30 GMT
Worst article I’ve ever read. No substance, just the authors anti-Microsoft hate.

Waste of time to read.
]]>TrollsaasSun, 10 Oct 2010 05:20:30 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/mobile-development/windows-phone-7-better-for-developers-or-consumers-#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/microsoft-web-matrix-what-s-in-it-for-dev-professionals-#commentsAnchorThu, 15 Jul 2010 20:15:28 GMT
Where does this product fit in with Web Expressions 3 ? Is it a replacement ? An adjunct ?
And what about Sharepoint site development with Webmatrix ?
]]>SimmsThu, 15 Jul 2010 20:15:28 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/microsoft-web-matrix-what-s-in-it-for-dev-professionals-#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/visual-studio-vnext-my-wish-list#commentsAnchorMon, 21 Jun 2010 15:08:02 GMT
I agree with you on the need for a fixed height toolbar!]]>ChineryMon, 21 Jun 2010 15:08:02 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/visual-studio-vnext-my-wish-list#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/database-development/generating-high-performance-sql-server-query-results#commentsAnchorWed, 02 Jun 2010 12:27:11 GMT
Great article! I’ve been struggling with tuning my query performance for the past few days, and your suggestions finally got me on the right track; one query that used to take 40+ minutes now completes in about 4. Thank you!]]>Max FellowsWed, 02 Jun 2010 12:27:11 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/database-development/generating-high-performance-sql-server-query-results#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/thumbs-up-on-visual-studio-2010#commentsAnchorSun, 23 May 2010 14:47:56 GMT
I also disagree with the complaints on not being able to open VS 2010 projects in VS 2008. Not an issue and not as simple as you make it seem.
1. VS 2010 has new syntax, this would cause syntax errors in VS 2008. At that point why migrate the project, I want all the features even if my production environment is limited to an older Framework/CLR.
2. Work arounds - getting around this issue isn’t difficult. Using TFS, check out and convert a copy of the project file. As long as you don’t add file you can work in VS 2010 and have everyone else use 2008 - just watch out for the previously mentioned syntax issues. Similarlly copy and rename a VS 2010 version of the proj and sln files and code away - again beware your syntax.

Overall I think a clean migration to a new toolset makes the most sense because of the differences in language syntax.]]>SHELDONSun, 23 May 2010 14:47:56 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/thumbs-up-on-visual-studio-2010#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/thumbs-up-on-visual-studio-2010#commentsAnchorThu, 20 May 2010 14:32:08 GMT
Inability to go between VS08 and VS10 is not an issue for us.

One of the biggest things VS2010 lacks is a help system. The browser-based helps is a travesty and the recently-created add-ins are only bandaids on a gushing wound.]]>SchroedlThu, 20 May 2010 14:32:08 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/visual-studio2/thumbs-up-on-visual-studio-2010#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/sql-server-comparison-and-synchronization-tools#commentsAnchorWed, 05 May 2010 13:04:03 GMT
One negative I saw on ApexSQL was in the User objects. Neither of the other two products made the assumption that the SQL Login already exists on the server, so all user changes were accompanied by the SQL:

IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM master.dbo.syslogins WHERE loginname = N’jsmith’)
CREATE LOGIN [jsmith] WITH PASSWORD = ’p@ssw0rd’
GO

Which means that the subsequent user mapping will be successful. In the Apex product, this key step was missing, which means if you are synching schemas to a database on another server on which the login doesn’t exist, the user mappings will fail (login doesn’t exist). The only difference between the Red Gate SQL Compare and SQL Delta is that SQL Delta gives you a random password, whereas SQL Compare gives you a standard P@ssw0rd, which may be a security concern. Personally, I would like to see a product that will properly sync the Login principal along with the password - which can be done by doing the select against the password field and casting to varbinary.

For me though, having the ability to run comparisons (data specifically) against a backup is a key deciding factor - so for that I would not go with SQL Delta. So far as the UI of Apex goes, they don’t have statistics compared by default and it took me a few minutes to find where to do that - the UI is fairly cumbersome, especially if you want to do a quick diff - which the other 2 products are better equipped for. So far Red Gate looks like the choice for me - but I’m still testing.]]>Wed, 05 May 2010 13:04:03 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/sql-server/sql-server-comparison-and-synchronization-tools#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet/Add-Paging-Functionality-to-your-ASP-NET-MVC-Site-124979#commentsAnchorWed, 17 Mar 2010 02:22:58 GMT
Thank you for your article! I wrote a free and open source asp.net mvc paging control called ASP.NET MvcPager, it support standard url paging and Ajax paging using jQuery or MicrosoftAjax script library, the project home page on codeplex.com is http://mvcpager.codeplex.com]]>WebdiyerWed, 17 Mar 2010 02:22:58 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet/Add-Paging-Functionality-to-your-ASP-NET-MVC-Site-124979#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/database-development/generating-high-performance-sql-server-query-results#commentsAnchorFri, 05 Feb 2010 09:23:51 GMT
One option that you missed for reducing the join is by using a sub-query for retrieving the top 100 members. This works similar to using a CTE, but also works in SQL 2K.

Beyond this option, however, if reporting is a significant requirement, then using Business Intelligence tools, such as SQL Analysis Services and SQL Reporting Services would be a good alternative.]]>sklineFri, 05 Feb 2010 09:23:51 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/database-development/generating-high-performance-sql-server-query-results#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/take-the-plunge-with-asp-net-mvc#commentsAnchorMon, 14 Dec 2009 22:28:48 GMT
Pro ASP.NET MVC Framework is great. I like approach of the Steve Sanderson. High level in the first 6 chapters (building an modest ecommerce website) and then the bolts and nuts of MVC in the succeeding chapters.]]>rinobatinMon, 14 Dec 2009 22:28:48 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/take-the-plunge-with-asp-net-mvc#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/take-the-plunge-with-asp-net-mvc#commentsAnchorMon, 14 Dec 2009 22:28:48 GMT
Pro ASP.NET MVC Framework is great. I like approach of the Steve Sanderson. High level in the first 6 chapters (building an modest ecommerce website) and then the bolts and nuts of MVC in the succeeding chapters.]]>rinobatinMon, 14 Dec 2009 22:28:48 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/take-the-plunge-with-asp-net-mvc#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/take-the-plunge-with-asp-net-mvc#commentsAnchorMon, 14 Dec 2009 22:28:48 GMT
Pro ASP.NET MVC Framework is great. I like approach of the Steve Sanderson. High level in the first 6 chapters (building an modest ecommerce website) and then the bolts and nuts of MVC in the succeeding chapters.]]>rinobatinMon, 14 Dec 2009 22:28:48 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/take-the-plunge-with-asp-net-mvc#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/take-the-plunge-with-asp-net-mvc#commentsAnchorFri, 27 Nov 2009 13:55:56 GMT
I’m wondering what happened with the downloadable code. Don’t you plan to have that feature anymore?]]>mr295781Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:55:56 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/take-the-plunge-with-asp-net-mvc#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/take-the-plunge-with-asp-net-mvc#commentsAnchorFri, 27 Nov 2009 13:55:56 GMT
I’m wondering what happened with the downloadable code. Don’t you plan to have that feature anymore?]]>mr295781Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:55:56 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/take-the-plunge-with-asp-net-mvc#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/take-the-plunge-with-asp-net-mvc#commentsAnchorFri, 27 Nov 2009 13:55:56 GMT
I’m wondering what happened with the downloadable code. Don’t you plan to have that feature anymore?]]>mr295781Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:55:56 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/aspnet2/take-the-plunge-with-asp-net-mvc#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/product-review/review-sql-defrag-manager-2-5#commentsAnchorThu, 13 Aug 2009 13:22:54 GMT
Mike, Yesterday I finally reached someone within the Idrea support group who knows their way around this application. We had a very informative live meeting session and have logged a number of bugs to be corrected and also some feature requests. The ability to execute and stop policies in an ad-hoc fashion was one of the feature requests. Another was to fix the schedule operation so that it more closely resembled the sql server enterprise manager or management studio job setup and scheduling functions (with the ability to execute a daily job more than 1 time per day, per discussion with Idera yesterday the current scheduling code prohibits re-execution of any daily schedule if it has already run that day). Seeing as the vast majority of users of this application will have a sql server dba background I would have thought that the development gurus behind this application would have figured this one out by themselves. Another bug exists in the scanning of the tables and indexes. If you configure a run-once policy to scan and re-org your tables in a database and then re-schedule that policy to scan again, the second scan does not scan all of the tables, this issue is still open and I am waiting on feedback from idera on this one. The idea behind this application is very good but as I mentioned in my prior comment, the execution and particularly the QA process leaves much to be desired. I have been the personal QA department for this application for the past 5 weeks. I am hoping that in the next release most or all of these bugs will be fixed. If these bugs are fixed and some of the new features are implemented THEN I could justify the $1200 per instance license cost. At this point we feel slightly cheated that we are out of pocket for 3 instances using this buggy version of the application but we will make do and work around these issues as best possible for now.]]>MichaelThu, 13 Aug 2009 13:22:54 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/product-review/review-sql-defrag-manager-2-5#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/product-review/review-sql-defrag-manager-2-5#commentsAnchorWed, 12 Aug 2009 12:20:00 GMT
@mconnolly06 - I covered the negative aspects of scheduling and the fact that the application doesn’t seem to be able to pick up schema changes (specifically, DROPPED tables) in my review - and even pointed out that I think they represent pretty significant limitations. I wasn’t aware of the issues with scanning more than a single instance at a time - so that’s my bad. --Mike]]>MichaelWed, 12 Aug 2009 12:20:00 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/product-review/review-sql-defrag-manager-2-5#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/product-review/review-sql-defrag-manager-2-5#commentsAnchorTue, 11 Aug 2009 12:13:01 GMT
Dear Editor, I have been evaluating SQL defrag manager for the last 4 weeks at my company and I have to say that the review that you gave this product was far too generous. The concept behind the application is great but the execution by Idera leaves much to be desired. Over the past 4 weeks I have logged 12 bugs with Idera, (Including 2 today 8/11/09). I have been in contact via email with our account manager as well as the VP of the company and multiple different support engineers and associates. We have the latest version of the application, fully licensed to manage our instances. I cannot explain in words how buggy this application is but I will list just a couple of the issues that I have reported. It is not possible to scan more than 1 instance at the same time. So if you are planning on managing your index fragmentation on more than 1 instance during the same time window this is not possible. This bug alone makes the application unusable in a normal production environment. Who wants to schedule different maintenance windows just because the application being used to manage the indexes cannot perform more than 1 scan at the same time. This is a massive defect in my opinion. If you are using this in a test environment (or running eval) you cannot change the scheduled time on a one-time policy to have it run again the following day. You will need to re-create the policy from scratch. The scheduler piece of the application is froth with bugs. After you register a server instance to me monitored the application connects to the instance and retrieves the list of tables and indexes. All scans from that point assume that the table and index list will never change. You can manually right click on an instance and choose "re-discover server objects" but this process will never happen automatically. If you do add a new table your scheduled policies will error and stop. Many many more bugs but I’m out of chars to type. This application needs work!]]>MichaelTue, 11 Aug 2009 12:13:01 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/product-review/review-sql-defrag-manager-2-5#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/performance/performance-secrets-for-sql-server-developers#commentsAnchorThu, 18 Jun 2009 20:12:45 GMT
@knechod Length _IS_ what makes them different. In the vast majority of cases, you’ll NEVER see problems with this. But because the lengths are different, SQL Server will sometimes treat the values and the data differently if you’re trying to compare different ’sized’ values that should, logically, be identical. Rather than try and explain it, here’s an example. (And it gets even more interesting if you’re using numeric ’string’s like ’1245689’...) SELECT NULLIF(’test string’,’test string’) SELECT ISNULL(NULL,’A value that I want to replace nulls with.’) SELECT ISNULL( NULLIF(’test string’,’test string’), -- should be null ’A value that I want to replace nulls with.’ -- should be the replacement ) The results should be a bit surprising. And... if you imagine an index experiencing similar problems, you can see why (once in a blue moon) data type coercion (i.e. letting SQL Server figure out what data types to use because you weren’t EXPLICIT enough) can look like from a performance standpoint... --Mike]]>MichaelThu, 18 Jun 2009 20:12:45 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/performance/performance-secrets-for-sql-server-developers#commentsAnchorhttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/performance/performance-secrets-for-sql-server-developers#commentsAnchorThu, 18 Jun 2009 20:10:43 GMT
@kbreneman You are correct sir. Long story short: I lost my mind with that one and I’m sorry everyone had to see it. (I started using a template a few years ago for this and made a few tweaks here and there to serve as an example... but forgot to make sure my optimizations for the template even made SENSE before dropping them off as an example in this article.) My advice, though, still stands as this is a key consideration. Just, um, ignore my crappy syntax ;)]]>MichaelThu, 18 Jun 2009 20:10:43 GMThttp://www.windowsitpro.com/article/performance/performance-secrets-for-sql-server-developers#commentsAnchor