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SQL Server Magazine UPDATE, March 9, 2006--SQL Server's BI Future

1. Perspectives

  • Playing a Role in SQL Server's BI Future

    2. News & Views

    Locate Invalid SSIS Characters to Prevent Errors

  • Results of Previous Instant Poll: BOL
  • New Instant Poll: SQL Server, MySQL, or Microsoft Access

    3. Reader Challenge

    March Reader Challenge Solution: Querying Tables and Views on a Linked Server

  • April Reader Challenge: Enforcing Restricted Uniqueness on Columns

    4. Events and Resources

    DevConnections--Register Now!

  • Leverage Windows Server 2003 R2
  • Spam Fighting and Email Security for the 21st Century--eBook
  • Solve your Branch Office Woes with R2

    5. Featured White Paper

  • The Benefits of Continuous Data Protection

    6. Peer to Peer

    Hot Tip: Using SQL-DMO to Check Code Syntax

  • Hot Article: A Recipe for Replacing Session Variables
  • In a Nutshell: SQL Server 2005 Memory Maximums
  • Hot Threads

    7. Announcements

    SQL Server Magazine Article Library--Access Now

  • Windows IT Pro Magazine--SAVE 58%

    8. New and Improved

  • Monitor and Analyze Backup and Recovery Operations
  • Report On Your SQL Server Infrastructure

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    1. Perspectives

    Playing a Role in SQL Server's BI Future
          by Brian Moran

    It sounds a bit weird to be talking about "future generations" of SQL Server when SQL Server 2005 is so new and many of you are still using SQL Server 2000. However, Microsoft developers are already hard at work designing and planning the next version of SQL Server, code-named Katmai, and the business intelligence (BI) team is already looking for end users to provide feedback and insight for SQL Server 2005 that will help shape future versions of SQL Server.

    Microsoft recently sent out a survey to some people in the BI community asking for feedback. When I received the survey, I contacted Microsoft and asked if it would be interested in hearing from SQL Server Magazine UPDATE readers. Of course, Microsoft was thrilled with the idea.

    The Microsoft SQL Server Design and Usability team is actively seeking BI users to participate in several user-research activities centered on the BI capabilities of SQL Server. The activities are designed to help the team better understand the responsibilities, pain points, and needs of BI users and shape the direction of future releases of SQL Server. Microsoft is looking for feedback from a broad subset of BI users who are interested in the following topics:

    Data Warehouse Design

  • Data Warehouse Management/Administration
  • Analytics
  • Report design, etc.
  • Data Mining
  • ETL Design/Management

    It would be much too easy for me to comment on the fact that the Microsoft SQL Server team is collecting feedback in a non-structured, data-entry format with no domain checking of data fields to ensure data integrity; so I won’t. Instead, I encourage you to copy the survey form below into an email message, include "SQL Server BI Survey" as the Subject of the email, and send your responses to Lisa Mueller, who is managing this process at Microsoft, at [email protected]

    Name:

    Title:

    Company:

    Location:

    Email Address:

    Phone (optional):

    Years of Experience with SQL Server:

    SQL Server Tools used:

    Upcoming Activities

    Type an X next to the activities you would be most interested in.

  • Survey (Ongoing)
  • Benchmark Usability Study (After March 15th)
  • Additional Concept testing (TBD)

    Please indicate which venue would work better for you.

    Microsoft Redmond, WA Campus

  • Your company site
  • Remote via LiveMeeting (or similar tool)

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    2. News & Views

    Locate Invalid SSIS Characters to Prevent Errors
          You can use the SQL Server Import and Export Wizard to export a table. However, if the SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS) package has a table that ends with an invalid SSIS character, you might see an error that indicates something similar to "Could not instantiate the source component." For a list of invalid SSIS characters and more information about the error, read the Microsoft article "You may receive an error message when you try to export a table by using the SQL Server Import and Export Wizard."

    Results of Previous Instant Poll: BOL
          "Have you used SQL Server Books Online (BOL)?" Here are the results from the 152 votes:

    93% Yes, I use BOL all the time

  • 05% I have accessed BOL just to try it
  • 02% No, I haven't used BOL

    New Instant Poll: SQL Server, MySQL, or Microsoft Access
          "Which database product do you use primarily?" Go to the SQL Server Magazine home page (http://www.sqlmag.com ) and submit your vote for:

  • SQL Server 2005 (any Edition)
  • SQL Server 2000 (any Edition)
  • SQL Server 2005 Express
  • MySQL
  • Microsoft Access


  • 3. Reader Challenge

    March Reader Challenge Solution: Enforcing Restricted Uniqueness on Columns
          by Umachandar Jayachandran, [email protected]

    Congratulations to Chris Hedgate and Marcos Kirchner. Chris Hedgate won first prize of $100 for the best solution to the March Reader Challenge, "Enforcing Restricted Uniqueness on Columns." Marcos won second prize of $50. You can read a recap of the problem and the solution to the March Reader Challenge.

    April Reader Challenge: Querying Tables and Views on a Linked Server Now, test your SQL Server savvy in the April Reader Challenge, "Querying Tables and Views on a Linked Server" (below). Submit your solution in an email message to [email protected] by March 16. Umachandar Jayachandran, a SQL Server Magazine technical editor, will evaluate the responses. We'll announce the winner in an upcoming SQL Server Magazine UPDATE. The first-place winner will receive $100, and the second-place winner will receive $50.

    Here's the challenge:
    Michael is a database consultant who’s working on a project at a client’s site. He needs to create a SQL Server 2000 data warehouse that integrates data from the company’s other databases. Michael plans to use the linked server feature to write some of the scripts that will migrate the data and perform distributed queries.

    One data source that he must integrate is an IBM DB2 database. He used the IBM OLE DB Provider for DB2 to create a linked server called DB2_SRVR1 for the database. There are certain tables and views that he wants to query from the DB2 server on an ad hoc basis or use in his scripts, but when he tries to query one such table using the following four-part name

    SELECT * FROM DB2_SRVR1.DB_CAT.SALES.SALES_SUMMARY

    he gets the error

    Msg 7314, Level 16, State 1, Line 1

    The OLE DB provider "IBMDADB2" for linked server "DB2_SRVR1" does not contain the table ""DB_CAT"."SALES"."SALES_SUMMARY"". The table either does not exist or the current user does not have permissions on that table.

    Help Michael do the following:
    1. Find the list of tables or views as exposed by the data source that he can easily query from SQL Server on a linked server

    2. Quickly determine the correct way to specify the four-part name for the DB2 table (i.e., the catalog and schema part of the four-part name)


    4. Events and Resources

    DevConnections provides world-class education for developers, architects, DBAs, and IT professionals.
  • WinConnections (2 conferences for the price of 1): April 9-12, 2006, Orlando, Florida
  • DevConnections (4 conferences for the price of 1): April 2-5, 2006, Orlando, Florida
  • DevConnections Europe coming to Nice, France, April 24-27, 2006

    Leverage Windows Server 2003 R2
          Use virtualization technology to leverage your IT assets, address critical business needs, and get the most out of your existing hardware with Windows Server 2003 R2. Live Event: April 4, 12:00 pm EST

    Spam Fighting and Email Security for the 21st Century--eBook
          Learn the best ways to manage your email security (and fight spam) using a variety of solutions and tips.

    Solve your Branch Office Woes with R2
          Efficiently replicate file changes across WANs without worrying about your remote server backups using the improved Distributed File System in WSS R2. Live Event: March 14, 12:00 pm EST.


    5. Featured White Paper

    The Benefits of Continuous Data Protection
          Manage your data growth, improve reliability, and speed data recovery using continuous data protection.


    6. Peer to Peer

    Hot Tip: Using SQL-DMO to Check Code Syntax
          by Microsoft’s SQL Server Development Team, [email protected]

    Q. I'm developing a SQL-DMO application and I want to verify the syntax of a SQL DDL query. Is there a method or function in the SQL-DMO library that will let me perform this check?

    Read the answer to this question today.

    Hot Article: A Recipe for Replacing Session Variables
          Learn how to store session data by using universally unique identifiers (UUID), a cookie, and a back-end SQL database. In her March article "A Recipe for Replacing Session Variables," Susan Perschke provides a six-step recipe for replacing session variables by using a UUID (and other components) instead of a user ID to store session data. Read this article today and post your comments.

    In a Nutshell: SQL Server 2005 Memory Maximums
          How much memory SQL Server 2005 can support seems like a simple question. In this week's blog "SQL Server 2005 Memory Maximums," Kevin Kline explains that there is no simple answer to this question, but there are many items you can look at in your environment to help you determine the memory maximum for your enterprise. For example, Kevin lists some of the predetermined upper-limit memory maximums for SQL Server 2005, OSs, and hardware. He also supplies links to some helpful Microsoft resources about memory maximums. Read the tips that Kevin provides in his blog this week and let him know if you found this information helpful.

    Hot Threads: Check out the following hot threads, and see other discussions in our 30 SQL Server forums.

    Administration: Need Expert Advice to Break Up a Large Table

    T-SQL: sp_OAMethod Returned a One-Row Record

    Performance: SQL Server Memory Limitation

    Security: Security Setting When Using a Stored Procedure

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    7. Announcements

    SQL Server Magazine Article Library--Access Now
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    Windows IT Pro Magazine--SAVE 58%
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    8. New & Improved

          by Blake Eno, [email protected]

    Monitor and Analyze Backup and Recovery Operations
          Idera announced SQLsafe 3.0, a backup and recovery solution for SQL Server 2005 and 2000 databases. This release provides a Web console so that +you can monitor and analyze backup and recovery operations and view historical information. SQLsafe also features new encryption algorithms to speed your backup and recovery operations. In addition, SQLsafe supports SQL Server 2005 (34-bit and 64-bit) databases that run Intel Itanium 2 Processors and x64-based servers. Idera SQLsafe 3.0 starts at $995 per SQL Server instance. For more information, contact Idera at 713-533-5144 or 877-464-3372. www.idera.com

    Report On Your SQL Server Infrastructure
         and alerting software for your SQL Servers. SQLCentric features new status counters that monitor the performance and logged events for your SQL Servers and report on CPU load status, buffer cache hit ratio, and blocked processes. The product also lets you use SQL or Windows authentication to monitor SQL Servers in non-trusted domains, demilitarized zones (DMZs), or firewalls. A free 30-day trial is available. For more information, contact Pearl Knowledge Solutions at [email protected], [email protected], or 917-499-7622. www.pearlknows.com.

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