SQL Server Thoughts from the Field

Rob's SQL Server & BI Blog

Enabling Kerberos Authentication for Reporting Services

Recently, I’ve helped several customers with Kerberos authentication problems with Reporting...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 11/22/2011

Hosting the Performance Dashboard Reports in SSRS

I blogged a while back about modifying the SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard reports to run on...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 09/28/2010

SSUG Presentation 19th August

Thanks to all who attended the SSUG meeting in Edinburgh last night. I've included my slides and...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 08/20/2010

Scottish SQL Server User Group Meeting 19th August

The next Scottish SQL Server User Group meeting will take place on Thursday 19th August at the...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 08/12/2010

SQL Server Wow64 Perfmon Issues

I recently came across some issues running perfmon on Windows Server 2003 where the OS is 64-bit and...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 05/30/2010

SQLBits VI Slides Available

I had a great time at SQLBits VI last week and would like to thank everyone for coming along to my...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 04/18/2010

SQLBits VI Conference - London 16th April

I am very happy to announce that I've been chosen as a speaker for the SQLBits VI conference in...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 03/17/2010

Scottish SQL Server User Group Meeting – 25th Feb

The next Scottish SQL Server User Group meeting will take place in the Microsoft Edinburgh office on...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 02/16/2010

Mirroring Multiple SQL Server Databases on a Single Instance

This is a question I get asked a lot by customers (last week being the latest) and the answer really...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 02/11/2010

Caching SSRS Reports for Performance

I’ve been fairly quiet on the blogging-front recently, but I have been busy working with SQL Server...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 02/10/2010

Scottish SQL Server User Group Meeting - Oct 8th

I have the great pleasure of speaking at the next Scottish SQL Server User Group meeting being held...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 09/24/2009

Troubleshooting SQL Server 2008 Performance Problems

A new whitepaper covering the topic of performance troubleshooting in SQL Server 2008 has now been...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 04/12/2009

SQL Server 2005 Multi-Site Clustering with Windows Server 2008

I was working recently with a customer who was looking to deploy a SQL Server 2005 cluster across 2...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 03/15/2009

Performance Dashboard Reports for SQL Server 2008

During a recent visit to Seattle for a Microsoft conference, I learned from my colleague Michael...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 02/18/2009

Scottish SQL Server User Group Meeting - 29th January

I have uploaded my slides from my Upgrading to SQL Server 2008 session at the recent Scottish SQL...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 01/27/2009

CU #3 for SQL Server 2008 Released

On January 19, 2009 Microsoft shipped the Third Cumulative Update for SQL Server 2008 RTM. This CU...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 01/20/2009

SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Technical Reference Guide Released

The SQL Server 2008 Technical Reference Guide has just been released, covering the essential steps...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 11/26/2008

SQL Server 2008 Cumulative Update #2 Released

Cumulative Update package 2 has now been released for SQL Server 2008. See the following KB article...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 11/18/2008

Scottish Area SQL Server User Group

I'm happy to announce that the next Scottish SQL Server User Group will be hosted at Microsoft...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 11/06/2008

Weird Problem with Virtual PC 2007

Had a weird problem with Virtual PC 2007 where the blue screen would flash up when I ran the...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 07/16/2008

SQL Server 2008 - Performance Studio

I've been looking at this new feature of SQL Server 2008 in order to demo it to customers, and I...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 06/20/2008

Indexing Strategies

I attended a SQL Server User Group meeting earlier this year and heard a presentation about...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 06/17/2008

SQL Server 2005 Performance Dashboard

I've had one or two requests recently to set up the Performance Dashboard reports on SQL Server so...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 06/12/2008

SQL Server 2008 RC0 Available

The release of SQL Server 2008 has hit another milestone with the news that Release Candidate 0...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 06/10/2008

OpsDB SQL Server Automation Tools Released

A great set of SQL Server automation tools has just been released by Microsoft onto the SQL Server...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 06/03/2008

June SQL Technical Rollup Mail

The June SQL Server Technical Rollup Mail has now been released. Check it out for some great SQL...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 06/03/2008

Sysinternals Live Beta Launched

Microsoft has launched the Sysinternals Live beta, allowing execution of Sysinternals tools directly...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 06/01/2008

Forthcoming UK SQL User Group Meetings - Leeds, Edinburgh, London

Regional Meetings of the UK SQL Server User Group coming up in the next couple of weeks: LEEDS AREA...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 05/27/2008

Detecting SQL Server 2005 Blocking

Database queries should be able to execute concurrently without errors and within acceptable wait...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 05/25/2008

SQL Q&A Column in TechNet Magazine

Paul Randall has started a new SQL Q&A column in TechNet magazine, which is definitely worth a...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 05/22/2008

Open Source Error Opens Big Security Hole

A programming error in an open source security project introduces profound vulnerabilities in...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 05/22/2008

Hyper-V RC1 Released

Hyper-V Release Candidate 1 for Windows Server 2008 was released on the 20th May. This is a full...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 05/21/2008

SQL Server Locking

Locking is a mechanism used by the Microsoft SQL Server Database Engine to synchronize access by...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 05/18/2008

SQL Server Statistics

SQL Server 2005 collects statistical information about indexes and column data stored in the...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 05/16/2008

SQL Server and Windows Memory

SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition introduced support for the use of Windows 2000 Address Windowing...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 05/15/2008

Windows Memory (PAE/AWE/3GB)

PAE (Physical Address Extension) PAE is the added ability of the IA32 processor to address more than...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 05/15/2008

DBCC CHECKDB

DBCC CHECKDB checks the logical and physical integrity of all objects in the specified database by...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 05/14/2008

Windows Failover Clustering Overview

The host node in the failover cluster performs a "looks alive" check every 5 seconds. An IsAlive...

Author: Rob_Carrol Date: 05/07/2008