Sarah's SQL 2008 Blog

Article for PASS on the Beta

sarah@maximumasp.com — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:34:52 GMT

When SQL Server 2005 was released, I was caught unprepared by all of the new features in the release. I didn't have the time or hardware resources to test the new version before it was released and didn't want to fall behind other colleagues taking advantage of the new functionality 2005 provided. Many DBAs have shared with me a similar story and I found this to be a common problem for the busy DBA. With this in mind, PASS and MaximumASP wanted to create an environment where SQL Server professionals could preview the new features of SQL 2008 without having to take the time and resources to set up a test environment of their own.

However, creating a test environment that could support thousands of users and databases was not a simple task. Fortunately, Dell and Intel were able to assist in creating an infrastructure that could easily handle the needs of SQL Server Beta. To avoid users having to install pre-release client tools on their local machines, we set up a Microsoft Hyper-V environment on a Dell 2950 with dual quad core Intel processors and 64 GB of RAM. This server hosts several terminal server machines that provide access to the latest release of SQL Server Studio Manager and Business Intelligence Development Studio. Even with this server supporting all client access, we soon found it was performing better than we expected and wanted to expand our offerings by adding 2 more virtual machines instances to host our SQL Server 2008 Reporting Servers. A duplicate Hyper-V Server provides redundancy.

When sizing the SQL Servers, we made a few assumptions on how users of the Beta would behave. We expected to see periods of moderate resource activity while new users tested the new features of SQL 2008, followed by periods with little activity as users became more familiar with the release. We wanted to have enough resources that multiple users could experiment with the server simultaneously. We settled on Dell 2950s with Dual Quad Core Intel Processors with 32 GB of RAM and an AIX150 storage solution. With this hardware, we have been able to allow users of the Beta to intensely test the new features of SQL 2008.

The Beta has proven to be very popular since we publicly launched in November 2007. To date we have 2,500+ sign-ups and we plan to continue offering free hosted Beta accounts of SQL Server 2008 until the final release.

TempDB, Part II

sarah@maximumasp.com — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:35:08 GMT

I believe that I have figured out what is happening with the TempDB. If you enable the performance data warehouse, it will store the performance data in TempDB while it is collecting the data. So if you use this feature, watch your tempDB space closely.

TEMPDB

sarah@maximumasp.com — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:24:12 GMT

In SQL 2005, tempdb management became a bigger issue. Truthfully I did not do much to manage tempdb on my 2005 servers, placed it on a separate drive when I could and made sure it a couple of gigs of space and then ignored it. However, I have noticed that in SQL 2008 temp db may need a little more careful watch. On these beta servers, I have allocated twice the space for tempdb than I did in SQL 2005 and several times we have run out of space. I suspect that some users may be trying out the new features of table variables a little more in-depth than our customers. I have set up a trace on the tempdb so I can get a better idea of how it is being used and I will let you know what I find out.

SQL Connections

sarah@maximumasp.com — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:20:49 GMT

I will be speaking on SQL 2008 at SQL Connections in Orlando. If you will be there please stop by and see me. My 2008 session is entitled "SQL 2008 Goes Enterprise" the majority of session will be on DMF.

How to Query Multiple Servers from Studio Manager

sarah@maximumasp.com — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 05:02:00 GMT

Yesterday I talked about how the ability to query mulitple servers was my favorite feature in SQL 2008. Today, I thought I would tell you how it work and it could not be simpler.

From the View menu on the menubar, open Registered Servers

Perhaps it is the old librarian in me, but I have always liked to classify things. I have always used Server Groups. I have noticed though that a lot of other dbas do not seem to use them very often. Anyway.

Create a New Server Group, by right clicking on Local Server Groups.

Enter name of group.

I should note, that you can't really try this out on the beta since to see it in all its glory you really need more than one server. I know a person should not do this, but I like this feature so much that I am running 2008 Studio Manager on my laptop.

Add a server and your connection credentials.

Add another server, etc

You can add different versions and edtions of SQL Servers to a single group, this works for earlier versions of SQL Server. I have not tried on a 7.0 server but it does work on 2008.

Right click on the server group name

Select New Query

At the bottom of the query window, the number of server connections will be displayed.

Select @@Version

The results will show the servername and the result of the select. If you prefer you can hide the servername or add a column for user name. You can also bring the results in individual grids, but I don't see the point of that. You can make those changes in the options.

My Favorite Feature

sarah@maximumasp.com — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 19:49:07 GMT

There is a lot to love about SQL 2008 and while I will be upgrading as much as possble to 2008 for the Policy Based Management functionality which will make my life so much better, I think my most favorite thing about 2008 is a small thing. The ability to query multiple servers from Studio Manager. When you manage a number of servers, looking up simple things can take a time. For instance, everyday I want to know how many databases do I have on the beta servers so that I can plan for our hardware needs. In previous versions, I would need to write a little app that would use linked servers to connect to each server and pull back this information and then aggregate myself. Once you write this not a big deal, but it is a hassle and I would prefer to not to have to deal with linked servers whenever possible, Now I simply query a server group and write a simple SELECT COUNT(*) from sysdatabases. I do wish I order on the servername, but maybe in a future release.

Welcome!

sarah@maximumasp.com — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 19:43:15 GMT

Welcome the SQL Server Beta. I am Sarah Barela the Senior Database Administrator at Maximum ASP. My colleague Ryan Jones and I are responsible for keeping the SQL 2008 Beta Servers up and running. We hope that you enjoy playing with SQL Server2008, but please bear with us as we are learning along with you about all the new features and functionality in each CTP release.