SQL Saturday 149 Announcement

I found out that my submission for SQL Saturday 149 was accepted and I will again be presenting at the MN SQL Saturday this year. If you haven't signed up yet and you will be in the Twin Cities MN area on Saturday September 29th, 2012, you are missing out on one of the best SQL Server conferences around. This year, the event will be held at the University of Minnesota - Keller Hall, 200 Union Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Admittance to this event is free, but they do charge a lunch fee of 10.00 so that they can provide a lunch - not pizza! Please register soon as seating is limited, and let friends and colleages know about the event. You can find out more about this (and register!!) at the event homepage: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/149/eventhome.aspx

Extended Event - Check for Log Shrink and Email

I saw SQL Server MVP Jason Strate give a presentation a year or two ago on Extended Events. One situation I remember him giving was that he was having problems with a log file shrinking every so often; for some reason this caused some issues (auto-grow or something). So he used Extended Events to capture the shrink and get more details on it. This problem sounded interesting to me and I wanted to see if I could generate some code to do this from scratch, this is what I came up with:

First we need to create the Extended Event (hereafter referred to as XE) to capture the log shrink:

IF EXISTS(SELECT * FROM sys.server_event_sessions WHERE name = 'XE_Log_Shrink')
    DROP EVENT SESSION XE_Log_Shrink ON SERVER
GO
CREATE EVENT SESSION XE_Log_Shrink ON SERVER -- Session Name
ADD EVENT sqlserver.databases_log_shrink -- Event we want to capture
(
    ACTION -- What contents to capture
        (
        sqlserver.client_app_name
        ,sqlserver.client_hostname
        ,sqlserver.nt_username
        ,sqlserver.session_id
        ,sqlserver.sql_text
        ,sqlserver.username
        )
)
ADD TARGET package0.ring_buffer WITH (MAX_DISPATCH_LATENCY = 1 SECONDS, STARTUP_STATE = ON) -- The target
GO

ALTER EVENT SESSION XE_Log_Shrink ON SERVER STATE = START

Next to check it, we need to shrink a log (I'll auto grow it again, so I can redo this numerous times if I need to)

USE [AdventureWorks]
GO
DBCC SHRINKFILE (N'AdventureWorks_Log' , 1)
GO

USE [master]
GO
ALTER DATABASE [AdventureWorks] MODIFY FILE ( NAME = N'AdventureWorks_Log', SIZE = 100MB )
GO

Lets check the XE to see if we captured the event:

;WITH Data
AS (
 SELECT CAST(target_data AS XML) AS TargetData
 FROM sys.dm_xe_session_targets dt
 JOIN  sys.dm_xe_sessions ds ON ds.address = dt.event_session_address
 JOIN  sys.server_event_sessions ss ON ds.Name = ss.Name
 WHERE dt.target_name = 'ring_buffer'
  AND ds.Name = 'XE_Log_Shrink'
)
SELECT  DATEADD(hour,-5,XEventData.XEvent.value('(@timestamp)[1]', 'datetime'))  AS event_timestamp
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('@name', 'varchar(4000)')       AS event_name
   ,DB_NAME(XEventData.XEvent.value('(data/value)[2]', 'VARCHAR(100)'))  AS DatabaseName
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('(action/value)[2]', 'VARCHAR(512)')    AS client_hostname
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('(action/value)[3]', 'VARCHAR(512)')    AS nt_username
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('(action/value)[6]', 'VARCHAR(512)')    AS username
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('(action/value)[5]', 'VARCHAR(512)')    AS sql_text
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('(action/value)[4]', 'VARCHAR(512)')    AS session_id
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('(action/value)[1]', 'VARCHAR(512)')    AS client_app_name
FROM Data d
CROSS APPLY TargetData.nodes('//RingBufferTarget/event') AS XEventData ( XEvent )

So, we should see the event now. But lets take it a step further, lets say we want to get emailed when it happens. I've created this stored proc which will check once an hour (this is a variable, you can configure it as you see fit, but keep it under 2 hours or else you'll have to modify my waitfor logic...or you could remove the waitfor logic and just run it from the scheduler in the agent job you setup, just match up the @How_Often variable with how often your job fires)

USE master
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
-- ===========================================================
-- Author:  Eric Zierdt
-- Create date: 4/19/2012
-- Description: Checks for Log Shrinkage and sends email
-- URL:   http://ericemployed.blogspot.com
-- Usage:  exec Email_On_Log_Shrinkage 60
-- ===========================================================
ALTER PROCEDURE Email_On_Log_Shrinkage
 -- Add the parameters for the stored procedure here
 @How_Often INT = 60
AS
BEGIN
 SET NOCOUNT ON
 Start_Code:
 --DECLARE @How_Often INT = 60
 DECLARE @RowCount INT = 0
   ,@SQL VARCHAR(MAX) = ''

 IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM tempdb.dbo.sysobjects WHERE ID = OBJECT_ID(N'tempdb..#TempData'))
 BEGIN
  DROP TABLE #TempData
 END

 ;WITH Data
 AS (
  SELECT CAST(target_data AS XML) AS TargetData
  FROM sys.dm_xe_session_targets dt
  JOIN  sys.dm_xe_sessions ds ON ds.address = dt.event_session_address
  JOIN  sys.server_event_sessions ss ON ds.Name = ss.Name
  WHERE dt.target_name = 'ring_buffer'
   AND ds.Name = 'XE_Log_Shrink'
 )
 SELECT  DATEADD(hour,-5,XEventData.XEvent.value('(@timestamp)[1]', 'datetime'))  AS event_timestamp
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('@name', 'varchar(4000)')        AS event_name
   ,DB_NAME(XEventData.XEvent.value('(data/value)[2]', 'VARCHAR(100)'))   AS DatabaseName
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('(action/value)[2]', 'VARCHAR(512)')     AS client_hostname
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('(action/value)[3]', 'VARCHAR(512)')     AS nt_username
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('(action/value)[6]', 'VARCHAR(512)')     AS username
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('(action/value)[5]', 'VARCHAR(512)')     AS sql_text
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('(action/value)[4]', 'VARCHAR(512)')     AS session_id
   ,XEventData.XEvent.value('(action/value)[1]', 'VARCHAR(512)')     AS client_app_name
 INTO #TempData
 FROM Data d
 CROSS APPLY TargetData.nodes('//RingBufferTarget/event') AS XEventData ( XEvent )
 WHERE  DATEADD(hour,-5,XEventData.XEvent.value('(@timestamp)[1]', 'datetime')) > DATEADD(MINUTE,-1*@How_Often,GETDATE())
 
 SELECT @RowCount = COUNT(1) FROM #TempData
 IF @RowCount > 0
 BEGIN
  PRINT CAST(@RowCount AS VARCHAR(10)) + ' Log Shrink records were found'
  SET @SQL = '






'
  DECLARE @DBName   VARCHAR(120)
    ,@HostName  VARCHAR(120)
    ,@TimeStamp  VARCHAR(120)
    ,@UserName  VARCHAR(120)
    ,@SQL_Text  VARCHAR(120)
  DECLARE ZCursor CURSOR FOR
  (
   SELECT DatabaseName
       ,client_hostname
       ,CAST(event_timestamp AS VARCHAR(120)) AS TimeStamp
       ,username
       ,sql_text
   FROM #TempData
  )
  OPEN ZCursor 
  FETCH NEXT FROM ZCursor INTO @DBName,@HostName,@TimeStamp,@UserName,@SQL_Text
   WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
   BEGIN
    SET @SQL += '



'

    FETCH NEXT FROM ZCursor INTO @DBName,@HostName,@TimeStamp,@UserName,@SQL_Text
   END

  CLOSE ZCursor
  DEALLOCATE ZCursor
  SET @SQL += '
 
  
Server
Database Name
Time Stamp
Client Hostname
Username
SQL_Text
 
 
  
' + @@SERVERNAME + '
' + @DBName + '
' + @TimeStamp + '
' + @HostName + '
' + @UserName + '
' + @SQL_Text + '
 
    
'
 END
 ELSE
  PRINT 'No Shrinks in the time frame requested'

 --PRINT @SQL
 
 EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_send_dbmail
   @recipients = '[Your Email Here]',
   @body = @SQL,
   @subject = 'Log Shrink Detected',
   @profile_name = '[Your Profile Name Here]',
   @body_format = 'html';
 
 DROP TABLE #TempData
 
 DECLARE @Delay VARCHAR(10)
   --,@How_Often INT = 60
 IF @How_Often < 60
  SET @Delay = '00:' + RIGHT('00' + CAST(@How_Often AS VARCHAR(2)),2) + ':00'
 ELSE
  SET @Delay = '01:' + RIGHT('00' + CAST(@How_Often-60 AS VARCHAR(2)),2) + ':00'

 WAITFOR DELAY @Delay
  GOTO Start_Code
END
GO

Then the last step is to call this proc from a agent job. Iif you use the WaitFor logic, I'd still set a schedule to run every hour, just in case it fails...but the more I think about this, the more I prefer not using the WaitFor logic and just running the job every hour; but if the job fails, you won't get emailed.

--Eric

SSRS Queries

I've recently been working with SSRS and needed to write some queries to get more knowledge about what was happening on the server.

One of the first things I wanted to know was what subscriptions had run that did not succeed. This query should be run on the server that hosts your ReportServer Database. I'm running these on SQL Server 2008R2

USE [ReportServer]
--GET THE SERVER NAME
DECLARE @ServerURL VARCHAR(MAX)
SELECT TOP 1 @ServerURL =[MachineName]
FROM [dbo].Keys
WHERE [MachineName] IS NOT NULL

IF CHARINDEX('\',@ServerURL) > 0
SET @ServerURL = LEFT(@ServerURL,CHARINDEX('\',@ServerURL)-1)

SET @ServerURL = 'http://' + @ServerURL + '/Reports/Pages'

--FIND THE NON-SUCCESSFUL SUBSCRIPTIONS
;WITH AgentJobsCTE AS (
  SELECT [SJ].job_id
     ,[SJ].name AS AgentJobName
     ,[SJS].[command]
     ,CAST(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE([SJS].[command],'exec [ReportServer].dbo.AddEvent @EventType=''TimedSubscription'', @EventData=''',''),'exec ReportServer.dbo.AddEvent @EventType=''TimedSubscription'', @EventData=''',''), '''', '') AS SYSNAME) AS SubscriptionID
  FROM  msdb.[dbo].[sysjobs] AS SJ
  JOIN   msdb.[dbo].[sysjobsteps] AS SJS ON [SJ].[job_id] = [SJS].[job_id]
  WHERE  SJS.[command] LIKE '%TimedSubscription%'
)
SELECT O.[UserName] AS OwnerName,M.[UserName] AS ModifiedBy,C.[Name] AS ReportName,[AJ].AgentJobName,S.[SubscriptionID],S.[LastStatus],S.[LastRunTime],S.[ModifiedDate],S.[Report_OID]
   ,@ServerURL + '/SubscriptionProperties.aspx?ItemPath=' + REPLACE(REPLACE(C.Path,'/','%2f'),' ','+') + '&IsDataDriven=False&SubscriptionID=' + CAST(S.[SubscriptionID] AS VARCHAR(MAX)) AS SubscriptionURL
   ,@ServerURL + '/Report.aspx?ItemPath=' + REPLACE(REPLACE(C.Path,'/','%2f'),' ','+') + '&SelectedTabId=PropertiesTab&SelectedSubTabId=SubscriptionsTab&SortBy=LastExecuted&IsAscending=false' AS ReportURL
FROM [ReportServer].[dbo].[Subscriptions] AS S
JOIN  [ReportServer].[dbo].[Users] AS O ON [S].[OwnerID] = [O].[UserID]
JOIN  [ReportServer].[dbo].[Users] AS M ON S.[ModifiedByID] = [M].[UserID]
JOIN  [ReportServer].[dbo].[Catalog] AS C ON [S].[Report_OID] = [C].[ItemID]
LEFT JOIN [AgentJobsCTE] AJ ON CAST(S.[SubscriptionID] AS SYSNAME) = AJ.[SubscriptionID]
WHERE [LastRunTime] >= '04/02/2012 15:00' --NOT NEEDED, BUT MAKES YOUR LIST SHORTER
 AND [LastStatus] NOT LIKE 'Mail sent to%'
 AND [LastStatus] NOT LIKE 'The file "%'
           --AND [LastStatus] NOT LIKE 'Pending%' --Pending are currently running.
ORDER BY [LastRunTime] DESC

I noticed that I was seeing a number of subscriptions currently running for the same report, many run at the same time. I wrote a query to tell me which subscriptions had the same "report parameter values". This doesn't look at the subscription start time or days of the week, just the parameters...so you'll need to do some investigation (the next query will help with that)

USE [ReportServer]
DECLARE @ServerURL VARCHAR(MAX)
SELECT TOP 1 @ServerURL =[MachineName]
FROM [dbo].Keys
WHERE [MachineName] IS NOT NULL

IF CHARINDEX('\',@ServerURL) > 0
SET @ServerURL = LEFT(@ServerURL,CHARINDEX('\',@ServerURL)-1)

SET @ServerURL = 'http://' + @ServerURL + '/Reports/Pages'

;WITH DuplicateSubscriptions AS (
SELECT C.Name AS ReportName
    ,CAST(Parameters AS VARCHAR(MAX)) AS Parameters
    ,[Report_OID]
    ,C.Path
    ,COUNT(1) AS [Count]
FROM [ReportServer].[dbo].[Subscriptions] S
JOIN  [ReportServer].[dbo].[Catalog] AS C ON [S].[Report_OID] = [C].[ItemID]
LEFT JOIN [dbo].[ReportSchedule] AS RS ON [S].[SubscriptionID] = [RS].[SubscriptionID]
LEFT JOIN [dbo].[Schedule] AS SC ON RS.[ScheduleID] = SC.[ScheduleID]
WHERE (SC.EndDate IS NULL OR (SC.EndDate IS NULL AND SC.[RecurrenceType] <> 1))

GROUP BY CAST(Parameters AS VARCHAR(MAX)),[Report_OID],C.Name,C.Path
HAVING COUNT(1) > 1
)
SELECT *
   ,@ServerURL + '/Report.aspx?ItemPath=' + REPLACE(REPLACE(Path,'/','%2f'),' ','+') + '&SelectedTabId=PropertiesTab&SelectedSubTabId=SubscriptionsTab&SortBy=LastExecuted&IsAscending=false' AS URL
FROM [DuplicateSubscriptions]
--ORDER BY [ReportName], [Count] DESC
ORDER BY [Count] DESC, [ReportName]

So when you find a possible duplicate subscription in the previous list, get the Report_OID and Parameters field and past them into the variables in this query and execute to see if it needs more investigation. I usually look at the "LastRun" field and see if there are any duplicates in that list. If you need to dig in more, the query provides links to both the subscription webpage and the report management page listing all subscriptions

USE [ReportServer]
-- VIEW ALL (NON EXPIRED) SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR A SPECIFIC REPORT WITH SPECIFIC PARAMETERS
DECLARE @ServerSubscriptionURL VARCHAR(MAX)
SELECT TOP 1 @ServerSubscriptionURL =[MachineName]
FROM [dbo].Keys
WHERE [MachineName] IS NOT NULL

IF CHARINDEX('\',@ServerSubscriptionURL) > 0
SET @ServerSubscriptionURL = LEFT(@ServerSubscriptionURL,CHARINDEX('\',@ServerSubscriptionURL)-1)

SET @ServerSubscriptionURL = 'http://' + @ServerSubscriptionURL + '/Reports/Pages'

DECLARE @ReportID sysname = 'F9999999-888G-7H77-I9I9-000000J00000' -- ReportID from previous query
 ,@ParameterList VARCHAR(MAX) = '[parameters]'-- Parameters from previous query

SELECT C.Name AS ReportName
   ,S.[SubscriptionID]
   ,S.[Description] Descr
   ,S.[LastRunTime] LastRun
   ,S.[LastStatus]
   --,SC.[EndDate]
   --,SC.[RecurrenceType]
   ,U.[UserName] AS Owner
   ,@ServerSubscriptionURL + '/SubscriptionProperties.aspx?ItemPath=' + REPLACE(REPLACE(C.Path,'/','%2f'),' ','+') + '&IsDataDriven=False&SubscriptionID=' + CAST(S.[SubscriptionID] AS VARCHAR(MAX)) AS SubscriptionURL
   ,@ServerSubscriptionURL + '/Report.aspx?ItemPath=' + REPLACE(REPLACE(C.Path,'/','%2f'),' ','+') + '&SelectedTabId=PropertiesTab&SelectedSubTabId=SubscriptionsTab&SortBy=LastExecuted&IsAscending=false' AS ReportURL
FROM [ReportServer].[dbo].[Subscriptions] S
JOIN [ReportServer].[dbo].[Users] AS U ON [S].[OwnerID] = [U].[UserID]
JOIN  [ReportServer].[dbo].[Catalog] AS C ON [S].[Report_OID] = [C].[ItemID]
LEFT JOIN [dbo].[ReportSchedule] AS RS ON [S].[SubscriptionID] = [RS].[SubscriptionID]
LEFT JOIN [dbo].[Schedule] AS SC ON RS.[ScheduleID] = SC.[ScheduleID]
WHERE Report_OID = @ReportID
 AND CAST(S.Parameters AS VARCHAR(MAX)) = @ParameterList
 AND (SC.EndDate IS NULL OR (SC.EndDate IS NULL AND SC.[RecurrenceType] <> 1))
ORDER BY S.Description

But wait, thats not all, some additional interesting queries:
See all currently running reports

SELECT [JobID],[StartDate],[ComputerName],[RequestName],[RequestPath]
   ,[Description],[Timeout] AS Timeout, DATEDIFF(ss, startdate, GETDATE()) AS SecondsSinceRun
   , DATEDIFF(mi, startdate, GETDATE()) AS MinutesSinceRun
   ,[JobAction],[JobType],[JobStatus]
 ,'http://[reporturl]/Reports/Pages/Report.aspx?ItemPath=' + REPLACE(REPLACE(RJ.RequestPath,'/','%2f'),' ','+') + '&SelectedTabId=PropertiesTab&SelectedSubTabId=SubscriptionsTab&SortBy=LastExecuted&IsAscending=false' AS ReportURL
FROM [ReportServer].[dbo].[RunningJobs] AS RJ

See the run information for a specific report (comment out the RequestType if you want to see things other than subscriptions)

SELECT *
FROM [ReportServer].[dbo].[ExecutionLog2] AS EL
WHERE [ReportPath] LIKE '%[report name=""]' AND [RequestType] = 'Subscription'
ORDER BY [TimeStart] DESC

View a schedule for a specific Subscription

-- VIEW SCHDULE DATA FOR A SPEICIFC SUBSCRIPTION
SELECT *
FROM [dbo].[Schedule] AS S
JOIN [dbo].[ReportSchedule] AS RS ON [S].[ScheduleID] = [RS].[ScheduleID]
WHERE RS.[SubscriptionID] = '[subscriptionid]'

Ok, one last one, this lets you see all expired (past the end date) and one time subscriptions (useful if you want to clean them up)

-- EXPIRED AND ONE TIME RUN SUBSCRIPTIONS

DECLARE @ServerURL VARCHAR(MAX)
SELECT TOP 1 @ServerURL =[MachineName] 
FROM [dbo].Keys
WHERE [MachineName] IS NOT NULL

IF CHARINDEX('\',@ServerURL) > 0
 SET @ServerURL = LEFT(@ServerURL,CHARINDEX('\',@ServerURL)-1)

SET @ServerURL = 'http://' + @ServerURL + '/Reports/Pages'

;WITH ExpiredSubscriptions AS 
(
 SELECT RS.[SubscriptionID], S.[EndDate] 
 FROM [dbo].[Schedule] AS S 
 JOIN [dbo].[ReportSchedule] AS RS ON [S].[ScheduleID] = [RS].[ScheduleID]
 WHERE S.[EndDate] < GETDATE() OR S.[RecurrenceType] = 1
)
SELECT S.[SubscriptionID]
    ,C.Name AS ReportName
    ,S.[Description] Descr
    ,S.[LastRunTime] LastRun
    ,ES.[EndDate]
    ,S.[LastStatus]
    ,U.[UserName] AS Owner
    ,@ServerURL + '/SubscriptionProperties.aspx?ItemPath=' + REPLACE(REPLACE(Path,'/','%2f'),' ','+') + '&IsDataDriven=False&SubscriptionID=' + CAST(S.[SubscriptionID] AS VARCHAR(MAX)) AS SubscriptionURL 
    ,@ServerURL + '/Report.aspx?ItemPath=' + REPLACE(REPLACE(Path,'/','%2f'),' ','+') + '&SelectedTabId=PropertiesTab&SelectedSubTabId=SubscriptionsTab&SortBy=LastExecuted&IsAscending=false' AS ReportURL
FROM Subscriptions S
JOIN [dbo].[Users] AS U ON [S].[OwnerID] = [U].[UserID]
JOIN  [ReportServer].[dbo].[Catalog] AS C ON [S].[Report_OID] = [C].[ItemID]
JOIN [ExpiredSubscriptions] ES ON S.[SubscriptionID] = ES.[SubscriptionID]
ORDER BY C.[Name], ES.[EndDate] DESC

If you have any other good queries, please drop them in a comment below

SQLSaturday #99 Scripts

Hello to everyone who finds my blog because of taking my SQLSaturday presentation on Execution Plans. As promised, I'm attaching my scripts.

What are Execution Plans?
The definition I used in my presentation was:
"In simplest terms, Execution Plans are the steps that SQL Server takes in order to return the requested information."


How do I see Execution Plans
For Graphical Execution Plans there are a few ways:
In the Menu Bar choose Query and you can choose either Display Estimated Execution Plan or Include Actual Execution Plan.



Right Click Query Window




Control L (Estimated) / M (Actual)


Or the simplest way, use the two buttons



Plan Type
Graphical, Text, XML
Gets more difficult to read as you go from left to right, but also get more info. i.e. Graphical is easier to read than is Text, which is easier to read than XML, but XML gives more info than Text, which in turn gives more info than Graphical.
Note: I've read that Microsoft is planning on deprecating Text Execution Plan


Permission
sysadmin, dbcreator or db_owner, or be granted the ShowPlan permission:
GRANT SHOWPLAN TO [username]



Reuse
The Optimizer stores plans so it can reuse them, this is removed on server restart or DBCC FREEPROCCACHE



The examples below use AdventureWorks and AdventureWorks2008, available at CodePlex

To start, please turn on Include Actual Execution Plan from any of the above described methods. Next run this query:

/* QUERY 1 */
USE AdventureWorks2008
SELECT  *
FROM    HumanResources.Employee E

In your results window, you will see a new tab called "Execution Plan", if you click on that, you should see the following. Hovering over the left most object will display the tool tip in this screenshot:



If you right click on any of the objects in this window you can choose Properties and get additional info. I traditionally read from right to left, but you can get important info like "Optimization Level" if you get the properties from the left most (select) object. The most common Optimization Levels are Trivial or Full. This is a trivial plan because there are no where clauses or joins, so the Optimizer can only get this data one way, doing a full table scan.

We discussed the difference between A Scan and a Seek. A Scan means that SQL Server needed to look at every record in the table, where as a Seek means that it can use an index to go directly to the record in question. We likened this to a phone book, if you are looking for the phone number and address for "Sam Smith", a Scan means you have to look at every page and every record even after it already finds a record for Sam Smith, whereas a Seek can go right to the S's at the top of the page and quickly go to the Sam Smith record and stop looking.

We discussed how typically, a scan performs worse than a seek. However if the table is small, and in some other instances, a Scan can be the best option.


Next we ran the following query:

/* QUERY 2 */
USE AdventureWorks
SELECT  E.Title
FROM    HumanResources.Employee E
WHERE   E.EmployeeID = 185

And we saw an Clustered Index Seek this time.





Our next query:

/* QUERY 3 */
USE AdventureWorks
SELECT  MiddleName
FROM    Person.Contact
WHERE   Phone LIKE '11%'

Showed us the "Missing Index" at the top of the Execution Plan


You can right click on this "Missing Index" text and "Missing Index Details" to have it open the suggested index in a new window.

We altered the index slightly (gave it a name and the WITH(Data_Compression=ROW) hint) and ran this:

USE [AdventureWorks]
GO
CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [Contact_IX_Phone] ON [Person].[Contact] 
(
 [Phone]
)
INCLUDE 
(
 [MiddleName]
)
WITH(Data_Compression=ROW)
GO

We then re-ran Query 3 and saw that we now have an Index Seek.



For Query 4 we ran:

/* QUERY 4 */
USE AdventureWorks
SELECT  E.Title
       ,C.FirstName
       ,C.LastName
       ,M.FirstName AS ManagerFirstName
       ,M.LastName AS ManagerLastName
       ,E.ManagerID
FROM    HumanResources.Employee E
JOIN    Person.Contact C ON E.ContactID = C.ContactID
JOIN    Person.Contact M ON E.ManagerID = M.ContactID
WHERE   E.ManagerID = 109
  AND EXISTS (
   SELECT 1
   FROM Person.Contact AS C2
   WHERE E.ContactID = C2.ContactID
  )

Which showed us a Clustered Index Scan on HumanResources.Employee



It didn't state a missing index so we discussed how to come up with our own index.

We started by noticing that ContactID and ManagerID were both being Joined, and that ManagerID was in the WHERE clause, so we created an index on that, also we used INCLUDE (Title) because Title was in the select List:

USE [AdventureWorks]
GO
CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [HR-Employee_IX_EZ1] ON [HumanResources].[Employee] 
(
 [ContactID] ASC, [ManagerID] ASC
)
INCLUDE ( [Title]) 
WITH (STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, SORT_IN_TEMPDB = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, DROP_EXISTING = OFF, ONLINE = ON, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON, DATA_COMPRESSION=ROW) ON [PRIMARY]
GO

We did discuss some of the WITH parts, like the use of ONLINE = ON as a hint to try to make this index without causing any locking if possible.

After we ran this, we noted that the Index Scan still existed; we discussed that because the ContactID wasn't part of the WHERE, it should go in the INCLUDE. After making this change and re-running the index we saw it change to a Index Seek (note I'm using the DROP_EXISTING = ON here rather than the DROP statement I used in class).

USE [AdventureWorks]
GO
CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [HR-Employee_IX_EZ1] ON [HumanResources].[Employee] 
(
 [ManagerID] ASC
)
INCLUDE ( [ContactID], [Title]) 
WITH (STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, SORT_IN_TEMPDB = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, DROP_EXISTING = ON, ONLINE = ON, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON, DATA_COMPRESSION=ROW) ON [PRIMARY]
GO

We noted that the when we hover over the Employee object in the above screen shots, that it the Estimated I/O Cost dropped from 0.0075 to 0.00386 after we converted from a SCAN to a SEEK and the Estimated Operator Cost changed from .008 to .004 We acknowledged that these numbers seem small, but if this table explodes and becomes very large, we would expect to see these go up and seeing the costs cut in half is a good thing.




For Query 5 we let the audience try to determine what was wrong and needed to be changed:

/* QUERY 5 */
USE AdventureWorks2008
SELECT  SOH.AccountNumber
       ,S.Name AS StoreName
       ,SOH.OrderDate
       ,P.Name AS ProductName
       ,SOD.OrderQty
       ,SOD.UnitPrice
       ,SOD.LineTotal
FROM    Sales.SalesOrderHeader SOH
JOIN    Sales.SalesOrderDetail SOD ON SOH.SalesOrderID = SOD.SalesOrderID
JOIN    Sales.Customer C ON SOH.CustomerID = C.CustomerID
JOIN    Sales.Store S ON C.StoreID = S.BusinessEntityID
JOIN    Production.Product P ON SOD.ProductID = P.ProductID

We had a big Execution Plan, we discussed that you can click on the [+] symbol at the bottom left of the window to help scroll around:


We all agreed that the Index Scan's had to go. We also introduced the "Key Lookup" object. I discussed how Key Lookups are not good, and indicate that the Optimizer couldn't get the key from the index. After looking at the query, we decided to add a number of indexes:

USE [AdventureWorks2008]
GO
CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [SalesOrderHeader_I01] ON [Sales].[SalesOrderHeader] 
(
[SalesOrderID] ASC,
[CustomerID] ASC
)
INCLUDE
(
AccountNumber
,OrderDate
)
WITH (STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, SORT_IN_TEMPDB = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, DROP_EXISTING = OFF, ONLINE = OFF
, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON, DATA_COMPRESSION = ROW) ON [PRIMARY]
GO


USE [AdventureWorks2008]
GO
/****** Object:  Index [AK_SalesOrderDetail_rowguid]    Script Date: 09/23/2011 14:35:47 ******/
CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [SalesOrderDetail_I01] ON [Sales].[SalesOrderDetail] 
(
SalesOrderID ASC
)
INCLUDE
(
ProductID
, OrderQty
,UnitPrice
,LineTotal
)
WITH (PAD_INDEX  = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, SORT_IN_TEMPDB = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, DROP_EXISTING = OFF
, ONLINE = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON, DATA_COMPRESSION = ROW) ON [PRIMARY]
GO



USE [AdventureWorks2008]
GO
CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [Customer_I01] ON [Sales].[Customer] 
(
[CustomerID] ASC)
INCLUDE (
[StoreID]
)WITH (STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, SORT_IN_TEMPDB = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, DROP_EXISTING = OFF, ONLINE = OFF
, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON, DATA_COMPRESSION = ROW) ON [PRIMARY]
GO



USE [AdventureWorks2008]
GO
CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [Store_I01] ON [Sales].[Store] 
(
[BusinessEntityID] ASC
)
INCLUDE
(
Name
)
WITH (STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, SORT_IN_TEMPDB = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, DROP_EXISTING = OFF, ONLINE = OFF
, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON, DATA_COMPRESSION = ROW) ON [PRIMARY]
GO

This did seem to help, when we compared the Estimated I/O's and CPU's but we still were seeing SCANS.



We scratched our heads and then realized that we didn't have a WHERE clause, so we were pulling every record possible. We added:

WHERE SOH.SalesOrderID = 22

and our Execution Plan looked much, much better.



By this time, I think you can figure out what needs to be done for Query 6:

/* QUERY 6 */
SELECT LineTotal, OrderQty
FROM Sales.SalesOrderDetail s
JOIN Production.Product p ON s.ProductID = p.ProductID
WHERE CarrierTrackingNumber = '4911-403C-98'

Next I showed this query which returns all the Cached plans that SQL Server has ready to go:

SELECT [cp].[refcounts] 
  , [cp].[usecounts] 
  , [cp].[objtype] 
  , [st].[dbid] 
  , [st].[objectid] 
  , [st].[text] 
  , [qp].[query_plan] 
FROM sys.dm_exec_cached_plans cp 
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text ( cp.plan_handle ) st 
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_query_plan ( cp.plan_handle ) qp ;

Then we moved on to looking at Execution Plans returned as Text (Note remember to turn off "Include Actual Execution Plan"):

/* TEXT PLANS */

SET SHOWPLAN_ALL ON;   --TURNS ON Estimated Exececution Plan

USE AdventureWorks2008
SELECT  *
FROM    HumanResources.Employee E

SET SHOWPLAN_ALL OFF;  --TURNS OFF Estimated Exececution Plan



SET STATISTICS PROFILE ON  --TURNS ON Actual Exececution Plan
USE AdventureWorks2008
SELECT  *
FROM    HumanResources.Employee E
SET STATISTICS PROFILE OFF --TURNS OFF Actual Exececution Plan

We saw a bunch of data returned




We next moved on to XML Plans:

/* XML PLANS */
SET SHOWPLAN_XML ON;   --TURNS ON Estimated Exececution Plan

USE AdventureWorks2008
SELECT  *
FROM    HumanResources.Employee E

SET SHOWPLAN_XML OFF;  --TURNS OFF Estimated Exececution Plan


SET STATISTICS XML ON  --TURNS ON Actual Exececution Plan
USE [AdventureWorks]
SELECT  E.Title
       ,C.FirstName
       ,C.LastName
FROM    HumanResources.Employee E
JOIN    Person.Contact C ON E.ContactID = C.ContactID
WHERE   E.ManagerID = 185
SET STATISTICS XML OFF --TURNS OFF Actual Exececution Plan

If you click on the returned XML it will open in Graphical Format. If you really want to see it in XML, when viewing a plan in Graphical Format, right click on a blank part of the screen and choose "Show Execution Plan XML"


I had two more pretty awesome queries to show you...the first was one that finds all "Missing Indexes" for all Databases.

SELECT  TOP 10 SUBSTRING(mid.statement, 2, (CHARINDEX(']',mid.statement,1)-2)) AS DBName
  ,mid.statement
  ,migs.avg_total_user_cost
  ,migs.avg_user_impact
  ,migs.user_seeks
  ,migs.avg_total_user_cost * (migs.avg_user_impact / 100.0)
   * (migs.user_seeks + migs.user_scans) AS improvement_measure
       ,'CREATE INDEX [missing_index_'
   + CONVERT (VARCHAR, mig.index_group_handle) + '_'
   + CONVERT (VARCHAR, mid.index_handle) + '_'
   + LEFT(PARSENAME(mid.statement, 1), 32) + ']' + ' ON ' + mid.statement
   + ' (' + ISNULL(mid.equality_columns, '')
   + CASE WHEN mid.equality_columns IS NOT NULL
      AND mid.inequality_columns IS NOT NULL THEN ','
       ELSE ''
     END + ISNULL(mid.inequality_columns, '') + ')' + ISNULL(' INCLUDE ('
                  + mid.included_columns
                  + ')', '') AS create_index_statement
       ,migs.*
       ,mid.database_id
       ,mid.[object_id]
FROM    sys.dm_db_missing_index_groups mig
INNER JOIN sys.dm_db_missing_index_group_stats migs ON migs.group_handle = mig.index_group_handle
INNER JOIN sys.dm_db_missing_index_details mid ON mig.index_handle = mid.index_handle
WHERE   migs.avg_total_user_cost * (migs.avg_user_impact / 100.0)
        * (migs.user_seeks + migs.user_scans) > 1
ORDER BY migs.avg_total_user_cost * migs.avg_user_impact * (migs.user_seeks  + migs.user_scans) DESC

And a query that can show you indexes which potentially are no longer used:

IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM tempdb.dbo.sysobjects WHERE ID = OBJECT_ID(N'tempdb..#Temp_UnUsed_Indexes'))
BEGIN
 DROP TABLE #Temp_UnUsed_Indexes
END

CREATE TABLE #Temp_UnUsed_Indexes
(
 [Server] VARCHAR(100)
 , DatabaseName VARCHAR(100)
 , TableName VARCHAR(100)
 , IndexName VARCHAR(100)
 , is_primary_key BIT
 , user_seeks INT
 , user_scans INT
 , user_lookups INT
 , user_updates INT
 , last_user_seek DATETIME
 , last_user_scan DATETIME
 , last_user_lookup DATETIME
 , last_user_update DATETIME
 , system_seeks INT
 , system_scans INT
 , system_lookups INT
 , system_updates INT
 , last_system_seek DATETIME
 , last_system_scan DATETIME
 , last_system_lookup DATETIME
 , last_system_update DATETIME
)

SET NOCOUNT ON
DECLARE @Seeks INT = 30
  ,@Scans INT = 30
  ,@Lookups INT = 30
  ,@DBName VARCHAR(MAX)
  ,@SQL VARCHAR(MAX)

DECLARE ZCursor CURSOR FOR 
 SELECT NAME --select *
 FROM sys.databases
 WHERE owner_sid <> 0x01
   AND is_read_only = 0
   AND user_access = 0
 ORDER BY name
OPEN ZCursor
FETCH NEXT FROM ZCursor INTO @DBName
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN 
 SET @SQL = '
USE [' + @DBName + ']
DECLARE @Seeks INT = ' + CAST(@Seeks AS VARCHAR(20)) + '
  ,@Scans INT = ' + CAST(@Scans AS VARCHAR(20)) + '
  ,@Lookups INT = ' + CAST(@Lookups AS VARCHAR(20)) + '

INSERT INTO #Temp_UnUsed_Indexes
SELECT  @@SERVERNAME     AS SERVER
  , DB_NAME(DDIUS.database_id) AS DatabaseName
  , OBJECT_NAME(DDIUS.object_id) AS TableName
  , I.name      AS IndexName
  , I.is_primary_key    AS is_primary_key
  , DDIUS.user_seeks    AS user_seeks
  , DDIUS.user_scans    AS user_scans
  , DDIUS.user_lookups   AS user_lookups
  , DDIUS.user_updates   AS user_updates
  , DDIUS.last_user_seek   AS last_user_seek
  , DDIUS.last_user_scan   AS last_user_scan
  , DDIUS.last_user_lookup  AS last_user_lookup
  , DDIUS.last_user_update  AS last_user_update
  , DDIUS.system_seeks   AS system_seeks
  , DDIUS.system_scans   AS system_scans
  , DDIUS.system_lookups   AS system_lookups
  , DDIUS.system_updates   AS system_updates
  , DDIUS.last_system_seek  AS last_system_seek
  , DDIUS.last_system_scan  AS last_system_scan
  , DDIUS.last_system_lookup  AS last_system_lookup
  , DDIUS.last_system_update  AS last_system_update
FROM    sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats AS DDIUS
JOIN sys.indexes AS I ON DDIUS.index_id = I.index_id AND DDIUS.object_id = I.object_id
WHERE   database_id = DB_ID()
  AND user_seeks <= @Seeks AND user_scans <= @Scans AND user_lookups <= @Lookups
  --AND is_primary_key = 0
ORDER BY OBJECT_NAME(DDIUS.object_id), I.name
'
 EXEC(@SQL)
 -- PRINT @SQL

 FETCH NEXT FROM ZCursor INTO @DBName
END
CLOSE ZCursor
DEALLOCATE ZCursor


SELECT  *
FROM    #Temp_UnUsed_Indexes
WHERE is_primary_key = 0
  --AND user_seeks = 0 AND user_scans = 0 AND user_lookups = 0
  --AND system_seeks = 0 AND system_scans = 0 AND system_lookups = 0
  --AND DatabaseName NOT IN ('MOBILE')
ORDER BY [SERVER]
     ,DatabaseName
     ,TableName
     ,is_primary_key DESC
     ,IndexName

Remember that the numbers returned are since the last restart or DBCC FREEPROCCACHE so if you did that recently, don't trust these too much. Look at user_seeks, user_scans and user_lookups to see how often users have called this index. As always, do your research, this is a tool to help you identify probable indexes which might be unused.


I want to really thank Grant Fritchey, who literally wrote the book on Execution Plans, check out his stuff, he knows way more than I do about it.
http://www.simple-talk.com/author/grant-fritchey/
http://www.simple-talk.com/sql/performance/execution-plan-basics/
http://Scarydba.com/Resources



Lastly, if you are not already a member of PASS or PASSMN, please signup, it's free and we have monthly meetings where we discuss stuff and show code and talk about new stuff...it's a lot of fun. Also, PASS does something called 24 hours of pass, where they do 24 hourly webinars (over 2 days), for free!!! so sign up and check them out.

Please subscribe to my blog and follow me on Twitter (@EricZierdt).

Comment, or email me any questions.

New SP_WHO2

A long time ago, I was given a stored proc called "SP_WHOM" which said it was created by "MFrank". SP_WHOM has been a staple in my collection of utilities I use to debug issues on my SQL Servers. I never paid it much mind, until recently, when the thought occurred to me that I knew how to get all of the provided data from SP_WHOM, in an easier way, and I could add some beneficial new fields in the process. So I set out to try to design my own SP_WHOM, so I took at look at the fields provided in the DMV sys.sysprocess All the fields I wanted were in there; so I decided to design my own and this is what I came up with:

USE [master]
GO

SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

/*******************************
** Created By: Eric Zierdt **
** ericzierdt@gmail.com **
** ericemployed.blogspot.com **
*******************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[sp_whom]
AS

SET NOCOUNT ON

IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM tempdb.dbo.sysobjects WHERE ID = OBJECT_ID(N'tempdb..#RawData'))
BEGIN
 DROP TABLE #RawData
END

SELECT SPID
  ,UPPER(status) AS Status
  ,LogiName
  ,HostName
  ,CASE blocked
   WHEN 0 THEN ''
   ELSE CAST(blocked AS VARCHAR(5))
  END AS BlockedBy
  ,Open_Tran
  ,DB_NAME(S.dbid) AS DBName
  ,CMD AS Command
  ,Last_Batch
  ,DATEDIFF(mi,last_batch,GETDATE()) AS RunTimeMins
  ,DATEDIFF(ss,last_batch,GETDATE()) AS RunTimeSecs
  ,CPU AS CPU_Time
  ,Physical_IO AS DiskIO
  ,Program_Name
  ,ST.text AS SQL_Text
INTO #RawData
FROM    sys.sysprocesses AS S
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(S.sql_handle) ST

SELECT *
FROM #RawData R
WHERE   spid <> @@SPID
  AND status NOT IN ( 'background', 'sleeping' )
UNION
SELECT *
FROM #RawData AS RD
WHERE SPID IN (
   SELECT BlockedBy
   FROM #RawData AS RD2
   WHERE RD2.BlockedBy <> ''
  )
ORDER BY SPID

DROP TABLE #RawData

GO

Why are you doing a UNION you might ask? I'm doing it because I want to display only those SPIDS which are not set to "Sleeping" or "Background" status, however...if a SPID is blocked by another SPID, I'd like to display the blocking SPID as well. If I didn't do this and someone opens a transaction, updates records and doesn't close the transaction, their SPID's status will be Sleeping, so you will see that any spid trying to access the record(s) are blocked, but you won't know anything about the SPID doing the blocking.

I'd love feedback, is there something I should add to this to make it more useful? Please follow my blog and leave me some feedback.

P.s. because this is being placed in the master database and has the sp_ prefix you can call this from any database by just executing: "sp_whom" no need for exec or master.. or anything.

Deleting ZZ'd Objects

If you are like me, you have some method or process of checking that a given table/proc/etc. is safe to be dropped prior to dropping it. My current method is to do some checks, see how often stuff is being used, search code, then to rename the object ZZ_. I let the object exist for two weeks as ZZ_ before I finally script it out and drop it.

I decided to write a little script to search out the names of all my ZZ'd objects on a server (specifically User Tables, Procs and Agent Jobs) and store them in a temp table. Next I email the list to my development team offering them one last chance to save the object, and set about scripting it out. The script also creates a DROP script for you to run, so when you are ready, you can just run the script.

Works pretty well. Please comment below on how you facilitate removing old objects, is your method different from mine?

/*******************************
** Created By: Eric Zierdt **
** ericzierdt@gmail.com **
** ericemployed.blogspot.com **
*******************************/
IF object_id('tempdb..#ObjectList') IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
   DROP TABLE #ObjectList
END
CREATE TABLE #ObjectList
(
 DBName VARCHAR(100)
 ,ObjectName VARCHAR(100)
 ,ObjectType VARCHAR(2)
 ,ObjectType_Desc VARCHAR(100)
)

DECLARE @DBName AS VARCHAR(MAX)
  ,@SQL AS VARCHAR(MAX)
  
DECLARE ZCursor CURSOR FOR 
 SELECT name
 FROM   sys.databases
 WHERE  owner_sid <> '0x01'
 ORDER BY name
OPEN ZCursor
FETCH NEXT FROM ZCursor
INTO @DBName
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN 
 PRINT 'Starting ' + @DBName
 SET @SQL = 'USE [' + @DBName + ']
  SELECT ''' + @DBName + ''' AS DBName, name,type,type_desc FROM sys.objects WHERE name LIKE ''%%zz%%'' ORDER BY CASE WHEN type = ''U'' THEN 1 ELSE 2 END, name
'
 INSERT INTO #ObjectList
         ( DBName, ObjectName,ObjectType,ObjectType_Desc )
 EXEC (@SQL)
 FETCH NEXT FROM ZCursor 
INTO @DBName
END
CLOSE ZCursor
DEALLOCATE ZCursor

USE msdb
INSERT INTO #ObjectList
 ( DBName, ObjectName,ObjectType,ObjectType_Desc )
SELECT 'msdb',name,'A','Agent Job' 
FROM dbo.sysjobs 
WHERE name LIKE '%%zz%'


--  SELECT * FROM #ObjectList

-- RUN THE CODE BELOW TO PRINT OUT THE DROP COMMANDS FOR THE OBJECTS
/*
DECLARE @DBName AS VARCHAR(MAX)
  ,@SQL AS VARCHAR(MAX)
  ,@ObjectName AS VARCHAR(MAX)
  ,@ObjectType AS VARCHAR(2)
  ,@Job_ID VARCHAR(257)
DECLARE DeleteCursor CURSOR FOR 
 SELECT DBName, ObjectName,ObjectType FROM #ObjectList --WHERE ObjectType = 'U'
OPEN DeleteCursor
FETCH NEXT FROM DeleteCursor
INTO @DBName,@ObjectName,@ObjectType
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN 
 IF @ObjectType = 'U'
 BEGIN
  SET @SQL = 'DROP TABLE [' + @DBName + '].[dbo].[' + @ObjectName + ']
GO'
 END
 ELSE IF @ObjectType = 'P'
 BEGIN
  SET @SQL = 'USE [' + @DBName + ']
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].[' + @ObjectName + ']
GO'
 END
 ELSE IF @ObjectType = 'A'
 BEGIN
  SELECT @Job_ID = job_id FROM msdb.dbo.sysjobs_view WHERE name = N'' + @ObjectName + ''
  SET @SQL = 'EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_delete_job @job_id=N''' + @Job_ID + ''', @delete_unused_schedule=1
GO'
 END
 ELSE
  PRINT 'Unknown Object Type Found: [' + @ObjectType + ']'  
 PRINT @SQL
 FETCH NEXT FROM DeleteCursor 
INTO @DBName,@ObjectName,@ObjectType
END
CLOSE DeleteCursor
DEALLOCATE DeleteCursor
*/

Restoring MSDB causes Log Shipping Failures

My situation is as follows, I have created a new Staging Server; we want everything to be as close as possible to our Production OLAP server, including the Job System...how best to do this?

I tired playing around with creating a linked server and copying stuff from msdb from primary to staging, but eventually I ran into problems with ID's and just couldn't make it work, so I decided to simply copy the msdb database from my OLAP server and restore it on my Staging server. Sounds simple right? Well, there were a number of problems that I ran into, specifically with regards to Log Shipping; with some help from Google and Twitter, I was able to resolve the issues and wanted to post the fixes to help any of you that run into the same issues.

FYI, I'm running SQL Server 2008 R2

First Error: Log Shipping jobs show a status of "Suspended" and I can't get them to do anything.
Fix: Thanks to http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic8379-7-1.aspx and user TVR, I found the answer; I needed to run:

use msdb
go
delete from msdb.dbo.syssubsystems
exec msdb.dbo.sp_verify_subsystems 1
go

And Restart the service.

Next problem: Log Shipping Copy's work fine, but Restores fail, saying "Error: Could not find a log backup file that could be applied to secondary database". This time help came from Twitter, where user @AngryPets a.k.a Michael K. Campbell pointed me in the direction of the msdb..log_shipping_monitor_secondary table. It took quite a bit of playing with it and the associated tables to figure out what needed to be reset/changed, but I was finally able to get it to work by doing this:

/*******************************
** Created By: Eric Zierdt **
** ericzierdt@gmail.com **
** ericemployed.blogspot.com **
*******************************/
UPDATE msdb.dbo.log_shipping_monitor_secondary
SET secondary_server = '[Staging_Server_Name]'
 , last_restored_file = NULL -- Need to get rid of last restore data
WHERE secondary_server = '[Production_Server_Name]'

UPDATE msdb.dbo.log_shipping_secondary
SET  monitor_server = '[Staging_Server_Name]'
WHERE monitor_server = '[Production_Server_Name]'

Simple enough, but took me forever to figure out.

Hope this helps, if so, drop me a comment.

Enable/Disable jobs

This post will probably not have mass appeal, but it's something I wrote recently that I find of value. The situation I was working with is that on our OLAP server, we have a number of "Invoke" agent jobs that fire off ever 2 minutes which go out and look to see if we need to process run our ETL's and process our cube. When we are doing releases or work on ETL's we want to disable all the Invoke jobs so they don't start. I'm sure you can think of other situations where this might be necessary outside of cube processing.

So one way to do this (arguably the faster way) is to open your job manager and highlight the invoke jobs and right-click and choose disable. But what if you have a few invokes disabled for one reason or another? You'll have to either remember which ones were disabled, or make a list, and make sure you don't re-enable those when you are done. Or, what if you want to wait for your current Invoke to end before you do the disable (not necessary, but what if), or you want to do it at a specific time of day?

I came up with a script that I put into two agent jobs to facilitate this. These can be scheduled and work pretty well.

The first job, creates a storage table, stores the id's for the enabled jobs, then disables them. (It checks to see if the job exists first and if so, error's out)

/*******************************
** Created By: Eric Zierdt   **
** ericzierdt@gmail.com      **
** ericemployed.blogspot.com **
*******************************/

IF OBJECT_ID('msdb.dbo.ActiveInvokeJobs') IS NULL
BEGIN
 CREATE TABLE FRZ_ADMINDB.dbo.ActiveInvokeJobs (
    job_id UNIQUEIDENTIFIER
  , [Name] VARCHAR(255)
 )
 INSERT INTO msdb.dbo.ActiveInvokeJobs
 ( job_id, [Name])
 SELECT  job_id
     ,[Name]
 FROM    msdb.dbo.sysjobs S
 WHERE   enabled = 1
   AND name LIKE '%invoke%'

 UPDATE msdb.dbo.sysjobs
 SET  enabled = 0
 WHERE job_id IN (
    SELECT  job_id
    FROM msdb.dbo.ActiveInvokeJobs
   )
END
ELSE
BEGIN
 RAISERROR ('Storage Table Already Exists.',16,1);
END

The next agent job checks to see if the storage table exists, and if so enables the disabled jobs, then deletes the storage table.

/*******************************
** Created By: Eric Zierdt   **
** ericzierdt@gmail.com      **
** ericemployed.blogspot.com **
*******************************/

IF OBJECT_ID('msdb.dbo.ActiveInvokeJobs') IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
 UPDATE msdb.dbo.sysjobs
 SET  enabled = 1
 WHERE job_id IN (
    SELECT  job_id
    FROM msdb.dbo.ActiveInvokeJobs
   )

 DROP TABLE msdb.dbo.ActiveInvokeJobs

END
ELSE
BEGIN
 RAISERROR ('Storage Table Does Not Exist.',16,1);
END

Getting Object Counts

Recently I was reporting a bug I noticed with a 3rd party tool, the support group asked me to send them "the number of instances, number of databases per instance, total number of tables and total number of indexes." Now I knew the number of instances I was monitoring, and I knew the approximate number of tables (perhaps a good DBA should know this number, not sure...do other DBA's out there with larger servers know the exact number? comment below, I'm interested), but I had no idea how many indexes. So I wrote a little script to give me this number and as I like to do, I'm making it available to the community, hope this helps you...if you find use of it (even years in the future) post below.

/***********************************
 ** Author: Eric Zierdt           **
 ** Date:   4/21/2011             **
 ** Email:  eric.zierdt@gmail.com **
 ***********************************/

DECLARE @CountAll AS TABLE (CntName VARCHAR(100), Cnt INT)

/*******************************************
 ** GET COUNT OF ALL NON-SYSTEM DATABASES **
 *******************************************/
INSERT INTO @CountAll
SELECT 'TotalDBs',COUNT(1) AS TotalDBs
FROM sys.databases D
WHERE owner_sid <> '0x01'


/******************************
 ** GET COUNT OF ALL TABLES  **
 ** FOR NON-SYSTEM DATABASES **
 ******************************/
DECLARE @CountTable AS TABLE (DB VARCHAR(100),CNT INT)
DECLARE @SQL VARCHAR(MAX)
DECLARE @DBName VARCHAR(128)
SET @DBName = ''
WHILE @DBName < (
 SELECT MIN(name) 
 FROM sys.databases
 WHERE name > @DBName 
   AND name NOT IN ('master','model','msdb','tempdb')
)
BEGIN
 SELECT @DBName = MIN(NAME) FROM sys.databases WHERE name > @DBName AND NAME NOT IN ('master','model','msdb','tempdb')
 SET @SQL = '
  USE [' + @DBName + ']
  SELECT ''' + @DBName + ''' AS DBName
    ,COUNT(1) AS Cnt
  FROM   sys.tables
 '
 INSERT INTO @CountTable
 EXEC (@SQL)
END

INSERT INTO @CountAll
SELECT 'TotalTables',SUM(CNT) AS TotalTables 
FROM @CountTable

/*******************************
 ** GET COUNT OF ALL INDEXES  **
 ** FOR NON-SYSTEM DATABASES  **
 *******************************/
DECLARE @IndexTable AS TABLE (DB VARCHAR(100),TableName VARCHAR(100), CNT INT)
SET @DBName = ''
WHILE @DBName < (
 SELECT MIN(name) 
 FROM sys.databases
 WHERE name > @DBName 
   AND name NOT IN ('master','model','msdb','tempdb')
)
BEGIN
 SELECT @DBName = MIN(NAME) FROM sys.databases WHERE name > @DBName AND NAME NOT IN ('master','model','msdb','tempdb')
 SET @SQL = '
  USE [' + @DBName + ']
  SELECT ''' + @DBName + ''' AS DBName
    ,OBJECT_NAME(I.object_id) AS TableName
    , COUNT(1) AS Cnt
  FROM sys.indexes I
  JOIN sys.tables T ON I.object_id = T.object_id
  WHERE I.name IS NOT NULL
  GROUP BY OBJECT_NAME(I.object_id)
 '
 --PRINT @SQL
 INSERT INTO @IndexTable
 EXEC (@SQL)
END

INSERT INTO @CountAll
SELECT 'TotalIndexes',SUM(CNT) AS TotalIndexes 
FROM @IndexTable

SELECT * 
FROM @CountAll

Log Shipping error

I had a problem where I noticed on my primary log shipping machine (the one the data originates on) that the LS_Alerts job was failing. It said that a new database we were working on was failing. I also noticed that I had two jobs that didn't belong on that machine..I had a LS_Copy and a LS_Restore...which should have been on the secondary machine. I believe that another admin set it up from the development machine during the initial phase for some reason, but I couldn't find a source machine. I delete the two jobs from the Job manager, but the Alert job still showed failures when run. I decided to figure out what was the problem, and this is what I did to look into it:

I saw that the alert job ran the proc sys.sp_check_log_shipping_monitor_alert, so I opened up the proc to see what it was doing. It calls the following:

(select primary_server
,primary_database
,isnull(threshold_alert, 14420)
,backup_threshold
,datediff(minute, last_backup_date_utc, @curdate_utc)
,cast(0 as int)
from msdb.dbo.log_shipping_monitor_primary
where threshold_alert_enabled = 1
and datediff(minute, last_backup_date_utc, @curdate_utc) > backup_threshold)
union
(select secondary_server
,secondary_database
,isnull(threshold_alert, 14421)
,restore_threshold
,datediff(minute, last_restored_date_utc, @curdate_utc)
,isnull(last_restored_latency,0)
from msdb.dbo.log_shipping_monitor_secondary
where threshold_alert_enabled = 1
and (datediff(minute, last_restored_date_utc, @curdate_utc) > restore_threshold
or last_restored_latency > restore_threshold))

and raises an error if there are records.

When I ran it on my primary machine the second statement (from log_shipping_monitor_secondary) had a record in it; but the odd thing was that when I just did a select * against the table, I saw that the primary server for that statement was the same server as the secondary server...so it was set to logship to its self. From that point, it was simple, delete the record and the error went away.

Hope that helps someone in the future.