Davy Knuysen

Next SQLUG-evening on Thu, September 25

Davy Knuysen — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:17:56 GMT

Session 1: what's new in SSIS 2008 by Nico Verheire

A word about our speaker:
Nico Verheire is a Business Intelligence Consultant for RealDolmen. For the last 4 years, he has been working almost exclusively on SQL Server (7, 2000, 2005), with a strong focus on SSIS, SSAS and SSRS. Nico currently holds an MCTS certification for SQL Server 2005 BI.

Abstract:

Integrating data with ADO.NET

Scripting with VSTA

Introducing the new lookup transformation (including caching)

Managing change in a data warehouse: how to use Change Data Capture (CDC) and use of the MERGE statement

Dealing with data quality: the Data Profiling Task

Level: 200

Session 2: Deep-dive session about improving SSIS performance given by Geert Vanhove

A word about our speaker:
Geert Vanhove started his career in IT in 1991 as COBOL programmer on a mainframe system. In 1994 he chose to focus on databases, first on Sybase, later (1998) -almost- fulltime on Microsoft SQL Server. In 2005 he started his own company - DCOD - mainly focussing on performance tuning of SQL Server OLTP and BI platforms. He was closely involved with some of the most important SQL Server realizations in Belgium - as well in a development as in an operational context.

Abstract:
This session will address some problems that might occur when a SSIS solution needs to scale because DB and data volumes to load are getting larger. This session is not only a statement of how you can improve your SSIS performance; the impact of each optimization step is shown in action throughout the demo package that will be the red wire of this presentation...

Level: 300

Date: Thu September 25, 2008

For more info and registration, visit www.sqlug.be

Import Excel files with SQL Server Integration Services on a 64-bit server

Davy Knuysen — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:46:59 GMT

Today I deployed some SSIS packages to a test environment. These packages needed to import some excel files to a certain database. Testing the packages resulted in the following error:

Error 0xc0202009: {F1B3B35C-FAE3-48F6-A169-4E4D8D99F9B6}: An OLE DB error has occurred. Error code: 0x80004005.
An OLE DB record is available. Source: "Microsoft JET Database Engine" Hresult: 0x80004005 Description: "Unspecified error".

Error 0xc020801c: Data Flow Task: The AcquireConnection method call to the connection manager "DestinationConnectionExcel" failed with error code 0xC0202009.

It seems there just isn't an 64-bit version of the JET OleDb driver for Excel and because the test server was a 64-bit, this caused the Excel-import to fail.

To make the package work using BI-studio you need to change your project debugging properties: Set Run64BitRuntime to False
To make the package work when started from a SQL Server Agent Job, you need to execute the package using the 32-bit version of DTExec.
To do this create a Operating System Job Step and type the command to execute the package using DTExec in the 32-bit folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\90\DTS\Binn\

An easy trick to retrieve the command to execute the package is copying it from Execute Pacakge Utility:

The complete commmand will be something like this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\90\DTS\Binn\dtexec.exe /DTS "\MSDB\Import" /SERVER "." /MAXCONCURRENT " -1 " /CHECKPOINTING OFF /REPORTING V

Good luck!

Intellisense in MDX Studio

Davy Knuysen — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:12:51 GMT

The newest version of MDX Studio, now also has intellisense!

With Visual Studio and other modern IDEs, Intellisense became a must have tool in the developer’s toolset, boosting productivity. MDX developers have asked for it, but full, context-dependant intellisense wasn’t available. Until now. MDX Studio now features comprehensive support for intellisense. The first version with usable intellisense support is 0.4.4....

More info: http://sqlblog.com/blogs/mosha/archive/2008/08/22/intellisense-in-mdx-studio.aspx

Download: http://cid-74f04d1ea28ece4e.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/MDXStudio/v0.4.4

Microsoft releases SQL Server 2008

Davy Knuysen — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:56:18 GMT

REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 6, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the release to manufacturing of Microsoft SQL Server 2008, the new version of the company’s acclaimed data management and business intelligence platform. This version of SQL Server provides powerful new capabilities such as support for policy-based management, auditing, large-scale data warehousing, geospatial data, and advanced reporting and analysis services. SQL Server 2008 provides the trusted, productive and intelligent platform necessary for business-critical applications.......

Kimball University: Microsoft SQL Server Comes of Age for Data Warehousing

Davy Knuysen — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:28:59 GMT

I justed wanted to share this interesting article:

With new compression, partitioning and star schema optimization features,
Microsoft's SQL Server 2008 is catching up with the state of the industry in data warehousing.
Here's why these three capabilities are crucial for scalability and performance on any platform.

By Warren Thornthwaite

Read the full article here.

MDX best practices analysis

Davy Knuysen — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:49:50 GMT

Want to check your MDX for best practices?

You should! Check this MDX Analysis tool: MDX Studio (0.4) by Mosha

Belgian Community Day Webcasts

Davy Knuysen — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 06:54:30 GMT

Community Day 2008 was again a great succes!

You can watch the recorded sessions under the download category Sessions on www.communityday.be

Error Performance Point Dashboard Designer: "Unable to Connect to the Specified Server. Make sure the Address is correct."

Davy Knuysen — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:17:02 GMT

When you try to create a data source in the Performance Point Dashboard Designer and you get this error message, it probably meens that you did not have the Ajax extensions installed.

You can download the setup file here: ASP.Net 2.0 Ajax extensions 1.0

Belgian Community Day 2008

Davy Knuysen — Mon, 05 May 2008 08:01:17 GMT

The Belgian community has a very strong reputation internationally with many individuals making their mark in their fields of expertise. Lots of individuals, just like you, are hungry for more information about the many Microsoft products and technologies. In addition to the technical information, there is also very often the need to just socialize with other persons within the same domain of expertise. The many user groups that were started the last couple of years are doing a great job trying to address these needs with monthly meetings.

Eight of them, Belgian Dynamics Community, Biwug, IT-Talks, Pro-Exchange, SQLUG, Visug, Winsec, and XNAbug have decided to combine their efforts again to organize another joint-event just before summer starts. So if you are eager to learn, get answers to your questions and meet your peers, come and join us at the premises of SemCom in Keerbergen on Thursday, the 26th of June 2008.

More here.

Next SQLUG-evening on Thu, May 29

Davy Knuysen — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:52:16 GMT

"Managing, monitoring and troubleshooting SQL Server using Free tools" given by Dirk Gubbels (Microsoft)

Abstract:
Out of the box, SQL Server 2005 offers nice tools for managing and monitoring servers and databases. If you want to get an even richer experience and a broader toolset, there are a lot of hidden gems out there, free for you to download and to make the life of the DBA easier. This practical and demo-driven session will show you how to make best use of some of these. Topics include: Extending Management studio with custom reports, Performance dashboard, Sqlio, Dmvstats, RML Utilities and more...

Level: 300

Date: Thu May 29, 2008

Agenda:
18:00 - 18:30 Welcome with a drink & sandwich
18:30 - 20:00 Part 1
20:00 - 20:30 Pause
20:30 - 22:00 Part 2
22:00 - ... networking

Location:
The event-sponsor is Global Knowledge in Mechelen:
Zandvoorstraat 1
2800 Mechelen

A route description can be downloaded here.

Registration is needed and is open.

Registration will be closed on May 26

SQL Server 2005 SP3 - coming soon

Davy Knuysen — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:49:39 GMT

Microsoft will release SQL Server 2005 SP3 before the end of this calendar year: read more about it here.

SQLUG Belgium: NEXT UG-evening on Thu, March 27

Davy Knuysen — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:32:49 GMT

We will have 2 sessions:

Session 1: "linked servers" in Sql Server given by Michel Ulens

Abstract:
MS SQL Server has been enjoying increasing popularity as a database platform. But of course, many organizations have other RDB platforms installed. Linked servers provide an elegant solution for organizations wanting to integrate MS SQL server apps with other (legacy) RDB platforms. We'll demonstrate how to accomplish this by linking to an Oracle database, and giving a clear example of how to extend the power and flexibility of your database needs.

Level: 200

Session 2: "SAP on Sql Server" given by Guy Germompre

Abstract:
Het gebruik van SQLserver onder SAP. Wat is SAP? Hoe maakt SAP gebruik van een database? Welke voordelen kunnen klanten hierbij halen? De verregaande integratie tussen SAP en Microsoft op vlak van database beheer.

Level: 200
Agenda:
18:00 - 18:30 Welcome with a drink
18:30 - 18:40 Intro
18:40 - 20:00 Session 1
20:00 - 20:30 Pause
20:30 - 21:30 Session 2
21:30 - 22:00 drink & sandwich

Location:
Delaware Consulting
Uitbreidingstraat 2 - 8
2600 Berchem

A route description can be found here.

Registration is needed, registration is open.

Registration will be closed on March 24

SQL Server 2008 Will Be Late :-(

Davy Knuysen — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:22:48 GMT

Despite public confidence that SQL Server 2008 would ship by the end of June, Microsoft today indicated it probably is more likely to arrive toward the end of the year...

more here

ALTER every TABLE in a database (version 2)

Davy Knuysen — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 08:33:05 GMT

Following my first article that explained this by using a cursor, there is also an undocumented stored procedure to execute the same operation against every table in a database.

Check out this script to disable all constraints and triggers with only 2 lines of code:

exec sp_msforeachtable 'ALTER TABLE ? NOCHECK CONSTRAINT all'

exec sp_msforeachtable 'ALTER TABLE ? DISABLE TRIGGER all'

This could be interesting to truncate all tables are before you do a bulk insert.

Afterwards just enable them with another 2 lines of code:

exec sp_msforeachtable @command1='print "?"', @command2='ALTER TABLE ? WITH CHECK CHECK CONSTRAINT ALL'

exec sp_msforeachtable @command1='print "?"', @command2='ALTER TABLE ? ENABLE TRIGGER ALL'

Yep, that's it. Only 2 lines of code!

SQLUG @ Ordina: Technical overview of SQL Server 2008

Davy Knuysen — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 07:48:17 GMT

On January the 17th, Gunther Beersaerts of Microsoft was the guest speaker of the first SQL Server User Group Evening of this year.

Gunther gave us a very interesting overview of the new features of SQL Server 2008.

This evening was organized by Ordina and SQLUG.

It was a great evening with lots of usefull information, over 60 guests, and a nice drink afterwards. A perfect evening ;-)

You can download Gunther's presentation from SQLUG.BE or see some more pictures on Sven Cipido's Flickr Stream.