SSIS Talk

SQL Server 2008 brings with it the ability to change the color of the status bar in Management Studio per your choosing. This is especially good to distinguish between production and non-production machines, or if you simply wish to have a different color other than the default gray.

However, the only way to do this is in the properties of a server when registering it under Registered Servers (Ctrl-Alt-G). Add a new server and in the connection properties, select the color you wish for this particular server.

I have a short video demonstrating it:

• Flash video
• iPod video

For those of you that have access to the SQL Server 2008 distribution via the various channels, please pay attention to the Microsoft KB article which will likely apply to your installation experience until Visual Studio 2008 (Orcas) SP1 has shipped: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956139

Basically, if you want to install SQL Server 2008, go ahead. If you want to install SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, and a few other tools, you’re going to have to wait until VS 2008 SP1 has shipped and is installed on your machine before going through the SQL Server 2008 setup. Also note, that the warning in the KB article appears quite late in the SQL Server 2008 setup process, so you have been warned!

The code for SQL Server 2008 (Katmai) has made it to the RTM phase, according to the closing keynote at TechEd South Africa. This essentially locks up development for this version. Downloads should be available soon to MSDN subscribers and trial availability relatively soon for non-MSDN subscribers. Physical media and availability in retail outlets will be a bit longer (date unknown).

Press release here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/aug08/08-06SQLServer2008PR.mspx

If you expose your SQL Server databases to the Internet via an application layer and you are the person that manages, writes, or supports the Web code, you need to read this:

From Buck Woody, Program Manager:

You might have read recently that there have been ongoing SQL injection attacks against vulnerable web applications occurring over the last few months. These attacks have received recurring attention in the press as they pop up in various geographies around the world. These attacks do not leverage any SQL Server vulnerabilities or any un-patched vulnerabilities in any Microsoft product – the attack vector is vulnerable custom applications. In fact, SQL Injection is a coding issue that can attack any database system, so it’s a good idea to learn how to defend against them.

In order to help you respond to and defend yourself from these attacks, Microsoft has an authoritative blog including talking points and guidance. You can find this at http://blogs.technet.com/swi/archive/2008/05/29/sql-injection-attack.aspx.

Please read through the included link to the TechNet article. READ IT!

Steve Kass also talks about this in a bit more detail along with a sister vulnerability, the HTML injection: http://stevekass.com/2008/05/31/read-this-if-you-serve-up-web-pages-from-sql-data/

From Redmond, WA and the MVP Summit:

It’s official - Microsoft will be delivering Service Pack 3 in, hopefully, Q4 2008.

Basically, they will be working on and delivering SP3 after SQL Server 2008 is released this year. So, let’s applaud Microsoft for listening to our wishes, and remember that SQL Server 2008 is their top priority - and rightly so.

Some of you may have visited the link to Microsoft’s whitepaper on the BI Metadata Toolkit only to find the referenced samples download link is not working. Many of us have always had a copy of the whitepaper, but not the samples download. We’ve received that missing download and are sharing it here. The folks at Microsoft are aware of the bad samples download link and are working to get that resolved.

The whitepaper focuses on sharing metadata between Microsoft’s BI tools and is a very good read. It touches on what is “metadata,” how can you use it, where to use it, and most importantly *why* you’d want to use it. Sarbanes-Oxley is mentioned and is important to consider when deploying SSIS solutions. Sarbanes-Oxley (a.k.a. the knee-jerk reaction to the Enron debacle), while broad in nature, basically boils down to enforcing accountability and separation of duties. The BI Metadata Toolkit can help in ensuring SOX compliance.

As part of the samples download, Microsoft includes the following tools:

• Dependency Analyzer: loads into a database lineage data between SSIS, SSAS, and SQL Server
• Dependecy Viewer: graphically see dependencies from the above tool
• Data Source View: A DSV for use in Reporting Services (SSRS) to view dependency repository
• Lineage Repository: A database called SSIS_META that can be used to house metadata from nearly any system
• Reports
• Report Model: For use with Report Builder to allow creating ad-hoc reports
• Integration Services Samples: Sample packages to start auditing and viewing lineage on

BI Metadata Toolkit Whitepaper (.doc - 994 kb)
BI Metadata Toolkit Samples (.msi - 311 kb)

Here are some new*, upgraded limits as they apply to tables in SQL Server 2008:

• Column limit per base table: 30,000 columns, which is up from 1,024 columns
• Index limit: 1,000 indexes, which is up from 249
• Statistics limit: 30,000 statistics, which is up from 2,000

These limits are still bound to the row size limit which is 8,060 bytes; however if a table has sparse columns in it, then that limit is reduced to 8,018 bytes.

*Note: These are not yet available in the CTPs but should be in the CTP6 refresh.

Here are some highlights of things that will be offered with SQL Server 2008:

• Activity Monitor for the DBA: Finally a way to see, in an easy to use UI, information related to active sessions, wait states, file I/O, long running queries, etc… Oh, and you can launch Profiler from here as well.
• Object Search: Users can now enter full or partial search strings to match on in the current database and results will be displayed in the new Object Explorer Details pane.
• Intellisense: We all know what this is… It’s coming to Management Studio to aid in writing queries with the red squiggles and all!
• Customizable Tabs: The query editor’s results can now have their tabs set with customized names
• Launch Profiler: The option is now available to launch Profiler from within a query editor results window and it will automatically tie Profiler to the SPID of the query.
• Permissions editing: The screens have been reworked to reduce the amount of clicks to set permissions
• Performance Studio: A new offering that tracks historical performance metrics from SQL Server and the operating system by storing results in a repository that offers drill-through reporting.
• Register servers once in a central location
• Management Studio adds a new GUI to manage/create table partitions.
• And finally (as far as my list and this article is concerned)….. A T-SQL Debugger in Management Studio.

Microsoft has communicated a bug in all CTPs of SQL Server 2008 that is caused by “today”, February 29th, 2008:

From Microsoft:
We have recently discovered an issue with SQL Server 2008 CTPs that result
in SQL Server 2008 not starting or installing on Feb 29 GMT only. We
recommend that you do not run, install or upgrade this CTP on Feb 29 GMT to
minimize any impact in your environment. You can install starting on March 1
GMT. If you have an immediate issue that cannot wait until march 1st GMT
contact sqlbeta@microsoft.com before taking any further steps.

UPDATE: This bug is no longer in effect as we are now onto March 1st, 2008. For what it’s worth, the SQL team have checked the bug fix into the SQL Server 2008 code stream.

The latest and greatest public CTP of SQL Server 2008 has been released. Visit http://connect.microsoft.com/sqlserver to get it.

Also, when visiting, please enroll in the Bug Bash contest for your chance to win, among other prizes, an Xbox 360.