Here’s a quick walk-through….

Want to perform a search? Type in your terms!

Hmm… You’re not on SQL Server 2008 yet? Click on “SQL Server 2005″ in the Refine by Topic list:

Perhaps you also want to refine to Support Knowledge Base articles? Click on that link!

Also, please notice that there is an RSS feed option ( ) , and a time-to-get-results indicator (0.1 seconds in this case):

My thoughts?

Searching is fast. Once you have a preliminary result set (no filters refinements, just search terms), that resultset is cached and reused in subsequent searches. That rocks and causes adding refinements to be that much faster. Kudus to the team.

Using refinements is a huge win-win for everyone. It helps the consumer (you) get the results needed in an intuitive fashion. It also helps Microsoft deliver a tool that works successfully to enable consumers to do their work effectively and efficiently.

Try the search today. Also take a look at the “Code Search” feature and let me know what you think. Note that the code search is pretty much a beta feature and has a ways to go to be ready for “prime time.”

Links:

• MSDN Search: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/search/
• TechNet Search: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/search/

Why? Well, if you’re always running an SSIS package by hand using dtexec.exe, or through Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS), dtexecui.exe, etc… you don’t really have to worry about this. However, if you’re running the package via a scheduler such as SQL Agent, you’ll run into perceived permission problems, or reports that files cannot be found. The issue with schedulers such as Agent is that they run under a “service account” that does not have access to mapped network drives.

Mapped network drives are set up for your user-session when you log on to a computer. Even if you log in with the same account that the SQL Agent service uses, the service will still not have access to any drives you map because the service does not have access to the drives in *your* session.

This is a common issue that I see with users who are trying to repoint the default behavior of SSIS to a network share, or that are trying to read/write files on a share.

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

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!

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

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/

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.

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)

• 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.