Working on a recent SQL Server merge replication project we needed to update some of the servers in a merge replication scenario without upgrading all of them. Consider a merge replication setup with a publisher, a distributor and 2 or more subscribers all on the same version of SQL Server, and you need to upgrade the SQL Server version on …
Doing some recent investigation to find out why backups where not showing up where they were expected to be I put together this script to help track down recent backups. Normally I would use Database Health Monitor and the cool backup reports, but I didn’t have that installed on the server needing help. The output looks something like this, although …
After finishing a recent project we received this feedback from the customer. As a community health center with many competing priorities and limited resources, we sought out Stedman Solutions for help with optimizing, maintaining, and upgrading our aging SQL infrastructure. We’ve engaged with Steve and Derrick for several SQL-related projects, including an initial assessment and optimization, and a “forklift” upgrade …
Occasionally I have the need to look up the size of all databases on an instance, based on the log file size and the data file size. The following query shows the size in MB for data and logs for each database on an instance. A handy query that I use often.
When you execute xp_cmdshell SQL Server runs a command at the operating system level similar to the old DOS prompt, or CMD shell. There are many security concerns and misconceptions about xp_cmdshell as documented in an earlier post. The purpose of this post is not to debate whether xp_cmdshell is safe or not, but instead to show what user commands …
To switch a database from simple to full recovery model, it is simple to do when you have one or two databases that need to be switched. You can either do it through the dialogs in SSMS by right clicking on the database and changing the recovery model, or you can run an alter database script. The difference between simple …
Switching multiple databases to FULL recovery model. Read more »
5 years at Stedman Solutions, LLC. Yes, it has been 5 years since I have been full time at Stedman Solutions. Check out my post from 5 years ago: Also, the team has grown a bit from 5 years ago, when it was just me. Our customer base has grown as well, working with a variety of SQL Server versions …
Occasionally I have come across the need to save the output from a query to a varchar value, for instance varchar(max). There are lots of ways to do this, could you use a cursor and just append to a string each loop through the cursor, but there is an easier way. Examples of a need to do this would be …
Posted 3/29/2020 — Edited 3/30/2020 to fix a couple of copy and paste errors, and to clarify a couple of items. Thanks Charlie for your suggestions. I have worked on many projects that involved doing some query work then writing those results to a file. After copying and pasting the typical sp_OA… methods to write to a file too many …
Stedman Solutions, LLC is open for business during the Covid-19 pandemic and growing our team. This week the Stedman Solutions team grew by adding our 5th team member, with the addition of Colleen as an administrative assistant. Over the last 5 years the Stedman Solutions team has been working remotely with our clients, and we continue to do so in …