July 2010 - Posts

• Building connection files by using a UDL file

  Oops, that should be connection STRINGS in the title instead of files. I can’t fix the typo in the title because it would break links to this post. A UDL file brings up the Data Link Properties dialog box for testing a connection or building a connection Read More... Posted Monday, July 19, 2010 11:32 AM by John Paul Cook | 1 Comments

• T-SQL Tuesday #008: Affordable and Convenient Learning

  I first learned SQL on a Britton Lee Intelligent Database Machine (IDM). It was expensive and took up a few square meters of floor space in the computer room. It wasn’t practical to have one at home, although I did meet one person who did have one at Read More... Posted Wednesday, July 14, 2010 1:02 AM by John Paul Cook | 0 Comments

• SQL Server and case sensitivity

  Just a few minutes ago, I thought a coworker insulted “my” database. He said it was insensitive. I asked him exactly what problem he had with the database. He said it couldn’t distinguish between lowercase and uppercase and he wanted that fixed. Case Read More... Posted Tuesday, July 13, 2010 3:29 PM by John Paul Cook | 6 Comments

• SQLjobvis has been upgraded – check it out!

  Will Alber has updated his free tool SQLjobvis . Download it from http://www.sqlsoft.co.uk/sqljobvis.php . It provides a graphical display of both running SQL Server Agent jobs as well as job history. The SQLjobvis graphical display has been very effective Read More... Posted Sunday, July 11, 2010 6:21 PM by John Paul Cook | 3 Comments

• Troubleshooting Database Mail on Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2

  Before running a bunch of diagnostic scripts on SQL Server 2005 or later to determine why database mail isn’t working, I prefer starting with functional testing of SMTP. This requires a telnet client, which is by default part of Windows Server 2003, but Read More... Posted Sunday, July 04, 2010 8:29 PM by John Paul Cook | 3 Comments