Showing posts with label MS SQL Server 2012. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MS SQL Server 2012. Show all posts

Friday, 8 November 2013

SSAS– Resolving target machine actively refused

medium_5462764117

I always wanted to have my hands on SSAS, SSIS and SSRS as I always feel short-hand in these areas. Yesterday I decided to get my hands dirty with one of this – SSAS.  Few month back I have created a virtual lab on my 4 year old Dell Laptop with 3 VMs and about total 4 instances of SQL Server – 2 on Host machine and 2 on Guest, one of them is having SSAS installed on one of the named instance.

With lot of excitement I tried connecting to SSAS – it was unsuccessful attempt!! It shows me an error message which says - A connection cannot be made to redirector. Ensure that 'SQL Browser' service is running. (Microsoft.AnalysisServices.AdomdClient)

SSAS_Error

As we always do – Googled and it lead me to the connect item filed by Aaron Bertrand ( Blog | Twitter ). Reading through the post I came to know that if I try to connect to the named instance SSAS it’s chance that I get this very error. I also have the similar case, I have renamed my machine hence this error showed up with the named instance.

Workaround:  As suggested in the comment section, I have granted NTFS permission on folder program files (x86)\microsoft sql server\90\shared\asconfig for the SQL Browser service account and I am sorted!!

Reference: Microsoft Connect ID 679792 

photo credit: JLaw45 via photopin cc

—Hemantgiri S. Goswami (http://www.sql-server-citation.com)

Saturday, 2 November 2013

SQL Server–Security Risk Assessment PMP Way

clip_image001Recently I had a chance to speak my friend Ashish Sharma who is my colleague too. We were discussing Project Management topics (he recently passed PMP and ACP). Our discussion ended at very interesting topic – RISK Assessment.

Definition: According to PMBOK, Projects can have unforeseen event or activity that can impact the project’s progress, result or an outcome in negative or positive way. Further, A Risk can be assessed using two factors – impact and probability. Determining the quantitative or qualitative value of risk related to a concrete situation and recognized threats is known as Risk Assessment.

So, coming to the point, how do we do Risk Assessment for Database systems, especially SQL Server ?

I myself have never come to situation where I have created or used Risk Assessment Register for SQL Server. I was thinking is there some readily available Risk Assessment Register / document somewhere? Hence, I have decided to research little more on it. I found absolutely nothing on this very topic. However, searching for different term - SQL Server security, and Risk Assessment – none found.

After spending some time researching I have found a good sample document for Risk Assessment Register that we can use, you can download it from here.

Now, this is what we have is Risk Register, how about threats? Sometime back, in 2009 I have wrote an article on SQL Server Security, using that article I have tried to pen down some threats that I can think off at this moment, they are:

 

Possible Threats

Risk Mitigation

Virus Attack

Install AV on DB Server however do not forget to exclude SQL server files

Unauthorised Logins

Always use Audit (C2, Windows, SQL or both) failed login attempts and analyze them regularly. Always, rename SA / Admin account and use strong password mechanism for all the servers. If possible always try to use domain authenticated acconts.

MiM Attack

To metigate MiM attach do following :

  • Isolate database server from Application / IIS Server
  • Configure SQL Server to use non-default port
  • Use Encryption / SSL
  • Use Firewall inbound / outbound rules

Root Access

To avoid someone getting root access do following:

  • Disable / Rename in-built Admin account
  • Grant least access to Service Account
  • Use strong / random password

SQL Injection

Do following:

  • Avoid using Dynamic SQL when you can
  • use parameterized query / stored procedure 3) Always validate the value at form level before it's being passed to database server
  • Refer above items

Known Configuration

Always try to customize default configuration if you can, for example:

  • Run SQL server on non standard port
  • disable / rename SA account
  • Disable xp_cmdshell and other extended procedures

References :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_assessment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_risk_management

http://www.brighthubpm.com/risk-management/3247-creating-a-risk-register-a-free-excel-template/

photo credit: kenteegardin via photopin cc

-- Hemantgiri S. Goswami (http://www.sql-server-citation.com )

Monday, 21 October 2013

MSDB– cleanup is necessary

Recently I have been asked to work on the task which is to reduce the size of MSDB database. The MSDB has grown to 20 Gigs. Well, you would say, what is the big deal with that? 20 gigs is not considered a big for database. Correct, but for MSDB, yes it is.

So, the question is - why the size has grown this much, and what would be the adverse impact it would have on the performance on my system?

I would say, there could me many reasons, like:

  • Usually, we do not create user objects inside MSDB, but it is good to check
  • Check if there are multiple SSIS/DTS Packages that are large, check with development team if you can store them in file system. Check the link for the list of tables refer links SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008 , SQL Server 2008 R2 , and SQL Server 2012
  • There isn’t any CleanUp job configured
  • There are several hundreds of jobs running i.e. LS aka Log Shipping
  • And, so on….

The case:

Client has a server configured with LS for DR purpose. The LS is configured to sync every 15 minutes for several – hundreds of databases which intern inserting lots of data into the historical tables like backup, restore and log_shipping_monitor_history table –all of them had > 75 Lacks of records.

The issue for us was, that the MSDB is configured on the local drive aka where OS and binaries resides – no RAID. Also, the size of the C drive is nearing to it’s capacity – 30 Gigs and it’s quickly filling up. Well, on top of this, the database is in FULL recovery model. The reason that MSDB grows to 20 Gigs are

  1. It never had CleanUp job on it,
  2. there are hundreds of databases keep inserting records for backup and restore

Adverse impact:

  1. Possibly, your backup would take longer than usual as it would take time to write backup and /or restore history
  2. You would see timeout error when you try to dig out the reason for backup job failure

What I did was, I have created a maintenance plan for CleanUp which will call sp_delete_backuphistory which will run cleanup for below tables, per client’s request I have configured job to remove all the older data before 60 days.

To complete the cleanup activity job successfully, the MSDB and tempdb will need some space to grow which is not possible in our case since we are left with only 10 Gigs of space.  Hence, I have added an addition log file and data file for tempdb and msdb on another drive where we have ample space. Schedule LOG backup for MSDB to run every 10 minutes.

And, then, I’ve invoked the CleanUp job – it took about 3 hours to finish, but it did what it should.

Took FULL backup for MSDB, change the recovery model to simple and shrink it – we were able to shrunk the MSDB successfully and bring it down to 6.5 Gigs.

Constraints and possible options:

  1. We had a limited maintenance window to accomplish a task
  2. Another maintenance activity has to be performed once we are done
  3. Option: We could have script foreign keys and other constraint, drop constraints and keys, and delete the records. I haven’t opt this method because I personally never did this.

Take out from this post:  Do health check, and, schedule a Cleanup task for MSDB to run on regular basis.

 

 

Monday, 29 April 2013

COLLECTING HOST MACHINE INFORMATION USING TSQL

Sometime back I was involved in a project which was to collect information for the servers we are supporting – creating inventory of servers. Logging into each server and collecting information is bit tedious when you have hundreds of server in your environment.  I have spent sometime and created a script that does this work for me, however, I still need to connect to the server – but using SSMS/Query Window and execute the script. And then the script will provide me the details I needed.
This inventory should have details like below for cluster and stand alone instances:
Server Name            
OS Name               
OS Edition   
OS Patch Level   
SQL Server IP       
Is Clustered   
Node1_Name        
Node1_IP           
Node2_Name           
Node2_IP           
SQL Server Edition   
SQL Server Patch Level       
Server Time Zone       
SQL Server Version   
SQL Server Platform   
Processor Core       
Physical Memory       
Service Account Name        
Domain               
Looks good ? Below is the version 1 of this script.
/*
IP address portion using : http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic150196-8-1.aspx
REMOVE sp_configure parameters if you are executing this script on SQL Server 2000

Created By : Hemantgiri S. Goswami | http://www.sql-server-citation.com
Date  : 24th March 2013
Version  : 1.0

Tested ON:
Windows Server  >> 2003, 2008, 2008 R2 
SQL Server  >> 2000, 2005, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012 

*/
sp_configure 'show advanced options',1
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO
sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell',1
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO
DECLARE @TimeZone   NVARCHAR(100)
  ,@ProductVersion SYSNAME
  ,@PlatForm  SYSNAME
  ,@Windows_Version SYSNAME
  ,@Processors  SYSNAME
  ,@PhysicalMemory SYSNAME
  ,@ServiceAccount SYSNAME
  ,@IPAddress  SYSNAME
  ,@DOMAIN  SYSNAME
  ,@MachineType  SYSNAME
  ,@SQLServerIP  VARCHAR(255)
  ,@CMD   VARCHAR(100)
  ,@Node1   VARCHAR(100)
  ,@Node2   VARCHAR(100)
  ,@Node1IP  VARCHAR(100)
  ,@Node2IP  VARCHAR(100)
  ,@OSEdition  VARCHAR(100)
  ,@OSVersion  VARCHAR(100)
  ,@OSName  VARCHAR(100)
  ,@OSPatchLevel  VARCHAR(100)
   
CREATE TABLE #TempTable
 (
  [Index] VARCHAR(2000),
  [Name] VARCHAR(2000),
  [Internal_Value] VARCHAR(2000),
  [Character_Value] VARCHAR(2000)
 ) ;

INSERT INTO #TempTable
EXEC xp_msver;

-- Replace @Value_Name to N'TimeZoneKeyName' when running on Windows 2008 
EXEC   master.dbo.xp_regread
       @rootkey      = N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
       @key          = N'SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation',
       @value_name   = N'StandardName', 
       @value        = @TimeZone output

EXEC   master.dbo.xp_regread
       @rootkey      = N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
       @key          = N'SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSSQLServer',
       @value_name   = N'ObjectName', 
       @value        = @ServiceAccount output

EXEC   master.dbo.xp_regread
       @rootkey      = N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
       @key          = N'SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ProductOptions',
       @value_name   = N'ProductType', 
       @value        = @MachineType output

EXEC   master.dbo.xp_regread
       @rootkey      = N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
       @key          = N'SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters',
       @value_name   = N'Domain', 
       @value        = @DOMAIN output
       
EXEC   master.dbo.xp_regread
       @rootkey      = N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
       @key          = N'CLUSTER\NODES\1',
       @value_name   = N'NodeName', 
       @value        = @Node1 output
       
EXEC   master.dbo.xp_regread
       @rootkey      = N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
       @key          = N'CLUSTER\NODES\2',
       @value_name   = N'NodeName', 
       @value        = @Node2 output              

EXEC   master.dbo.xp_regread
       @rootkey      = N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
       @key          = N'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion',
       @value_name   = N'ProductName', 
       @value        = @OSName output              
       
create table #OSEdition (VALUe varchar(255),OSEdition varchar(255), data varchar(100)) 
insert into #OSEdition 
EXEC   master.dbo.xp_regread
       @rootkey      = N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
       @key          = N'SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ProductOptions',
       @value_name   = N'ProductSuite'  
SET @OSEdition = (SELECT TOP 1 OSedition  FROM #OsEdition)       
               
EXEC   master.dbo.xp_regread
       @rootkey      = N'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
       @key          = N'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion',
       @value_name   = N'CSDVersion', 
       @value        = @OSPatchLevel output  

set @cmd = 'ping ' + @Node1 
create table #Node1IP (grabfield varchar(255)) 
insert into #Node1IP exec master.dbo.xp_cmdshell @cmd 


set @cmd = 'ping ' + @Node2
create table #Node2IP (grabfield varchar(255)) 
insert into #Node2IP exec master.dbo.xp_cmdshell @cmd 
 
set @cmd = 'ping ' + @@servername
create table #SQLServerIP (grabfield varchar(255)) 
insert into #SQLServerIP exec master.dbo.xp_cmdshell @cmd 

SET  @SQLServerIP=( 
      SELECT substring(grabfield,  charindex('[',grabfield)+1, charindex(']',grabfield)-charindex('[',grabfield)-1) 
      from #SQLServerIP  where left(grabfield,7) = 'Pinging' 
    )
SET  @Node1IP    =(
       SELECT substring(grabfield,  charindex('[',grabfield)+1, charindex(']',grabfield)-charindex('[',grabfield)-1) 
       from #Node1IP  where left(grabfield,7) = 'Pinging' 
     )
       
SET  @Node2IP  =( 
       SELECT substring(grabfield,  charindex('[',grabfield)+1, charindex(']',grabfield)-charindex('[',grabfield)-1) 
       from #Node2IP  where left(grabfield,7) = 'Pinging' 
    )
       
SET  @ProductVersion = (SELECT Character_Value from #TempTable where [INDEX]=2)
SET  @Platform  = (SELECT Character_Value from #TempTable where [INDEX]=4)
SET  @Windows_Version= (SELECT Character_Value from #TempTable where [INDEX]=15)
SET  @Processors  = (SELECT Character_Value from #TempTable where [INDEX]=16)
SET  @PhysicalMemory = (SELECT Character_Value from #TempTable where [INDEX]=19)


SELECT 
  ServerName   = @@SERVERNAME  
 ,OSName    = @OSName
 ,OSEdition   = @OSEdition
 ,OSPatchLevel          = @OSPatchLevel
 ,SQLServerIP          = @SQLServerIP
 ,IsClustered          = SERVERPROPERTY('IsClustered')
 ,Node1_Name   = @Node1
 ,Node1_IP   = @Node1IP 
 ,Node2_Name   = @Node2
 ,Node2_IP   = @Node2IP 
 ,SQLServerEdition         = SERVERPROPERTY('Edition')
 ,SQLServerLevel          = SERVERPROPERTY('ProductLevel')  
 ,ServerTimeZone          = @TimeZone 
 ,SQLServerVersion         = @ProductVersion
 ,SQLServerPlatform         = @PlatForm
 ,ProcessorCore          = @Processors
 ,PhysicalMemory          = @PhysicalMemory 
 ,ServiceAccountName         = @ServiceAccount 
 ,WKS_Server   = @MachineType
 ,Domain    = @DOMAIN
 
GO 
DROP TABLE #Node1IP
DROP TABLE #NODE2IP
DROP TABLE #SQLServerIP
DROP TABLE #TempTable
DROP TABLE #OSEdition 
GO


sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell',0
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO
sp_configure 'show advanced options',0
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
GO
Please do post back your feed back for this script, I will try my best to update and post back new version for this script.
- Hemantgiri S. Goswami (http://www.sql-server-citation.com )

Tuesday, 9 April 2013

SQL Server – Generate Calendar using TSQL

Introduction

Recently, I was asked to develop a SSRS based report for the Event Management module in MS Dynamics CRM 2011. The idea was to show a Calendar for the selected month and each cell of the calendar should display the scheduled events of that day.

Showing the events in the required format in each cell was not a big issue. The main challenge was to generate a dynamic grid of Calendar. Luckily, the CRM was deployed on-premises and I got a chance to use TSQL to generate the Calendar.

Implementation

Below is the TSQL which I came up with to generate the Calendar -

DECLARE @Month AS INT = 4 --Set the MONTH for which you want to generate the Calendar.
DECLARE @Year AS INT = 2013 --Set the YEAR for which you want to generate the Calendar.
 
--Find and set the Start & End Date of the said Month-Year
DECLARE @StartDate AS DATETIME = CONVERT(VARCHAR,@Year) + RIGHT('0' + CONVERT(VARCHAR,@Month),2) + '01'
DECLARE @EndDate AS DATETIME = DATEADD(DAY,-1,DATEADD(MONTH,1,@StartDate))
 
;WITH Dates AS (
  SELECT 
    @StartDate Dt
  UNION ALL
  SELECT 
    DATEADD(DAY,1,Dt) 
  FROM 
    Dates 
  WHERE 
    DATEADD(DAY,1,Dt) <= @EndDate
),Details AS (
  SELECT 
    DAY(Dt) CDay,
    DATEPART(WK,Dt) CWeek,
    MONTH(Dt) CMonth,
    YEAR(Dt) CYear,
    DATENAME(WEEKDAY,Dt) DOW,
    Dt 
  FROM 
    Dates
)
--Selecting the Final Calendar
SELECT
  Sunday,
  Monday,
  Tuesday,
  Wednesday,
  Thursday,
  Friday,
  Saturday
FROM
  (SELECT CWeek,DOW,CDay FROM Details) D
PIVOT
(
  MIN(CDay)
  FOR DOW IN (Sunday,Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday,Saturday)
) AS PVT
ORDER BY
  CWeek

Output:


Calendar


Hope, this will help!

Monday, 11 March 2013

SQL Server – Generating PERMUTATIONS using T-Sql

Were you ever asked to generate string Permutations using TSql? I was recently asked to do so, and the logic which I could manage to come up at that point is shared in the below script.

DECLARE @Value AS VARCHAR(20) = 'ABCC' --Mention the text which is to be permuted
DECLARE @NoOfChars AS INT = LEN(@Value)
DECLARE @Permutations TABLE(Value VARCHAR(20)) --Make sure the size of this Value is equal to your input  string length (@Value)
 
;WITH NumTally AS (--Prepare the Tally Table to separate each character of the Value.
  SELECT 1 Num
  UNION ALL
  SELECT 
    Num + 1 
  FROM 
    NumTally 
  WHERE 
    Num < @NoOfChars
),Chars AS ( --Separate the Characters
SELECT
  Num,
  SUBSTRING(@Value,Num,1) Chr
FROM
  NumTally  
)
 
--Persist the Separated characters.
INSERT INTO @Permutations
SELECT Chr FROM Chars
 
--Prepare Permutations
DECLARE @i AS INT = 1
WHILE(@i < @NoOfChars)
BEGIN
 
  --Store the Permutations
  INSERT INTO @Permutations
  SELECT DISTINCT --Add DISTINCT if required else duplicate Permutations will be generated for Repeated  Chars.
    P1.Value + P2.Value
  FROM 
    (SELECT Value FROM @Permutations WHERE LEN(Value) = @i) P1 
  CROSS JOIN 
    (SELECT Value FROM @Permutations WHERE LEN(Value) = 1) P2
  
  --Increment the Counter.      
  SET @i += 1  
  
  --Delete the Incorrect Lengthed Permutations to keep the table size under control.
  DELETE FROM @Permutations WHERE LEN(Value) NOT IN (1,@i)
END
 
--Delete InCorrect Permutations.
SET @i = 1
WHILE(@i <= @NoOfChars)
BEGIN
 
  --Deleting Permutations which has not used "All the Chars of the given Value".
  DELETE 
  FROM 
    @Permutations
  WHERE
    Value NOT LIKE '%' + SUBSTRING(@Value,@i,1) +'%'
  
  --Deleting Permutations which have repeated incorrect character.  
  DELETE 
  FROM 
    @Permutations
  WHERE
    LEN(Value) - LEN(REPLACE(Value,SUBSTRING(@Value,@i,1),'')) != 
    LEN(@Value) - LEN(REPLACE(@Value,SUBSTRING(@Value,@i,1),''))
    
  SET @i += 1  
END
 
--Selecting the generated Permutations. 
SELECT Value FROM @Permutations

Hope, this script helps!


Please share your suggestions if you have any to improve this logic.

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

SQL Server – TSql to find Records matching certain criteria in all the tables of a DB.

Generally, we try to find out records matching a certain criteria from a single or few tables. However, there are times when we need to find out records matching a criteria from all the tables of a SQL Database and today I will explain you a simple way to retrieve those records.

Recently, I was asked by my colleague, who was working on a MS Dynamics CRM migration project, to let him know the records which were created after a particular date in the source. So that, he could analyze only those records and strategize the Migration process.

I quickly opened up the SSMS and came up with the below script -

USE <DBName> --Replace this with the actual DBName
Go
 
DECLARE @ColumnName AS VARCHAR(50) = 'CreatedOn' --The name of the column on which you need to put the criteria
DECLARE @Criteria AS VARCHAR(50) = 'CONVERT(DATE,' + @ColumnName + ') >= ''20130225''' -- The Actual criteria/WHERE Clause of the query
 
--The below will list the TSQL Statements which could be copied & executed in a separate query window.
SELECT 
  'IF EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM ' + T.name + ' WHERE ' + @Criteria + ') ' +
  'SELECT ''' + T.name + ''' TableName, * FROM ' + T.name + ' WHERE ' + @Criteria 
FROM 
  sys.columns C
INNER JOIN sys.tables T
  ON T.object_id = C.object_id   
WHERE 
  C.name = @ColumnName


The above script will list down the SELECT statements which could be copied and executed in a separate query window connecting to the same Database. On execution, you will get the list of records from each table base on the specified criteria.


Hope, this helps!

Monday, 24 December 2012

SQL Server # Moving MASTER database in cluster environment

Few months back I have wrote post about moving MASTER and MSDB database to new location in stand alone machine.
In recent past we had a situation where customer asked us to move MASTER database to new location, below are the steps I have taken:
  1.     Connect to the Server
  2.     Open Configuration Manager -> SQL Server Service
  3.     Right Click and say Properties
  4.     Click on the Start-up Parameter
  5.     Remove start-up parameter (the highlighted one)
  -dOLDLocation\master.mdf
  -eOLDLocation\ErrorLog
  -lOLDLocation\mastlog.ldf
      6.     Add new start-up parameters with new values (per your configuration)
  -dNewLocation\master.mdf
  -eNewLocation\ErrorLog
  -lNewLocation\mastlog.ldf
      7.    Check and confirm which node is active
      8.    PAUSE current PASSIVE Node  to avoid fail-over
      9.    Take SQL Server resources offline, i.e. SQL Server, SQL Agent, MSDTC, SQLCLUSTER Name (do not take SQL Cluster IP Offline)
    10.    Copy MASTER.MDF and MASTLOG.LDF to NEW Location ( S:\SQLDATA, yours could be different)
    11.    Log into Cluster Administrator and bring SQL Server Resources online
    12.    Resume current PASSIVE Node


That's all, you should be able to see your master database on new location now!!!


-- Regards,

Hemantgiri S. Goswami (http://www.sql-server-citation.com )

Cross posting: http://www.pythian.com/news/35829/moving-master-database-to-new-location-in-sql-cluster/