SQL

Alll things MS SQL Server

Where is the key to the LOCK?

SQL Padre SQL 2005, SQL 2008, SQL 2012, SQL Jobs

This past Friday evening, a simple data import process (that has been working for several months), decided to not work correctly.  Because there was no “early warning” type of notifications systems on the SQL 2005 server, the SQL Agent Job was actually running when Monday morning rolled around.

Using Idera’s SQL Check, I quickly noticed that there was a process that had a lock on a table that was causing some MAJOR problems.  Four different SQL processes was waiting on this lock.  And of course my supervisor was getting calls left and right from end users because their applications were not working.

I had to figure out what was going on.  I was able to get a list of processes and which one was causing all the problem with the sp_who2 command.

sp_who2'active'

However, this returned a “bias” HOST NAME.  I am not really sure why. But I confirmed with networking that the returned hostname and IP address do not exist on our network, but that is for another day.

I needed to know an accurate way to get all the information I needed at that moment when a job wrongs long.  This code is probably providing way more information than I really need, but sometimes more is better.  Even though the “host_name” is returning a “bogus” host name; the client_net_address is not!  This valid IP address is very important to locating the culprit machine.

SELECT 
    C.session_id
    ,C.client_net_address
    ,S.host_name
    ,S.Client_version
    ,S.client_interface_name
    ,S.login_name
    ,S.original_login_name
    ,db_name(R.database_id) AS [DB Name]
    ,R.status
    ,R.command
    ,R.blocking_session_id
    ,R.wait_type
    ,R.percent_complete
    ,wait_resource
    ,C.net_transport
    ,C.protocol_type
    ,C.auth_scheme
    ,C.last_read
    ,C.last_write
    ,S.cpu_time
    ,S.memory_usage
    ,(S.total_elapsed_time/1000) AS [Total Sec]
    ,S.lock_timeout
FROM sys.dm_exec_connections AS C
JOIN sys.dm_exec_requests AS R
    ON C.session_id=R.session_id
JOIN sys.dm_exec_sessions AS S
    ON C.session_id=S.session_id
ORDER BY session_id

Using Thomas LaRock’s  HOW TO: Find Currently Running Long SQL Agent Jobs, I setup up a simple 2 step SQL Agent job to check for 1) long running jobs and 2) session information (using the code above).  A simple “save results to txt file” allows me to export the results to and study them later.

USE [msdb]
GO
/****** Object:  Job [job_WH_MonitorDatabase]    Script Date: 10/30/2012 13:57:18 ******/
BEGIN TRANSACTION
DECLARE @ReturnCode INT
SELECT @ReturnCode = 0
/****** Object:  JobCategory [xx] Script Date: 10/30/2012 13:57:18 ******/
IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT name FROM msdb.dbo.syscategories WHERE name=N'xxx' AND category_class=1)
BEGIN
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_category @class=N'JOB', @type=N'LOCAL', @name=N'xxx'
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback

END

DECLARE @jobId BINARY(16)
EXEC @ReturnCode =  msdb.dbo.sp_add_job @job_name=N'job_MonitorDatabase', 
        @enabled=1, 
        @notify_level_eventlog=0, 
        @notify_level_email=2, 
        @notify_level_netsend=0, 
        @notify_level_page=0, 
        @delete_level=0, 
        @description=N'’, 
        @category_name=N'xx', 
        @owner_login_name=N'INFOSYS\xx', 
        @notify_email_operator_name=N'xx', @job_id = @jobId OUTPUT
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
/****** Object:  Step [Monitor]    Script Date: 10/30/2012 13:57:18 ******/
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobstep @job_id=@jobId, @step_name=N'Monitor', 
        @step_id=1, 
        @cmdexec_success_code=0, 
        @on_success_action=3, 
        @on_success_step_id=0, 
        @on_fail_action=2, 
        @on_fail_step_id=0, 
        @retry_attempts=0, 
        @retry_interval=0, 
        @os_run_priority=0, @subsystem=N'TSQL', 
        @command=N'exec usp_LongRunningJobs', 
        @database_name=N'master', 
        @flags=0
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
/****** Object:  Step [RecordProcesses]    Script Date: 10/30/2012 13:57:18 ******/
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobstep @job_id=@jobId, @step_name=N'RecordProcesses', 
        @step_id=2, 
        @cmdexec_success_code=0, 
        @on_success_action=1, 
        @on_success_step_id=0, 
        @on_fail_action=2, 
        @on_fail_step_id=0, 
        @retry_attempts=0, 
        @retry_interval=0, 
        @os_run_priority=0, @subsystem=N'TSQL', 
        @command=N'select
    sysp.spid AS [SPID]
    ,sysp.status AS [Status]
    ,sysp.hostname AS [Host Name]
    ,cn.client_net_address AS [Client IP]
    ,db_name(sysp.dbid) AS [DB Name]
    ,convert(sysname, rtrim(sysp.loginame)) as [Login]
    ,sysp.program_name AS [Program]
    ,sysp.cmd AS [CMD Status]
    ,sysp.cpu AS [CPU usage]
    ,sysp.physical_io [IO]
    ,sysp.blocked AS [Blocked By]
    ,sysp.waitresource AS [Wait Resource]
from master.dbo.sysprocesses AS sysp
INNER JOIN sys.dm_exec_connections AS cn 
    ON sysp.spid=cn.session_ID
WHERE sysp.dbid > 4 AND sysp.cmd <> ''AWAITING COMMAND''
ORDER BY sysp.hostname', 
        @database_name=N'master', 
        @output_file_name=N'F:\SQLAgent_Logs\RunningProcesses.txt', 
        @flags=2
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_update_job @job_id = @jobId, @start_step_id = 1
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobschedule @job_id=@jobId, @name=N'Daily', 
        @enabled=1, 
        @freq_type=4, 
        @freq_interval=1, 
        @freq_subday_type=4, 
        @freq_subday_interval=10, 
        @freq_relative_interval=0, 
        @freq_recurrence_factor=0, 
        @active_start_date=20121030, 
        @active_end_date=99991231, 
        @active_start_time=0, 
        @active_end_time=235959
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
EXEC @ReturnCode = msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobserver @job_id = @jobId, @server_name = N'(local)'
IF (@@ERROR <> 0 OR @ReturnCode <> 0) GOTO QuitWithRollback
COMMIT TRANSACTION
GOTO EndSave
QuitWithRollback:
    IF (@@TRANCOUNT > 0) ROLLBACK TRANSACTION
EndSave:

Thanks for your time!  I will let you know how it turns out.

SQL Saturday Baton Rouge #150

SQL Padre SQL

sqlsat150_webOn Tuesday, I was notified that my presentation, “Making the CASE for a full-time DBA” got accepted on the schedule for SQL Saturday Baton Rouge #150.  WooHoo, my first SQL community event presentation!

I am thrilled and nervous at the same time.  I have many years experience speaking in front of people, that’s a no-brainer for me.  However, I have never spoken in front of peers on “work related” topics. 

My presentation is targeted to those “Accidental DBA’s” who find themselves administering and managing SQL Servers. 

  • Developers, Computer Technicians, System Administrators and other IT personnel who were not hired as a DBA, but find themselves doing the job.
  • individuals who scratch their head, Bing and Google-it to find answers.
  • individuals with less than 2 years of DBA experience.

The “who, what, where and how’s” of getting simple information out of SQL server and discovering the “major” problems and no-no’s in the SQL world.  Hopefully, I can provide some simple ways, steps and information that will make your “Accidental DBA” career easier. 

Once you can better understand SQL, just maybe you might like the work and want to be a full-time DBA.  How do I change career paths, where do I find more information, do I need certifications?  I will also briefly discuss how to “pitch a full-time DBA position” to your Manager, Director or VP.

There will be some humor, laughing (probably at me) and hopefully some informative information for those non-DBA types, the DBA newbies or DBA “wanna-bies”.

Thank you again for the SQL Saturday team, I hope I don’t disappoint.

 

UPDATE:  Because of my work, unfortunately I was unable to participate and had to withdraw from presenting.  I was crushed.  But there is always next year!!!!

SQL Padre’s Monitoring Solution–Intro

SQL Padre SQL

As time goes by and software evolves, SQL Monitoring solutions are becoming more and more robust and more and more effective. Two of my favorite solutions Red-Gate’s SQL Monitor 3.0 and Idera’s SQL Diagnostic Manager.  Yes they are direct competitors, but I tested beta version, trial versions and I think both solutions are stellar. However, as time goes on and as the economy continues to struggle, businesses are showing more and more reluctance on buying “un-necessary” 3rd party software.  Of course “un-necessary” is a relative term, some of us DBA find these types of software critical for 24 x7 operations.

So in an endeavor to provide some of their functionality, I am planning on building my own SQL monitoring solution.  Yes I know many have done such things, but call it a personal mission that I have wanted to accomplish for some time.

The hardest part was to determine if I wanted a SQL Solution (SSIS, SSRS) or a application solution (.NET, web GUI, application GUI, windows services, etc.).  I believe I am going to make a hybrid of the two.  I hope to use SSIS,  custom stored procedures, SQL Agents jobs to collect data and store that data in a database.  Then create a .NET 4.0 Web Application leveraging SSRS technology as well. If the Web app, is on a public server, or in the DMZ, then theoretically it could be available away from the office as well!

In the next chapter, I will map out the very basic information I want to collect from a MS SQL Server Instance and provide the T-SQL to get that information.

Back to the Basics (B2B: Intro)

SQL Padre SQL, SQL 2005, SQL 2008, SQL 2012

On occasion, an IT personnel (non-DBA) is tasked with providing SQL support.  Either with installation, upgrading, backups, restores, moving databases or other tasks that normally would not fall under their “job description”.  Trust me I have been there.  We call these “Accidental DBA’s” and sometimes a strange thing happens, the person actually ENJOYS working with MS SQL.  At least that is what happened to me, I was a .NET developer in a corporation with no DBA and over 20 instances of MS SQL in our network.  As the developer, I did create databases, tables, views, etc.; but I didn’t lean SQL management until much later.

So if you are one of those accidental DBAs, where do you find more information on how to do DBA work.  I have always found www.sqlservercentral.com, www.mssqltips.com, and MS MSDN invaluable resources to find answers to questions.  I following some “gurus” of the industry on twitter and their blogs are never boring and always informative.  Some of my personal favorites, to just name a few:

  1. Brad McGehee
  2. Steve Jones
  3. Brent Ozar, PLF (which in reality you get 4, Brent Ozar, Jeremiah Peschka, Kendra Little, Jes Schultz Borland)
  4.  Penal Dave
  5. Thomas LaRock

Every non-DBA needs to know the simple and basic steps to manage MS SQL.  Although I am a fan of GUI interfaces, I will attempt to provide both T-SQL and GUI images to help along.  Yes, I know the evil GUI, most professionals will tell you that knowing and using T-SQL is the only proper way to manage a SQL instance.  However, for those of us that are used to a “point-and-click” environments sometimes learning the point-and-click methods is the quickest and easiest way, especially for those of us who are visual learners.  That being said, I encourage you to always script it out, so you can learn the T-SQL behind the GUI.

During this series I will hope to provide the following information:

  1. How to install SQL; standalone vs. network, there is a difference!
  2. Working with SQL Server Management Studio SSMS
  3. Documentation: Why, I can remember the name of the server?
  4. Documentation Part 2: Didn’t realize the database was that big.
  5. Maintenance plans (they are not just for backups)
  6. Definition of and creating a Disaster Recovery plan

As of now these are the topic I plan to cover in my Back to Basics series.  Although I reserve the right to edit this, I believe if an “accidental” DBA would learn these, then they could probably drop the “accidental” form their title.