This post is based on a document I wrote a long time ago as part of my DBA knowledge transfer to other DBAs. It’s also goes hand in hand with a question I like to ask in interviews: ‘Someone has raised a ticket with your IT Service Desk and assigned Continue Reading
Cluster Quorum PowerShell Commands
Here are some Cluster PowerShell Commands worth having in your arsenal. Get-Cluster This will simply show the cluster name Get-ClusterQuorum | ft QuorumType This will confirm the Quorum type in use. For an AlwaysOn configuration, this should be node majority. For a Failover Cluster Instance then this should be node Continue Reading
Creating Fake Data for Testing
One of the problems facing us in the new GDPR compliance world is scrambling/obfuscating production data in our testing environments. I’ve certainly been guilty in the past of having multiple backups of production data lying around on test servers and also having production data in test environments which should be Continue Reading
SSRS Database Migration – Cannot View Subscriptions
Moving the SSRS database to another server is a fairly straightforward process. You can detach/attach or Backup (copy_only)/Restore or even generate scripts (really?). The only other thing to do is point reporting services to the new report server database using Reporting Services Configuration manager and you are all set. Unless Continue Reading
Automating SQL Installs
Here’s how I do a basic silent install of SQL Server. Configuration File You can’t start this unless you have an installation configuration file from a previous install. Your Configuration File (ConfigurationFile.ini) can be found in the following location: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\120\Setup Bootstrap\Log\ Within this location there will be Continue Reading
Microsoft Azure Learning Tools
These are the learning tools I have used to get my head around Microsoft Azure and the wonders of cloud computing in general. Microsoft Virtual Academy: Introduction to Microsoft Azure This is a general overview of cloud computing and Azure which is essential viewing for all IT professionals and not Continue Reading
2 Issues with PowerShell Steps in SQL Agent
Both of the issues I’m going to discuss have been documented before but for my own benefit I’m going to put them on my blog as they are bound to come up again one day.. Unable to start execution of step 2 (reason: line(50): Syntax error). The PowerShell Script works Continue Reading
Login Failed for User ‘NT AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS LOGON’
I was recently asked to look at an issue that was occurring when someone tried to run a simple SELECT query on a table. The error they received was ‘Login Failed for User ‘NT AUTHORITY\ANONYMOUS LOGON” Strange. The first thing I did was run a query using my own account Continue Reading
Configure Quorum for SQL Server High Availability
Quorum, quorum, quorum, quorum, quorum. Quorum, quorum, quorum, quorum, quorum, quorum and quorum. Quorum, quorum, quorum! Quorum, quorum, quorum, quorum, quorum, quorum, quorum. Quorum, quorum, quorum, quorum, quorum, quorum; quorum, quorum, quorum. If you repeat the word quorum enough times, you will eventually learn and understand it. If only that Continue Reading
3 Best Practices for Non-Production
When I set up a new UAT/DEV environment there are some things I tend to do: Change the DB Owner to the SA account or equivalent I do this in Production too, obviously but if you are regularly refreshing UAT databases, this can sometimes be overlooked. Change Recovery Models to Continue Reading