Here's a little PowerShell script I whipped up to import the TechnologyToolbox.com log files into a SQL Server database for some "quick and dirty" analysis.

In this post, I'll show you how I quickly restore the Production database for TechnologyToolbox.com to the corresponding Development and Test environments...

A little more than three years ago, I blogged about the default recovery model for various SharePoint databases . In that post, I described how I would often toggle the SQL Server databases in SharePoint development environments from the default Full...

One of the "good habits" I've developed over the years while creating applications is scrutinizing the interaction between logical or physical tiers. Given the nature of solutions that I'm typically involved with, this often involves examining how many...

When upgrading Team Foundation Server (TFS) -- or, really, any application that utilizes SQL Server Reporting Services -- you might choose to restore your data to a new environment (for example, to migrate to new hardware, or to validate the upgrade in...

A little over two years ago, I wrote a post about installing Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 , in which I mentioned setting the MaxPatchCacheSize registry setting to 0 (in order to save some significant disk space while installing the service pack)...

I've been a bad blogger this month. Almost a month ago, I wrote a post about using Web standards with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 , but I noted that there would be more to come on that subject in the near future. Well, almost a full...

Yesterday we encountered a bug while trying to deploy a new SQL Server database from a Visual Studio database project using the VSDBCMD.EXE utility, following the prescriptive guidance on MSDN: How to: Prepare a Database for Deployment From a Command...

For a little over a month, Windows Update was failing on one of the servers in the "Jameson Datacenter" (a.k.a. my home lab). Specifically, KB 970892 simply would not install on JUBILEE -- my Systems Center Operations Manager (SCOM) 2007 VM, that I use...

I've mentioned before the importance of using multiple "spindles" when working with large SQL Server databases. Generally speaking, the recommendation is to use different RAID 1+0 arrays for data and log files -- and depending on the size and load...

One of the challenges I see in organizations that I work with is the lack of naming conventions for various environments -- or sometimes naming conventions that provide little or no value. For about the last ten years, I've been a strong proponent...

A couple of months ago, I had to SysPrep a copy of one of my VMs in order to remove dependencies on my home domain (I had to work out of the Microsoft office for a couple of days because my DSL router cratered). However, while the SysPrep process was...

Since I appear to be on a roll with my blog this morning, I figured that I should write one more post about SQL Server before I get back to my "day job." I typically use SQL Server Management Studio to configure and schedule database backups, because...

Here is yet another of the SQL scripts that I like to keep handy in my toolbox: Count Records in All Tables.sql Sometimes when I get "dropped into" a consulting situation with a new customer, I need to quickly get acquainted with one or more of their...

Here is another SQL script that I keep handy in my toolbox: Shrink All Database Files.sql . Unlike the script that I shared in my previous post that simply truncated all transaction logs to free up disk space, this script is suitable for running in a...

One of the SQL scripts that I keep handy in my toolbox is Truncate All Transaction Logs.sql . While I would never recommend running this script in a Production environment (PROD), I find it to be very helpful for periodically freeing up disk space in...

A couple of weeks ago I was troubleshooting a performance problem with the variations feature in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 and I needed to copy the content database to another environment for further analysis and testing. An easy...

A fellow consultant here in Denver sent out a message yesterday inquiring about formal recommendations regarding the use of Windows Authentication vs. SQL Authentication. It seems that quite a few customers out there ponder these choices for a variety...