Category: SQL Server

Different Ways to Monitor SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups

Nisarg Upadhyay
Total: 5 Average: 4.6

In my previous articles, I have explained the step-by-step process of deploying an AlwaysOn Availability group on SQL Server 2017. In this article, I am going to explain how to monitor AlwaysOn availability groups.

First, let’s review the configuration of the availability group we had deployed previously. To do that, open SQL Server Management Studio Expand database engine from the object explorer Expand “AlwaysOn High Availability” Expand “Availability Groups.” You can see the availability group named SQLAAG. Under this availability group (SQLAAG), you can see the list of availability replicas, availability databases, and availability group listeners. Read More

Searching for Database Objects and Table Data in SQL Server

Ahmad Yaseen
Total: 4 Average: 4

If you are a SQL Server database administrator or developer, you need to frequently search for specific database objects the names of which you can only partly remember. The manual approach to performing these search operations is time-consuming, especially when the database has a large number of objects.

Another scenario is one in which you want to search for specific data in all database tables. In this case, you need to run a SELECT statement multiple times based on the number of database tables or views you want to search in, or write a complex cursor to loop and search in all database tables, which requires advanced SQL Server development skills.

In this article, we will look at different ways of searching for a specific database object or data in SQL Server, going gradually from built-in methods and diving into a 3rd-party tool that makes it a piece of cake to get the requested database object or data. Read More

Accelerated Database Recovery in SQL Server 2019

Kenneth Igiri
Total: 1 Average: 5

An Overview of Traditional Recovery

As with all relational database systems, SQL Server guarantees the durability of data by implementing crash recovery. Durability in the acronym ACID which refers to the characteristics of transactions in relational databases means that we can be assured that if the database fails suddenly, our data is safe.

SQL Server implements this capability using the transaction log. Changes made by all Data Manipulation Operations in SQL Server are captured in the transaction log before being applied to data files (through the checkpoint process) in case it’s needed to roll back or roll forward.

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SQL Server High availability: Install SQL Server failover clustered instance Part 2

Nisarg Upadhyay
Total: 3 Average: 4.7

In my previous article, I have explained the step-by-step process of installing SQL Server Failover Clustered Instance. In this article, I will explain how to add a secondary node to the existing failover clustered instance.

Install SQL Server Failover Cluster instance

Once SQL Server is installed on an SQL01.dc.Local node, connect to SQL02.dc.Local and run setup.exe – SQL Server installation wizard opens. In the wizard, select “Installation” from the panel on the left and click on “Add node to a SQL Server failover cluster”. See the following image:

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SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups: Installation and configuration, Part 1

Nisarg Upadhyay
Total: 2 Average: 3

In this article, I will explain the process of installing pre-requisites to deploy the SQL Server AlwaysOn availability group.

For the demonstration, I have prepared a demo set up at my work station. See the following components:

Virtual Machine Host Name Purpose
Domain Controller DC.Local The domain controller is installed on this machine
Primary Replica SQL01.DC.Local This machine acts as a Primary replica in the Availability group
Secondary Replica SQL02.DC.Local This machine acts as a Secondary replica in the Availability group. This replica is in a Synchronous commit mode
Secondary Replica with SQL03.DC.Local This machine acts as a secondary replica in the Availability group. This replica is in an Asynchronous commit mode

I will explain the following actions:

  1. Installing a failover clustering role
  2. Create a failover cluster
  3. Enable AlwaysOn availability group features in SQL Server

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Using Alerts and Operators in SQL Server

Kenneth Igiri
Total: 3 Average: 4.3

Introduction

With all the advancements in SQL Server and data, it feels great that such native SQL tools as Alerts and Operators are still available. They are the key SQL Server Agent features that are related to anything in SQL Server automation. 

Their roles are clear:

  • Alerts, when configured, let database administrators know when a specified event has occurred. 
  • An operator is an object defined within SQL Server that maps anyone or a group that can receive notifications when these events occur.

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Implementing Full-Text Search in SQL Server 2016 for Advanced Users

Haroon Ashraf
Total: 2 Average: 3.5

This article tells about advanced methods of Full-Text Search usage for data professionals. It enables better search experience in their day-to-day database analysis.

Additionally, the readers will get beyond basic knowledge of Full-Text Search and its implementation. You will see the importance of advanced searching methodology using Full-Text Search to get quick and reliable results.

Prerequisites

First, let’s go through prerequisites since the article is focused on advanced uses of Full-Text Search.

T-SQL Know-How

The article assumes that to implement the walk-through(s), the readers are familiar with writing and running T-SQL scripts against databases with a basic understanding of SQL Server. Read More

Implementing Full-Text Search in SQL Server 2016 for beginners

Haroon Ashraf
Total: 3 Average: 3.7

This article talks about the full-text search and its implementation for the beginners to get started.

Additionally, the readers will know the important things to make the full-text search work properly.

This article also highlights the importance of using Full-Text Search to match text patterns and meet similar sorts of requirements.

About Full-Text Search

Let’s understand the Full-Text Search with the help of definitions.

Simple Definition

Full-Text Search is used to optimally search character-based data for quick answers.

Microsoft Definition

Full-Text Search in SQL Server and Azure SQL Database (cloud version of SQL database) let users and applications run full-text queries against character-based data in SQL Server tables. Read More

How to install SQL Server vNext and Azure data studio on Ubuntu 18.04

Nisarg Upadhyay
Total: 1 Average: 5

Azure data studio is a cross-platform database management tool. This tool is used to connect, configure, and administrate SQL Server instances installed locally or in the cloud. This tool can be installed on the following operating systems:

  1. Microsoft Windows
  2. Linux
    • Redgate
    • Debian
    • Ubuntu
  3. macOS

Initially, Microsoft introduced this tool as the “SQL Server operations studio.” Later they renamed it Azure Data Studio. You can get more information about it here.

In this article, I am going to explain the step-by-step installation process of SQL Server 2017 and Azure data studio on Ubuntu. I have divided the article into two parts. Firstly, we will install SQL Server 2017, and later I will explain the process of installing Azure Data Studio. For demonstration purposes, I have created a virtual machine and installed Ubuntu 18.04 on it. You can download Ubuntu here. Read More