Torsten Schuessler

MICROSOFT® SQL SERVER® 2012 SERVICE PACK 1 (SP1), COMMUNITY TECHNOLOGY PREVIEW 4 (CTP4)

Download:
SQL Server 2012 SP1 CTP4
SQL Server 2012 SP1 CTP4 Express
SQL Server 2012 SP1 CTP4 Feature Pack

The SQL Server 2012 builds that were released after SQL Server 2012 was released:
Download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2692828/

It’s an old story, but still present - Why or why not installing antivirus software on a database server?

First of all, I’ve been on both sides of the debate with respect, but I can only, only partially agree to install antivirus software on a database server - e.g Microsoft SQL Server. And this only partially agreement means, first not to install antivirus software on SQL Server as many IT departments do in a standard procedure. In addition, the default settings are left untouched, so that every virtually byte is examined in real time.

Have you ever examined the amount of memory, high CPU spikes or high CPU usage and last but not least your high consumer of I/O activities on your (busy) SQL Server?
So let us take a closer look by using Process Explorer to identify antivirus and SQL Server tasks since start-up.

Identifying the SQL Server and Antivirus consumers

I prefer using Process Explorer to take a immediate first look what happens on the server, he includes many interesting counters for regarding some performance issues and more. By selecting View-Select Columns…, we can add interesting counters such as Private Bytes, Working Set, Threads, Handles, I/O Reads, I/O Read Bytes, I/O Writes, I/O Write Bytes, CPU Time – as shown in the screenshot below.

The screenshot above shows that while the ntrtscan.exe (Real-time Scan Service) has read 70% of the bytes of SQL Server, it has performed 27 times as much read I/O as the read activity isn’t as efficient as SQL Server. And the tmlisten.exe (antivirus communication service) has only write 7% of the bytes of SQL Server, but it has performed four times as much write I/O as the write activity of SQL Server.

Now I want to see the leaders of high I/O Reads on my server by filtering I/O Reads (see screenshot below).

The first three consumers of I/O Reads are:

1. Antivirus (ntrtscan) with 111.641.100 Reads
2. SQL Server (sqlservr) with 4.622.225 Reads
3. Antivirus (tmlisten) with 2409809 Reads

Same doing on I/O Writes:

1. Antivirus (tmlisten) with 31.124.046 Writes
2. SQL Server (sqlservr) with 9.785.283 Writes
3. ReportingServices with 1.715.489 Writes

So, it’s possible for antivirus to consume many times of I/O’s of SQL Server which can really hamper performance on your (busy) SQL Server. It is possible that the antivirus is consuming more than 50% of total I/O activities! (Please note the recommendations to Microsoft SQL Server Database Engine Input/Output Requirements)

And what does Microsoft say for antivirus on your SQL Server (KB309422)?

"We strongly recommend that you individually assess the security risk for each computer that is running SQL Server in your environment and that you select the tools that are appropriate for the security risk level of each computer that is running SQL Server. Additionally, we recommend that before you roll out any virus-protection project, you test the whole system under a full load to measure any changes in stability and performance.
Virus protection software requires some system resources to execute. You must perform testing before and after you install your antivirus software to determine whether there is any performance effect on the computer that is running SQL Server."

In my opinion it is very carefully worded, with a “It depends on …” – but they help us!

Read this KB very carefully with you Antivirus Administrator, talk with him about virus risks on the server, performance effects on a (busy) SQL Server and how intrusive the antivirus is at the ratio of the security risk level. In addition read also KB822158, there are further recommendations for the windows server and should be applied as well and first!

I don’t want to repeat these KBs, but here are some recommended must reads:

 

 Turn off scanning of Windows Update or Automatic Update related files

 Turn off scanning of Windows Security files

 Turn off scanning of Group Policy related files

 Directories and file-name extensions to exclude from virus scanning

 Processes to exclude from virus scanning

 Considerations for clustering

AND - consider an external virus scan against your SQL Server, which is possible in most enterprise antivirus products – often you needn’t a real time virus scan, it belongs to the security risk level!

I wish you a nice  day,
tosc

New Dynamic Management Views and Functions in SQL Server 2012

I create a valid linked server point form SQL Server 2012 to SQL Server 2008 R2 (@server = N'SQL2008R2'), then I run below query from SQL Server 2012 - which will find DMVs that did not exists in 2008 R2 ('SQL2008R2') -  comparing the datasets in sys.system_objects.

 

USE [master];  --- execute on SQL Server 2012
GO
SELECT
       N'sys.' + d.[name] AS [DMV NAME],
       d.[type] AS [DMV TYPE],
       d.type_desc AS [DMV TYPE DESC]
FROM
      [master].sys.system_objects AS d WITH (NOLOCK)
LEFT OUTER JOIN --- LinkedServer SQL Server 2008 R2
      [SQL2008R2].[master].sys.system_objects AS r WITH (NOLOCK)
ON
      d.[name] = r.[name] ---* collate Latin1_General_CI_AS
      AND d.[schema_id] = r.[schema_id]
WHERE
      r.[name] IS NULL
      AND d.[schema_id] = 4
      AND d.[is_ms_shipped] = 1
      AND d.[name] like 'dm_%'
ORDER BY
      d.[name] OPTION (RECOMPILE);
GO

Linked Query Result

I get this resultset, and YES SQL Server 2012 has really 36 new Dynamic Management Views and Functions.

... Now you can query Books Online for SQL Server 2012 ....

To struggle through these new Dynamic Management Views and Functions in SQL Server 2012, will be an ongoing and hard work :-)

I wish you a nice  day,
tosc

Ola Hallengren and his ongoing work of his SQL Server Maintenance Solution - SQL Server Backup, Integrity Check, and Index and Statistics Maintenance.The solution is based on stored procedures, functions, the sqlcmd utility, and SQL Server Agent jobs.

Numerous SQL Server community experts recommend the SQL Server Maintenance Solution, which has been a Gold and Silver winner in the 2011 and 2010 SQL Server Magazine Awards. I love this tool to perform index maintenance on instances with VLDBs - and the best it's free!

New Version Available

A new version of the SQL Server Maintenance Solution is available. You can now perform striped backups across multiple drives in the DatabaseBackup stored procedure. Simply specify multiple directories in the @Directory parameter; for example:

EXECUTE dbo.DatabaseBackup
@Databases = 'USER_DATABASES',
@Directory = 'C:\Backup, D:\Backup, E:\Backup, F:\Backup', @BackupType = 'FULL',
@Compress = 'Y',
@NumberOfFiles = 4

The new version also supports checking the consistency of a database on the file group level and on the table level. This capability is useful when you have VLDBs.

You can read more about the most recent version of the solution at http://ola.hallengren.com/versions.html or download it at http://ola.hallengren.com/scripts/MaintenanceSolution.sql

And now it's up to YOU!

2012 SQL Server Pro Community Choice Awards

The voting for the 2012 SQL Server Pro Community Choice Awards is now open! This year, the Ola Hallengren SQL Server Maintenance Solution has been nominated in the Best Backup & Recovery Product and Best Free Tool categories. So let us VOTE!!!

Please feel free to contact him if you have any questions. And I tell you, Ola will consider it!!!

I wish you a nice  day,
tosc

I know that finding time to attend business events is becoming more and more difficult, but there is a great SQL Server Conference in Bratislava.

Enjoy the lovely capital of Slovakia in the heart of Europe! From September 19th to 21st a selected group of top-speakers from the SQL Server Community is heading in to give you deep insight into SQL Server 2012 in many different aspects . Exchange with experts and colleagues about the possible deployments of these new technologies in practice!

Intensive three-day workshops, keynote by Lubor Kollar with insights into what is currently the SQL Server kitchen simmers and 27 exciting three-day sessions result in a sustained learning experience.

Who's who SQL Speakers:

• Lubor Kollar - Principal Program Manager in SQL Server Engine Development Team
• Itzik Ben-Gan – globally renown T-SQL guru, author and trainer (T-SQL Champion)
• Thomas Kejser - Principal Program Manager at Microsoft. Performing fast loading of warehousing! (removing every bottleneck)
• Dejan Sarka – Data Mining guru
• Davide Mauri – BI expert, awards for best-rated session
• Alexei Khalyako - SQL Regional Program Manager at SQL Server International Customer Advisory Team
• Karol Papaj - SQL Server MVP and local hero
• Microsoft SQL Server Development Team from Belgrade

Early Bird until 15. August: € 834.00 (excl. VAT) 
AS a member of PASS Germany until 15. August: € 750.60 (excl. VAT)

Remember as a member of PASS Deutschland e.V you get a very special discount - so become a member of the great German Microsoft SQL Server Community - http://www.sqlpass.de

I wish you a nice day,
tosc

1. Add any new parameters after the first 3 default parameters –d, -e, -l. IMPORTANT never change sorting of these parameters!
2. Specify the ";" delimiter between each parameter! SSCM uses ";" as the delimiter between parameters.

3. Do NOT use a space after the delimiter and the parameter identifier (which is the "-" character).

   

   Copy it back to startup paramaters - save - RESTART the service!

4. Check the current SQL Server error log and verify that each parameter shows up in a new line and starts at the same indentation.

But now in SQL Server 2012 we have a "Startup Parameters" Tab!

1. Add any new parameters in the Textfield (NEVER REMOVE the first 3 default pramaters!!!)

2. 
   

   

   
   
   

   
3. After restarting check the current SQL Server error log and verify that each parameter shows up in a new line and starts at the same indentation.

Where to find out about trace flags

Checking the status of trace flags

You can check the status of your trace flags by using the following command:
DBCC TRACESTATUS

If you want to know something about Trace Flag 3226, please read Christoph Muthmann's (aka cmu) post:
Trace Flag 3226

I wish you a nice day,
tosc