Never-Before-Published Insiders’ Information for Troubleshooting SQL Server 2005. This is the definitive guide to troubleshooting the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database engine, direct from the people who know it most intimately: the people who wrote it, designed it, and support it. SQL Server expert Ken Henderson, author of the best-selling Guru’s Guides to SQL Server, has assembled a “dream team” of SQL Server developers and support engineers to provide in-depth troubleshooting and diagnostic information that has never been documented before: information that would be impossible to get without access to Microsoft’s own source code. From caching to clustering, query processing to Service Broker, this book will help you address even the toughest problems with database engine operations. Each chapter begins with a brief architectural overview of a key SQL Server component, then drills down into the most common problems users encounter, offering specific guidance on investigating and resolving them. You’ll find comprehensive, in-depth chapters on • Waiting and blocking • Data corruption and recovery • Memory • Procedure cache issues • Query processing • Server crashes and other critical failures • Service Broker • SQLOS and scheduling • tempdb • Clustering This is the indispensable resource for everyone who must keep SQL Server running smoothly: DBAs, database application developers, API programmers, and Web developers alike. Contents About the Authors ix Preface xii Acknowledgments xiv 1 Waiting and Blocking Issues 1 2 Data Corruption and Recovery Issues 47 3 Memory Issues 137 4 Procedure Cache Issues 183 5 Query Processor Issues 225 6 Server Crashes and Other Critical Failures 273 7 Service Broker Issues 331 8 SQLOS and Scheduling Issues 369 9 Tempdb Issues 411 10 Clustering Issues 425 The Aging Champion 441 Index 445

"I can pretty much guarantee that anyone who uses SQL Server on a regular basis (even those located in Redmond working on SQL Server) can learn something new from reading this book." --David Campbell, Product Unit Manager, Relational Server Team, Microsoft Corporation The latest book from the highly regarded and best-selling author Ken Henderson, is the consummate reference to Microsoft SQL Server. Picking up where documentation and white papers leave off, this book takes an all-inclusive approach to provide the most depth and breadth of coverage of any book on SQL Server architecture, internals, and tuning. The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals Blending in-depth discussion with practical application, the guide begins with several chapters on the fundamental Windows technologies behind SQL Server, including processes and threads, memory management, Windows I/O, and networking. The focus then moves on to the architectural details of SQL Server and how to practically apply them. The entire SQL Server product is covered--not just the functionality that resides within the core executable or product features that have been in place for years. SQL Server has matured and broadened substantially with each release, and the author explores the "fringe" technologies that have yet to be covered elsewhere, including Notification Services, Full Text Search, SQLXML, replication, DTS, and a host of others. Throughout the book, the author uses WinDbg, Microsoft's free downloadable symbolic debugger, to look under the hood of SQL Server. Armed with new debugging and coding skills, readers will be ready to master SQL Server on their own. The accompanying CD-ROM is packed with additional material, including full source code for the book's 900+ examples, as well as three invaluable tools: DTSDIAG, the VBODSOLE Library, and DTS Package Guru. DTSDIAG allows developers and administrators to simultaneously collect Profiler traces, perform logs, blocking script output, system event logs, and SQLDIAG reports from a specified SQL Server. The VBODSOLE Library features more than twenty new COM-based functions for Transact-SQL, including T-SQL enhancements such as array-manipulation routines, financial functions, string-manipulation functions, and system functions. DTS Package Guru is a .NET-based package editor for SQL Server's Data Transformation Services that allows editing of any modifiable package and supports the automation of mass package changes. is the essential guide for database developers and admin- istrators alike, regardless of skill level. The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals 0201700476B10012003

"This is a book that deserves a prominent place by anyone who aspires to be a real professional developer of SQL Server applications." --from the Foreword by Ron Soukup The message of this book is that building stored procedures in Transact-SQL is very much like building programs in any other language. It requires the same type of skill, planning, attention to detail, and overall grasp of technology that successful development in other languages requires. To master Transact-SQL, one must first master the fundamental concepts of software development, then build on this foundation by embracing and studying Transact-SQL as a programming language in its own right. This book teaches you how to do that and more. More than just a catalog of coding tricks and syntax subtleties, explores the philosophy of Transact-SQL programming. It teaches readers how to apply this philosophy in order to develop their own coding techniques and discover their own solutions to real-world programming problems. A follow-up to the widely acclaimed The Guru's Guide to SQL Server(TM) Stored Procedures, XML, and HTML The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL, this book teaches that stored procedure development does not occur in a vacuum--it involves a wide variety of skills, subjects, and technologies--and helps the reader become a better software engineer, not just a stored procedure expert. Blending theoretical detail with practical application, this comprehensive reference begins with a foundational overview of SQL Server(TM) stored procedure programming. From there, the focus moves on to best practices and design considerations before progressing to advanced topics and a general philosophy of software craftsmanship. In all, this book provides the most complete coverage of SQL Server stored procedure programming available in one source. Topics such as user-defined functions, views, triggers, extended procedures, error handling, OLE Automation, database design, and XML are covered in detail. The book spotlights undocumented language features and brings the first application of design patterns to the SQL language. The preview of .NET and a groundbreaking approach to adding arrays to Transact-SQL make for the most thorough and engaging read published to date on SQL Server programming. The accompanying CD-ROM contains the book's source code. More than 700 SQL scripts, programming utilities, and extended procedures provide a veritable treasure trove of high-quality example code. Theoretically sound, yet immensely practical, provides developers with the tools they need to become expert stored procedure programmers and better software engineers. The Guru's Guide to SQL Server(TM) Stored Procedures, XML, and HTML 0201700468B11262001

Since its introduction over a decade ago, the Microsoft SQL Server query language, Transact-SQL, has become increasingly popular and more powerful. The current version sports such advanced features as OLE Automation support, cross-platform querying facilities, and full-text search management. This book is the consummate guide to Microsoft Transact-SQL. From data type nuances to complex statistical computations to the bevy of undocumented features in the language, imparts the knowledge you need to become a virtuoso of the language as quickly as possible. The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL In this book, you will find the information, explanations, and advice you need to master Transact-SQL and develop the best possible Transact-SQL code. Some 600 code examples not only illustrate important concepts and best practices, but also provide working Transact-SQL code that can be incorporated into your own real-world DBMS applications. Your journey begins with an introduction explaining language fundamentals such as database and table creation, inserting and updating data, queries, joins, data presentation, and managing transactions. Moving on to more advanced topics, the journey continues with in-depth coverage of: Transact-SQL performance tuning using tools such as Query Analyzer and Performance Monitor Nuances of the various T-SQL data types Complex statistical calculations such as medians, modes, and sliding aggregates Run, sequence, and series identification and interrogation Advanced Data Definition Language (DDL) and Data Management Language (DML) techniques Stored procedure and trigger best practices and coding methods Transaction management Optimal cursor use and caveats to look out for Full-text search Hierarchies and arrays Administrative Transact-SQL OLE Automation More than 100 undocumented commands and language features, including numerous unpublished DBCC command verbs, trace flags, stored procedures, and functions Comprehensive, written in understandable terms, and full of practical information and examples, is an indispensable reference for anyone working with this database development language. The accompanying CD-ROM includes the complete set of code examples found in the book as well as a SQL programming environment that will speed the development of your own top-notch Transact-SQL code. The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL