August 2007 - Posts
"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!"
And that was just my initial reaction when I discovered my post about the latest cumulative update for SQL Server 2005 SP2 got a mention on the opening page of Microsoft Israel!
Yes! It's true!! I could hardly contain myself! J
Still, I waited till I got home before doing my little dance of happiness in front of the mirror hearing in my ears "I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it…" (the Pointer Sisters for those of you who were not around in the 80's).
I would also say that the festive event happened on my brother's birthday – happy birthday bro!
Well, continuing our story about strange things that can happen, I thought I'd share with you this little tidbit. I was taking over a project from someone who had left the company a while back. In the cube that was on the old server, there was an MDX calculation. Only thing was that calculation was missing from the project on the new server (and I admit I couldn't guess what was behind it).
So what can you do when you need something that in a project of an old cube? You import the project back to you! The way to do that is to open the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and go to File > Open > Analysis Services Database. You fill in all the details of the relevant server and the project's name and you can recreate the project on your PC again. Calculation resurrected.
Goodness, it's feels like I just blinked there for a moment, and already Microsoft is releasing a new cumulative update for SQL Server 2005 SP2!
The build of the cumulative update package is also known as build 3186. The knowledge base article is here and the download itself is available here, and you can download the version in which ever language suits you.
And just so you don't think the guys at Microsoft are resting on their laurels, I would tell you that obviously, Cumulative Update #4 is already in the works...
…like for instance, it could all of a sudden turn into a ball! J
Ok bad computing joke.
So this time around I thought I'd tell you about a weird incident I had with my cube. I found out I could see my cube in the Management Studio and even browse it, but when trying to run an MDX on it (again, in the Management Studio) it would tell me I didn't have any cubes for the MDX to run on.. I could still run MDX scripts on it in my SSAS project so I continued as usual, thinking to myself only that this is all very odd. Things got worse as when I tried to develop a new view on it in the Panorama Nova View Desktop, it also told me I had no cube to build on..
So, I realized I was sitting on a ticking bomb.
I could not see anything wrong with the project in the SSAS, and was left to conclude that something went wrong with the XML that is in the back of the project. No way around it, I had to build the project again. To a new project I added the items of: Data Source, DSV and Dimensions. I only built the cube itself from scratch. And now, I regained my cube! MDX scripts, here I come...
SQL 2008 July CTP is out! I started to get suspicious when my brother ( adlai ) called me and asked me "did you downloaded the SQL2008, because I can't download it now ! the link in MSDN doesn't function".
With SQL Server 2008 July CTP release, customers can understand and get hands-on experience with the new capabilities that, with the release of SQL Server 2008, will help them support their mission-critical platform and enable pervasive insight across the enterprise. SQL Server 2008 lays the groundwork for innovative policy-based management that enables administrators to reduce their time spent on maintenance tasks. SQL Server 2008 provides enhancements in the SQL Server BI platform by enabling customers to provide up-to-date information with Change Data Capture and MERGE features, and develop highly scalable analysis services cubes with new development environments. The chart below depicts significant improvements coming online with each CTP.
... for more info goto the SQL2008 main page here
The samples for the July CTP are available at http://codeplex.com/SqlServerSamples
I'll start by describing Data Dude (or DB Dude) first to all of us who don't use it, now shall I?
It's a tool for the management of databases, enabling you to keep track of version history of a database with a source control on the scripts that build the database. The tool was first introduced to the very talented DBA in my department – Boris Kogan – by Maor David from SRL. Boris was obviously very pleased to have a bit of work and headache saved with this new tool.
Just a week ago, Microsoft released the SR1 for Data Dude and you can check the download and the accompanying knowledge base article that comes with it. Be sure to have Service Pack 1 installed on your Visual Studio 2005 before you use it.
So go on, make your DBA happy ;) …