Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Unleashed- P13 ppt

Aside from these features, many of the features and much of the functionality associated with the Object Explorer is similar to what was found in SQL Server 2000 and is almost identical

FIGURE 4.7 Scripting from administrative dialogs

schema that it belongs to, or the date on which it was created Again, for those who deal

with large databases and thousands of database objects, this feature is very helpful

Administrators also find the enhanced scripting capabilities in the Object Explorer very

useful The scripting enhancements are centered mostly on the administrative dialog

boxes These dialogs now include a script button that allows you to see what SSMS is

doing behind the scenes to effect your changes In the past, the Profiler could be used to

gather this information, but it was more time-consuming and less integrated than what is

available now

Figure 4.7 shows an example of an administrative dialog, with the scripting options

selected at the top You can script the commands to a new query window, a file, the

Windows Clipboard, or a job that can be scheduled to run at a later time

Aside from these features, many of the features and much of the functionality associated

with the Object Explorer is similar to what was found in SQL Server 2000 and is almost

identical to what was found in SQL Server 2005 Keep in mind that there are some

addi-tional nodes in the Object Explorer tree and that some of the objects are located in

differ-ent places For example, the Management node now contains nodes for Policy Management,

Data Collection, and the Resource Governor, which are all new in SQL Server 2008

FIGURE 4.8 A Disk Usage Object Explorer Details report

One often-overlooked Object Explorer feature is the reports option that was added in SQL

Server 2005 and still exists in SQL Server 2008 This option is available by right-clicking

on a node in the Object Explorer Reports are not available for every node in the Object

Explorer tree, but many of them do have this option Most reports are found in the

top-level nodes in the tree For example, if you right-click on a database in the Object Explorer

tree and then select Reports and Standard Reports, you see more than a dozen available

reports These reports include Disk Usage, Backup and Restore Events, Top Transactions by

Age, and a host of others Graphs are included with some reports, and you can export or

print all these reports Figure 4.8 shows an example of the Disk Usage report for the

AdventureWorks2008 database

The graphs are easy to read, and some sections of the report can be expanded to provide

more detail Bullets at the bottom of a report are nodes that can be expanded For

example, the bullet Disk Space Used by Data Files at the bottom of Figure 4.8 can be

expanded to display details about each of the data files

Activity Monitor

The Activity Monitor has seen some dramatic changes in SQL Server 2008 These changes

build on the foundation established in SQL Server 2005 and help provide much more

information related to the performance of your SQL Server instance

Before we get into the details of the Activity Monitor, let’s make sure you know where to

find it It is no longer found in the Management node of the Object Explorer Instead, you

right-click on the name of the server instance in the Object Explorer, and you see a

selec-tion for Activity Monitor

FIGURE 4.9 SQL Server 2008 Activity Monitor

When the Activity Monitor launches, you see a new display with four different graphs, as

shown in Figure 4.9 The graphs include % Processor Time (from SQL Server), Waiting

Tasks, Database I/O and Batch Requests These graphs give you a quick performance

snap-shot for your SQL Server in one spot without having to launch System Monitor or some

other monitoring tool to view this kind of information

You also find more detailed performance information below the graphs This information

is grouped into four categories: Processes, Resource Waits, Data File I/O and Recent

Expensive Queries Clicking on the expand button for one of these categories presents the

details you are looking for These details contain drop-down headings that allow you to

filter the results and view only the information you need

The Processes Details window contains information similar to what was displayed in the

SQL Server 2005 Activity Monitor These details include information similar to what is

returned with the sp_who system stored procedure The server process ID (SPID) is listed

in a column named Session ID, and the related information for each SPID is displayed in

the remaining columns If you right-click on a particular process, you can see the details

of that process You can then kill that process or launch the SQL Server Profiler to trace

the activity for the process Figure 4.10 shows an example of the expanded Processes

details window

The Resource Waits window (that is displayed below the Process window) can help you

identify bottlenecks on your server It details the processes waiting for other resources on

the server The amount of time a process is waiting and the wait category (what the

process is waiting for) are found in this display If you click on the Cumulative Wait Time

column, the rows are sorted by this column and you can find the wait category that has

been waiting the longest This sorting capability applies to all the columns in the display

FIGURE 4.10 Processes Details window in the Activity Monitor

The Data File I/O window lists each database and its related database files The amount of

disk I/O experienced by each of the files is detailed in the columns of this display You can

isolate the database and files that are most heavily hit with read or write activity as well as

the databases that may be suffering from poor I/O response with this screen

Finally, the Recent Expensive Queries window displays information similar to what you

can obtain using catalog views It provides statistics for all the databases on the instance

and is a quick and easy way to find and tune expensive SQL statements If you right-click

on a row in the display and click Edit Query Text, you can see the entire SQL text

associ-ated with the query You are able to click on one of the column headings such as CPU to

sort the display according to the metric you feel defines cost Best of all, you can

right-click on a row and choose Show Execution Plan, and you have the Query Plan ready for

analysis

NOTE

When you mouse over the column headers in the detailed windows, ToolTips give you

more information about the columns This information includes the system view that

the information is gathered from and where you can look in Books Online to obtain

fur-ther information

Log File Viewer

The Log File Viewer is another nonmodal window that is essential for administering your

SQL Server Like the Activity Monitor, it houses information that was previously displayed

in the document window in the SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager It can display log

files that are generated from several different sources, including Database Mail, SQL Server

Agent, SQL Server, and Windows NT

FIGURE 4.11 SQL Server logs displayed in the Log File Viewer

The Log File Viewer can be launched from the related node in the SSMS Object Explorer

For example, you can select the Management node and expand SQL Server Error Logs If

you double-click one of the error logs listed, a new Log File Viewer window is launched,

displaying the SQL Server log file entries for the log type selected (see Figure 4.11)

NOTE

By default, entries are shown in the SQL Server Log File Viewer from newest to oldest

This is different from the default order in the SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager,

which displayed the log file entries from oldest to newest

One of the first things you notice when you launch the Log File Viewer is that a tree

struc-ture at the top-left corner of the screen shows the log files you are viewing You can see

that there are four different log types available: Database Mail, SQL Agent, SQL Server, and

Windows NT You can choose to display multiple log files within a given log type (for

example, the current SQL Server log and Archive #1), or you can select logs from different

sources For example, you can display all the current log entries for SQL Server and the

current log entry for the SQL Server Agent

When multiple logs are selected, you can differentiate between the rows shown on the

right side of the Log File Viewer by looking at the Log Source column and the Log Type

column The Log Source values match up with the names shown in the tree structure

where the log was selected The Log Type column shows the type of log, such as SQL

Agent or SQL Server Rows from the different log types are displayed together and sorted

according to the date on which the row was created The sort order cannot be changed

TIP

You can rearrange the order of the columns shown in the Log File Viewer You simply

click the column header and drag the column to the desired location When you are

viewing rows for more than one log type or multiple logs, it is best to drag the Log Type

and Log Source columns to a location that is easily viewed so that you can distinguish

between the entries

Other noteworthy features in the Log File Viewer include the capability to filter and load a

log from an external source You can filter on dates, users, computers, the message text,

and the source of the message You can import log files from other machines into the view

by using the Load Log facility This facility works hand-in-hand with the Export option,

which allows you to export the log to a file These files can be easily shared so that others

can review the files in their own Log File Viewer

SQL Server Utility

The SQL Server Utility was added in SQL Server 2008 R2 and is geared toward multiserver

management It provides several new hooks in the SSMS environment that improve

visi-bility and control across multiple SQL Server environments Access to these new hooks is

provided through a new Utility Explorer that can be displayed within your SSMS

environ-ment This Utility Explorer has a tree-like structure similar to the Object Explorer, and it

provides rich content related to the health and integrity of the SQL Server environments

you have selected to manage using the SQL Server Utility Figure 4.12 shows an example

of the type of information the Utility Explorer can display

ptg FIGURE 4.12 Utility Explorer content

The SQL Server Utility must first be configured to facilitate the display of information in

the Utility Explorer The configuration is relatively straightforward, but you must meet

several requirements before starting it The following requirements apply to the utility

control point (UCP), which is the SQL Server instance capturing the information and the

SQL Server instances being managed by the UCP:

SQL Server must be version 10.50 or higher

The SQL Server instance type must be Database Engine

The SQL Server Utility must operate within a single Windows domain or domains

with two-way trust relationships

On Windows Server 2003, the SQL Server Agent service account must be a member

of Performance Monitor User group

The SQL Server service accounts on the UCP and all managed instances of SQL

Server must have read permission to Users in Active Directory

FIGURE 4.13 Utility Configuration Steps

In addition, the UCP must be running the Data Center, Developer, or Enterprise Edition of

SQL Server

When you have met these requirements, you are ready to start using the SQL Server

Utility The first steps are to establish a UCP and to enroll SQL Server instances for the

UCP to manage This is accomplished by selecting View on the SSMS menu bar and then

selecting Utility Explorer A content pane is displayed in SSMS that contains options for

configuring the SQL Server Utility (see Figure 4.13) It also contains links to video that can

guide you through each step

The first thing to do when configuring the SQL Server Utility is to click on the Create a

Utility Control Point (UCP) link on the Getting Started tab This initiates a wizard that

will guide you through a five-step process that creates the UCP The first wizard screen

that outlines these steps is shown in Figure 4.14

ptg FIGURE 4.14 Create Utility Control Point Wizard screen

The first step of the wizard is the most critical because you choose the SQL Server Instance

that will be the UCP The SQL Server instance you select in this step will store the

mation related to the UCP and any other instances enrolled within that UCP The

infor-mation collected by the UCP is stored in a database named sysutility_mdw created on the

UCP instance This database drives the health and status information displayed in the

Utility Explorer

After you complete the wizard steps to create a UCP, the UCP appears in the Utility

Explorer Tree, and summary information about the UCP is displayed in the Utility

Explorer Content tab The UCP is the top-most node in the tree and contains other child

nodes that contain the different types of information managed by the UCP An example of

the Utility Explorer tree is shown in Figure 4.15

The first child node displayed in the Utility Explorer tree is named Deployed Data-tier

Applications A tier application, or DAC, is a single entity that contains all the

data-base objects and related instance objects used by an application This includes tables, stored

procedures, SQL Server Logins, and so on DACs can be created from a Visual Studio 2010

data-tier application project or by using the Extract Data-Tier Application Wizard in SSMS

The full scope of DAC capabilities is beyond the scope of this chapter, but it is important to

see how they fit into the Utility Explorer Display

FIGURE 4.15 Utility Explorer tree

NOTE

Two different SQL Server features use the same DAC acronym The aforementioned

data-tier application is one of them, but a dedicated administrator connection is also

referred to as a DAC

After creating a DAC deployment package, you can deploy it to another SQL Server

instance This deployment creates the related database, the database objects along with

the related server objects If the server to which the DAC is deployed is managed by the

UCP, you can show the deployed DAC information by clicking on the Deployed

Data-tier Applications node of the Utility Explorer

The next node in the Utility Explorer tree, named Managed Instances, contains

informa-tion about SQL Server instances enrolled in the UCP Enrolling an instance essentially

means you want to manage the instance through the UCP and gather information about

it You can easily enroll this instance by right-clicking on the Managed Instances node

and selecting Enroll Instance

Each instance enrolled in the UCP is listed at the top of the Utility Explorer Content tab

When a managed instance is selected from this list, a set of resource and policy

informa-tion is made available in the lower half of the window The available tabs in this window

which define the type of information that is captured include CPU Utilization, Storage

Utilization, Policy Details and Property Details Figure 4.16 shows two managed instances

and the related CPU Utilization graphs for the top-most SQL Server instance

The last node, Utility Administration, can be used to manage policy, security, and data

warehouse settings for a SQL Server Utility These settings drive the SQL Server Utility

summary screen and set thresholds across the entities defined in the utility Figure 4.17

shows an example of the Policy information that can be managed with Utility

Administration