EXERCISE 7.3 USIng thE Data CollECtoR In this exercise, you will configure the Data Collector feature of SQL Server 2008, enable performance data collection, and, finally, view Data Coll
Trang 1EXERCISE 7.3
USIng thE Data CollECtoR
In this exercise, you will configure the Data Collector feature of SQL Server 2008, enable performance data collection, and, finally, view Data Collector reports.
Before you begin, you must have the following software installed on your computer:
SQL Server 2008: a free trial is available for download
■
■
SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services (optional)
■
■
AdventureWorks2008 sample database
■
■
SQL Agent must be started
■
■
Figure 7.5 Example: Default Data Collector Report
Trang 2Once you have met these requirements, you may begin.
1 Open SQL Server Management Studio To do this click Start | All
Programs | Microsoft SQL Server 2008 | SQL Server Management
Studio.
2 In the Object Explorer pane on the left, expand Management,
right-click Data Collection, then click Configure Management
Data Warehouse Wizard On the Welcome page, click Next.
3 In the Configure Management Data Warehouse Wizard ensure
that Create or upgrade a management data warehouse is
selected, then click Next.
4 Configure the data warehouse to be stored on the local server
using a new database named DataCollectorDW Click Next |
Finish Wait for the configuration to complete, then click Close.
5 In the Object Explorer pane on the left, expand Management,
right-click Data Collection, then click Configure Management
Data Warehouse Wizard On the Welcome page, click Next.
6 In the Configure Management Data Warehouse Wizard, ensure
that Set up data collection is selected, then click Next.
7 Choose to use the DataCollectorDW database on the local server
you have just created Choose to use C:\Temp as the cache
direc-tory Click Next | Finish Wait for the configuration to complete,
then click Close.
8 In the Object Explorer pane, expand Data Collector | System Data
Collection Sets.
9 If you have SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services, right-click
Disk Usage | Reports | Historical | Disk Usage Summary and
view the report data Close the report.
10 Double-click Disk Usage and review the data collection set
properties.
11 Close SQL Server Management Studio.
Trang 3Summary of Exam Objectives
In this chapter you have learned about ongoing maintenance tasks you must perform
to keep your databases functioning well
Data collation defines how text data is stored, sorted, and compared Specifically, data collation defines the code page to use with non-Unicode (char, varchar, text) text data types It also defines whether sort and comparison operators are case sensi-tive, accent sensisensi-tive, kana sensisensi-tive, and/or width sensitive Collation names provide clues to the functionality of data collation, for example, French_CS_AI data colla-tion uses French character codepage and is case sensitive and accent insensitive Binary collations are always case and accent sensitive You can assign data collation at
server, database, and column level Use the COLLATE collation_name clause with
the SELECT statement to select a specific collation for sort, comparison, or join You must maintain your database by regularly checking for data validity,
managing disk space, and optimizing database performance Data validation and repair is performed using the Database Console Commands (DBCC) Although many commands are available, you should learn about DBCC CHECKDB and CBCC SHRINKFILE in detail You have also learned about page and row level compression, which can be used to maximize the utilization of disk space by your tables Mark columns as sparse to reduce the space used by storing null values Sparse columns can be efficiently used with column sets and filtered indexes
Maintenance tasks, including database validation, index maintenance, and
backup are key to the health of your SQL Server To automate these tasks, use SQL Server Agent to create multi step jobs and run them on a schedule For proactive monitoring, use SQL Server Agent alerts to notify operators when an error occurs The Maintenance Plans feature allows you to visually consolidate many individual administrative tasks into a coherent strategy based on proven best practices Finally, the new Policy-Based Management feature of SQL Server 2008 allows administra-tors in large organizations to monitor and configure any number of SQL Servers and databases for configuration settings and compliance Using this feature, you can also enforce compliance rules and standards on the naming and configuration of SQL Servers and SQL Server objects
Creating and executing a disaster recovery strategy is a key part of any database administrator’s job The disaster recovery strategy consists of a backup strategy that encompasses the type and frequency of backup and a restore strategy that specifies how data is to be restored in the event of a disaster SQL Server offers many backup and restore types to meet your organization’s needs You can back up an entire database as a whole or only the changes since the last backup You can also back up the log file and then replay it into a database restored from a full backup Restoring
Trang 4databases is a highly flexible operation in SQL Server 2008, allowing you to restore
a full backup, merge differential backup changes into the full backup, and replay
logs to a point-in-time to roll the database forward Backup compression is a new
feature of SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition that delivers faster, smaller backups
Importantly, you can restore parts of a database while the unaffected parts remain
accessible to users through an online restore
The Data Collector feature of SQL Server 2008 uses scheduled SQL Agent jobs,
data structures, and tools designed to collect and analyze data from various sources
The Data Collector can be used to collect and consolidate performance data, custom collection items, and sets from compatible data providers Data collected by the
Data Collector is stored in the management data warehouse You can create
SQL Server Reporting Services reports to view and analyze the data Some reports
are available by default
Exam Objectives Fast Track
Understanding Data Collation
Data Collation defines the code page for multilingual data and rules
Ü
Ü
for sort, and comparison of this data (case, accent, kanatype and width
sensitivity)
The server-level default collation applies to all new databases unless a
Ü
Ü
different database-level collation is specified The database-level collation
applies to all new table columns unless a different column-level collation is
specified
If a database is restored to a server with a different collation, the
database-Ü
Ü
level and column-level collations will remain as they were originally
specified
You can use the COLLATE collation_name option in a SELECT statement
Ü
Ü
to explicitly specify a collation to use in the ORDER BY, WHERE or
JOIN clauses
Maintaining Data Files
To reduce the disk space used by your database, consider implementing data
Ü
Ü
compression Data compression can be set at the row level and page level
Additionally, you can implement sparse columns to decrease the space it
takes to store null values
Trang 5You can view index usage statistics and new index suggestions by querying
Ü Ü
dm_db_missing_index_details, dm_db_index_operational_stats and dm_ db_index_physical_stats Dynamic Management Views (DMVs)
You can rebuild and reorganize indexes by using the ALTER INDEX
Ü Ü
statement with the REBUILD or REORGANIZE clause You can also specify a FILLFACTOR to determine how much free space should be allocated for future inserts on index pages
The Database Console Commands (DBCC) are a useful set of commands
Ü Ü
that allow you to view and manipulate your databases For example, you can verify the integrity of all tables in a database using DBCC CHECKDB, or shrink a database or log file using DBCC SHRINKFILE Backing Up and Restoring Data
The Database Recovery Model defines how transaction logs are used for
Ü Ü
a database Simple recovery model overwrites the transaction log as needed The Full recovery model forces all transactions to be written to the log without exception Bulk- Logged recovery model records most transactions, except the Bulk-Logged operations like TRUNCATE TABLE The Full recovery model should be used in production, and is the only recovery model that guarantees the ability to restore transaction logs into a database
SQL Server allows you to backup an entire database (known as full
Ü Ü
backup), individual files and filegroups, changes to database extents since the last backup (known as a differential backup) or create a copy-only backup that does not interfere with normal backup schedule
Transaction log backup can be taken, and then replayed into the database
Ü Ü
when restored Backing up and restoring a salvaged transaction log after a restore operation is known as Tail-Log backup and restore
You can roll the database forward to a specified point in time by replaying
Ü Ü
transaction logs into a database during restore
An online restore is a way of restoring individual files, filegroups and even
Ü Ü
pages into an existing database, while the rest of the database remains accessible by users