SQL SERVER: Seamless Migration: On-Premise Report Server to Azure SQL Managed Instance

Recently, we got request from client to migrate their SQL Srrver Reports Server. We have analyzed and review that, they are actively using Data-Driven subscriptions too. So, our major job is to have this migration smooth, which won't disturb their live environment. 

Parshwa, from our team, take this challenge and handled it so quietly. Please read here about how he has achieved the same: Seamless Migration: On-Premise Report Server to Azure SQL Managed Instance

Reference : Tejas Shah ( SQLYoga.com )

SQL Server, T-SQL create Linked Server with Azure SQL Database

Today, we got a requirement to connect our Azure VM SQL (Report server) instance to access the Azure Database. Let me show you how create linked server for SQL Database on Azure from Azure VM SQL instance.

Please follow the mentioned steps to create a Linked Server to Azure SQL Databse:

Step 1: Open SQL Server Management Studio

Step 2: Execute script: "SP_addlinkedserver".

EXEC sp_addlinkedserver
@server='AzureDB', -–Provide Linked Server Name
@srvproduct=''    
@provider='sqlncli',
@datasrc='xxxxxx.database.windows.net', –provide Azure SQl Server name
@location='',
@provstr='',
@catalog='AzureDatabaseName' –Provide azure database name

Step 3: Execute the script to provide the SQL Server login for the above created linked server.

Exec sp_addlinkedsrvlogin ‘Azure’, ‘FALSE’, NULL, ‘’, ‘’;

Step 4: Verify the created linked server, under the Databases > Server Objects > Linked Servers > Your Linked Server Name

Step 5: Access the azure SQL database table. You need to use FOUR part query. [linked server name].[database name].[schema name].[table name]"

SELECT top 10 * 
FROM [linked server name].[database name].[schema name].[table name]

Reference : Tejas Shah http://www.SQLYoga.com

SQL Server Reporting Services, List out all the data sources with Report Name and Path

In Enterprise application, we can have many reports hosted. Sometimes there are few customized reports too. Over period of time, there may be many Data Sources used by the different reports. To find out Report and its data source, we can use the following query: (Execute on ReportServer Database)

SELECT C2.NAME AS Data_Source_Name
 , C.NAME AS ReportName
 , C.Path AS ReportPath
FROM ReportServer.dbo.DataSource AS DS
INNER JOIN ReportServer.dbo.CATALOG AS C ON DS.ItemID = C.ItemID
 AND DS.Link IN (
  SELECT ItemID
  FROM ReportServer.dbo.CATALOG
  WHERE Type = 5
  ) --Type 5 identifies data sources
FULL JOIN ReportServer.dbo.CATALOG C2 ON DS.Link = C2.ItemID
WHERE C2.Type = 5
ORDER BY C2.NAME ASC
 , C.NAME ASC;

This will gives following result:

Reference : Tejas Shah http://www.SQLYoga.com

SQL Server: Use of Recursive Query with example

One of the most benefit of CTE (Common Table Expressions) is that we can create recursive queries with them.

 

Recursive query is the efficient way to display hierarchy setup (Parent child relation ship in the same table). e.g. Grand Parent, Parent, Child. This is common requirement. To display the parent child relationship in efficient manner, we can use Recursive CTE. Let me explain it by example.

Create Temporary Table:

DECLARE @Images TABLE (
 [ResourceID] [int] NOT NULL,
 [ChildOf] [int] NOT NULL,
 [ResourceName] [varchar](250) NOT NULL
 )

Lets populate some data into this table:

INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (5, 0, N'Mammal')
INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (6, 5, N'Carnivore')
INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (14, 6, N'Cannine')
INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (15, 14, N'Dog')
INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (16, 15, N'Dog1')
INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (17, 14, N'Monkey')
INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (18, 17, N'Monkey1')
INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (19, 16, N'dog1.01')
INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (21, 18, N'monkey1.02')
INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (23, 17, N'test')
INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (25, 17, N'Monkey 2')
INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (31, 0, N'Fish')
INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (32, 31, N'cartilaginous fish')
INSERT @Images ([ResourceID], [ChildOf], [ResourceName]) VALUES (33, 32, N'dogfish')

That is how data is stored in the table:

 

 

This is not the way that we can understand the hierarchy. Recursive query will help us to display result like this:

This is much efficient way to list out, as we understand that how the hierarchy is being maintained. Recursive CTE helps us to generate this kind efficient output. Let me share the t-sql script which generates the output which we are looking for:

;WITH images
AS (
 SELECT *
  ,ROW_NUMBER() OVER (
   ORDER BY ResourceID
   ) AS RowID
 FROM @images
 )
 ,cte
AS (
 SELECT 1 AS [Level]
  ,[ResourceID]
  ,[ResourceName]
  ,ChildOf
  ,cast(cast(RowID AS VARBINARY(4)) AS VARBINARY(max)) AS sort
 FROM images
 WHERE ChildOf = 0
 --where [ResourceID] = 5
 
 UNION ALL
 
 SELECT p.[Level] + 1
  ,c.[ResourceID]
  ,c.[ResourceName]
  ,c.ChildOf
  ,cast(p.sort + cast(c.RowID AS VARBINARY(4)) AS VARBINARY(max))
 FROM images c
 INNER JOIN cte p ON p.[ResourceID] = c.ChildOf
  --WHERE c.ChildOF=5
 )
SELECT ResourceID
 ,ChildOf
 ,REPLICATE('.', ([Level] - 1) * 4) + [ResourceName] AS menu
FROM cte
ORDER BY sort

 

That's it. Here, I have used first CTE, to assign the Unique numbers. Then just iterate thru each record and find their related children records. Hope this helps you.

Reference : Tejas Shah http://www.SQLYoga.com

SQL Server, avoid encoding special character when using FOR XML PATH

From SQL 2005, we are using FOR XML PATH('') for the string concatenation. I have also mentioned the same in very old blog: Generate Comma Separated List with SELECT statement. 

Today, we face an issue when special character gets encoded and we hate to have special character in my string. 

e.g: Table has records like: 
1. Gynecology & Obstetrics 
2. Dermatology 

Expected output (after concatenating two rows): Gynecology & Obstetrics, Dermatology. 

When we used FOR XML PATH, we got the output as: 
Gynecology & Obstetrics,Dermatology ("&" character is encoded and it lists out "&")

This output was not the one which we were expected. To get the expected output, we need to find workaround and we finally get it as: 

SELECT STUFF(((
        SELECT ',' + RTRIM(CONVERT(VARCHAR(50), sm.Speciality))
        FROM Table1 T2
        INNER JOIN Table2 sm ON sm.ID = t2.Speciality_ID
        FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE).value('.[1]', 'varchar(max)')
    ), 1, 1, '')

After adding "TYPE", we are able to get the expected output: Gynecology & Obstetrics, Dermatology 

Reference : Tejas Shah (http://www.SQLYoga.com)

SQL SERVER: Find Current Location of Log File(s) with File Size of All the Database

As we are mostly engaged in SQL Assignments, we come to the place where we found that there are lots of ldf files which occupies lots of the space on the DISK. To continue my work, I have to make a room on the same DISK. I found that there are lots of log files (LDF) on the disk which occupies more than 1 TB (1024 GB). This is the development server and I found and confirmed that we can have “Recovery Option” as “SIMPLE” too. The tricky part over here is, these databases are already created and Log file names are not same as database name. So, first of all I need to find out the database name to which I can make Recovery Option as Simple. Finally, I got following query which helps me to continue my assignment as follows:

SELECT    d.name As DatabaseName,
        m.name As FileName,
        m.physical_name As PhysicalFileName,
        (m.size * 8.0) / 1024 / 1024 As SizeInGB
FROM sys.master_files m
INNER JOIN sys.databases d ON d.database_id = m.database_id
WHERE m.Type = 1
It will give us the list as follows:

Reference: Tejas Shah (www.SQLYoga.com)

SQL SERVER: SSIS - Rename and move files from source folder to destination folder

With SSIS, most of the time we need to process all the files from the folder. Once file has been processed, we need to move the file to archive folder, so we should know that file has been processed and we have the file in archive folder. Here, We are going to process the files and then will move the file from source folder to archive folder by appending date and time to the filename, so we can use it for future reference. SSIS will do both of these things, Rename a file and move a file, with File System Task with operation “Rename file”. Let’s review how it works: 1. Add Variables:To configure Source folder and Archive Folder by variable Name Scope Data Type Value FileName [Package Scope] string SourceFolder [Package Scope] string [Source Folder Path] (example :- c:\Source_Folder) SourcePath [Package Scope] string TargetFolder [Package Scope] string [Target Folder Path] (example :- c:\Archive_Folder) ArchivePath [Package Scope] string  2. Set variable’s properties expression:Go to Variable->properties and set EvaluateAsExpression and Expression, so we will have Source Path and Archive Path. Here, we are adding Current Date time to the filename by expression as mentioned below. Variable Name EvaluateAs Expression Expression SourcePath true @[User::SourceFolder]+"\\"+ @[User::FileName] ArchivePath true @[User::TargetFolder] +"\\"+REVERSE(SUBSTRING(REVERSE( @[User::FileName] ),FINDSTRING(REVERSE(@[User::FileName] ),".",1)+1,LEN(@[User::FileName])- FINDSTRING(REVERSE(@[User::FileName] ),".",1))) +"_"+ Right("0" +(DT_STR,4,1252) datepart("yyyy", getdate()),2)  + Right("0" +(DT_STR,2,1252) datepart("mm", getdate()) ,2) + Right("0" +(DT_STR,2,1252) datepart("dd", getdate()),2)+Right("0" + (DT_STR,2,1252) DatePart("hh",getdate()),2) + Right("0" + (DT_STR,2,1252) DatePart("mi",getdate()),2) + Right("0" + (DT_STR,4,1252) DatePart("ss",getdate()),2)+REVERSE(SUBSTRING(REVERSE( @[User::FileName] ),1,FINDSTRING(REVERSE(@[User::FileName] ),".",1))) 3. Add For each Loop Container and set properties :Now, lets loop thru the folder and process each file from the folder by “For Each loop”. Here, we can setup the folder by Expressions->Directory use Expression @[User::SourceFolder]. We should also specify which type of files we are going to process, like “txt”, “csv” etc..by specifying the same in “Files”. We are fetching the file name with extension so that option needs to be selected as displayed in the following screenshot.  We need to assign each file name to the variable, by Variable Mappings->set variable [User::FileName] and Index as 0 4. Add File System Task:Add “File System Task” inside “For each Loop Container” 5. Set properties for File System Task:This is the place where we need to setup the operation, which will do our job. A. Configure SourceVariable B. Configure DestinationVariable C. Select operation: “Rename File”, which will rename the file and move it to the Archive Folder as we have specified in variable.  6. Run package and check With SSIS, it is much simple to process multiple files as mentioned above. Reference: Tejas Shah (www.SQLYoga.com)

SQL SERVER: SSIS - Conditional Split Data Flow Transformation Task

Conditional Split transform use split the source row in easy to multiple groups in data flow and which Destination table populated. Lets review the same by reading a Sample text file and separate out the data in two groups. 1. Create sample text file: This text file is piped delimited and last row  in text Total Row count EmployeeNumber|Employeename 242|Lorem ipsum 239|dolor sit 225|amet consectetur 242|adipisicing elit 142|seddo eiusmod 222|tempor incididunt 142|ut labore 143|dolore magna 144|Ut enim Total Row count|9 2. Create sample table: Create sample destination table in Test database 1: CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Employee]( 2: [EmployeeId] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL, 3: [EmployeeNumber] [int] NULL, 4: [EmployeeName] [varchar](50) NULL, 5: CONSTRAINT [PK_Employee] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED 6: ( 7: [EmployeeId] ASC 8: ) 9: ) 10: GO 3. Add Data Flow Task: Add data flow task in Package for transfer data source text file “Employee.txt” to sql server table “dbo.Employee”   4. Add new Flat File Connection: Right click on Connection Manager and add new Flat File connection   5. Set Flat file source properties: Flat file source properties set Connection manager Name, File Name (Source full filepath), column names in the first data row as a true 6. Add Flat file source: Add “Flat File Source” in “Data flow Task” and set properties Flat file connection manager and retain null values from the source as null values in the data flow as true and click button on preview and see in this file extra row include in text file 7. Add Conditional Split Transformation in Data Flow Task: Add Conditional Split Transformation in data flow task for split row 8. Set Condition Split Properties: Set properties Condition split where EmployeeNumber equal to “Total Row count” then this rows not use and other row use to process. 9. Add new OLE DB Connection: Right click on Connection Managers and add new OLE DB Connection   10. Set OLE DB Connection properties OLE DB Connection properties set Server Name, Connection to a database and click on ok button   11. Add OLE DB Destination: Add “OLE DB Destination” in “Data flow Task” and set properties OLE DB Connection Manager and Name of the table or the view 12. Set Input output selection : Set Input output selection between Condition spit and OLE DB Destination 13. Run package and Check : In this way we get split the information and use as per the requirement, Reference: Tejas Shah (www.SQLYoga.com)

SQL SERVER: Clone SSIS Package

Recently, I was assigned a job to create many DTSX packages. When I review the packages, I found those packages (Information flow) are moreover same. There is just a difference of Source file connection and destination SQL table which is different in each of the package. It might take couple of hours to create each of the package, but I wanted to get it done in few minutes. To achieve the same, I have looked up the DTSX code (XML) and updated as follows to achieve get it done efficiently and save some time. Please find following steps to achieve the same: 1. Existing package:   2. Copy Package: Right click on existing package and click on copy option and after right click on SSIS Packages folder and Paste on the location 3. Rename Package Name for newly Pasted file: To rename package name as your mind and When message box open then click yes button   4. Open package in Notepad Editor: Go to folder where package is exist and open with package in notepad editor 5. Replace package Name in Notepad file: Replace old package name to new package name with Replace option 6. Replace more text Replace more text if you know to Change (Example: “Activity” text replace to “Job”) 7. Check Replace name Check all task name, SQL task and Data Flow task in replace with new text and Annotation text will no be changed, so it needs to be change manually 8. Need to change manually If SSIS package has Package SQL server Configuration then we need to change that manually too.

SQL Yoga : Certificate Expired, Mirroring Stopped

Database Administrators might face this issue while certificate gets expired and database mirroring (Non domain database mirroring) gets disconnected as two servers, Primary and Secondary cannot communicate with each other. The error message can be found in Log as follows: Message Database Mirroring login attempt failed with error: 'Connection handshake failed. The certificate used by this endpoint was not found: Certificate expired. Use DBCC CHECKDB in master database to verify the metadata integrity of the endpoints. State 85.'. [CLIENT: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx] In this post, We are going to review step by step process to resolve this issue by providing renew parameters with certificate configurations. 1. Create a new certificate with longer endpoint (on Principal):

  1: -- Create a new certificate for the endpoint
  2: USE master;
  3: CREATE CERTIFICATE [Principal_Certificate_New]
  4:    WITH SUBJECT = 'Principal Certificate',
  5:     START_DATE='01/01/2014', -- Provide date prior to current date
  6:     EXPIRY_DATE='12/31/2020'; -- Provide this as future date
  7: GO

2. Take backup of the newly created certificate (on Principal):

  1: USE master;
  2: BACKUP CERTIFICATE [Principal_Certificate_New] TO FILE = N'F:\Backup\Principal_Certificate_New.cer';
  3: GO

3. Set mirroring to use the newly created certificate (On Principal):

  1: ALTER ENDPOINT DBMirrorEndPoint
  2: FOR DATABASE_MIRRORING (AUTHENTICATION = CERTIFICATE [Principal_Certificate_New])
  3: GO

4. Delete the old certificate for endpoint (on Principal):

  1: USE master;
  2: DROP CERTIFICATE [Principal_Certificate_Old]
  3: GO

5. Drop the Old Certificate for Principal Login (on Mirror):

  1: USE master;
  2: DROP CERTIFICATE [Principal_Certificate_Old]
  3: GO

6. Create a new certificate from the principal backup file (on Mirror):

  1: USE master;
  2: CREATE CERTIFICATE [Principal_Certificate_New] AUTHORIZATION PrincipalServerUser
  3: FROM FILE = N'F:\Backup\Principal_Certificate_New.cer';
  4: GO

7. Create a new certificate with longer endpoint (on Mirror):

  1: use master;
  2: CREATE CERTIFICATE Mirror_Certificate_New
  3: WITH SUBJECT = 'Mirror Certificate New'
  4:  ,EXPIRY_DATE = '12/31/2020' -- Provide this as future date
  5: GO

8. Take backup of newly created certificate (on Mirror):

  1: USE master;
  2: BACKUP CERTIFICATE [mirror_new_cert] TO FILE = 'F:\Backup\Mirror_Certificate_New.cer';
  3: GO

9. Set mirroring for newly created certificate (on Mirror):

  1: USE master;
  2: ALTER ENDPOINT DBMirrorEndPoint
  3: FOR DATABASE_MIRRORING (AUTHENTICATION = CERTIFICATE [Mirror_Certificate_New])
  4: GO

10. Drop the old certificate for endpoint (On Mirror):

  1: USE master;
  2: DROP CERTIFICATE [Mirror_Certificate_Old]
  3: GO

11. Drop the old certificate for Mirror login (On Principal):

  1: USE master;
  2: DROP CERTIFICATE [Mirror_Certificate_Old]
  3: GO

12. Create a new certificate from the mirror backup file (On Principal):

  1: USE master;
  2: CREATE CERTIFICATE [Mirror_Certificate_New] AUTHORIZATION MirrorServerUser
  3: FROM FILE = 'F:\Backup\Mirror_Certificate_New.cer'
  4: GO

13. Resume the mirroring session for each database(On Principal and Mirror):

  1: USE master;
  2: ALTER DATABASE [Mirrored_Database_Name] SET PARTNER RESUME
  3: GO

By following the mentioned steps, we can resolve the certificate issues for Mirroring database and Mirroring will be resumed.
Note : 1. Always prefer to provide the endpoint date as far date, so that issue doesn’t occur very soon. 2. During this process, Primary database is available without any interruption.
Reference: Tejas Shah (www.SQLYoga.com)