Server Fault Stack Exchange
Server Fault Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [sql-server]

Questions related to Microsoft SQL Server. If your question is version specific please tag it specifically for that version as well. Does your SQL Server question belong here or on another site? Click the about the SQL Server tag link on the line below.

The tag is for general questions related to Microsoft SQL Server and its various technologies. SQL Server is a very broad topic, much of which is perfectly suited for serverfault. SQL Server programming questions involving code, however, will be generally be better suited for stackoverflow.

If you have a SQL Server question, ask yourself the following questions to determine the best site:

  • Is the goal of my question to solve a SQL Server system administration (DBA) function? If not, then it's a good bet you should head on over to stackoverflow https://stackoverflow.com/ or superuser https://superuser.com/

  • Who would use the code that my question relates to the most, a developer or a DBA? If a developer, stackoverflow is your place. If a DBA, ask away here.

For information on how to handle installation errors related to the system language versus the installation media language, see SQL Server setup media does not support the language.

4805 questions
67
votes
4 answers

Get a list of SQL Server Agent Jobs

I've got an extensive selection of these to add to a spreadsheet and don't want to go through by hand. What it the T-SQL command(s) to generate a list of SQL Server Agent Jobs?
alimack
  • 963
55
votes
3 answers

What is the difference between SQL Server standard and web edition?

Is there any technical difference between these 2 editions or is it just how they are licenced?
Shiraz Bhaiji
  • 2,249
43
votes
16 answers

Early signs of a bad sysadmin

We're about to get our first sysadmin to look after a multitude of SQL Servers which have previously been awkwardly looked after by a mixture of the developers and IT support. It's long overdue, and we've been trying to persuade the higher-ups to…
MartW
  • 1,305
42
votes
6 answers

What are named and default instances?

What are named and default instances? What is/are the difference(s) between them? Why they are used?
Novice Developer
  • 523
40
votes
5 answers

How can I tell if Snapshot Isolation is turned on?

In SQL Server 2005/2008, how can I tell if Snapshot Isolation is turned on? I know how to turn it on, but I can't find the incantation to get google to tell me how to query the state of the Snapshot Isolation option.
Samuel Jack
  • 525
31
votes
9 answers

How do I determine the size of my SQL Server database?

Basic: what's the size on disk of my MS SQL Server DB? More: can I quickly see where the data is? i.e. which tables, logs, etc
adambox
  • 827
31
votes
5 answers

Database 'XXX' is in transition. Try the statement later

im trying to connect to a sql server database i get this error Database 'XXX' is in transition. Try the statement later. i cancelled a long query earlier today but for some reason i can't get the database to get back up. Is there anything i can…
Rod Johnson
  • 453
26
votes
11 answers

Can't connect to SQL Server using 'sa' account, what I'm missing?

I'm trying to log in to a SQL Server 2005 Express instance using the following command: osql -S .\INSTANCE -U sa -P password I get the error: Login failed for user 'sa'. I can connect just fine using the -E switch. I must add that it's been working…
JAG
  • 859
24
votes
9 answers

SQL Server to SQL Server linked server setup

Please explain what is required to set up a SQL Server linked server. Server A is SQL 2005 Windows logins only . Server B is the same (SQL 2005 Windows logins only) . Server A runs Windows XP . Server B runs Windows Server 2003 . Both SQL Server…
ScottStonehouse
  • 979
  • 4
  • 16
  • 25
21
votes
6 answers

Is there a way to determine the version of SQL Server that was used to create an MDF or BAK file?

I have a local copy of a SQL Server DB stored as an MDF file. Is there a way to tell what version of SQL Server was used to create that file?
Ben McCormack
  • 725
19
votes
5 answers

Why would I take a database offline?

For what reasons and in what situations would you use the "Take Offline" / ALTER DATABASE dbName SET OFFLINE feature. What tasks can you perform with an offline database? What tasks can you only perform with an offline database?
Greg B
  • 1,608
18
votes
1 answer

Delete performance for LOB data in SQL Server

This question is related to this forum thread. Running SQL Server 2008 Developer Edition on my workstation and an Enterprise Edition two-node virtual machine cluster where I refer to "alpha cluster". The time it takes to delete rows with a…
Jeremy Rosenberg
  • 283
16
votes
2 answers

SQL Server Browser: Why is it disabled?

I am attempting to start SQL Server Browser through the SQL Server Configuration Manager. However, not only is the "state" of SQL Server Browser stopped, but the options to Start, Stop, Pause, Resume, and Restart are all disabled (both in the…
Dan Nissenbaum
  • 402
13
votes
9 answers

How To Speed Up Adding Column To Large Table In Sql Server

I want to add a column to a Sql Server table with about 10M rows. I think this query would eventually finish adding the column I want: alter table T add mycol bit not null default 0 but it's been going for several hours already. Is there any…
Chris
  • 1,073
11
votes
1 answer

SQL Server Installer Update Cache management

Is it safe to delete the old cumulative update directories from the %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Setup Bootstrap\Update Cache folders? At least this MSDN blog post tells to leave anything in place in this directory. Is there any reference…
the-wabbit
  • 41,007
1
2 3
…
34 35