Read more about the article SQL Server Default Trace
Microsoft SQL Server

SQL Server Default Trace

The default setting in SQL Server 2005 and later is to keep a trace running all the time that captures basic information about the instance. This is called the Default Trace. The created trace files can be viewed in Performance Monitor or by using T-SQL and they can be very useful in some troubleshooting scenarios.

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Read more about the article Performance Monitor Data into SQL Server tables
Microsoft SQL Server

Performance Monitor Data into SQL Server tables

On a machine running SQL Server there are a lot of performance counters that can be used to create baselines or to investigate performance problems. Those specific to SQL Server can be sampled regularly from the system table sys.dm_os_performance_counters. But those belonging to the OS must be gathered in some other way. Since I’m a SQL Server DBA, of course I want the counters saved to a table in SQL Server 🙂

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Read more about the article Running an MapForce mapping from SSIS
Mapforce 2014

Running an MapForce mapping from SSIS

In an earlier blog post I demonstrated how to map between hierarchical (XML) and relational (SQL) data using Altova MapForce. I also mentioned that MapForce can generate code (C#, C++, XSLT for instance) to execute the mapping in an environment outside MapForce. This being a blog mostly about SQL Server, one obvious question is how to run the generated mapping from SSIS.

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Read more about the article Using MapForce to insert hierarchical XML to relational tables
Mapforce 2014

Using MapForce to insert hierarchical XML to relational tables

In an earlier blog post, I demonstrated a way to insert a hierarchical XML document into a relational table structure by using XQuery. That solution works well in smaller solutions, but it’s a “code only” solution that can become complex and hard to maintain in larger projects.

An alternative solution would be to use the graphical mapping tool Mapforce from Altova.

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