SQL partitioning on non-enterprise server? - sql

I tried using partition function on my SQL server to partition one of my large table but I got an error saying "Partition function can only be created in Enterprise edition of SQL Server. Only Enterprise edition of SQL Server supports partitioning." So I was wondering how does everyone else that doesn't have Enterprise version solve this?
Any advice would be great!

The method Oleg Dok is referring to is called a "partitioned view". Microsoft has covered it extensively in the SQL 2000 and 2005 docs. Just Google the term and you'll get lots of advice.
Basically, if you have N tables with identical schemas, you can create a view on top of them that UNIONs them together and exposes a consolidated view of your data. There is a fairly good blog post describing this. You'll hit some hiccups, especially around performance, so choose indexes wisely, keep the stats updated, and make sure to query on them properly.

You may develop your own partitioning. The simplest is: several tables and one view to access them. And unified process of modifying the data. There will be some pitfalls like uniquefier of rows in several tables (distributed PRIMARY KEY) and many more.

Related

Performance hit on DB2 transactional database after linking to SQL Server 2005

We have an AS400 mainframe running our DB2 transactional database. We also have a SQL Server setup that gets loaded nightly with data from the AS400. The SQL Server setup is for reporting.
I can link the two database servers, BUT, there's concern about how big a performance hit DB2 might suffer from queries coming from SQL Server.
Basically, the fear is that if we start hitting DB2 with queries from SQL Server we'll bog down the transactional system and screw up orders and shipping.
Thanks in advance for any knowledge that can be shared.
Anyone who has a pat answer for a performance question is wrong :-) The appropriate answer is always 'it depends.' Performance tuning is best done via measure, change one variable, repeat.
DB2 for i shouldn't even notice if someone executes a 1,000 row SELECT statement. Take Benny's suggestion and run one while the IBM i side watch. If they want a hint, use WRKACTJOB and sort on the Int column. That represents the interactive response time. I'd guess that the query will be complete before they have time to notice that it was active.
If that seems unacceptable to the management, then perhaps offer to test it before or after hours, where it can't possibly impact interactive performance.
As an aside, the RPG guys can create Excel spreadsheets on the fly too. Scott Klement published some RPG wrappers over the Java POI/HSSF classes. Also, Giovanni Perrotti at Easy400.net has some examples of providing an Excel spreadsheet from a web page.
I'd mostly agree with Buck, a 1000 row result set is no big deal...
Unless of course the system is looking through billions of rows across hundreds of tables to get the 1000 rows you are interested in.
Assuming a useful index exists, 1000 rows shouldn't be a big deal. If you have IBM i Access for Windows installed, there's a component of System i Navigator called "Run SQL Scripts" that includes "Visual Explain" that provides a visual explanation of the query execution plan. View that you can ensure that an index is being used.
On key thing, make sure the work is being done on the i. When using a standard linked table MS SQL Server will attempt to pull back all the rows then do it's own "where".
select * from MYLINK.MYIBMI.MYLIB.MYTABE where MYKEYFLD = '00335';
Whereas this format sends the statement to the remote server for processing and just gets back the results:
select * from openquery(MYLINK, 'select * from mylib.mytable where MYKEYFLD = ''00335''');
Alternately, you could ask the i guys to build you a stored procedure that you can call to get back the results you are looking for. Personally, that's my preferred method.
Charles

How to automatically push data from SQL Server to Oracle?

I have users entering data in SharePoint (Running on SQL Server), but my application to view that data will be an Oracle Apex app running on Oracle, obviously. How do I have the data be pushed into the Oracle db automatically?
First off, are you sure that you need to replicate the data to Oracle? Oracle Heterogeneous Services allows you to create a database link in Oracle that connects to a non-Oracle database using ODBC (assuming you use the Transparent Gateway for ODBC which is free). Your APEX application could then query and report on data that is in SQL Server by issuing queries that run over the database link. Tim Hall has a good article (though it's a bit dated and some of the components have been renamed, the general approach is still the same) on configuring Heterogeneous Services.
If you do need to replicate the data, you can create materialized views in Oracle that query the objects in SQL Server using the database link you created with Heterogeneous Services and schedule those materialized views to refresh on a regular basis. The materialized views will need to do a complete refresh, though, which means that every row will need to be copied from SQL Server to Oracle every time there is a refresh. That generally limits the frequency with which you can realistically have refreshes happen. If you need the data to be replicated to the Oracle database and you need to send incremental changes so that the Oracle side doesn't lag too far behind, you can use Streams from a non-Oracle database to an Oracle database but that involves a lot more work.
In SQL Server you can setup linked servers that allow you to view data from other db's. You might see if Oracle has something similar, if not the same. Alternatively, you could use the sql's integration services to push the data over to an oracle table. Unfortunately I only know how to setup linked servers in SQL Server and I don't have a lot of experience with ssis to tell you how to do that, but those are the first two options I can think of that you might explore further.
Here's a link I found that might be helpful as well: http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_connecting_sql_server_oracle.htm
There's no way to do it "automatically" that I know of that will work across DBMS. ETL tools like Sql Server Integration Services might help but there's going to be a loading delay (as it will have to poll for changes). You could build some update triggers on the SharePoint database tables but that's going to turn into a support nightmare.

Living document for replication of SQL Server Tables

I've been tasked to create an internal site for my company to document the replication of tables in our databases. I'd like to make the site dynamic, but to do this I'd need to query sql server to figure out how each table replicates. I know you can query sql server to figure out things like column names and many other features, can you query sql server to determine how a table replicates, and if so is there a good document to show me how or get me started? We're running sql server 2005 and c# or tsql are the preferred languages for me to use for this.
Try taking a look at the documentation for the syspublications and syssubscriptions system views in the Distribution database. Does that provide you with the information you need to build your site? If not, what else are you looking for? I've included links to the documentation for those views below.
syspublications
syssubscriptions

show relationships like Access

Is there a way to show table relationships as can be done in Access? Consider two tables:
Services
serviceid
application id
Application
application id
application name
I have already set up the diagram.
When opening the table service id I want to see the related application details like in Access.
Is this possible?
First of all, you an always use access to connect to SQL Server and see relationships through it.
The built in database diagram feature will also show relationships, as you describe. You can find it under the database in question in the diagrams node.
Here is an article about different options to produce an ERD.
Update:
In order to see results, I would suggest using access to connect to SQL Server, as described in the link above.
The SQL Server GUI does not have this facility, and if you want to see results from several tables you need to write the SQL queries that will generate the wanted data.
You could also create a VIEW:
CREATE VIEW ServicesApplication AS
SELECT S.ServiceID, S.ApplicationID, A.ApplicationName
FROM Services AS S
LEFT JOIN Applications AS A
ON S.ApplicationID = A.ApplicationID
That way you can always access the coupled data easily by manipulating the ServicesApplication view instead of the separate tables.
SQL 2008 doesn't have anything built in to provide that functionality. Almost sounds like you're looking to trouble shoot an application by looking at database entries...if thats true I'd recommend learning tsql well enough to write these statements as you need and not rely on another application to provide a visual interface. heh, if I'm completely wrong with that, ignore me :)
If you still want the 3rd party application route...I beleive TOAD has that functionality within it, though I've never connected it to a MS SQL 2008 server before. There are other third party applications out there that will provide this functionality, though I imagine they aren't all free. If you're looking for a free solution and already have Access going, Oded probably has the best idea here...connect MS access to the SQL 2008 server (linked tables) and use MS access to provide the features you want from ms access :)

Any good SQL Anywhere database schema comparison tools?

Are there any good database schema comparison tools out there that support Sybase SQL Anywhere version 10? I've seen a litany of them for SQL Server, a few for MySQL and Oracle, but nothing that supports SQL Anywhere correctly.
I tried using DB Solo, but it turned all my non-unique indexes into unique ones, and I didn't see any options to change that.
If you are willing to download SQL Anywhere Version 11, and Compare It!, check out the comparison technique shown here:
http://sqlanywhere.blogspot.com/2008/08/comparing-database-schemas.html
You don't have to upgrade your SQL Anywhere Version 10 database.
The new kid on the block is Qwerybuilder. It supports SQL Server, Sybase ASE, Sybase SQL Anywhere and Oracle. I've used it successfully with SQL Anywhere to track schema changes.
Two I've come across that support SQL Anywhere:
Upscene Database Workbench - http://www.upscene.com/products.dbw.sqlanywhere.php
Aquafold - http://www.aquafold.com/index-sybaseany.html
Each one appears has a schema comparison tool, however I have not used either to compare schemas.
SQLDelta is awesome. It is for SQL Server. I've used it with SQL 2000 and 2005. It will compare stored procedures, tables, views, permissions, indexes, etc. It can also compare data between tables I believe. You can sync the changes or generate SQL Scripts for later use. I use it often to script out db changes in development to production.
Ah...missed the Sybase remark. Not sure if SQLDelta can talk to it..but I'd probably give it a shot since Sybase is similar.
Try erwin (CA AllFusion ERwin Data Modeler). It supports quite a lot of different DBs, including SQL Anywhere, and is quite good in reverse/forward engineering and schema comparison. However, you may find it a bit too complex to use for the comparison...
I use SQL Data Compare from Red Gate along with SQL Compare the data compare allows you to Compare the contents of two databases and Automatically synchronize your data.
SQL compare allows you to do the same but with the database tables. Nice GUI on each and very easy setup. they also work on a remote database.
There not cheap but each has a 30 trail so you can get a feel if you like it or not.
Sybase PowerDesigner can also Compare or Merge your Database Schema.
It can also Load the Schema from various Databases by ODBC if you have Schema generation Scripts you can also load them into a Model.
Its an expensive tool but great to document and develop you schema changes IMHO.
Breck Carter's idea is a good one. For quick scans, I have an old product that is called DBDelta. I have it installed on an old Windows 2000 machine because the install I have will not work on an XP machine. It's a very small app that compares two SQL Anywhere databases across an ODBC connection.
I've done some searches to try and find a later copy, but have not been able to. The developer was Charles Butcher. I think he supported it for a while and then stopped back in 2002 or so.
I'll continue to look for a link. If I find something I will post it here.
QweryBuilder 5.5.0 will allow you to compare all procedures, functions, views, tables and triggers in one shot. This release is scheduled for mid May, 2010.
It hasn't been finalized yet but we are also looking at adding an option to turn the diff results into a script that can be executed on a target database.