Click here for the latest SQL Server SIG news.

Thursday, December 31, 1998 Dear SQL Server Professionals, The purpose of this message is to provide you with the latest information about the Heartland Users Groups' SQL Server SIG. This e-mail message was sent to you as a "blind copy" to protect your privacy. Please feel free to forward this message on to whomever you feel may have an interest in the Heartland Users Groups and/or the SQL Server SIG. If you wish to be removed from this e-mail list simply send a reply to this message and indicate so. NEXT SQL SERVER SIG MEETING: Thursday, 01/07/1999 ************************************************************ The January SQL Server SIG meeting will be held on Thursday, January 7, 1999 at 6:00 PM. This meeting will be hosted at the offices of Solutech, Inc. located at 7300 College BLVD, Suite 165, Overland Park, KS. This building is situated NORTHWEST of College BLVD and Metcalf AVE. Solutech's offices are on the first floor. Parking in the building lot is FREE. Lori Bird will be presenting and demonstrating Platinum Technology's ERwin data modeling tool. Lori is a Senior Product Consultant for Platinum Technology specializing in Platinum's enterprise modeling suite of applications. Lori's previous experience was with the U.S. Air Force as a software developer and with Laboratory Information Management Systems as technical lead. Lori has a B.S. in Computer Information Science from Troy State University in Montgomery, Alabama and an M.B.A. in Operations Research from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Please feel free to print out and distribute copies of the flyer for this meeting. The flyer is located at http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlflyer.html . MDAC = ODBC + OLE DB + ADO + RDS ************************************************** Microsoft is now bundling their latest set of ODBC and OLE DB drivers together along with new ADO and RDS components. This bundle is known as Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC). MDAC supports Microsoft's Universal Data Access (UDA) strategy. Virtually all of the new SQL Server 7.0 tools use either ODBC or OLE DB to access SQL Server (the only exception being isql.exe, which still uses DBLib). As a consequence, client workstations and servers that access data from SQL Server 7.0 will need to have updated drivers installed in order to take full advantage of SQL Server 7.0. The updated drivers support new features such as Unicode and are backward compatible with SQL Server version 6.5. MDAC version 2.1 is included in Service Pack 5 for SQL Server 6.5 (read on below for more details about SP5). You can also find out more about UDA and MDAC at http://www.microsoft.com/data . SERVICE PACK 5 FOR SQL SERVER 6.5 ************************************************** Microsoft has released SQL Server 6.5 Service Pack 5 (aka SP5 or 6.50.415). Among other things, SP5 is regarded as the "Y2K patch" for SQL Server 6.5. SP5 also provides support for the new euro currency symbol. Be sure to read Microsoft Support Online article number Q197174 at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q197/1/74.asp?FR=0 for a complete list of what SP5 fixes. FTP users can download SP5 from the following directory: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/sql/public/fixes/usa/SQL65/Sp5 . Be sure to download the correct file for your CPU type (the file named 65SP5ALP.EXE is for Alpha processors and the file named 65SP5x86.EXE is for Intel processors). SQL SERVER 7.0 DBCC Changes ************************************************** Please note that there have been some changes regarding DBCCs with SQL Sever 7.0: 1. DBCC CHECKDB performs both a DBCC CHECKALLOC and DBCC CHECKTABLE for all tables of the specified database. 2. DBCC CHECKALLOC is now the preferred means for checking the allocation and usage of all pages of the specified database. For backwards compatibility, DBCC NEWALLOC is still available and functions the same as CHECKALLOC; however, Microsoft encourages using CHECKALLOC instead. 3. DBCC MEMUSAGE has also become obsolete and was included in SQL Server 7.0 for backwards compatibility; however, Microsoft discourages using DBCC MEMUSAGE on SQL Server 7.0 and instead advocates using the Windows NT Performance Monitor counters for monitoring SQL Server 7.0's memory usage. Furthermore, please be aware that running DBCC MEMUSAGE on SQL Server 7.0 might cause the server to crash, especially if the command is executed while running a heavy load on a large database. See the Microsoft Support Online article number Q196629 at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q196/6/29.asp?FR=0 for more details about the SQL Server 7.0 DBCC MEMUSAGE bug. UPCOMING EVENTS ***************************************************************** All Heartland Users Groups meetings are open to the general public. Anyone may attend any of the various monthly SIG meetings and the HUG general meeting. If you are not already a member of the Heartland Users Groups, please consider joining -- an individual membership is only $25.00. Just ask the SIG leader or any Heartland Users Groups officer for a membership form. Your membership entitles you to receive the monthly newsletter and makes you eligible to receive door prizes at Heartland Users Groups events. Thursday, January 7, 1999 at 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM SQL Server SIG -- Lori Bird presents Platinum's ERwin data modeling tool At Solutech Inc. 7300 College BLVD, Suite 165 Overland Park, KS See http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlserver.html for details Thursday, February 4, 1999 at 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM SQL Server SIG -- Business Objects presentation about decision support tools At Solutech Inc. 7300 College BLVD, Suite 165 Overland Park, KS See http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlserver.html for details Thursday, March 4, 1999 at 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Monthly SQL Server SIG Meeting SQL Server 7.0 Tips and Tricks; presented by Chris Miller, author of the new book SQL Server System Administration (The Landmark Series) from MacMillan Publishing Company At Solutech Inc. 7300 College BLVD, Suite 165 Overland Park, KS See http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlserver.html for details MICROSOFT NEWS ************************************************************ See http://www.microsoft.com/mcp/certstep/mcdba.htm for details about Microsoft's new Database Administrator certification program. Exams and courseware for this new track are expected to be available by the first quarter of 1999. Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Overview: This is the one-day course that Microsoft is offering for $99. See http://www.microsoft.com/train_cert/sql7/oneday/ for details. Get a voucher worth $500 towards the 5-day System Administration for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 course (course #832). See http://www.microsoft.com/train_cert/sql7/offer for details. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS ************************************************************ The SQL Server SIG board is looking volunteers to be presenters for future SQL Server SIG meetings. If you or someone you know is interested in presenting a topic of interest to SQL Server professionals, please contact me or any other SQL Server SIG officer. The regular meeting time for monthly SQL Server SIG meetings is 6:00 PM on the first Thursday of each month at Solutech, Inc., 7300 College BLVD, Suite 165, Overland Park, KS. The SQL Server SIG's home page is at: http://home.gvi.net/~spyder/sqlserver.html . Please feel free to offer any ideas for improving the SQL Server SIG's page or for adding any links. The Heartland Users Groups' home page is at: http://www.hugkc.org . Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, criticisms, and/or referrals of persons who may be potentially interested in the SQL Server SIG.