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Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 : SQL Server Management Studio - Administration Tools (part 1)

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2/27/2012 4:29:03 PM
The tools available with SSMS can be broadly categorized into tools that are used for administering SQL Server and tools that are used for developing or authoring new SQL Server objects. As a matter of practice, developers use some of the administrative tools, and administrators use some of the development tools.

SSMS comes with an expanded set of tools to help with SQL Server administrative tasks. It builds on the functionality that was available in SQL Server 2005 and adds some new tools and functionality to help ease the administrative burden.

Registered Servers

Registered servers is a concept in SQL Server 2008 that represents a division between managing servers and registering servers. With the SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager, the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) tree was displayed on the left side of the Enterprise Manager screen, and it contained servers that had been registered via that tree. Any registered servers or groups were listed in the tree, along with any of the associated objects.

Registered servers are managed and displayed in the Registered Servers component window. Figure 0 shows an example of the Registered Servers window, with several server groups and their associated registered servers. You can add new groups or servers any time so that you have a handy way of organizing the servers you work with.

Figure 0. The Registered Servers window.


The servers listed in Figure 4.5 are all Database Engine servers. These server types are the conventional SQL Server instances, like those you could register in the SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager. You can also register several other types of servers. The icons across the top of the Registered Servers window indicate the types of servers that can be registered. In addition to Database Engine servers, you can also register servers for Analysis Services, Reporting Services, SQL Server Mobile, and Integration Services. The Registered Servers window gives you one consolidated location to register all the different types of servers available in SQL Server 2008. You simply click the icon associated with the appropriate server type, and the registered servers of that type are displayed in the Registered Servers tree.

Note

The SQL Server 2008 Registered Servers window enables you to register servers that are running SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2000, and SQL Server 7.0. You can manage all the features of SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000 with SQL Server 2008 tools. You can also have both sets of tools on one machine. The SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005, and SQL Server 2008 tools are compatible and function normally together.

Management tools from prior SQL Server versions cannot be used to manage SQL Server 2008 instances. For example, the SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Manager cannot be used to manage SQL Server 2008. You can connect the Query Analyzer to a SQL Server 2008 instance and run queries, but the Object Explorer and other tools are not compatible with SQL Server 2008.


When a server is registered, you have several options available for managing the server. You can right-click the server in the Registered Servers window to start or stop the related server, open a new Object Explorer window for the server, connect to a new query window, or export the registered servers to an XML file so that they can be imported on another machine.

Tip

The import/export feature can be a real timesaver, especially in environments where many SQL servers are managed. You can export all the servers and groups registered on one machine and save the time of registering them all on another machine. For example, you can right-click the Database Engine node, select Export, and then choose a location to store the XML output file. Then all you need to do to register all the servers and groups on another machine is move the file to that machine and import the file.


Object Explorer

The Object Explorer window that existed in the SQL Server 2000 Query Analyzer was integrated into SSMS in SQL Server 2005. SQL Server 2008 continues to use an integrated Object Explorer that behaves like SQL Server 2005.. The most significant feature for those folks managing a large number of database objects is the capability to populate the Object Explorer tree asynchronously. This may not hit home for folks who deal with smaller databases, but it can be a real time saver for those that are dealing with many databases on a single SQL Server instance or for those that work with databases that have a significant number of database objects. The Object Explorer tree in SSMS displays immediately and allows navigation in the tree and elsewhere in SSMS while the population of the tree is taking place.

The Object Explorer is adaptive to the type of server it is connected to. For a Database Engine server, the databases and objects such as tables, stored procedures, and so on are displayed in the tree. If you connect to an Integration Services server, the tree displays information about the packages defined on that type of server. Figure 1 shows an example of the Object Explorer with several different types of SQL Server servers displayed in the tree. Each server node has a unique icon that precedes the server name, and the type of server is also displayed in parentheses following the server name.

Figure 1. Multiple server types in Object Explorer.


The objects displayed in the Object Explorer tree can be filtered in SQL Server 2008. The number of filters is limited, but those that are available can be helpful. For example, you can filter the tables displayed in Object Explorer based on the name of the table, the schema that it belongs to, or the date on which it was created. Again, for those who deal with large databases and thousands of database objects, this feature is very helpful.

Administrators also find the enhanced scripting capabilities in the Object Explorer very useful. The scripting enhancements are centered mostly on the administrative dialog boxes. These dialogs now include a script button that allows you to see what SSMS is doing behind the scenes to effect your changes. In the past, the Profiler could be used to gather this information, but it was more time-consuming and less integrated than what is available now.

Figure 2 shows an example of an administrative dialog, with the scripting options selected at the top. You can script the commands to a new query window, a file, the Windows Clipboard, or a job that can be scheduled to run at a later time.

Figure 2. Scripting from administrative dialogs.

Aside from these features, many of the features and much of the functionality associated with the Object Explorer is similar to what was found in SQL Server 2000 and is almost identical to what was found in SQL Server 2005. Keep in mind that there are some additional nodes in the Object Explorer tree and that some of the objects are located in different places. For example, the Management node now contains nodes for Policy Management, Data Collection, and the Resource Governor, which are all new in SQL Server 2008.

One often-overlooked Object Explorer feature is the reports option that was added in SQL Server 2005 and still exists in SQL Server 2008. This option is available by right-clicking on a node in the Object Explorer. Reports are not available for every node in the Object Explorer tree, but many of them do have this option. Most reports are found in the top-level nodes in the tree. For example, if you right-click on a database in the Object Explorer tree and then select Reports and Standard Reports, you see more than a dozen available reports. These reports include Disk Usage, Backup and Restore Events, Top Transactions by Age, and a host of others. Graphs are included with some reports, and you can export or print all these reports. Figure 3 shows an example of the Disk Usage report for the AdventureWorks2008 database.

Figure 3. A Disk Usage Object Explorer Details report.

The graphs are easy to read, and some sections of the report can be expanded to provide more detail. Bullets at the bottom of a report are nodes that can be expanded. For example, the bullet Disk Space Used by Data Files at the bottom of Figure 4.8 can be expanded to display details about each of the data files.

Activity Monitor

The Activity Monitor has seen some dramatic changes in SQL Server 2008. These changes build on the foundation established in SQL Server 2005 and help provide much more information related to the performance of your SQL Server instance.

Before we get into the details of the Activity Monitor, let’s make sure you know where to find it. It is no longer found in the Management node of the Object Explorer. Instead, you right-click on the name of the server instance in the Object Explorer, and you see a selection for Activity Monitor.

When the Activity Monitor launches, you see a new display with four different graphs, as shown in Figure 4. The graphs include % Processor Time (from SQL Server), Waiting Tasks, Database I/O and Batch Requests. These graphs give you a quick performance snapshot for your SQL Server in one spot without having to launch System Monitor or some other monitoring tool to view this kind of information.

Figure 4. SQL Server 2008 Activity Monitor.

You also find more detailed performance information below the graphs. This information is grouped into four categories: Processes, Resource Waits, Data File I/O and Recent Expensive Queries. Clicking on the expand button for one of these categories presents the details you are looking for. These details contain drop-down headings that allow you to filter the results and view only the information you need.

The Processes Details window contains information similar to what was displayed in the SQL Server 2005 Activity Monitor. These details include information similar to what is returned with the sp_who system stored procedure. The server process ID (SPID) is listed in a column named Session ID, and the related information for each SPID is displayed in the remaining columns. If you right-click on a particular process, you can see the details of that process. You can then kill that process or launch the SQL Server Profiler to trace the activity for the process. Figure 5 shows an example of the expanded Processes details window.

Figure 5. Processes Details window in the Activity Monitor.

The Resource Waits window (that is displayed below the Process window) can help you identify bottlenecks on your server. It details the processes waiting for other resources on the server. The amount of time a process is waiting and the wait category (what the process is waiting for) are found in this display. If you click on the Cumulative Wait Time column, the rows are sorted by this column and you can find the wait category that has been waiting the longest. This sorting capability applies to all the columns in the display.

The Data File I/O window lists each database and its related database files. The amount of disk I/O experienced by each of the files is detailed in the columns of this display. You can isolate the database and files that are most heavily hit with read or write activity as well as the databases that may be suffering from poor I/O response with this screen.

Finally, the Recent Expensive Queries window displays information similar to what you can obtain using catalog views. It provides statistics for all the databases on the instance and is a quick and easy way to find and tune expensive SQL statements. If you right-click on a row in the display and click Edit Query Text, you can see the entire SQL text associated with the query. You are able to click on one of the column headings such as CPU to sort the display according to the metric you feel defines cost. Best of all, you can right-click on a row and choose Show Execution Plan, and you have the Query Plan ready for analysis.

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