Activate AMD-V in Gigabyte BIOS

 I have replaced my old 1st generation Threadripper with a new Ryzen 9. It was surprisingly smooth and works really good.

The only thing I had to take a minute to fix was a error when starting VMware Workstation about AMD-V not being enabled as required.

Going through the menus in the BIOS on the Gigabyte motherboard I found nothing about "AMD-V". But a quick search on AMD-V revealed that AMD-V has been published as AMD Secure Virtual Machine (SVM). And this I could find in the BIOS menus:

1. During startup press <Delete> to enter the BIOS.
2. Select "Advanced Mode (F2)".
3. Go to "Advanced CPU Settings".
4. In the Tweeker menu you pick "SVM Mode" and select "Enabled". Then press <Enter>.
5. Select "Save & Exit" then click "Save & Exit Setup" and finally "Yes".

Now VMware Workstation works like a charm.

Sandbox Windows Server in VMware Workstation

To create a sandbox installation in VMware Workstation I usually have to start with a Windows Server. I am using VMware Workstation Pro as it makes it possible to build more complex sandbox installations with multiple servers like SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups.

This is a description of the installation and configuration of a general Windows Server to be used in different roles. When the configuration is completed I can clone the virtual machine to build the desired sandbox.

First I download the ISO installation image from Microsoft. Currently it is Windows Server 2023 Standard Edition. To use it I also have to get a license key from my Visual Studio subscription.

Then a new virtual machine is created on the ISO image with the license key. The VM is created with 16 GB memory, 4 vCores and 64 GB hard disk. After installation Windows Update is executed.

Configurations

• Network adapter: Change to paravirtual adapter „vmxnet3“. This is a off-line operation I have described earlier.
• Network adapter: Do not allow to turn off device to save energy.
• Network adapter: Show hidden devices in Device Manager and remove old Intel Gigabit Network Connection.
• Keyboard: Add Danish keyboard to English profile and remove English keyboard. This is as I live in Denmark.
• Location: Change to UK and set to UTC to avoid daylight savings etc.
• Server Manager: Do not start automatic.
• Print Spooler: Stop and disable service.

Script to do all this will be in SQLAdmin Github.

Being Effective

Being Effective is often said to be a good thing. And naturally we have an idea of what is effective. But in english there are three different words on different aspects of being effective:

Effectiveness

"Doing the right thing". That is getting the desired result. I usually think of this as not goofing around but focus on the main task.

Efficiency

"Doing things right". That is without waste of time, materials, energy and other resources. And still with success.

Efficacy

"Doing with maximum response". Usually this term is used in pharmacology when maximum response is achieved.

In Danish we only have one word on being effective (Effektiv)...

The three terms are also discussed in the article "The difference between efficacy, effectiveness and efficiency".

Migrate from HTA to SPA

Microsoft HTML Application (HTA) technology is based on Internet Explorer. And this is obsolete and will soon be removed. A HTA is running with mshta.exe, which is existing outside Internet Explorer and a default part of Windows 11. But as it is based on Internet Explorer we must face that HTA is going away too. A solid indicator is that the HTA documentation at Microsoft is no longer maintained and placed in a historical path.

HTA is a quick and neat way to build a nice and dynamic GUI for local tools. This has made HTA rather popular for many years, and there are a lot of solutions based on HTA. So migrating from HTA will be a significant task to many.

You can take the opportunity to migrate to a more complete technology stack like .Net with C#, but there will be a lot new tools to learn. Some might consider to go with PowerShell, but both WinForms and WPF are quite complex with PowerShell in comparison to dynamic HTML in HTA.

Single-Page Application

Another suggestion I have seen (link) as a replacement to HTA is Single-Page Application (SPA), where it is possible to use dynamc HTML and make the solution local on the client.

This works fine on very simple things. It is even possible to make a sensible filestructure for the SPA with external script and style files. But when you want to work with external resources like a database or the content of a file you hit rock buttom!

With HTA you can access external resources through ActiveX models or objects like ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) or FileSystemObject. And modern web browsers can't handle ActiveX. There is a Internet Explorer setting in Microsoft Edge, but that will most likely be removed.
I think that the real problem to Microsoft here is security, as ActiveX has given a lot of trouble on the internet. The COM technology that ActiveX is build on is still solid and widespread.

The conclusion must be that HTA can't be migrated to SPA as most HTAs are working on external resources like files or databases.
If I find a good replacement to HTA I will let you know.

Phytagoras hypotenuse with PowerShell

To get the hypotenuse of a right angle triangle with Pythagoras formular using the two Methods Sqrt and Pow of the .NET System.Net class with PowerShell it is possible in just one line:

[System.Math]::Sqrt( [System.Math]::Pow(11.68, 2) + [System.Math]::Pow(7.24, 2) )

Which will give the implicit formatted result

13.7419067090415

Actually you do not have to spell out the namespace System as it is implicit to PowerShell. But I like to spell it out as a kind of documentation.

This is a example on using .NET features direct with PowerShell. Also I think it shows that you have to know .NET as a PowerShell user.

The numbers are from the dimensions in mm of a RJ45 plug. So now you know the inner size of the hole to drill to make it fit.

Add SQL Agent job step with tokens in output file name

 If you create a new SQL Agent job step with tokens in output file name using the stored procedure sp_add_jobstep or want to add a filename with tokens to an existing job step using the stored procedure sp_update_jobstep you will get a error like

A fatal scripting error occurred.
Variable SQLLOGDIR is not defined.

In this case I was trying to use the token SQLLOGDIR, but it does not matter which token.

Many users of Ola Hallengren (LinkedIn) Maintenance Solution (link) had similar errors. Actually Ola is aware of the challenge - he just forgot to promote his solution ;-)

When you use the stored procedure sp_add_jobstep you with that call the internal stored procedure sp_add_jobstep_internal. You can see the definition of both procedures in the system database msdb with SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

The root-challenge is that somewhere along the path from calling sp_add_jobstep to setting the output file name on the job step the content of the parameter is interpreted. But at that point the execution is outside SQL Agent, and the tokens are not available.

The trick - that Ola forgot to promote - is to build a string with each token element seperated.

DECLARE @_token_log_directory NVARCHAR(MAX) = N'$' + N'(ESCAPE_SQUOTE(SQLLOGDIR))';
DECLARE @_token_job_name NVARCHAR(MAX) = N'$' + N'(ESCAPE_SQUOTE(JOBNAME))';
DECLARE @_token_date NVARCHAR(MAX) = N'$' + N'(ESCAPE_SQUOTE(DATE))';
DECLARE @_token_time NVARCHAR(MAX) = N'$' + N'(ESCAPE_SQUOTE(TIME))';
DECLARE @_output_file_name NVARCHAR(MAX) = @_token_log_directory + N'\' + @_token_job_name +  N'_' + @_token_date + N'_' + @_token_time + N'.txt';

This string can then be used as parameter value to the parameter @output_file_name in the stored procedures to a SQL Agent job step.

EXECUTE msdb.dbo.sp_update_jobstep @job_name=N'IndexOptimize - Db1.Schema1.Tbl1',
  @step_id=1,
  @output_file_name= @_output_file_name;

If you dig into Olas code to install the maintenance solution and search for the string „@TokenLogDirectory“ you will see that Ola build this string element by element. With careful seperation of $-sign and token names.

UDL-file connection to SQL Server

UDL is a component in Windows named Universal Data Link. To be more specific it is a OLE DB tool that is a connection defined in a UDL-file a with a GUI to edit the connection.

The file is usually crated as a empty file with the type ".udl".

The GUI has three tabs as follows:

Provider

A list of local available OLE DB providers for various sources like SQL Server components. The default provider is "Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server". But the provider "Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server" is the latest SQL Server provider which I will continue with here as I would recommend using it.

The provider "SQL Server Native Client" should be avoided as it is deprecated.

Connection

Basic connection configuration points are available here for different types of connection on the given provider. Some typical configuration points are:

• Server name: The server name can be short or long (FQDN) and can also be with protocol and port information. If you try to select a server the UDL GUI will try to scan the network for a server.
• Log on: The default is unfortunately "SQL Server Authentication" but I would recommend "Windows Authentication" in general. This also has a field for Server SPN if you want Kerberos authentication.
  There are other Active Directory log on that could be relevant to more special situations. These are not available with other providers.
• Database: A drop-down filed where a database can be entered or selected. If you want to select a database the UDL GUI will try to connect to the server.
  A more special situation is the possibility to connect to a database file as a attached database. This is sometimes used in more dynamic development situations.

Also there is the button "Test Connection" where the text explains quite well what the button does.

Advanced

This tab will only show some other configuration points. The three tabs together will not show all configuration points.

All

This is the access to all configuration points on the given provider. Some point for timeout, encryption or Application Name are only available in UDL GUI here.

Edit file

After entering the values and saving them by clicking OK you can edit the UDL-file with a text editor. This way you can see a working example of a connection string with the given provider and configuration values. This can be quite handy when working on a effective connection string or a string with specific features.

Reference

Microsoft Docs: "Universal Data Link (UDL) configuration"

Microsoft Docs: "Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server"

Top-ten posts 2022

2022 was a year with far fewer posts than expected. But there still were some activity on this blog.

The top-ten 2022 is a little different from top-ten 2021.

Rank	Move	Rank 2021	Title	Views	Created
1	0	1	SqlBulkCopy with PowerShell	1530	2017-07-30
2	>9	>10	Move table to filegroup	1390	2015-09-22
3	+3	6	Audit Log for Analysis Services	476	2014-01-08
4	-2	2	ISO 8601 date formatting using PowerShell	439	2008-08-14
5		N/A	Windows Server 2022 preview on VMware Workstation	391	2021-03-10
6	-3	3	DBCC CHECKDB with PowerShell	384	2014-10-09
7	-3	4	xp_instance_regwrite syntax	150	2013-09-10
8	0	8	SQL Server Agent schedule owner	140	2010-02-08
9	>2	>10	Generate sqlcmd statements	93	2010-02-10
10	>1	>10	Sandbox Active Directory in VMware Workstation	82	2018-12-28

Some posts I have updated since the creation, and then the history is described in the post itself.
The oldest post is more than ten years old, and that I personally find quite satisfying.
There is more than ten times views difference between some posts which is significant.

The blog is more a personal collection of refined notes than public presentations. This is one of the reasons that I am fine with the limited amount of views.