Windows Server 2008

Do you want to use the server core installation option of Windows Server 2008, but are put off by the command-line interface? Well, Guy Teverovsky may have what you need. He created a GUI for the GUI-less server core of WS08. Check it out here.

Patrick

A variation of this question popped up twice in the SQL programming newsgroup since yesterday, this means it is time for a blogpost.
Let's say you have a proc like this

CREATE PROC prUpdateTable
@Salesman int = -1
AS

..........

If the user calls the proc like this exec prUpdateTable null then @Salesman will be null, if the user calls the proc like this exec prUpdateTable then the value of @Salesman will be -1. In both of this cases you don't want to change the value of the column. What can you do?
You can use a combination of NULLIF and COALESCE to handle this. Your update statement would look like this

UPDATE table
SET Column = COALESCE(NULLIF(@variable,-1),Column)

Here is some code to demonstrate that

CREATE TABLE #foo (id int,salesman int)
INSERT #foo VALUES(1,1)
INSERT #foo VALUES(2,1)
INSERT #foo VALUES(3,1)
INSERT #foo VALUES(4,1)
 
 
 
SELECT * FROM #foo
-------------
1 1
2 1
3 1
4 1
 
DECLARE @salesman int
SELECT @salesman = 5
 
--Column value will change to 5
UPDATE #foo
SET salesman = COALESCE(NULLIF(@salesman,-1),salesman)
WHERE ID =1
 
--Column value won't change
SELECT @salesman = -1
UPDATE #foo
SET salesman = COALESCE(NULLIF(@salesman,-1),salesman)
WHERE ID =2
 
--Column value won't change
SELECT @salesman = NULL
UPDATE #foo
SET salesman = COALESCE(NULLIF(@salesman,-1),salesman)
WHERE ID =3
 
--Column value will change to 3
SELECT @salesman = 3
UPDATE #foo
SET salesman = COALESCE(NULLIF(@salesman,-1),salesman)
WHERE ID =4
 
--And here is the output, as you can see when @salesman was -1 or NULL the table did not get updated
SELECT * FROM #foo
-------------
1 5
2 1
3 1
4 3
 
DROP TABLE #foo

As you can see only the first and the last update statement changed the value of the salesman column
Of course you would never do this if you were to update only one column, you would skip the update instead. If you have to update multiple columns then this is something you can use instead of writing a bunch of dynamic SQL or nested IF statements.

Announcing the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows Vista SP1!

Do you remember ADMINPAK.MSI? This has been a staple for many IT Admins for many years. RSAT is an update to ADMINPAK.MSI for the WS08 administration tools to run on Windows Vista with SP1 and includes the new Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) which adds functionality like search, filter, commenting, and most importantly, Group Policy Preferences. RSAT is the collection of Windows Server management tools provided to enable IT Professionals to manage their Windows Server infrastructure from their PCs running Windows Vista SP1. RSAT is available as a separate download rather than as part of another product. RSAT is available to all customers as part of a supplemental EULA to Windows Vista licenses.

You can install RSAT from the following locations:

      ·         Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista with SP1 (x64)

·         Microsoft Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows Vista with SP1 (x86)

RSAT Questions and Answers 

Q.           Why is Microsoft making these tools available?

A.            Many IT professionals manage their servers from their own desktops. RSAT enables IT professionals to use the updated Windows Server 2008 management tools to manage their servers remotely from their own PCs.

Q.           Which operating systems does RSAT manage?

A.            All RSAT tools manage Windows Server 2008 servers. Certain RSAT tools also manage servers running Windows Server 2003.

Q.           Is RSAT the next version of ADMINPAK.MSI?

A.           Yes. As ADMINPAK.MSI provides IT professionals the ability to remotely manage their Windows Server 2003 servers, RSAT provides updated functionality for Windows Server management from PCs running Windows Vista with Service Pack 1. All tools within RSAT support the management of servers running Windows Server 2008; some of these tools also support the management of servers running Windows Server 2003, and thus can be considered a replacement for ADMINPAK.MSI.

Q.           Will RSAT run on the version of Windows Vista with no service packs installed?

A.            No.  RSAT requires Windows Vista with Service Pack 1.

Q.           Will RSAT include a Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) for Windows Vista with SP1?

A.            Yes.

Q:           Will the GPMC provided by RSAT allow me to manage Group Policy preference items from a computer running Windows Vista with SP1?

A.            Yes.

Q.           What tools does RSAT include?

A.            RSAT includes the following tools and features:

Role Administration Tools:

            Active Directory Certificate Services Tools

            Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools

            Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools

            DHCP Server Tools

            DNS Server Tools

            File Services Tools

            Network Policy and Access Services Tools

            Terminal Services Tools

            Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools

Feature Administration Tools:

            BitLocker Drive Encryption Tools

            Failover Clustering Tools

            Group Policy Management Tools

            Network Load Balancing Tools

            SMTP Server Tools

            Storage Manager for SANs Tools

            Windows System Resource Manager Tools

The following list of tools are also fully supported managing Windows Server 2003 servers:

•             Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Tools

•             Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) Tools

•             Active Directory Certification Authority Tools

•             DHCP Server Tools

•             DNS Server Tools

•             Terminal Services Tools

•             Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) Services Tools

•             Group Policy Management Tools

•             Network Load Balancing Tools  

Eric Rezabek

Channel9 has a podcast with the SQLCAT team.

On this episode of TechNet Radio, We learn more about SQL CAT – the SQL Customer Advisory Team.  With Launch of SQL 2008 on the way, the SQL CAT team has been working hard preparing lists of best practices, recommendations, technical whitepapers and technical end-to-end case studies on customer implementations.

Listen to it here: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=392382#392382

• Windows HPC Server 2008 Milestones: Windows HPC Server 2008 released a Community Technical Preview (CTP) last week.   Designed to increase productivity, scalability and manageability this major milestone added or expanded 20 new features on top of the Beta 1 build which was released in Nov’07 at Supercomputing.  Features & expansions new to CTP range from job pre-emption to management consoled UI enhancements. Customers can access the download links from www.microsoft.com/hpc homepage.

·         HPC Vertical Industry Updates: Today, Microsoft announced the findings from the High-Performance Computing Oil and Gas Industry Survey. The survey suggests that the demand for high-performance computing capability in the oil and gas industry is higher now than ever before and that improved access to high-performance computing capability could increase production, enhance decision-making, reduce drilling delays and diminish project risk. www.microsoft.com/oilandgas

We also recently hit the road and attended the Financial Services Developer Conference, announcing the Financial Services OBA Component Library which addresses many of the common reference scenarios faced by banking, insurance and capital markets firms. http://www.supercomputingonline.com/article.php?sid=15279

• Parallel Computing News: Microsoft and Intel announced earlier this month that we are partnering with academia to create two Universal Parallel Computing Research Centers aimed at accelerating developments in mainstream parallel computing, for consumers and businesses in desktop and mobile computing.  The research centers will be located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and the University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) and is the first joint industry and university research collaboration of this magnitude in the U.S. For more information please visit http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/mar08/03-18UPCRCPR.mspx

Tina Couch