70-029 Revision Notes

Developing a Logical Data Model

 

MS Terminology:

MS Standards:

 

Objective
Group data into entities by applying normalization rules

C3L1

Identify primary keys

C3L1, C5L1, C5L2

Normalisation Rules:

  1. Each table describes a single entity (e.g. no car data in people table)
  2. Each table has a Primary Key
  3. No composite columns . Each column describes only a single attribute. For examine, surname and forename rather than a single name column.
  4. No repeated data (row or column)
  5. No multi-value data (i.e. no comma delimited data instead of a child table)

Normalisation Benefits:

  1. Narrower tables = Quicker sorting and indexing
  2. More tables = More clustered indexes
  3. Fewer indexes per table (as less attributes per table) = Better UPDATE performance
  4. Fewer blanks and NULLs and less repeated data = Smaller database size
  5. Table locks have smaller scope

MS book also lists: "Compact and narrow indexes". Which, presuming it is different to (1)  is meaningless.

 

Objective:

C3L1, C5L1, C5L2

Choose the foreign key that will enforce a relationship between entities and that will ensure referential integrity

xx

Objective:

C3L1, C5ALL

Identify the business rules that relate to data integrity

xx

Objective:

C3L1, C5ALL

Incorporate business rules and constraints into the data model

xx

Objective:

C3L1, C3L4, C15L1

In a given situation, decide whether denormalization is appropriate

MS says: 

"Denormalisation is acceptable when it creates definitive benefits and appropriate steps are taken to ensure data integrity."

"... reasonable normalisation often helps rather than hinders performance."

"As a rough rule-of-thumb, extensive normalisation is recommended unless it causes many queries to join in excess of four ways."

To ensure data integrity use constraints, rules and triggers.

 

Deriving the Physical Design

 

 

Objective:

C3L1

Access the potential impact of the logical design on performance, maintainability, extensibility, scalability, availability and security

xx

 

Creating Data Services

 

 

Objective:

C2L3

Access data by using the dynamic SQL model
 

Dynamic SQL

Options, table and variables created by dynamically constructed SQL are automatically destroyed at the end of the execution of the statement. 

Formatting:

  1. CHAR(13) [note the extra 'A'] can be used to insert a CR for readability.
  2. Transact-SQL has no "end of statement" character, so multiple statements can be included in a single command parameter
  3. sp_executesql /  EXECUTE can be nested (i.e. called from within sp_executesql / EXECUTE)

<---- Wrong place?

 

Objective:
Access data by using the Stored Procedure model

xx

 

Objective:

C9L2

Manipulate data by using Transact-SQL cursors:
  • Choose the appropriate type of cursor
  • Define the appropriate level of sensitivity to change
  • Choose the appropriate navigation
  • Choose the scope of the cursor, specifically global or local

Cursor Support
For ADO, OLE DB, ODBC & DB-Library

Transact-SQL Cursors

  Forward-Only Cursors   Static Cursors (aka snapshot or insensitive)
  • Data is fetched sequentially
  • Data is not copied from the real tables until Fetched and therefore normally reflects the the current state of the data, including the addition and removal of rows
  • Data can be updated
  • Not updated once opened
  • Read-only
  • Stored entirely in tempdb
  • Random access
    Dynamic (aka sensitive)   Keyset-Driven
  • As per Forward-only except rows can be accessed randomly
  • As per Dynamic except key-fields are static (and therefore rows can't be added)
  • The Keyset (key-field values) are stored in tempdb.

 

DECLARE CURSOR (ANSI)
DECLARE name [INSENSITIVE] [SCROLL] CURSOR FOR SQLSelectStatement
        [FOR {READ ONLY | UPDATE [OF col [, col2, ..., colN]]}]

DECLARE CURSOR (SQL Server)
DECLARE name CURSOR [LOCAL | GLOBAL] [FORWARD ONLY | SCROLL]
        [STATIC | KEYSET | DYNAMIC | FAST_FORWARD]
        [READ_ONLY | SCROLL_LOCKS | OPTIMISTIC] [TYPE_WARNING]
        FOR SQLSelectStatement
        [FOR UPDATE [OF col [, col2, ..., colN]]]

Parameter Notes
SQLSelectStatement Keywords such as DISTINCT, TOP, UNION, GROUP BY and HAVING force the cursor type to static
LOCAL The cursor is local to the stored procedure, trigger or batch in which it is defined. When that unit is exited, the cursor is destroyed on exit and cannot be referenced externally.
GLOBAL The cursor is not limited to the stored procedure, trigger or batch in which it is defined and can be referenced until the connection in which it was defined is dropped (or the cursor is closed/deallocated)
Note: Although global is the default if neither local or global was specified, this behaviour can be overridden with SET CURSOR_DEFAULT LOCAL and SET CURSOR_DEFAULT GLOBAL
FORWARD_ONLY Data can only be read sequentially and by FETCH NEXT. If neither FORWARD_ONLY or SCROLL is specified FORWARD ONLY is the default only if the cursor type clause (static/keyset/etc.) is not used. FORWARD_ONLY cannot be used with SCROLL in either the SQL Server or ANSI 92 definitions.
SCROLL All fetch options are available
STATIC Cursor is created in tempdb and changes to it are not reflected in the base tables
KEYSET Key fields for records in the cursor are stored in tempdb, but not other values. Changes made by other users are visible, but inserts are not (because the keyset records in tempdb are static). Records that have been deleted (or have had their key fields changed) by other users set @@FETCH_STATUS to -2.
DYNAMIC Changes made by other users, including inserts and deletes, are visible to every fetch.
FAST_FORWARD Combination of FORWARD_ONLY, READ_ONLY and some additional internal performance optimisations.
READ_ONLY Prevents updates through the cursor even if another clause indicates writability
SCROLL_LOCKS ??Locks the row as they are read into the cursor to guarantee the ability to update those rows. (?? this is the MS Help file version, the MS Book says something else)
OPTIMISTIC Rows are not locked as they are read, instead the update fails if modified outside of the cursor.
TYPE_WARNING Tell the user if the selected cursor type was changed (for example, by use of one of the keywords listed in SQLSelectStatement).
UPDATE Entire cursor is writable
UPDATE OF col [, col...] Only the specified columns are writable

 

OPEN
OPEN
OPEN [GLOBAL] name
OPEN @variableName

Parameter Notes
GLOBAL If there are both local and global cursors with the same name, the local one one will be opened unless the GLOBAL clause is specified.
@variableName If the cursor was generated through SET @variableName = cursorName or SET @variableName = CURSOR [FORWARD_ONLY | SCROLL ] [ STATIC | KEYSET | DYNAMIC | FAST_FORWARD ]
...
<NONE> ?? Help file and MS book says this syntax is legal, but neither says what it means.

 

FETCH
FETCH [[NEXT | PRIOR | FIRST | LAST | ABSOLUTE n | RELATIVE n] FROM] {[GLOBAL] cursorName | @variableName}
        [INTO @variableName [, @var2 ...]]

Parameter Notes
GLOBAL As abovce
n A number (can be a @variable)
ABSOLUTE Cannot be used with dynamic cursors
NEXT If this is the first fetch performed on the cursor it effectively performs a FETCH FIRST.
FETCH NEXT returns the current record before moving forward
PRIOR If performed on first record in cursor, leaves us on a fictional BOF record.
FETCH PRIOR moves then returns the record.
<NONE> ??Presumable if NEXT, PRIOR, etc is not specified the record is returned without moving the pointer. Need to test 'cos its not covered by the help file or book.

@@FETCH_STATUS

Value Notes
0 Success
-1 Failed, BOF or EOF
-2 Row is missing (e.g. deleted by another user)

 

CLOSE
CLOSE
CLOSE {[GLOBAL] cursorName | @variable}


DEALLOCATE
DEALLOCATE
DEALLOCATE {[GLOBAL] cursorName | @variable}

 

Updating Cursors
The current record can be updated using the WHERE CURRENT OF ... clause, provided the cursor has been declared updateable. For example:

UPDATE table SET field = newValue WHERE CURRENT OF cursorBasedOnTable

?? Need more detail

?? Need detail on passing local cursors out of stored procedures (p280)

 

Cursor Stored Procedures

sp_cursor_list Returns a list of open cursors (on the current connection) and their attributes
sp_describe_cursor... Returns attributes of a cursor
sp_describe_cursor_columns... Returns attributes of columns in a cursor
sp_describe_cursor_tables... Returns information about the base tables used by the specified cursor

 

Objective:

 

Create and manage explicit, implicit and distributed transactions to ensure data consistency and recoverability:
  • Define the transaction isolation level
  • Design transactions of appropriate length
  • Avoid or handle deadlocks
  • Use optimistic locking appropriately
  • Implement error handling by using @@trancount

Transactions

Full syntax is:

where transactionName makes the code more readable.

WITH MARK is used to mark the transaction log with string that can be referred to in restore options.

@@TRANCOUNT returns the transaction level. DBCC OPENTRAN can be used to return more information on active transactions.

ROLLBACK rolls back all outstanding transactions, not just the last one begun.

Not all stored procedures (e.g. sp_dboption) can be issues in a transaction

Not all commands can be issued in a transaction (including, but not limited to: ALTER DATABASE, BACKUP LOG, CREATE DATABASE, DROP DATABASE, RECONFIGURE, RESTORE DATABASE, RESTORE LOG, UPDATE STATISTICS)

Isolation Levels

The translaction isolation level is set at the connection level and specifies the default locking behaviour for that connection. The Transaction Iolation Level is set by the SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL level command (note that it is level not to level.). level can have the following values:

READ UNCOMMITTED Dirty reads are allowed, no share locks are issued and exclusive locks are ignored.
Equivalent to stating the NOLOCK hint for every table in the select statement.
READ COMMITTED The default. Shared locks are issued and all locks are honoured.
Dirty reads cannot occur.
REPEATABLE READ As per READ COMMITTED, except that shared locks caused by reads are not released until the transaction completes. Thus a read operation is "repeatable" since another connection cannot change the data while another has it locked. Note that this does not apply to new rows added by another connection (i.e. REPEATABLE READ does not prevent phantoms.)
SERILIZABLE As per REPEATABLE READ except prevents other connections adding rows that would be returned by WHERE clauses issues in statements by the locking connection.

Value in the above cursor are shown with the least restrictive locking mechanism first through to the mot restrictive mechanism last.

DBCC USEROPTIONS returns (amongst other things) the current transaction isolation level. If the default isolation level has not been overridden, it will not be listed by DBCC USEROPTIONS.

 

Recovery and Checkpoints

When the system recovers from a crash the following occurs:

Transactions completed before last checkpoint No action required, database already contains this information.
Transactions completed after last checkpoint, but before system failure  Read from transaction log and apply to database (aka "Roll Forward")
Transactions completed (or outstanding) after system failure  No action is taken, database is left at its checkpoint (plus above changes) state. Aka "Roll Back"

Note that this does mean than that a short transaction started after after a long slow transaction can be rolled forwards while the slow transaction is rolled back. Since inner transactions are never committed until the outermost transaction is committed, this is not a problem.

 

SET IMPLICIT_TRANSACTIONS ON | OFF

 

Levels of Locks (finest granularity first)

Object

Scope

Row Identifier  Single row in a table
Key  Single row in an index ?? doesn't sound right
Page  Single Page
Extent  Single Extent (8 pages)
Table  Entire table and all it's indexes
Database  Entire database

 

Concurrency Problems Prevented by Locks

Name

Description

Lost Update  Two users update the same record and where only the second set of changes is saved.
Uncommitted Dependency /
Dirty Read
 Where one transaction reads the uncommitted changes of another transaction
Inconsistent Analysis /
Non-repeatable Read
 Where one transaction has to read the same record several times, but another transaction has
 updated the record in the meantime.
Phantoms  Where one transaction adds records that would be visible to a concurrent transaction

 

Types of Lock

Name

Description

Shared Locks  Applied automatically by SQL during operations that do not update data. A shared lock prevents other transaction updating the locked data.

 Additional transactions can acquire shared locks on the same data even while the first transaction is still active.

Exclusive Locks  Applied automatically by SQL during INSERT, DELETE & UPDATE statements. Once a transaction has an exclusive lock no other transactions can obtain a lock of any type on that data. Exclusively locked data cannot be read by other transactions.
Intent Locks  Applied automatically by SQL to prevent long winded searches for locks. For example, if a transaction acquires a row-lock it will also obtain a table level intent lock. While another transaction holds an Intent lock, no other transaction can acquire an exclusive lock at that level. This means that if another table required an exclusive table level lock it would be refused by just checking for Intent locks rather than scanning the entire table looking for row-locks.

 SQL supports the following level of Intent locks: Intent Share (IS), Intent Exclusive (IX) and Shared with Intent Exclusive (SIX). ?? Need to amplify SIX

Update Locks  Applied at the page level automatically by SQL when it plans to update a page later. When the time to update the the page actually arrives the update lock is upgraded to an exclusive lock.
?? This somehow prevents the presence of lots of shared locks blocking an exclusive lock, but I don't understand how
Schema Locks  A schema lock prevents a table or index being dropped or modified by another transaction.

 SQL supports two types of Schema: Schema Stability (Sch-S) which prevents dropping and Schema Modification (Sch-M) which prevents modification.

 

Lock Compatibility Matrix

 

Existing Lock In Another Transaction

 Intent Shared (IS)  Intent Exclusive (IX)  Shared With IX (SIX)  Shared (S) Update (U)  Exclusive (X)
R
e
q  
u   L
e   o
s   c
t   k
e  
d
Intent Shared (IS) Y Y Y Y Y N
Intent Exclusive (IX) Y N N N N N
Shared With IX (SIX) Y N N N N N
Shared (S) Y N N Y Y N
Update (U) Y N N Y N N
Exclusive (X) N N N N N N

Notes:

  1. Table shows diagonal symmetry. I.e. opA -> opB is same as opB -> opA
  2. Sch-M is not compatible with any other type of lock
  3. Sch-S is compatible with all locks except Sch-M

Optimistic & Pessimistic Concurrency

MS book's terms for standard Optimistic and Pessimistic locking. Under SQL Server you (or the client interface you are using) is responsible for implementing both sorts of locking.

SET LOCK_TIMEOUT timeInMilliseconds

By default SQL Server will wait forever for a required resource to be unlocked. This default behaviour can be overridden by SET LOCK_TIMEOUT n and restored by a SET LOCK_TIMEOUT -1. The current value of SET LOCK_TIMEOUT can be obtained from @@LOCK_TIMEOUT.

Locking Hints

ROWLOCK  Use Row Locks
PAGLOCK  Use Page Locks (Note: PAGLOCK is correct (no E))
TABLOCK  Use Shared Table Lock
TABLOCKX  Use Exclusive Table Lock
NOLOCK  Equivalent to READ UNCOMMITTED
HOLDLOCK  Equivalent to SERIALIZABLE. These locks remain applied until the end of the transaction.
UPDLOCK  Use update locks instead of shared locks when reading. These locks remain applied until the end of the transaction.

 

Deadlocks

SQL Server terminates (and rolls back) which ever transaction has had the least time invested in it (that's elapsed time, not CPU time ??confirm). Error 1205 is sent to tbhe terminated transaction's connection.

Reduce deadlocks by:

 

Misc. Locking Information

 

Objective:

C9L3, AppD

Write INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE and SELECT statements that retrieve and modify data

INSERT [INTO] table SELECT ...

DELETE [FROM] tableOrView [FROM tableOrView2 [FROM ...]] [{WHERE expr | WHERE CURRENT OF cursorName}]

UPDATE tableOrView SET field = expr [FROM tableOrView2 [FROM ...]] [{WHERE expr | WHERE CURRENT OF cursorName}]

 

Objective:
Write Transact-SQL statements that use joins or sub-queries to combined data from multiple tables.

Join Abbreviations

Cross Join = Cartensian product = no "ON" clause

Select InTo

Subqueries

    Examples (silly examples because they could all be done better without a subselect):
        SELECT EmployeeID, (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Orders o WHERE o.EmployeeID = p.EmployeeID) FROM Orders p 
            GROUP BY EmployeeID

        SELECT DISTINCT EmployeeID FROM Orders Where EmployeeID IN 
            (SELECT EmployeeID FROM Orders WHERE CustomerID ='HANAR')
  

 

Objective:
Create scripts using Transact-SQL. Programming elements including control-of-flow methods, local and global variables, functions and error handling methods

Standard Identifiers

  1. Up to 128 characters in length, except for temporary objects which should not exceed 29 characters including the leading # or ##. This is because SQL internally adds a numeric suffix to the supplied name.
  2. Can consist of letters, numbers and the characters @, # and _.
  3. First character cannot be numeric
  4. Can include spaces or be a reserved word if the identifier in included in double quotes or square bracket. By default only square brackets are allow, to use double-quotes first issue a SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON. If deliminators are used, any characters can be used in an identifier name.

Naming Guidelines

  1. Keep names short and meaningful
  2. Use a naming convention. Use an object type prefix (e.g. tbl for table, vw for view, etc). 
  3. Make names unique across objects. For example, do not create a table with the same name as a role.

Object References

Are of the form server.database.owner.object. All 4 elements together represent a fully qualified name. All elements except object can be omitted and will be defaulted as follows:

server Defaults to local server
database Defaults to current database
owner Defaults to the user name associated with the user login in that database.

Elements in the middle of references can be omitted by just including the colons, for example: server...object

During creation the user's role can be specified in place of owner thereby making that role the owner. This greatly simplifies administration. For example, a member of the dbo group might issue CREATE TABLE MyDatabase.dbo.MyTable (...)

 

Local Variables

T-SQL Syntax: DECLARE  @variable_name  data_type
SET @variable_name = expression
T-SQL Example #1: DECLARE @cWelcome char(20)
SET @cWelcome = 'Hello World'

SELECT * FROM messages WHERE msgtxt = @cWelcome
T-SQL Example #2: DECLARE @nCount int
SELECT @nCount=Count(*) FROM messages

Note: If the above SQL returned more than one record (obviously not possible in the above example) the variables is set to the value returned in the last row.
T-SQL Example #3: DECLARE @myspid integer
SELECT @myspid=@@spid
EXECUTE  sp_who @myspid

 

Global Variables

No longer used in Transact-SQL. Now called functions (after all, if they were a variable you should have been able to assign a value to them). Note that although the terminology has changed the syntax has not. For example, it is still SELECT @@VERSION and not Select Version(). Global Variables are still used in DTS.

 

Operators

Logicals: The usual (=,+,-,*, /, %, <, >, <>, AND, NOT) plus the unusual (!=, !<, !>).
Binaries: ^ (XOR), | (OR), & (AND)
SQLs: ALL, ANY, BETWEEN, IN, LIKE, OR, SOME

Note that Logical, Binary, SQL is the operator precedents order except than AND and NOT actually belong between Binaries and SQLs and multiplication/division/modulus has a higher preference than addition/subtraction.

Functions

In SQL speak there are three types of function:

Useful functions:

Function Notes
@@VERSON Human readable version info
@@TRANCOUNT Current transaction level
@@ROWCOUNT Number of rows affected by the last executed query.
@@SPID The process ID associated with the connection
CONVERT(toType, value, flags) Convert from one datatype to another. For example SELECT CONVERT(varchar(30), GETDATE(), 102) convert a date to a character with formatting options 112 (long datetime format)
SUSER_SNAME() The user name for the connection this command is executed from.
APP_NAME() The application names for the connection this command was executed from. There is nothing magical about this value. The application making the connection calls a corresponding function to set the value early on. For example, Query Analyzer sets this to "SQL Query Analyzer".
OBJECT_ID(tablename) Returns the number that SQL uses to reference the table internally. Not particularly useful in itself this value is needed by other functions. For example, to determine if the "myField" field in the "myTable" table accepts NULLs we could SELECT COLUMNPROPERTY(OBJECT_ID('myTable'), 'myField', 'AllowsNulls')
DB_NAME() Current database name
DB_ID([databaseName]) Database ID
USER_ID([userName]) User userName's user id.
USER_NAME([userID]) User userID's name
COL_LENGTH(table, column) Returns column width
DATALENGTH(expression) Returns width of expression in bytes. Expression can be a table column name. Unlike COL_LENGTH, DATALENGTH requires a from clause if used with a column name. For example: select datalength(surname) from voters
STATS_DATE ??
NEWID() Returns a GUID. Often used in association with uniqueidentifier columns

 

Advanced (or unique to SQL) functions:

SQL Advanced Functions Equivalent In a Language I Already Know
CASE
    WHEN bValue THEN result
   
[WHEN ...]
    [ELSE result]
END
FUNCTION SQLCASE1
    DO CASE
        CASE  bValue
            luResult = result
       
[CASE ...]
        [OTHERWISE
            luResult = result]
    ENDCASE
RETURN luResult
CASE expression
   
WHEN  value THEN result
    [WHEN ...]
    [ELSE result]
END
Function SQLCASE2
    DO CASE
        CASE expression = value
           
luResult = result
       
[CASE expression = ...]
        [OTHERWISE
           luResult = result]
    ENDCASE
RETURN luResult

Notes:

  1. CASE can be used in SQL SELECT statements, for example:
    SELECT name, age, ' Age Group' =
        CASE
            WHEN (age < 1) THEN 'Baby'
            WHEN (age < 2) THEN 'Toddler'
            WHEN (age < 11) THEN 'Brat'
            WHEN (age < 18) THEN 'Teenager'
            WHEN (age < 65) THEN 'Adult'
            ELSE 'OAP'
        END
        FROM people
  2. System functions return 0 unless the document say otherwise. Non-zero values are normally indicate errors.

 

Control Structures

SQL Structure Equivalent In a Language I Already Know
BEGIN
    ...
END
{
    ...
 }
IF bExpression
    command
[ELSE
    command]
ENDIF
 
WHILE bExpression
    command
DO WHILE bExpression
    command
ENDDO
RETURN  

Notes:

  1. command can be a single command or a BEGIN...END block
  2. In a WHILE block the command block can include BREAK (equ VFP's EXIT) and CONTINUE (equ. to VFP's LOOP) statements. 
  3. RETURN can be exit a procedure at any point.

 

Multiple commands

There is no line terminator. Multiple commands can be included on a single line. For example:

     EXECUTE sp_who (select @@spid)

doesn't call sp_who with the result of select @@spid as the parameter, but instead executes "execute sp_who" and then executes "select @@spid" as a separate command. The follow achieves the desired result on a single line, but is unreadable:

    DECLARE @myspid integer select @myspid=@@spid EXECUTE sp_who @myspid

Comments

Single line comments: Double hyphen (--). Can be used at the end of an existing line, just like VFP's &&
Multiline comments: As per C (/* & */)

xx C2L2

 

Objective:
Design, create, use and alter views:
  • Modify data through a view
  • Query data through a view

VIEWS

 

CREATE VIEW

 

ALTER VIEW

 

DROP VIEW

 

Updateable View

Objective:

C14L1

Create and execute stored procedures to enforce business rules, to modify data in multiple tables, to perform calculations and to use input and output parameters:
  • Implement error handling by using return codes and the RAISERROR statement
  • Choose appropriate recompile options

SQL Server supports 5 types of stored procedure:

Procedural Cache

The procedural cache holds the query plans for stored procedures. Its size isn't fixed, but when it runs out of room the least recently used procedure is dropped from it to make room.

Recompile

Stored procedures are automatically recompiled when:

Why use Stored Procedures?

CREATE PROCEDURE

ALTER PROC[EDURE] ...

DROP PROC[EDURE] procName [, procName2 ...]

EXEC[UTE]

Other stuff

Example

CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.MyExample
    @var1 int, @var2 int, @result varchar(30) = NULL OUTPUT
AS
    IF @var1 > @var2
        SET @result = 'First number is bigger'
    ELSE IF @var2 > @var1
        SET @result = 'Second number is bigger'
    ELSE
        SET @result = 'Numbers are the same'
GO

DECLARE @returnVar varchar(30)
EXEC MyExample 1,2,@returnVar OUTPUT
SELECT @returnVar

> Second number is bigger

 

Error Handling

 

Objective:
Create triggers that implement rules, that enforce data integrity and that perform cascading updates and deletes:
  • Implement transactional error handling

Triggers

Stored Procedures

sp_helptext triggerName  Displays trigger definition (provided its not defined with the WITH ENCRYPTION clauses)
sp_depends triggerName  Displays details of objects referenced by the trigger
sp_helptrigger tableName  Displays all triggers for the specified table
sp_configure 'nested triggers', N  Enables nested triggers (N=1) or disables nested triggers (N=0)
sp_dboption 'database',
'recursive triggers',
{TRUE | FALSE}
 Enableds (TRUE) or disables (FALSE) recursive triggering for database database
Objective:

C10

Create results sets that provide summary data. Query type types include TOP n PERCENT and GROUP BY, specifically HAVING, CUBE and ROLLUP

 Aggregate Functions

Function

Notes

Function

Notes

AVG Average SUM  
COUNT Excludes nulls. Can't be used with uniqueidentifier, text,
image or ntext.
STDEV STatistical DEVivation
COUNT(*) Includes nulls, otherwise as above STDEVP STatistical DEVivation for the Population
MAX Can be used with (var)char, datetime and numerics (expect bool) VAR Statistical VARiance
MIN As above VARP Statistical VARiance for the Population

Group By

Group By ALL fieldList

Group By fieldList WITH ROLLUP

For example:

 Code  Output  Output Notes
Create Table #Test (f1 integer, f2 integer, f3 integer)
Insert Into #Test Values (1,1,1)
Insert Into #Test Values (1,1,2)
Insert Into #Test Values (1,1,3)
Insert Into #Test Values (1,2,1)
Insert Into #Test Values (1,2,2)
Insert Into #Test Values (1,2,3)
Insert Into #Test Values (2,1,1)
Insert Into #Test Values (2,1,1)
Select f1, f2, sum(f3) from #Test group by f1,f2,f3 with rollup
     order by f1, f2
NULL NULL 14  Grand Summary
1 NULL 12  Summary record for f1=1
1 1 1  
1 1 2  
1 1 3  
1 1 6  Summary record for f1 = 1, f2 = 1
1 2 1  
1 2 2  
1 2 3  
1 2 6  Summary record for f1 = 1, f2 = 2
2 NULL 2  Summary record for f1 = 2
2 1 2  
2

1

2  Summary record for f1 = 2, f2 = 1

Group By fieldList WITH CUBE

 Code  Output  Output Notes
Select f1, f2, sum(f3) from #Test group by f1,f2,f3 with cube
     order by f1, f2
NULL NULL 14  Summary Record for everything
NULL NULL 4  Summary Record for something
NULL NULL 6  Summary Record for something
NULL 1 8  Summary Record for f1 = *, f2 = 1
NULL 1 3  Summary Record for something
NULL 1 2  Summary Record for something
NULL 1 3  Summary Record for something
NULL 2 1  Summary Record for something
NULL 2 2  Summary Record for something
NULL 2 3  Summary Record for something
1 NULL 6  Summary Record for something
1 NULL 4  Summary Record for something
1

NULL

12  Summary Record for something
1 1 1  
1 1 2  
1 1 6  
1 2 1  
1 2 2  
1 2 3  
1 2 6  
2 NULL 2  Summary Record for something
2 NULL 2  Summary Record for something
2 1 2  
2 1 2  

 

 Code  Output  Output Notes
  Select f1, f2, sum(f3) from #Test group by f1,f2 with cube
     order by f1, f2

 (f3 removed from grouping)
NULL NULL 14  Summary record for everything
NULL 1 8  Summary record for f2 =1
NULL 2 6  Summary record for f2 = 2
1 NULL 12  Summary record for f1 = 1
1 1 6  Aggregated result
1 2 6  Aggregated result
2 NULL 2  Summary record for f1 = 2
2 1 2  Aggregated result

 

GROUPING(fieldName)

The GROUPING function makes WITH ROLLUP and WITH CUBE usable with data that may control NULLs. If the row is generated as the result of a WITH ROLLUP or WITH CUBE clause the function returns 1, otherwise it returns 0.

 Code  Output  Output Notes
  Select grouping(f1), f1, grouping (f2), f2, sum(f3)
      from #Test
      group by f1,f2 with cube
      order by f1, f2
 
1 NULL 1 NULL 14  Summary record for everything
1 NULL 0 1 8  Summary record for f2 =1
1 NULL 0 2 6  Summary record for f2 = 2
0 1 1 NULL 12  Summary record for f1 = 1
0 1 0 1 6  Aggregated result
0 1 0 2 6  Aggregated result
0 2 1 NULL 2  Summary record for f1 = 2
0 2 0 1 2  Aggregated result

Normally, you are only interested in whether the record is a summary record or not, in which case the number of columns can be reduced using "|". E.g SELECT GROUPING(f1) | GROUPING (f2) as IsSummary.

Having

Compute / Compute By

Example:
    Select Product, Qty, OrderNo From OrderHistory Order By Product, OrderNo
    Compute Sum(Qty)

    > Product        Qty        OrderNo
    > --------------------------------
    > beans            10          1
    > beans            5            1
    > oranges         7            1
    >
    >                      sum
    >                      ----
    >                      22

Top n [PERCENT] [WITH TIES]

 
Objective:

C3L1, C5ALL

Configure session-level options

SQL default is "not null", ANSI default is allow nulls.

SET ANSI_NULLS controls interpretation of null values. When ON, expr = NULL and expr <> NULL always returns false. ANSI_NULLS is ON by default. (Note: This handling of nulls is not the same as VFP which handles NULLs correctly, i.e. expr = NULL and expr = NULL returns NULL)

xxC2L3

 

Objective:
Access data from static or dynamic sources by using remote stored procedures, linked servers and openrowset:
  • Evaluate where processing occurs when using OPENQUERY

MSDTC (Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator)

Replication

Distributed Queries

OPENROWSET

providerName datasource Description

SQLOLEDB

SQL Server Network Name

 SQL Server 7.0
Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0 Full path and filename of an access database  Access
MSDAORA SQL* Net alias  MS provided OLE DB for Oracle
MSDASQL System DSN or ODBC connection string  Any ODBC datasource

Examples:

SELECT  SomeRemoteTable.*
    FROM OPENROWSET('SQLOLEDB', 'SPIKE_NT';'sa';'',
    'select productid from northwind.dbo.products') as SomeRemoteTable
 

SELECT SomeRemoteTable.*
    FROM OPENROWSET('Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0',
    'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Samples\Northwind.mdb';'Admin';'',
    Orders) AS SomeRemoteTable

Linked Servers

sp_addlinkedserver 'LONDON', 'SVR_LDN_02'

sp_addlinkedserver 'test', 'Microsoft Access', 'Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0',
        'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Samples\Northwind.mdb'

 

Creating a Physical Database

 

 

Objective:

C2L3

Create and manage files, file groups and transaction logs that define a database

There are 3 types of database files:

Sizes:

Misc:

Creating Databases

Deleting Databases

<--- Wrong section?

Viewing Database Information

xx Need V7 for GUI instructions

sp_helpdb [database] Summary information (one record per database). Includes database name, size, owner, id, creation date, status & compatibility level. If database is specified only one of the above summary lines are produced followed by a summary line per (data/log) file in database. Note that the size figure returned is a combined figure for data and log.
sp_spaceused [objectname] Returns summary information on space used. Can be restricted to an object such as a table.

 

Database Options

Syntax:

sp_dboption ['database' [, 'option_name' [, 'value']]]

Where:

option_name  
dbo use only Only the database owner can use the database
read only Typically used for decision support databases
select into / bulkcopy Allows non-logged operations during bcp and SELECT INTOs
single user Only one user can use the database at a time
trunc. log on chkpt. Truncates log every time the checkpoint process occurs. If set, full backups are required to ensure recovery. Note that setting is as shown (abbreviations and periods included)
autoshrink Determines if the database size is automatically shrunk

When value is "on/off" its true/false rather than 1/0. e.g. sp_dboption 'Northwind', 'trunc. log on chkpt.', true

---->

ALTER DATABASE

Alters a database file rather than properties of the database itself.

ALTER DATABASE database command

where:
database is the name of the database the file being modified is associated (or will be associated) with.
command is one (and only one per ALTER DATABASE statement) of:

filespec is always enclosed in round brackets and has the syntax:

Note that SIZE is really "minimum size" and that this figure cannot be decreased by ALTER DATABASE (or DBCC SHRINKFILE). Unlike previous size parameters to change an existing file MAXSIZE to unlimited use the keyword UNLIMITED rather than omitting the parameter.

 

Log File Performance

1. Use Performance Monitor:

Log  Bytes Per Flush Size of log buffer when it was last flushed
Log Flushs/sec Number of times (per seconds) the log was flushed
Log Flush Wait Time Time (in milliseconds) between flushes
Log Flush Waits/sec Number of commits (per seconds) that are not committed due to waiting for the log to flush

2. Watch out of instructions or processes that:

  1. Performed (logged) bulk loads
  2. Modify large amounts of data (especially data that is indexed or involves text and image fields (e.g. WRITETEXT & UPDATETEXT))

3. You can quickly reduce the amount of space used in the log file by backing up or truncating the log, but you cannot force the log file to be shrunk there and then (it is a deferred operation).

 

DBCC SHRINKFILE (fileNameOrID [, targetSize] [, {EMPTYFILE | NOTRUNCATE | TRUNCATEONLY}]]

DBCC SHRINKDATABASE ('databaseName' [, targetFreeSpace%] [, {NOTRUNCATE | TRUNCATE])

Filegroups

 

sp_helpfile ['logicalFileName'] Returns information on the named data file or all data files (in the current database)
sp_helpfilegroup ['fileGroup'] Returns information on the filegroup or all file groups (in the current database)

<---- Wrong place?

Database Catalog

Metadata contained in each database containing information about that database. Even master contains a database catalog

System Catalog

Metadata contained in master that is about or is for all databases. All system tables are prefixed with "sys".

To ensure future compatibility (and SQL 92 compatibility) access the system catalog tables through the information schema views only:

 

 

 

---->

 

Objective:

C2L3, C4L1, C4L2, C5L1, C5L2

Create tables that enforce data integrity and referential integrity.
  • Choose the appropriate data types
  • Create user-defined data types
  • Define columns as NULL or NOT NULL
  • Define columns to generate values by using the IDENTITY property, the uniqueidentifier data type and the NEWID function
  • Implement constraints

Pre-defined Data Types

Name Description ANSI equivalent
char(length) Fixed length string of up to 8,000 characters (requiring 8,000 bytes) character(length)
varchar(length) Variable length string of up to 8,000 characters (requiring 8,000 bytes) character varying(length)
nchar(length) Fixed length string of up to 4,000 characters (requiring 8,000 bytes) national character
nvarchar(length) Variable length string of up to 4,000 characters (requiring 8,000 bytes) national character varying
smalldatetime 2 x 2 bytes. The first block of 2 bytes holds the number of days since 1/1/1900 and the second block the number of minutes past midnight. That gives a range of 1/1/1900 to 6/6/2079 with minute resolution. NONE
datetime 2 x 4 bytes. The first block of 4 bytes holds the number of days since 1/1/1900 and the second block of 4 bytes the number of milliseconds since midnight. NONE
tinying 0-255 in 1 byte NONE
smallint -32768 to 32767 in 2 bytes NONE
int 4 bytes integer
decimal(p, s) Exact numeric in 5 to 17 bytes dec
numeric(p, s) Synonym for numeric NONE
float(n) Approximate numeric in 4 to 8 bytes double precision | float(n)
real Approximate numeric in 4 bytes float(n)
money 8 bytes with 8 decimal places  
smallmoney An int with 4 decimal places  
uniqueidentifier 128-bit GUID (16 bytes) NONE
binary(length) Binary data (up to 8,000 bytes) NONE
varbinary(length) Binary data (up to 8,000 bytes) binary varying(length)
text 0-2GB(-2bytes) of text. 16 byte pointer in row NONE
ntext 0-2GB(-2bytes) of Unicode text. 16 byte pointer in row national text
image 0-2GB(-2bytes) of binary data. 16 byte pointer in row NONE
bit    
cursor    
sysname    
timestamp    

Note: (length) is actually optional. For example, in the case of char it defaults to 1 character

 

User-defined Data Types

 

Tables

Fields

 Integrities (RUDE)

plus:

Data (All of the above as one group)
Declaratively by constraints and field definitions and
Procedural with defaults, rules, triggers and stored procedures.

 

Constraints

There is no "ALTER TABLE... ALTER CONSTRAINT...". You have to drop the old constraint then add the new one.

Examples above are restricted to ALTER TABLE for clarity. They can be used in other statements, such as CREATE TABLE:

CREATE TABLE myTable (id int NOT NULL, name char(50) NOT NULL, dob datetime, CONSTRAINT pk PRIMARY KEY(id),
    CONSTRAINT chk CHECK(name IN ('Dave', 'John')), CONSTRAINT dob CHECK (dob <= GetDate()))

When used in a CREATE TABLE statement the CONSTRAINT clause can either follow on from the field definition or be listed separately (in which case it needs to be comma delimited to prevent accidental connection to the last field). For example:

CREATE TABLE myTable (id int NOT NULL CONSTRAINT pk PRIMARY KEY(id), name char(50) NOT NULL CONSTRAINT chk
        CHECK(name<>''))

is legal and:

CREATE TABLE myTable (id int NOT NULL CONSTRAINT pk PRIMARY KEY(id), name char(50) NOT NULL CONSTRAINT chk
        CHECK(name<>''))

is legal (and achieves exactly the same results), but:

CREATE TABLE myTable(id int NOT NULL, name char(50) CONSTRAINT pk PRIMARY KEY(id) CONSTRAINT chk CHECK(name<>''))

has two errors (firstly the pk constraint is trying to place a constraint on the name field based on the id field and secondly the two constraints need to be separated with a comma)

For performance purposes, checking of existing data can be skipped when adding a new constraint using the WITH NOCHECK option. WITH NOCHECK can only be used with CHECK and FOREIGN KEY. WITH NOCHECK should be placed in the command before the constraint definition.

Constraints can be turned off (for example, before a big data upload) by ALTER TABLE table NOCHECK CONSTRAINT constrantName. They can be re-enabled later using the ALTER TABLE table CHECK CONSTRAINT constrantName command.

 

Defaults

 

Rules

Objective:

C6ALL

Create and maintain indexes:
  • Choose an indexing strategy that will optimise performance
  • Given a situation, choose the appropriate type of index to create
  • Choose the column or columns to index
  • Choose the appropriate index characteristics specifically FILLFACTOR, DROP_EXISTING and PAD INDEX

Physical Storage of Data

Tables that have a clustered index store the data in key order. Pages are stored in a doubly-linked list (i.e. each page has a reference to the page in front and the page after). By altering the links of existing pages new pages can be inserted into the sequence. The tables always have associated index pages because of the clustered indexes.

Data pages for tables that do not have a clustered index are stored in  heaps. Data is stored in no particular order and new pages are just added to the heap. Heaps only have index pages if indexes are specifically added to the heap.

When a page is full and SQL is asked to add more data to it it creates a new page and move approximately half the records from the old page to the new page. This process is called a page split. Page splitting occurs for both data and index pages.

Table Scan

A table-scan is a data location method that simply starts at the first data page in a table and works through the pages in sequence. Every row of ever page is examined and those that meet the search criteria extracted. Table scans are efficient when dealing with small tables or when a large proportion of the table is to be returned.

Indexed Access

Indexed access navigates the index tree to locate the index entries for the records to be returned. The corresponding rows from data pages are then read and returned. Indexed Access is efficient when dealing with single rows or small percentages of the entire file. ?? For reasons I don't fully understand, if a clustered index exists on the table then all further (non-clustered) indexes are based on that index.

Query Optimiser

Is the component responsible for determining whether to use a table scan or indexed access. The decision to use Indexed Access depends on more than whether the corresponding index exists or not.

Composite Indexes

Are Indexes Worthwhile?

Indexes generally accelerate queries that join tables, sort data or group data. Indexes are required to support column uniqueness. However, indexes also consume disk space, incur overheads and require automatic updating when modifying indexed data. In fact, on really small tables, it can take longer to read the index and locate the record (Indexed Access) than to read the entire table (Table Scan).

In short:

Miscellaneous Information about Indexes

Index Creation

Index Destruction

Objective:

C13L1

Populate the database with data from an external data source. Methods include bulk copy program and Data Transformation Services (DTS)

BCP

bcp {[[database_name.][owner].]{table_name | view_name} | "query"}
    {in | out | queryout | format} data_file
    [-m max_errors] [-f format_file] [-e err_file]
    [-F first_row] [-L last_row] [-b batch_size]
    [-n] [-c] [-w] [-N] [-V (60 | 65 | 70)] [-6]
    [-q] [-C code_page] [-t field_term] [-r row_term]
    [-i input_file] [-o output_file] [-a packet_size]
    [-S server_name[\instance_name]] [-U login_id] [-P password]
    [-T] [-v] [-R] [-k] [-E] [-h "hint [,...n]"]

-m  Max errors before bcp if terminated. Defaults to 10
-f  Format file
-e  Error file where more details error information is logged
-F  Row number in source file to start from
-L  Row number in source file to stop after
-b  Batch size (in rows). If not specified, all rows are read and committed in a single transaction
-n  Use native datatypes ?? No idea
-c  Use character datatype. \t is used for field delimiting, \n for row terminator
-w  Use UNICODE datatype. \t is used for field delimiting, \n for row terminator
-N  Use native datatypes, except for char where UNICODE will be used instead. ?? No idea
-V x  Use datatype from a particular version of SQL Server (x = 60, 65 or 70). ?? Used with dates /ODBC ??
-6  Equivalent to -V 60 / -V 65
-q  Equivalent to SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIERS ON
-C x  Specify code page (obsolete. Use -f and specify in format file instead). x= ACP, OEM, RAW or code page number
-t  Specify field delimitator
-r  Specify row delimitator
-i  File containing responses to prompts from bcp
-o  File to contain output from bcp
-a  Packet size. Default is 4096
-S  Server Name
-U  User Name
-P  Password
-T  Use Trusted connection
-v  Display version info for bcp
-R  Use PC's Regional Settings when interpreting data
-k  Retain NULLs and don't use any default values
-E  Use values in import file for identity columns rather than SQL Server automatically generating them, ?? SQL2K only ??
-h  Import hint.ORDER(...), ROWS_PER_BATCH = x, KILOBYTES_PER_BATCH = x, TABLOCK, CHECK_CONSTRAINTS, FIRE_TRIGGERS.

Non-logged bulk copying can only occur when:

SQL7 BCP uses ODBC (previous versions used DB-Library)

 

DTS

Objective:

C7L3

Implement full-text search

Overview

The following stored procedures are used to configure full-text indexing:

Name Description
sp_fulltext_database Create or remove full-text catalogues for a database
sp_fulltext_catalog Create or remove a full-text catalogue
Start / Stop indexing a catalogue
sp_fulltext_table Add or remove a table from full-text indexing
sp_fulltext_column Add or remove a column from a table for full-text indexing
sp_fulltext_service Control the properties and behaviour of the MS Search service

The following stored procedures are used to examine full-text indexing:

Name Description
sp_help_fulltext_catalogs Returns info on a catalogue
sp_help_fulltext_tables Lists tables involved in full-text indexing
sp_help_fulltext_columns Lists columns involved in full-text indexing

 

Full-text Queries

 

Maintaining a Database

 

 

Objective:

C7L2

Evaluate and optimise the performance of an execution plan by using DBCC SHOW CONTIG, SHOWPLAN_TEXT, SHOWPLAN_ALL and UPDATE STATISTICS

Data Fragmentation & Rebuilding indexes

As page splits occur data and index pages no longer appear sequentially on disk. Because not all pages are updated equally, the FILLFACTOR per page rapidly becomes different between pages. This increases the number of reads required to complete a query. This is called data fragmentation.

The extent of data fragmentation can be seen by issuing the DBCC SHOWCONTIG([tableID [, indexID]) statement. Example output from Northwind database using "declare @objid int / set @objid = OBJECT_ID('Order Details') / dbcc showcontig(objid))" (because "dbcc showcontig(OBJECT_ID('Order Details'))" doesn't work and dbcc showcontig('Order Details') is SQL2K only):

DBCC SHOWCONTIG scanning 'Order Details' table...
Table: 'Order Details' (325576198); index ID: 1, database ID: 6
TABLE level scan performed.
- Pages Scanned................................: 9
- Extents Scanned..............................: 6
- Extent Switches..............................: 5
- Avg. Pages per Extent........................: 1.5
- Scan Density [Best Count:Actual Count].......: 33.33% [2:6]
- Logical Scan Fragmentation ..................: 11.11%
- Extent Scan Fragmentation ...................: 16.67%
- Avg. Bytes Free per Page.....................: 673.2
- Avg. Page Density (full).....................: 91.68%

Where:

 

Rebuilding indexes reorganizes the pages. If its a clustered index, this includes the data pages. Pages and records are reallocated such that the required FILLFACTOR is restored.

Indexes can be rebuilt by:

System indexes (i.e. those on system tables) cannot be rebuilt.

Index Tuning

Users have to be in the sysadmin role to use the Index Tuning Wizard.

The Index Tuner can produce the following report:

Statistics

CREATE STATISTICS statsName ON table(field1 [, field2 [...]])
    [ WITH [FULLSCAN | SAMPLE sampleSize {PERCENT | ROWS}] [,] [NORECOMPUTE]

where

If neither FULLSCAN or SAMPLE percentage PERCENT is included, SQL decides for itself how many rows to use.

DROP STATISTICS statsName removes statistics that you have finished with.

To update statistics either use the:

UPDATE STATISTICS table 
    [index | (statsName [, statsName2 [, ...]]]
    [WITH [FULLSCAN | SAMPLE sampleSize {PERCENT | ROWS},]
        [ALL | COLUMNS | INDEX ,]
        [NO RECOMPUTE]

After populating a table which had indexes prior to being populated it is recommended to manually update that tables statistics.

Objective:

C2L3 & C7L2

Evaluate and optimise the performance of query execution plans

PROCE:

Ad hoc / Uncached queries follow PROCE. Cached queries PROCE only the first time, thereafter skipping PRO entirely, reads the Compile stage from the Procedure Cache and performs the Execute as before.

Query Plans

Form the PROC of PROCE. Defines access method and order (i.e. which tables first). Query plans can be seen graphically in Query Analyzer (options under Query menu) or programmatically using the following SET options (these can only be used in batch commands, i.e. not via ODBC or in Stored Procedures, and only one can be active at a time) :

Caching

Compiled queries are stored in the procedure cache. Memory in the cache is freed based on least usage and compilation cost. SQL uses three forms of caching:

 

Optimiser Hints

Optimiser hints allow overriding of specific decision normally made by the query optimiser. For example:

    SELECT ... FROM ... WITH (INDEX(indexNumberOrName))

tells SQL to use the nominated index. (Specifying indexNumber as 0 tells SQL to use a table scan. If a clustered index is present specifying 1 tells SQL to use a clustered index scan. Specifying 1 if no clustered index is present will generate an error).

 

Objective:

C12L2

Diagnose and resolve locking problems

xx

Objective:

C14L3

Identify SQL Server events and performance problems by using SQL Server Profiler

SQL Server Performance Monitor

SQL Profiler

 

Other Notes (AKA Important Stuff not in the Exam)

 

Transact-SQL fully supports ANSI SQL-92

Division of labour:

MSSQLServer SQL Server Agent MS Distributed Transaction Coordinator
  • The RDMS
  • Data
  • Queries
  • Security
  • Jobs
    Creation & scheduling engine
  • Alerts
    Monitors the NT application log and responds to events
  • Notifications
    Send e-mails, calls a pager or launch an app in response to an alert
  • Replication
    Synchronisation between servers and watching for changes in the data
Distributed Transaction Management

Command Prompt tools:

osql Executes commands via ODBC (for example, from a batch file). Replaces isql which executes commands via DB-Library.
bcp Import & export functions

Net Libraries:

Not all Net Libraries are equal. For example, the Multiprotocol Net-Library supports data encryption but not server name enumeration.

APIs:

SQL Server supports two APIs natively: OLE DB (COM based) & ODBC (Call Level Interface based)

ADO is the wrapper for OLE DB, RDO is the wrapper for ODBC. As far as MS is concerned ADO is "in", RDO is "old hat".

SQL-DMO (Distributed Management Objects) is a COM wrapper for administrative Transact-SQL statements. SQL's  graphical admin tools use SQL-DMO internally.

ODBC Connections

ODBC connections with the following options set:

* Equivalent to setting on: ANSI_NULLS, ANSI_NULL_DFLT_ON, ANSI_PADDING, ANSI_WARNINGS, CURSOR_CLOSE_ON_COMMIT, IMPLICIT_TRANSACTIONS, QUOTED_IDENTIFIER. Yes, there is OFF overlap.

Security:

Two layers:

Roles:

Query Analyser:

Master Databases

Statement Types:

By default, members of the sysadmin, dbcreator, and db_owner roles can issue DDL and DML statements. Additionally, members of the db_securityadmin role can also issue DCL statements, members of the db_ddladmin role can all issue DDL statements and members of the db_datareader and / or db_datawriter roles can issue DML statements.

Miscellaneous Useful Stored Procedures

sp_dbcmptlevel database [level] Database compatibility level. First parameter is a database name. If no 2ndparameter, returns the DB version. With a 2nd parameter specified, sets the DB version. Different DBs can have different compatibility levels. Level parmeter does not contain decimal point (e.g. for SQL 7 compatibility it would be 70 not 7.0, for SQL2000 80 not 8.0 etc.)
sp_who [spid] Returns information about current server activity. If spid is specified only details for that process id is returned

Miscellaneous Useful Settings

NOCOUNT ON | OFF While off, prevents the updating of @@ROWCOUNT and returning of the number of rows updated.

 

<---- Move as some of this is in the exam

Capacities

Maximum data file size 32 terrabytes
Maximum log file size 4 terrabytes
Maximum number of tables per database 2 billion
Maximum number of columns per table 1024
Maximum bytes per row 8060
Maximum number of tables in a query 256
Maximum size of as stored procedure 128K
Store Procedure recursion level 32
Maximum number of parameters in a stored procedure 1024
Maximum size (in bytes) of the fields used in an
order by clause
8060
Maximum length (in characters) of a column alias 128

---->

 

 

Glossary

 

Presentation Layer / Services formats and presents data to users and provides an interface for data entry. For example as a layer between a data server and a internet browser client.

Business Layer / Services implements business rules such as data validation and calculations.

Data Layer / Services implements data storage, retrieval, security and integrity.

OLTP On-Line Transaction Processing. High change, low query systems.

DSS Decision Support Services. Low change, high query systems.

Positioned Update Jargon for when a change to a row in a cursor is reflected in the base table(s)

Atomicity Units of code that are indivisible. For example, a transaction that debits an amount from one bank account and credits the same amount to another.

Niladic functions Functions that allow default values to be inserted into tables when no value is supplied. For example, the CREATE TABLE's DEFAULT clause

Heterogeneous Query A query that is executed using the resources of only one server.

DCL Data Control Language

Batch A set of SQL commands issues and executed as a single group. Batches are separated by the GO command.

Script A collection of batches.