Monthly Archives: January 2010

The Energy Detective TED 5000 Installed And Working

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Glenn Berry

Back in October, I ordered one of the new TED 5000 energy monitors directly from Energy, Inc. in Charleston, SC. It finally arrived this week (it was backordered), and I took advantage of the warm weather in Parker today to … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Hardware | 5 Comments

Second Shot Promotion For Microsoft Certification Exams

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Glenn Berry

Microsoft and Prometric have renewed their Second Shot promotion for certification exams. This allows you to retake a failed exam a second time for free, (which is pretty good insurance since the regular exam fee is $125.00). You can get … Continue reading →

Posted in Microsoft Training | 2 Comments

PASS 2009 Speaker Evaluation Scores

Posted on January 15, 2010 by Glenn Berry

Since quite a few PASS 2009 speakers have gone public with their speaker evaluation scores, I might as well do the same.  Session attendees were asked to rate the speaker and session in six areas, with a rating of Excellent … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching | 3 Comments

Using Synthetic Benchmarks To Help Evaluate Database Server Hardware Choices

Posted on January 14, 2010 by Glenn Berry

As a DBA, I think it is very important to stay current on trends in x64 based hardware. The DBA is much closer to the hardware than many other I.T. Professionals, and improperly chosen and sized hardware can cause lots … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Hardware | Leave a comment

Installing SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 on Windows Server 2008 R2

Posted on January 12, 2010 by Glenn Berry

There is a recent post on the Microsoft SQL Server Support Blog about how to get SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 installed on Windows Server 2008 R2. The issue is how you get the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installed … Continue reading →

Posted in SQL Server 2008 | 11 Comments

Intel Intelligent Home Energy Management

Posted on January 11, 2010 by Glenn Berry

Last week at CES 2010, Intel showed off a proof of concept device for a home energy management dashboard. This device includes a programmable thermostat, weather information, energy monitoring and reporting, a motion sensor, video camera and stereo speakers, wi-fi … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Hardware | 7 Comments

Kevin Cox from SQLCAT Presenting at the Denver SQL Server User’s Group On January 21, 2010

Posted on January 10, 2010 by Glenn Berry

Kevin Cox, who is part of the SQLCAT Team at Microsoft, will be giving the presentation at this month’s Denver SQL Server User’s Group meeting. He will be talking about the largest deployments on SQL Server, how they scale, how … Continue reading →

Posted in SQL Server 2008 | 4 Comments

New HTPC Build with 32nm Intel Core i3 530

Posted on January 9, 2010 by Glenn Berry

Since Intel announced and released the new 32nm Core i3 processors and compatible H55 chipset, Socket 1156 motherboards this week, I decided it was time to rebuild the home theater PC (HTPC) that is in my family room. The Core … Continue reading →

Posted in Home Theater | 31 Comments

Time to Upgrade from SQL Server 2005 SP2 and SQL Server 2008 RTM

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Glenn Berry

Microsoft’s Bob Ward posted to remind everyone that SQL Server 2005 SP2 support ends on January 12, 2010, and SQL Server 2008 RTM support ends on April 13, 2010. This means you need to get on SQL Server 2005 SP3 … Continue reading →

Posted in SQL Server 2008 | 29 Comments

How to Read the Results of SELECT @@VERSION in SQL Server

Posted on January 7, 2010 by Glenn Berry

The simple query SELECT @@VERSION can quickly tell you quite a bit about a SQL Server installation (and the underlying operating system), assuming you know how to read the results correctly. Many people seem to get confused between the operating … Continue reading →

Posted in SQL Server 2008 | 3 Comments