Perfmon, .blg, .csv, and my love for the internetz

I'm so in love with the Internetz, I think I'll marry it.

I just semi-borked a load test I was supposed to be tracing…perfmon wouldn't start at the last minute, and in the scramble to get it going, I not only forgot to start my SQL trace, I also left the perfmon output file in BLG format.  Honestly, I'd never paid any attention at all to the BLG format.  As it turns out, that's the binary output format.

I did a search and came up with this Grant Holliday blog about Relog.exe. Relog is included in Windows, and you can use it from the command line to (among other things) convert a binary perfmon file to CSV. 

I. Love. The Internetz.

Here's the command I used to get my readable, Excel-formattable numbers: relog logfile.blg -f csv -o logfile.csv

Happy days,

Jen McCown, http://www.MidnightDBA.com

Edit: Be sure to go read Buck Woody's blogs "Using Perfmon with SQL Server",  Part One and Part Two.

Edit 2, 1/19/2010: Just found a couple of great blogs by John Pertell that greatly expand on relog: What I Learned Today – the RELOG utility and Using the RELOG Utility – Part 2

Contest: Win a Book from MidnightDBA!

It's time for the first MidnightDBA web contest! 

OMG Really?? What do I win? 

It's your chance to win "Windows 7: The Definitive Guide, 1st Edition", By William R. Stanek (@williamstanek on Twitter).

AWESOMESAUCE! HOW do I win?? 

Watch the PASS Summit interview we did with MVP Allen White – linked from our DBAs @ Midnight page – and email Jen@JenniferMcCown.com (use "midnightDBA" in the subject) with the answers to three questions:

  1. What is Allen White's answer to: What DB platform holds more corporate data than ANY other DB platform in the world?
  2. Sean said “That's what she said”.  What was Jen's reply?
  3. What Dr. Seuss book does Sean reference by title?

That's it? 

Well, yeah.  Oh sure, it's simple, basic, childish even.  We could make you jump through coding hoops or sing us a song.  Actually, that's a good idea…no, no, we'll stick with the quiz.  Enjoy, and pass it on.  Drawing for the book will be held Tuesday, November 24, and the winer will be posted by midnight!

-Jen McCown, http://www.MidnightDBA.com

P.S. We reserve the right to change the prize to something virtual (like a credit at Amazon or something) if the winner lives in a country that wants to charge us $4,000 for import fees…

PASS Summit Interview: Brian Knight

MVP and author Brian Knight – according to his Pragmatic Works bio – is the co-founder of SQLServerCentral.com, JumpstartTV.com, and is on the Principal Board of Directors of PASS. But who is the man behind the cape?  We sit down and discuss the 2012 end of the word with Brian Knight, and how we can profit.  Other highlights:

  • He comes from the Dot Com….
  • On his home: "We grow rednecks."
  • Me: "What we need is a worldwide panic!"
  • On Coke: "I dig it."
  • Brian started Pragmatic Works essentially because he was bored.
  • Hah, at 6:50 in the video a phone starts buzzing, and I thought it was mine.
  • "Fun and controversial? That's us!"
  • Two words: "Custom pharmecuticals."  Nono, it's a sample database, people….
  • We push our video interview with Itzik. We agree he's not a dumb guy, and have an awkward moment of silence.
  • We have very very fond words for Brian's latest book, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services Problem-Design-Solution
  • "I talked to Brian Knight, and he said you suck."

And that's just part 1 of 2.  Go watch it, you know you want to.

-Jen McCown, http://www.MidnightDBA.com

For the record, Sean's wearing his "My database isn't small…" shirt, and I'm sporting the "My database can beat up your database" tee.