Jen McCown

We had a big system slowdown today, and one of the things I did was to open up Activity Monitor (in SQL Server MS 05, it's under Management in the object explorer) and take a look at blocking. One of my blocked SPIDs showed this in the Resources column:

TAB 12:1957582012:0

I know TAB means table lock, but for some reason I couldn't pull my head out on the numbers.  "This is important…this means something!"  I tried running that big middle number through object_name() and got nothing back, so I turned to my faithful friend, Twitter.  Twitter knows all.

I'd forgotten to actually USE the appropriate database when looking for my object_name. So for your edification, here's what you should do:

select db_name(12)

use <whatever database name came up>

select object_name(1957582012)

Furthermore, here's a few of the things I searched on before I went to the people who know stuff. I'm hoping by including these that it'll give direction to someone else who, like me, didn't quite know what they were Googling for.

sql server determine TAB KEY : address

sql server determine table by internal address

sql server read table address space

activity monitor resource locks

blocking in activity monitor and resources

Now, I just have to figure out what to do with "KEY: 12:72057594047889408 (bb0040032d41)"….

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

There are other ways to do this, but the quick n easy way for me to get job and job step information is

1. Get job names using

   EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_help_job

2. Paste those names and surround them with single quotes, and preface each with

   EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_help_jobstep @job_name= '

3. Hit CTRL-T for "results to text". (This makes it easy to browse and search, if a little less readable than the graphics pane.)
4. Run, and browse the results.

 It's a very fast, very easy to remember way to search through job steps for certain code, or what have you.

Bonne beurre,

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

At long, long, long last, we have the pix up from the MVP Deep Dives book lauch at SQLPASS!!

For those who haven't heard:

"Responding to BillG’s MVP Summit challenge to “Do philanthropy where you are,” The SQL Server MVP Deep Dives book is a collaboration of 53 MVPs sharing their expertise and passion for SQL Server. This is an all-volunteer book. All author proceeds are going to WarChild.org – an organization that helps children traumatized by war. Because this is a book for charity, Manning Publications wanted to also donate and gave us a higher than normal royalty. In addition, if you purchase the book through this link: www.SQLServerMVPDeepDives.com then the purchase will also count toward Warchild's Manning affiliate account and Warchild will receive an extra 10% of the purchase." –Paul Nielsen

The book launch was held at the PASS Community Summit this month, and I got to be the unofficial-official photographer for the event.  Paul Nielsen and Kahlen DeLaney gave short intro speeches, then all the MVPs at the Summit who'd contributed to the book lined up and signed Deep Dives copies for attendees.  There were also copies for industry notables, including one for BillG himself (too bad the man didn't show & stand in line, or it could've been an even bigger event 🙂

I just got my copy in this week, and I can't wait for some time to dive in (so to speak).  Huge thanks and big love to Paul, Kahlen, and the other 51 MVPs who took time for this worthy project. 

I'll also put the link up on the MidnightDBA.com SQLPASS09 events page this weekend, for your reference and enjoyment. Here's the tinyurl so you can tweet and retweet away:  http://tinyurl.com/ybtwesp

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