Configuring & Implementing… Stopping Dynamic Port Detection Some companies require that dynamic port detection and being able to browse to SQL Servers on their network must be disabled to tighten security. They do this by stopping the SQL Browser Service on all their SQL Servers and manually configuring each SQL Server instance to listen on a fixed TCP port. All the applications that connect to the SQL Server instances either specify the port number in the connection string or have a SQL Server Alias configured on the application server which contains the port number. 102 Chapter3•ConfiguringSQLServer2008 Launch SQL Server Management Studio and try to connect to <computername>\SQL1. You should now be able to connect. You have just changed the SQL Server Service account, changed the TCP port to a fixed nondefault value, stopped dynamic port detection, and created a client connection alias specifying the TCP port to which to connect. sp_configure and SQL Server Management Studio We’ve covered installing and configuring the different SQL Server Services so far. Now we’ll move on to configuring SQL Server itself. SQL Server Management Studio is the central tool for managing SQL Server, and you will need to be very familiar with it for the exam. Fortunately, most of the exam objectives require the use of this tool so you will get plenty of practice with it as you read through the book. For this section we’re going to be focused on the Server Properties that can be changed through the Management Studio interface and by using the sp_configure command in a query window. sp_configure provides far more configuration options than the Management Studio interface, and you will need to be familiar with it for the exam. Because of this, we’re going to focus on sp_configure and its options, highlighting where a particular option is also available in Management Studio. Figure 3.10 sp_configure Output With Default Values ConfiguringSQLServer2008•Chapter3 103 To run sp_configure simply type it into a query window and click execute. In Figure 3.10 you can see the results of executing sp_configure on an instance with default values. To access the Server Properties in Management Studio, right-click on a registered server in the Object Explorer window and select Properties. Advanced Options As you can see in Figure 3.10, when you run sp_configure you’ll get a list of 16 options. One of the first things you’ll typically do as a DBA is to expand that list to show all of the configuration options. You do this by enabling show advanced options using the following command: sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1 go reconfigure 104 Chapter3•ConfiguringSQLServer2008 This is the format for changing all of the options; you pass the option name in single quotes followed by a comma and then the value you want to change it to. When you change a configuration option, typically only the config_value changes, and then you need to run reconfigure to tell SQL Server to reload all the values. After this is executed you’ll see the new values in both the config_value and run_value columns in the sp_configure output, indicating that SQL Server is using the new values. There are some settings, however, that require SQL Server to be restarted When you run sp_configure again you’ll see an extended list of 68 options. This is a persisted instance-wide change, so all administrators will now see the advanced options. We’ll now take a look at some of the most commonly changed options and requirements, highlighting where the change can also be made in Management Studio. AWE On a 32-bit system SQL Server is limited to using 2GB of memory. To use more than 2GB of memory you need to enable the Address Windowing Extensions (AWE) option in SQL Server. AWE allows a 32-bit application, built to support it, to access as much memory as the underlying operating system. Windows Server 2008 Enterprise supports as much as 64GB of RAM. AWE has two valid values, 0 or 1. To enable AWE to run: sp_configure 'AWE', 1 go This setting is only visible after enabling show advanced options. It requires you to restart SQL Server before it takes effect and can also be configured in SQL Server Management Studio. You should always set max server memory when using AWE to prevent SQL Server taking too much RAM from Windows. Setting the Maximum and Minimum Memory for SQL Server By default, SQL Server will grow its memory usage to take advantage of as much memory on the server as possible. This can very often leave only 100 to 200 MB of memory free on a server, causing problems when Windows requires more memory for something and SQL Server is too slow to give some back. ConfiguringSQLServer2008•Chapter3 105 Max Server Memory (MB) Max server memory (MB) controls the maximum size of the buffer pool, which is the pool of memory that SQL Server uses for most of its requirements. Setting the maximum server memory is strongly recommended if you are using AWE or if you’re running a 64-bit version of SQL Server. To set max server memory (MB) to 6 GB run: sp_configure 'max server memory (MB)', 6144 go reconfigure This setting is only visible with sp_configure after enabling show advanced options, but you can also change this setting in SQL Server Management Studio on the Memory page. Min Server Memory (MB) Min server memory works hand in hand with max server memory but isn’t as impor- tant to as many scenarios. It provides a minimum value that SQL Server will attempt not to go under once it has reached that value. For example, you set min server memory to 2GB. When SQL Server first starts it takes the minimum amount of memory required for it to start and then grows its memory usage as it needs to. Once it has grown to be more than 2GB, SQL Server will attempt to keep the buffer pool above that value. This setting is most useful when running multiple instances on a single server or if there are other memory-intensive applications running on the server. To set min server memory (MB) to 2GB run: sp_configure 'min server memory (MB)', 2048 go reconfigure You can also change this setting in SQL Server Management Studio on the Memory page. 106 Chapter3•ConfiguringSQLServer2008 Maximum Degree of Parallelism If SQL Server determines that a query that has been executed is expensive enough in terms of resource consumption, it may try to break down the work into several units and execute them on separate CPUs. This is called parallelism and is a very intensive operation, where SQL Server assumes that this query is important enough to run as quickly as possible at the expense of additional CPU usage. By default SQL Server will use up to all of the available CPUs on a server for a parallel operation. This can cause problems with all the CPUs running at 100 percent for a period and slowing down other operations. The max degree of parallelism option allows you to control how many CPUs can be used for parallel operations. A common best practice is to set this value to half the number of CPU cores on your server. For example, if you have four dual-core CPUs, you will see eight cores in Windows, so you should set max degree of parallelism to 4. You will not be tested on what the formula should be to calculate the optimal value, but you may be tested on what it does. To set max degree of parallelism to 4 run: sp_configure 'max degree of parallelism', 4 go reconfigure The max degree of parallelism is also known as MAXDOP and can be specified at the query level using the MAXDOP keyword, as well as the server level. Head of the Class… 32-bit, 64-bit, and Memory 32-bit (or x86 as it’s sometimes known) systems have a limitation of 4 GB of virtual address space, so if you have more than 4 GB of RAM in a server without AWE enabled, then SQL Server won’t be able use the extra memory. 64-bit (or x64 as the most common platform is known) has a limitation of 8TB of virtual address space, so you get access to more RAM without having to switch on AWE. The Standard and Enterprise Editions of SQL Server both support as much RAM as the Windows version that they run on, and they come with licenses to run either the x86 or x64 version of SQL Server at no additional cost. . browse to SQL Servers on their network must be disabled to tighten security. They do this by stopping the SQL Browser Service on all their SQL Servers and manually configuring each SQL Server. port. All the applications that connect to the SQL Server instances either specify the port number in the connection string or have a SQL Server Alias configured on the application server which. sp_configure and SQL Server Management Studio We’ve covered installing and configuring the different SQL Server Services so far. Now we’ll move on to configuring SQL Server itself. SQL Server Management