OpenRowset Msg 15281, Level 16

On some servers when you try to load an Excel file using OpenRowset, you will get this delightful error:

Msg 15281, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
SQL Server blocked access to STATEMENT ‘OpenRowset/OpenDatasource’ of component ‘Ad Hoc Distributed Queries’ because this component is turned off as part of the security configuration for this server. A system administrator
can enable the use of ‘Ad Hoc Distributed Queries’ by using sp_configure. For more information about enabling ‘Ad Hoc Distributed Queries’, search for ‘Ad Hoc Distributed Queries’ in SQL Server Books Online.

Continue reading OpenRowset Msg 15281, Level 16

Modify SSRS Subscription Retries

When a SSRS subscription fails to run successfully, it will automatically retry 3 times with 15 minutes between runs. This is a good default, but sometimes you want to change those settings. Below I will show you how.

Continue reading Modify SSRS Subscription Retries

Unable to enlist in the transaction using a Linked Server. Msg 7391, Level 16, State 2

Here is problem you may encounter using a Linked Server connecting to an Oracle Database. I was trying to create a table in SQL Server with data from an Oracle database using a Linked Server and I received this error: Unable to enlist in the transaction Msg 7391, Level 16, State 2

Continue reading Unable to enlist in the transaction using a Linked Server. Msg 7391, Level 16, State 2

Msg 4701, Level 16 trying to truncate table through Linked Server

I was trying to truncate a table on a remote server using a Linked Server and received the following error:

Msg 4701, Level 16, State 1, Line 6
Cannot find the object "bill" because it does not exist or you do not have permissions.

Read on to see how I solved this issue.

Continue reading Msg 4701, Level 16 trying to truncate table through Linked Server

Msg 7399, Level 16, State 1 Linked Server. Access Denied

I setup a linked server on a new database server and was trying to run a query that runs against an Oracle database and I got the following error:

Msg 7399, Level 16, State 1, Line 1
The OLE DB provider “OraOLEDB.Oracle” for linked server “ccbtst” reported an error. Access denied.
Msg 7350, Level 16, State 2, Line 1
Cannot get the column information from OLE DB provider “OraOLEDB.Oracle” for linked server “ccbtst”.

Continue reading Msg 7399, Level 16, State 1 Linked Server. Access Denied

Another feature I wish SQL Server had.

I have been using Oracle databases since version 7.2 back in 1995, but starting in Oracle 10G released in 2003, they added a feature called the recycle bin. This feature does exactly what you think it would do. If you drop a table by accident you can recover the table and all of the data just like the Windows recycle bin is used to recover files.

Continue reading Another feature I wish SQL Server had.

Msg 8115, Level 16 Arithmetic overflow

In Sql Server, if you try to count more than 2.1 billion rows or sum up values more than that, you will get this message: Msg 8115, Level 16, State 2, Line 1 Arithmetic overflow error converting expression to data type int.

Today I will show you the solution to this problem.

Continue reading Msg 8115, Level 16 Arithmetic overflow

SQL Server Columnstore Index Performance Benefits

If you have a data warehouse and you frequently run queries using aggregate functions like SUM, AVG, COUNT, etc, you need to investigate columnstore indexes. I am going to show you some performance benefits that come from using this new (8 years old now) index type.

Continue reading SQL Server Columnstore Index Performance Benefits