A Recovery Model is property of a database that control how transaction log is maintained. SQL Server supports simple, FULL and BULK-LOGGED recovery models. There are multiple ways in which to check recovery model of a database in SQL Server.

1. Using SQL Server Management Studio:
Right click on database in Object explorer -> Go to Properties dialog box -> Options page -> Recovery model

2. Using Metadata function – DATABASEPROPERTYEX():
SELECT [RecoveryModel] = DATABASEPROPERTYEX('SqlAndMe','Recovery')
GO 

Result Set: 
RecoveryModel
SIMPLE 

3. Using catalog view – sys.databases:
SELECT [DatabaseName] = name,
       [RecoveryModel] = recovery_model_desc
FROM   sys.databases
GO  

Result Set:
DatabaseName   RecoveryModel
master         SIMPLE
tempdb         SIMPLE
model          FULL
msdb           SIMPLE
Pubs           SIMPLE
EuWindows      SIMPLE
TestDB         SIMPLE
ProductCatalog SIMPLE
ReportDemo     SIMPLE
ReportServer   FULL
ReportServerTempDB  SIMPLE

(11 row(s) affected)

Using sys.databases catalog view is easier as it returns information of all databases on server. Hope this tutorial works for you!

In SQL Server there is not any inherent capacity accessible for discovering the number of words in a String. Here I reveal to both of you diverse methodologies for doing this, the first is the most simpleone, and is applicable only of these words are separated by a single space.

DECLARE @String VARCHAR(4000)
SELECT @String = 'SQL Server 2005'
SELECT LEN(@String) - LEN(REPLACE(@String, ' ', '')) + 1

As I said prior, the above query will provides for you the right result, just if the words are differentiated with a solitary space. Presently on the off chance that they are differentiated by more than one space, this will provide for you off base results as the results are basically relied on upon  Length of the original string. Along these lines, what will be the arrangement, simply compose a function  to do this.

CREATE FUNCTION dbo.udfWordCount(
@OriginalText VARCHAR(8000)
)
RETURNS int
as
/*
SELECT dbo.udfWordCount ('hello   world')
*/
BEGIN
    DECLARE @i int ,@j INT, @Words int
    SELECT     @i = 1, @Words = 0
    WHILE @i <= DATALENGTH(@OriginalText)
    BEGIN
        SELECT    @j = CHARINDEX(' ', @OriginalText, @i)
       if @j = 0
        BEGIN
            SELECT    @j = DATALENGTH(@OriginalText) + 1
        END
        IF SUBSTRING(@OriginalText, @i, @j - @i) <>' '
              SELECT @Words = @Words +1
        SELECT    @i = @j +1
    END
    RETURN(@Words)
END
GO
SELECT dbo.udfWordCount ('SQL Server2012')
SELECT dbo.udfWordCount ('SQL Server 2012 ')

Today, I am going to tell you how to replace the special characters in a string with spaces. In this case, I need to use PATINDEX.

PATINDEX
It will returns the starting position of the first occurrence of a pattern in a specified expression, or zeros if the pattern is not found, on all valid text and character data types. And this is the code that I used:
PATINDEX ( '%pattern%' , expression )

Example:
DECLARE @Str varchar(100)
SET @Str='Welcome!@+to+#$%SQL+^&*(SERVER)_+'
SELECT PATINDEX('%SQL%', @Str)

Here is the result from that code:

Remove Special Characters from String in SQL Server DECLARE @regexp INT
DECLARE @Str varchar(100)
SET @Str='Welcome!@+to+#$%SQL+^&*(SERVER)_+   '
SET @regexp = PATINDEX('%[^a-zA-Z0-9 ]%', @Str)
WHILE @regexp > 0
BEGIN
SET @Str = STUFF(@Str, @regexp, 1, ' ' )
SET @regexp = PATINDEX('%[^a-zA-Z0-9 ]%', @Str)
Print @regexp
END
SELECT @Str

Result:

STUFF
This STUFF function inserts a string into another string. It deletes a specified length of characters in the first string at the start position and then inserts the second string into the first string at the start position. This is the code:
STUFF ( character_expression , start , length , replaceWith_expression )

Example:
DECLARE @regexp INT
DECLARE @Str varchar(100)
SET @Str='welcome to sql server'
SET @Str = STUFF(@Str, 1, 1, '@' )
Select @str 

From SQL Server 2005, all tables are grouped into schemas. Even though making a table in case the schema name isn't specified it's developed inside the default schema from the user making it. You are able to use ALTER SCHEMA command to move tables in among schemas. For instance, in case I develop a table using below script it is going to be developed below my default schema that is dbo:
USE [hostsql]
GO
CREATE TABLE Employee
(
       ID     INT,
       Name VARCHAR(20)
)
GO
SELECT name, [schema] = SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id)
FROM   sys.tables
WHERE  name = 'Employee'
GO

Result Set:
name            schema
Employee      dbo
(1 row(s) affected)

As you are able to notice coming from the output the table is currently in dbo schema. Currently to move this table to another schema utilizing ALTER SCHEMA command, first we have to create the schema in case it doesn't exist by now. When that many of us can move table to new schema.
USE [SqlAndMe]
GO CREATE SCHEMA Staff
GO 
ALTER SCHEMA Staff
TRANSFER dbo.Employee
GO 
SELECT name, [schema] = SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id)
FROM   sys.tables
WHERE  name = 'Employee'
GO

Result Set:
name            schema
Employee      Staff 
(1 row(s) affected)

As you can see from the result, the table of Employee is now moved to Staff schema.

Today, I will write about How to fix Error:  “The specified instance of SQL Server is hosted by a system that is not a Windows Server Failover Cluster(WSFC) node" on SQL Server 2012. And this is the error message:

The specified instance of SQL Server is hosted by a system that is not a Windows Server Failover Cluster(WSFC) node. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.HadrTasks)

The local node is not part of quorum and is therefore unable to process this operation. This may be due to one of the following reasons:

• The local node is not able to communicate with the WSFC cluster.
• No quorum set across the WSFC cluster.

The local node isn’t part of quorum and so unable to process that operation.This prompt me that perhaps the second instance doesn't understand itself its HADR enable. thus I qery sys.dm_hadr_cluster_members and sys.dm_hadr_cluster for both nodes.

On node1, it will come correct information. On node2, the result's empty.
SELECT *
FROM sys.dm_hadr_cluster_members;
Go
select * from sys.dm_hadr_cluster

The way to fix it's disable the HADR from SQL Server configuration manager . Bounce SQL Server and SQL agent. rentable HADR and bounce SQL server and SQL agent. The issue was resolved after second bounce

.

Memory is one of the most-used resources in SQL Server. Generally, the more you have, the better query performance you’ll get. How can you track your server’s memory usage? One way is to use the Performance Monitor (Perfmon) counters exposed through the sys.dm_os_performance_counters DMV. One indicator of memory performance is Page Life Expectancy (PLE). You can capture basic memory usage over time by setting up a SQL Server Agent job to query this DMV, inserting the results into a table, and reporting on the table results.

COLLECTING THE DATA

I have a “DBAInfo” database on my instance that I use to track metrics and other information. I create a new table, MemoryHistory.

USE DBAInfo;
CREATE TABLE MemoryHistory
(ID INT IDENTITY NOT NULL,
CollectionDateTime DATETIME,
PerfmonObjectName NCHAR(128),
CounterName NCHAR(128),
CounterValue BIGINT)

Then, I create a new SQL Server Agent job that runs every 5 minutes.

The only step in this job is the below query, which queries the DMV and inserts the results into the table I created.

INSERT INTO MemoryHistory
SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
object_name,
counter_name,
cntr_value
FROM sys.dm_os_performance_counters
WHERE object_name = 'SQLServer:Buffer Manager';

I schedule the job to run every five minutes.

VIEWING THE DATA

Now, this data isn’t going to do me any good unless I view it, and make a decision or perform an action based on what I learn.

To view the data I’ve collected, I run the following query:

SELECT ID,
CollectionDateTime,
CounterName,
CounterValue
FROM MemoryHistory;

That’s a lot of junk to sort through when all I want to see is PLE, so I narrow down the query a bit.

SELECT ID,
CollectionDateTime,
CounterName,
CounterValue
FROM MemoryHistory
WHERE CounterName = 'Page life expectancy';

But who wants to read through results like that each time there’s a problem to see when PLE rose or fell? Not me. I’d rather see it in a graphical format. How can I do that?

SQL Server Reporting Services

I have SSRS at my disposal. I’m going to create a very simple report that will allow me to enter start and end dates, and will display a line chart for PLE during that time.

REPORTING ON THE DATA

I set up my report to have DBAInfo as my data source. In order to choose dates, I use the following query as my dataset.

SELECT ID,
CollectionDateTime,
CounterName,
CounterValue
FROM MemoryHistory
WHERE CounterName = 'Page life expectancy'
AND CONVERT(DATE, CollectionDateTime) &gt;= @Start
AND CONVERT(DATE, CollectionDateTime) &lt;= @End;

I change my @Start and @End parameters to “Date/Time” so I get a date picker.

I drag a Line Chart onto the design surface and add the CounterValue as my Value and CollectionDateTime as my Category Group.

I can preview the report to view it:

Last but not least, I’ll deploy this report to Report Manager so that I and others can run it, or even schedule a regular subscription.

Here, I have provided an article showing you how to utilize the two new logical functions Choose and IIF in SQL Server. The Choose function works like an array kind of thing and the IIF function is used to check a condition. In this article we will see both functions with examples. These functions are also called new logical functions in SQL Server 2012. So let's take a look at a practical example of how to use the Choose and IIF functions in SQL Server. The example is developed in SQL Server 2012 using the SQL Server Management Studio.

These are the two logical functions:

1. IIF() Function
2. Choose() Function

IIF() Function

The IIF function is used to check a condition. Suppose X>Y. In this condition a is the first expression and b is the second expression. If the first expression evaluates to TRUE then the first value is displayed, if not the second value is displayed.

Syntax

IIF ( boolean_expression, true_value, false_value )

Example

DECLARE @X INT;
SET @X=50;
DECLARE @Y INT;
SET @Y=60;
Select iif(@X>@Y, 50, 60) As IIFResult

In this example X=50 and Y=60; in other words the condition is false.  Select iif(@X>@Y, 50, 60) As IIFResult. It returns false value that is 60.

Output

Choose() Function

This function is used to return the value out of a list based on its index number. You can think of it as an array kind of thing. The Index number here starts from 1.

Syntax

CHOOSE ( index, value1, value2.... [, valueN ] )

CHOOSE() Function excepts two parameters,

Index: Index is an integer expression that represents an index into the list of the items. The list index always starts at 1. 

Value: List of values of any data type.

Now some facts related to the Choose Function

1. Item index starts from 1

DECLARE @ShowIndex INT;
SET @ShowIndex =5;
Select Choose(@ShowIndex, 'M','N','H','P','T','L','S','H') As ChooseResult 

In the preceding example we take index=5. It will start at 1. Choose() returns T as output since T is present at @Index location 5.

Output

2.  When passed a set of types to the function it returns the data type with the highest precedence; see:

DECLARE @ShowIndex INT;
SET @ShowIndex =5;
Select Choose(@ShowIndex ,35,42,12.6,14,15,18.7)  As CooseResult

In this example we use index=5. It will start at 1. Choose() returns 15.0 as output since 15 is present at @ShowIndex location 5 because in the item list, fractional numbers have higher precedence than integers.

3. If an index value exceeds the bound of the array it returns NULL

DECLARE @ShowIndex INT;
SET @ShowIndex =9;
Select Choose(@ShowIndex , 'M','N','H','P','T','L','S','H')  As CooseResult

In this example we take index=9. It will start at 1. Choose() returns Null as output because in the item list the index value exceeds the bounds of the array; the last Index=8.

Output

4. If the index value is negative then that exceeds the bounds of the array therefore it returns NULL; see:

DECLARE @ShowIndex INT;
SET @ShowIndex =-1;
Select Choose(@ShowIndex, 'M','N','H','P','T','L','S','H')  As CooseResult

In this example we take index= -1. It will start at 1. Choose() returns Null as output because in the item list the index value exceeds the bounds of the array.

Output

5. If the provided index value has a float data type other than int, then the value is implicitly converted to an integer; see:

DECLARE @ShowIndex  INT;
SET @ShowIndex =4.5;
Select Choose(@ShowIndex ,35,42,12.6,13,15,20) As CooseResult

In this example we take index= 4.5. It will start at 1.  If the specified index value has a float data type other than int, then the value is implicitly converted to an integer. It returns the 13.0 as output since 15 is present at @ShowIndex=4.5 which means index is 4.

Output

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 extends the EXECUTE statement to introduce WITH RESULT SETS option which can be used to change the Column Name and Data Types of the result set returned by the execution of stored procedure.

Example Using WITH RESULT SETS Feature of SQL Server 2012

Let us go through an example which illustrates WITH RESULT SETS Feature of SQL Server 2012.

Use AdventureWorks2008R2
GO

IF EXISTS (
SELECT * FROM sys.objects    
WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[WithResultSets_SQLServer2012]')   
AND type in (N'P', N'PC'))
DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].[WithResultSets_SQLServer2012]
GO

CREATE PROCEDURE WithResultSets_SQLServer2012
AS   
BEGIN      
SELECT                 
 TOP 5                 
                                                 PP.FirstName + ' ' + PP.LastName AS Name            
,PA.City               
,PA.PostalCode         
FROM  Person.Address PA            
INNER JOIN                   
Person.BusinessEntityAddress PBEA                          
ON PA.AddressID = PBEA.AddressID               
INNER JOIN                         
Person.Person PP                         
ON PBEA.BusinessEntityID = PP.BusinessEntityID       
ORDER BY PP.FirstName
      END
GO

Once the stored procedure is created successfully. The next step will be to execute the above stored procedure using WITH RESULT SET Feature of SQL Server 2012.

/* Execute Stored Procedure which uses WITH RESULT SETS  Feature of SQL Server 2012*/
EXEC WithResultSets_SQLServer2012GO
/*
 Example - Using WITH RESULT SETS Feature of SQL Server 2012
*/
EXEC WithResultSets_SQLServer2012
WITH RESULT SETS
(
 (
  [Employe Name]  NVARCHAR(100),
  [Employee City]       NVARCHAR(20),
  [Employee Postal Code]      NVARCHAR(30)
 )
)
GO

In the above image you could see that once you execute WithResultSets_SQLServer2012 stored procedure using WITH RESULT SET feature of SQL Server 2012 you can change the Column Name and Data Type as per your need without actually altering the exisiting stored procedure. In the second result set (above image) you could see that the Column Names are changed from Name to Employee Name, City to Employee City and PostalCode to Employee Postal Code. Similary, the data type was changes from VARCHAR to NVARCHAR.

Conclusion

The WITH RESULT SET Feature of SQL Server 2012 is a great enhancement to the EXECUTE Statement. This feature will be widely used by Business Intelligence Developers to execute a stored procedure with in an SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) Package to return the result set with required Columns and modified data types.

It has traditionally been almost impossible to architect infrastructure-class, highly available (HA) SQL Server solutions using shared storage in the public cloud. Recently Microsoft announced support for some System Center 2012 SP1 applications to work with SQL AlwaysOn, a new way to achieve HA SQL. AlwaysOn uses an availability group concept, much like Exchange 2010 database availability groups (DAGs) to achieve clustered HA services without shared storage.

This is good news for architects looking to move management workloads into the public cloud when appropriate. In theory, a pair of powerful VMs in Azure running SQL 2012 AlwaysOn can approach and exceed the HA SLAs expected of many mission critical applications. Figure 1 shows the new dashboard view of AlwaysOn HA availability groups with some System Center 2012 SP1 databases made highly available.

Figure 1

HA SQL is Important. What is the Reason?

Highly available (HA) SQL Server services are the cornerstone of many enterprise database applications. Few enterprise solutions today are deployed on non-HA SQL. Without an HA mechanism for database services, enterprise applications and e-commerce websites cannot offer maximum available uptime. Even perfectly managed servers require periodic restarts for updates and maintenance; and you always need to be prepared for equipment failure such as extended outages of particular servers or disk drives.

The traditional way to offer HA SQL is by creating a SQL Server failover cluster based on shared storage. That is, a storage area network (SAN) presents shelves of disk drives to two or more servers at the same time ("shared storage"). The SAN and shared storage is often the most expensive component in the datacenter. Public cloud solutions abstract you from the storage, and usually don't offer the kind of infrastructure you would need to run a conventional HA SQL failover cluster with shared storage in the cloud.

SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn, no need for SAN

With SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn, two or more complete copies of each HA database can exist, synchronized by AlwaysOn technology. The independent database copies are presumed to exist locally in direct attached storage (DAS) on each SQL node, or over on the network using economical Windows Server 2012 SMB 3.0 file shares on dedicated Windows Server 2012 file servers.

- You can use Windows Server 2012 Standard for the SQL server nodes-unlike in previous Windows releases, you can enable the failover cluster feature in the Standard edition of Windows Server 2012 as well as Windows Server 2012 Datacenter.

- SQL Server 2012 does require the Enterprise edition of SQL Server 2012 to use the AlwaysOn feature.

Steps to deploy a SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Group

Here are the high-level steps to follow to deploy SQL 2012 AlwaysOn in a SQL 2012 failover cluster (without shared storage).

1. Install Windows Server 2012 in two computers or virtual machines (VMs), each with a single network interface card (NIC).

2. Create a two-node failover cluster without shared storage. You will need a cluster name and an IP address for the cluster network name.

3. Install SQL Server 2012 Enterprise on both computers as if they were going to be stand-alone SQL servers.

• When you install, use a domain account for the SQL server services.
• Open the Windows Firewall on ports TCP 1433 and TCP 5022.

4. Create a temporary "seed" database on the first SQL server using SQL Server 2012 Management Studio. This database will be used to establish the AlwaysOn cluster, and then can be deleted after the first production database is deployed.

5. Make sure the database is of the "Full" type model, and perform a SQL Backup job.

6. In the Management Studio, create an AlwaysOn Availability Group and an Availability Group Listener. (The Availability Group Listener is essentially the virtual (or clustered) SQL Server instance. There is a one-to-one relationship between availability groups and listeners.)

• Assign a DNS name and TCP IP address for the AlwaysOn Availability Group and an Availability Group Listener.
• Assign a shared network folder that is accessible to all SQL servers that will have AlwaysOn database replicas.

7. At the AlwaysOn High Availability node, right-click and select Add A Database To An Availability Group. If your database is of the Full type and has been backed up, the status will be "Meets Requirements". Click Next.

8. Select that you will perform a full synchronization, using the shared network folder you specified in step 6(b). Click Next.

9. Enter security information to access the primary database replica. Click Next, observe the validation and click Next, and then Finish.

10. Observe after a moment that new database replica on the secondary node in the SQL AlwaysOn availability group has been created, as seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2

In this example i am going to describe how to combine multiple columns and records in one column in MS SQL.

Here is the scenario

I have a table having Employees names and their respective Department names,
now i want to show Employees names separated by comma into one column and respective Department name in another column.

My table schema is shown in the image below

And this is Data into table

I want output in following format

                                  Department                               FirstName
                                   IT                                             amiT,Emp1,Emp5
                                  Admin                                       Shobhit, Emp3,Emp7

and so on

To get this desired result we need to write below mentioned query

1SELECT DISTINCT
2Department,
3EmpNames = substring( ( SELECT ', ' + FirstName
4FROM Employees e2
5WHERE e2.Department = e1.Department FOR XML path(''), elements
6),2,500)
7FROM Employees e1

And the output of this SQL Query would be