Using SQL Server and R Services for analyzing DBA Tasks (SQLServerCentral 2/7/2017)

[SQLServerCentral - www.sqlservercentral.com]( A community of more than 1,600,000 database professionals and growing Featured Contents - [Using SQL Server and R Services for analyzing DBA Tasks]( - [Determining What Happens When You Force an Execution Plan via the Query Store]( - [Power BI Custom Visuals Class (Module 36 – Box and Whiskers (Brad))]( (From the SQLServerCentral Blogs) - [The High Availability Conversation Part 1: Introduction]( (From the SQLServerCentral Blogs) The Voice of the DBA Would You Still Love Linux If Windows Was Free? Today we have a guest editorial from Andy Warren as Steve is traveling. I made a note to write about this after a recent conversation about Windows vs Linux. I found myself defending Windows a bit (the person I talked with had not considered server core), and it startled me a little to be doing so. I like Windows, it works fine for what I do, but really I don’t care what hosts SQL Server as long as it is reliable, performs well, and provides whatever OS level support SQL needs to do all it does. For me the OS is “the cloud”, something that should “just work” and that I don’t want to mess with! Over the course of my career I’ve worked with teams that only used Windows and others that used Windows and Linux (but never Linux only, as until recently SQL Server didn’t run on Linux). It’s always seemed like adoption was Windows by default, then Linux was added based on one or more of these: - Cost - Coolness - Comfort and experience - Performance/overhead - Application requirements Let’s walk through that list in reverse. SQL Server requires Windows, so we run Windows, or we move to another platform. Or maybe the application we want to buy uses SQL Server, so we buy it and Windows, or we buy a different application. The right path? It all depends. Then we get to performance/overhead. OS’es require memory and disk space. For a DBA both of those are noise compared to what we need to run an enterprise database server, but there are times when the ability to squeeze more onto a single hypervisor is important. I didn’t see a great apples to apples comparison when I was writing this, but if you had to guess, would you say that Linux or Windows required more resources? Everyone said Windows, right? Did you know that server core requires a minimum of 512MB of memory to run? Or take a look at Nano, which takes less than 1GB of space for a VM. Is it usable in production at those levels? Depends on the app and the workload of course. Comfort/experience & the coolness factor are both real decision points. If your Windows admin has a strong Linux background, why not consider Linux so you have more options? Or if no one on the team has strong Linux experience, is it worth the savings to train them or hire someone new? There’s no doubt that Linux has been perceived as the cooler sibling and if you’re a Windows admin there’s a case to be made for being at least comfortable with doing the basics on Linux, and the best way to get there is to do real work with it. Finally we get to cost. Linux gets adopted a lot because it’s free. I looked on Azure at the time I wrote this and a D15 v2 instance with 20 cores and 140Gib of RAM was $1.49 an hour with Linux. If you switch to Windows, the same configuration costs $2.43 an hour. That’s about an $8200 per year “tax” for running Windows on a server we might use for hosting SQL Server. Not a huge number compared to the SQL license cost, but not nothing either. All things being equal (and clearly that’s not yet the case for SQL Server on Linux) the cheaper one wins. If you look at all of that and think about the factors involved, it’s interesting to speculate what would happen if Windows free (or free if hosted on Azure). Does Windows start to look more compelling than it did? Or are the glory days of the OS just about over as we move more and more stuff to a cloud? Those are two good questions for the next lunch with the server team! Andy Warren from [SQLServerCentral.com]( Join the debate, and [respond to today's editorial on the forums]( ADVERTISEMENT [SQL Monitor]( SQL Monitor - Always have the answers to SQL performance issues SQL Monitor keeps an eye on your SQL Servers 24/7, so you don't have to. It helps you proactively monitor the performance of your SQL Servers, saving you time, and makes sure you always have the answers to tough performance problems. [Find out more.]( Featured Contents  [] [Using SQL Server and R Services for analyzing DBA Tasks]( Tomaž KaÅ¡trun from [SQLServerCentral.com]( Article shows how R Services can help database administrators with their daily work [More »]( ---------------------------------------------------------------  [] [Determining What Happens When You Force an Execution Plan via the Query Store]( Additional Articles from [SimpleTalk]( When you force a query plan via the Query Store, you will need to track what happens: Sometimes the request to force a plan will fail, and you will want to know when and why. There are several ways of getting feedback, ranging from the built-in reports to using extended events. Enrico explains the details.[More »]( ---------------------------------------------------------------  [] From the SQLServerCentral Blogs - [Power BI Custom Visuals Class (Module 36 – Box and Whiskers (Brad))]( Devin Knight from [SQLServerCentral Blogs]( In this module you will learn how to use the Box and Whiskers (Brad) Power BI Custom Visual.  This is...[More »]( ---------------------------------------------------------------  [] From the SQLServerCentral Blogs - [The High Availability Conversation Part 1: Introduction]( SQLBalls from [SQLServerCentral Blogs]( Hello Dear Reader!  Twitter is a fantastic tool if you use SQL Server.  It is a great way to network,...[More »]( Question of the Day Today's Question (by Steve Jones): I want to use the Backup-SqlDatabase backup cmdlet to perform a differential backup of my database. How do I specify this for the cmdlet? Think you know the answer? [Click here](, and find out if you are right. --------------------------------------------------------------- We keep track of your score to give you bragging rights against your peers. This question is worth 1 point in this category: PowerShell. We'd love to give you credit for your own question and answer. To submit a QOTD, simply log in to the [Contribution Center](. ADVERTISEMENT tag=redgatsof-20 linkCode=as2 camp=1789 creative=9325 creativeASIN=1484222709Design and configure SQL Server instances and databases in support of high-throughput applications that are mission-critical and provide consistent response times in the face of variations in user numbers and query volumes. Learn to configure SQL Server and design your databases to support a given instance and workload. Pick up your copy of this great book today at [Amazon]( tag=redgatsof-20 linkCode=as2 camp=1789 creative=9325 creativeASIN=1484222709) today. Yesterday's Question of the Day Yesterday's Question (by Steve Jones): What permissions are included when someone is granted the BULKADMIN server role? Answer: Only ADMINISTER BULK OPERATIONS Explanation: The only permission in this role is ADMINISTER BULK OPERATIONS, which includes only runing BULK INSERT or OPENROWSET with the BULK option. Ref: Permissions of Fixed Server Roles - [v=sql.105).aspx]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [» Discuss this question and answer on the forums]( Database Pros Who Need Your Help Here's a few of the new posts today on the forums. To see more, [visit the forums](. --------------------------------------------------------------- [SQL Server 2016]( : [SQL Server 2016 - Administration]( [Query to take the backup]( - I need a query to take the differential backup of all the databases in sql ? can any one help .. 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