SQL Server installation

So, I install MS SQL Server, I had not installed it in years, last version I installed was 2000. This time it is the 2008, express (free) edition. It wants to install .net, fine with me ... but it wants two distinct versions ... WTF? Again, backward compatibility is a pain with .net. Can't they at least port all their code to the latest version? losers!

The other thing that strikes me, the installation for .net takes ages, using 100%, in a vm ... but I can run a double-stack SAP instance in a vm on my box (it is pretty heavy gear) ... On the dialog it says: Download finished, you may disconnect from the internet ... does it think I use a 56k modem?

Well, I will have a look at this thing anyway, everybody deserves a 512th chance, right?

Well, anyway, after installing powershell I could continue installation. But it failed with the following message:

TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Setup
------------------------------

The following error has occurred:

A network error occurred while attempting to read from the file: e:\b79ad030129e84bb93122e9bed672fb5\1033_ENU_LP\x86\setup\x86\sqlwriter.msi

The weird thing is, guess what, e: is a local drive.

Anyway, I was installing over the network, the original installation file resides on my linux samba server (drive z:) and I installed to my e: drive. I copied it over and started the installation again, which worked.

Installing the "SQL Server Management Studio" was weird, as the installer made me doubt what I was installing ... it looked so much like the database installer and even the link to install it read database, not Management Studio ... I do not quite know why I installed that, osql does the job just as well ... ;-)

I do need to get used to typing go, though ... which is a bit weird, because I used to be accustomed to this, but 5 years of Oracle use have made me become lazy, especially after select statements.

TNS-04413: A shared object was found in the subtree

I installed Oracle 11g on Linux, debian squeeze, last week and came across a weird error after having had to configure the sqlnet stuff. Oracle doesn't seem to be able to do that on debian-based systems, nor on Solaris ... so maybe all unices are affected. I don't know, I must be making a big mistake somewhere during installation ... ;-)

So, I thouht I had set everything up as it should be, but I had a problem in the sqlnet configuration, as the listener did not want to serve my database.

I started dbca to check if it could find the database and got several errors, that pointed me in the right direction ... ;-).

I figured it out in the end, I had this line:


(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC1521))
iso
(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = IPC)(KEY = EXTPROC))

I had somehow gotten the listener port at the end of EXTPROC, don't ask me how that happened ... must have made a typo in vi. The weird thing is, that I found nothing on the interwebs about the error:

TNS-04413: A shared object was found in the subtree

So here is a blog entry about that ... ;-)

See below:

oracle@hpcarpenter:~$ lsnrctl start

LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production on 17-MAY-2010 14:57:07

Copyright (c) 1991, 2009, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Starting /u00/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/db_1/bin/tnslsnr: please wait...

TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
System parameter file is /u00/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/db_1/network/admin/listener.ora
Log messages written to /u00/app/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/hpcarpenter/listener/alert/log.xml
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=EXTPROC1521)))
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=hpcarpenter.masalan)(PORT=1521)))

Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=IPC)(KEY=EXTPROC1521)))
STATUS of the LISTENER
------------------------
Alias LISTENER
Version TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 11.2.0.1.0 - Production
Start Date 17-MAY-2010 14:57:09
Uptime 0 days 0 hr. 0 min. 0 sec
Trace Level off
Security ON: Local OS Authentication
SNMP OFF
Listener Parameter File /u00/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/db_1/network/admin/listener.ora
Listener Log File /u00/app/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/hpcarpenter/listener/alert/log.xml
Listening Endpoints Summary...
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=EXTPROC1521)))
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=hpcarpenter.masalan)(PORT=1521)))
The listener supports no services
The command completed successfully
oracle@hpcarpenter:~$ dbca
Can't get a listener LISTENER Exception: oracle.net.config.ListenerException: TNS-04412: A problem reading or writing an address
caused by: oracle.net.config.SOExceptionConfig:
TNS-04413: A shared object was found in the subtree

SAP - Sybase

I also have a faible for Sybase, mainly because my wife worked there. Anyway, SAP just bought the company. I downloaded ASE last month and later had a sales chap on the phone (he called me to know how it was going), I asked if they supported SAP, and he sort of started to mumble something ... then said the next version might ... I thought there was something breeding ... here you go!

Microsoft, I think SAP is starting to show you something ... ;-) and Sybase will be more than happy to take its revenge!

Accenture, the suckerz

Ok, today I would like to talk about .... Accenture. I know somebody who works there, a project manager ... apparently he knows very little about alternatives to a Microsoft-only implementation (except for software not covered by MS).

I had a discussion with a lad in the pub the other night, who was telling me his company uses Oracle db's with SAP, they got Accenture in for some consultancy ... and now, they are switching to SQL Server, because Accenture only deals with that.

Morality, if you hire Accenture in, your datancenter will become mostly MS, who said putting all your eggs into one basket was a bad idea?

.net

I refuse to use .net stuff, oh, I have given it a try, I ended up with three or four different versions of the runtime installed on one computer, because I thought backward-compatibility was something the developers had heard of ... silly me!

So now, on this new computer I just set up, I have already discarded 2 pieces of software that wanted the .net crap. I don't understand why anyone develops in that crap ... there is absolutely no cross-platform support (mono is a joke!), not even native XP support (which still is the #1 OS out there) .... and when it says it wants 1.1, then it means it ... 3.0, 2.0 or even 1.3 are not accepted, WTF? I mean you have similar issues with Java, like a program written for Java 1.2 might not work wth 1.6, it will "usually" work with 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5, though ...

iiiiBoycott that crap!!!!!