SSMS Tools Pack

I recently ran into this great tool. SSMS Tools PACK is an Add-In (Add-On) for Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express.

It contains a few upgrades to the IDE from the Management Studio:

• Uppercase/Lowercase keywords.
  
  
• Run one script on multiple databases.
  
  
• Copy execution plan bitmaps to clipboard.
  
  
• Search Results in Grid Mode and Execution Plans.
  
  
• Generate Insert statements for a single table, the whole database or current resultsets in grids.
  
  
• Query Execution History (Soft Source Control).
  
  
• Text document Regions and Debug sections.
  
  
• Running custom scripts from Object explorer's Context menu.
  
  
• CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) stored procedure generation.
  
  
• New query template.
  

SQL Server 2008 - calculating backup ratios

Backup compression is one of the coolest new features in SQL Server 2008. This nice little query gives you an overview of the average compression ratios. I used another T-SQL enhancement (GROUPING SETS) to show the ratio per database, backup type, ...


SELECT
DatabaseName =ISNULL(database_name,'(All Databases)'),
BackupType =ISNULL(CAST(type AS VARCHAR(15)), '(All Types)'),
CompressionRatio = AVG( CAST(backup_size/ compressed_backup_size AS DECIMAL(5,2)))
from msdb..backupset
WHERE (backup_size <> compressed_backup_size)
GROUP BY GROUPING SETS((database_name,type), (database_name), (type), ())
ORDER BY 1,2

Check out these excelent blogposts for more info on backup compression:

Paul Randal - SQL Server 2008: Backup Compression CPU Cost

SQLCAT - Tuning the Performance of Backup Compression in SQL Server 2008<

SQL Server 2008 BI Launch session available online

The session (Pervasive Business Intelligence with SQL Server 2008 - Heroes Happen Here) I gave on the SQL Server 2008 launch event is now available online.