Microsoft SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers - Part 8

[VelMurugan]

Microsoft SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers

What would happen when you execute the code below in Query Analyzer (SQL Server 2000)
USE Northwind
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE sp_who
AS
PRINT 'SURPRISE'
GO
EXECUTE sp_who

Information about current SQL Server users and processes is displayed.
The explanation could be found in the Books Online under Creating a Stored Procedure. One of the sections, named System Stored Procedures which describes how SQL Server looks up the system stored procedure has this note: Important If any user-created stored procedure has the same name as a system stored procedure, the user-created stored procedure will never be executed.

How is Thesaurus data configured in SQL Server 2005 Full-Text Search?

An XML file in the file system named tsxxx.xml where xxx is a code.
The thesaurus file for SQL Server 2005 is an XML file containing data and stored in SQL_Server_install_path\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\FTDATA\ directory. There is one for each language and it is named tsxxx_.xml, where xxx is the three letter language code.

What does a report model provide in SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services?

A report model provides familiar business names for database tables and fields
A Report model provides business names and terms for database fields and tables. It allows for predefined relationships between tables as well as grouping items together logically.

What can tracer tokens measure in SQL Server 2005 transactional replication?

1 and 3
Tracer tokens measure two things. One is the amount of time elapsed between a command being committed on the publisher and being written to the distribution database. The other is from the writing to the distribution database and being committed to a subscriber. This allows you to determine the latencies for transactions moving through your replication topology.

You want to script the execution of an Integration Services package from the command line for use from a Unix scheduler. What utility would you use?

dtexec.exe
The dtexec.exe utility is used to configure and execute Integration Services packages from the command line.

What does the sqlwb utility do?

Opens SQL Server 2005 Management Studio.
sqlwb.exe actually opens Management Studio and can be configured to optionally open a solution, project, or script file when it starts.

You want to automate the installation of SQL Server 2005 using SMO for your custom application and ensure that the encryption features are available with a service master key. What method would you call to create this key?

The Regenerate method under the ServiceMasterKey object.
To create a Service Master Key in SMO, you would get a handle to the ServiceMasterKey object under the Server object and then call the Regenerate method.

How can you determine which Service Broker ports are being used on your server?

Query the system catalog view: sys.conversation_endpoints
The system catalog view sys.conversation_endpoints will show you which Service Broker endpoints, and therefore ports, are open on your server.

In Full-Text Search, what is word breaking?

Determining word boundaries.
Word breaking involves finding the boundaries of a word. This is different for different languages and SQL Server 2005 includes word breakers for 23 languages.

Can you call Notification Services APIs from unmanaged code?

Yes, but only for simple subscriptions.
Notification Services can be called from unmanaged code through a COM interface for simple subscriptions only. Condition based subscriptions are not supported through COM Interop.

Which of the following is true about the Raw File Source in SQL Server 2005 Integration Services?

It does not support an error output.
The raw file source has only one output and does not support an error output. It also reads faster than other data sources because it has no parsing or translation and does not use a connection manager.