T-SQL to find backup location

Here is a T-SQL query to find the location of the backup files.

SELECT database_name AS DBName
    ,physical_device_name AS BackupLocation
    ,CASE WHEN [TYPE]='D' THEN 'FULL'  
    WHEN [TYPE]='I' THEN 'DIFFERENTIAL' 
    WHEN [TYPE]='L' THEN 'LOG'
    WHEN [TYPE]='F' THEN 'FILE / FILEGROUP'
    WHEN [TYPE]='G'  THEN 'DIFFERENTIAL FILE'
    WHEN [TYPE]='P' THEN 'PARTIAL'
    WHEN [TYPE]='Q' THEN 'DIFFERENTIAL PARTIAL'
  END AS BackupType
    ,backup_finish_date AS BackupFinishDate
FROM msdb.dbo.backupset JOIN msdb.dbo.backupmediafamily
ON(backupset.media_set_id=backupmediafamily.media_set_id)
ORDER BY backup_finish_date DESC

T-SQL to find the SQL Server Installation date

Here is an handy T-SQL to find the installation date of SQL Server.

DECLARE @date AS VARCHAR(50), @ServerName AS VARCHAR(100)

SELECT @ServerName = CAST(SERVERPROPERTY('SERVERNAME') AS VARCHAR)

SELECT @date = convert(varchar(50),create_date,107) 
FROM sys.server_principals
WHERE name='NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM'

PRINT 'This SQL Server Instance "' + @ServerName + '" was insalled on '+ @date 

The 'Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0' provider is not registered on the local machine. (System.Data)

When trying to load an excel spread sheet into SQL Server you may be presented with the below error.

This occurs because the Office System Driver and Data Connectivity Components are not installed on the server and SQL Server is unable to interact with the MS Office document. For the SQL Server to interact, open and load the data from excel spreadsheet, it requires the Office System Driver and Data Connectivity Components to be installed.

To fix this issue, download and install the Office System Driver and Data Connectivity Components from the below link.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=23734

This will install a set of components that can be used to facilitate transfer of data between Microsoft Office System files and non-Microsoft Office applications.

Do you have a desire to learn SQL?

Many of us have users that show a desire to learn SQL, and that would be awesome, but who has the time to train them?

Well I have a solution I think you’ll like.  I recently ran across a site for beginners, EssentialSQL, that provides easy to understand SQL lessons in plain English.  The site is targeted towards the beginner, though I suspect a couple of developers could use their guidance as well!

All the examples are easy to follow.  The site recommends using SQLite, since it is a snap to install.  The good news is SQLite is SQL-92 compliant, so the training applies to basic SQL Server DML.

I really liked that the training comes with videos, so if you don’t get what Kris, essential SQL’s creator, has written, you can always watch him “live.”

In additional to the training posts, the site has several posts on database concepts.  Some are basic, such as explaining ACID; where as others, delve into the details of a B-Tree indexes.  Kris mentioned he plans on digging into other topic such as Hash Indexes and Normalization.  No doubt, everyone can use a refresher with these topics.

If you know of anyone having a desire to learn SQL, I would recommend they visit this site.

Mirrored Databases disconnect and goes in-recovery state after a server restart

Recently, I had a situation where a production server was restarted and soon after the restart we found that the database mirroring was disconnected.
And as a bonus, one of the mirrored database was hung in recovery state.

When I investigated further, I found the below message in the SQL Server Logs.

Bypassing recovery for database '<DB Name>' because it is marked as an inaccessible database mirroring database. A problem exists with the mirroring session. The session either lacks a quorum or the communications links are broken because of problems with links, endpoint configuration, or permissions (for the server account or security certificate). To gain access to the database, figure out what has changed in the session configuration and undo the change.

This clearly says the connection between the principal and  the mirror is not established properly and the combination of a Mirrored Database with a big log file and a server restart caused the "In Recovery State" of the mirrored database.
To fix this error, I had to Restart the Database Mirroring Endpoint.

--To Stop the Endpoint
ALTER ENDPOINT <EndPoint Name> STATE=STOPPED

--To Start the Endpoint
ALTER ENDPOINT <EndPoint Name> STATE=STARTED