SQL 2008 Setup SP1

If one gets the error message "The current SKU is invalid" while trying to add in another node to a SQL 2008 Cluster (and, perhaps significantly), one on which the other node(s) are running SP1, it is possible to get round this without slipstreaming.

Check, in Control Panel Add/Remove Programs, that the SQL 2008 Server Setup application is installed. If it is, back out of the node install, and run SQL 2008 SP1. It seems counter-intuitive, since SQL 2008 has not yet been installed. It does however work. I didn't stop the installer when I ran SP1, so I had to restart the node: I suspect that had I stopped the installer, I would not have needed to restart the node.

Once you've got the installation to work, you'll still need to service pack SQL Server itself, however, since you're on the passive node, it's pretty simple. And, since the installation is fresh, you won't need to restart again.

Microsoft error link.

Microsoft fix link.

Anything, but anything, to avoid slipstreaming the install.

SQL Configuration Manager Suddenly Unavailable

Last night, I installed SP1 onto a SQL 2008 Cluster. This morning, looking at another issue, I decided to mosey into the Configuration Manager, in order to double check which Ports SQL was operating on.

Imagine my horror when I got the following error, regardless of the account I used to try and open the tool:

"Cannot connect to WMI provider. You do not have permission or the server is unreachable. Note that you can only manage SQL Server 2005 servers or above with SQL Server Configuration Manager. Invalid class [0x80041010]"

Googling around suggested several solutions involving changing folder permissions, and also running something called mofcomp. This in particular seemed relevant to my situation, where an installation had recently been run on the server. It would seem that, occasionally, the .mof files get corrupted during an installation. They're Managed Object Format files, and used for storing system configuration information.

They can be found in the Shared folder for the 32 bit components of your SQL Server, for SQL 2005 and above. Thus, on a 64 bit cluster, they were here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Shared

And running this command in cmd fixed the problem. Phew.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Shared>mofcomp "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\10\Shared\sqlmgmproviderxpsp2up.mof"

But what if the FTS won't?

When building a Full Text Search Catalog and Index, it is a Good Idea to check that the search works properly at the end of it, by using something along the following lines:

SELECT *

FROM tablename

WHERE Freetext (COLUMN, 'some text')

Now, I knew the create script worked, as I'd used it to create my Very First Full Text Catalog and Index only a week ago. I knew the select would work, because, again, I'd tested it. SQL 2008 SP1 was about to have a bit of a disagreement with me about what was, and what wasn't, going to work.

Not so.

SQL Server encountered error 0x80070005 while communicating with full-textfilter daemon host (FDHost) process. Make sure that the FDHost process isrunning. To re-start the FDHost process, run the sp_fulltext_service 'restart_all_fdhosts' command or restart the SQL Server instance.


and in the Logs:


SQL Server failed to communicate with filter daemon launch service (Windows error: Windows Error: hr = 0x80070005(failed to retrieve text for this error)). Full-Text filter daemon process failed to start. Full-text search functionality will not be available.

Running sp_fulltext_service 'restart_all_fdhosts' did not improve matters: the command ran happily, but the error persisted. Restarting SQL didn't help either (heck, it's a DEV box, and not yet ready for the Developers).

Searching for 0x80070005 told me that the problem was to do with permissions: and the solution turned out to be setting the SQL Full Text Filter Daemon Launcher Service to run under the same account as the SQL Server Service.

The SELECT statement then deigned to execute: but did not return any results. Rebuilding the index did not help matters: however, dropping the FULLTEXT index, the index, and the Full Text catalog did work. T-SQL here for posterity for next time I have this problem.



DROP FULLTEXT CATALOG CatalogName

DROP FULLTEXT INDEX ON dbo.TableName

DROP INDEX IndexName ON dbo.TableName

Why service packs are a Good Idea

"The job failed. Unable to determine if the owner (Domain\Administrator) of job IpmsaPolicyLogMaintenance has server access (reason: Violation of PRIMARY KEY constraint 'PK__syscachedcredent__0AD2A005'. Cannot insert duplicate key in object 'syscachedcredentials'. [SQLSTATE 23000] (Error 2627) The statement has been terminated. [SQLSTATE 01000] (Error 3621))."

The quick & dirty fix? Set it to run at a slightly different time from any other SQL jobs, as the error occurs when two jobs start simultaneously, and both try to run an insert in the syscached credentials table, rather than one running an insert and one an update. Microsoft explain it more coherently.

The better fix? SQL 2000 SP1. Yup. SP1.