How do I stop and start a SQL Azure database? - sql-server

I am running an Azure based site that for historic reasons uses two databases on two servers. I have copied the data from the static data-source so that both reside on the same server. I am fairly sure I have removed all references to the old server from the live code, and indeed the Azure dashboard shows no connections over the last month. But to be 100% sure before I delete the server I would like to stop it and test the live site. If anything goes wrong I would then like to start it again. In SQL Server Management Studio this is usually straightforward, I can right-click on a server in the SQL Server Management Studio object explorer and select 'Stop' and then if needed 'Start'. However 'Stop' and 'Start' are not listed in the options for SQL Azure servers, nor is there anything I can see in the management pages on the Azure portal.
So my question is simple - how do I stop and start a SQL Azure database?

We had an issue with a Sql Azure db and were pretty sure it was in the server/service. We couldn't find the stop & start button, but did find a workaround:
Scale the database to another tier and then scale it back!
It solved our db issue.
Everybody says you don't need a stop/start button... but sometimes the theory differs from practice. Even Azure has issues :)

as Praggie mentioned, you cannot stop/start the SQL Azure servers. A SQL Azure Database resides on a shared host. there are other tenants on that server. you have access to the database, but not to the corresponding hosting server.
you can rename the database and if there's any app connecting to it, then they'd fail.

You can simply block the IPs (remove all the firewall rules, so that no one can connect)

A quick and dirty rename can work pretty good. Admin rights required!
USE master;
GO
ALTER DATABASE MyDatabaseIsAvailable
Modify Name = MyDatabaseIsNoMoreAvailable;
GO
do the opposite once you're done. The good thing is you can 'stop' a single Database when you have more than one on the same server

If this helps: in my situation, the database was locked. I could not alter tables, schema or anything else.
The way I found to handle this case was forcing read only and read write with rollback immediate.
ALTER DATABASE [MyDB]
SET READ_ONLY
WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;
ALTER DATABASE [MyDB]
SET READ_WRITE
WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;

Warning, the top google result for "restart sql server database azure" gives one of the options for restarting as running DBCC STACKDUMP('Manual Failover – Reason: something').
Running that definitely causes something to happen, but in our case after 5 minutes the DTUs still weren't registering and the portal wasn't able to pull information on the size of the database.
After waiting 10 minutes for it to come back we ended up changing the tier and roughly 18 minutes later the tier change finished and the database was accessible again.

Related

How to fix Recovery Pending State in SQL Server Database?

How to fix Recovery Pending State in SQL Server Database?
Execute the following set of queries:
ALTER DATABASE [DBName] SET EMERGENCY;
GO
ALTER DATABASE [DBName] set single_user
GO
DBCC CHECKDB ([DBName], REPAIR_ALLOW_DATA_LOSS) WITH ALL_ERRORMSGS;
GO
ALTER DATABASE [DBName] set multi_user
GO
For more info: https://www.stellarinfo.com/blog/fix-sql-database-recovery-pending-state-issue/
When your Database .mdf file name is renamed, this issue is occurred. To solve:
Restart SQL EXPRESS in Services, Pending issue is solved.
In our case it was caused by the disk drive running out of space. We deleted some junk to free space, then fixed the "Recovery Pending" by stopping and restarting the SQL Server Service.
Detach, re-attach, solved !
ALTER DATABASE MyDatabase SET EMERGENCY;
EXEC sp_detach_db MyDatabase
EXEC sp_attach_single_file_db #DBName = MyDatabase, #physname = N'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\DATA\MyDatabase.mdf'
While using SQL Management Studio, there is an intermittent issue when a user is changing the Database Names then sometimes SQL Server uses the same DB file for two different Databases. If SQL Server is in this state then you would be probably seeing the following error if you try Mahesh's answer:
"The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process"
To fix this issue:
Stop MSSQLServer service from the Services Console MMC
Rename the DB and the Log files (Database Properties -> Files)
In the Object Explorer window in SQL Management Studio, refresh the 'Databases Folder', if you see that there is another Database node (in addition to the one which you are trying to rectify this issue) which is shown in 'Recovery Pending State' then proceed to the next step. If you do not see this error then you need to try something else to resolve this issue
Make a backup of the DB and Log files for new offending node from step 3 and !!Careful!! delete the database
Restore the Db File names which you changed in Step 2
Now start the MSSQLServer service from the Services Console
Re-try the steps from Mahesh's answer
In my case, this affected the secondary server in a High Availability SQL Server cluster.
The primary was Synchronizing but the secondary was Recovery Pending.
After checking in cluadmin.msc, realised that the secondary server wasn't healthy in the cluster.
Then determined Cluster Service had failed to start on the second cluster box after a Windows Update enforced reboot (may have happened because the file share witness was rebooting after a similar Windows Update at the same time).
Starting the Cluster Service brought the databases back into Synchronizing status.
Ensure that the "Log On" account for the "SQL Server (201x)" service (listed in Windows Services (Manager)) has sufficient rights. You may try changing it to another Logon. In my case, changing it from "This account" to "Local System account", restarting the "SQL Server (xxxx)" service and SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), and logging into SSMS again resolved the issue.
Background (in my particular case):
I had 3 different instances of SQL (2008r2, 2012 and 2014) running on my local PC, and was busy moving a folder (which I later discovered contained some SQL data & log database files) to another PC. Halfway through, I stopped the SQL Services in Service (Manager), hoping that the files would move across without issues - since they would now, no longer be in use. I realized that I needed to confirm the database names, and file locations in SQL (in order to set them up again on the new pc), so I copied the SQL data and log files back (to the original locations). After restarting the PC - the majority of the databases on various instances all showed as: "Recovery Pending" in SSMS. After first trying the procedure from stellarinfo (listed as an answer here by #Mahesh Thorat) on 2 of the databases, and still not having any luck, a post SQL SERVER – Where is ERRORLOG? Various Ways to Find ERRORLOG Location on Pinal Dave's SQL Authority website and the post: Operating System error 5(Access is Denied) on SQL Server Central gave me an idea that it could be rights related after looking at the SQL Errorlog and finding "Operating system error 5: "5(Access is denied.)". Another post Msg 3201, Level 16 Cannot open backup device. Operating system error 5(Access is denied.) at SqlBak Blog seems to support this.
I was using azure, the mdf and log file are in different disk and not attached that disk with which it is not able to figure that files and hence the file Recovery Pending
This could happen due to insufficient permissions for a folder with database files (in my case due to a domain migration).
Just give access to the folder for an SQL service's account.

SQL Server backup to Azure stopped working after moving DB files

I have a database in SQL Server 2014 on premises. For that database I have a backup to Azure storage configured using smart_admin.sp_set_db_backup procedure.
Recently I had to move the database files from one disk to another. I detached database, moved files, reattached it.
After that my backup stopped working. The function smart_admin.fn_backup_db_config shows that database backup record exists but database marked as is_dropped = 1
Any attempt to enable or disable backup for this database fails with error:
SQL Server Managed Backup to Windows Azure cannot configure the database, 'DATABASE_NAME', because it either does not exist or is offline.
Any way I can remove backup configuration information and create a new one? One of the ideas I found is rename the database, but I cannot do that in production.
Vad's answer is close, but there can be more than one record in autoadmin_managed_databases for a given db_name. You need to get the last record, which is the one with the max autoadmin_id. I picked the wrong one, and SQL Server repopulated the drop_date after I ran smart_admin.sp_set_db_backup or the 15 minute interval ran.
use msdb;
go
update [dbo].[autoadmin_managed_databases]
set drop_date = null
where [autoadmin_id]= (select max(autoadmin_id)
from [dbo].[autoadmin_managed_databases]
where db_name = '<DROPPPED_DATABASE_NAME>')
go
Managed Backups - is_dropped flag set to Yes after detaching database
and reattaching DB
Rename the database and set up managed backup again.
Reference
As I mentioned earlier I was not allowed to rename the database on the Production. So I found where it's marked as dropped and changed the value. That helped. Automated backups for the database started working again. IMO what happened looks like a bug in SQL Server 2014.
use msdb;
go
update [dbo].[autoadmin_managed_databases]
set drop_date = null
where [db_name] = '<DROPPED_DATABASE_NAME>'
go

SqlServer restore database error

I'm using SQL Server 2008 R2, I need to restore a database from a .bak file. There is always an error that the database is in use until I restart the SQL Server service.
Is there a better option to do that?
Use this code to destory all existing connections before restore:
USE master;
GO
ALTER DATABASE YourDB
SET SINGLE_USER
WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;
ALTER DATABASE YourDB
SET MULTI_USER;
GO
Select the backup file to restore and go to options to select "Close existing connections to destination database" and click ok
Restarting the SQL Service solves my problems.
The problem is that your database is currently being used by others and probably has open connections. What you would need to do is close all the existing connections to it, and then restore your backup.
Here is a link showing how to kill active connections: http://wiki.lessthandot.com/index.php/Kill_All_Active_Connections_To_A_Database
USe activity monitor and filter on the DB you are wanting to restore. Then check with the user that is using it and make sure it is ok to resotre the DB. Then run the following query.
USE Master
KILL <session_id from activity monitor>
Shut down the database engine and start it again. Do not just restart because it doesn't stop the instance completely. The error may be fake but check your environment to confirm there are no running applications that automatically reconnect after losing a database connection.
I have never found an answer to explain why restoring from a file to a new database is considered "in use".
Sometimes, #Serjik's answer to take the origin database down to single-user and back has worked for me. About 80% of the time, I have to shut it all down and start it up again before I can restore through SQL Server Management Server.
If still not solved try to execute following
Restore database YOUR_DB_NAME with recovery
What worked for me was:
right click on your db -> Tasks -> Take Offline
restore db
then, to bring it back online, right click on your db -> Tasks -> Bring Online
try restoring using SQL
RESTORE DATABASE my_new_database FROM disk = 'E:\path\name.bak'
sometimes I had these issues with UI but worked fine with SQL statement.
you need to kill all the open process before restoring, sometimes the process can not close themselves due to some issues with your windows or SQL installation files.

"Cannot open user default database. Login failed." after installing SQL Server Management Studio Express

I have a database in a local file that is used by a program. The program has limited functionality and I needed to run some quick queries. I installed SQL Server Management Studio Express 2005 (SSMSE), connected to the SQL Server instance, attached the database file, and ran the queries. Now the original program will no longer connect to the database. I receive the error:
Cannot open user default database. Login failed. Login failed for user 'MyComputer\MyUserName'.
I've gone back into SSMSE and tried to set the default database. I've opened up Security, Logins, BUILTIN\Administrators and BUILTIN\Users. Under General, I have set the default database to the program's database. Under User Mappings, I made sure the database is ticked and that db_datareader and db_datawriter are ticked.
The program uses the connection string:
Server=(local)\Instance; AttachDbFilename=C:\PathToDatabase\Database.mdf; Integrated Security=True; User Instance=True;
I know jack-all about database administration. What else am I missing?
This may not be answering your question specifically, but it may help others with similar issue caused by different problem
In my case the problem was my user is defaulted to a database which is not accessible for any reason (can be renamed, removed, corrupted or ...)
To solve the issue just follow the following instruction
Try to login again on the login page there is other tabs select
"Connection Properties".
under the tab locate "Connect to database" and select an existing database you have access to like tempdb or master
Once you are connected to the SQL Server Instance execute the below TSQL to assign the login a new default database.
Use master
GO
ALTER LOGIN [yourloginname] WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE = TempDB
GO
Alternatively once you connected change your default database name to master via UI
Article taken from :
http://www.mytechmantra.com/LearnSQLServer/Fix-cannot-open-user-default-database-Login-failed-Login-failed-for-user-SQL-Server-Error/
This problem manifested for me when I took my default db offline. Next thing I know I couldn't login. Switching to the Connection Properties tab and selecting the drop down to change the database I want to connect to also failed.
It let me in right away once I manually typed master as the db I wanted to connect to (on the Connection Properties tab).
First, try to isolate your problem:
Take a backup of the file! Some of the steps below can, apparently, in some circumstances cause the file to vanish.
Are you sure you are connecting to the same instance through Management Studio as the program is?
If possible, try to shut down the instance that you are not expecting to use.
Set the user's default database to master and try to make the program logon.
Try to login as the user through Management Studio - since you have integrated security, you should open Management Studio as the program's user.
Are you using "User instances" - perhaps without knowing it? If so, this may be helpful: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlexpress/archive/2006/11/22/connecting-to-sql-express-user-instances-in-management-studio.aspx
I haven't worked much with files being attached in the way your program does - but you write that you attached the DB in the Management Studio as well. Have you tried detaching it there before running your program? Perhaps you are seeing the Management Studio and your program competing for exclusive access to the MDF-file?
EDIT: I added point 6 above - this is new in my own list of TODOs when troubleshooting this type of Login failed. But it does sound a lot like what you're experiencing.
EDIT2: In the first edit, new item was added to the list. So the numbers in the comments doesn't correspond with the numbers in the answer.
I finally figured this out, and my situation is different than every other I've read about tonight.
I had restored my database from a backup. I knew that there was a particular login user that I had been using, so I created that user in SSMS. However, there was already a user by that name under the database that had come in with the backup.
Since I had screwed around so much trying to fix this, I wasn't able to delete the user under the DB easily. I deleted the database and restored again. Then:
Delete the user under the Databases->[my database]->Users
Create the user again in Security->Logins (not under your DB, although that probably works too.
Go to the newly created user. Select properties. Then under User Mappings, tell it to make your database the default. Give it read and write access.
Summary: I had two users. One that came with the DB, and one that I had created. Remove the one that came with the DB and create your own.
First click on Option>> Button of “Connect to Server” Prompt.
Now change the connect to database to any existing database on your server like master or msdb.
More Details
https://blog.sqlauthority.com/2008/11/04/sql-server-fix-error-4064-cannot-open-user-default-database-login-failed-login-failed-for-user/
I've also had this same problem, it turned out that I was trying to access the built in membership classes (in a view), and that .Net was trying to create the database in the App_Data folder:
#Membership.GetUser().ProviderUserKey
This will trigger the system to try and create a database based in the built in membership system, which may not be the way your system is setup.
I had a similar problem had to simply download SQL Express Utility that is capable of starting User Instances. SSEUtil is a tool written by the Visual Studio team to help troubleshoot User Instance issues, you can read more about it in the read me file that is installed with the utility.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=fa87e828-173f-472e-a85c-27ed01cf6b02&DisplayLang=en.
Hope this will help.
In my case I had to set "connect to any database" right path:
On your instance, go to Security , then to Logins.
Right Click on there, you will see properties and you should click on Securables.
There it give possibility to connect to any database.

SQL Server Copy Database Issue

I'm running the copy database wizard on a 2008 R2 instance of SQL Server.
The database I want to copy is a SQL 2000 database.
I'm copy that database to another SQL SErver 2008 R2.
The wizard uses SQL authentication for both servers, and both are sysadmins.
When I run it, I get the following error (FYI I have tried both copying the logins and leaving them out):
Event Name: OnError
Message: ERROR : errorCode=-1073548784 description=Executing the query "sys.sp_addrolemember #rolename = N'RandomRoleName..." failed with the following error: "The role 'RandomRoleName' does not exist in the current database.". Possible failure reasons: Problems with the query, "ResultSet" property not set correctly, parameters not set correctly, or connection not established correctly.
helpFile= helpContext=0 idofInterfaceWithError={C81DFC5A-3B22-4DA3-BD3B-10BF861A7F9C}
StackTrace: at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Dts.DtsTransferProvider.ExecuteTransfer()
at Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Transfer.TransferData()
at Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Tasks.TransferObjectsTask.TransferObjectsTask.TransferDatabasesUsingSMOTransfer()
Any help would be appreciated!
Jim
My suggestion is dont use the copy database wizard. Create a full backup of the database on the 2000 server and then restore it on the 2008 server.
If you google "Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Dts.DtsTransferProvider.ExecuteTransfer Copy Database Wizard" you will find that many many people have gotten this same error or other nearly identical smo errors... no-one appears to have gotten past it.
That's isn't to say its impossible... just, restoring a backup is so much easier then the wizard or troubleshooting the wizard. Good luck.
The copy wizard had missed some security and IIRC it's caused by subtle differences in security tables, principals etc between the 2 versions.
Frankly, the easiest way is to do one of these two:
backup/restore
detach, copy, attach
If you don't have access to the O/S and can't get it, another option is to create the missing role(s) in the background as the copy runs. You have to catch it between the creation of the files and when it tries to reference the roles, but there are a few seconds in which to create them if you keep clicking execute - I managed to create 9 roles.
Unfortunately, you'll end up with the roles in another database too (while yours cannot be used) so those need to be deleted.
Of course, this is only an option when you really can't use the other method.
Though the answer which is using the backup technique solves the problem generally, after facing the same issue several times, I was able to trace down the root of the problem using the Event Viewer of Windows to that the Database Copy wizard, using the SQL Agent, will eventually create a Job for the agent to run, after which the Agent will run using its own credentials (i.e. the credentials that you can look up in Windows Services, in my case, NT Service\SQLAgent$SQL2014)
All you need to do is to go the folder where SQL Server creates DB files (e.g. C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.SQL2014\MSSQL\DATA by default for SQL 2014) and give the SQL Agent windows user write/read access on the folder.
The reason can be that a file with the new Database name already exist on the filesystem. We encountered this when we renamed Database X to X_Old, and tried to copy database Y to X. This cannot be done, because database X_Old is still associated with the filename X.
Either delete the conflicting database, or rename the file on the file system.
See http://codecopy.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/error-while-copying-a-database/

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