However I found a SQL function that will do the conversion for me:
CONVERT(varbinary,<value>)

Cool eh? Thus a SQL statement like this:

SELECT DocumentID, CONVERT(varbinary,DocumentID) as IDHex, Filename FROM Documents where Filename like 'Big Tuna%'

Returns:

Yeah, SQL rocks.

SolidWorks says you do not have to. EPDM will run fine on SQL 2008, it even runs fine on SQL 2005.

The following capabilities are new to R2 Standard:

• Backup Compression to reduce data backups by up to 60% and help reduce time spent on backups
• Can be managed instance for Application and Multi-Server Management capabilities
• High-scale complex event processing with SQL Server StreamInsight™

In your EPDM environment, the first bullet above is all you care about…a 60% smaller backup file is pretty impressive.

I had to upgrade because a customer sent me a backup of their database and as you can imagine my old SQL could not read this new backup format. The upgrade took about 20 minutes on my M6500 and was very easy. Drop the DVD in the drive and follow the prompts.

Though the smaller backups are nice, I wouldn’t recommend upgrading yet unless your backups are taking too long or you are running into storage issues.

Remember to backup before you upgrade.

But don’t forget Enterprise’s playmate – SQL.

SQL is that one kid who was hard to babysit for. Sure he was good when you were watching him, but if you left him alone for too long you would catch him chewing on the furniture, burning the hair on your sister’s dolls, or using a shovel in your mom’s flower bed.

He’s a good kid, he’ll serve you well, but every once in a while you need to pat him on the head so he knows you are watching him.

Like any Microsoft product, SQL requires some occasional maintenance. Tim Kwong, SolidWorks Sr. Technical Support Engineer, recommends this schedule:

Daily:

• Preform backups of the SQL database (and log file if using Full Recovery Mode)
• If using the SQL backup feature, offload the backup from the SQL server

Weekly or Monthly:

• Rebuild the SQL indexes using SQL Maintenance Plan Wizard
• Review the MDF and LDF files to make sure they haven’t exceeded the initial sizes
• Defrag the SQL drives

Quarterly:

• Check the integrity of the SQL backup by restoring and testing a recent database backup on a test setup

Don’t. There’s an object for that. Everything you need from the database: BOMs, history, users, variables, searches,  … has an associated object in the API.

It may take a little while to learn these new objects, but your code will be more robust and since you never know when SolidWorks may change the database schema, your code will be much more “upward” compatible in the future.

Check out the EdmUtility constants list in the API help file to give you a taste of some of the objects available to satisfy your little SQL writin’ heart.

I just got a support call from an Enterprise customer who was complaining they could not connect to the database. Tried restarting SQL, the service stopped – good…but then I could not start back up again – bad. Rebooted the server, the service still laid there dead. -worser than bad!

Next, tried to do a SQL repair install – the repair install failed, telling me “the database engine was bad”. Well no kidding! Had to do a clean uninstall/reinstall of SQL before we could get the service started again.

What happened? Symantec AntiVirus. Symantec started scanning the databases and less than a minute later there was nothing left but the crying. Luckily it didn’t seem to hurt the actual databases – they mounted right back up after the reinstall.

Yesterday I received an email with this image:

These are the file properties of the Microsoft SQL 2008 install that comes with SolidWorks Enterprise PDM. Look closely, it says that it is a prerelease! Yikes! Using a prerelease for production data?

I’ve done some checking and this SQL build (also known as 10.0.1600.22) is a a RTM build. [Reference] I have no idea why it says prerelease in the version information.  If you are concerned, there is a service pack can be downloaded from the Microsoft web site.

Heart attack averted. As you were.

This is the second company in two weeks I have found in this situation.

Backing up your data files on the archive server is NOT the same thing as backing up your database. Please put your mouse down, call your IT guys right now and confirm your company is backing up your Enterprise database.

Stop dancing on the mine field.