All posts by Jon Culp

I was preparing to remote into a virtual machine to do some maintenance when I encountered an error.

“An authentication error has occurred.
The function requested is not supported

Remote computer: [Computer Name]
This could be due to CredSSP encryption oracle remediation.
For more information, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=866660”

Information from the link in the error:

Credential Security Support Provider protocol (CredSSP) is an authentication provider that processes authentication requests for other applications.

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in unpatched versions of CredSSP. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could relay user credentials to execute code on the target system. Any application that depends on CredSSP for authentication may be vulnerable to this type of attack.

This security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting how CredSSP validates requests during the authentication process.

Options:

The bottom line is that in order to RDP into the target server both computers need to have the update installed. In my case, my local machine was updated, but the target machine was not yet updated. This target machine did not have automatic updates turned on and was an Azure VM. I could have contacted support, or turned on automatic updates from the portal, but the reality was I needed to get into the machine quickly to handle an emergency fix. Due to the simple architecture (stand-alone VM) I could not push the patch via SCCM or GPO.

Work-around 1:

Continue reading Can’t RDP to Server after Windows Patch (CredSSP) →

Business Intelligence

Power BI On-Premises Data Gateway Service Failures

2018-05-11 Jon Culp Leave a comment

Power BI On-Premises Data Gateway is a windows service (PBIEgwService) that moves data from on-premises to the cloud, and also is used by Power BI Report Server. The data gateway has been failing nearly daily. I’ve changed the service settings to restart upon failure with a 3 minute buffer. If this does not resolve the issue I might set up a heart-beat process that checks the health of the service and if it’s ever not running it will start it.

BIML, Links & Lists

Some BIML References

2018-05-09 Jon Culp Leave a comment

Strengthening my BIML skills for SSIS automation.

Biml Syntax Basics and Rules

Biml Resources and References

Generate Multiple SSIS Packages Using BIML and Metadata

BIML I – Getting Started with BIML

Links & Lists

Strange Parts: Bringing BACK The iPhone Headphone Jack – in China

2018-02-04 Jon Culp Leave a comment

Databases, Links & Lists, Tech Notes

Microsoft Released SQL Operations Studio (preview)

2017-11-20 Jon Culp Leave a comment

Microsoft recently announced at the 2017 SQL PASS event that they would be previewing a new tool for sql server that works across multiple operating systems.

“SQL Operations Studio (preview) is a free, light-weight tool, that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, for managing SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, and Azure SQL Data Warehouse; wherever they’re running.”

It’s now available for preview.

Read and Download:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-operations-studio/what-is

More info (video) at TechNet:
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/dataplatforminsider/2017/11/15/announcing-sql-operations-studio-for-preview/

Links & Lists

The Mother of All Modern Computing Boards

2017-10-22 Jon Culp Leave a comment

I stumbled upon Fran Blanche’s YouTube channel today and can’t get enough, except that I have to cut my self off now and get back to some actual work. She owns a guitar effects pedal company (http://www.frantone.com), tests and builds electronics, reviews old technology, uses 3d printers, she’s an artist, musician, and the list goes on. What a neat human!

“In my opinion it is the most important circuit board in history – and I examine in detail this historic relic from my own personal collection. The LVDC is a strangely obscure footnote in the history of computing, yet it represents some of the greatest leaps that computers ever took. I have spent a good portion of my life designing printed circuit boards, so I have a perspective on this magnificent artifact that I will do my best to convey in this video. But there is so much about this board and its history that I simply do not know – and I hope that some of you who watch this can add insight into the mysteries of the Saturn V Launch Vehicle Digital Computer.” – Fran Blanche

Help Support Fran’s YouTube Channel on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/frantone

Subscribe to Fran’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/franblanche

Databases, MS SQL Server 2008 R2, MS SQL Server 2016, Tech Notes

Remove Numbers from Text SVF, Nested vs CTE

2017-10-11 Jon Culp Leave a comment

I need to remove numbers from a string while processing some data as part of an ETL process in a data warehouse. I have to do this for many columns and potentially many tables so I decided to put the logic into a Scalar-Valued Function (SVF), understanding there are performance detriments when using SVFs. Generally this will be used on relatively small data sets for cleaning “codes” that will be insert into a slowly changing dimension. I was curious about how to do this. My instinct was to do it using nested replace functions. I did a quick google search to see what options the collective would recommend. I came across a post on Stack Overflow that mentioned the nested replace functions, and then someone also mentioned using a recursive Common Table Expression (CTE), which I thought was a creative suggestion.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13240298/remove-numbers-from-string-sql-server/

I have a soft spot in my heart for recursive CTEs so I thought I’d try both options and see which solution performs better. Let’s start with building the functions:

--create Nested function
create function udf_RemoveNumbers_Nested
	(
		-- Add the parameters for the function here
		@String varchar(200)
	)
returns varchar(200)
as
begin
	-- Declare the return variable here
	declare @Result varchar(200);

	-- Add the T-SQL statements to compute the return value here
	select
		@Result = 
		replace(
		 replace(
		  replace(
		   replace(
		    replace(
			 replace(
			  replace(
			   replace(
			    replace(
				 replace( @String, '0', '' )
				 , '1', '' )
				, '2', '' )
			   , '3', '' )
			  , '4', '' )
			 , '5', '' )
			, '6', '' )
		   , '7', '' )
		  , '8', '' )
		 , '9', '' );

	-- Return the result of the function
	return @Result;

end;
go

--creat CTE function
alter function udf_RemoveNumbers_CTE
	(
		-- Add the parameters for the function here
		@String varchar(200)
	)
returns varchar(200)
as
begin
	-- Declare the return variable here
	declare @Result varchar(200);

	-- Add the T-SQL statements to compute the return value here
	;
	with cte
	as ( select
				@String as string
			  , 0 as n
		 union all
		 select
				convert( varchar(200), replace( string, n, '' ))
			  , n + 1
		 from	cte
		 where	n <= 9
	   )
	select
		@Result = (
					  select top 1	string from cte order by n desc
				  );

	-- Return the result of the function
	return @Result;

end;
go

--create Nested function

create function udf_RemoveNumbers_Nested

(

-- Add the parameters for the function here

@String varchar(200)

)

returns varchar(200)

begin

-- Declare the return variable here

declare @Result varchar(200);

-- Add the T-SQL statements to compute the return value here

select

@Result =

replace(

replace( @String, '0', '' )

, '1', '' )

, '2', '' )

, '3', '' )

, '4', '' )

, '5', '' )

, '6', '' )

, '7', '' )

, '8', '' )

, '9', '' );

-- Return the result of the function

return @Result;

end;

--creat CTE function

alter function udf_RemoveNumbers_CTE

(

-- Add the parameters for the function here

@String varchar(200)

)

returns varchar(200)

begin

-- Declare the return variable here

declare @Result varchar(200);

-- Add the T-SQL statements to compute the return value here

;

with cte

as ( select

@String as string

, 0 as n

union all

select

convert( varchar(200), replace( string, n, '' ))

, n + 1

from cte

where n <= 9

)

select

@Result = (

select top 1 string from cte order by n desc

);

-- Return the result of the function

return @Result;

end;

Now that we have some functions we need some test data so let’s create a simple table and populate it with simi-random data by leveraging the newid() function.

Continue reading Remove Numbers from Text SVF, Nested vs CTE →

Arts, Photography