DBF file name is truncated to 8 characters

by Scott Muniz | Jun 26, 2020 | Uncategorized

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Recently a customer raised a case to us. They need to import a lot of DBF files into SQL SERVER. But they found when DBF fine name is longer than 8 characters they received below error:

SELECT  * FROM OPENROWSET (‘MICROSOFT.ACE.OLEDB.12.0′,’dBase 5.0;HDR=YES;DATABASE=F:temp’,
‘SELECT * FROM SJSMX00103.DBF’)

OLE DB provider “MICROSOFT.ACE.OLEDB.12.0” for linked server “(null)” returned message “The Microsoft Access database engine could not find the object ‘SJSMX00103.DBF’. Make sure the object exists and that you spell its name and the path name correctly. If ‘SJSMX00103.DBF’ is not a local object, check your network connection or contact the server administrator.”.
Msg 7350, Level 16, State 2, Line 1
Cannot get the column information from OLE DB provider “MICROSOFT.ACE.OLEDB.12.0” for linked server “(null)”.

We are quite sure that SJSMX00103.DBF is under ‘F:temp’. Therefore, we captured process monitor trace and found SQL SERVER was looking for ‘F:tempSJSMX001.DBF’ instead of ‘F:tempSJSMX00103.DBF’

We made a research for this. And even captured TTT to confirm the file name was not truncated to 8 characters before calling ‘MICROSOFT.ACE.OLEDB.12.0′ driver.

It seems ‘MICROSOFT.ACE.OLEDB.12.0′ and ‘MICROSOFT.ACE.OLEDB.16.0’ drivers which are now available to download have 8.3 file name limitation.

We consulted office team. Actually, new ‘MICROSOFT.ACE.OLEDB.12/16.0′ drivers which can support 64 characters file name are now available in Office365 Build 1807 and later version.

We tried to uninstall old ‘MICROSOFT.ACE.OLEDB.12.0′ and ‘MICROSOFT.ACE.OLEDB.16.0′ drivers. Install latest Office365. New providers appear in SQL SERVER. Now we are able to read/write long file name DBF files

New WMI support boosts IT management capabilities for Surface Dock 2

by Scott Muniz | Jun 26, 2020 | Uncategorized

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

We’re pleased to announce that Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) support is now available for Surface Dock 2. This much anticipated functionality provides diagnostic information enabling IT admins to remotely monitor and manage the latest firmware, policy state, and related data across Surface Dock 2 devices. You can use WMI with Windows PowerShell, System Center Operations Manager, and other tools.

Compatible devices

• Surface Pro (5th Gen & later)
• Surface Book 2 (2nd Gen and later)
• Surface Go (all generations)
• Surface Laptop (all generations)
• Surface Pro X — with native ARM64 support

Download

Download WMI package from Surface Dock 2 Drivers and Firmware.

WMI output

See the following figure for an example showing results for LastUpdateStatus, PolicyState, and all other  related variables. For full documentation, refer to Manage Surface Dock 2 with WMI.

Power BI Linked Service – failed to load workspace

by Scott Muniz | Jun 26, 2020 | Uncategorized

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Azure Synapse Analytics Workspace, one stop shop, also enables you to view, edit, create your Power BI Reports from Data tab. But when you try to add new Power BI linked service you get ‘failed to load workspace’ error.  In this post you will learn how to configure linked service for Power BI for first time.

Linked Services are available from Manage tab of Synapse workspace. You can add or remove linked service from that pane

When you try to add Power BI linked service, you get ‘Failed to load workspace error’

Following are steps to get the linked service created.

1. This happens when you just have default workspace i.e. ‘My workspace’ in your Power BI.
2. Create a new workspace from PowerBI.com portal with name relevant to you business reports and usages.  e.g. I have created a new workspace – PowerBIPoc. Note : You will require min Power BI Pro license to have new workspace.
3. Now try again to add linked service from Synapse workspace, you will find newly created Power BI workspace has appeared in the dropdown list.

4. You can now work on your reports.