SQL 2005 "Listen All" TCP/IP Networking Problem Fixed

I'm one of those DBAs that likes to lock down my SQL servers. This means ensuring that SQL is only listening on the TCP/IP port I want it on.
This is easy enough to configure with the SQL Server Configuration app or by editing the registry... The GUI is "cleaner". Anyways, you'll want to set a static port for the IP enable that IP, disable the others, and then disable "listen all". However, when doing this you may occasionally run into a problem where you get error messages like this when you try to start the SQL service:

Could not start the network library because of an internal error in the network library. To determine the cause, review the errors immediately preceding this one in the error log.
AND/OR
SQL Server could not spawn FRunCM thread. Check the SQL Server error log and the Windows event logs for information about possible related problems.

If you know the port is available (netstat is your friend) and the IP address is correct then here's what you need to check:
Is there by any chance more than one 127.0.0.1 entry? Yes? Regedit time!
Go into the registry and navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\*INSTANCE NUMBER*\MSSQLServer\SuperSocketNetLib\Tcp\

Look for one of the IPx keys that has 127.0.0.1 in the IpAddress entry and delete it. After that you should be able to start the SQL service with no troubles.

Cheers!

Veritas Cluster Failes to Come Online

I was working on setting up a new SQL 2005 Veritas cluster today and came upon this error:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Had
Event Category: None
Event ID: 11306
Date: 10/20/2008
Time: 1:30:40 PM
User: N/A
Computer: XXXXXXXX
Description:
Did not receive cluster membership, manual intervention may be needed for seeding

What does that mean??

It means you need to drop to a command prompt and do this:
gabconfig -x

That'll reseed the control port and should bring the cluster node back into membership. It worked for me and it'll probably work for you too!

Cheers!

Windows Update and Error 0x8DDD0018 -FIX

I was having a hell of a time trying to get a Windows 2003 R2 Standard x64 server to load the Windows Update site. I was always getting the error: 0x8DDD0018

Sadly, the troubleshooting info at MS focused on starting the BITS service which (seemingly) was working just fine.

Well, I eventually stumbled on the solution. Try this at a command prompt:
regsvr32.exe wuaueng.dll

Presto! Windows Updates should be working for you again :)

64bit (x64 and Itanium) OLEDB provider for ODBC (MSDASQL) Download!

If you've ever tried to link a 64bit SQL 2005 server to something like Excel or MySQL you know that it just isn't going to happen without MSDASQL .

Well, it's finally out! Get it right from MS here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=000364db-5e8b-44a8-b9be-ca44d18b059b&displaylang=en

Here's the description from the MS download:
The Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC (MSDASQL) is a technology that allows applications that are built on OLEDB and ADO (which uses OLEDB internally) to access data sources through an ODBC driver. MSDASQL is an OLEDB provider that connects to ODBC, instead of a database. MSDASQL ships with the Windows operating system, and Windows Server 2008 & Windows Vista SP1 are the first Windows releases to include a 64-bit version of the technology.


Enjoy!!