SSIS Error while loading a package: "The connection xxx is not found"

When opining a DTSX file with a SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) package, the following message appeared:

Error 1
Error loading XXX.dtsx: The connection "{XXX}" is not found. This error is thrown by Connections collection when the specific connection element is not found.

However, none of the executables inside the package showed a red error sign and thus the big question was: WTF?

It turns out that the package was configured to use SQL Server Logging and the connection used for this log was removed!

So if you ever came across this error have a look at the package Logging or Configurations.

SQL Server 2005 Hidden Gems

I just came across an article on MSDN that lists ten great features of SQL Server 2005 you most likely not know of.

The article shows you (among others):

• how easily you can enable login/logout auditing
• boosting performance through PCC
• setting the DEFAULT_SCHEMA for a user so SQL Server no longer checks [USERNAME/SCHEMA].Objectname
• Using Dynamic Management Views (DMV's) to find the top queries on your database

SQL Server Integration Services – Unicode is not Unicode

Today I came across an UTF-8 (Unicode) file I should read into SQL Server using Integration Services (IS). Fortunately, it offers a check box "Unicode" so I though I simply activate this and I'm done.

Wrong! The flag "Unicode" inside the connection manager (for the Flat File source) does mean any Unicode it ONLY means "UTF-16". However, this is not noted inside the help:

Unicode

Indicate whether to use Unicode. If you use Unicode, you cannot specify a code page.

So, if you have to deal with UTF-8 file as I did, you need to deselect the "Unicode" check box and select as Code page "65001 (UTF-8)". Tricky.

Windows Genuine Advantage described

Now this is the funniest description of WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) I ever come across:

It [Windows Genuine Advantage] is forced spyware by MS that pulls data from legit customers against their wishes for reasons that MS won't tell you about.

Source: The Inquire