HOWTO: Kill SQL

Looking for a quick way to kill your SQL engine and bring your SOLIDWORKS Enterprise PDM system to a screeching halt?

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.