Archives for December 2014

DBTA – Other News in SQL Server 2014 RTM

  A while back, I told you about some of the coolest new features in the recent RTM for SQL Server. The RTM was announced during the “Accelerate your insights” webcast by a boatload of Microsoft’s top executives, including CEO Satya Nadella, COO Kevin Turner, and CVP Quentin Clark. They had lots of useful information to share and demos to show, but a few other items of note about Azure SQL Databases may have dropped under your radar because they came to light a few days after the big dog-and-pony show/webcast. Read the rest of the article … [Read more...]

Minimizing Interruptions to Stay “In the Zone”

  Have you ever been really focused on solving a problem? So focused that you tuned out the rest of the world around you? A monkey clanging cymbals in the cube next to yours wouldn't bother you, you are so focused. Some IT professionals call this "in the zone." Now, have you ever been interrupted by someone while you are in the zone? "Joe, got a question for you. It will only take a second." Aaagh! Studies have shown that it can take IT professionals up to 25 minutes to get back into the zone after an interruption. Think about that. That's productivity wasted. One 30 second … [Read more...]

DBTA – Big Data and Microsoft SQL Server HDInsight

  It’s time to follow up with a discussion of Microsoft’s cloud-centric approach to big data using HDInsight. MICROSOFT SQL SERVER AND BIG DATA IN THE CLOUD HDInsight is a 100% Apache Hadoop service, currently at v2.2, available through Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud offerings. HDInsight makes all of the standard features you’d expect from a Hadoop implementation—the HDFS/MapReduce software framework and related projects such as Pig and Hive—available in a simple, scalable, and fairly cheap cloud environment. Behind the scenes, HDInsight uses Windows Azure Blob storage to manage and … [Read more...]

First Ask “Why”, then Ask “How”

  A common refrain we hear when presenting at technical conferences and training events is “How can I get promoted into IT management?” We hear this so often that we’ve worked out a sort of mental flowchart for the subsequent dialog. (We are IT people after all). And our exploratory question is, “Why would you want a promotion into management?” The variety of answers is as unique as the people who ask the question, but they are pretty easy to aggregate into several broad categories: Read the rest of this article at ForITPros.com … [Read more...]

DBTA – Microsoft SQL Server and the Big Data Play

  When it comes to implementing a big data strategy in a Microsoft SQL Server shop, you’re generally going to consider one of three strategies. In the first strategy, which I won’t be addressing today, you might choose to tackle your big data architecture by pushing your relational database to its scalability limits, perhaps by making greater use of special features such as SQL Server’s columnstore indexes and special optimizations for BI applications. Read the rest of this article … [Read more...]

We’ve Got to Do More With Less

  "We've got to do more with less." A few years ago that phrase was tossed about regularly in companies throughout the U.S. and abroad. Although those exact words have fallen out of favor, the sentiment still exists in many organizations. As managers and leaders, we have fewer resources with which to accomplish more work. We only have two options. We can either increase the number of hours we work or we can accomplish more in the same amount of time. For most of us, the first option maybe okay for a season, but its not sustainable. Read the rest of this article at ForITPros.com … [Read more...]

DBTA – Cloud Computing Enhancements in SQL Server 2014

  There’s no doubt that cloud computing is growing due to the strong cost benefits, simplified management, and reduced hosting complexities.  So it’s only fitting that we cap this series on the new features of Microsoft’s upcoming SQL Server 2014 (SQL2014) release of their flagship database by going over the highlights for SQL2014’s new cloud computing features. Here’s what SQL2014 will do for you with regards to business cloud computing: Read the rest of this article … [Read more...]

Why Do People Leave a Good Company?

  When people join a company, it’s usually with a sense of anticipation, of excitement, and of enthusiasm. They are ready to get started and to make a difference. Whether they are an individual contributor or a mid-level manager, the first day at a new company brings with it a renewed sense of engagement and optimism. Over time, that first-day-of-work feeling wanes a bit and they get into a routine. It may be a consistent work-a-day routine or it may be a fast-paced, got-to-get-it-done-yesterday routine, but there’s a routine nonetheless. Read the rest of the article at … [Read more...]

Delayed Durability—The SQL Server 2014 Transaction Log Hack!

Delayed durability was announced late in the SQL Server 2014 development cycle, but offers something that many SQL Server professionals have wanted for years—the ability to disable transaction logging. Why turn off the transaction log? It is the main guarantor of transactional consistency in SQL Server and is critical for highly recoverable applications, after all. That answer, in itself, tells you about situations where you might like to turn off the transaction log. That is, you can accelerate performance in a lot of situations where you do NOT need transactional consistency. DEFAULT … [Read more...]

DBTA : Business Intelligence Enhancements in SQL Server 2014

  Microsoft has been pouring R&D resourcesinto building out its business intelligence (BI) feature set and the upcoming SQL Server 2014 (SQL2014) release will continue that trend. The new release includes enhancements to make data exploration easier, improvements in BI semantic modeling, new offerings to help build and support massive databases and data warehouses, and tools to ensure the quality and consistency of data. Here’s what SQL2014 will do for you with regards to business intelligence: Read the rest of this article … [Read more...]