O’Reilly Media on Facebook is a place for for anyone who is a fan of O’Reilly, whether you’ve been following their books, conferences, webcasts, and more since the very beginning or you recently jumped onto the bandwagon.
I really enjoy the newsletters and blogs from O’Reilly’s various channels, especially Tim O’Reilly’s commentary.
SQL in a Nutshell, now in it's 3rd Edition
And, of course, there’s my book – SQL in a Nutshell – published by O’Reilly for your consideration. This book provides a complete reference of the latest release of the ANSI SQL standard, as well as full coverage of support for the ANSI standard from the biggest database vendors – Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.
Why companies should upgrade their databases to SQL Server 2005.
Please forgive posting this old video. Many of the tips are still worth paying attention to since SQL Server 2005 features and technologies are the foundation of subsequent releases.
Back in late May, my pal Buck Woody (blog | twitter) and I presented SQL Server for the Oracle DBA. Buck played Jerry Lewis’ role, while I played the straight man a la Dean Martin. You can see the recording and slide deck here. Since both Buck and I spent a considerable number of years working on Oracle, we felt like we had pretty good legs to stand on doing this presentation. Here’s the abstract:
In enterprise IT, database professionals face a mixed-bag of platforms within their environments — and the overlapping duties that go along with them. Whether you like it or not, you get asked to support Microsoft SQL Server operations even though you’re an Oracle DBA.
In this instructive webcast, experts from Microsoft and Quest with years of experience in both platforms will discuss the biggest issues and areas of interest for Oracle DBAs who need to work on Microsoft SQL Server. You’ll learn their tips and tricks for efficiency and gain a deeper understanding of SQL Server to help you add more value than ever to your organization.
Of course, there are always questions and we aim to please. Here are the transcripts of the Q&A chat session (below) that accompanies the presentation. The only editing I did was to remove blank questions. If you’re not familiar with Live Meeting, there’s always a [Q&A] menu on the top session bar where you can ask a question. Quick Tip – The Live Meeting Q&A queue is one question deep, meaning that if you write a question and then write another before the first question is answered, your original question drops out of the queue. Here’s the transcript:
Meeting Questions and Answers:
Subject: Pain of the Week Webcast - May 27, 2010
Start Time: Thursday, May 27, 2010 10:00:00 AM GMT-5:0
Gabe Kovacs Asked: Do I need to call the hear the audio for this presentation?
Christian Answered: Yes, you will need to call the toll free number – 1888-253-4037 PC: 319874
Luis Cardenas Asked: Morning could you kindly tell me which is the passcode for teleconf?
Christian Answered: 319874
Jossy Tonio Asked: Is it started?
John Allman Asked: What is the PASS CODE for the audio?
inho Asked: To provide similar service level for Oracle database recovery using EMC SRDF and VCS/GCO, for
inho Changes Question To: To provide similar service level for Oracle database recovery using EMC SRDF and VCS/GCO, what similar DR solution(automatic failover, synchronous data replications) is available with SQL Server ?
Roy McBroom Asked: Who’s Pat Boone?
Luis Cardenas Asked: Is there any chance we could get the slides? They seem useful.
John Allman Asked: What is the PASS CODE for the audio?
Luis Cardenas Asked: Is there any chance we could get the slides? They seem useful.
hre Answered Privately: yes. they will be sent out to all attendees after the live event.
Jerry Mu Asked: I know sql server only has one tempdb that is public to all session. Oracle can create all temp tablespace. is there bottleneck in sql server if application is bigger and busy?
Jerry Mu Changes Question To: I know sql server only has one tempdb that is public to all session. Oracle can create all temp tablespace. is there bottleneck in sql server if application is bigger and busy?
inho Asked: To provide similar service level for Oracle database recovery using EMC SRDF and VCS/GCO, what similar DR solution(automatic failover, synchronous data replications) is available with SQL Server ?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: clustering, mirroring, replication and identical EMC features
Roy McBroom Asked: Who’s Pat Boone?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: A 50′s and 60′s era singer renown for his appeal to white middle-class americans
Jerry Mu Asked: I know sql server only has one tempdb that is public to all session. Oracle can create all temp tablespace. is there bottleneck in sql server if application is bigger and busy?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: tempdb can be tuned to allow multiple filegroups and, thus, multiple IO paths
DBA_Joseph Asked: What portions of the Oracle SYSTEM tablespace live in the MS-SQL “master” database, and what pieces of that info live elsewhere in MS-SQL?
Ray Herrera Asked: Can you customize the model database?
Wayne Starnes Asked: dive a little deeper into ORACLE ‘user’ being a schema object, vs SQL database and the users as the schema
Ray Herrera Changes Question To: Can you customize the model database?
Jerry Mu Asked: You mean muilple file? like how many CPU and we can create files to match CPU. But I think that will create file fragmentation, is that right? Any plan for sql server to support muilple tempdb, like sybase did?
DBA_Joseph Asked: What portions of the Oracle SYSTEM tablespace live in the MS-SQL “master” database, and what pieces of that info live elsewhere in MS-SQL?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: It’s about equal. SYSTEM + SYS on Oracle = MASTER on MSSQL
Ray Herrera Asked: Can you customize the model database?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: absolutely!
Moorthy Rekapalli Asked: Can you please expand on the concept of user and schema in SQL Server and please relate that to Oracle as I am more familiar with that.
Wayne Starnes Asked: dive a little deeper into ORACLE ‘user’ being a schema object, vs SQL database and the users as the schema
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: sorry Wayne, not enough time. links for that at the end.
Robert Stewart Asked: does the master database corralate to the sys user in Oracle
Moorthy Rekapalli Asked: Can you please expand on the concept of user and schema in SQL Server and please relate that to Oracle as I am more familiar with that.
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: Sorry Moorthy, not enough time. But there are links for that at the end.
Robert Stewart Asked: does the master database corralate to the sys user in Oracle
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: SYSTEM + SYS on Oracle = Master on MSSQL
Jerry Mu Asked: You mean muilple file? like how many CPU and we can create files to match CPU. But I think that will create file fragmentation, is that right? Any plan for sql server to support muilple tempdb, like sybase did?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: Yes, you can correlate CPUs to files. It does not contribute to unusual file fragementation.
rick stehno Asked: you don’t want to use OPS$ because it is not as secure as the other methods and you indicated that sql server access is similar to OPS$. this isn’t a good thing is it?
Luis Cardenas Asked: what about synonyms, in oracle we use to managa certains aspect of sucurity do they exist in SQLServer?
rick stehno Asked: you don’t want to use OPS$ because it is not as secure as the other methods and you indicated that sql server access is similar to OPS$. this isn’t a good thing is it?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: Ops$ is similar but not as comprehensive as Windows authentication
Luis Cardenas Asked: what about synonyms, in oracle we use to managa certains aspect of sucurity do they exist in SQLServer?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: Coming in the next release
DBA_Joseph Asked: Just to clarify:: For efficiency ++ To reduce I/O, I take it, that DB-changes are cached in MEMORY, (like Oracle’s SGA) as well as the transactin log… and the MS-SQL then migrates those changes to Database storage… To clarify earlier statement about user writing to LOG and then another process reads log and writes to database…
Ray Herrera Asked: Does MSSQL have something similar to the Oracle’s archive log mode operation?
Jim Rice Asked: does the full method emulate the oracle archive log process
Ray Herrera Asked: Does MSSQL have something similar to the Oracle’s archive log mode operation?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: I think we’re touching on that now
Jim Rice Asked: does the full method emulate the oracle archive log process
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: similar indeed
DBA_Joseph Asked: Just to clarify:: For efficiency ++ To reduce I/O, I take it, that DB-changes are cached in MEMORY, (like Oracle’s SGA) as well as the transactin log… and the MS-SQL then migrates those changes to Database storage… To clarify earlier statement about user writing to LOG and then another process reads log and writes to database…
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: yes, they’re cached in ram until checkpoint
PB Asked: Can SQL Server do block/page level recovery if a corrupt block/page is found on a datafile?
bhupendra Asked: How is the transaction log size determined
Chakrapani Asked: Is there any tool like RMAN in SQLSERVER for backing deltas?
PB Asked: Can SQL Server do block/page level recovery if a corrupt block/page is found on a datafile?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: It’s possible, but not easy. see the dbcc page command on-line
bhupendra Asked: How is the transaction log size determined
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: there are defaults, but it’s easy to change
Chakrapani Asked: Is there any tool like RMAN in SQLSERVER for backing deltas?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: The native backup supports deltas, called differentials. It’s much easier IMO than Oracle’s RMAN
Michael Asked: about user you mentioned, is it the same as Login account? How do you link login account or user to database, schema,..?
DBA_Joseph Asked: DB=Consistant as of finish… this means that backup also pulls info from LOG file, as part of backup set?? Is there an MS-SQL equivalent to Oracle “Recover Database” or is this just so transparent & automatic that it transparent?
Suresh Asked: Good point Kevin …i know Oracle DBA ‘s are very fond of RMAN
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: thanks! =^)
DBA_Joseph Asked: DB=Consistant as of finish… this means that backup also pulls info from LOG file, as part of backup set?? Is there an MS-SQL equivalent to Oracle “Recover Database” or is this just so transparent & automatic that it transparent?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: the recovery process will roll forward any transactions directly from the transaction log as needed
Michael Asked: about user you mentioned, is it the same as Login account? How do you link login account or user to database, schema,..?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: sorry, too many questions to keep up with your reference to “user”. could you restate?
Kenny Smith Asked: Do you know of a website or resource that will compare/contrast task details in Oracle to the similar task in SQL Server?
djb Asked: Isn’t it true that SQLServer benfitted from all the lessons that Oracle learned as it was developed earlier. For example, Oracle didn’t have a hot backup faicilirt at first. SQLServer was developed with that from the start.
Vladimir Lugo Asked: Can you explain a bit about clustering differences?
Carmen Asked: Our backup of master fails because of a single-user mode error. Is there something special that should be done to include master in the backup plan?
Haridas Asked: Is it possible to add Disk space without much re-org ? (In oracle SAN disk space re-org is quite a challenge)
Kenny Smith Asked: Do you know of a website or resource that will compare/contrast task details in Oracle to the similar task in SQL Server?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: nope. no one goes that deep
Michael Asked: In the security slide, User is mentioned, is it the Loing Account?
Kenny Smith Asked: How can you audit active directory user “BuckWoody” and his actions through a database role via a Active directory Group on database objects?
Suresh Asked: what about BI tools in comparison to Oracle’s? SQL BI in 2005 seems very famous now?
Vladimir Lugo Changes Question To: Can you explain a bit about clustering differences?
Haridas Asked: Is it possible to add Disk space without much re-org ? (In oracle SAN disk space re-org is quite a challenge)
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: absolutely – alter database supports this
Robert Stewart Asked: does the index rebuild do so online?
Mauricio Lopez Asked: Hi, will you put the presentation file as a Handout file or where can we download it ? Thanks
Michael Asked: In the security slide, User is mentioned, is it the Loing Account?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: Login and User are actually distinct, though usually linked
DBA_Joseph Asked: For all USERS of this Q+A screen… It is not allowing users to Select+Copy the text. Is there a way to save this list of DBA questions, so we can paste into a file, to remember/review other peopel’s questions later?
Mauricio Lopez Asked: Hi, will you put the presentation file as a Handout file or where can we download it ? Thanks
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: Of course – you’ll get a follow up email!
Bob Asked: will running select statement lock a table on the page level? or only DML will lock the table?
Bob Changes Question To: will running select statement lock a table on the page level? or only DML will lock the table?
djb Changes Question To: Isn’t it true that SQLServer benfitted from all the lessons that Oracle learned as it was developed earlier. For example, Oracle didn’t have a hot backup facility at first. SQLServer was developed with that from the start.
Bob Changes Question To: will running select statement lock a table on the page level? or only DML will lock the table?
sharath Asked: Is it possible to have data replication like in oracle for example materialisezd views or streams or data guard?
Luis Cardenas Asked: Excellent webcast thanks!!
Kenny Smith Asked: How can you audit active directory user “BuckWoody” and his actions through a database role via a Active directory Group on database objects?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: Check out a feature called CDC “change data capture”
sharath Asked: Is it possible to have data replication like in oracle for example materialisezd views or streams or data guard?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: All of those are features in SQL Server = indexed views, replication, and clustering/mirroring
DBA_Joseph Asked: For all USERS of this Q+A screen… It is not allowing users to Select+Copy the text. Is there a way to save this list of DBA questions, so we can paste into a file, to remember/review other peopel’s questions later?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: I’ll get them sent to you
Robert Stewart Asked: does the index rebuild do so online?
Kevin Kline (Qsft) Answered: In Enterprise Edition, but not in lower editions
Fast Features for Quest Tools. Someday soon, I promise.
I’ve been trying hard to get more videos out the door about the SQL Server tools from Quest Software (my employer). I’d sent a new one over to the program marketing team a while back, but it’s not showing up in the Coffee Break Bytes section like it should. These little videos show a single feature in detail, usually taking no more than 5 minutes to watch in their entirety.
In the meanwhile, check out the excellent video series here. And the blogs are really good too, available on the interwebs here.
Thinking about cloud computing?
Well, there aren’t many tools out there that will make your life easier than Toad for Cloud Databases. As is most cloud technology, this particular tool is still in beta. But there’s no better time to help set the direction and features of a tool with as outstanding a record as Toad. Get the details and download the beta here.
And if you like providing feedback to the development team, don’t overlook the IdeaPond where you can provide your own ideas and vote on others that are already posted. (Currently targeted towards Oracle users, but I say let’s crash that party)!
I’m speaking tonight on Top 10 Mistakes DBAs Make at the Atlanta SQL Server User Group meeting in Alpharetta, GA. You can find all of the details here.
The Best Dang Design Book for SQL Server Professionals - EVER!
I thought I’d liven things up a bit with a little contest. The rules are simple:
A. If you don’t follow me on Twitter, then follow me by clicking here.
B. If you already follow me on Twitter, then tweet the details for tonight’s event.
C. Every new follower or current follower who retweeted the details and then attends the event tonight will get a free ebook for Professional SQL Server 2008 Design and Implementationby my buddy and fellow Nashvillian Louis Davidson (blog | twitter).
As the fine print usually says, “Must be present to win”. But just to liven things up a little bit extra, I’ll pull several names from the hat of all the folks who were NOT present but followed or retweeted the event details between now and 6:30 PM EST tonight.
Moore’s Law tells us that CPU’s get a LOT faster over time. Unfortunately for the database professional, all of the secondary elements of our databases DO NOT get a lot faster over time. Overall, the main methods of storing data since the 1960′s, magnetic tape and hard disks, have improved only in the single percentiles year over year. Even those of us who were never good at math can tell that the CPU is outpacing the other system components.
An Osborne Executive portable computer, from 1982, and an iPhone, released 2007. The Executive weighs 100 times as much, has nearly 500 times the volume, cost 10 times as much, and has a 100th the processing power of the iPhone.
Two recent developments are helping to change that equation. First, solid state drives (SSDs) are having a dramatic impact many IT scenarios. My friends, Brent Ozar and Paul Randall, have each written about SSDs here and here, respectively.
Second, database vendors are supporting relational database systems that run entirely in system RAM. If you’d like to learn more about in-memory databases (IMDB), read more in my new article in Data Management Magazine. As we look to the future, I expect to see a lot more of both technologies in the data center.
Just wanted to let you know that a TechNet Radio episode and interview I did about cloud computing is now live on TechNet Edge. It was the featured spot on Thursday, June 3rd and is also featured on the TechNet homepage.
I’ve been trying to wear more of an analyst’s hat these days, so this webcast has a lot of my “deep thinking” on issues related to cloud computing – hopefully at a higher level of quality that Jack Handy.
A salient point that I think many analysts are overlooking is the changing nature of data as it exists in the cloud. For decades, data has primarily been about people (and their activities) for consumption by other people. The cloud is enabling a major shift in data generation and consumption where data is produced by machines for consumption by other machines. We’ll soon be looking at situations, now rather rare, in which sensors are extremely commonplace. These sensors, whether they be in traffic signals or high-end medical devices, will create enormous amounts of data far more frequently than ever before, loading that data directly into cloud databases. The cloud databases will consume and process the data and, when automated analysis (made all the easier through features like StreamInsight in SQL Server 2008 R2) will flag important findings for review by a real-live human being. Check out the interview for several real-world examples being played out even as we speak.
Perhaps I can persuade you to blog, tweet, or place a link to it in your Facebook or team newsletter? Maybe with a few deep thoughts? Please? Pretty please?
And I welcome your deep thoughts and responses here.
Toad for SQL Server Wins Best of TechEd 2010 in the Database Development Category
Toad and I go way back. I first started with Toad as a user on the Oracle DBMS back in the early 1990′s. When I started at Quest Software back on January 2nd of 2002, one of the first products I tackled as a SQL Server product architect was Toad. How do we make this very popular Oracle product one that users in the SQL Server world will love too? And this challenge was made that much harder by the fact that Microsoft SQL Server ships with fantastic tools right there in the box. I haven’t worked directly on Toad for many years now, but the tool marches on with new features and capabilities that push the envelop with each new release.
L to R: Jason Hall, Qsft head of SC's; David Gugick, director of Architecture; and me
Want to try Toad for SQL Server for free?
The 5.0 version of Toad for SQL Server that we showed at TechEd is the latest beta, available at ToadWorld.com (build 387 at the time of this writing). It can coexist with Toad for SQL Server version 4.6, if you’re already using it. The beta is quite stable and has a bevy of new features, including:
SQL Azure support for most modules including data compare and schema compare, including comparing regular SQL Servers to SQL Azure and back, also with Firewall management (under Server Security properties panel).
Much improved code completion that’s faster and allows for column selection, multi-table selection, with tooltips for parameters. Don’t forget, all of these features work on SQL Server 2000, 2005, 2008, and 2008 R2.
Updated Schema Compare with better exposed snapshots.
Group Execute enhancements that include database-level selection so you can execute across databases, an option to only show selected servers/databases, option to merge results (or not), improved merging, etc.
New Idle Connection Timeout – to close connections after a period of inactivity.
Result Set Pinning.
Improved Trace support with features like Import Trace File to Table and Open in Profiler capabilities.
New Debug Trace – traces all activity occurring inside of Toad, including storing all variable info in a replayable file.
Twitter Integration (under the View – Collaboration panel) with Yammer integration coming in a future beta release.
You can also see a lot more details about the tool here. And my long-standing offer still stands. If you want to try Toad for SQL Server or its brethren (such as Toad for Data Analysts, Toad Data Modeler, or Benchmark Factory), drop me an email and I’ll get a long-term license key straight over to you.
But wait, there’s more!
There are so many great resources for you to tap into. And best of all, they’re all free! Check these out:
In this white paper, renowned Oracle PL/SQL expert and fellow O’Reilly author Steven Feuerstein provides dev managers with guidance on how to help developers write the best software possible.
Live Product Demo:Toad® Data Modeler
Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Time: 11:00 a.m. PT / 2:00 p.m. ET
We’ve got two sessions that you (the “we” meaning the fine folks at Quest Software) need to sign up for right away. The upcoming webcast for Oracle-oriented folks has huge registration numbers. And I’m sure you’ll learn more than you expected thanks to my fine co-presenters. Get in while you still can before we hit the limit of what LiveMeeting can handle!
Webcast:SQL Server for the Oracle DBA Date:Thursday, May 27, 2010(Just a couple days hence!) Time: 8 a.m. Pacific / 11 a.m. Eastern / 4 p.m. United Kingdom / 5 p.m. Central Europe Duration: 45-60 minutes Cost:FREE
In enterprise IT, database professionals face a mixed-bag of platforms within their environments — and the overlapping duties that go along with them. Whether you like it or not, you get asked to support Microsoft SQL Server operations even though you’re an Oracle DBA.
In this instructive webcast, experts from Microsoft and Quest with years of experience in both platforms will discuss the biggest issues and areas of interest for Oracle DBAs who need to work on Microsoft SQL Server. You’ll learn their tips and tricks for efficiency and gain a deeper understanding of SQL Server to help you add more value than ever to your organization.
Presenters: Kevin Kline, SQL Server MVP, Quest Software Buck Woody, Senior Technology Specialist, SQL Server, Microsoft
Webcast:Easy Ways to Fix Hard SQL Server Problems – Without a Guru Date: Thursday, June 17, 2010 Time: 8 a.m. Pacific / 11 a.m. Eastern / 4 p.m. United Kingdom / 5 p.m. Central Europe Duration: 45-60 minutes Cost:FREE
In this instructive webcast, you’ll learn straightforward methods for troubleshooting and resolving common poorly performing stored procedures and queries in SQL Server 2008. The presenters will show you how to easily:
Read query execution plans and identify bottlenecks in performance
Record system performance metrics for trend analysis
Design databases and write Transact–SQL code to avoid common problems
Understand what an index is, what it does, and how to build one
Use industry-accepted best practices and develop your own to arrive at optimal database performance
Don’t miss this chance to get practical advice from working experts instead of just theories from academics! Presenters: Kevin Kline, SQL Server MVP, Quest Software Grant Fritchey, “Scary” DBA from FM Global
