U-SQL and the Azure Data Lake

U-SQL AND THE AZURE DATA LAKE There's a new buzzword on the loose, the data lake. At first glance, a data lake could be easily mistaken for a data warehouse. The two big data concepts have a common focus on analytics and they may, in certain situations, produce roughly equivalent output. But that's about where their similarities end. READ MORE... Originally Posted July 12, 2016 … [Read more...]

Adaptive Query Processing in SQL Server 2017

ADAPTIVE QUERY PROCESSING IN SQL SERVER 2017 The next release of Microsoft SQL Server, announced as SQL Server 2017, is available for download in CTP2 at http://tinyurl.com/SQLvNextLinux and offers many cool new features. One set of features that I really like to focus on is adaptive query processing. These new features speed processing of workloads, especially those that have historically been the hardest to tune. READ MORE... Originally Posted July 05, 2017 … [Read more...]

They Did it Again – The Release of SQL Server 2017

THEY DID IT AGAIN – THE RELEASE OF SQL SERVER 2017 Not only has the Microsoft SQL Server engineering team added more and stronger leadership, outstanding individual engineers and staff members, but it is also radically moving its entire development process into a "cloud-first" ethos. Now, I'd like to show one of the most salient results of this new development process-accelerated product releases. It was only a few years ago (and is still the case for other data management platforms) that a major new release takes at least 2, but more likely 3 years. With the "production-ready" release of SQL … [Read more...]

Surprising but True: the Basics are Still Difficult

SURPRISING BUT TRUE: THE BASICS ARE STILL DIFFICULT I always look forward to new research from Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of this magazine and other great products for data professionals. The latest report which you should read is "SQL Server Transformation: Toward Agility & Resiliency 2017; PASS Database Management Survey." READ MORE... Originally Posted April 07, 2017 … [Read more...]

Revisiting PASS Summit 2015

PASS SUMMIT 2015: THE AGE OF THE DATA PROFESSIONAL IS NOW The PASS Summit 2015, the largest conference in the Microsoft SQL Server world, was held in October in Seattl, WA. The event provided a look at key initiatives that Microsoft's SQL Server group has been working on and a glimpse of what's ahead for the future. READ MORE... Originally Posted November 09, 2015 … [Read more...]

Major Feature Reconfiguration For SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 1

MAJOR FEATURE RECONFIGURATION FOR SQL SERVER 2016 SERVICE PACK 1 One of the long-standing differentiators between SQL Server's Enterprise Edition (EE) and Standard Edition (SE), besides price, were the large number of features available only in EE. This is also true for other lower editions of SQL Server such as Web Edition and Express Edition. But there's big news in the air! READ MORE... Original Posted January 03, 2017 … [Read more...]

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Buy Cialis Online Tadalafil is indicated for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Tadacip works by helping to increase blood flow into the penis during sexual stimulation. Generic Cialis helps you to achieve and maintain an erection. Tadacip from Cipla is used to treat erection problems in men. It is the only drug which works in 30 minutes, but is also know to be effective for as long as 24 hours. This enabling you to choose the moment that is just right for you as well as your partner. Thousands of men have benefited from Tadacip 20mg, moderate or severe Erectile Dysfunction. We sell … [Read more...]

My Best Blog Posts from 2015

ALWAYS LEARNING About mid-way into August of 2015, I learned some important new factors in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that caused me to make some big changes to the way in which I blogged. Namely - simply reposting a slight variant of a given blog post could hurt your overall SEO rankings for any of the given posts. Now you might be saying to me "Kevin, those aren't new factors. They've been around for a long time, you idgit". And I would say in response "Ok then. But I had other things on my mind". (Of course, if you have other recommendations for improving one's blog performance, … [Read more...]

Microsoft //Build and Office Events Coming to a City Near You

The //build Tour If you build software using Visual Studio or code against the Microsoft stack, you don't want to miss the //build traveling road show. The Microsoft //build tours bring the Build conference experience to you for in-depth, usable knowledge about Windows 10 and much more. There's coding sessions and lots of new product demos. You'll also get facetime with Microsoft Technical Experts to ask those tough questions, partner showcases, and opportunities to connect with your fellow peers. Register today, it's a FREE event. Two dates are just around the corner: On Wednesday, … [Read more...]

ICYMI: Parameter Sniffing, Friends with Partition Benefits, and SELECT INTO Parallelism – SQL Server Performance

Great topics for further reading about tuning SQL Server performance: Exploring SQL Server 2014 SELECT INTO Parallelism Joe Sack (b | t) provides us with a peak into the performance improvements and new behaviors of SQL Server 2014 in the way it can now parallelize large SELECT INTO operations. Parameter Sniffing, Embedding, and the RECOMPILE Options Parameter sniffing is a term used to describe the processes by which SQL Server attempts to reuse execution plans where certain parameters might frequently change. If you’re only familiar in passing with the term, it probably has … [Read more...]