Check out the new white paper “Key Methods for Managing Complex DB Environments” at Quest.com. Heterogeneous database management hassles used to be much less common than today. When I first started at Quest nearly ten years ago, I’d put forward that on 15-20% of my big customers regularly managed more than one major database platform. (That doesn’t mean they didn’t have more than one, rather secondary platforms were either unmanaged or considered entirely unimportant). Today, I’d put forward that 70-80% of my big customers support at least two major database platforms. Often, they support three or more.
This white paper addresses methods for successfully managing today’s complex heterogeneous database infrastructures. Topics discussed include: balancing key business metrics, understanding challenges to the DBA, and managing multiple database platforms (i.e. Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase) simultaneously.
There are so many great tools out there for data professionals using Microsoft SQL Server. I really like to see all of these great tools made free to the public. On the other hand, I’m bummed that the tools are cast about in a very decentralized fashion. If you haven’t done migrations before, you might want to start with these good white papers first.
Here are a hand full of cool migration tools worth mentioning:
SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) for Oracle: Migrate from Oracle to SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2. I’m thinking about installing it on my SQL Servers even without even needing to migrate existing Oracle databases to SQL Server. Why? Well as an old Oracle hand, I came to really enjoy quite a few Oracle PL/SQL system packages (kind’a like a SQL Server system stored procedure, but often more powerful). As it turns out SSMA-Oracle includes stored procedures, extended stored procedures, and CLR routines that reproduce the functionality in most all of the cool and powerful Oracle packages like DBMS_PIPES. It’d be nice to have those on my SQL Servers just because I know them and like them.
Microsoft Services for Mission Critical Customers: Many enterprise customers running mission critical applications on SQL Server have asked for more – more service and support for their environments. This is an add-on that costs extra, but it’s worth it for those running the systems that keep the company in business.
If you’ve tried any of these tools out, I’m keen to hear your experiences. Did they work well for you? Did they work, though poorly? Did they fail utterly? Inquiring minds want to know.
Attrition has taken its toll once again as a few good friends move from being colleagues to being former colleagues.
As a result of the folks moving on to bigger and better things, I’m now stepping up in to the roll of editor-in-chief of SQLServerPedia. This roll is mostly about checking on the quality of content produced by our syndicating bloggers to make sure that they’re not trying to sell products or services and that their posts are of high quality. That’s about where the official duties end, save for things like acting as a judge in big SSP contests.
One new aspect that I want to bring to the roll is that of a newsletter. At first, it seemed like it be great to simply point out our most popular blog posts once per month or per fortnight. Our most popular blog posts are quite easy to track through our off-the-shelf analytic tools, after all. However, I want to bring more to it than just a recap.
Here are some ideas I was considering and for which I’d like your feedback:
I’d like to highlight a blogger in a brief interview in each newsletter. Would you be interested in reading it?
I’d like to riff on the database industry, in general, and SQL Server, specifically, depending on my mood at the time.
Get some help from you, dear reader, on a variety of crowd-sourced and community driven content much like we’ve done with the useful (and exhaustive) list of SQL Server Twitterers found HERE.
Spend more time doing either podcasts (no video) or videocasts. Would you use either? Do you have a preference?
Of course, I’ll continue to do all of my usual blogging including my Tool Time tips for SQL Server Magazine, professional development advice in the Plays Well With Others column, and thoughts on the database industry, virtualization, cloud computing, and pretty much anything else I feel like blabbing about.
Thanks for the opportunity to serve. I look forward to your feedback!
Last year, some of my friends from Quest Software attended Hadoop World in New York. In 2009, I never would’ve guessed that Quest would be there with products, community initiatives, as a major sponsor and with presenters?
There were just under 1,000 attendees who weren’t the typical devheads and geekasaurs you’d normally see at very techie events like Code Camps, SQL Saturdays, Cloud Camps and or even other NoSQL events such as the Cassandra Summit. We’re talkin’ enterprise customers with active Hadoop projects underway.
Some observations from the show that may be of interest to you:
- Hadoop World was a trending topic on Twitter during its duration.
- Hadoop has “arrived” with an average cluster of 66 nodes weighing in at 114TB. (For the philosophers among us, how much does a terabyte weigh?) The most famous Hadoop cluster is FaceBook with a trifling 30PB in storage – that’s petabytes. That’s more written information than has ever been written by man, cumulatively, including the Advice on Men column from Cosmo Magazine. Unfortunately, that’s only a few hundred thousand pictures of teenagers pursing their lips at themselves and holding a digital camera while standing in front of the bathroom mirror. They’re expecting about 60PB by the end of 2011.
- HP was there, creating a lot of buzz, from a hardware perspective. Quest was there as the leading independent tool maker for cloud apps.
- Oracle OraOop got attendees pulse’s racing, since many want a high speed, scalable connector between Oracle and Hadoop to fill a necessary gap. I’m not sure if there’s something in place for SQL Server and I’m not currently aware of any high-speed connectors built in to SQL Server Integration Services.
Some other good coverage to check out about the show as well:
All of this is very important because NoSQL in general and Hadoop in particular are picking up speed and momentum. Even if your organization isn’t using NoSQL technology today, chances are very good that your CIO will be asking you for details on how and when it should be deployed. And if you don’t think it should be deployed, the natural response of the CIO is “Why not?”. So you’d better get your ducks in a row, Mr SQL Server DBA.
There are lots of great sites to get Hadoop information, but I invite you to take a gander at Jeremiah Peschka’s (blog | twitter) blog for much NoSQL goodness. Start with Jeremiah’s blog post here, and ignore all indications that you might be in a biker bar or a San Francisco tattoo parlor. That’s just Jeremiah’s style.
His Hadoop writings are here, though lately he’s been writing a lot about RIAK - which sounds like a euphemism for vomiting, as in “Jeremiah spent a lot of time riaking after chugging that bottle of cough syrup.”
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.
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
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
