Several attendees at the SQLRally were asking about NoSQL ("Not Only SQL") and its benefits. This article gives a quick overview: HERE. Also, two good resources have come out from my friend Guy Harrison. This piece on Cassandra, one of the most popular NoSQL databases, was published a while back in Database Trends and Applications Magazine. I also really liked these entries from Guy at TechRepublic and TechTarget. Guy also had the good fortune of having one of his articles published on GigaOm and then picked up in the New York Times Technology section. The article, titled “Real World … [Read more...]
Wednesday Quest: Power GUI Integration
March 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Two tools that I really like are PowerGUI, a tool to take all the hard work out of PowerShell scripting, available in both free and paid versions from Quest Software. You can also get PowerGUI extensions for Visual Studio for free from CodePlex. Another tool I really like is PowerWF. PowerWF is a really cool visual workflow builder that creates PowerShell scripts for you. Turns out that it integrates with PowerGUI! This video shows 2 different ways that PowerWF Workflows can be run from within Quest Software's PowerGUI tool. Watch the Video - Download PowerWF Enjoy! -Kev … [Read more...]
Wednesday Quest: Exciting New Community for Users of Toad for SQL Server
March 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Join the Toad for SQL Server Community! I was just bragging about how Toad for SQL Server keeps getting better. In that post, I also pointed out a lot of great resources you can put to work immediately on improving your skills with this great tool. (Incidentally, there's a freeware version without all of the features, but it's still quite useful. And you can always use the beta product, if you want all of the features and many new features that are undergoing community testing.) One of the reasons that Toad is so good is that it's always been a community-driven product. Back when I … [Read more...]
Wednesday Quest: New Product Training and Documentation
March 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Product documentation and product training are two areas where our customers consistently press us to improve...and one we take if very seriously. Bold Claims One of my favorite tools in the Quest Software toolbox for SQL Server (and Oracle) DBAs is called Foglight Performance Analysis, or more commonly, PA. This product can do things that no other tool or amount of customized scripts can ever reproduce. I am dead serious about this claim. To find out more, navigate to www.quest.com/foglight-performance-analysis-for-sql-server and click on "Key Product Documents". You'll then be taken … [Read more...]
Integrating Workload Replays into Database Change Management
March 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment
I would like to make you aware of a recently written paper by Bert Scalzo. The paper focuses on how DBAs can rely on the Toad and Benchmark Factory to perform database workload replays, ensuring that changes to the databases do not degrade the user experience. White Paper: Integrating Workload Replays into Database Change Management I encourage you to read the paper and make workload replay a part of your database change management practices. As I’ve been saying for years, if you don’t have quantitative evidence of what normal is for your database, how can you know what is … [Read more...]
Wednesday Quest: On-Line Demos for Toad Data Analyst and Benchmark Factory
February 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment
If you've attended any of my public sessions about SQL Server technology, then you might remember that I extend a standing offer to provide a free, long-term license to any of several products from Quest Software, such as Toad for SQL Server (including the SQL Optimizer), Toad Data Analyst, Toad Data Modeler, and the awesome performance and scalability testing tool Benchmark Factory. If you've ever wondered about these tools and why I tout them, why don't you take a couple minutes to look at the on-line demos available at each of the preceding links? If you like what you see, drop me a … [Read more...]
Have You Heard About Project Lucy?
February 16, 2011 by 1 Comment
Quest Software's latest community initiative, Windows Azure-based Project Lucy, has debuted! Project Lucy is part infrastructure analytics, part social media experiment, and part performance data warehouse. The best things about Project Lucy include: It’s Free - just like our SQLServerPedia website, Project Lucy is free to anyone who wants to upload a trace file It’s 1oo% web-based - you don’t have to download or maintain anything and updates roll out seamlessly, all the time It really helps - just generate a SQL Trace on a SQL Server 2000, 2005 or 2008 instance, upload it on … [Read more...]
