Update 09-Mar-2015: The original PASS links I provided were behind a firewall. Thanks reader MMcDonald, we have a working link on YouTube. One of the benefits of joining PASS is that you get access to their expansive library of conference videos. (Membership is free. So join now. What'dya want, a hand-written invitation?!?) I want to take a moment to point out a good one that I think anybody who writes SQL code on SQL Server should watch. If you know anything about the staff here at SQL Sentry, then you’re probably expecting me and my colleague Microsoft MVP Aaron Bertrand (b | t) to be … [Read more...]
ICYMI: Ten Query Techniques Every SQL Programmer Should Know (Video)
Filed Under: Performance, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post, Transact-SQL Programming Tagged With: DBA, Developer, Transact-SQL Programming
ICYMI: Sequences, CPUs, and Trimming T-Logs – SQL Server Performance Topics
Have you read any of the great articles on SQLPerformance.com? The deep-dive technical info about SQL Server performance issues authored by the SQL Server industry’s top experts. Here are a few great articles from the early days of the website, January 2013: Generate a set or sequence without loops Aaron Bertrand (b|t) provides detailed performance information about a variety of methods used to generate sets and sequences in this first in a three part series. Selecting a Processor for SQL Server 2012 Glenn Berry (b|t) of SQLskills.com sheds light on the best CPU to select … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Hardware, IO, Performance, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post, Transact-SQL Programming Tagged With: Backup & Recovery, Best Practices, DBA, Developer, Internals
DBTA – 6 Reasons to Think About Upgrading to SQL Server 2014
If you’re an IT manager, the first thing I’d like to tell you is how invested Microsoft is in SQL Server. While earlier incarnations of executive leadership focused in other areas (anyone remember “Developers! Developers! Developers!”?), Microsoft’s new leadership is very bullish on SQL Server. And, why not? After Microsoft Office and Windows Server, SQL Server is Microsoft’s third biggest money-making product line. Check out the recording of the “Accelerate your insights” webcast, about SQL Server 2014, featuring appearances by CEO Satya Nadella, COO Kevin Turner and CVP Quentin … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Administration, DBTA, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post Tagged With: DBA, DBTA, Developer
SQL Injection – Why the Heck Does this Keep Happening?!
I'm decidedly old-school in a few of my habits. My morning routine, barring anything out of the ordinary, is one such example. Typically, I'll get up between 6:30 to 7:00 am, grab my first cup of coffee, and then chat with my daughters for a few minutes before seeing them off to school. Next, I make a bowl of oatmeal (a great choice for diabetics like me), pour a second cup of coffee, and browse the local paper, The Tennessean, while I have breakfast. On the morning of August 5, I had the added pleasure of spewing said coffee and oatmeal all over my morning paper when I read the … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Cloud, Coding, Databases, DBTA, IT Horror Stories, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post Tagged With: Best Practices, cloud computing, DBA, DBTA, Developer
DBTA – PowerBI: The Self-Service BI App That Can Change Your Life
Here’s a real-world story: Data collection and analysis is, ironically, for a data management profession, one of the toughest parts of my job. I regularly pull data from our various databases and packaged application reporting systems for CRM, licensing, and user information. If you’ve ever worked with a packaged product, such as a CRM system, that includes reporting and querying features, then you know how inflexible they are. It can be infuriatingly difficult to get data out of these systems, systems for which you paid big money, without losing sleep, hair, and peace of mind. Working with … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Business Analytics, Business Intelligence, Cloud, DBTA, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post Tagged With: Azure, Business Intelligence, DBA, DBTA
IT Pro Events & Free Stuff for the Central USA – Jan 2015
Central USA IT Pro Community News – Jan 2015 There are lots of free, in-person and virtual events happening in the central USA over the next few weeks. Don't miss out on training, ebooks, and other goodies! Upcoming Events Jan 10th – Kansas City – SharePoint Saturday Jan 14th – Online – A lap around Azure Websites Jan 15th – Detroit – BDPA Tech Meetup Jan 17th - Nashville - SQLSaturday #363 I'll be presenting two sessions at this event, along with many of the industry's leading experts. Come join us! Jan 19 – Detroit – Microsoft Web Camp Jan 19 – Chicago – Microsoft … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Conferences, On-Line Resources, PASS, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post Tagged With: Business Intelligence, Career, DBA, Developer, Training
DBTA – Tools to Evaluate Viability of Database Platforms
As the manager for enterprise architecture in a very large IT organization, the C-suite executives frequently posed the question, "What database platform is best for this application today and for the future?" Implicit in that question was the idea that some platforms, for the application and for the database, might be more than adequate today but be trending in a direction that didn't match with our executive's goals. So what's a person supposed to recommend under those dynamics? Read the rest of the article … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Challenges, Cool Technologies, Databases, DBTA, On-Line Resources, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post Tagged With: DBA, DBTA, FutureWatch
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...]
Filed Under: Cloud, DBTA, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post Tagged With: cloud computing, DBA, DBTA
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...]
Filed Under: BigData, Business Intelligence, DBTA, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post Tagged With: Business Intelligence, DBA, DBTA, NoSQL
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...]
Filed Under: BigData, Business Intelligence, Cloud, DBTA, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post Tagged With: DBA, DBTA
