DBTA:A Look at Upcoming Enhancements in SQL Server 2008 R2

At a rather muted Microsoft TechEd in Los Angeles in May, the crowds were diminished and the educational content was slimmed down. In the past, SQL Server sessions were so abundant that you'd have trouble choosing which of several you might want to attend. This year, the state of the economy was reflected in many ways, including the one, or, in just a few cases, two sessions per time slot allotted SQL Server professionals. Despite the low ebb, the Microsoft SQL Server team made an exciting announcement about the upcoming availability of the SQL Server 2008 R2 CTP (Community Technology … [Read more...]

DBTA: Is it Time for a Professional Code of Ethics for DBAs?

In my many years on the board of directors of the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS), I frequently exhorted our members to strive for individual achievement and personal excellence. One of the best paths for many SQL Server professionals is through certification, especially if they lack years of demonstrated on-the-job experience. However, certification only paints half the picture. While it might demonstrate, at a minimum, that you passed a test (or several tests) about the database technology, it tells nothing about your standards for good conduct. [READ MORE] … [Read more...]

DBTA: The Trouble with Third-Party Applications

Third-party applications are a very important part of the IT landscape. Many of us have faced the common dilemma of trying to decide whether to build or buy that next important application our organizations need. (By the way, I'm talking about smaller, specialized applications like an inventory management system for the company warehouse, or a practice management system for a doctor's office. I'm not talking about the huge and incredibly sophisticated ERP systems like SAP and Oracle Financials.) [READ MORE] … [Read more...]

DBTA: SQL Server in the Clouds?

The idea of "SQL Server in the cloud" is all the rage as I write this article. Many SQL Server experts already predict the demise of the IT data center and a complete upending of the current state of our industry, in which large enterprises can spend millions of dollars on SQL Server licenses, hardware and staff. I have to admit, when I first heard about this idea, I was ecstatic. What could be better for an enterprise than to have all the goodness of a SQL Server database with none of the hardware or staffing issues? However, on deeper examination, there is much about which to be cautious. … [Read more...]

DBTA: The Future of Coding for SQL Server, Part 2

In my last column (published in the February e-edition and the March print edition of DBTA), I reviewed the overall coding landscape for SQL Server with special focus on LINQ to SQL, a new technology introduced by Microsoft in late 2008. LINQ to SQL promised to make developers' lives much easier by allowing them to focus on writing programs in their favorite Visual Studio language and letting LINQ to SQL write all the Transact-SQL code. The problem is that LINQ to SQL writes very bad Transact-SQL code. [READ MORE] … [Read more...]

DBTA: The Future of Coding for SQL Server

In a two-part article over the next two months, I'm going to address an important issue for the SQL Server community: the future direction of coding for SQL Server, as directed by Microsoft. I'll start by telling you a bit about the current situation with writing code on and for SQL Server, and, in the next installment, talk more about the ramifications brought on by the current coding environment. I'm curious if you agree with my assertions.  You also have the added advantage of hindsight, since I wrote these a while ago. [READ MORE] … [Read more...]

DBTA:Reaching for Highly Scalable Systems with SQL Server 2008

SQL Server has supported VLDBs (very large databases) for some time now. Back in the SQL Server 2000 days, I recall hearing multi-terabyte databases were unusual but doable. Now, they are commonplace, while databases in the hundreds of terabytes inhabit the part of the map that says "there be dragons." While VLDBs are quite common on SQL Server today, highly scalable systems that can be flexibly extended in the same fashion as Oracle/RAC are less so. So, how do you design a highly available architecture for SQL Server if it's not like Oracle/RAC. [READ MORE] … [Read more...]

DBTA: Long-Term Changes Resulting from Policy-Based Management

It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that my company’s IT department was bracing for a major new line of work. Back in the mid 1990s, we were going full steam into client-server technology. At the same time, we were significantly expanding our workforce. The IT department that had spent years as an old-style mainframe shop, was suddenly inundated with requests for new workstations, network user IDs, new network domains, permission requests, and requests for application access privileges. Our lone mainframe permissions person quickly felt overwhelmed and a little baffled by all of these … [Read more...]

DBTA: The New Master’s Certification from Microsoft

In July, Microsoft announced its new advanced training and certification program known as the Master’s Certification. (Read more about it at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/master/default.mspx). I’m really excited about this new certification because it fully lives up to the standard of “the appropriate certification for the appropriate audience.” For one thing, if you’ve ever gone to a martial arts school, you may find many talented martial artists and even several black belts there, but you’ll rarely find more than one “master.” Expect this new SQL Server certification to be equally … [Read more...]