Featured Article(s)
Why Use Foreign keys and Referential Integrity
Why would you implement referential integrity? Is it beneficial to implement it all the time? When to make the most of it in your applications.
Would You Be Interested in Participating in the April vConference?
We'd love to h...(more)
(Muthusamy Anantha Kumar) Part I of this series illustrated the first and most important check on SQL Serverhow to ping the host. Part 2 examined how to check all of the windows services related to SQL Server and part 3 discussed how to check the hardware and operating system information. Part 4 illustrated how to get hard disk and network adapter information from the host machine. Part 5 demonstrated how we could connect to SQL Server and how we could query SQL Server related properties and configuration. Part 7 of the article series illustrated how to get information on the TOP 10 queries, based on the CPU usage. This installment of the series discusses how to get all the connection information.
(John Magnabosco) The tempdb system database can be found in any SQL Server instance. It is a database that is utilized by all user databases that are created within the instance. This system database is where temporary user objects such as temporary tables, variables, cursors, spools, sorting and row version activities are performed. There is no doubt that this system table is extremely valuable in the functionality of the entire SQL Server instance.
(Suprotim Agarwal) The ListView control is a new data control available in ASP.NET 3.5 and is quiet similar to the GridView and Repeater control. The GridView uses row fields to display data, whereas the ListView control displays data using user-defined templates. Moreover ListView can edit and select data whereas Repeater cannot. ListView provides more flexibility in displaying data, in comparison to what the GridView and Repeater give.
(Marian Crkon) This feature is for anyone using Oracle Projects and Receivables 11.5.10 and beyond. There were several new features introduced to Projects 10.5.10 (Family Pack M), which now require additional [not quite documented] configurations for the Receivables interface to work. I find myself scrambling to make the interface work everytime I run it the first time in a new installation or a new operating unit. Here are few quick tipts I consolidated from the Metalink notes and user guides to remember what to do the next time
(Vivek Sharma) My previous blog was on Library Cache Latch Contention and in this blog too, I am going to discuss something that has an Impact on Latches, especially Library Cache Latches. During my investigation on a Severe Library Cache Latch Contention, I came across many procedures that are executed through out the day and surprisingly use Literals as an Input Parameters. There were around 30 to 50 such procedures and the executions of each of these were more than 7000 (the top most being 9000). With this finding, it was quite obvious that the recommendation would be to make use of Bind Variables and this is what we recommended. One of the curious Developer came back to me with a query.
(Jake Miles) Explore the creation of a framework, called Butterfly, that runs in PHP 5 and facilitates the applications of chains of XSLT stylesheets to XML source documents. This provides transparent caching of the transformed results. Inspired by the Java-based Apache Cocoon project, so named because it houses and manages the transformation of data from one form to another (turning caterpillars into butterflies), this much lighter-weight framework is named Butterfly. With the Butterfly framework, you can set up an XML configuration file to define chains of stylesheet transformations, and then instantiate Butterfly objects that can each produce the result of an XSLT transformation chain. This article will also look at the nature of framework design in general as it sketches out this framework in particular.
(Conor O'Mahony) A few people have recently asked about the ability to ensure referential integrity in XML data. In this case, they are referring to the referential integrity feature that is common to relational databases. I thought Id take a few moments to share one possible answer with you.
(Willie Favero) After about the 10th e-mail asking if I could forward the queries that determine the size of your warehouse on DB2 for z/OS so you can join our Terabyte Club, I thought I would make them available to everyone here.
(Rico Mariani) Well the time has finally come for me to start writing about my new job in earnest. My long time readers know that I became Chief Architect of Visual Studio in the summer of 2007 and I've been working on Visual Studio 2010 issues since then. Well actually, believe it or not, I'm already working on whatever comes after that too but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
(Mamta M) Those of you who have worked with ASP.NET 3.5 will know that the new version of ASP.NET has built in support for AJAX and that the Visual Studio 2008 IDE also supports a new set of controls called the AJAX Control Toolkit. This Toolkit was nothing but a suite of custom built controls that extended the existing functionality or else added new functionality to ASP.NET server controls. So with this new release, you got to see cascading drop down boxes, auto completion text boxes, password strength indicators and so forth. Never before were tools for Web applications so rich and powerful.
(Xianzhong Zhu) As I hinted in earlier articles in this series, to overcome the deficiencies of the ASP.NET Web Forms solution, Microsoft created an alternative to Web Formsthe ASP.NET MVC framework. In the MVC framework, a whole web application is separated into three components: the model, view, and controller. We will take a close look at this approach in this article, the third part of a four-part series.
(Dave Beulke) Last time I wrote about some of the application performance aspects. This week well delve deeper into DB2 Checkpoint aspects for recoveries and index definitions over your busiest tables and their potential performance impact.
(Colin White) To satisfy increasing information volumes, a variety of new database techniques are appearing on the market. Does this mean that after over a quarter century of development, relational database systems are reaching the end of their useful lives?
(Kasim Wirama) Like relational query statement, XQuery in SQL Server introduces FLWOR construct. FLWOR stands for For, Let, Where, Order by, Return. You can associate SELECT query statement with Return statement.
(Armando Prato) Microsoft provides a good set of basic queries into their system tables. However, some of these procedures lack some additional information that I'm interested in and I find myself constantly issuing queries to get this additional data. Is there a way I can run these queries like system procedures?
Whether you plan to migrate SQL Server Data Transformation Services (DTS) packages to SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) or run DTS packages in SQL Server 2005, this tutorial has it all. Learn the best practices for SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), from migrating and running DTS packages, to SSIS debugging, maintenance and programming in SQL Server.
Whether you plan to migrate SQL Server Data Transformation Services (DTS) packages to SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) or run DTS packages in SQL Server 2005, this tutorial has it all. Learn the best practices for SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), from migrating and running DTS packages, to SSIS debugging, maintenance and programming in SQL Server.
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Manage Space and Maximize Your Hardware Resources with Capacity Manager
Todays SQL Server environments are growing faster and are more essential to your organization than ever before. But tight IT budgets mean you've got to use your resources to manage your environment as ...(more)
Featured Article(s)
SQL Server 2005 Linked Servers Optimization Tips
Here you can find some useful tips to use SQL Server 2005 linked servers.
Change, Updates and Proactive Review of SQL Server Installations, Applications
David wrote in with some feedback on the question of proactive review ...(more)
Todays SQL Server environments are growing faster and are more essential to your organization than ever before. But tight IT budgets mean youve got to use your resources to manage your environment as efficiently as possible. What if you had a powerful tool for effectively controlling disk space, growth rates and database performance? Attend this webcast to explore how to do exactly that, so you can maximize investments in hardware resources as well as ensure the success of consolidation projects.
Sponsored by: Quest Software (www.quest.com)
SQL Server expert Matthew Schroeder adds his name to the list of DBAs and T-SQL programmers who wish cursors had never been introduced. Sure cursors have their place for data manipulation on a row-by-row basis. But are they worth the trade-off of poor performance in SQL Server? Schroeder shares three methods for looping over records without cursors.
SQL Server expert Matthew Schroeder adds his name to the list of DBAs and T-SQL programmers who wish cursors had never been introduced. Sure cursors have their place for data manipulation on a row-by-row basis. But are they worth the trade-off of poor performance in SQL Server? Schroeder shares three methods for looping over records without cursors.
Out Looking for Trouble
I talked yesterday about going back and revisiting systems that are up, running and don't have known issues. I asked about your experiences - and one of the responses was from Clayton - thought I'd pass it along.
"As part of creating Data Warehous...(more)
Non-clustered indexes improve SQL Server query performance by focusing queries on a subset of data. In this tip, you'll find guidelines for designing non-clustered indexes, including choosing index fields, when a clustered index should be used instead of a compound index and how statistics influence non-clustered indexes.
Non-clustered indexes improve SQL Server query performance by focusing queries on a subset of data. In this tip, you'll find guidelines for designing non-clustered indexes, including choosing index fields, when a clustered index should be used instead of a compound index and how statistics influence non-clustered indexes.
Legacy App Review Cycles
Do you go back and review the schemas, design and maintenance for legacy applications, or are you more of an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" type of DBA?
So many of us support legacy applications - systems that were perhaps even built on prior releases of S...(more)
There are some errors that DBAs are just bound to run into. Instead of spending countless hours finding a solution, check out the advice from SQL Server expert Matthew Schroeder for fixing SQL Server errors and other problems, including primary filegroup out of space, failed server logins and trouble bringing a database online. This is part 2 in this series, where Schroeder gets down into the SQL Server trenches so you don't have to go it alone.
There are some errors that DBAs are just bound to run into. Instead of spending countless hours finding a solution, check out the advice from SQL Server expert Matthew Schroeder for fixing SQL Server errors and other problems, including primary filegroup out of space, failed server logins and trouble bringing a database online. This is part 2 in this series, where Schroeder gets down into the SQL Server trenches so you don't have to go it alone.
Knowing the size of a SQL Server database is one of the many DBA responsibilities that you can accomplish easily with the stored procedure sp_SDS. Not only will sp_SDS determine "SQL Database Space," but it can also be used to monitor database growth, alert a DBA on data or log file growth, execute a transaction log backup and even provide a detailed breakdown at the file level so a DBA can then shrink files with the most empty space.
Knowing the size of a SQL Server database is one of the many DBA responsibilities that you can accomplish easily with the stored procedure sp_SDS. Not only will sp_SDS determine "SQL Database Space," but it can also be used to monitor database growth, alert a DBA on data or log file growth, execute a transaction log backup and even provide a detailed breakdown at the file level so a DBA can then shrink files with the most empty space.
If you're a DBA tasked with producing detailed audits tracking database use, take a look at these capabilities in SQL Server 2008 where the process is much easier than in earlier versions. SQL Server expert Robert Sheldon takes you through the steps to create the SQL Server audit, attach one or two audit specifications and enable the audit.
If you're a DBA tasked with producing detailed audits tracking database use, take a look at these capabilities in SQL Server 2008 where the process is much easier than in earlier versions. SQL Server expert Robert Sheldon takes you through the steps to create the SQL Server audit, attach one or two audit specifications and enable the audit.
SQL Server expert Matthew Schroeder gets down into the trenches to help resolve your SQL Server issues. Whether it's a failed cluster installation, a long-running stored procedure that causes a 3 a.m. phone call or a database in suspect mode, he's got you covered with this handbook for DBAs on the SQL Server frontline.
SQL Server expert Matthew Schroeder gets down into the trenches to help resolve your SQL Server issues. Whether it's a failed cluster installation, a long-running stored procedure that causes a 3 a.m. phone call or a database in suspect mode, he's got you covered with this handbook for DBAs on the SQL Server frontline.
When you set up log shipping in SQL Server 2005, there are many options to choose from to get the optimal configuration between primary and secondary servers. Along with some best practices, SQL Server MVP Hilary Cotter shares a log shipping setup process from start to finish that includes selecting the right database recovery mode, transaction log paths and secondary database settings.
When you set up log shipping in SQL Server 2005, there are many options to choose from to get the optimal configuration between primary and secondary servers. Along with some best practices, SQL Server MVP Hilary Cotter shares a log shipping setup process from start to finish that includes selecting the right database recovery mode, transaction log paths and secondary database settings.
If you're having issues with the basics of SQL Server, this learning guide will be the refresher you need. With topics that range from backup and recovery problems to development to SQL Server Integration Services and native tools for tracking memory and improving performance, these tutorials and tips will help you relearn SQL Server from the ground up.
If you're having issues with the basics of SQL Server, this learning guide will be the refresher you need. With topics that range from backup and recovery problems to development to SQL Server Integration Services and native tools for tracking memory and improving performance, these tutorials and tips will help you relearn SQL Server from the ground up.
As expected, SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services has new features, but the improvements to existing reporting features are what will have you considering an upgrade. For example, Microsoft has re-architected SSRS so it's no longer dependent on IIS, and now rendered report pages are stored in the file system instead of in server memory. In this tip, learn more ways Microsoft has improved SSRS 2008's performance and made it easier to use.
As expected, SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services has new features, but the improvements to existing reporting features are what will have you considering an upgrade. For example, Microsoft has re-architected SSRS so it's no longer dependent on IIS, and now rendered report pages are stored in the file system instead of in server memory. In this tip, learn more ways Microsoft has improved SSRS 2008's performance and made it easier to use.
Learn about some key returns on investment that you can expect with SANs, along with best practices, tips for best usage and how SQL Server and SANs can provide a compelling environment both in terms of availability and performance.
Presented by: EMC (www.emc.com)
This webcast is a presentation by expert Ted Malone at the SSWUG SQL Server Virtual Conference earlier this year. Learn about your options, different features available and how they impact your ability to recover and keep your options open for getting systems back online and updated in case of issues.
Sponsored by: Dell/EqualLogic (www.equallogic.com)
In this webcast, sponsored by Quest Software, SQL Server expert Tom LaRock will discuss SQL Server database snapshots and how you can implement them in your environment. He will outline the advantages and limitations of using these snapshots and investigate common use cases where they can successfully be deployed. Tom is a DBA manager with ING Investments and a member of Quests Association of SQL Server Experts.
Sponsored by: Quest Software(www.quest.com)
