It’s amazing how software has advanced. I look at the software I use, and I’m amazed. I still remember texting to 40404 for basic twitter usage on my Windows 6.5 Mobile. That seems miles away from the apps I know use on my current iPhone 4S. I almost can’t comprehend… Read more

I’ve been meaning to do this, and I finally had the chance recently to start working with Azure. Red Gate is investing in cloud tools, and more development tools, so it’s something I need to work on.

I went to the Azure page, and noticed a “Member Offers” link.

When… Read more

When Andy Warren (b | t | Li)started SQL Saturday with #1 in Orlando, we weren’t sure it would succeed. After a few events, we dreamed and wondered if we’d ever get to 50 events. Despite our success in the past, we weren’t sure if a free event,… Read more

I ran across someone that was building a restore script to automated their restores. This person wanted their script to work with any instance, and that means they’d need to find the path for the database files, if the database already existed.

It was interesting to me, and I decided… Read more

I know it’s not schizophrenic, but that sounds better. It’s really a split personality.

I wrote recently about Windows 8 and what I consider to be poor design in the update system. Today I want to look at another aspect that troubles me.

Programs

I’ve gotten used to the… Read more

Someone suggested Newsblur to me, and I went to their home page. Like many sites, it asks you to sign up, so I decided to give it a try.

The import from Google Reader caught my attention, so I clicked it. It asked for an authorization from Google, and then… Read more

It’s T-SQL Tuesday time, this month hosted by Wendy Pastrick who asks you to talk about the Long and Winding Road. Wendy asks us to talk about your job, your road map to the future, and what might be in store for you.

T-SQL Tuesday is a monthly blog… Read more

I’ve been using Windows 8 almost exclusively for about 3 weeks. I got a new desktop a couple months back, which has only had Windows 8 installed on it. My new laptop arrived about 4 weeks ago and a week later I finally abandoned my Macbook Air and moved fulltime… Read more

One of the tools that Red Gate Software makes is SQL Source Control. It’s a plug in to SSMS that allows you to hook your database up to version control. I’ve used it a few times in the past in conjunction with Subversion to demo the product. However I hadn’t… Read more

One of my authors sent me this note:

“

I know you only know me as a writer for SQLServerCentral, but I have a friend whose son is really bad. He is at the hospital and the cannot pay it. It is very expensive. The family is desesperate. They live… Read more

I’ve written on how to enable Filestream and how to add a filegroup, but I haven’t touched the Filestream impact on your tables. This post will look at the table side of Filestream and how you get your binary data into the database.

Let’s assume you have a filestream… Read more

Yes, it does. However, let’s prove it. First let’s create a database, a table, and enter some data:

-- create a database
CREATE DATABASE TDE_Primer
;
GO
-- create and populate a table
USE TDE_Primer
go
CREATE TABLE MyTable
( myid INT
, myname VARCHAR(20)
, mychar VARCHAR(200)…

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I wish this were the mantra of all people, but certainly those in technology:

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One of the goals early on with SQL Saturday was to spread them far and wide. Andy Warren and I used to chat about how long it would be before we had 12 events in a year, or one event a month, or an event in every state. Karla Landrum… Read more

This is a short series on some customizations in SSMS to make it visually more appealing.

As a presenter, I’ve learned how to change the way Management Studio (SSMS) looks to make it easier for people to see the screen on a projector. I had wrongly assumed that so many… Read more

I had known that the Resource Governor is always running in modern versions of SQL Server. It’s core to the operation of the SQLOS, though it can’t be used to do anything unless it is enabled.

You can read more about it if you have Enterprise Edition, and I’ve… Read more

This is a busy travel week for me, and one of those times that stresses out everyone in the household. I attended SQL Saturday #197 – Omaha over the weekend, arriving home Sunday morning from my trip. I had a good time at the event, my first time to Omaha,… Read more

I’ve spoken at quite a few SQL Saturday events. I won’t hit 50 this year, like Kevin Boles, but by my count, I’ve been to 21, with 4 or 5 more coming this year.  I have no idea when I’ll get to 50, but I hope I do.

That’s… Read more

It’s time for a new laptop. I don’t think it’s time, as I love the Macbook Air I bought a couple years ago. Rather some requirements for work, mainly Hyper-V, have come up and I can’t meet them with the Macbook Air. Even a 2013 summer refresh of this platform… Read more

Our first DBA Team event, in Richmond, VA just before SQL Saturday #187 went well. Overall I think our experiment was a success and we’re already talking about where and when we might do this again.

In the meantime, we didn’t make a separate site for this series of events,… Read more