I wrote about the basics of computed columns and also using CASE in a computed column recently, but there’s a better way to implement a computation, and reuse the code. You can include a UDF in a computed column.

UDFs are a great way to encapsulate your code into an… Read more

I’d never been to Oklahoma City, and when Kristin Ferrier asked me to come to SQL Saturday #90 and do the keynote, I was happy to accept. It’s a short flight from Denver, and not much further from Austin, so I was surprised Friday morning to find Wes Brown sitting… Read more

This series of blog posts are related to my presentation, The Top Ten Skills You Need, which is scheduled for a few deliveries in 2011.

Users and Objects

The basic security model diagram that I use is the one below. It’s not fancy, but it conveys the basics of… Read more

I’m leaving this morning for Oklahoma City for SQL Saturday #90. This is my first time traveling to Oklahoma City and I’m looking forward to it. I’m thinking to check out the National Cowboy Museum, I need to see the national memorial, and of course, get it… Read more

This series of blog posts are related to my presentation, The Top Ten Skills You Need, which is scheduled for a few deliveries in 2011.

You Need Log Backups

By default databases in SQL Server are created with the Full Recovery Model. That means that without log backups, the… Read more

Last year Andy Warren thought about trying to help first timer attendees at the PASS Summit with a little networking event. Two years ago he brought Don Gabor in for a networking pre-con that was very popular, and wanted to try something new. So we rented Lowell’s out down at… Read more

I wrote about computed columns recently, but I didn’t realize that a logical expression could be used here, such as a case statement, and misspoke in this thread on SSC. Fortunately someone corrected me and I decided to blog and test this a bit.

Why an expression?

Suppose you… Read more

Earlier this week, Dan Jones, one of the Microsoft employees on the SQL Server team, wrote a blog post asking about testing the next version of SQL Server, Denali. Dan is trying to ensure that there are not surprises from customers because of a bug that wasn’t caught in… Read more

I did my session on The Top Ten SQL Server Skills You Need for the first time in Baton Rouge at SQL Saturday #64. This was my first time doing this session, which I hate doing at a large event. I had hoped to get to a user group and… Read more

I ran into an issue recently with a computed column, which I’ve rarely used, so I investigated them and wrote this short piece in computed columns, mostly as a reminder for me.

What’s a computed column?

You can read the BOL definition, but basically it is a column whose… Read more

I found a report recently that eBay had implemented 100TB of SSD storage from Nimbus Data for their virtual infrastructure. That’s a huge amount of very fast storage, which definitely helps explain how the eBay auctions seem to run so quickly.… Read more

This series of blog posts are related to my presentation, The Top Ten Skills You Need, which is scheduled for a few deliveries in 2011.

When is a Full Backup Taken?

Most people might answer this with “every day”, or “as often as needed”, but those are a little… Read more

In a recent thread I noted that a tail log backup is essentially a regular log backup, but made with the intention of restoring the database because something is wrong with your data file. Gail Shaw (blog | @SQLIntheWild) pointed out that that’s not quite true. There… Read more

I was out of town for work one day, literally on the other side of the country, in a car bound for the remote office when my cell phone rang. I had flown into LaGuardia Airport in New York City and needed to drive to Connecticut, to an office just… Read more

I might send this to a VP or CIO: Global CIO: A Framework For Developing Technical Leaders. It’s an article that talks about building senior technical leaders in your company, which I think is important if you view your Information Technology department as strategic.

That also means thinking about… Read more