Although, generally speaking, source control is the truth, a database doesn't quite conform to the ideal because the target schema can, for valid reasons, contain other conflicting truths that can't easily be captured in source control. Dave Ballantyne explains the problems and suggests a solution.  Read more...

Level 8 of this stairway series looks at the automation of your tracing using Integration Services.  Read more...

Come visit Rhode Island and meet fellow SQL Server professionals from all over New England as SQL Saturday comes on Sept 15, 2012.  Read more...

Sept 15th, 2012 at the CAIT Campus of Washington University in St.Louis - 5 Jackson Avenue, Clayton, MO 63105 SQL Saturday #154 is the very first SQL Saturday event in the St.Louis area. It is a free one day event for SQL Server professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server. We are planning on a 4 track event with 200 attendees. We currently have several sessions aligned towards Database Administration, Application Development, Business Intelligence and professional Development Tracks. We also have several sessions focused on SQL Server 2012! Please visit our event website for more details and free registration.  Read more...

SQL Server 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Groups provides a unified high availability and disaster recovery (HADR) solution that improves upon legacy functionality previously found across disparate features. Prior to SQL Server 2012, several customers used database mirroring to provide local high availability within a data center, and log shipping for disaster recovery across a remote data center. With SQL Server 2012, this common design pattern can be replaced with an architecture that uses availability groups for both high availability and disaster recovery. This paper details the key topology requirements of this specific design pattern, including quorum configuration considerations, steps required to build the environment, and a workflow that shows how to handle a disaster recovery event in the new topology.  Read more...

Why does the transaction log fill up? There are a variety of reasons, and MVP Gail Shaw walks you through the various things to check.  Read more...

A free day of training in Boston on Oct 8, 2012. Come join Grant Fritchey, Steve Jones and more to talk about SQL Server and how you can work more efficiently.  Read more...

A free day of training in Chicago on Oct 5, 2012. Join Grant Fritchey, Steve Jones and more to discuss, debate, ask questions, and learn about how to better run your organizations SQL Servers.  Read more...

I need to try and find all SQL Servers, not just the ones in my domain. We know there are a couple of appliances that are potentially running SQL Server and we want to see them, too. What can I use to do this?  Read more...

Use custom assemblies to generate a heat map matrix in SQL Server Reporting Services  Read more...

The city by the bay welcomes Steve Jones, Grant Fritchey and more for a day of debate, discussion and learning about SQL Server. It's free. Just register and join us.  Read more...

There are seven common antipatterns in T-SQL coding that make code perform badly, and three good habits which will generally ensure that your code runs fast. If you learn nothing else from this list of great advice from Grant, just keep in mind that you should 'write for the optimizer'.  Read more...

This level will cover some of the Input/Output operations you can use with PowerShell.   Read more...

Can I export images from SQL Server to a file in Windows? What SQL Server options are available to do so? Check out this tip to learn more.  Read more...

This article discusses and demonstrates AlwaysOn Availability groups in SQL Server 2012, a new feature for high availability.  Read more...

A free day of training in Columbus, GA. Come meet the local SQL professionals and spend a day talking SQL Server.  Read more...

A free day of training in Austin, TX with Grant Fritchey, Steve Jones and a few others. Join us to learn about SQL Server and how you can more efficiently work in your job every day.  Read more...

There is a lot of confusion amongst DBAs about using PowerShell due to existence the deprecated SQLPS mini-shell of SSMS and the newer SQLPS module. In a two-part article and wallchart, Michael Sorens explains how to install it, what it is, and some of the excellent things it has to offer.  Read more...

Before you start to think about your database schema or tables, you need to consider your data: the type of data it is, the scale you use for values. It needs to be unique, precise and unambiguous. Then you need to name it in such a way that it can be generally understood. Joe Celko explains...  Read more...

Come to Cambridge in the UK for a free day of training on SQL Server. Steve won't be there, but plenty of other Red Gate'ers will be.  Read more...