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Question of the Day

The Query Optimizer and Page Density

The Voice of the DBA

There Are a Lot of Databases

I was reading Andy Pavlo's end-of-year review of the database world. He's done this for a number of years, and there are links to previous recaps in the piece. He is an associate computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, working on quite a few database-related projects. In the review, he tends to track the database world from the perspective of business success and money. There are certainly parts of it that discuss technical changes, but my overall impression is more about the business and usage success than it is about the way database systems work.

The main thing that struck me after reading the review was how many database systems there are in the world. I hadn't heard of any of these: RaptorDB, TigerData, Tembo, StormDB, Translattice, FerretDB, DocDB, SpiralDB, Tantivy, SkySQL, HeavyDB, and more. I'm sure I missed listing some I didn't recognize, and quite a few of these are PostgreSQL-based systems, but still, that's a lot of database systems that exist and are having success.

Last year, I ran into someone who worked at a company that had implemented ArangoDB for the software their company sold. This system had something to do with tracking parts and managing schematics for machines, which is a great place to use a graph database. I asked them why they didn't pick a more well-known and used graph database like Neo4j. He answered that cost was a big reason, but if Arango failed to wrok, they felt could port their data over to another platform. He did mention that training new people was a challenge, which I believe is a good reason to stick with more mainstream systems. However, I understand that people placing bets on less well-known technologies is how the popularity of those platforms grows.

As a side note, I keep confusing ArangoDB with AvacadoDB. Maybe because I like guacamole.

If I look at DB-Engines, I see lots of platforms I recognize and a few I don't, but overall this is a long list. Some you could argue aren't really database platforms, but these are platforms people report they are using. There are 429 ranked, which is quite a few. I'm not sure there are that many different models of cars being produced in the US each year.

Many of these are specialized platforms and might be suitable or even preferred in certain situations. I wonder if any of you reading this are running Hazelcast or Presto. Or anything else unusual. If you are, why? What's better about one of these systems than the top 5-10 in any category?

As I look around I realize there are so many databases available to choose from. Perhaps it's just me, but I prefer choosing from a small list rather than a huge one. Do you feel the same way?

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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Automating Database Cleanup for PostgreSQL Using Python

sabyda from SQLServerCentral

This article shows a technique for cleaning out older data from PostgreSQL tables using Python to follow a set of rules you create.

Exploiting SQL Server Date Correlation Optimization: How Tampered Backups Enable Cross-Database Data Leaks

Additional Articles from SimpleTalk

This article is a follow-up to SQL Server DBaaS Vulnerability: Decrypting System Code & Exfiltrating User Data, in which we saw some vulnerabilities that affected pretty much all DBaaS offerings available in the cloud. Now, we’ll look at another vulnerability that once again affects every major cloud vendor.

From the SQL Server Central Blogs - Who’s the Winningest Coach (with AI Help)

Steve Jones - SSC Editor from The Voice of the DBA

I was listening to the radio the other day and the hosts were discussing the NFL playoffs in 2026. Someone mentioned the winningest coach was Nick Sirianni of the...

From the SQL Server Central Blogs - SSMS 22 still inserting tabs instead of spaces

Koen Verbeeck from Koen Verbeeck

I’m not trying to start up a debate whether you should use tabs or spaces when indenting code. Personally, I prefer spaces because when I copy the code to...

Introduction to PostgreSQL for the data professional

Site Owners from SQLServerCentral

Adoption and use of PostgreSQL is growing all the time. From mom-and-pop shops to large enterprises, more data is being managed by PostgreSQL. In turn, this means that more data professionals need to learn PostgreSQL even when they have experience with other databases. While the documentation around PostgreSQL is detailed and technically rich, finding a simple, clear path to learning what it is, what it does, and how to use it can be challenging. This book seeks to help with that challenge.

Question of the Day

Today's question (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor):
	The Query Optimizer and Page Density
If I have a fillfactor set to 70%, this reduces my page density to roughly 70%. Does this affect the query plans that the optimizer chooses?
Think you know the answer? Click here, and find out if you are right.

Yesterday's Question of the Day (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor)

Adding and Dropping Columns II

I have this table in my SQL Server 2022 database:

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[CityList]
(
[CityNameID] [int] NOT NULL IDENTITY(1, 1),
[CityName] [varchar] (30) ,
[Country2] [char] (3),
[stateprovince2] [char] (2),
[Country] [char] (3),
[stateprovince] [char]
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO

I decide to drop the stateprovince2 and country2 columns. What code should I use?

Answer: ALTER TABLE dbo.CityList DROP COLUMN Country2, stateprovince2, ALTER TABLE dbo.CityList DROP COLUMN Country2; ALTER TABLE dbo.CityList DROP COLUMN stateprovince2

Explanation: You can drop two columns if they are separated by a comma, but the DROP COLUMN syntax is needed. Not just a DROP. The GO separator is also not valid on a single line. Ref: ALTER TABLE - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/statements/alter-table-transact-sql?view=sql-server-ver17#Drop

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Database Pros Who Need Your Help

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SQL Server 2022 - Administration

SQL Agent job running gMSA cannot backup to NAS target - I'm running a group MSA for the database engine and SQL Agent in a clustered environment with Availability Groups. For backups, we currently use the Ola Hallengren scripts and agent jobs. Despite me granting all permissions to the MSA on the backup NAS, it cannot see it and the jobs fail with an error "the […]

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SQL Server 2022 - Development

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