Articles

Technical Article

Slowly Changing Dimensions Are Not Always as Easy as 1, 2, 3

To kick off our first column of the year, we're going to take on a challenging subject that all designers face: how to deal with changing dimensions. Unlike most OLTP systems, a major objective of a data warehouse is to track history. So, accounting for change is one of the analyst's most important responsibilities. A sales force region reassignment is a good example of a business change that may require you to alter the dimensional data warehouse. We'll discuss how to apply the right technique to account for the change historically. Hang on to your hats — this is not an easy topic.

2005-02-21

1,868 reads

Technical Article

Installing and Configuring SQL Server Reporting Services

In this chapter, we discuss various installation setups you can use to install and configure Reporting Services. For the most part, this process is managed by the Setup.exe installation wizard, so expect to be prompted for a number of configuration options that determine how, where, and whether each segment of the Reporting Services package will be installed. We know that there are a variety of ways to install Reporting Services, so we've tried not only to address the common case, but also provide hints and techniques to be used for some of the more sophisticated installation scenarios. To make this process as painless as possible, we've broken this chapter down into several sections:

2005-02-18

3,426 reads

SQLServerCentral Article

Data Driven Architecture

Most SQL Server developers and DBAs are familiar with the concept of using a database as a back end to a web site or other application. However the database can be used to store more than just the data that users will edit. An interesting approach to application design begins with some knowledge of the metadata about the underlying data structures and using this to drive the application's behavior. New author Jim Craddock has utilized just such a concept in one if his applications and he brings us a look at how this works.

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2005-02-17

7,231 reads

External Article

MDX Essentials: The CROSSJOIN() Function: Breaking Bottlenecks

In this article, we will return to a function we introduced in an earlier article, CROSSJOIN(), whose mission it is to combine two sets of dimension members into one. We will discuss how CROSSJOIN() works in general, and then discuss how its performance can become an issue in medium to large-sized data sets. We will then undertake a multiple-step practice example intended to assist us in gaining an understanding of the issues, before exposing approaches to minimizing the performance overhead that we can encounter in using CROSSJOIN() to reach our reporting and analysis needs.

2005-02-17

2,074 reads

SQLServerCentral Article

Data Archiving: Problems and Solutions

SQL Server does an exceptional job at managing your data and making it available for your users and applications. However it doesn't know when you are done with data and there is not archival solution built. Author David Poole likens not having a strategy to leaving certain undesirable clothing items on your floor and provides some common problems and potential solutions based on his experiences.

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2005-02-16

13,598 reads

SQLServerCentral Article

eSubscriptions Are Here!!!

Last year we started a magazine, the SQL Server Standard, a publication devoted to SQL Server with articles written by you and me, people who work with the product in the real world. Now we're pleased to announce that eSubscriptions to the magazine in PDF format are now available.

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2005-02-16

2,895 reads

Technical Article

Secure options for remote SQL Server administration

In this two-part series, Serdar Yegulalp explains how to remotely administer SQL Server without compromising network security. In part one below, he describes two methods for providing secure administrative access to remote employees. In part two, he'll examine practical problems you may encounter when remotely administering SQL Server and how to work around them.

2005-02-15

1,665 reads

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Question of the Day

Read Only Replica in SQL Server Standard

Our environment runs using SQL Server Standard. We are implementing Availability groups. Our database has been experiencing high read volumes, so I want to let the application read the Synchronized Secondary replica, as I read that HADR does this. Can we implement this?

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