Red Gate’s new custom metrics site - with a little help from our friends

With contributions from MVPs and the SQL Server community, the SQL Monitor team at Red Gate has put together a custom metrics site, SQL Monitor Metrics, to accompany the release of SQL Monitor 3.2. The site hosts T-SQL scripts which can be imported directly to SQL Monitor for custom metric monitoring.

Implement Continuous Integration In Your Software Project

Continuous integration, or CI, brings developers closer to delivering error-free software flawlessly. Find out how to implement it.

PASS Data Architecture VC presents Louis Davidson on Designing for Common Problems in SQL Server

On Thursday August 16th 12PM noon Central, Louis Davidson will do a design and code review of several common patterns of solving problems that a typical programmer will come up against in SQL Server.

11 Tips to Backup databases with SMO, VB, C# Powershell, Command lines

Sometimes we need to create backups using code. Sometimes we need to do it manually or automatically, programmatically using C#, VB, Powershell.

Getting Started with Master Data Services (MDS) In SQL Server 2012

MDS allows you to create a centralized hub for creating and managing enterprise master data. Arshad Ali discusses how to install and configure Master Data Services in SQL Server 2012, and a method to deploy sample models.

Utilize SQL Server Storage Effectively

With the increased use of databases and the need to have more and more data online, database storage is an area DBAs need to manage effectively. If you plan your database and data management correctly you can build and manage a cost effective, high performing SQL Server solution. If not, you risk potential storage issues as well as performance degradation. This session will cover best practices and options focused on helping you manage your SQL Server storage. We will dive into the tools you can use to manage database storage, some of the latest trends, database design implications, data archiving and alternatives such as compression, BLOB data storage, filtered indexes and more. We’ll also introduce a tool that allows you to reduce the storage footprint of your live SQL Server databases.

Join us for this free event and learn how to utilize your SQL Server storage effectively.

Using DELETE CASCADE Option for Foreign Keys

Referential integrity is a very important thing to consider when designing a database. In my years as a DBA I've seen database designs that sit on both ends of the spectrum, none at all and cases where every table is linked to multiple tables. While the later certainly can be a little more difficult to work with it ensures the integrity of your data stays intact. The other end provides much more flexibility when it comes to updating and deleting data from your database, whether it's being done through the application or directly on the backend, but has the issue of possible orphan records if things are not done properly. This tip will look at the DELETE CASCADE option when creating foreign key constraints and how it helps keep the referential integrity of your database intact.

TDE Setup and Administration Scripts

A comprehensive set of scripts to setup and operate TDE for a SQL Server.

Regular Expression Transformation

The regular expression transformation exposes the power of regular expression matching within the pipeline. One or more columns can be selected, and for each column an individual expression can be applied. The way multiple columns are handled can be set on the options page.

SQL Server 2012’s Information on Parallel Thread Usage

In the SQL Server 2012 execution plan we can see better the true thread reservations for a query and not just information on the maximum degree of parallelism and row distribution across parallel threads; thanks to the new parallel thread usage information.