'Immutable' databases operate under the principle that data or objects should not be modified after they are created. Once again they hold the promise of providing strong consistency combined with horizontal read scalability, and built-in caching. Are Immutable databases a new idea? Are they different in any way from the mainstream RDBMSs?
2014-10-03
9,305 reads
Following on from a webcast, Tim Smith answers some questions on SQL Server security like: Is It Better To Mask At the Application Level Or The SQL Server Database Level? Are there any options to find SSNs in SQL Server besides RegEx? And, why would anyone store sensitive data un-encrypted in SQL Server?
2014-10-02
8,457 reads
Since SQL Server delivered the entire range of window functions, there has been far less justification for using the non-standard ex-Sybase 'Quirky Update' tricks to perform the many permutations of running totals in SQL Server. One of these related problems is the 'Data Smear'. Do window functions make this easier, and what is performance like? Dwain Camps investigates.
2014-10-01
11,294 reads
Aaron Bertrand recently answered a question from a user who wanted to convert all of their SQL Server computed columns to be persisted. This allows you to shift the SQL Server cost of performing the computation from query time to the time of the insert/update, at the cost of storage. In this tip, Aaron shows you how.
2014-09-30
8,294 reads
Hosting a scalable application in Azure seems ideal, but what happens when things go wrong? Azure Cloud Services provide extensive diagnostics, and this feature has now been extended to Azure web sites and Azure Virtual Machines. You need to set up diagnostics on the VM, but once this is done, all your logs, traces and performance counters can be collected from many VMs in one place for easy management.
2014-09-29
7,986 reads
Big Data implementations are more than just lots of data. Of equal importance is the analytics software used to query the data. Analyzing business data using advanced analytics is common, especially in companies that already have an enterprise data warehouse. It is therefore only natural that your big data application must be integrated with the existing warehouse.
2014-09-26
10,283 reads
Once you've done a number of SQL code-reviews, you'll be able to identify signs in the code that indicate all might not be well. These 'code smells' are coding styles that, while not bugs, suggest design problems with the code. In this PDF, Phil Factor's put together 119 of those code smells so you can see what to avoid and why.
2014-09-25
12,476 reads
Troy Hunt takes a look at a website whose traffic literally increased 60-fold overnight. Interesting stuff happens when scale changes that dramatically, so he decided to share a few things he learned.
2014-09-24
8,351 reads
Retrieving data from Excel, and importing it into SQL Server hasn't the same appeal or glamour as, for example, performing heroics with ill-performing queries. This could be why one hesitates before asking questions about how to do it. Rob Sheldon calms your private doubts and fears by answering those embarrassing questions.
2014-09-23
11,784 reads
In this tip Tim Smith looks at different approaches to stop confidential data from getting into the database.
2014-09-22
8,091 reads
By Brian Kelley
I am guilty as charged. The quote was in reference to how people argue...
By Steve Jones
Learn how to tie a bowline knot. Practice in the dark. With one hand....
By HeyMo0sh
As a DevOps practitioner, I’ve always focused on performance, scalability, and automation. But as...
Hi, I have a SQL Server instance where users connect to via Windows Authentication,...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Multiple Deployment Processes
Comments posted to this topic are about the item How to Use sqlpackage to...
I have a query from a former DBA that we run on SQL Server 2025 to check on database metadata. This query references sys.sysaltfiles. I want to refactor this code to be more modern. Which DMV should I reference instead?
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