Do You Really Need to Tune Big Data Applications?

Big data applications are here to stay. The promise of this technology is the ability to quickly and easily analyze large amounts of data and derive from that analysis changes to customer-facing systems, hopefully at a reasonable cost. So, do these applications really need tuning?

The Mindset of the Enterprise DBA: Creating and Applying Standards to Our Work

Although many professions require judgement and skill, they also require the ability to do many repeated standard procedures in a consistent and methodical manner. For DBAs, standardization involves providing and following checklists, notes and instructions so that the results are predictable, correct and easy to maintain.

Microsoft Azure Diagnostics Part 2: Basic Configuration of Azure Cloud Service Diagnostics

Michael Collier takes a look at the key aspects of configuring the diagnostic agent in Microsoft Azure to collect the data you want, and transfer that data to storage on a schedule you define.

Rollback and Recovery Troubleshooting; Challenges and Strategies

What happens if your database deployment goes awry? Grant Fritchey has some troubleshooting advice to get you out of a bind.

Finding Unused SQL Server Stored Procedures With PowerShell

Tim Smith describes a number of ways to tell which Stored Procedures are in use, DMVs, a SQL Server Trace, and his preferred method, the Source Code and PowerShell.

SQLServerCentral.com 2014 Users Survey

We want to make sure we're covering the things that are relevant to you, so we're asking for some feedback on what you use on SSC, where we need to improve, and what you'd like to see.

It should only take a few minutes, and three randomly-selected people will win a $50 Amazon gift card for their efforts.

Granular or Cell Level Encryption in SQL Server

Arshad Ali demonstrates granular level encryption in detail and explains how it differs from Transparent Data Encryption (TDE).

SQL Server Tables - 11 Questions You Were Too Shy to Ask

There are some aspects of tables in SQL Server that a lot of people get wrong, purely because they seem so obvious that one feels embarrassed about asking questions. Robert Sheldon reckons that no questions about SQL Tables are off-limits, and deserve frank answers.

Database Branching and Merging Strategies

Source control will allow you to maintain branches in the development of your database, but the subsequent merge isn't pain-free. How can the database developer support the rapid development and delivery of features in an application? Versioning, branching and merging is part of the solution, but what about the rest of the solution?

Finding SQL Server objects that reference invalid objects

Since many environments haven't committed to using a source control system, identifying mismatched objects can offer a challenge. Tim Smith offers a solution.