Are Common Language Runtime routines in SQL Server faster or slower than the equivalent T-SQL code? How would you go about testing the relative performance objectively? Solomon Rutzky creates a test framework to try to answer the question and comes up with some surprising results that you can check for yourself.
2011-08-01
2,863 reads
Write your database backup to multiple files. In addition to writing your database backup to one file you have the ability to write to multiple files at the same time and therefore split up the workload. The advantage to doing this is that the backup process can run using multiple threads and therefore finish faster as well as having much smaller files that can be moved across the network or copied to a CD or DVD.
2011-07-29
4,034 reads
Capturing performance monitor counters is of great value to understand how SQL Server is behaving at a macro level, that being how overall resources are being used within the engine. Without this data it is difficult to determine where the performance issues are occurring. Capturing the metrics has been traditionally from Performance Monitor either on an ad-hoc basis or setting up a log to capture the values on a predefined basis.
2011-07-27
3,187 reads
Microsoft Access is a very good database solution, but it has limits. While the portability of mdb and accdb files is convenient, there are advantages to moving to the less portable SQL Server solution. If you do have SQL Server, there's very little reason not to consider migrating your Access Databases. Not all custom-made Access applications easily lend themselves to a SQL Server solution so you'll need to do some analysis before choosing a migration path.
2011-07-26
3,430 reads
Continuing from Part 1 , our Migration Checklist continues: Step 5: Update statistics It is always a good idea to update the statistics of the database that you have just installed or migrated
2011-07-25
2,586 reads
SQL Server Service Broker (SSBS) is a new architecture (introduced with SQL Server 2005 and enhanced further in SQL Server 2008 and later versions) that allows you to write asynchronous, decoupled, distributed, persistent, reliable, scalable and secure queuing/message-based applications within the database itself. Arshad Ali looks at how we can manage, monitor and troubleshoot Service Broker environments.
2011-07-21
2,085 reads
It is a fact of life: SQL Server databases change homes. They move from one instance to another, from one version to the next, from old servers to new ones. They move around as an organisation’s data grows, applications are enhanced or new versions of the database software are released.
2011-07-18
3,616 reads
There is a popular design for a database that requires a built-in audit-trail of amendments and additions, where data is never deleted, but superseded by a later version. Whilst this is conceptually simple, it has always made reporting the latest version of data complicated. Alex Kuznetsov joins the debate on the best way of doing this with an example using an indexed view and the filtered index.
2011-07-15
3,274 reads
We're pretty confident that we have locked down and encrypted our financial data, but a lot of our customer's PII (Personally Identifiable Information) data is still held in unencrypted form. This data is able to be selected directly by read only business users on many of our downstream reporting, datawarehouse and standby servers. The rise of identity theft makes protecting this data imperative. DBAs are the custodians of this information and must protect it like we protect our own personal information. Recent publicity over the theft of Sony PSN data underscores both the economic and ethical importance of protecting personal data.
2011-07-14
2,864 reads
Fabiano Amorim was asked a couple of questions about SQL Server Distribution Statistics. Having given an answer based on his current knowledge, he then decided to find out for himself whether what he'd said was right, and started an epic journey of exploration into Distribution Statistics and the way that the Query Optimiser uses them.
2011-07-13
2,132 reads
By Steve Jones
For a number of years, we’ve produced the State of the Database Landscape report,...
By Steve Jones
I coach volleyball and I do a lot of stat stuff on paper. I...
By Steve Jones
dolorblindness – n. the frustration that you’ll never be able to understand another person’s...
Is there a good syllabus for reading these two together? (Yes, it's called the...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item GPX distance and time analysis...
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The DBA is Dead; Long...
In SQL Server 2025, if I want to remove an IP from a listener, what do I do?
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