What’s in Your Future?

How to Import, Browse And Export Master Data Services' Data

Learn how to import data to Master Data Services (MDS) using Master Data Manager Portal UI to enter data manually or how to automate the import process by staging data into three different MDS staging tables.

Survey: what is the highest wait on your system?

SQL Server guru Paul Randal is conducting a short survey on wait states. Add your vote to the tally.

SQL Server Email Alerts Notifications

This article details a creating a more flexible and user friendly email alerts system.

Replication Schema Option Across Different Versions of SQL Server

My company uses replication quite extensively across SQL 2000, SQL 2005 and SQL 2008 servers. The problem with using different versions of SQL Server is that the replication options do not always behave the same way. Because of these differences we have stopped using SQL Server Management Studio and Enterprise Manager to setup replication. Also we have taken the time to look at the schema options for replication to make sure the end result is the same for all versions of SQL Server.

State Transition Constraints

Data Validation in a database is a lot more complex than seeing if a string parameter really is an integer. A commercial world is full of complex rules for sequences of procedures, of fixed or variable lifespans, Warranties, commercial offers and bids. All this requires considerable subtlety to prevent bad data getting in, and if it does, locating and fixing the problem. Joe Celko shows how useful a State transition graph can be, and how essential it can become with the time aspect added.

Top 10 Mistakes When Building and Maintaining a Database

Building and maintain a SQL Server database environment takes a lot of work. There are many things to consider when you are designing, supporting and troubleshooting your environment. This article identifies a top ten list of mistakes, or things that sometimes are overlooked when supporting a database environment.

Introducing ADO.NET Entity Framework

The challenge of bringing data from efficient storage engines such as SQL Server into object-oriented programming models is hardly a new one. Most developers address this challenge by writing complex data access code to move data between their applications and the database. This requires an understanding of the database so that you can access data either from the raw tables, from views, or from stored procedures.

Investigating Transactions Using Dynamic Management Objects

There can be a great difference in the performance of a particular routine in a test database, and in a fully loaded production system. When you hit performance problems in a database under load, and there is excessive locking and blocking, how can you determine exactly where the problems lie, in order to fix them?

Notifications for SQL Server Agent Restarts

This article demostrates how to set up email notifications for SQL Server Agent Restarts.