Australia's User Groups
The central place for Australia's SQL Server User groups and a list of their meeting times is now available.
Upsizing the Access Database into the SQL Server
SQL Server and Access are usually linked together as Access used for applications at the beginning of their lifecycle that are later moved to SQL Server when the load gets too high or the data sizes grow. There are often cases where you may also want to use SQL Server as a backend to an Access application. But how do you get your data from Access to SQL Server? Author Dinesh Asanka brings us an overview of the various ways that you can move your Access database to SQL Server.
Slowly Changing Dimensions Are Not Always as Easy as 1, 2, 3
To kick off our first column of the year, we're going to take on a challenging subject that all designers face: how to deal with changing dimensions. Unlike most OLTP systems, a major objective of a data warehouse is to track history. So, accounting for change is one of the analyst's most important responsibilities. A sales force region reassignment is a good example of a business change that may require you to alter the dimensional data warehouse. We'll discuss how to apply the right technique to account for the change historically. Hang on to your hats — this is not an easy topic.
Installing and Configuring SQL Server Reporting Services
In this chapter, we discuss various installation setups you can use to install and configure Reporting Services. For the most part, this process is managed by the Setup.exe installation wizard, so expect to be prompted for a number of configuration options that determine how, where, and whether each segment of the Reporting Services package will be installed. We know that there are a variety of ways to install Reporting Services, so we've tried not only to address the common case, but also provide hints and techniques to be used for some of the more sophisticated installation scenarios. To make this process as painless as possible, we've broken this chapter down into several sections:
Changing SQL Server Passwords
SQL Server 2000 does not have the best or most secure password mechanism. In fact it does a pretty poor job of managing passwords and forcing changes. From the very knowledgable web team over at Orcsweb, a short article on how you change passwords in code.
Data Driven Architecture
Most SQL Server developers and DBAs are familiar with the concept of using a database as a back end to a web site or other application. However the database can be used to store more than just the data that users will edit. An interesting approach to application design begins with some knowledge of the metadata about the underlying data structures and using this to drive the application's behavior. New author Jim Craddock has utilized just such a concept in one if his applications and he brings us a look at how this works.
MDX Essentials: The CROSSJOIN() Function: Breaking Bottlenecks
In this article, we will return to a function we introduced in an earlier article, CROSSJOIN(), whose mission it is to combine two sets of dimension members into one. We will discuss how CROSSJOIN() works in general, and then discuss how its performance can become an issue in medium to large-sized data sets. We will then undertake a multiple-step practice example intended to assist us in gaining an understanding of the issues, before exposing approaches to minimizing the performance overhead that we can encounter in using CROSSJOIN() to reach our reporting and analysis needs.
Data Archiving: Problems and Solutions
SQL Server does an exceptional job at managing your data and making it available for your users and applications. However it doesn't know when you are done with data and there is not archival solution built. Author David Poole likens not having a strategy to leaving certain undesirable clothing items on your floor and provides some common problems and potential solutions based on his experiences.
eSubscriptions Are Here!!!
Last year we started a magazine, the SQL Server Standard, a publication devoted to SQL Server with articles written by you and me, people who work with the product in the real world. Now we're pleased to announce that eSubscriptions to the magazine in PDF format are now available.
The HAVING and GROUP BY SQL clauses
This month's topic is one that often baffles inexperienced SQL coders. We will look at the GROUP BY clause, and then the difference between conditions placed in the WHERE clause, and the HAVING clause. I have used MySQL to test all of the examples, but most of them should work without any problems on other DBMS' too.
Blogs
The Book of Redgate: Get the right stuff done
By Steve Jones
Another of our values: The facing page has this quote: “We admire people who...
Runing tSQLt Tests with Claude
By Ed Elliott
Running tSQLt unit tests is great from Visual Studio but my development workflow...
Getting Your Data GenAI-Ready: The Next Stage of Data Maturity
By James Serra
I remember a meeting where a client’s CEO leaned in and asked me, “So,...
Forums
The Long Name
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Long Name
Eight Minutes
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Eight Minutes
T-SQL in SQL Server 2025: Fuzzy String Search I
Comments posted to this topic are about the item T-SQL in SQL Server 2025:...
Question of the Day
The Long Name
I run this code to create a table:
When I check the length, I get these results:
A table name is limited to 128 characters. How does this work?