What's ROI Got to Do With It?
This article by Simon Galbraith (from Red-Gate Software, one of our valued advertisers!) in .Net Magazine talks about how to calculate ROI when evaluating software purchases.
Managing Jobs - Part 1
How many jobs do you have? 10? 100? 1000? Andy makes the point that what works to manage for a small number of jobs doesn't work when that number doubles or triples (well, unless you only had 1 job to start with!). In part one of two, this article looks at ideas for using categories and naming conventions to get things under control.
Server Hardware Standards
Standards are important in the computer business, both the hardware and software side. After looking at Coding Standards in a previous series, Steve Jones looks at the server side of standards beginning with hardware.
Freeware: Terminator Opens Gigabyte Files Easily
Ever tried to open 1 Gig ASCII file with Notepad? WordPad? Do you remember ASCII codes of Tab and Carriage Return? Enter Terminator; huge ASCII file viewer and BCP helper. Terminator reads top 10 (and more if asked) records of ASCII file of any size. It detects record terminators and calculates current cursor position (field offset) and length of selected area (field length). Best of all, it's free!
Block the DBA?
Can you block a DBA from performing certain actions on a server if he has sysadmin rights? The real answer is no, but this article shows you how to block an unknowledgable DBA from performing certain actions.
Another SQL Server Virus Hits the Internet
On Friday the 24th, a virus that preys on a SQL Server vulnerability began to attack networks, taking down many networks. This brief network describes the virus and how to protect yourself from it.
How to move SQL Server from one computer to another?
Moving SQL Server from one computer to another is not a very difficult thing to do, but it often stumps newbie DBAs. Of course, it needs careful planning to ensure that the SQL Server is moved completely and properly to the new machine, and with a minimal downtime and no data loss. This article introduces you to a couple of methods you can employ to move/migrate SQL Server from one computer to another.
Worst Practice - Bad Comments
This one is pretty interesting, Andy discusses a few things he sees in comments that not only fail to add value, they end up costing extra time. There's room for discussion here, but definitely a discussion worth having - comments can make you or break you, here's a chance to think about what you think is important in commenting and pass that on to your development team.
Document Your Tables with SchemaToDoc
This application will convert your schema into a standard Word document. Try before you buy, they have two versions - both under $200.
How to Search for Date and Time Values
Because of the way date and time values are stored in SQL Server, searching for a particular date or time is not as straightforward as you might think it would be. This article describes how date/time values are stored, how the database design can simplify (or complicate) data retrieval, and how to query date/time data to get the right results every time.
Blogs
No Shortcuts for the SQLCMD Batch Terminator: #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I was messing around with SQLCMD and I realized something I hadn’t known. I’ve...
Where Is My SQL Agent? Running Scheduled Jobs Against Azure SQL Database
By gbargsley
One of the first things I review when I inherit a new SQL Server...
AgentDBA vs Critical SQL Server
By Arun Sirpal
It’s 07:43. Someone’s already left a message. “Something’s wrong with the DB server.” You...
Forums
Increment a number in a SQL Query based on a value
I have an issue where I have a Bill of Material list of items...
Follow Your Hunch
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Follow Your Hunch
What Happens When You Ask a Local AI to Query Your Database?
Comments posted to this topic are about the item What Happens When You Ask...
Question of the Day
Detecting Characters
I have a SQL Server 2022 English default installation on a server. I want to detect if there are any upper case characters in rows and I have this code:
SELECT CustomerNameID,
CustomerName
FROM dbo.CustomerName
WHERE CustomerName = LOWER(CustomerName)
Here is the sample data I am testing with:
CustomerNameID CustomerName 1 John Smith 2 Sarah Johnson 3 MICHAEL WILLIAMS 4 JENNIFER BROWN 5 david jones 6 emily davis 7 Robert Miller 8 LISA WILSON 9 christopher moore 10 Amanda TaylorHow many rows are returned? See possible answers