Deanna Dicken

Introduction Service Broker is a technology built into SQL Server and utilized by the engine for its internal asynchronous processing. The great thing about Service Broker is that its functionality is exposed so we can build our own custom data integrations. This article serves to introduce you to the concepts needed to create a service […]

Introduction SQL Server 2012 introduces three new built-in conversion functions: PARSE, TRY_ PARSE, and TRY_CONVERT. These functions were introduced to be more familiar to users of expression languages. They perform a subset of the functionality of the pre-existing conversion functions. This article will introduce these three new functions and their usage. PARSE The PARSE function […]

There are four ranking functions included with SQL Server (starting with SQL Server 2005). Those functions; ROW_NUMBER, RANK, DENSE_RANK, and NTILE; can be used to rank the rows of your result set over a partition. This article will present those functions and examples of their use. Ranking Functions Ranking functions are a subset of the […]

SQL Server Management Studio has a not well known but very handy feature for using and creating template scripts. This article will provide an overview of the Template Explorer in SQL server Management Studio and dive into examples of using existing templates as well as creating your own. Templates and the Template ExplorerSQL Server comes […]

Beginning with SQL Server 2005, column-level encryption and decryption capabilities were made available within the database.  This provides a compelling solution for situations where one-off types of data need to be secured beyond your existing authorization, authentication or firewall settings.  This article provides a brief overview and example of securing a column using native SQL […]

Money, time and effort can be saved by finding bugs sooner rather than later. Database unit testing has not enjoyed the same level of unit testing that application development has; however, an increase in tools has begun to change that. Deanna Dicken provides a look at database unit testing development within Visual Studio 2010. Introduction […]

Introduction Turning data into information and information into knowledge for the purposes of insight and fact-based decision support is the purpose of business intelligence. When delving into business intelligence for the first time, there are some important terms to understand. Deanna Dicken walks through some of the basic terminology needed to get you started. BIDS […]

At the PASS Summit 2010 the next version of SQL Server, code-named Denali, was announced and the CTP made available. This article highlights the top new features of that release, also known as SQL Server 11. 1. SQL Server AlwaysOn Denali’s AlwaysOn includes features to help simplify high-availability environments and maximize hardware investments. One of these […]

Have you ever wished your database could tell you what’s wrong or let you know when a task has completed? SQL Server’s Database Mail allows the database to send out messages over SMTP. Deanna Dicken shows you how to set up Database Mail and send some messages. Introduction to Database Mail Have you ever wished […]

SharePoint and SQL Server Reporting Services can be integrated together to provide a one-stop shop for users to explore all content for a site. Deploying reports within your SharePoint site can simplify deployment and maintenance of the solution while providing for a consistent look and feel for the user. This article walks the Database Administrator […]

Deanna Dicken shares the top 10 interview questions she finds useful for SQL Server DBAs. Introduction Last month I wrote an article on the questions I find most useful for interviewing a SQL Server developer. In this article, I’ll cover the top 10 interview questions for SQL Server DBAs. What purpose does the model database […]

New with SQL Server 2008 R2, PowerPivot is an extension of Analytical Services providing power users with a familiar tool for analyzing massive amounts of data from disparate sources (including web and data feeds).   PowerPivot comes in two flavors:  PowerPivot for Excel and PowerPivot for Sharepoint.  This article gets you started with PowerPivot for Excel. […]