SQL Server management, tutorials, scripts, coding, programming and tips for database administrators

MS SQL

Modern Data Warehouse Design Pattern – Part II 09/20/2018

Join Anoop Kumar as he discusses two modern design patterns to handle Advanced Analytics on big data, and Real time analytics.

Azure SQL Database High Availability 09/06/2018

Site-wide or region-wide disasters, while undoubtedly more impactful, happen considerably less frequently than downtime resulting from scheduled maintenance events or isolated hardware and software faults. This article provides an overview of the high availability features of Azure SQL Database that mitigate risks affecting services within an individual Azure datacenter, rather than an entire Azure region.

Displaying and Removing Unprintable Hexadecimal Characters from SQL Server Data 09/04/2018

There are times when you might need to look at your SQL Server data in hexadecimal format. Occasionally some string data will contain unprintable characters, which can cause downstream problems, if not detected and removed. Read on to learn how to display and remove unprintable hexadecimal characters from SQL Server data.

Modern Data Warehouse Design Pattern – Part I 08/20/2018

The modern data warehouse design helps in building a hub for all types of data to initiate integrated and transformative solutions. To achieve these goals and to support modern designs, Microsoft has introduced a set of fully managed, cloud-based services that not only support modern data warehouse design patterns but also provide the advantages of inbuilt scalability, high availability, good performance, and flexibility.

Azure SQL Database Business Continuity Enhancements 08/06/2018

Marcin Policht provides an overview of a number of new features that facilitate Azure SQL Database business continuity.

How to Resize tempdb 08/02/2018

When you are setting up a new SQL Server machine you need to determine how big you should make tempdb. To make sure you size tempdb appropriately you should monitor the tempdb space usage. If there are autogrowth events occurring after you have recycled SQL Server than you might want to increase the size of your tempdb data files. If tempdb never uses most of the tempdb space, then you might want to consider decreasing the size of tempdb.

How to Remove Transparent Data Encryption From a Database 08/02/2018

There may be a time when you want to turn off transparent data encryption on one of your TDE enabled databases. In this tip, Greg Larsen shows you how simple it is to remove Transparent Data Encryption.

Steps to Migrate Oracle Database to Azure SQL Database 07/23/2018

Many organizations are looking at the prospect of a technology migration, where capabilities are moved to a new set of technologies, supporting and enabling the business of the future. Anoop Kumar lays out the steps that can be followed to migrate an on-premise Oracle database to the SQL Server cloud database, Azure SQL Database.

Introduction to Azure Cosmos DB Global Distribution 07/05/2018

Global distribution of updatable data stores is one of the more challenging goals that software designers and architects have been struggling with over the years. Addressing this challenge has become increasingly pressing as the rapid growth of cloud technologies increased the need for deployments capable of spanning multiple geographical areas. In this article, we will provide an introduction to global distribution-related functionality in Cosmos DB.

Placing a Mark in SQL Server's Transaction Log for Fall Back 07/02/2018

How many times have you had a programmer come to you and say they want you (the DBA) to restore their database to sometime prior to when they accidentally corrupted it? If you are doing FULL transaction logging you can do a point in time recovery to restore the database to just prior to when the corruption occurred. But in order to do that you need to know exactly when the programmer corrupted the data, which in a lot of cases is not known down to the second.

Using SQL Server's Default Trace to Identify Autogrow Events in tempdb 07/02/2018

We all know that you should try to size tempdb appropriately, so it doesn’t need to autogrow shortly after starting up SQL Server. It isn’t always easy to do this. Therefore, when you first implement a new server and/or add new databases you should monitor the autogrowth events on tempdb. By monitoring the autogrowth events you can easily determine if you have sized tempdb appropriately.

Automatic Query Performance Tuning in SQL Server Database 06/28/2018

SQL Server's Automatic Tuning provides insight into possible query performance problems, recommends solutions, and provides options to fix identified problems either manually or automatically.

Azure SQL Database and GDPR Compliance 06/07/2018

In recent years, technology landscape has undergone dramatic changes, driven primarily by cloud computing and a continuously increasing level of attention dedicated to security, privacy, and compliance. One of the more significant initiatives that attempts to address these challenges is General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR. In this article, we will explore how Azure SQL Database could help with addressing the GDPR requirements.

Databases with MAXSIZE Set 06/04/2018

When a database grows to the MAXSIZE the database will not grow anymore and if someone tries to add more rows they will get an error saying the database is full. Greg Larsen shows you how to find all database files that have their max_size set.

Indexes That Have Not Been Used but Are Being Updated 06/04/2018

We all know indexes are important for improving your query performance, but to store and maintain indexes SQL Server requires disk space and compute resources. If you have indexes that are not being used, they are costing you valuable resources and causing your update statements to run longer. Those updates run longer because they have to maintain those unused indexes. If your application is not using an index, then there is no value in having that index. Read on to learn more.