Getting your SQL Server Development Data in Three Easy Steps

Phil Factor takes a staged approach to generating development data, creating one project that simply copies data from an existing database, another that copies most data but generates any personal or sensitive data, and a third that starts from 'anonymized' data and then generates other columns entirely and increase the number of rows for testing. Read more

Data Masking in Practice

This article takes a strategic look at common SQL data masking techniques, and the challenges inherent in masking certain types of sensitive and personal data, while ensuring that it still looks like the real data, and retains its referential integrity, and distribution characteristics. It also explains, briefly, with references, the tools that one can use to mask different types of data and how to provision development and test machines with these 'de-sensitized' databases, or alternatively to produce fake data that looks like the real thing, but in fact is generated randomly. Read more

The Joy of Realistic Generated Fake Database Data

Have you ever had to demonstrate a database-driven application, and longed to have the real data to do so? To do what, precisely? Well, so you can then scroll through the customers who have used the system, demonstrate the accounting and audit, browse through the products, maybe even demo the customer tracking system with comments, complaints and so on. All this is possible, using realistic, fake data. Read more

Maintaining a Database Build Script with SQL Compare

Phil Factor explores a lesser-known capability of SQL Compare, which is to help you maintain a 'traditional', well-documented, single file build script, for creating the current version of the database during development. Read more

Database Deployments and Rocky Rollback Horrors: Where Does the New Data Go?

Phil Factor describes the problem of preserving data that is left 'in limbo' when you need to revert the database to a previous version that has no way of accommodating it. Read more

Monitoring Amazon RDS SQL Servers to Optimize Performance and Manage Costs

Israel Valverde explains the triple benefits of extending SQL Monitor to cover your SQL Server instances running on Amazon RDS, in terms of SQL Server performance optimization, controlling AWS-hosting costs, and in having a single, unified view of the health of all your SQL Servers, regardless of where they are hosted. Read more

Database Build Blockers: Four-part Object References

Cross-server references keep cropping up as a problem for development and build. Phil Factor demonstrates how using linked server 'aliases' can get around these issues, even if the individual databases use four-part references within the code rather than synonyms. Read more

Sharing SQL Code Snippets with Coworkers, The World and Yourself

Louis Davidson explains how he manages and shares several different sources of SQL Prompt code snippets, in a single Snippet library, using Dropbox and source control. Read more

What is a Data Catalog?

A data catalog allows an organization to discover and record the facts about its data, where that data is held and how it used. William Brewer explains the details. Read more

Effective Data Governance: Being Grown Up About Data

William Brewer explains how to make data governance a continuous organizational activity, based on well-established standards and practices, rather than a knee-jerk response, and which skills and tools will help you achieve compliance, including SQL Data Catalog for discovery and classification of data held in SQL Server. Read more

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