Finding Inactive SQL Server Databases

Phil Factor demonstrates how to identify objects in a database that are not being used. The technique uses Extended Events to detect acquisition of Intent locks, and so determine which databases are active or apparently 'dormant', and then drills down to investigate on which tables data has been modified recently, and which views and stored procedures have been run. Read more

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

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 using Redgate Monitor to cover your SQL Server instances running on Amazon RDS, for SQL Server performance optimization, controlling AWS-hosting costs, and in providing 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

Managing Cross-Database Object References (EI016, EI026, EI027)

Phil Factor explains cross database and cross-server references, how to find them in your code, and when it's better to avoid hard-coding these references and use synonyms instead. Read more

Creating a SQL Code Snippet in SQL Prompt and SSMS

Phil Factor's "getting started" guide for turning all your trusted and most frequently used queries into SQL code snippets. Read more

Solving the Provisioning Problem in Database Development using Clones

When database development is described, the details often get vague when the data gets beyond spreadsheet-size. There is 'hand-waving' talk of providing databases for each developer, but little detail of how you would provision all the databases that would be needed, at the correct version and with the correct development data, and then keep them all in sync with the source code, as developers commit changes. This article explains the requirements, and how SQL Clone can meet them. Read more

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