Many are finding the quarantine a net gain for mental health. Here’s why… The FOMO has been eliminated. There is no longer a “fear of missing out”. For the first time in memory, that type of FEAR is gone. There are no events, no places to be, nowhere to go…everyone is in the same boat. Our worlds are … Read more
The standard data warehouse design from Kimball with facts and dimensions has been around for almost 25 years. In this article, Vince Iacoboni describes another way to design slowly changing dimensions.… Read more
I gave a session for the recent PASS Marathon entitled “Modern T-SQL for Better Performance.” During the session, I talked mostly about windowing functions. These functions introduced in 2005 and 2012 not only make writing T-SQL code easier, but often it’s better performing as well. In many cases, they can help you avoid self-joins and … Read more
Microsoft provides Azure DevOps for hosting your repos, setting up pipelines and more. In this article, Diogo Souza shows you how to get started using Azure DevOps.… Read more
No discussion about storage is complete without thinking about security of the data. In this article, Robert Sheldon explains what must be considered to protect data in today's world.… Read more
The Microsoft Graph API allows access to Microsoft cloud resources such as Office365 and Enterprise Mobility and Security Services. In this article, Julio Sampaio demonstrates the Graph Explorer and builds an example that sends an email.… Read more
In the final article of this series, Edward Pollack demonstrates the maintenance of columnstore indexes. He also takes a look at nonclustered columnstore and memory-optimized columnstore indexes.… Read more
Books are usually meant to be read in an analogue fashion. Start at page one and keep on going until the book is done. Some people take an early peek at the end of mysteries to see how they turn out, but isn’t that cheating? In today’s digital world, it isn’t easy – at least … Read more
GraphQL is an open source query language, originally developed by FaceBook. In this article, Joydip Kanjilal explains more about GraphQL and walks through a sample app.… Read more
In this article, Diogo Souza explains GitFlow, a branching model for Git. He demonstrates how to work with GitFlow to create and deploy a feature and a hotfix to GitHub.… Read more
Video game enthusiasts expect that they can make changes to the game’s environment and that the setting changes will be saved. In this article, Lance Talbert shows how it can be done in Unity.… Read more
While individual buzzwords will come in and out of fashion, the ideas at the heart of DevOps aren’t going anywhere. Like any good buzzword, DevOps may mean different things to different people. There are several good definitions of DevOps out there. My favorite definition comes from @IanColdwater, who defined DevOps in terms a teenager would understand: Devops … Read more
In the second article of this series, Edward Pollack demonstrates some ways to design and populate a columnstore index to get even better performance. … Read more
In the second article of this series, Uwe Ricken discusses ways to affect the performance of queries involving heaps, including the TOP operator, compression, and partitioning. … Read more
Throughout this series, I’ve discussed a range of storage-related topics, some of which I mentioned only briefly. One of those is cloud storage, which now plays a vital role in today’s data management strategies. Organizations of all types and sizes now employ cloud storage to varying degrees, either to supplement their on-premises systems or to … Read more
Since SQL Server is supported in containers, you can now run a SQL Server instance in your macOS without dual-booting or running a virtual machine. In this article of the series, Carlos Robles demonstrates how to connect to the SQL Server once it’s running. … Read more
Keeping SQL Server instances patched can be a time-consuming task for DBAs. In this article, Alejandro Cobar explains how he created a service in Azure that anyone can use to retrieve the build information for SQL Server.… Read more
The PASS organization announced last week that the 2020 Summit, originally planned for Houston this November, will now be held virtually. This is bittersweet for me, since going to the Summit has been the highlight of almost every year since 2003. I had decided, however, that I would not attend in person this year unless … Read more
We’ve lived in our current home for 30 years and have managed to accumulate a lot of possessions. We have closets, drawers, cabinets and a storage shed filled with things, many of which we don’t remember buying or receiving in the first place. I haven’t quite gotten into the Marie Kondo way of organizing yet, … Read more
Compliant Database DevOps
Standardize team-based development
Automate database deployments
Monitor performance and availability
Protect and preserve data
