Databases Archives

Condensing a Delimited List of Integers in SQL Server

In real-world applications, it often makes sense to show denormalized data such as delimited lists within the application's user interface....

28 August 2013 16 min read

Robert Sheldon

Using DAX to create SSRS reports: The Basics

You can use DAX to create reports from a tabular database in SQL Server Reporting Services. To do so requires...

27 August 2013 15 min read

Patrick Barel

Virtual Private Database (Part 1)

Views When working with views you have several options to hide some of the data. In the article on views...

21 August 2013 9 min read

Steve Harville

High load average, high IO wait, slow process startup, slow RAC communications

We have been having performance problems on our test Exadata for several months. I have opened five Oracle service requests...

19 August 2013 2 min read

Phil Factor

Getting Data between Excel and SQL Server using ODBC

With ODBC, you can summarise, and select just the data you need, in an Excel workbook before importing it into...

16 August 2013 28 min read

Grant Fritchey

Database Administration as a Service

A DBA should provide two things, a service and leadership. For Grant Fritchey, it was whilst serving a role in...

14 August 2013 11 min read

David Njoku

Introduction to Instrumentation

The forest is thick with menace. The sunlight barely breaks through the leaves and is sludgy like curdled milk; the...

07 August 2013 7 min read

Robert Sheldon

Columnstore Indexes in SQL Server 2012

The columnstore index in SQL Server 2012 stores columns instead of rows, and is designed to speed up analytical processing...

30 July 2013 11 min read

Syed Jaffar Hussain

Oracle Database 12c New Features – Part 4

Parts 1,2 & 3 focusssed more on the most useful improvements and enhancements of Database administration: Performance Tuning, RMAN, Data...

25 July 2013 6 min read

Dwain Camps

Gaps and Islands in SQL Server: Fast Set-Based Solutions Compared

Efficient SQL Server solutions to the gaps and islands problem - detecting unbroken sequences and the gaps between them. Covers...

25 July 2013 16 min read

Kirill Loifman

Enable Oracle database to send emails via SMTP server

Often in a complex enterprise Infrastructure Oracle DBAs face issues by enabling SMTP mail traffic on the databases through corporate...

22 July 2013 1 min read

Robert Sheldon

Using Microsoft Excel to Retrieve SSAS Tabular Data

Although it is well-known how to create a tabular database in PowerPivot, it is less obvious that there are several...

16 July 2013 19 min read

Syed Jaffar Hussain

Oracle Database 12c New Features – Part 3

During this Oracle Database 12c new features article series; I shall be extensively exploring some of the miscellaneous, yet very...

11 July 2013 8 min read

Phil Factor

SQL Server ALTER TABLE syntax diagrams

The words in the documentation for the ALTER TABLE syntax on MSDN are accurate with forensic precision, but the potentially-useful...

09 July 2013 8 min read

Bobby Curtis

Upgrade to Oracle Database 12c – Single Instance

With every release of the Oracle database there is always an upgrade path that should be followed. For many, they rush...

08 July 2013 7 min read

Syed Jaffar Hussain

Oracle Database 12c New Features – Part 2

During this Oracle Database 12c new features series, I shall be extensively exploring some of the miscellaneous, yet very useful,...

03 July 2013 10 min read

Louis Davidson

Baselining with SQL Server Dynamic Management Views

When you're monitoring SQL Server, it is better to capture a baseline for those aspects that you're checking, such as...

02 July 2013 18 min read

Feodor Georgiev

Collecting the Information in the Default Trace

The default trace is still the best way of getting important information to provide a security audit of SQL Server,...

02 July 2013 14 min read

Syed Jaffar Hussain

Oracle Database 12c New Features – Part I

During this Oracle Database 12c new features article series, I shall be extensively exploring some of the very important new...

27 June 2013 10 min read

Rob Garrison

Exploring In-memory OLTP Engine (Hekaton) in SQL Server 2014 CTP1

The continuing drop in the price of memory has made fast in-memory OLTP increasingly viable. SQL Server 2014 allows you...

25 June 2013 12 min read