Containers have already transformed the way application development works, but adoption has been slower for databases. Finally, the revolution is beginning. In this post, Kendra Little shares the two ways in which containers will dramatically change the way teams develop and deploy database changes.… Read more
Joe Celko explains why questions requiring yes or no answers are more complicated than you might realize in both spoken language and computing.… Read more
A myriad of laws regulate data retention and generally compete with each other. William Brewer provides an introduction to the principles, but gives good advice -- leave the details to the specialists. … Read more
News reports about data breaches are common occurrences. Even the companies that exist to keep our data safe are not immune. William Brewer answers the question about data breaches that you may be too shy to ask. … Read more
Technology is constantly moving forward, but it is also helpful to understand how we arrived where we are today. Joe Celko reminisces about the history of database design and how it relates to the concept of ‘Degree of Duplication’ in this article.… Read more
A company’s data is one of its most valuable and important resources. Managing and protecting that data are big responsibilities, and a data governance processes must be put into place to avoid misuse and to meet regulations. In this article, William Brewer answers questions you may have about data governance but were too shy to ask.… Read more
A proper database design is very important, and changes to fix problems after the fact are expensive. In this article, Joe Celko discusses three aspects of database design that are often overlooked: validation, verification, and modification.… Read more
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be in effect in May of 2018. Data masking is one technique that can help your organization comply with this and other regulations. William Brewer answers those questions about data masking that you were too shy to ask.… Read more
The mystery of one of the almost-forgotten pioneers of the computer starts Phil Factor on a quest to explore and simulate in SQL the arithmetic operations of the lost wooden computer of Thomas Fowler. It is a homage to a little-known genius and an illustration of some curious SQL techniques.… Read more
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will affect organisations in countries around the world, not just those in Europe. The GDPR regulates how personal data is stored, moved, handled, and destroyed. Not following the regulation will lead to dire consequences for your organisation. As a data professional or developer, you may have many questions and might be wondering how it will affect the way you will do your job. William Brewer answers common questions about the GDPR that you were too shy to ask. … Read more
SQL Server works well, and Microsoft does everything it can to keep it relevant and competitive: As with everything in real life, it doesn't don't always get it completely right, and Rob Sheldon continues his quest through the jungle of past features to rediscover and explore the ones that time forgot. Here, he comes across Lightweight Pooling, XML Indexes, Stretch Databases, SQL Variants, Transaction Savepoints and In-Memory OLTP.… Read more
For some of us, DevOps means startups, cloud, fast-moving social media applications and Extreme Programming (XP). What about large corporate IT initiatives, Digital Transformation projects, and business process re-engineering? Can DevOps be relevant and appropriate? Mohammad Rizvi argues from experience that it most certainly can be.… Read more
SQL Server produces some great features, but it would be impossible to get them spot-on target every time. We are now quietly advised to use caution about using some of them, such as AutoShrink or the Index Advisor. Others, like the database diagramming tool, almost seem to have been quietly abandoned. Robert Sheldon investigates.… Read more
In the real world of business or scientific reporting and analysis, data can prove to be awkward. It can be plain wrong or it can be altogether missing. Sure, we have the NULL to signify unknown, but that doesn't play well with regular business reporting. There are a number of ways of dealing with missing information, and methods of estimating data from existing data has a long and respectable history. Joe Celko gets to grips with a data topic that is often treated with some trepidation. … Read more
For the larger development project using Agile/DevOps, there will always be the problem of comprehensive tooling and reporting. An all-encompassing ALM Integrated Development Environment will have some of what you need but is unlikely to meet your special requirements; Neither will a DevOps toolchain. Where do you start? You'll need to specify up-front what those requirements are, as Mohammad Rizvi explains.… Read more
Your Agile developers want MongoDB, or a similar document database: your Ops people are concerned about security and backup, and Governance are muttering about transactionality and data transfer between systems. Do you restrict your developers from rapidly-evolving the data design for their domain or do you embrace the joys of NoSQL unconditionally? If you accept a polyglot database environment, where the NoSQL lambs coexist with the relational lions, how do you provide tools and common database concepts that everyone can use and understand?… Read more
Every new release of SQL Server comes with new features that cause a ripple of excitement within the industry: well, amongst the marketing people anyway. What happens to all the exciting TLAs that are bandied about when a new version launches? It's mixed, it seems. Adam Machanic's classic post, The SQL Hall of Shame, has inspired Rob Sheldon to look back at some of the features that, though worthy, have may have failed to hit the mainstream.… Read more
Many large organisations are compelled to embark on wide-ranging business-transformation IT projects. They are difficult to manage because, in the intervening months before the end of the project, the changing business environment will have forced further changes on the business. Agile holds out the promise of managing these changes more easily. Mohammad Rizvi explains, from experience, some of the the issues you are likely to face, and how you can solve them.… Read more
It is surprising that so much can be identified by deduction from data. You may assume that you can safely distribute partially masked data for reporting, development or testing when the original data contains personal information. Without this sort of information, much medical or scientific research would be vastly more difficult. However, the more useful the data is, the easier it is to mount an inference attack on it to identify personal information. Phil Factor explains.… Read more
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