In the previous article of this series, Andy Brown of Wise Owl Training explained how to use the oh-so-important CALCULATE function in DAX to make changes to the default filter context within a formula. This article shows how you can use the FILTER function to do something similar and explains the differences between the two approaches. … Read more
The Matrix is one of the many built-in visualizations found in Power BI. While the Matrix is easy to populate, filtering it is not so straightforward. In this article, Dennes Torres explains how to add a slicer that does the job.… Read more
A BI project should return value to the company quickly, not only after months or even years of work. In this article by Gogula Aryalingam, Ruthie, the intern, determines which items from her manager's requirements she can complete before the big meeting. She continues working on her semantic model by including a Date table, the star schema, measures, formatting, and more.… Read more
While architecting cloud native applications, you need to ensure that your system is highly available, performant, scalable, fault tolerant, and has the capability to recover from a disaster scenario. In this article, Samir Behara discusses the options available when designing the database architecture to achieve scalability.… Read more
SQL Server Reporting Services has changed quite a bit since it was introduced in 2004. Despite new analytic services like Power BI, SSRS is still a popular tool for paginated reports. In this article, Kathi Kellenberger explains the architecture of SSRS and walks you through installing an SSRS development environment on your workstation or laptop.… Read more
Building on the introduction to the SQL used by Cosmos DB in the first article in the series, here you will learn how to handle some of the more classic challenges that you may face when querying JSON documents. Adam Aspin shows you some of the workarounds that are useful in practice when finding and shaping output data ready for further analysis.… Read more
Security is, or at least should be, the priority for any IT system. In this article, Cynthia Dzikiti discusses the security aspects of ERP systems and some of the techniques used to protect data.… Read more
Temporal tables were introduced with SQL Server 2016. To take advantage of this feature, you might start fresh with a brand new table. It is possible, however, to convert an existing table with accumulated history to the new functionality. In this article, Mala Mahadevan explains how to create temporal tables for both scenarios.… Read more
“There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things”Phil Karlton I’m terrible at naming things. I recently wrote some quick code to reproduce a design problem and demonstrate several options for solutions, and later realized that I’d named my objects dbo.Foo, dbo.FooFoo, and dbo.Wat. But I feel strongly about a … Read more
This article by Adam Aspin reviews the Azure Cosmos DB SQL API from the perspective of the relational database developer. More specifically it will show you how to leverage your Structured Query Language skills to exploit the core possibilities of Cosmos DB as a NoSQL document database.… Read more
Index maintenance can be a real headache for database administrators as tables grow larger and maintenance windows shrink. In this article, Greg Larsen demonstrates resumable index operations available with SQL Server 2017 and 2019. This feature helps DBAs work around those small maintenance windows by allowing certain index operations to be paused and restarted again later.… Read more
New releases of SQL Server arrive at a quick pace, and it's difficult to keep up with the many features introduced in each version. In this article, Phil Factor reviews a feature you may have missed, inline indexes. He covers the syntax and the many ways they can be used and then performs some performance tests to see if they can make a difference with table variables.… Read more
SQL Server supports partially contained databases. This gives you the option of adding database users with a password inside the database. This makes the database easier to move to another instance or participate in an Always On Availability Group. In this article, Robert Sheldon explains how to work with users in contained databases.… Read more
Creating a quick dashboard with a few reports may be the beginning of a BI solution, but unless time is spent on the underlying model, it won't be adaptable enough to grow. In this article by Gogula Aryalingam, you'll see how the advice of a mentor helped a newbie understand how to create a flexible model that will lead to a valuable BI solution. … Read more
T-SQL window functions have been a fantastic addition to the T-SQL language. In this article, Kathi Kellenberger reviews how optimizations available in SQL Server 2019 can improve the performance of these functions.… Read more
Organizations have many choices when it comes to database platforms. Choosing the right one for an application should be based on the application’s characteristics and the platform’s features. In this article, Pushpa Sekhara explains why the Apache Cassandra database might be a good choice and how to get the most from it.… Read more
Communication is the foundation of DevOps. Grant Fritchey tells the tale of a project that failed because of previous communication and trust issues between the DBA and development teams. … Read more
Organizations may have many concerns about performance when migrating databases to Azure. Fortunately, Microsoft provides some great tools to help improve performance and save money. In this article, Monica Rathbun explains how to take advantage of these features.… Read more
I’ve been speaking a lot on the topic of DevOps lately, and there’s a question I like to ask. What is the purpose of your organization? I get all kinds of answers. “We make software that delights our customers and makes their jobs easier.” “Our company makes low-cost widgets. “ “We make the best gizmos … Read more
PowerShell is the preferred tool for many DBAs when automating SQL Server administration. In this article, Greg Moore demonstrates how to use a server list to control which tasks are performed on which servers.… Read more
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Compliant Database DevOps
