Database systems have powerful features built right in that can ensure the integrity of data. In this article, Joe Celko discusses keys and constraints.… Read more
When I read the list of new features in SQL Server 2019 I became very proud of my crystal ball powers. In July 2017 I published an article about Graph Database feature in SQL Server 2017. In this article, besides showing the improvements and benefits I also highlighted one problem: the lack of graph edge … Read more
There are several SQL Saturday events I have attended every event that has existed. Louisville, Nashville, Chattanooga (didn’t speak one of the years), and (I am pretty sure) Birmingham. On October 6, I will add one more to this list. The inaugural SQL Saturday Memphis! Having lived in Nashville for 20 or so years before … Read more
Thanks to Andy Warren (@sqlandy), on Thursday, September 13, I will be in Orlando, FL teaching an all-day seminar on the process of designing and implementing a relational database, entitled “Constructing a SQL Server Database.” Throughout the following 7 modules, we will make some requirements, model the database, create tables, with foreign keys, check constraints, … Read more
To design, or redesign, a database of any complexity, the Entity-Relationship modelling tool becomes essential. The specialized tools that have dominated the industry for a long while are expensive and are installed on a workstation. Now that browser technology has progressed so rapidly, the online database modelling tools have become viable and are starting to attract the attention of database designers. Are they good enough to use now? Robert Sheldon finds out.… Read more
Database Design is one of those tasks where you have to carefully get all the major aspects right. If you mess-up just one of these, it can all go horribly wrong. So what are these aspects that can ruin database design, and how can you get them right? Robert Sheldon explains.… Read more
Where applications are evolved by gradually molding them to a growing understanding of the business domain, this presents great challenges to database development. If databases are designed too loosely, and initial errors are allowed to fester, the results become harder and harder to refactor until eventually they constitute a database time bomb. Thomas LeBlanc describes how to avoid a few basic, but very common, database time bombs. … Read more
Once you've done a number of SQL code-reviews, you'll be able to identify signs in the code that indicate all might not be well. These 'code smells' are coding styles that, while not bugs, suggest design problems with the code. In this PDF, Phil's put together 119 of those code smells, some generic, and some particular to SQL Server, so you can see what to avoid and why.… Read more
A wise man once said, I know one thing: that I know nothing. If you’ve followed this series from the very beginning I am hoping that you’ve gone from knowing absolutely nothing about Oracle database programming to this point where you know the foundations, know how the parts fit together – basically, know enough to know that there’s a who… Read more
A wise man once said: start at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop. We’ve done things a little differently; all this time we’ve been talking about examining and manipulating the data in our tables, but we have never paused to consider where these tables come from, or discuss how they are created. Tim… Read more
Every database developer uses keys, but without always understanding all the ramifications. They come with few hard and fast rules, but if you get them right from the start with a database design, the whole process of database development is simpler, and the result is likely to perform better. We asked Phil for advice, little knowing that the explanation might take a while.… Read more
You've just become responsible for a database, only to find that the log file is growing out of control. Why is it happening and what do you do to correct it?… Read more
A book on Relational Database Design and Implementation is always welcome, especially when written by one of Simple-Talk's most popular authors, Louis Davidson. Bob Sheldon casts the critical eye on the book and smiles upon what he sees.… Read more
The backup and restore system in SQL Server hasn't changed a great deal over the years despite a huge growth in the typical size of databases. When disaster strikes, and an important service is taken offline while a restore is performed, there is often time to reflect on whether it might be possible to design databases for a more rapid recovery of the most critical parts of a database application.… Read more
As the volume of data increases, DBAs need to plan more actively for rapid restores in the event of failure. For this, the intelligent use of filegroups is important, particularly when the Enterprise Edition of SQL Server offers the hope of online restores. How, though, should you arrange your data on the different filegroups? What happenens if the primary filegroup gets corrupted? Why backup and restore indexes?… Read more
Alex's team of developers are geared to doing rapid development of database applications in a busy corporate setting, yet take considerable time over meticulous database design, extensive constraints, automated tests, error logs, and defensive coding. Why? Because it cuts down on the subsequent need for maintenanc… Read more
Lookup tables can be a force for good in a relational database. Whereas the 'One True Lookup Table' remains a classic of bad database design, an auxiliary table that holds static data, and is used to lookup values, still has powerful magic. Joe Celko explains....
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You can easily re-factor bad DML code, but if a database design is wrong, you can do little to rescue the problem, even with expert queries. So what constitutes 'wrong RDBMS design? What are these errors that continually crop up? How can you recognise them and fix them? Joe embarks on a new series of articles by identifying a series of bad practices based on the habit of 'splitting' that which shouldn't be split.… Read more
There is nothing like a checklist to make sure you've completed all the tasks in designing a database, and there is absolutely nothing like Buck Woody's military-style Critical Task List… Read more
Anith follows up his highly successful article Facts and Fallacies about First Normal Form with a fascinating discussion of five common database design errors which persist in spite of the fact that the unfortunate consequences of their use is so widely known. It is a needy reminder to anyone who has to design databases.… Read more
