In April 2009 Microsoft released a public beta of Exchange 2010, the latest and greatest version of a part of its unified communications family of products. Recently in August 2009, a feature complete Release Candidate version was released for public download. In this article Neil Hobson takes a look at some of the high availability features of Exchange 2010.… Read more
When developing a .NET application, one of the least visible sources of memory consumption is the overhead required by an object simply to exist. In applications that create a lot of small objects, this overhead can be a major or even a dominant factor in the total memory requirements for the application.… Read more
Charles Moore is one of the greatest ever programmers. The 'Forth' language he invented is still in use today, particularly by NASA, and has never been bettered for instrumentation and process control. He still argues persuasively that the only way we can develop effective software quickly is to embrace simplicity. Like Niklaus Wirth, he remains a radical whose views have become increasingly relevant to current software development… Read more
Change Data Capture records INSERTs, UPDATEs, and DELETEs applied to SQL Server tables, and makes a record available of what changed, where, and when, in simple relational 'change tables' rather than in an esoteric chopped salad of XML. These change tables contain columns that reflect the column structure of the source table you have chosen to track, along with the metadata needed to understand the changes that have been made. Pinal Dave explains all, with plenty of examples in a simple introduction.… Read more
One could be forgiven for thinking that there is little more you can do with any third-party Backup software than just ...er... backup databases. It takes a DBA who has to use such software every day in a real commercial setting to appreciate the full implications of the improvements that have been made to SQL Backup for version 6. It is the hard-working DBAs who are best-placed to judge whether it is all worth-while. So we asked DBA Shawn McGehee to give us his true thoughts on SQL Backup 6.… Read more
There are good reasons for preventing old versions of Outlook from connecting to Exchange Server. You'll probably, at least, want to do it for security. Before you do so, you'll also need know what versions are out there being used so you can make sure that blocking of legitimate users is prevented. Ben Lye explains how it is done. explains … Read more
It isn't easy to measure the consumption of physical resources by servers in virtual machines, since each partition has its' own virtualised view of system resources. Not only that, but there is a subtle difference between virtual processors and physical processors. Brien Posey explains the special performance counters that can be used to get an accurate assessment, and goes on to describe how to test your physical servers to see if they are good candidates for virtualization. … Read more
For SQL Server and Exchange Server, Windows Server Virtualization is going to be increasingly important as a way for the administrator to allocate hardware resources in the most efficient way, to offer more robust services, and for deploying services. Jaap Wesellius starts his new series on Hyper-V by explaining what Hyper-V is, how it relates to Windows Server 2008 and how it compares to ESX, Virtual Server and Virtual PC. .… Read more
What is an XML Schema, and why is it important? How did XSD develop from its precursors, DTD and XDR? What is XML capable of in the recent versions of SQL Server? Jacob Sebastian gives a succinct answer in this extract from his new book.… Read more
Marc Wick is the genius behind GeoNames, the free Web Service that powers a number of popular GPS applications and games. It is an open-source database of geographical information that is used by hundreds of applications from iPhone apps to political organizations. Its data is used for research and geo-visualizations in universities around the world. It underpins a large number of geography-aware applications and can be loaded into SQL Server Spatial and used with the new geospatial features of SQL Server 2008… Read more
The advantage of virtualizing your servers is that it helps you make better use of your hardware resources, and reduces some of your licensing costs, However, there are disadvantages: With Exchange server, it isn't always obvious as to which server roles are suitable for virtualization, and it is rather hard to work out what system resources a virtual server is actually using. Brien Posey explains… Read more
When you are developing a multi-threaded application, you will need to understand how the operating system decides which threads are to be blocked, and which should run. Performance comes from running the optimum number of threads at all times, getting the maximum benefit from the computers processing resources. … Read more
Bill Holmberg takes a practical look at Change Management, and list the steps you need to take. To make things simpler, he also provides a sample Word template you can use to follow through a complete change control cycle on a given project. Leaving nothing to doubt, he finishes with an illustration; a fictional exercise so you can see his guidelines in action. … Read more
Gayani provides the complete source code for a sample Data Access Layer for LINQ to SQL, using the Northwind Database, and explains how it all works and how to get good performance. She shows how easy it is to use stored procedure and views as well as queries to provide a robust run-time infrastructure for managing relational data as objects.… Read more
Richard Morris talks to Michael Meeks, a young Geek who has made a huge impact on the quality of Open source software in the past eight years. He is a Cambridge graduate, a committed Christian, and is modest about his impressive achievements. He gives an interesting interview too!… Read more
It sometimes happens that Web Server controls that visualize data
don't quite fit with the way that the data is actually held in the application. This shouldn't be an obstacle, as Ion Freeman
points out. To prove his point, he shows how to use Nested Sets with Treeview.… Read more
It can, and does, happen during the average IT career. Suddenly you have lost your job. It is a time when you have to think carefully about your strategy, what you want to aim for, and then take back control of your IT Career. Stephan Onisick writes frankly about his own successful odyssey to put his career back on track. … Read more
One of the most misunderstood technologies in Exchange Server, regardless of its version, is the database technology. Most people, even Exchange administrators know it is something to do with ESE and tools like ESEUTIL, but once it's running they leave it that way for the rest of their lives. It's too difficult and you'd better not touch it in case it breaks....… Read more
The conversion of the Red-Gate tools to be compatible with SQL Server 2008 might not seem, on first impression, the most interesting or creative project ever undertaken by the company. However, the two people most involved in the project were adamant that it was a fascinating and rewarding experience. Why? We sent the indefatigable Richard Morris to find out.… Read more
David Caminer, who died on June 19th must surely be the First Business Application Programmer. He invented the software concepts and systems that we still use today to develop business software. He wrote the worlds first working computerized payroll system, introduced in 1954, followed by the first stock control system and a host of other business software. He went on to create the VME operating system for ICL and supervise the construction of the European Commission's computer network … Read more
