It’s amazing the things you learn about people the more time you spend with them… the first thing I want to share is about a great longtime friend of mine – Gert Drapers. It’s based on the fact that one of the best parts about a regional event is that you often end up in [...]
Kimberly L. Tripp
Improving my SQL skills through your questions!
They do more than just technology!
Posted on: June 29, 2004 1:28 pm
Events, Events, Events!!!
Posted on: June 24, 2004 7:23 am
Well, I’m not one to rant really but I have to tell you that you wouldn’t believe the comedy of errors that all fell together during my 31 hours of travel from my house in Redmond, WA to the hotel in the Babin Kuk area of Dubrovnik, Croatia. My original itinerary was SEA (Seattle) to [...]
Sounds like Fillfactor…
Posted on: June 19, 2004 1:18 am
The new Seattle Public Library opened on May 23, 2004 and it's an interesting structure that people seem to love or hate. I've always loved architecture (and I really wanted to be an architect when I was growing up :)) so more than anything I just wanted to learn more about the structure. I didn't [...]
Stored Procedure Parameters giving you grief in a multi-purpose procedure?
Posted on: June 16, 2004 3:53 pm
Well… the performance ramifications are… not good! Without seeing more of the proc I’d have to suggest that you avoid this like the plague! I think I can convince you with this simple example which shows why it’s better to have multiple procedures and limit the flexibility a bit OR use DSE = dynamic string [...]
MSDN Webcast Archive Available but…
Posted on: June 15, 2004 6:34 pm
OK – I’ve requested that MSDN create a new “support webcast” page that has all of these links added to it (for a more complete archive/reference item) but it’s not yet been completed. For completeness – here are ALL of the resources: The actual archive of the MSDN Webcast is here. The full Q&A in [...]
SQLskills SQL Immersion Event (Oct 2004) will add open lab time and extended hours!
Posted on: June 14, 2004 8:59 pm
I just got off the phone with the event site… and it’s confirmed! We will add wireless internet access in the meeting room, along with extended labs hours – so you can stay connected as well as keep up with the interesting content! On Monday we will distribute CDs with the course demo database, all [...]
MSDN Webcast SQL Index Tuning Q&A: Index Management/Maintenance Questions
Posted on: June 12, 2004 10:38 pm
Index Management/Maintenance Questions: Q: Is there a tool or method for monitoring a database for awhile to identify indexes that are rarely or never used – that should be considered for removing? I think I mentioned this one late in the presentation but it certainly warrants an answer. Unfortunately, the answer is both yes and [...]
MSDN Webcast SQL Index Tuning Q&A: Index Creation Questions
Posted on: June 12, 2004 10:30 pm
Index Creation Questions: Q: In an OLTP server do clustered indexes create a negative performance impact to the constant inserts and updates? The wrong clustered index can for sure… In most environments, having the right clustered index (an index on an ever-increasing key) will be better than a heap (a table without a clustered index) [...]
MSDN Webcast SQL Index Tuning Q&A: General Questions
Posted on: June 12, 2004 10:24 pm
General Questions: Q: If you want to know the value of the key prior to your insert statement, how can you use identity? You could insert a “place-holder” row (i.e. a row that uses only defaults and/or just basic information so that you can get the @@identity of the row) and then come back later [...]
MSDN Webcast SQL Index Tuning Q&A: Tools
Posted on: June 12, 2004 10:18 pm
Tools Questions: Q: Isn’t there some issue with profiler where it does not recognize DBName but only the DBID? Well, this is a good one – and a frustrating one as well. It is true that Profiler doesn’t always generate a data column value for every type of event. So – if you setup filters [...]
MSDN Webcast SQL Index Tuning Q&A: Related Resources
Posted on: June 12, 2004 10:15 pm
Related Resources: Q: Can I view a recording of this webcast? It should be available on www.microsoft.com/usa/webcasts/ondemand shortly. Q: Where can we get the powerpoint file? The powerpoint will be available on the MSDN webcast resource page. I will post the exact link here and on SQLskills.com as soon as the final link is [...]
Great MSDN Webcast today – had a ball!!
Posted on: June 12, 2004 1:17 am
Thanks for being there! If you were there then you know – it’s was quite fun and you had a lot of questions – questions that I didn’t see until the session ended (whooops!). My Q&A dialog box was only showing a subset of questions so I didn’t know….. Well, now I do (that’s for sure)! [...]
Indexes from Every Angle – Finding the Right Balance
Posted on: June 9, 2004 4:00 am
This Friday I’ll deliver an MSDN webcast on SQL Server Indexing – for people who are not SQL Server experts. It’s a good overview of what you should look for, what you should do and which tools will give you the best bang for the buck when used correctly… Here’s the MSDN link: http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?eventid=1032252961&culture=en-us. See [...]
And the blog goes live!
Posted on: June 8, 2004 7:55 pm
This is pretty exciting… Today we moved the blog over from the test site (where I added all of the other entries) to SQLskills… I guess I better start blogging. In fact, I think I’ll try and blog most of the questions I get in email. In fact, I got two today. Stay tuned….
Security Best Practices
Posted on: June 7, 2004 12:27 am
Today Michele and I were chatting about Security. She’s focused a lot on it these days and is chatting with everyone about their best practices… I thought I’d mention a few important links/ideas here: Login Mode: Allow windows authentication only – making sure that the sa account has a strong password set (regardless of the [...]
Kicking users out of a database for…
Posted on: June 7, 2004 12:02 am
All sorts of purposes: maintenance, rebuilding the database objects, dropping/recreating the database in test environments, changing a state option like readonly (did you know that no users can be using the database when you make this change to RO)…. Anyway, lots of reasons and this has always been the case. In previous releases we used [...]
Profiler – STOP that scrolling!!!
Posted on: June 6, 2004 10:17 pm
Have you ever been watching a profiler trace only to find what you’re looking for, select it and then all of a sudden get “auto-scrolled” down to the end… UGH – that’s the default! But – Profiler does have an icon for stopping that behavior. (and since I generally (and personally) HATE most icons cause [...]
For Keyboard/keystroke geeks only
Posted on: June 6, 2004 10:15 pm
OK, so I can’t tell you how fast I type… I have no clue! But – I do know that people get made at me on IM chats because they (well, most of them) cannot keep up (especially my Father!!!)… And the key reason for why??! I tend to stay on the keyboard instead of constantly [...]
Random info about documentation and the Books Online
Posted on: June 6, 2004 10:14 pm
First, do you have the latest version of the SQL Server Books Online? Make sure you do: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/productdoc/2000/books.asp Second, do you ever need the info when you’re not at your desk? Make sure you know where they are: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/startsql/portal_7ap1.asp
Stored Procedures are NOT evil… but they can be frustrating!
Posted on: June 6, 2004 10:13 pm
After a group of RDs started chatting about stored procedures I finally felt like I could join in. Often they talk about .Net and client stuff and well, quite honestly, I don’t care what you do with the data…only that I serve it up quickly. Ok, I’m really kidding here but my primary focus is [...]
Text in Row table option – a good thing???
Posted on: June 6, 2004 10:12 pm
In a discussion with Scott about the “text in row” option for LOB (Large Object Data types: text, ntext, and image) data he questioned whether or not it was really a good idea to set… Well, I have mixed feelings about it really. In general I don’t recommend it unless EVERY query tends to want the [...]
Best Practices Analyzer Releases
Posted on: June 6, 2004 10:11 pm
And the reason that Clemens blogged about me was actually a good one for all to know… Best Practices Analyzer has released. Everyone should be looking at whether or not their SQL Servers are adhering to roughly 70 or so commonly mispracticed practices. Have fun.
I can’t not blog any longer!
Posted on: June 6, 2004 10:10 pm
After Clemens blogged about my not having a blog… I guess I couldn’t not blog any longer. And so I begin… In the past I’ve written content in the form of presentations, articles or classes, etc. They would go through editors, friends, anyone who would read it. Often they’d remove my sarcasm, bad spelling and/or [...]
