Category Archives: SQL Server

Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Posted by on April 17, 2012 No comments

41rYAFQaxbL. BO2204203200 PIsitb sticker arrow clickTopRight35 76 AA278 PIkin4BottomRight 4322 AA300 SH20 OU01 Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012For tech guys here is a free Microsoft ebook. Its a 288 pages book that gets you into shape with latest SQL Server 2012.

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is Microsoft’s first cloud-ready information platform. It gives organizations effective tools to protect, unlock, and scale the power of their data, and it works
across a variety of devices and data sources, from desktops, phones, and tablets, to datacenters and both private and public clouds. Our purpose in Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is to point out both the new and the improved capabilities as they apply to achieving mission-critical confidence, breakthrough insight, and using a cloud on your terms.

As you read this book, we think you will find that there are a lot of exciting enhancements and new capabilities engineered into SQL Server 2012 that allow you to greatly enhance performance and availability at a low total cost of ownership, unlock new insights with pervasive data discovery across the organization and create business solutions fast—on your terms.

Download from here.

You can get it for Kindle as well.

SQL Server 2012 Cheatsheet

Posted by on April 17, 2012 No comments

Pinal Dave has released his latest cheatsheet regarding the latest SQL Server 2012. Whats in there:

  • SSMS Shortcuts
  • Columnstore Index
  • SQL Server 2012 Datetime Functions
  • SQL Server Ranking Functions
  • SQL Server 2012 Analytic functions

Download from here.

Free ebook: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

Posted by on April 20, 2010 2 comments

9780735693883f 2 246x300 Free ebook: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2Introduction

Download link “Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2”

Our purpose in Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 is to point out both
the new and the improved in the latest version of SQL Server. Because this
version is Release 2 (R2) of SQL Server 2008, you might think the changes are
relatively minor—more than a service pack, but not enough to justify an entirely
new version. However, as you read this book, we think you will find that there are a
lot of exciting enhancements and new capabilities engineered into SQL Server 2008 R2
that will have a positive impact on your applications, ranging from improvements
in operation to those in management. It is definitely not a minor release!

Who Is This Book For?

This book is for anyone who has an interest in SQL Server 2008 R2 and wants to
understand its capabilities. In a book of this size, we cannot cover every feature
that distinguishes SQL Server from other databases, and consequently we assume
that you have some familiarity with SQL Server already. You might be a database
administrator (DBA), an application developer, a power user, or a technical
decision maker. Regardless of your role, we hope that you can use this book to
discover the features in SQL Server 2008 R2 that are most beneficial to you.

How Is This Book Organized?

SQL Server 2008 R2, like its predecessors, is more than a database engine. It is a
collection of components that you can implement either separately or as a group
to form a scalable data platform. In broad terms, this data platform consists of
two types of components—those that help you manage data and those that help
you deliver business intelligence (BI). Accordingly, we have divided this book into
two parts to focus on the new capabilities for each of these areas.

Part I, “Database Administration,” is written with the DBA in mind and introduces
readers to the numerous innovations in SQL Server 2008 R2. Chapter 1, “SQL
Server 2008 R2 Editions and Enhancements,” discusses the key enhancements,
what’s new in the different editions of SQL Server 2008 R2, and the benefits of
running SQL Server 2008 R2 on Windows Server 2008 R2. In Chapter 2, “Multi-
Server Administration,” readers learn how centralized management capabilities
are improved with the introduction of the SQL Server Utility Control Point. Step-by-
step instructions show DBAs how to quickly designate a SQL Server instance as
a Utility Control Point and enroll instances for centralized multi-server management.
Chapter 3, “Data-Tier Applications,” focuses on how to streamline deployment
and manage and upgrade database applications with the new data-tier application
feature. Chapter 4, “High Availability and Virtualization Enhancements,”
covers high availability enhancements and includes step-by-step implementations
for ensuring business continuity with SQL Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008
R2, and Hyper-V Live Migration. Finally, in Chapter 5, “Consolidation and Monitoring,”
a discussion on consolidation strategies teaches readers how to improve
resource optimization. This chapter also explains how to use the new dashboard
and viewpoints to gain insight into application and database utilization, and it also
covers how to use capacity policy violations to help identify consolidation opportunities,
maximize investments, and ultimately maintain healthier systems.

In Part II, “Business Intelligence Development,” readers discover components
new to the SQL Server data platform, as well as significant enhancements to the
reporting component. Chapter 6, “Scalable Data Warehousing,” introduces the
data warehouse appliance known as SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse
by explaining its architecture, reviewing data layout strategies for optimal query
performance, and describing the integration points with SQL Server BI components.
In Chapter 7, “Master Data Services,” readers learn about master data
management concepts and the new Master Data Services component. Chapter 8,
“Complex Event Processing with StreamInsight,” describes scenarios that benefit
from complex event analysis, and it illustrates how to develop applications that
use the SQL Server StreamInsight engine for complex event processing. Chapter
9, “Reporting Services Enhancements,” reviews all the new features available in
SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services that support self-service reporting and
address common report design problems. Last, Chapter 10, “Self-Service Analysis
with PowerPivot,” continues the theme of self-service by explaining how users can
integrate disparate data for analysis by using SQL Server PowerPivot for Excel, and
how to centralize and share the results of this analysis by using SQL Server Power-
Pivot for SharePoint.

Stored Procedure Optimization Tips

Posted by on February 17, 2010 No comments

Great post by Pinal Dave! He shares some tips how to get most of the stored procedures.

Dont miss it here.

Top Features of MS SQL 2008

Posted by on January 15, 2010 3 comments

logo header sql08 dg Top Features of MS SQL 2008Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 is the latest release of SQL Server. This article will introduce the top 10 features and benefits of SQL Server 2008 R2. The “R2” tag indicates this is an intermediate release of SQL Server and not a major revision. However, there are a number of interesting new features for both DBAs and developers alike. At the time of this article, R2 is available as a CTP (Community Technology Preview). In addition to new features, there are two new editions as well, SQL Server 2008 R2 Datacenter and SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse.

Report Builder 3.0

Report Builder is a tool set for developing rich reports that can be delivered over the web. Some of the features of Report Builder include the ability to create reports containing graphs, charts, tables, and printing controls. In addition, Report Builder also supports drill downs and sorting. If you are familiar with the third party tool Crystal Reports, then you have good idea of what to expect from Report Builder.

New features in SQL 2008 R2 / Report Builder 3.0 include: Map Layers, which can hold spatial and analytical data and will integrate with Microsoft Virtual Earth. Indicators, these are gauges used to show the state of one value. Report Parts, this object can be reused or shared between multiple reports. Aggregate Calculating, this allows you to calculate the total value of other aggregate calculated totals.

SQL Server 2008 R2 Datacenter

The new Datacenter edition of SQL Server 2008 R2 is targeted towards Enterprise Edition users who require a greater performance platform. The new edition will support 256 logical processors, high numbers of instances, and as much memory as the operating system will support.

SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse

Another new SQL Server edition, Parallel Data Warehouse, formally codenamed “Madison”, specializes in handling extremely large amounts of data. This new version uses massively parallel processing to spread large tables over multiple SQL nodes. The multiple nodes are handled by a propriety Microsoft technology called Ultra Shared Nothing. This new technology is described as a Control Node spreading queries to Computer Nodes, evenly distributed, then collecting the results.

StreamInsight

New in SQL Server 2008 R2 is component called StreamInsight. This interesting component allows streaming data to be analyzed on the fly. Meaning the data is processed directly from the source stream prior to being saved in a SQL Server table. This could be extremely handy if you’re running a real time system and need to analyze data but can’t afford the latency of a committed write to a table first. Examples usually cited for this application include stock trading streams, click stream web analytics, and industrial process controls. Multiple input streams can be simultaneously monitored.

Master Data Services

Master Data Services (MDS) is both a concept and a product. The concept of a Master Data Service is that there is a central data gate keeper of core business data. Data items such as customer billing addresses, employee/customer names, and product names should be centrally managed so that all consuming applications have the same information. The Microsoft example given is a company that has a customer address record in the customer table but a different address in the mailing table. A Master Data Service application would ensure that all tables would have only one correct address. While an MDS can be a homegrown application, SQL Server 2008 R2 includes an application and an interface to manage the central data.

PowerPivot for SharePoint

PowerPivot is an end-user tool that works in conjunction with SharePoint, SQL Server 2008 R2, and Excel 2010 to process large amounts of data in seconds. PowerPivot works like an Excel Pivot Table, and includes analytical capabilities.

Data-Tier Application

A Data-Tier Application (abbreviated as DAC –no idea what the C stands for, and not to be confused with the Windows Data Access Components also abbreviated as DAC ) is an object that stores all the needed database information for a project, such as login, tables, and procedures into one package that can be consumed by Visual Studio. By creating a Data-Tier Application, a SQL Server package version could be saved with each Visual Studio build of your application. This would allow application code builds to be married to a database build in an easily managed way.

Unicode Compression

SQL Server 2008 R2 uses a new algorithm known as Simple Compression Scheme for Unicode storage. This reduces the amount of disk spaced used by Unicode characters. This new format happens automatically and is managed by the SQL Server engine so no programming changes are required of the DBA.

SQL Server Utility

The new SQL Server Utility is a repository object for centrally controlling multiple SQL Server instances. Performance data and configuration policies can be stored in a single Utility. The Utility also includes an Explorer tool where multi-server dashboards can be created.

Multi Server Dashboards

While the SQL Server Management Studio could always connection to multiple servers, each was managed independently with no central view of all of them. Now with SQL Server 2008 R2, Dashboards showing combined server data can be created.

Two interesting database related articles

Posted by on April 7, 2009 1 comment

logo header sql08 dg Two interesting database related articlesThe first one is about INSERT with SQL 2008 By Don Schlichting. Here is a short introduction.
This article will explore the various methods of using an INSERT statement with SQL Server 2008. After database Tables are created, a method to perform basic data manipulation tasks like inserting, modifying and deleting data is needed. Such data manipulation is accomplished through SQL Server’s own dialect of Structured Query Language (SQL) called Transact SQL or (T-SQL). TSQL Commands can be executed by typing them in directly to SQL Server, or graphically though the SQL Server Management Studio. The SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is an easy to use and intuitive graphical tool that lets you build and manage your database graphically. This article will explore the INSERT command of T-SQL’s Data Manipulation Language (DML).
To read the whole please follow the link above.

logo mysql sun a Two interesting database related articlesThe second one is about Five Query Optimizations in MySQL By Sean Hull. Again here is a short expert:
Query optimization is the often overlooked part of applications. Development schedules being what they are, getting the right results and getting the application working are the main priorities. So thoroughly testing, and benchmarking queries is often left as an afterthought.

With our short introduction to query optimization in MySQL, we hope to encourage at least some attention to these issues up front. We’ll also help you identify some of the more common optimizations you may run across.

Both are quite interesting read. Enjoy!

Introducing SQL Server 2008

Posted by on August 25, 2008 1 comment

ms sql srv cvr Introducing SQL Server 2008 Here is a book by Peter DeBetta which is called “Introducing SQL Server 2008“.

Actually its two chapters available for download. But still its a good start icon smile Introducing SQL Server 2008

Get it free from here.

SQL Server best practices

Posted by on April 13, 2008 1 comment

logo header sql08 SQL Server best practicesNever under estimate the load on SQL Server because it might affect overall performance.
Pinal Dave shared with us his view on 14 best practices. Here is his list if anyone wants to add something write a comment below:

1. Store relevant and necessary information in the database instead of application structure or array.

2. Use normalized tables in the database. Small multiple tables are usually better than one large table.

3. If you use any enumerated field create look up for it in the database itself to maintain database integrity.

4. Keep primary key of lesser chars or integer. It is easier to process small width keys.

5. Store image paths or URLs in database instead of images. It has less overhead.

6. Use proper database types for the fields. If StartDate is database filed use datetime as datatypes instead of VARCHAR(20).

7. Specify column names instead of using * in SELECT statement.

8. Use LIKE clause properly. If you are looking for exact match use “=” instead.

9. Write SQL keyword in capital letters for readability purpose.

10. Using JOIN is better for performance then using sub queries or nested queries.

11. Use stored procedures. They are faster and help in maintainability as well security of the database.

12. Use comments for readability as well guidelines for next developer who comes to modify the same code. Proper documentation of application will also aid help too.

13. Proper indexing will improve the speed of operations in the database.

14. Make sure to test it any of the database programming as well administrative changes.

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