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How to select n random rows
Demo of a quick and easy way to select n random #rows … (read more)
SelectViews Show
Craig Utley on the show today with both an interview and special tips for Analysis Services. Also – SQL Server news, the SQL Server tip of the day, SharePoint happenings and more.
Watch the show here
SSWUG SharePoint Expo – May 28th
The May SharePoint Expo from SSWUG.ORG is a free event, open to all. The expo will include sessions on SharePoint from top-name presenters. These are encore presentations of top-rated sessions from the Virtual Conference – released to the community during this expo event. Available for 7 days beginning Friday, May 28th at 9am PST.
Sign up today. <- click to register…
Tomorrow’s the Day – Accidental DBA Workshop – Register Now!
My Accidental DBA Workshop is tomorrow – there will be a LOT of information about things to know about your SQL Server. I pulled together the common questions, common areas to watch, what you can do about it and a LOT more.
Get more information here – even an overview video and course outline!
Take a look at some of the things I’ll be covering:
– Getting started, installation notes, security models
– Backups, best practices and understanding your options
– Working with SQL Server on a daily basis – what do you need to care about?
– What’s happening with your SQL Server – monitoring, query troubleshooting
– Tweaking, indexes and performance, including understanding joins
– Ongoing system maintenance, monitoring and documentation
You even get a free 1-month membership (or extension) at SSWUG.ORG!
The course will be available on-demand for 7 calendar days after the live date, and you’ll be able take a quiz for a certificate at the course completion.
Click here to register, or get more information, or see the overview video.
Data Sizes, and De-Duplication for Optimization?
In line with the recent discussions about data sizes and growth, I ran into this article on Data Deduping from InformationWeek.com. It’s interesting because it’s about deduplication as a tool to help address storage growth.
Microsoft has also been working on something similar, but not with a target of storage management necessarily. Their master data management stuff is more about deduping so you have a single version of the data in your systems. I’d say a clear side-effect of that is lowering storage requirements, but the main goal isn’t, it’s more about knowing you’re working with THE data, not a copy (or worse, a modified copy).
What I did find cool was that 76% of the people in their survey indicated that they would have up to a 20 to 1 savings in data storage requirements using deduplication. That’s something to take notice of. (The actual stats are 42% up to 10 to 1, 34% saw up to 20 to 1). Definitely worth looking into to help manage storage.
So, consider a multi-pronged approach to managing your systems.
a. Data compression in the database
b. Data compression for your backups
c. Data deduplication
Could make a huge difference with your own storage requirements.