Featured Article(s)
Microsoft Access or SQL Server?
The major consideration when trying to decide what database system to choose from for an application development, is the size of the database – the quantity of data expected, and it depends on the vision of the developer.
Open question in the forums…
Jason is asking about auditing SSIS packages – and trying to track some lost data in a package. Take a look here:
http://bitonthewire.wpengine.com/Forums/tm.aspx?m=7315
BI Follow-Up Note
A little while back we had a flurry of comments on how to implement BI, what was the right approach, etc. Kevin just wrote in with some additional feedback"
"Do the Reporting and Analysis services in SQL Server compare with professional and long established offerings from the likes of Cognos and Business Objects? Not from what I’ve seen so far.
Also, if BI is going to work well, it needs a well designed star schema datamart and that is not a trivial task.
Our company have developed a datamart for People Analytics (HR and Payroll data) but it has had a few man years of development to get working versions that utilize all the commonly used HR and Payroll applications."
SaaS Follow-Up Thoughts
Ralph wrote in with some additional feedback on the SaaS discussions:
My question/comment: Start with the standard questions – what is your backup and recovery model, plan and approach? What time frames force hardware swap decisions? Do you have written recovery and triage processes? Do you have standby hardware and what is your recovery time? When did you last test a full recovery? This is just a start, if you get so much as a hesitation on answering these, go elsewhere.
Your comment makes sense . . . but, then again, I have been in IT for about 40 years. One of the real problems I see is that this Cloud is being marketed in a manner that induces the management of smaller companies (and, for that matter, some IT-illiterate managers of large companies) to avoid, ignore, or over-ride in-house (or contracted) advice on what to do and to take the plunge "on faith" without asking those questions. I sometimes feel that some of the marketing is right up there with the diet and diet supplement marketing . . . it preys on those who are desperately seeking a way to trim their IT budgets."
Weekly Show about SQL Server, Development and More
[Watch] SelectViews #126 – We had some more amazing people in the office this week and we have some great interviews. Watch the interviews with Chris Shaw, Daniel Galant, Rachel Appel and Rebecca Isserman – great information sharing!
Also Available:
[Watch] Adam Levithan, Vishal Shukla, Sarah Barela and Shannon Callaway. From SharePoint to cloud computing lessons learned, from SQL Server security to development – great information!
[Watch] This show features several tech-industry experts, here in-studio for the upcoming vConference. Eric Johnson and Josh Jones get together for a discussion, Craig Utley and Erik Veerman are also on the show.
Featured White Paper(s)
Protecting Microsoft SQL in Physical and Virtual Environments
If you are involved with managing Microsoft SQL Server applications, you’ll want to download this paper to learn: – The pri… (read more)